Dragon in the Dishwater, Ch 9
Dragon in the Dishwater Chapter 9 copyright 2011, comidacomida
"Hiraeth... can I ask you something?" Eric inquired as the two proceeded down a still-empty hallway; lunch period lasted another 10 minutes and few students were eager to get to their next class.
"Is that not what you just did?" the dragon countered, settling down on the young man's shoulder.
Eric paused for a moment as his brain did mental cartwheels, coming to terms with Hiraeth's assessment, "No... I mean in addition to asking you if I could ask you something." he rolled his eyes so he could avoid smiling at the dragon's unintended humor.
"You may, Eric. I am happy to speak about anything you wish." Hiraeth acknowledged.
"How do you know about all those people?" the teen asked, "You know... like the kid who killed himself at school nine years ago."
"Bobby Klein." Hiraeth spoke the name, "And it was eight years ago." he added.
"Right. Eight years ago... anyway, how did you know about him? I didn't, so you couldn't have learned about him from me."
"Mr Oliver was thinking about him." the dragon answered cryptically.
"But you said you can't read minds." Eric reminded the dragon.
"Correct. I cannot." the dragon acknowledged as they entered into room 102-- it was Eric's biology class. As a science elective, Biology was Eric's second choice, but he already took all of the Chemistry credits he was able to and he understood based on college requirements that Biology looked good on a transcript. He was decent enough at it, especially since the teacher, Mr Jacobson often included biochemistry into the class work. Almost nobody was present in class, so Eric took his seat and pulled out his notebook. Moving to the table beside the young man, Hiraeth looked down at the paper while Eric wrote.
IF YOU CAN'T READ MINDS HOW DID YOU KNOW MR OLIVER WAS THINKING ABOUT HIM? and, after a moment, Eric quickly added, AND DON'T ASK HOW A TELEVISION WORKS. I WANT THE CLIFF NOTES VERSION. He turned to regard the Dragon, who read the question and looked up right at him. For a moment, their gazes locked, and then Eric felt a strange buzzing in his mind, like a mosquito hovering around his ear.
"Can you understand me?" Eric heard Hiraeth say though, as he looked at the little dragon he saw that Hiraeth's muzzle had not moved an inch. Once more, the young man realized that he had 'heard' the dragon in a way that did not involve his ears.
"How did you do that?" Eric asked, though having forgotten himself he suddenly realized that he had spoken aloud.
"Excuse me?" Mr Jacobson asked from his place at the front of the room. Eric sat up straight when he realized that the teacher was looking straight at him.
"I was... just talking to myself, Mr Jacobson..." Eric ran his hand across the top of his head, "I was saying that I think I need a new hat." He let out a sigh of relief when the teacher turned back around and continued putting lesson notes up on the board. In the meantime, students had started entering the room. For the dozenth time, Eric was glad that the class was only half-full; each student got his or her own table.
"Humans are one of the few creatures that communicate with words." Hiraeth explained, his strange, 'otherworldly' voice resonating within Eric's head, "Because of that, most humans have lost the ability to feel out the meaning of others."
WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? THE MEANING OF OTHERS? Eric wrote. He quickly rested an arm across the writing as another student passed by his table.
"What does it mean when someone nods?" Hiraeth countered the question with a question. Too curious (and partly too confused) to object, Eric quickly wrote out IT MEANS YES.
"How do you know that if they haven't said 'yes'?" Hiraeth continued his line of questions.
A NOD MEANS YES. Eric responded.
"Did you know that there are some parts of the world where a nod means no?" the dragon asked.
YOU'RE SHITTING ME. Eric wrote.
"Your expression of disbelief brings horrible images to mind." Hiraeth commented casually. Eric could barely contain a single, blurted 'ha!'.
"A combination of body language and sounds is how humans communicate and, they assume, that the same holds true for all beings, but this is not the case." Hiraeth explained. The bell signaling the beginning of class sounded and everyone quickly took their seats.
HOW ELSE IS THERE? Eric wrote out the question, SIGHT AND SOUND SEEM PRETTY GOOD TO ME.
