“Ugh……” I mumbled.

  I took a deep breath as I adjusted my shoulder bag. Everything is in there. With a quick roll of my shoulders and readjusting of my wings, I stepped out onto school campus. The statues of minotaurs, fauns and other monsters greeted me. The bck stone sculptures all looked powerful with poses that looked like bodybuilders or heroes after they defeated a great evil. All while several flying monsters entered the tall spires that dotted the rge school. On the ground were some arachne, some were dancing and others were just hanging on the walls. Huddled around a statue of what looked like an orb wearing a crown sat several colorful slimes, all speaking with their synthetic voices. One even spoke with what sounded like an old phone voice. And in front of me stood the golden logo of the school, proud lion head, hungry self eating snake and outstretched bat wing.

  It felt weird seeing all these other monsters again after only just having human, human and sometimes a sprinkling of a mino or a gob. But sadly unlike Stawbae, everyone here could see and feel my mana. Every person I passed gave me lots of extra space. Lizardmen dropped their tails, mia stood straighter, fairies and pixies hid in small holes in the walls. Even the rge wolf eared dy hid behind her rge computer when I walked by, it looked like she was melting behind her obsidian desk that always sparkled. Good bye calm and cheery faces… Hello fear.

  I would’ve said it was the same old routine but today a certain feathery friend stood in front of the hallway waving her wing at me. This was a great change!

  “Hey Oliver! Thank Melodious you showed up before csses started." Kathy said as she practically hopped over to me.

  “Hey Kathy. Is something wrong?” I asked as I looked at her. She never waits for me, it’s almost always me or sometimes Mark…maybe it has something to do with Mark? “Does it have to do with Mark being out of town?” I pressed with narrowed eyes.

  Kathy wilted at that, her normally fluffy feathers shrinking around her body somewhat. “Yes and no. and from the way you sound he didn’t tell you did he?”

  “No, but I guess I wouldn’t bme him.” I looked at the floor with a frown.

  “Damn it Mark! Aghh! That puts me back a whole lot!” She grumbled as her feathers fred out like they were spikes. “How the void am I supposed to say this now?!” She muttered as she used her cwed thumb to comb her wing feathers from the base down to the tip.

  “He’s been acting weird for awhile now……” My wings lowered themselves on my back in a slouching shrug. “But what’s going on?” I quickly asked, trying to not fester in those thoughts.

  A frustrated sigh escaped her as her feathers puffed slightly. “I guess I’ll just have to give him a flying lesson….” Her brow dropped and her pupils shrunk giving her a look simir to a pissed eagle. “Then the problem is I need your help with the bitch birb faker. The girl is in the way to my team making the winter’s heavy down competition in a few months and since you have wings, I was hoping you’d fly with us as a rookie upstart.” She said looking me in the eyes but before I could answer or consider her ask, she spoke again. “The part Mark was supposed to tell you about after deciding I needed your help was the reason why. That lowest of false harpies has been putting on the pressure on my team. No, she’s been hurting them. Many of them have injuries too severe that they wouldn’t be healed and fully trained up until a month after.”

  I leaned back as she expined her difficult situation. But she’s supposed to race at dragon’s peak! Everything I’ve read or heard mentioned said it was the most difficult and dangerous track. Even my mother used it as a training ground. “I don’t know.” I started but Kathy quickly added more.

  “I know, it’s a lot to ask, a huge one really. Especially since you’d basically have to train with us and learn how to fly like a competitive athlete. And then there’s the da-” Kathy continued with a nervous almost defeated look to her.

  I really don’t know how good I’d be but… the fact her team’s getting injured like that? My friend’s future is in danger because of a cheater?! My scales lit up with mana, my arms flexed and my fingers tensed which only made my cws ready to dig in. I rose to my full height while my tail started to quickly whip side to side and anyone that was still in the hall either froze or ducked into nearby cssrooms. Kathy on the other hand, her eyes glinted with a red pulsing and her feathers narrowed into what looked like bdes.

