COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 7: I'm Being Stalked by a Rock (Part 2/3)

          He awoke to the feeling of something hard and heavy on his face, alongside a dull, chilling pain constricting his nose. With a passive groan he reached up and grabbed the object, immediately throwing it away when it started wriggling in his grasp. The light of day barraged his eyes, as he squinted over the edge of his bed where he'd heard the harsh impact. 

          A tiny metal dragon popped into his view, wiping its glossy face a couple times before it gave him an insulted look, and crawled up the nightstand.

          The dragon found its perch on top of the clock, and stared at him with sapphire eyes, a hint of expectancy clouding its face. He blinked, curiously moving his finger towards the dragon's head. It didn't move until he stroked its nose and it latched its toothless jaws onto his finger, promptly refused to unhand his pointer finger and dangled in the air like a wet rag.

          "It's not gonna stop bugging you until you get up," Truvius called. He was already wearing his uniform, and had a friendly smile on his face.

          Káel was adjusting to the blinding light, and still in a trance of fatigue from sleeping. "Get up? For what?" he mumbled, leaning out of his covers and rubbing his eyes.

          "School, food, fun," Truvius said, receiving a blank and tired stare from Káel. "Wait... Do your people not have school?"

          Káel allowed Truvius's question to hang, and snugly cocooned himself back in his covers. "I'm not going," he growled, just as a hard metal object catapulted itself into his head and started tugging tufts out of his hair.

          Truvius watched Káel's irritation grow as the tiny dragon turned to ripping individual strands out. "Suit yourself... But it's not gonna stop bugging you until you get up."

  —————  

          He couldn't believe it.

          Actually, maybe he could.

         After all, going to school was the better punishment when compared to that irritating metal monstrosity. 

          At first he was reluctant to put on the uniform, but it was the only set of clean clothes he had, and was surprisingly comfortable. Ray could have warned him to pack a bag before he kidnapped him, that would have been nice.

          "Th-that supply list was a reminder. Where are his, his supplies?" Talli questioned, still oblivious to Káel's situation; and Vera was trying to keep it that way.

          He silently followed his three acquaintances, the fact that he had to stay on the planet for a hundred days was relentlessly haunting him. What was even worse was the days had 28 hours to them instead of 24, and he still had to get up at 7:30 to eat breakfast, otherwise the demonic metal torture dragon of an alarm clock would make him go bald.

          They ate breakfast, and Káel took a cautious liking to it, constantly stroking the hard lump in his pocket to make sure the rock was snug and stationary, since unnecessary surprises were the last thing he wanted right about now.

          After choking down enough food to last, he opted for tailing the three acquaintances he'd made with a suitable birth of space. Everyone, excluding himself, seemed to know exactly what, and where their next class was. Káel never saw an agenda in his envelope, and after asking Truvius, he learned the functions of a Sender. It looked like a silver bracelet, and from Truvius's description sounded exactly like a cellphone that could only call other people and provide limited notifications. So in all, it was a severe downgrade from his trendy touch screen.