"You are not making sounds right now." Hiraeth pointed out.
WRITING IS STILL USING WORDS. Eric wrote down then crossed his arms.
"And you are using body language too." the dragon noted.
Eric uncrossed his arms. ALRIGHT. TALKING, BODY LANGUAGE, AND WRITING."
"Sign language?" Hiraeth offered.
The young man cursed silently and sighed, WHAT'S YOUR POINT?
"How many of these things did you know how to do when you were first born?"
Eric paused at the question, then slowly wrote down: NONE.
"So how did you learn to do them if you couldn't communicate?"
WATCHING AND LISTENING. Eric's reply was written fast enough.
"Yes... but that only gets you so far." the dragon countered, "When humans are younger they have a greater ability to communicate more like the rest of the world does... and less like a human."
WHAT IS THAT SUPPO-- Eric was interrupted in writing his response as Mr Jacobson got right into the lecture. Looking to Hiraeth, Eric closed his notebook and pulled out his binder, flipping to the divider labeled Biology and began taking notes; the dragon had his own collection of loose-leaf paper and, in an almost humorous way, was standing on the table, holding a pen, and taking notes himself. Forcing himself to focus, Eric looked back to the teacher.
"... and that explains the theory of The Dynamic Energy Budget, or DEB for short." Mr Jacobson finished writing the abbreviation next to the longer version of the term, "Now... can anyone give me an example of one of the focal points of the theory?"
Eric put his head down, continuing to write notes as the silence in the classroom became almost tangible. If the lack of a response bothered Mr Jacobson he did a good job of not letting it show, and he proceeded to provide a lecture on the different theory cornerstones. Despite Eric's wish to focus, his mind kept wandering back to his closed notebook.
"You should be focusing on class, Eric." Hiraeth reminded him. Glancing sidelong at the little dragon, Eric saw that Hiraeth was still busy jotting down notes, not even looking at him. The ephemeral way that the young man perceived the dragon's 'words' made him aware that Hiraeth was using the strange, alternate form of communication again.
I KNOW. Eric wrote next to his class notes, but didn't bother showing them to Hiraeth.
"You can look at my notes later too if it will help." Hiraeth volunteered.
MY NOTES ARE FINE. Eric wrote in the margin, working to keep his temper in check; he courteously decided not to draw the dragon's attention to the words.
"Thank you," Hiraeth responded, "but I know they're there anyway."
Eric paused at that, glancing to the dragon; Hiraeth was still attentively watching the teacher and showed no signs of even paying attention to Eric. "I am though." Hiraeth stated clearly, and glanced toward him, flashing a friendly needle-teeth grin before looking back to the instructor.
Eric closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then looked back at his notes. He forced his attention back on the instructor and made it through the rest of the class period, pausing in his note taking only once Mr Jacobson was done. Picking his pencil up once more, Eric looked back to the paper and traced THE WHOLE MIND READING IS KINDA FREAKING ME OUT, but didn't bother writing it.
"I already said, it isn't mind-reading." Hiraeth explained, putting down his pencil and turning to regard Eric, "You're talking back... you just don't realize it." and he blinked his membranes.
Eric looked at his pencil, then the dragon, then his paper, then the dragon, "Huh?" he asked, managing catching himself so that the word came out barely at a whisper.
"You asked how I knew what was going on in peoples' heads." Hiraeth reminded him, "When people are focusing enough on a feeling or thought or picture or emotion, their strongest thoughts resonate in ways most humans forgot how to hear."
Eric paused at that pulled his notebook closer, opened it, and held it at an angle so that Hiraeth couldn't see. Glancing to the dragon, then to the paper, he began to pretend to write nothing at all.
"You aren't writing anything, are you?" Hiraeth inquired in his ghostly voice, gazing right at Eric from beside him on the table.
Eric chewed on his lip and began to slowly trace-but-not-draw, SO EVERYONE IS PSYCHIC?
Hiraeth shook his head, "No... people who are more in touch with communication on such a basic level aren't psychic-- that's just the way humans describe it."
