I never thought somebody else's first day at school would be this terrifying.

This was it. The moment of truth. The sink-or-swim test for Lunalis. This was her first day of high school. I'd woken up a few hours before the sun rose, unable to sleep. I was imagining all the horrible things that could possibly go wrong today.

Lunalis somehow getting her choker off and destroying the school. Replacing arms with tree branches. Turning the classrooms into forests. Growing poisonous mushrooms that made you experience such wild hallucinations you get scared to death. There was no end to the horrors that could happen.

After I couldn't possibly stall for more time, I decided to wake her up. Gently rapping on the door, I tensed, waiting for something huge to jump out and rip my face off. I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't feel my limbs disconnect from my torso.

Opening the door, I found her curled up in my sister's bed, softly snoring. I gently nudged her shoulder with my hand. She didn't move. "Lunalis, it's time to get up," I said, shaking her side. She still didn't respond. Leaning down by her ear, I started, "Lu-"

"Step away from me before I surgically remove your windpipe," she whispered, a claw-like nail pressing into my skin. I nodded and complied, taking a few giant steps back. "I-I was just coming to wake you up," I stammered, nervously touching where her hand had almost shredded my skin moments before.

"Why," she asked, yawning and stretching her arms. "The sun's barely risen. Is something wrong?"
"No," I said, though I had silently hoped an asteroid would crush the school and I wouldn't have to endure the stress of keeping her from killing someone. "It's your first day of high school."

"I don't want to go," she whined, flopping back over and covering her face with a pillow. "None of us do," I said. "There's a reason it's called Prison Education. But it's either you don't go, or you reveal yourself to the world when the police wonder why you aren't in school. It happened to me, chances are it will happen to you."

"Ugh," she groaned, rolling out of bed. "I wish I'd never even heard of the word human."
Just wait until you meet Señor Uhl, I thought. Then, out loud, "Come on. We need to leave now or we're going to be late."

"I don't care if we're late," she snapped, sitting on the bed and crossing her arms. I growled at her immaturity. I bent over so I was eye-to-eye with her. "If we are late, we will get detention," I said slowly. "If we get detention, we stay even later at school. So, the later you are, the later you stay. Is that clear?"
Her eyes widened and she squeaked, "Crystal."

I don't think I've ever seen somebody move so fast under the threat of school. She zipped around the Mothership, collecting the things I told her she would need for today. She snatched up her backpack, which was all white, and dumped her supplies into it.

Finally, pleating her hair into a braid and tying it off with a hair tie, she grabbed my arm and my bag and sprinted out the door. "Okay, what now," she asked, panting, her face red from running around the house.

I took my bag from her and slung it over my shoulder. "Now, we start the walk to school," I said, gesturing for her to walk beside me. "I might be leading the way, but I still don't trust you to try and kill me," I explained to her confused look.

"Smart," she said. "You're starting to think like your species is supposed to."
"What's that supposed to mean," I asked.
"Oh, nothing."

We continued walking, out of the cul-de-sac, up the hill and over the bridge. "Wow," she marveled, peeking over the railing. "That's either the biggest Karil track or the smallest canyon I've ever seen!"

"It's the canals," Toby's voice chimed in from behind us.

Jumping, Lunalis whipped around to see where he was. He was walking his bike in the street next to us. "So, how's it going," he asked. "You know, living with a creature that can kill you in a bajillion different ways."

"Um, I don't think there's any way I can describe it," I said, trying to satisfy Toby and keep Lunalis in a good mood. Shrugging, he kept walking next to us, vocalizing a song of some kind.

"Are you trying to sing," Lunalis asked, looking at him. "Because if you are, that's not very good."
"Please, like you could do better," Toby smirked. I didn't mention that I'd heard her sing, and she was really good.

"Oh, I can," she grinned, seemingly pleased with the challenge. Taking a deep breath, she started to sing.

Again, her song had no words but, somehow, I knew what she was singing about. Her voice wove a scene of a thousand pictures, and I could see, smell and taste anything and everything all at once. The serenity of the forest. The bubbling of a creek running through the woods. Birds performing a symphony of calls, echoing around the trees.

Then, my eyesight began to sharpen. I could see each individual strand of hair on Toby's head. I could pick out every single shade of green in Lunalis' eyes. I saw every water crystal on each individual snowflake on a snowy mountain, even though there were none here in Arcadia. I saw each blade of grass in the school's soccer field, even though we were still at least ten minutes away from Arcadia Oaks High.

I saw the world through a butterfly's eyes. I flew over the highest mountain peak. I sipped nectar from the flowers and worked with a team of ants to move an orange slice. I could have stayed forever, looking through the eyes of every creature in existence. Then, the ringing of the first warning bell went off, shattering the mirage and interrupting the song.

"We've gotta go," Toby yelped, hopping on his bike and pedaling away before I could ask him for a lift. So, I grabbed a very confused and annoyed Lunalis by the wrist and ran for the school.

