Fey

Hugs

Basil was trying not to throw up. It was a common occurrence, but one he hated and really never got used to. People were brushing up against him in the halls and multiple people were touching him at once, and one person for too long, Basil passed out. He toppled like a tree, knocking over a tiny girl in front of him. He came to right after he hit the ground and began pushing himself upright before anyone tried to help him up.

The girl leapt to her feet and turned to face Basil. She was more than a foot and a half shorter than him. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Basil nodded and said, walking towards his destination. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine." Actually, she wasn't. She was shaking because of how much of her skin had turned to stone. Thankfully, it was all roughly the color of her skin so she had been able to hide it until it went away.

She hurried off to class and tried to focus on class, not the cold hardness that had overcome her hands, her arms, the side of her face, and her upper chest. It had been terrifying.

Thankfully, she didn't have to deal with her friends until the next period, which happened to be lunch.

When she got into the lunch room and checked her phone, she realized that Reagan was no longer in her lunch period. Celeste looked around to see if there was someone she'd feel comfortable sitting with, and her eyes fell on the tall boy from before, the one who had knocked her over. He was sitting by himself and staring broodingly at his juice box.

Celeste hesitated, then walked over and sat across from him. "Hi, I'm Celeste..."

The boy looked at her, his eyes the color of sand with a dark ring around the outside. "I'm Basil. I'm sorry about earlier today."

She shrugged. "It's no big deal. I'm easy to knock over."

Basil smiled a little. "Apparently I am, too."

She laughed a little at that, twirling her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "Are you alright? You looked a little the worse for wear earlier."

Basil shrugged, focusing on his food. "I am. Are you?"

Celeste nodded and lied, "Of course I'm fine." She got out her lunchbox and began to eat.

"Are you in my science class," he inquired suddenly.

Celeste thought about it and nodded. "Yup! We get to have our first lab."

Basil groaned. "Ugh, we have lab today."

Celeste shrugged and laughed, "I love lab. Everything makes sense."

"I'm so bad at science," he admitted. "Besides, I think Mrs. Lenai hates me."

Celeste offered, "I'll help you, if you want. I don't really have much to do."

"Thank you," Basil said, his gratitude making itself known. "I'm adrift in a sea of bonding rules."

Celeste grinned. "There's a trick to them. Remind me and we can go over them sometimes."

Basil smiled and tried not to think about what he had seen in her head.

----

The period before school ended for the day was chemistry, and they were about to start labs.

The teacher paced back and forth on the linoleum lecturing them about lab safety and the class as a whole seemed to droop from boredom. Everyone perked up really quickly when she said, "So you'll be allowed to pick your own lab partner."

Every student in the room tried to make eye contact with their preferred partner except a misfit or two, including Basil, who looked down at his desk.