Fabledtale

Chapter 3

Kaya's first few classes of the day went as smoothly as they could ever go; only getting insults during passing time. Now it was lunch, and she sat in her's and Cypress' usual spot to eat lunch, waiting for her brother. Their main bully was nowhere to be seen.

He'll show up during recess, Kaya thought ruefully. That is how it usually goes if he doesn't show up during lunch. She searched through the crowd and saw Cypress come towards her. She was about to say, "Hey," until she saw that he was towing someone through the crowd behind him. Her eye narrowed as she saw who it was. Jennifer, or Jenny as most people called her, was right behind him. And they were holding hands. Jenny was one of those girls who pretended to be popular, and ended up getting popular because of that. Her innocent act didn't ever fool Kaya.

She tried not to be rude and to put on a neutral expression, but it obviously failed since she had changed into her skeletal form.

"Kaya!" Cypress said, somewhat reprimanding her and also casually saying, "Hi". "Uh, listen," he continued, somewhat shyly. "D-don't tell Mom or Dad about this, will ya?"

She sighed and glanced at her brother. "Fine," she replied hopelessly. They were still holding hands as she watched them sit down out of the corner of her eye. She didn't partake in any of their conversations, which was fine since Cypress and Jenny were ignoring her anyways and were just talking to each other.

How long will this go on for? She wondered while tapping her fingers on the table. A few days? Weeks? Years!? Is he trying to replace me or something? No, she thought, trying to resolve the silly matter on her own. I'm his only sister. Plus... it seems more like romantic love between them. She still couldn't shake the feeling that she was being replaced by this girl. A rough shake on her shoulder brought her back to reality.

Cypress was at her side. She hadn't realized that her thoughts had provoked her feelings, which aroused her magic in turn. Her clothes had become tattered, her gray boots having small holes on the sides and in the soles. Her white eyes appeared and she glanced around. Her tapping had become more like scratching and there were little, yet deep, grooves in the table. Teachers and students surrounded their table, although a good distance away. Their faces were lit with horror or scorn. Cypress', however, was darkened with worry. Along with some surprise and horror. As she learned later from her brother, it was the light from her magic eye that caught his eye and made her snap out of it before it could get any worse.

No backing out of this one, Kaya thought ruefully. Tears came to her once again dark, blank eyes as she listened to murmurs and the occasional shouts.

"What is she?"

"Wasn't she proved 'human' on her tests?"

"Get that beast out of here!"

"No, get that monster out of here!"

It all eventually became shouts of name calling, both the human and monster children releasing all their pent up rage on her, whether they were because they hated how the monsters established themselves here without permission, whether they themselves had been teased, or just because of some petty thing that went wrong.

Kaya was numb to it. She was used to it, and it all just became noise in the background.

Everyone will know now.

"Kaya Dreemurr," a teacher from the crowd said, snapping her out of her thoughtful and rueful state, and walked up to them. Cypress let go of her and stepped back, looking towards the floor as the teacher came up to the table. He glanced at Kaya's destruction: the grooves in the table, the fright she had caused everyone, and the damage to her own clothes. "You'll have to come with me to the principal's office."

"I'm coming with her!" Cypress exclaimed.

"No!" Jenny pleaded and grabbed hold of his arm. "Don't go with that monster!"

That only set Kaya in a lower mood; Cypress was dumbfounded, as if he didn't expect this out of his friend, and was completely stunned by it. It was too late for him to follow once he finally got his voice back and replied, "She's my sister, and she's not a monster! Despite what she looks like."