  “I can’t guarantee anything but I’ll show up for your next practice.” I said as my wings fpped, sending a gust of wind down the hall. “Maybe I should even talk to this animal.” I growled.

  But Kathy shook her body, ruffling her feathers. “Ugh… No. I don’t want to py by her rules. I want to crush her when we race!” She said as she looked up at me with a firestorm behind her eyes.

  “Hehe-haha.” I ughed, my wings folding up a little. “Then I can’t wait to see you destroy her.” I said with a toothy grin so wide, I looked more like I was gring.

  Kathy nodded with a smile of her own. “You bet I will.”

  Reaching css, I was surprised to find Mr. Minnow wasn’t there reading but someone else was. And he jumped out of his seat and waved at me, his tail tip curling side to side as he did. Seeing him react like that made any lingering anger wash away for some reason.

  “Hey Oliver! I didn’t think I’d see you!” Belle cheerfully said as I walked up to him. Obviously that was a lie, on his desk were several drawings, doodles and a few sentences in his journal. Things like, ‘pn: wake up early and hangout’ or ‘what to say to your best awesome dragon friend for pns’ with a random, ‘I wanna cookie, you wanna cake.’

  I chuckled as I stood towering over him with his beaming smile as he looked up at me. “Morning Belle. Feeling good?” I asked as I sat down.

  “Yup! Slept extra early and even cooked some super tasty breakfast with tha' fam.” He said as he closed his journal behind his back before sitting down. “What about you?” He asked as he tilted his head and his ears flicked to the sides before facing me.

  “I feel ok but I was hoping I’d see you.” I said with a smile.

  “Really?! Uh…” He fixed his cream green polo shirt’s colr as he looked at the ground and his left ear bent and turned away. “Well….truthfully I was actually hoping to see you too.” He innocently said like a best friend just wanting to tell me the surprise.. “But you go first.”

  With that I reached into my bag and pulled out a box that looked a little on the small side in my hands as I pced it on his desk. “I got you a souvenir while visiting my grandparents.”

  Belle’s eyes sparkled like a thousand pure diamonds as he looked at the box but he held himself back from ripping it open. “You-uh didn’t have to. As cool as a gift is, I couldn’t-And I didn’t get you anything.” He said as his eyes kept shifting back to the box and to me like one of those cartoon cat clocks.

  “It’s obviously too small for me and I’d feel bad if you rejected my gift.” I said with pretend sadness in my voice, while also dropping my shoulders.

  “WHAT! OH-NO-NO-NO! Please don’t be sad!” He quickly shot out and before I realized it, he jumped out of his seat and was now hugging me. And the sweet smell of watermelons wafted into the air, making an odd tension I didn’t notice drift away. After a moment he pulled away, his ears ft on his head as he looked up at me with big eyes like a sad kitten.

  He was just so damn cute. It made me want to pick him up and spoil him with all sorts of cookies. I also really wanted to tease him more. Soooo……… “Maybe I’ll give it to your uncle Bob, the cute guy might love my gift.” I yered on as I lowered my head and slowly looked away.

  His adorable green eyes grew to an impossible size as they shot side to side, trying to do more than what he already did. “UH! UM?!”

  A smile broke the facade, followed by a giggle. “I’m sorry-hehe-you looked so cute. I couldn’t help myself.” I said, trying to fight back my ughter. That was when Belle’s face scrunched up and his cheeks puff up as he gave me gre. Then I couldn’t stop my heart from sinking.

  “And I was just thinking of baking you some cookies.” He said with mock anger.

  “Ok-ok! Don’t kill me, lord buff cat! Please take my gift as a sign of friendship.” I said as I lowered my head and he proudly puffed out his chest.

  “Then I shall forgive your sins my disciple.” He said as he picked up the box. “But only if you agree to tasting my baked goods.” He said as he gave a cheeky smile.

