1 Intro (#1)

An alarm rang, disturbing my careful slumber. With my closest hand, I slowly reached over and pushed a specific button to stop the noise. Of course, I managed to miss it the first time, but the soul-piercing whine was eventually silenced. My mind urged me to wake up and face the day as I promptly stuffed my head back into my pillow.

Groaning, I reluctantly tore myself away from my fabric heaven. Why was it that my mind refused to let me fall asleep during the night but decided that it was irresistible to stay under my covers in the morning? The thought flew around my head as I grudgingly got dressed. The repercussions of sleeping heavily all day that I inherited from the summer was taking a huge toll on my functioning. I reminded myself that I would have to deal with it eventually as the school year started once again.

Moving across my dormitory, I grabbed my outfit for the day, which was my freshly washed school uniform. Replacing my pyjamas with it, I entered the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. Flashing my sharp teeth, I grabbed my toothbrush and began to tend to them. After also tending to my indigo scale-laden skin, I gazed at my emerald green eyes and decided to prepare my first meal.

After I had eaten breakfast and investigated the map of my new school, I attempted to figure out where I needed to turn in the numerous twisting hallways to arrive at my classroom. However, the clock rushed me and as I grabbed my identification badge I simply decided to wing it.

Wandering the hallways, I noticed that almost everyone was just as confused as I was. I couldn't help but take second glances, anyway. This truly was a universal school, in which beings that are natively from various galaxies could enroll in. When my eyes gazed at particular students, I subconsciously predicted how they ate, how they communicated or how they even moved in some cases. Still, I knew better than to stare and continued on my journey.

A while passed before I reached a small door nestled in the corner of a hallway. I checked the map, which said that I had arrived at the right location. I slowly opened the doors, half expecting to step into the wrong class.

Several rows of desks awaited me, with a huge array of creatures loosely sitting in their matching chairs. As I approached a free, isolated seat, I saw that everyone seemed to come to the understanding that school was highly boring. I couldn't blame them; sometimes my thinking was clouded by thoughts of upcoming events and how long I had to wait until I was able to eat my lunch. I selected a desk that was in the middle and to the left of the huge classroom.

The nearest student seemed to take an interest in me. It was a small creature, one that had orange-yellow skin and a slim build. It also had other features, such as its tall, spiky ears and stringy tail.

"Hey!" It nearly shouted at me. I peered over, and it was looking directly at me. "Everyone looks so bored! It's not fun at all!"

I stopped myself from subconsciously rolling my eyes from the creature's high voice and sighed. "It's the first day of school. Everyone's sleep schedules haven't properly adjusted yet."

The alien flicked its tail and squinted its eyes. "Stop using those big words! You're not going to have a friend if you keep that up, you know!"

I couldn't care about missing an opportunity to befriend the creature. Nevertheless, I kept talking to avoid any intense conflict that may arise. Meanwhile, more students managed to find their way to the classroom. "What's your name, then?" My intestines wrenched and I hoped that the teacher would tell us to quiet down fairly quickly.

The creature's face seemed to light up at the inquiry. "It's Boingo!"

My eyes darted over the creature's hyperactive body. The name seemed to fit his personality. "Well, mine is Feste. It's nice to meet you." I instinctively held out a hand for Boingo to shake, but then I pulled it back.

Boingo giggled to himself. "Feste, huh? That's a pretty weird name! Still nowhere as cool as mine, though."

This set something off inside my brain. The corners of my mouth pushed themselves down into a frown. "Perhaps it isn't. What matters, though, is that it's special to me."

Boingo matched my irked expression. "Hey, I was just making a joke, that's all!"

As I opened my mouth to reply, the teacher cut us off. "Everyone, quiet down! We are all here, so class will now begin!"

Relieved that I now had an excuse to stop speaking with Boingo, I made myself comfortable in my seat and directed my focus towards the teacher.

"Alright, that's all for today. Class is dismissed."

I hurriedly packed my notebooks and stood up, eager to beat the small crowd of beings that swiftly blocked the door. I partly succeeded, as it took only seconds to return to the hallway. Because of his small size, though, Boingo had been able to simply sneak past everyone's numerous feet. He caught up and jumped on my shoulder. "Hey, what do we have next?"

My shoulder was on the verge of collapsing, but I tried my best to support the creature on it. "According to my schedule, we need to move to the outside field for 'magic'." My speech was rushed and a hint of pain was behind it.

Boingo continued to screech into my ear. "I wonder if it's gonna be all review or if we're actually gonna learn something!"

I bit my lip, feeling alienated. As if my appearance didn't make me fit in, my level of knowledge certainly did. Everyone seemed to believe that magic was common, but this was my first time knowing about it. As I headed with the crowd of people that were previously in the same classroom as I was, I pushed my nervous feelings away. It couldn't be that hard, right? If Boingo could understand most of it, then I shouldn't have a problem getting my head around the spells that were involved.

"What's with that face?" Boingo now had his face in front of mine. Stunned, I immediately pulled back.

"Don't scare me like that!" I rubbed some extra sleep out of my eyes. "...But thank you. If I had spaced out longer, I might have run into someone."

Boingo stood on his hind legs. "Yeah, yeah. What're these things?"

I swatted Boingo away before he could get too close to my face again. "Don't touch my horns!"

"Please? Not even a little bit?"

As I argued with Boingo, I slowly began to realize that he was the type of creature that once he was fixated on something, he would go through hell and back to do whatever it was he had to do, especially if it meant breaking a few rules or norms. I frowned and uncovered my two curling horns. "You may only have three seconds."

I didn't even need to finish my sentence before Boingo was on my head, yanking my pillars as if they were joysticks. "Now move that way! That way!"

In a heartbeat, I reached up and pulled Boingo off. "Boingo!"

He quickly calmed down and decided to walk on the floor. "Alright, I'm done. Heh, I wanted to do that the moment I laid my eyes on you!"

I would've scolded Boingo right then had the double doors leading to the outside fields not been one corridor away. We all gathered outside the doors and turned our heads randomly in the hope that the teacher would arrive.