Bellmare High - Monday pt 1
#1 of Bellmare High
I would just like to apologise in advance for the mistakes I have made in the American school system. I am British and schools around the world is not my specialist subject.
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Bellmare High was a typical high school. Three buildings on the site with the largest, and oldest, facing the street. The town of Bellmare however was not. With a population of about 30,000 they were the biggest in southern Illinois, but they weren't recognised by the US government. They had a large population, but according to the government there were only 1500 in the town. Why? This was a town dominated by furs and scales, Dragons, Alligators, Foxes and Bears mainly, and the US government only recognises humans as true inhabitants. Because of this there is a lot of prejudice to the human inhabitants.
Sally was just like any other 15 year old girl, working hard at school and trying to cope with her sudden interest in boys, and the boys' sudden interest in her. She walked into school on Monday morning and got dirty looks from everyone in the hallway, since she was human and she wasn't a bad looking one either. She went to her locker to get ready for first period, PE. Why did PE have to be on a Monday morning? People were still recovering from the after effects of the weekend, and it gave everyone a chance to ridicule her about her body. No wings, scales, fur, tail or snout. She hated being human in a school with 99% of the students being animals. She went to the changing rooms before anyone else did to get changed before anyone could tease her.
Matt walked into the school and waved at his friends, a red fox called Joel and a red Dragon called Simon. Matt himself was a green Dragon, and the quarterback for the school team. He prided himself in knowing he could beat anyone at school in a fight because that was the reason he was the school wrestling champion as well. He loved PE, and got changed early so he could warm up and stretch his wings.
Sally was reading "Jurassic Park" in her PE outfit when Matt walked into the gym. She looked at him briefly before disappearing into the book again, thinking how an island of dinosaurs could survive 65 million years on such a small space. She looked at Matt again and smiled, watching him warm up was the highlight of her day. That green Dragon was always welcome with her, but she never spoke to him because it could ruin her unspoken relationship with him. They had an understanding even though they never spoke, they would leave each other to their own business. Matt knew exactly what she was, but was terrified of talking to girls. But over the weekend he made himself a promise to talk to Sally this morning. He sat down next to her and smiled, "Sally?"
"Yes?"
"I was wondering if that was a good book to read."
"Not as good as Dragonheart though."
"You like Dragons?"
"Yes. Why are you talking to me?"
"Can't a guy talk to a girl sometimes?"
"Yes, but it's usually a death sentence for the human if the guy does talk to her."
"What?"
"The other girls. They hurt me if I talk to someone like you."
"Why do they do that?"
"Because they don't want someone like me talking to you. They all want you and don't want me to have you."
"Oh." Matt looked at his feet, quite embarrassed by what they were doing to Sally. She had done nothing wrong but was still being punished for it. Sally started to read again and the bell rung for first period. Sally sighed and put the book down, Matt looked at it before watching her walk away, "Wait."
"What?"
"If you want to hang out or talk sometime Sally, just ask."
Sally smiled and nodded, "I'd like that. I'd like it very much."
She started stretching and warmed up as the teacher, Ms Wallace, a brown fox with a slight temper issue walked in. Slowly, the students came in and eventually the class was full. Sally looked at them and saw that once again, she was the only human in the class. Usually there were 2, her and her friend Jade but Jade had been in school for weeks. Rumour had it that Jade had actually transferred out. This would mean that Ms Wallace would pick on her to answer everything, but Sally had a defence. The night before she had studied various techniques of warming up and knew almost all of them.
"Sally. Rules of dodge ball! Now!"
"6 balls. Attempt to knock out by throwing the balls at opponents. If you catch a live ball you get to bring a team mate back while the thrower gets knocked out." She replied, reciting it from the website she had browsed onto the night before.
"You forgot that the balls start on the centre line and that a ball ceases to become live when it touches anything."
"They were obvious."
"20 press ups. Now."
Sally smiled and went over to the corner. Some other girls laughed and were silenced by Ms Wallace barking at them to get ready to play dodge ball. Sally smiled because she knew she wouldn't be allowed to join until she did her 20 press ups. She did them extra slowly and made sure she did it correctly before standing up and reporting to the bitch she called her teacher.
"All done? Good. Join Matt's team."
Sally secretly smiled and joined Matt's side. Although she didn't do dodge ball much, she was quite good at it, dodging the students pitiful attempts to push her over. She stood at the back and watched as a flurry of balls headed towards her, and stepped out of the way. They bounced off the back wall and she fed them to Matt, who was throwing them as fast as he could. After a minute it was only Sally and Matt left and 4 on the other team. They used a bluff tactic on Matt and soon it was Sally on her own. She backed up against the wall and braced for the flurry of balls.
They came at her in almost slow motion. Sally stepped out of the way of one and ducked when another threatened her. Matt, Ms Wallace and the whole class watched Sally do something that they didn't know she could do. Sally caught a ball and Matt was brought back on. Sally threw him a ball and Matt took out one opponent. Sally caught another and Joel came back on. She went back and fed Matt and Joel while trying to protect them at the same time. She tripped on Matt's tail and was struck out. Matt looked at her and Joel caught a ball. Joel looked at who to pick on and Matt yelled, "Pick Sally!"
He looked at his scaly partner, "Pick her!"
Joel shrugged and Sally came back on, Joel being promptly shoved off. Sally fed Matt and there was only one opponent left. She hurled the ball at Sally and then Matt did something unexpected, he stepped in front of her. He was sent off and Sally threw the ball she had in her hands. It hit the last opponent and Sally won. She fell to her knees, panting and Matt rushed to hold her up. He looked at Ms Wallace who dismissed them.