The Odd One Out Chapter 2: School Worries
#2 of The Odd One Out
_The boy stared out of the apartment window. He wasn't allowed outside for reasons unknown to him. Whenever he asked his grandmother why he wasn't allowed outside, she always gave an answer he didn't understand.
The boy saw two children, a fox and a leopard, run past the window. He looked at himself and turned towards his grandmother, who was sitting in the chair opposite.
"Grandma, why am I not allowed outside like the other kids?" He asked
"Because the other children wouldn't like you."
"Why?"
The boy's grandmother didn't answer. The boy turned back around and continued to stare out of the window, wondering why the other children would hate him._
A loud buzzing noise came from an alarm clock on a bedside table. Flare flung his hand onto the alarm clock, knocking it off the table in the process. Flare groggily got up and sat on the side of his bed. He picked up the alarm clock and looked at the time, it read 7.30am.
Flare got to his feet and made his way towards the bathroom. He felt particularly lousy today but didn't know why. Just as he opened his bedroom door a pink dragon had tackled him into a hug.
"Morning Sapphire"
"Morning brother" Sapphire said.
Sapphire has been doing this routine ever since Flare started living here. Every morning she would tackle and hug him just as he opened his door. This routine would probably annoy most people, but Flare always feels a little happier when she does it (although he'd never tell her that, otherwise she'd be hugging him all the time).
"So... you gonna let go of me anytime soon?"
"Oh right, sorry."
Flare walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
"Don't spend too long in there, you start school today." Sapphire shouted.
Flare sighed. He now knows why he felt lousy when he woke up. Today he is going to start going to a public school with his sister. Flare had been privately taught by a tutor up until now. This was partly so he could catch up with work in his year group, but also because he was afraid of going to a public school for fear of the other children treating him like the ones in the adoption home. Flare had begged his adoptive parents not to make him go but they insisted he had to, saying he 'needed to confront the outside world sooner rather than later'.
Once he'd finished getting ready, Flare went downstairs towards the kitchen. Sapphire and his adoptive mother were there eating breakfast. His father went to work early, so was absent from the table.
"Morning dear" Mrs Phoenix said
"Morning Mrs Phoenix" Flare replied
Mrs Phoenix sighed. She had told Flare from the day he came that he didn't have to be so formal and could use her first name, Snow, to refer to her. But Flare still called her Mrs Phoenix. He only spoke informally to his sister.
Flare sat down quietly at the kitchen table. There were various foods on the table, Flare picked out an orange.
"Is that all your going to eat?"Mrs Phoenix asked
"Yes, I don't feel that hungry this morning" Flare replied
The room fell silent. Snow, hating the dim mood that had been created, spoke up.
"So Flare, are you looking forward to starting school today?"
"Oh, err, yes Mrs Phoenix" Flare smiled
"Well that's good." Mrs Phoenix sighed again. She could tell Flare was lying just from the forced smile he was giving. She also remembered how he begged her not to make him go to a public school a few months ago.
Once they had finished eating Flare and Sapphire got their things. They were driven to school by their mother. When they had arrived, Flare and Sapphire got out of the car and made their way to the school gates.
"Oh Sapphire!" Mrs Phoenix shouted
"Hold on Flare, mom is calling me" Sapphire ran back to the car "Yes mom"
"Could you watch out for Flare today but keep a distance from him?"
"Keep a distance from him, why?"
"Well he needs to learn to talk to others by himself."
"But what if no one wants to talk to him?"
"Well you can talk to him then, just try not to shield him from the other children"
"Ok mom, I'll do my best"
"Good, off you go then."
Sapphire rand back up to Flare.
"Have a good time at school you two" Mrs Phoenix waved to Flare and Sapphire then drove away.
Flare and Sapphire walked through the school gate and towards the main building. The school itself was very large with a lot of pupils attending. As Flare and Sapphire walked though the main doors, a loud bell rang.
"Just in time" Sapphire said
Flare and Sapphire walked across the halls and towards their classrooms.
"Flare, you're in class 2B. It's just over there." Sapphire pointed to a door across the hall.
"Aren't you in the same year as me?" Flare asked
"I'm in the same year, it's just we are in different classes because I've been here longer."
Sapphire entered her classroom. "I'll see you later okay"
Flare went to his classroom and knocked on the door
A male voice called out "Come in"
Flare entered the classroom. There were 12 students in the classroom, all of various species. The teacher who called out was a tall raven who wore an old fashioned tweed suit.
"Ah you must be the new student, I am Mr Peterson."
"Nice to meet you sir"
"Likewise" Mr Peterson turned to the class "Right class this is the new student who will be joining us today. His name is Flare Phoenix. I trust you will all make him feel welcome."
