Lesson One - A Monster School Fic

Chapter Sixteen - Brewing Class

You stepped back from the banner, scrutinizing it with a frown on your face.

"No, we did it wrong again." You said with a sigh.

"Are you sure?" Kai looked defeated, the tip of her tail flicking as she set the banner aside with the others. "I thought for sure we needed the flower charge this time."

"It might be the flower charge under the chevron...?" You mused, taking a fresh, white banner from the chest and setting it in the loom. The example that you were supposed to be copying stood at the front of the room beside the teacher's desk, next to where Herobrine stood watching you work.

Today's art class lesson involved trying to copy a banner without instructions, something that you had absolutely no experience in. You were paired with Kai, the guardian student, who was unfortunately similarly clueless. You could see a couple of pairs around the classroom who looked like they had gotten it right, but unfortunately you hadn't spied on them long enough to see how.

"We're almost out of time." You said anxiously, looking at the timer on the board. "We've gotta try to get at least close."

"We have gotten close," Kai pointed out. "And, even if we don't get it perfect, we'll be okay! Mr. Herobrine just told us to try our best, after all." She gave you a smile, and you felt yourself relax.

"Yeah. Okay." You picked up the dyes again, setting them on the loom. "Okay, so blue first, right?"

"Right."

This was your first time getting to talk to Kai, your only prior knowledge of her being that she was some kind of guardian princess. Even if you hadn't known that, though, her diplomatic training was obvious from the way she acted. She was well-spoken, very sweet and friendly, and definitely more educated than most of your classmates. Just being around her made you feel more at ease, even if the one, huge eye was a little bit creepy.

You managed to throw together a slightly better banner just before the time on the blackboard ticked down to 0, making a chime sound.

"Alright class, time's up." Herobrine announced. "Leave your final banner where it is. For the rest of class, you're free to experiment with the loom as you wish." You perked up a bit, grabbing a new banner.

"I wanna see if I can make a kind of... sunset pattern."

"Don't add too many layers, or the colors will start to get muddy." Kai cautioned. You nodded as you pulled purple dye out of the chest.

As you tried to make the pattern you were imagining, your gaze strayed over to where Cray was working. The creeper had been paired with Isabelle, Silvia's cousin, and they were currently bickering over what pattern to try. Herobrine was watching them but hadn't stepped in yet. You felt like Cray had gotten less insane after his near-death experience on the field trip, but he definitely had yet to completely calm down.

"Hey." Kai whispered, and you glanced over at her. "Have you seen the other teacher today?"

"Uh..." You blinked, considering this. "...no, I don't think so." The last time you had seen 303 was yesterday after athletics class.

"I wonder if he left." Kai mused. "I should think he would at least tell us."

"Maybe..." You considered this as you added more dye to the banner. He'd arrived without warning, maybe he would leave without warning as well.

Your thoughts strayed back to Jace. Surely he wasn't responsible for this... was he? 303 had put up a decent fight against your teacher, there was no way that Jace could beat him. Right? You'd missed combat class last week, so you didn't know what Jace could actually... do. But there was no way that he was stronger than your immortal teachers.