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? Eric forgot himself and actually wrote the words.
"Animals understand the communication that way and they are not psychic. Why should humans have to be any different?" Hiraeth inquired.
YOU'RE $HITTING ME. Eric specifically included the dollar sign on the "S" just to see if he would get a response from Hiraeth.
"I am not dollar-sign-hitting you." the dragon responded, cocking his head to the side, "but I appreciate the humor... it means you are not as mad as you had been before during our talks."
Eric paused at the dragon's comment and took a moment to consider the observation, "I guess not." he mumbled, and the bell for the end of class rang. Without another word, written or spoken, Eric gathered up his papers and binder and stuffed them into his backpack. He waited until Hiraeth's own papers were neatly folded and let the dragon hop up onto his shoulder.
More thoughts began to cascade around Eric's head on the long trip half-way across the school to his next class. The science wing was on the west side of the building and the Personal Finance class was in the Liberal Arts wing-- just why that was, Eric had no idea; he didn't consider Personal Finance to be any kind of art.
Mrs Breadner did not have any assigned seating for the class so Eric chose a spot far in the corner. Students in the room had single desks but the spot he chose was right next to an empty chair which was always set against the wall; without needing to be told the plan, Hiraeth hopped up into the empty chair and turned to face Eric, "Four minutes until class begins." he pointed out.
Eric didn't waste any time; he pulled out his notebook and opened it up, quickly scribbling down WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT ANIMALS UNDERSTAND COMMUNICATION THAT WAY?
Hiraeth's translucent eyelids blinked horizontally, "Animals communicate that way too."
Eric looked at his binder then the dragon then the binder and wrote out DOGS BARK AND CATS MEOW AND COWS GO
"MooooooOOOOOOOOooo." Hiraeth startled Eric with the exact impression of a cow. The teen turned back to the dragon-- Hiraeth's ear sails drooped a little and he offered with a faint smile, "They do."
HOW IS THAT COMMUNICATION? Eric continued the inquiry.
"Just because they aren't words doesn't mean they don't convey information... and just because you don't understand what the sounds mean doesn't mean that they don't mean anything."
BUT THOSE SOUNDS AREN'T ANYTHING LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Eric challenged.
"Not like what I do, no." Hiraeth confirmed. "Dragons learn to project our thoughts like some humans learn to project their voice for public speaking. Dragons' strongest thoughts can broadcast in ways that even certain humans can perceive."
SO YOU MEAN THAT OTHERS MIGHT BE ABLE TO HEAR YOUR MIND-TALKING-STUFF? Eric wrote and looked at Hiraeth.
"No." Hiraeth noted, "Just some... like you."
Eric glanced at Hiraeth, moving his pencil above the paper without writing anything, WHY ME?
"We are connected, Eric... that means you are special in a lot of ways." Hiraeth explained, "You will understand more in time."
The young man paused, looking at the blank page where he had not written the question. WHY NOT NOW? the human countered, going through the motions of writing again without actually doing it.
"Because class is about to start." the dragon pointed out, just about two seconds before the bell sounded.
Eric, for a moment, felt the urge to snap his pencil in frustration but he quickly nixed that idea since it would leave him short a pencil. Chewing on the eraser instead, the young man turned his focus to Mrs Breadner as class got started. Eric had never particularly enjoyed Personal Finance but, at the same time, it was far from his least favorite class; they never did group exercises so he considered that a good start.
As usual, class began with the teacher going over the outline of what they would learn in class. She had a brief 10 minute lecture and then began to hand out fake checkbooks prefilled several lines with numbers that reflect one month's worth of expenses. Rolling his eyes, Eric realized that most of the transactions were done by check. He didn't realize people still actually used them.
"What else would people use?" Hiraeth questioned from beside him.
CHECK CARDS. THEY'RE FASTER. Eric responded, writing the words out in his still-open notebook, deciding it better to wait for a more opportune time to test Hiraeth's strange mental connection with more fake writing.
