An Anthro's Tale

Exposed

Mr West's office is as good a place to begin as any. Or as bad a place. Mr West is the principal of the school that I go to. You could guess that I'm not found of Mr.West. Matter of fact,no one was. Mr west was a bald,thin,scarecrow of a man with a poochy stomach. Think of a pregnant George Washington,with no hair or teeth and you get the picture. He also looks like he's three hundred years old. At least. It was the second time this month I'd been called into his office for something someone else had done to me. He's likes to punish both,offender and victim.

"This is the second time this month youv'e been called into my office",he asked looking at me with his half closed eyes,"Is that right Mr.Allen?"

The other thing about West was that he liked to ask questions he already knew the answer to. I was never sure weather or not to answer. He knew the answer and I knew the answer,so really,what was the point? Bottom line,this was the second time I'd been locked in my locker by Trent Morgan and his posse,George and Tim. They had put me in upside down and I'd nearly past out before the custodian had found me and taken me here. Trent was like a year older than Tristan. He'd been held back so many times that he had a mustache,license and his own car,a sweet 1992 Toyota Supra GT with a slick flame decal. He sometimes called himself the "Jackal",since both he and the animal prey on smaller mammals(or in my case,reptiles). Trent had biceps the size of Florida oranges and was not afraid to use them. Actually he loved to use them. His dream is to fight in the Octagon,where he can pound people and get paid for it.

"Is that right Mr Allen?"

I bit my forked tougne,thought for a minute and then said,"But sir,it's not my fault,there were three of them and there a lot bigger than me,a lot bigger."

Now I know what your thinking,"Your a dragon,you have fangs,claws and can breathe fire,why do you put up with them? Because I'm in hiding. If your now wondering,how d you go to school with out getting caught,four words,Tristan is a genius. He'd somehow rigged an old cell phone to work as a kind of cloaking device. I can't really explain how it works. My hope for sympathy had been met by West's infamous stare of death,really,it was like it was pricing my soul. You've got to see it before you understand. Last quarter,we were studding Greek Mythology and we got to the part about Medusa,you know,creepy woman with snakes for hair that can turn people to stone by looking into their eyes? Maybe it had something to do with being a dragon,but I blurted out,"Must be West's great grandmother." Everyone had gone nuts with laughter,except for west,who'd picked that exact moment to walk into class. I'd spent a four weeks in after school detention for that. But it wasn't all bad,because I was safe from Trent and his posse,who somehow never got sent to detention,no matter how many kids they shoved into their lockers or lunchroom garbage cans. Anyway,that had officially landed me on Mr.West's trouble maker list.

"Mr.Allen,you can not be stuffed into your locker without your consent,you should have resisted." "

But I tried sir,I said still biting my tougne a bit.

"Not hard enough,West said.

"Now,what are the names of these boys who allegedly shoved you into your locker?"

West wagged his pen impatiently infornt of me. "I'm waiting Mr.Allen,he said,their names?"

There was absolutely no way I was going to tell him. One,he already knew who had done it. Everyone knew that Trent put more kids than books into lockers. Second,ratting out Trent was the quickest way to death,no matter what you were. I just looked at Mr.West,biting on my tongue.

"Stop biting your tongue and answer my question."

"I can't tell you,I finally said.

"Can't or won't?"