Lesson One - A Monster School Fic

Chapter Six - Brewing Class

y'all I feel like dirt rn please appreciate this content 

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A distant bell alerted you to breakfast, and you lifted heavy eyes to the window. Huh. It was morning.

You closed your history textbook, stretching, as Silvia crawled out of her cobweb nest and plopped down onto her bed. The spider girl yawned, glanced at you, then frowned.

"How long have you been up?"

"Uh..." You shoved your textbook into your backpack, slinging your legs over the side of your bed to put on your shoes. "...couple hours."

"Oh... okay." Silvia tilted her head, but didn't press the matter further, lurching up and stumbling out of the room to go to breakfast. You rubbed at your eyes and got up to follow.

Unfortunately, the phantom boy had been right. You hadn't gotten more than about four hours of sleep at night since you got here. It was definitely taking a toll on your mood, and your reaction time, which was bad when surrounded by somewhat-hostile mobs, but... you just couldn't seem to calm down. When you did sleep, you usually had nightmares.

Worse, you couldn't think of a solution. If you could just leave you would, but Herobrine didn't seem keen on letting you run off. You had no contact with anyone outside the school, so... you were stuck here until the end of the semester. Constantly exhausted, apparently.

You made your way out to the dining hall, beginning your typical routine of grabbing some edible food and taking it to the far end of the table. On your way over, though, a shout caught your attention.

"Y/N!" You lifted your head at the voice, turning to see Soot waving you towards her. "Come sit with us!" There was an empty seat between her and Kaden. You hesitated, glancing at Jace and finding the slime already staring you down. He wouldn't bother you if you were sitting with them, right? Well, he hadn't at meals before, but... sure, why not.

You hurry over to sit down in the free seat, glancing at Kaden, then Soot, who was beaming at you.

"Hello!" The skeleton leaned around Soot's other side to smile at you. "I'm Marrow."

"Hi." You offered a small smile in return. Were the skeletons all just really friendly? Kaden still looked grumpy, but you'd never seen another expression on his face.

You took a bite out of your apple, swallowed, then asked, "You guys don't need to eat, right?" A couple of nods from Soot and Marrow, Kaden gave you a disinterested glance. "Why do you come to meals, then?"

"Just to be here with the other students," Soot said with a shrug. "It's nice to have the sense of community." You couldn't relate to that sentiment, but you nodded anyway.

"Did you... three all know each other before this?"

"No," Kaden spoke for the first time. "We didn't. We simply gravitated towards each other, since we share common traits."

"Oh."

"You do, too!" Marrow piped up. "Players have a skeleton too, right? Inside of you!" You blinked, looking down at your hands.

"Uh, yeah, I guess we do." A hesitant smile appeared on your face. "Though, don't most people here have a skeleton?"

"I guess, but yours is most similar to ours in construction." Marrow said. "That's what the elders say, anyway." You wondered momentarily if the skeletons were reanimated human skeletons, or if they were somehow something else entirely.

"Can I ask you a question?" Soot asked, leaning on the table so she didn't dwarf you so drastically. You took a bite of your bread, nodding. "What do players do with their skeletons? When they die, I mean?"