"Yes Mr Peterson" The class replied
"Good" Mr Peterson turned back towards Flare" Flare your desk is at the back of the classroom. You may go and sit down."
Flare walked to the desk that was indicated. All the students in the class stared at him as he walked past. Once he sat down Mr Peterson spoke up.
"Now that the whole class is here, let's start the day with some English."
While Mr Peterson was talking, at 12 o'clock a bell rang.
"That's the bell for lunch. I'll see all of you at 1.30"
All the pupils of class 2B got up and walked out of the classroom. Once Flare was outside the classroom he sighed. Mr Peterson was an extremely boring teacher with a very monotonous voice. Also the subject he was teaching was English, and Flare hated any subject that involved substantial amounts of writing.
Flare followed the general direction other kids were walking in to what he assumed was the lunch room. He couldn't see Sapphire anywhere so decided to go by himself.
The lunch room itself was a large hall where pupils from every year group were eating. As Flare entered the lunch room, although still noisy, the hall went slightly quieter. Nearly everyone there was stared at him (or staring while trying not to look like it). Flare made his way to an empty table and sat down. He didn't mind the stares, or the whispers he was hearing. He was use to this sort of treatment and expected it to happen before he got there.
'At least they're not calling me a freak like at the adoption centre' Flare thought
Once he had finished the packed lunch he had been given, Flare walked outside. The reaction he got in the playground was as bad as the lunch room. He wasn't being stared at as much but everyone in the playground seemed to avoid him as if he had some infectious disease. If he ever tried to walk up to any kids, they would move away from him very quickly. Eventually Flare just sat down at a bench by himself.
Flare was looking into the sky daydreaming when someone poked him from the side.
"Hey is anyone sitting here?"
Flare snapped out of his daydream and turned towards the voice. The one who was talking to him was male dragon. His scales were an ocean blue colour with black tiger like stripes going down his back. He had blue eyes and was slightly taller than Flare was.
"Err no, go ahead" Flare answered
The dragon sat down next to Flare. Flare continued to stare into the sky.
"You're that new kid from class 2B aren't you?" the dragon asked
"Yes"
"Cool, I'm in the same class. I was sitting next to you."
"Oh right" Flare fumbled his words. He wasn't expecting anyone to talk to him.
"How did you find the class today?"
"Ermm, kind of boring"
"Yeah me too, I hate wordy subjects. Old fart Peterson's boring never helps either"
Flare laughed at the comment about the teacher.
"What was your name again?" asked the dragon
"Flare"
"Flare, cool name. I'm Zane"
Zane help out his hand and shook Flare's. The loud bell from the morning rang again.
"That's the end of lunch. Wanna walk back to class with me?" Zane asked
"Yeah sure" Flare replied
Flare walked back to class 2B with Zane. The rest of the lessons for the day were Science, the subject Flare enjoyed the most.
Flare and Zane had talked for while they were doing an experiment in the classroom. Zane seemed to share many of the interests Flare did. In fact Flare and Zane talked so much they almost got in trouble.
The bell rang again at 4 o'clock, signalling the end of the school day.
"And that's the end of the day. Don't forget to read pages 35 to 40 in your text books for homework." Said the teacher
The teacher for science was a male meerkat called Mr Lane. He was younger than Mr Peterson and much more interesting to listen to.
Zane and Flare walked out the school gates together. Sapphire was already with his mother at the car.
"Hey Flare over here." Sapphire called
"Who's that?"Zane asked
"That's my sister" Flare replied
"Your sister"
"I'm adopted"
"Oh right, ermm sorry."
"It's ok. Ermm is it alright if I hang out with you tomorrow like today" Flare asked
"Yeah sure, we're friends now aren't we?"
"Great, well I'll see you tomorrow then"
"Yeah see ya"
Flare ran towards his mother's car. He couldn't help smile. Apart from his sister, Zane was the only one to ever regard him as a friend.
"Sorry I didn't see you in school today. I didn't see you anywhere" Sapphire apologized
"Nah its fine"
Flare and Sapphire got into the car and drove back home.
"How was your day Sapphire?" Mrs Phoenix
"My day was great, had lots of great classes. I couldn't find Flare anywhere though."
Mrs Phoenix noticed Flare's cheerier mood as they drove.
"So Flare, how was your day?" Mrs Phoenix asked
"It was pretty good. Morning was boring but the rest of the day was good."
"Who was that kid you were talking to a few minutes ago?" Sapphire asked
"That was Zane I just made friends with him today."
"Really, well that's good to hear" Mrs Phoenix said
"He was your friends wow he's cute" Sapphire commented
Flare looked out the car window. He'd expected today to be rubbish but it turned out great. He even made friends with someone who, for once, didn't treat like he was an alien. Flare smiled and looked towards the sky.
'Maybe things aren't going to be so bad after all' he thought.