Work Text:
Glomuel Towers was a respected figure, the principal of Cascadia High School. Not the best school in the city of Cascadia, but it was the best to him. Glom was rather odd-looking. Thin as a pencil, with dark green skin and two beady eyes. He had a conical head, spindly limbs, and no other features besides those beady eyes. He looked like a walking tentacle. But one shouldn't be surprised in a world where extraterrestrials are as common on Earth as humans. He dressed modestly. A white dress shirt paired with black trousers and brown shoes, and a simple grey sweater and red tie. It wasn't the fanciest outfit in the world, but Principal Towers didn't care.
But he did care, however, about the two kids who were in his office at this moment. He wasn't surprised by the fact that there were kids in his office. Dozens of his kids came into his office all the time. But he was surprised that the two kids were people he knew all two well.
“Stewart Nashton, Jasper Donahue, do you know why you two are here?”
Stewart spoke first. He had long red hair that looked like he hadn't combed it in his life. He had pale, almost pinkish skin, black eyelids that looked like he took a sharpie to his face, and a large, gnarly scar on his right cheek. Towers knew he didn't want to know that story. “Some kid was getting beat up so I rushed in and punched that asshole in the face. Uh, the bully, not the victim.” The fact that the child was so quick to correct himself got a small chuckle out of Towers. He tried to reason with Stewart. “You know, violence isn't always the answer. And you could've hurt yourself.”
“I don't care, the guy was scared and hurt. I can't just look at that and do nothing!”
“I understand, but-”
“No, I don't think you do.”
Towers knew all too well that it was impossible to change Stewart's mind, so he moved on to the other student.
“So Jasper, according to other students, you were caught trying to, let's see here, test out a jetpack by jumping off the school roof.”
“Actually it was a wingpack, but yes.” The boy’s normally bright expression was replaced with a slightly more shaken one. This was one of the few times when Towers got to get a really good look at the kid up close. The first thing he noticed was his brown hair, which sort of swooped at the back and sides. The thing that really stood out against his bronze freckled face was his eyes. Bright orange and full of wonder. And nobody could forget the gap between his two front teeth.
“Jetpack, wingpack, either way you could've gotten seriously hurt. I won't discourage you from being creative, but if you're going to test out your inventions, please take proper safety measures. At least at school.” Mr Towers then added on rather quickly, “But do be careful at home too!”
“Nice save, Glom, ” Mr Towers heard Stewart say from the corner.
Mr Towers had dealt with many students, but these two were probably the most interesting. They were so different, yet so close.
As odd as it sounded, he looked forward to seeing them again.