Dragon Boy

5: Bedtime

The school day was already over the freshman. Kyle had been swallowed up by the sea of students and was struggling to find his group. Much to his fright he bumped right into Mr. Tian, who did not seem too bothered by the encounter. He simply put his hand on Kyle's shoulder and nodded, as if showing forgiveness. Kyle then stumbled through the crowd and up the stairs, and at that moment started thinking about what a massive fire hazard it was to have an underground classroom with only one means of escape, that he could see. Eventually he was pushed and shoved into Elvia, who looked just as thrilled to see him as he was to her.

"Have you seen the others?" she called over the clamor.

Kyle shook his head. "No. Hang onto me, let's look!"

At the top of the stairs they bumped into Nixie, who was staring at a girl with fiery red hair and a phoenix perched on her shoulder. She claimed the girl looked like Aoife. She did, but it was unfortunately not her. Nixie joined hands with Elvia, who started gripping hers and Kyle's hands even tighter. They stumbled out of the doors and found Aoife, whose immediate next question was, "Didn't that girl look just like me?" The quad squad, as Elvia called it, then waited by the doors for their next classmate. At some point Nixie pointed out Sean, who had been ahead of them. They rejoined him and demanded to know how someone so tall could blend in with a crowd like that. They returned to the doors and waited some more. Just when Elvia thought of the next perfect name, the pent pals, Asim emerged from the doors, along with the five other shyest kids in their class. The newly rejoined class sat with each other in a small patch of yellow flowers to talk with each other about what they had just experienced.

"...so Mom and Dad tell me to bring him to our teacher, and at that point I was thinking that was the weirdest part-"

Then they all said in unison, "-but it just got weirder."

"I'm surprised I didn't go into shock," Elvia laughed nervously.

"Same," Asim muttered. "This is a lot to handle at once."

Aoife fell back in the grass behind her. "My parents were saying it was about time," she sighed.

"They told you, also?" Elvia asked curiously.

Kyle looked around himself in confusion.

"My mom told me," Sean added. "I guess all of our parents told us?"

Nixie and Kyle both shook their heads. "I don't think my step-dad has any idea this is happening. If I'm not back at the usual time tonight, the cops are probably going to show up at the school."

"Your step-dad's an Unfamiliar?" Asim inquired. "That's a risky game to play."

"Mom and Dad probably were." Her face started looking sad and bitter.

"The six señors and señoritas," Elvia muttered, hoping to redirect the mood. "No, too long, not catchy enough..."

Nixie smirked at that. "Trying to come up with a group name?"

Elvia nodded. "Yeah, it's just something I do."

Kyle looked around as the two talked. Everyone around them spoke amongst themselves, joking and laughing as if this was all normal, debating and arguing as if there was nothing strange going on at all. He assumed most of them had known about this going in. Even those in his own class who had known going in were hesitant. Now, however, it seemed everyone was already acclimated. Then he noticed someone approaching them, someone with grey hair and a horn on his forehead.

It was the young man on the bridge.

"Birchwood?"

The students stopped their chit-chat and looked up. They, too, were a bit taken aback by this first glimpse.