"Eric?" Mrs Breadner called from the front. Eric froze in his seat, suddenly realizing that his attention had lapsed.
"Yes, Mrs Breadner?" he questioned, looking up.
"Do you know the answer?" she asked.
Eric looked down helplessly at his cluttered desk. Hiraeth quickly hopped over to the edge of it and placed a talon down on the opened checkbook register, indicating-- "Pizza Shack." he spoke aloud.
"Very good." Mrs Breadner acknowledged, and continued on explaining the lesson plan. Eric let out a deep breath and turned to Hiraeth, silently mouthing a thank you.
"You are very welcome, Eric." the dragon grinned with all his needly teeth, ear sails wiggling lightly, "I did say I wanted to help."
Hiraeth was a lot more help than Eric had anticipated when it came to the Personal Finance class. Mrs Breadner's assignment was to go through the entire month worth of transactions in their checkbook and correct any errors based on a bank statement supplied to them. She also noted that the students were able to make use of any resources available-- they were given the checkbook, the bank statement, a pocket calender, a calculator, a scratch sheet of paper, and a highlighter.
Between the two of them working together, Eric and Hiraeth completed the project before the class was much more than half over. Chuckling to himself, Eric put the checkbook and bank statement off to the side, I ALMOST FEEL BAD FOR CHEATING. he wrote in his notebook.
"We did not cheat." Hiraeth cocked his head to the side, "Did we?"
IT WASN'T A GROUP PROJECT. Eric explained on the paper.
"She said that you could make use of any resource-- I am a resource." Hiraeth reasoned.
Eric found himself smiling as he admitted on paper, YOU GOT ME THERE. Despite himself, Eric couldn't help but reach a hand up slowly and let it hover over the little dragon's head. Hesitating for only a moment, the young man lowered it so that his middle three fingers rested atop Hiraeth's scaled head between the horns, and he gave it a gentle pat.
A few seconds passed before he realize what he had just done, and it took another second before he noticed that Hiraeth wasn't exactly objecting; the little dragon let out a pleasant churl. Eric drew his hand back. "Did you just pet me?" the dragon inquired.
~I think I just did.~ Eric thought to himself, quickly put his hand back on the desk. The two sat in silence for the rest of the class, but Eric's mind was anything but silent. Hiraeth, thankfully, didn't push the issue. When the bell rang the teen waited for the dragon to hop up onto his shoulder and he stayed where he was until the room cleared out. He headed into the hall; his next class was only a few doors down and he was in no hurry.
Once out in the hallway, Eric moved out of the traffic of students coming and going. He spoke quietly to Hiraeth, "So what's with answering questions I was writing down without seeing what I wrote."
The little dragon looked at him, "Humans always 'think out loud' when they write." he showed his needly teeth in a pleased grin.
"But what about when I didn't write anything." Eric whispered quickly, glancing at a girl as she passed by, looking at him. She continued on without stopping.
"Whether you're writing or thinking about writing you're still doing the thinking part... and that's the important one." Hiraeth explained.
"That's really weird." Eric mumbled, stepping out into the hall to make his way to his final class.
"I don't think it is." Hiraeth offered.
"Well I do." the youth responded, and opened the door to his least favorite class of the day: Leadership. "I hate Leadership." Eric's scowl took up most of his face.
Once in the room, the young man made his way to the seat furthest from the front. His teacher, Mr Gregory, had a nasty habit of picking out people that didn't participate in class... which meant that Eric was a common reluctant volunteer. If not for the fact that he was required to take an elective, Eric would have stayed as far away from Mr Gregory as possible; Leadership was supposed to be a free study hall period, or at least that's they way it sounded in the description... but Mr Gregory made sure it was anything but.
"What is so bad about Leadership?" Hiraeth asked, walking his way down Eric's arm until he stepped off onto the desk. Each student had their own personal desk; the one thing Eric appreciated about the class was that he didn't have to share a table with anyone.
"The teacher makes you contribute." Eric noted, pulling his binder out.
"Leadership is a fine skill." Hiraeth noted, "One cannot overstate the importance of interpersonal communication and developing the aptitude to positively influence and motivate one's peers."