"Why are we running," she asked, wrenching herself from my hand and keeping my stride with ease. "We're gonna be late to school," I yelled over the second warning ring. Eyes hardening, she grabbed my arm and sprinted faster than I had ever seen a living creature move.

We barreled onto campus just as the third bell rang. Hurrying to my locker, I grabbed my books, threw Lunalis one, shouted, "It's for your disguise!", and then ran for history class with her on my heels. Racing to the door just as it shut behind Mary, I threw it open and collapsed, panting, on my knees, Lunalis leaning on the doorway for support.

"We made it," I panted.
"Mr. Tarron, I say this with all due respect, but it may be wise for you to invest in a clock if you don't want to show up in History looking like you came from Gym," Mr. Strickler, our History teacher, chuckled. "Oh! And it looks like you have a friend with you. Would you care to introduce her?"

"I-" she started, then shrieked as she saw Strickler for the first time. He had white hair slicked back so it reached down to his shoulders, not unlike the style of hair a man named Alexander Hamilton had. He also had green skin that had a stony texture. He had yellow eyes with red irises, and he had a frill of razor-sharp blades around his shoulders and wore a ragged, brown cloak.

He was a changeling, a troll that could take a human disguise. But, his changeling Familiar had been rescued from a place called the Darklands, so he was permanently stuck in troll form. He had started teaching here again this year, and we'd all gotten used to his look. I guess I forgot to tell Lunalis that our history teacher was a troll.

Dropping my book, she launched herself at Strickler, claws out, howling a war cry. Intercepting her with one of the blades picked from his frill, he grunted as she used his chest as a launch pad to jump backwards. Circling each other, Lunalis struck first, razor-sharp claws against his stony skin.

When that didn't do anything, she made a fist and tried to attack that way. Dodging her attempted punch that would have connected right with his nose, he grabbed her fist and pulled her arms into a lock behind her back.

"Clearly your friend here is a bit skittish," he grunted, trying to keep her under control. Gasping in pain as she stomped on his bare feet, she jerked her head back into his chin, then turned and pushed him into his desk, which he hit back-first and went flying over.

Using the desk as a stepping stool, she leapt over Strickler, who was hunched over, groaning, holding his chin. She grabbed his desk chair and hoisted it overhead, ready to bring it down on his. "No," Strickler yelled, covering his head with his claw-like hands.

"Lunalis, stop," I yelled, finally finding my voice. "That's the history teacher! Relax!" Hesitantly, she put the chair down and sheepishly offered her hand to Strickler. "Sorry," she laughed nervously. "You gave me a pretty big scare."

"It's alright," Strickler smiled, taking her hand and rising. Then, quickly sliding his hand onto her forearm, he grabbed her and flipped her over onto her back. "I'm sorry," he apologized, offering her his hand. "But I believe that was in order for trying to assault me with my own chair."

"Truce," she asked warily, not taking his hand.
"Truce," he promised, and she took his hand. "I assume you're not from around here, miss...?"

"Lunalis," she said coldly. "You could say that, yes. I've never seen anything like, well, um..."
"Me," he chuckled, restacking the papers that had been blown off his desk. "It's quite alright. Not many people know about the existence of trolls, even less about Changelings."

"Well, I hope you don't hold grudges," she said nervously, helping him to collect the papers. "Oh, I do," he said, and she froze. "But not against misinformed students." She immediately relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now, you're new to Arcadia Oaks High, yes," he asked. She nodded. "And you know Mr. Tarron?"
"We have a history," she replied.

"Wonderful. You may sit next to his desk. I'll inform Karl about your sudden arrival." Then, he leaned over and lowered his voice. "We'll keep this little misunderstanding in this classroom, alright?"
"Definitely," she agreed.

Shell-shocked by what I'd just witnessed, I led her over to my desk, in a bit of a daze. The rest of class seemed to fly by within seconds. When class ended and Strickler left to tell Señor Uhl about the new student, Lunalis just walked alongside me, smiling at the students whispering and giving her timid looks.

First day of school, and she's already attacked somebody, I thought, panicking. A teacher, to be exact. And half the school already has their eyes on her.

I looked back at Lunalis, who was giving a little wave to Mary and Darci, who were standing and talking behind their hands, no doubt whispering about her attack on Strickler. And she's already gotten the attention of Mary Wang. Great.

I'm snapped out of my analyses by a student shrieking at Lunalis' stare. It's Shannon Longhannon, a girl in my math class. Lunalis gives a little smile, showing her teeth, and her canines just happen to seem sharper than normal. Walking as fast as she can, she speeds towards her next class, clutching her books and trembling.

And she's terrifying students right and left. I sigh aloud, and gesture for Lunalis to follow me to gym class. Something tells me this is going to be a very, very long day.

YES! DOWN WITH THE HISTORY TEACHER!!!!

Hey Snowflakes! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, be sure to vote and comment thoughts/feelings about the characters and tell me how I can improve. I'm always open to suggestions. Until next time, peace out!