  “Then you got a deal, kind Belle.” I said with a smile of my own.

  His smile grew wider like he was about to do a surprise birthday party. “YAY!” He cheered before opening the box. Then his huge smile fell into a huge gaping ‘OH’. His eyes looked at it then to me and back again. Inside was the pink leather bracelet with several cut outs in the shape of a convention of fairies, each one held a bead filled with particles.

  “This is-it’s-!” He quickly held the box up to me. “Please would you put it on my arm?” He asked with his beautiful giant green eyes.

  “Alright, I owe you for teasing you.” I said as I picked it up and he held out his right arm. I undid the metal tch that unfolded simir to some watches and slid it onto his waiting wrist.

  Once it was properly adjusted to his size, Belle looked at it with the twinkle of a thousand newly birthed stars. He lifted his arm over his head then to the side of his head before adjusting it to show the fairies near his thumb. He just kept staring at it like I gave him a globe holding an entire gaxy.

  “If…you don’t like it then I could always tak-” I began.

  “NO.” He said as he cradled it to his chest and eyed me like a protective mother. “Uh, I mean-I really love it!” He said as he gave a huge smile. “Thank you so much!”

  His sweet thanks was just too bright. I nervously looked away as a smile grew on my lips. I could even feel my wings starting to stretch out so I quickly pressed my back into my seat. “Soooo, uh, was there something you wanted to ask?” I said, hoping he wouldn’t noti- and now his cheeks were a bright red. Damn it! Why use your senses now!

  He quickly looked at his journal and fixed his hair, making his ear twitch. “Uh……yeah, I do er, have something…..ask………..it’s not a big thing or anything but maybe, could you come over to my house this friday? FOR uh-dinner…….” He said as he pyed with his fingers and slowly shrunk in his seat.“Maybe hang out in my room..” He quietly muttered something

  “Uh……………………………….EHM, yes. I would like to sample more great food.” I said robotically as I felt an odd fizzy feeling in my gut that really threw me off.

  “Alright css! Today we’ll be learning about monster communication! This lesson will further help with what you learned when approaching a distressed person!” Mr. Minnow said as he drew a slime, lizardman and mia. “Can anyone tell me what is simir between these monsters?!” He asked.

  And just as he finished, Emily’s hand shot up as she drooled a hundred, ‘oh-oh’s and bounced in her seat. And he picked another cssmate who also raised his hand.

  “Jean! Yes, what did you notice?!” Mr. Minnow quickly asked.

  “They’re all sensitive to colder temperatures?” Jean asked with a raised brow.

  “Yes! But what else?” Mr. Minnow said as he nodded his head for him to continue.

  “They have another way of talking?” Jean guessed.

  Mr. Minnow nodded his head with a smile. “Exactly they al-” He looked at Emily who kept her arm in the air and quickly looked away. “All have a secondary way of communicating! Except for the slime! Those monsters actually aren’t able to vocally speak! They are one of the few races able to manipute their mana into a magical pheromone nguage! It’s a very aromatic nguage that some people have even taken to making perfumes of certain words! But you might be confused as Slimes can talk normally! That is due to using magic voice boxes!” He drew a nose and what looked like sideways wifi lines above the slime. “A specialized wind magic combined with their body’s outer yer vibrating in such a way to make a voice!”

  He then moved to the lizardman and mia and circled their tails. “Now then, do these two races communicate the same nguage?” He asked and this time Emily was standing with her arm raised. “Yes Emily?” He finally gave in as his brow sunk so low.

  “Thank you! So to begin, the only simirity between these two is in the amount of force they put into their tail movements. The stronger, the more intense while the weaker, the less importance or depressed the response is. But due to these two races living in vastly different environments. Swamp, coastal and forested for mia while lizardmen lived in mountains and deserts. They have developed different meanings between tail movements. For example, what might be seen as-” Emily expined with an excited smile on her reddening face.