"God... you sound like you're a walking advertisement for Mr Gregory." Eric rolled his eyes.
"Hmm?" Hiraeth looked back at him, ear-sails up, "Oh... no... I was just reading the banner on the ceiling."
"The wha-?" Eric paused then looked up; he'd never bothered noticing it before, "...oh."
"Good afternoon, class!" Mr Gregory's chipper and upbeat voice interrupted the young man's thought processes; the teacher's daily greeting never failed send a chill up Eric's spine.
"Good afternoon, Mr Gregory!" the class chanted back at him.
"Is everyone asleep today?!?" the teacher replied at almost a shout, "You must still be half-asleep from lunch! Let's try that again! HELLOOOOOO, CLASS!"
"HELLO, MR GREGORY!" everyone shouted in response. Hiraeth, beside Eric, chimed in, wings quivering in delight.
"Hell no, Mr Gregory." Eric mumbled to himself.
"Today I have a great surprise for everyone!" Mr. Gregory announced, and he took a seat on the edge of his desk at the front of the room, "Three first grade classes from Wilkinson Elementary across the street are going to come and join us today, isn't that great?!?"
A mixed combination of half-hearted cheers and a few almost-enthusiastic 'yay's arose from the class. "I think I just died a little inside." Eric spoke quietly.
"I said, 'Isn't that great?!?'." Mr Gregory exclaimed. He got a better response from the class, and Eric hoped to god that Mr Gregory wouldn't bother asking again. Fortunately, he didn't.
"Welcome to my hell." Eric spoke quietly to Hiraeth.
"I like it. This looks like it will be fun." the dragon responded, standing up on his hind legs, forepaws folded atop one another at his chest as he gazed around at everything. For a moment, Eric couldn't help but notice the similarity of Hiraeth's stance to a meercat, but the blessed mental reprieve of focusing on something non-Leadership-Class-related was cut short by the sound of dozens upon dozens of little feet marching into the room.
Eric swallowed the knot in his throat as 1/3 of the room closest to the door suddenly began filling up with 1st graders. It wasn't that he didn't like kids... he just didn't really have that much in common with an average 5 year old...
"First graders are 6 and 7, Eric." Hiraeth mentioned casually.
"How do you know something like that?" Eric demanded of the dragon.
"The girl there just said so." Hiraeth motioned calmly to Katrina. She looked back at Eric just as he looked at her and she smiled warmly at him; Eric quickly looked away-- and right at a group of 1st Graders who were quickly coming over to mob him. Eric's fingernails dragged across his desk in sudden desperation.
~Kill me now, God... just kill me now.~
Mr Gregory's initial explanation was lost to Eric, who had been too focused with the sudden commotion of having what looked like a thousand little kids appear in the room, not to mention the mob suddenly converging as one on the class. The kids were making a HUGE fuss about... well... as far as Eric could tell, about EVEYRTHING.
"They are going to partner up with people in your class." Hiraeth repeated, "Six of them for each of you, and you need to come up with a fun project together."
"A fun project?" Eric asked the dragon helplessly, "How am I supposed to know what little kids like?!"
"You can ask them." Hiraeth offered, and motioned to more-than-six kids who were apparently quite eager to have Eric as their Leadership partner. Why that was, however, he had no idea.
"Uh... hello?" he half-greeted/half-inquired to them.
They all started talking at once, making frantic motions, pointing and speaking and shouting and yelling over one another so quickly that Eric couldn't make heads or tails of them. One of the first grade teachers had to come over and assign the students to him. Each of the first graders who were sent elsewhere let out a very heart-felt "awwwww" and trudged off. The remaining six, three boys and three girls, crowded around Eric's desk.
"What's got into them?" Eric murmured to himself.
"That's a real cool dragon!" said one of the little boys who was left behind by the teacher. Eric froze at the comment.
"What?" he wheezed.
"Do we get to play with the dragon?" asked a second boy.
"Oh..." Hiraeth commented casually, turning to regard the students, "little kids can usually see through magic that adults can't."
