Shye Goes to School (chapter 2)
Shye managed to read one more page of We Are All Just the Same before he looked up again. The room still had a hollow sound and it still smelled of dust, but he was starting to feel that he liked school. Miss. Light was nice, there were crayons and books and other youngsters, and he'd even worked out what to say to Mennah when she got too serious.
Footsteps came down the hall and Miss. Light walked out through the doorway to find out who was making them. Then he heard her voice again. "Good morning Mr. Highflight. And hello to you, young jack."
Shye looked up at Mennah again. She stood around chewing her lip and looked like she didn't know what to do. Then she looked for Sonn and they sat down together with their tails curled all the way around their legs in big circles. Shye thought their tails looked like they were made of lots of short pieces. Mennah and Sonn's clothes were dull green - although Mennah wore gyne clothes and Sonn wore andro ones. Sonn didn't seem to know there was anybody about at all. His ears twitched when somebody talked or moved, but he didn't look around. Mennah looked a little bit, but she didn't seem to want to because Sonn didn't.
Miss. Light walked back into the room, holding hands with a tarm hatchling. When they got close she let go of his hand and he stood and looked at them all. He gulped and Shye saw that he had metal wires on his teeth.
"Everybody," Miss. Light said, "This is Brant. Be sure to make him feel welcome." Then she touched him on the shoulder and went back to the hallway, yawning as she turned. She put her hand politely in front of her mouth as she did, the way Mummy had told Shye to when he yawned.
Shye and Truth looked at each other. Shye didn't think Miss. Light wanted anyone to talk about Brant's wire tooth-things.
Brant shrugged his wings and looked at the floor, and scraped at the carpet with the edge of his shoe.
Shye tried and think of something to say. "Miss. Light is nice," he tried.
Brant looked shyly at Shye and then back at the floor again.
Then Shye heard more footsteps in the hallway and stretched to look around Brant. Brant's wings - which were made of green skin - blocked his view and he had to lean quite a long way.
He heard Miss. Light's voice echoing again, and he thought she was talking to another grown-up. "Honestly Mrs. Lushtail, she'll be fine. We're a very friendly group here, we'll make Citrus feel right at home." Then her voice went more like a mummy's. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's go and see your new friends."
She walked back in, holding the hand of a chout kit. She looked scared and tried to hide behind Miss. Light's legs as they walked. Miss. Light kept on holding the kit's hand even when they got to the carpet corner. The kit stared at Shye, and Truth, and Sonn and Mennah, and Brant, and the other three youngsters whose names Shye hadn't learned yet.
Miss. Light said matter-of-factly, "Everybody, this is Citrus. She's going to be part of our class." Then she leaned down and whispered in Citrus' ear (although Shye heard what she said): "Why don't you get to know them? They'll all be nice to you. Won't you?" she asked the group. Citrus chewed her knuckle and watched them all hopefully.
"Yes, Miss. Light," everybody said meekly. Miss. Light smiled and let go of Citrus' hand. She walked over to her desk again, her black arms swinging slightly and her tail waving from side to side.
Everyone looked at Citrus. She burst into tears.
Two of the others behind Shye got up. One of them - who was also a chout - gasped and said, "What's wrong?"
"I want my Mummy!" Citrus wailed, wiping tears from her eyes. Her shoulders hunched and her tail curled close to her legs, which trembled.
The other chout looked worried and hugged Citrus, who didn't move.
The other, a luman molly, joined in hugging. "It's all right," she said, pushing her cheek against Citrus' and squashing the chout's orange and white-ish fur. Then she took Citrus' hand and tried to pull her over to where they'd been sitting. "Come on, we were playing unicorns. Do you like unicorns?"
Shye twisted to look around as they led Citrus back. There were little plastic unicorns standing on the carpet, one facing three others. The three gynes sat down and the molly explained. "This is Crystal," she told Citrus, holding up one with her black fingers, "and she was telling Rainbow, Sunlight and Perfect that she wants to be a dancer..."
Shye lost interest and looked instead at the other youngster, who hadn't said anything at all. He was a sylkan and lay on his front, drawing. His face was close to the paper and he screwed up his face with concentration as he drew. He noticed Shye looking and frowned.
"What?"
Shye was surprised by how rude the sylkan was but tried to talk anyway. "Who are you?"
"Carlen," said the sylkan and started drawing again.
Shye bit his lip and thought. He still had We Are All Just the Same and turned the pages until he found the sylkan page.
"This is Brine, and he is a sylkan." Brine had his hands on his hips and looked angry. "He is silver all over with black spots. He is half bird, half lizard. Brine likes everybody to think he is very strong and sometimes that makes his friends think he doesn't need them. But he does really. All Brine needs is to see his friends being friendly to each other, and to him. Brine is an andro sylkan, which makes him a cock. His mummy and aunties are called hens."
Shye was just thinking about this when Miss. Light came back into the room, leading another youngster by the hand. This one was a female blite. Her eyes were wide but she didn't look scared like Citrus had. She looked happy! Miss. Light brought her to the group and she sat down. Her arms and chin and legs were fat and light brown, and her flesh squashed up as she sat.
