A Dragon's Rider (Edited)

Chapter 6

"You brought your dragon?" James looks stunned.

"No."

"Huh?"

"I was leaving when she came to me and I was knocked over."

"But... She shouldn't be able to fly."

I shrug. "Fast learner?" They all look doubtful, but before they can say anything, another boy comes over.

"Look," he sneered, "it's the little girl. She's hanging out with the misfits." He turned to me. "You're gonna pay, girl. Nobody messes with my brother and gets away with it. He's gonna have scars on his back for life!" I sigh and think back to the idiot that thought it would be fun to steal my egg.

"I'm sorry," I say, turning to face his glare. "Do you remember me asking for your opinion? No? Me neither. Just checking."

Mr. Idiot's face goes red and he splutters like a whale. "Do you know who I am? You won't get away with that! My father's on the board! What happened to women who had manners?"

I snort. "Are you naturally this idiotic or are you making a special effort?" Still sputtering, he turned and stalked away. I looked down and realized I hadn't gotten any food yet. Standing, I look towards the buffet. I slowly walk past the sea of faces that are staring at me. Apparently, they were watching my little exchange with Mr. Idiot. I grab an apple, some bread, and a wooden bowl of noodles and walk back. Right in front of the table, as I setting everything down, I trip. Landing with a thud, I'm suddenly happy that no one was watching anymore.

"Oh my gosh!" I hear Alex. "Are you ok?"

"Yep." I reply, standing up again "I was doing a spontaneous gravity check. Good news, it still works." Alex rolls his eyes before pulling out my chair.

"Thanks."

"Just try not to hurt yourself. Tomorrow you're gonna go through hell and back."

"For what?"

"Ground training. It takes up to three days for your dragon to be big enough to carry you, or even start practice."

"What are we gonna do?"

Alex starts a sentence, only to be cut off by James. "Don't give everything away. You don't want to spoil all the... fun she'll be having, right?" A bell tolls through the hall and everyone stands to leave. By the door, there is a bin for trash and a bin for our used plates. I see students throwing out all the food they didn't eat, and placing the bowls, plates, utensils, and cups in the other. I do the same and walk towards my room.

The walk seems longer now and it feels like forever before I'm standing next to the doors. Home sweet home, I think. The door pushes open easily and I go straight to the attached bathroom to take a bath. Someone, probably Lucy, has already brought up water for my bath and I relax into the calming water.

A navy and purple towel is on the edge of the tub. It's soft and plush, like everything else in my room.

Airre has long since gone to sleep in a small nest I hadn't noticed. I go to the closet and grab a black tunic and soft green pants. I'm about to go to bed when I notice bag Kate and Roe gave me. I start to unpack then, setting all of my acrobatic equipment in a pile to be sorted out later before finding the real treasure at the bottom. At the very bottom of the bag is a beautiful set of deadly sharp throwing daggers. Made of a light-weight metal and painted a solid black, the daggers are sharp enough to cut a hair. I know because the first thing I do is pluck one from my head and carefully draw it over an edge, grinning when it splits like soft butter.

Now I know why Kate told me every girl needs something sharp. That night, I fall asleep with the daggers on a table next to me, thinking of my family.