"Good to know now." Eric put his palm on his forehead, "frickin' great."
"You did not curse, Eric." Hiraeth commented, "I am proud of you."
"You have no idea how much I want to." Eric responded, "but I kinda have six good reasons not to." he motioned to the kids.
"What's your dragon's name?" one of the little girls asked.
"Can I touch it?" asked the third boy.
"It doesn't eat kids, does it?" the second girl asked.
"Alright... alright... alright..." Eric quickly spoke up, holding his hands out to command order. He realized that he was quickly getting steam-rolled by the youngsters and was going to lose the fight if he didn't start taking control, "First of all, everyone get a chair from the side wall--" he motioned to the stack, "and make a circle around the desk. One chair each. Go go go!"
As the little kids rushed off to do his bidding he used the extra time to try and figure out how to get himself out of the mess. His eyes slowly gravitated to Hiraeth, who was watching the youngsters intently, "you... don't eat kids, do you?" he couldn't help but ask.
"I have never eaten a human, no." Hiraeth confirmed.
"Is it too late to start?" Eric inquired. The dragon looked up at him, one eye-ridge upraised, "Never mind." the young man dismissed the half-hearted attempt at humor, "Just stand there until they get back... I have an idea." He was surprised at how sure he sounded when he spoke, rather than the desperation that clung to his insides like a rabid, caged animal eager to escape and wreck havoc on the world (and his GPA).
"Okay everyone..." Eric noted as the kids came back, "Make a circle with the chairs... and I want everyone standing in front of one facing me and my dragon." he motioned to Hiraeth. The command seemed almost alien even in his own ears. ~Did I just say that out-loud?~ he questioned himself. The kids moved quickly to comply while several eyes from nearby teens and kids alike turned to regard him.
"We're going to play a game called 'Dragon Dance'." he told his kids, "Now... only one of us can see the dragon at a time, and the first person who can see him is me." he directed to his six first graders, "My dragon is going to do something, and then I'm going to copy him... and then you are all going to copy me. Got it?" he asked, trying his very best to smile and look like he was about to have a lot of fun... and not a heart attack. All of his six kids nodded vigorously.
Glancing to Hiraeth, Eric saw that the dragon was already more-than-ready to start. The dragon sat up on his hind legs and stretched his forelegs far out in front of him. Eric quickly did the same thing, and was relieved to see that the six kids in the circle around him did the same. "Good!" Eric noted, and then turned to the boy to his left, "Now you tell us what the dragon is doing."
Hiraeth, with the aid of his tail, bounced up and down on the desk on his hind legs. The boy, true to form, began jumping up and down and, before Eric knew it, all of his first graders were following suit. Once the first boy stopped everyone looked to the next first grader in the circle, one of the girls, who looked to Hiraeth. The dragon spun once in a circle and, without missing a beat, the girl did so as well. A moment later the rest of the kids did the same.
Once each of the kids had a chance to mimic Hiraeth Eric called attention back to him, "Very good, everyone!" he offered in as an encouraging voice as possible considering the fact that his heart was still beating a mile a minute, "Now... for round two, the dragon is going to do TWO things, and everyone has to repeat them both... ready?"
"Ready!" his kids shouted happily but, Eric quickly realized, more than six voices responded. Looking around, Eric was surprised to see that three other groups of kids had joined the circle and their teenage team leaders were standing off to the side. At first, Eric was soured to see his classmates loafing around but he quickly realized that any apathy would have to wait; he had almost 20 little kids staring at him.
The second round took a lot longer to go through, not only because each of them had to do TWO things Hiraeth did, but because he had quite a larger group of kids. Eric somehow managed to survive the second round and even managed to lead a round of applause with a very convincing amount of cheer. "Very good, everyone!" he complimented the first graders, wondering if he was actually going to survive the latest of Mr Gregory's tortures.
The stress suddenly came back ten-fold when he suddenly realized that none of the other students in the leadership class were in charge of their kids. Eric looked around; he was in the center of the room with every single first grader a part of the Dragon Dance circle. He almost let a four-letter word slip, but, between every single first grader staring at him, Eric also had every last teacher watching him like a hawk.