"This, everybody," Miss. Light said, "is Dulse. Dulse, we're all very friendly, so I'm sure you'll fit right in." She winked at Dulse, who chuckled, and walked to her desk.
This time Miss. Light didn't sit down, but came back instead with her book of loose papers. She stood in front of them all and did a little yawn again, then opened the book. "Right, everybody!" she called. "Every morning I have to call out all of your names, and when I call you you need to tell me, 'Yes, Miss. Light,' so that I know you're here. Are you ready?
"Mennah Drysand?"
Everybody looked at Mennah. She looked around at them back, held her breath and looked determined, and said, "Yes, Miss. Light."
Miss. Light smiled and nodded. Mennah relaxed.
"Sonn Drysand?"
"Yes, Miss. Light."
"Carlen Fishmore?"
"Yes, Miss. Light."
"Ness Flasher? ... Brant Highflight? ... Citrus Lushtail? ... Dulse Placidwater? ... Truth Pyure? ... Shye Race? ... Imp Strawsmith..?"
xXx
After the name-call, Miss. Light read them a story called The Great Game of Chase and Flee. Everybody sat down excitedly around her to listen, except for Mennah and Sonn who instead sat very still and very, very politely. Mennah had looked worried at first but soon relaxed, and seemed happy when Miss. Light asked her to put the book back to where it came from.
And then Miss. Light explained that when youngsters went to school they had something called a 'learning partner'.
"What we do to find our learning partner," she said, standing up, "is to link hands and skip in a big circle. Then we sing a song. It goes like this:
"The caudal went to school one day, And then went home for tea. But who did she learn with? Let's look and see!"
"And then we count, 'One... two... three!' And the caudal points straight out in front of her, and whoever she points at is her learning partner! Shall we do it once, just for fun?"
Everybody got to their feet and stood in a circle. Citrus was next to Shye on one side and Truth on the other. Miss. Light stood in the middle.
They started to skip. Miss. Light started singing, and waved her hands to encourage everybody to join in. "Miss. Light went to school one day, and then went home for tea. But who did she learn with? Let's look and see!"
They skipped on and she closed her eyes. "One!" she said. "Two... Three!" She opened her eyes and pointed dramatically in front of her.
At Sonn.
Everybody laughed except Sonn, who looked shy (Mennah didn't laugh either). But then Miss. Light said, "And that's all there is to it. Now, let's do it for real." She paused slyly. Her black tail waved and swished her yellow and pink skirt. "And we're going to do it... around Dulse!"
Everybody looked at Dulse. She looked surprised and then delighted, and covered her mouth with both hands and giggled. Her tiny, rounded ears twitched slightly.
"Dulse, are you ready, darling?"
The blite walked, giggling, into the middle of the circle and Miss. Light walked out. Then Miss. Light said, "All right, everyone. Let's sing the song again!"
"Dulse went to school one day, And then went home for tea. But who did she learn with? Let's look and see!"
"One!" Dulse said, already pointing in front of her and laughing. "Two! Three!" They all stopped skipping and looked at who she was pointing at.
Carlen the sylkan.
He looked at Miss. Light, and then at Dulse. Shye didn't think Carlen wanted to be Dulse's learning partner.
"Okay, you two go and sit down," Miss. Light said. She wrote something on a piece of paper and then put the pen down. "Now, can you go into the middle please, Truth? Everybody else, get ready to skip again!"
They skipped. "Truth went to school one day..." they sang. Shye watched the way Citrus' shoulders twisted as he held one of her hands and Mennah held the other. Her tail swept back and forth and swished against his tummy. It was a very furry tail, furrier than his. "And then went home for tea..." Truth stood in the middle of the group, watching the others skipping. His fur was white and his jumper was red, and he seemed to jiggle as Shye skipped. "But who did he learn with..?" Sonn didn't look comfortable skipping. He was too serious to do it, but was doing it anyway. "Let's look and see!" Shye wanted it to be him.
"One, two, three." Everybody stopped still and Truth pointed.
His learning partner was Brant.
"Exellent work!" Miss. Light called out. She wrote again. "Now. Imp?"
Imp took her place and bit her lip as she stood. Her bushy orange tail curled around her shoes and she held her hands behind her back, giggling.
The circle had shrunk. They linked hands again and skipped, singing all the time. "...Let's look and see."
Imp counted, and pointed.
She got Ness, who she'd played unicorns with earlier. The jill and molly both jumped up and down and squealed, and ran together and hugged, and went to sit down with Carlen and Dulse, and Truth and Brant.
Then it was Shye's turn!
"...Let's look and see!"
He opened his eyes, looked at his finger and followed the way it pointed.
He saw Mennah.
She looked surprised, too. And then she looked at Miss. Light and her face went blank. Shye went to her but she didn't say anything.
"Well done, you two," said Miss. Light.
Shye went to sit down and Mennah followed. He didn't know what to say, but Mennah didn't look very happy.
"And that means that Citrus and Sonn, you're learning partners as well," Miss. Light told them.
Copyright © Hayley Deakin.