  “That’s good! Thank you Emily!” Mr. Minnow quickly cut her off….

  “As a sugary sweet good-bye could be seen as the lewdest, ‘wanna have sex’, phrases to the other.” Emily continued as she pyed with her lips and had her other hand pressed between her thighs. “So it can be quite confusing as if you were propositioning them for a hot and borious~ night or day, rearranging every inch of your ~whole house~!” She said as drool started to pour out her mouth and her pupils seemed to widen.

  “Steph, please take Emily to the nurse’s office!” Mr. Minnow calmly spoke over Emily as he directed Steph.

  Steph looked at Emily with a surprised look before uncoiling herself from her seat and rushed over to Emily. “Right away sir! Come on Emily, we've got a few medical books to return to the nurse’s room~!” She said as she led her out of the css.

  “Really?! That buxom octo-dy? She could teach me eight different ways to rearrange~!” Emily happily cheered as they left the css.

  Mr. Minnow turned to the css and sighed. “I am sorry about that. Emily is most likely nearing her convergence. Please look out for her if she converges this or next week.” He said slowly rolling his shoulders.

  “Now then! As she put it, miscommunication can occur when using another monster’s way of speaking with a different race! Many have different ways to say the same thing! Signing, pheromones, magic spells, making vocalizations and several others!” Mr. Minnow said as he fixed his bottondown’s colr. “Can anyone think of different ways monsters use to talk to each other?”

  Penny raised her hand with her brows pinched together in a determined face. “Yes, Penny?” He called on her.

  “My mother tells me, waxiuans speak with their minds?” Penny said sounding like she didn’t believe it. “Is that really possible?”

  “With magic and mana, something like that is highly likely! What you’re asking about is called telepathy! And using it requires either a powerful mind or several minds linking together to add up the brain power! But if you use it, keep in mind that not only would your thoughts be transmitted, your emotions and intent are added to the specific conversation you are having! So it’s wise to only use it if those you speak to are aware of your feelings on certain topics, or have the brain power to only allow for the transfer of thoughts!” He further expined.

  Another cssmate asked if the weird ccking sound some bug monsters made meant anything. To which he expined that they can yer two more sounds together to form letters which kinda sounded like morse to me except he called it, tri-phone. Which really sounded weird only to then hear that some military used two or six different bug races with a cipher to confuse enemies. Dubbing it hex-calling. Which Mr. Minnow used to lead into why it was never wise to assume.

  “It’s important to pay attention to context! Just like lizardmen and mia, they may say one thing but doesn't always mean the same thing! Pay attention to how their mana feels, their body movement and even how their voice sounds! They might be saying something else! Unless you know exactly what form of communication they are using, it is always best to ask them if you don’t understand! Because the moment you assume, is the moment you accidentally swear at them, give false information or sever ties!”

  I couldn’t agree more, except the feeling mana part. I only remember feeling Mr. Minnow’s mana when he tried to spook the css. But why didn’t I feel anything from the Oni bitch? I looked at the door. Maybe I could ask Emily about this. Though I think I’ll need to be sure she’s feeling ok. Hmmmmm…….

  I looked over at Belle who was taking notes with three colored pens. Wow! His handwriting is super neat! Though there was a doodle of a bck cat in the corner being followed by a duo of babies in onesies and a one of a buff cat woman lifting a car. Even if he did doodle in the free spaces, it looked really nice.

  “Hey Belle?” I whispered to him. His cat ear quickly faced me like a puppy and he tilted his head, making his green eyes look rger.

  “Yeah?” He whispered back.

  “I’m worried about Emily. You know of any snacks she might like?” I asked.

  “Hmm…” He drummed his pen on his notebook. “She loves cherry-spice soda but that might be too much…..Try star mango and make sure its color is a mix of orange and yellow.” He suggested with a cute smile.

  “Alright, thanks.” I whispered as I began pnning how to approach her and maybe get to know her better.