"Go Eric!" Katrina shouted, "Everyone wants another round!"
At first, Eric was almost tempted to throw a chair at her, but her singular voice was drowned out amidst a chorus of similar requests from all around the room... teachers and students alike... especially the first graders. Despite how Eric thought the day would go, he never anticipated that his whole leadership class would end up playing "Dragon Dance". He was relieved beyond measure when Mr Gregory called everyone to order to announce that the first graders had to leave.
Once the kids had all left Eric thought that he would finally be able to relax. By the time the final bell rang he had almost given into the illusion of freedom. When Mr Gregory announced, "Alright everyone! Great work today! I'll see you tomorrow!", Eric was convinced that the day was over and that he had survived. That was right until the teacher added, "Eric... would you stay for a few minutes please? I need to speak with you."
Sighing, Eric packed up his binder, shared a glance with Hiraeth, and trudged his way to Mr Gregory's desk. "Yea?" he took a seat in the student chair directly in front of it.
"I wanted to talk to you today about your behavior in class." the instructor crossed his arms.
"I was just--" Eric quickly stood up. What had he done wrong?"
"Eric..." Mr Gregory stood up as well, "You come across as an intelligent young man. I know you do well in mathematics and science, but I've never seen anything from you in here except not-so-carefully veiled disgust..."
Eric opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't actually find anything to say.
"until today." Mr Gregory finished. If Eric had been speechless before, he was struck even further dumb by the teacher's admission, but Mr Gregory wasn't finished, "I can't really figure out what to say..." he chuckled, "except that your performance today was probably one of the finest examples of what this class is all about." he reached out and clasped a hand on Eric's shoulder, "You are an amazing young man, Eric. Don't ever lose that."
"Uh..." Eric paused, just beginning to regain control of his voice, "Okay..." he shifted from foot to foot, "Is... that everything?"
Mr Gregory laughed, withdrawing his hand, much to Eric's relief, "Yes, Eric... that's everything."
"Okay." the young man acknowledged, "I'm... just... gonna go now." and he headed for the door. Hiraeth met him at the exit to the room and hopped up onto his shoulder.
"Oh! Eric?" Mr Gregory added. Eric silently grimaced, hoping to avoid any further interaction with the over-the-top Leadership instructor.
"Yea?"
"Do you mind if I use the Dragon Dance in future classes?" Mr Gregory was smiling like a kid in a candy store."
"It's all yours." Eric offered, and quickly escaped while he had the chance.
"I liked your Leadership class, Eric." Hiraeth spoke up as the two exited the school. The young man started on his way home while the dragon remained perched on his shoulder.
"Yea... well it isn't normally that great." Eric countered.
"So you thought it was great too?" Hiraeth questioned.
"I didn't say that it--" Eric stopped walking as he retraced the discussion, "Wait... what?"
"The class went better today than usual?" the dragon inquired. Eric couldn't tell exactly how or why the dragon changed the question... he knew that Hiraeth could have made him squirm with any kind of verbal poking or prodding, but the question almost seemed like an easy-out.
"Yea..." Eric answered hesitantly, "It didn't suck as much as it usually does."
"I liked playing Dragon Dance." Hiraeth announced, "It was fun."
Eric almost laughed, "Well, you do seem to like having people do what you tell them to do."
Hiraeth glanced side-long at him, his eye membranes blinking, "Did you enjoy Dragon Dance, Eric?"
The young man shrugged, "I guess so." he offered without commitment, "It WAS better than what we normally do."
"Good." Hiraeth acknowledged, "then I'm glad I was able to come to school with you today." he unfurled then refolded his wings, ear-sails extending then contracting, "Thank you for taking me with you."
Eric turned the corner and headed down the sidewalk to his house. As he reached the doorstep he glanced to Hiraeth, who was still looking at him. With a smile much more genuine than he thought he was capable of, Eric replied, "Thank you for making me take you."