To Grow

The next morning, I woke up at dawn, as I always do. The first class of the day starts at 8:00, in room 211. It was a math class.

I sat up, and put on my clothes. I was sleeping naked, because I had no pyjamas or sleepwear. I also need to buy toothpaste, a toothbrush, and floss. The nurses at the hospital didn't talk to me unless out of necessity, but one nurse was very particular over proper dental care. She insisted that I brush my teeth twice a day and floss them at least once a day.

My roommate, Summer, was still sleeping. I stepped out our room and entered the staircase, making sure that I had brought my pencil case, binder, and notebooks. It suddenly struck me how clean the corridor between the rooms was. That detail just suddenly popped out at me. I walked down the stairs and passed floor two, which reminded me that I also needed to buy shampoo for my hair, and some towels to dry off in. Maybe I can just shift into a quick furred one and shake myself off once I finished showering? How would that even work? Would only the fur on my head be wet, or would my whole body be wet? It's been so long since I last shifted that I've forgotten small details like that.

I wandered around for a bit, stopping by a few bushes. I was about to habitually shift into a quick furred one when I remembered that I was not supposed to mark the place. This was a public space. 

There were multiple side doors to the school, but I decided to enter through the main entrance.

As I walked past the doors, in between every two doors was a row of black lockers, and every four doors was a small wooden bench. This school really likes the darker colours. 

Room 211...211...That's room 111...117...

I made a whole circle around the multiple classrooms. On my second round, I noticed that there were stairs going up. I climbed up a set of stairs and saw room 201. I was on the wrong floor. 

Before long, I found room 211. I checked a nearby clock. It read 6:57. I was once again thankful of the Teaching Assistant teaching me so many small yet essential bits of knowledge, like reading an analog clock. I was told that most of the population can't read analog clocks anymore, and instead relied on digital clocks or their phones. The Teaching Assistant had taught me that the mutated animals and humans with powers only emerged about 100 years ago, and since then, most governments have been putting most funds into learning and using powers, rather than technological development. 

But I've heard from gossiping nurses downstairs that the rich already have access to something called a 'chip', which is essentially a phone, just smaller, more powerful, and implanted into the body. But none of that mattered. What mattered was going back to Fingard Forest.

I sat on the nearest bench and waited patiently. Time didn't speed up, but I was patient. 

I periodically checked the time, and when it was 7:40, a few students had filled the hallways. When it was 7:50, my teacher arrived. She unlocked the classroom and put her bag on her desk, then left. She left the door open. I entered the classroom and looked around.

There was five rows of desks, and five desks in a row. The desks were arranged in a grid pattern, each with the same amount of space in between. There was a window opposite the door, with iron bars attached outside, and a few cabinets lined up to the left of the door. The teacher's desk was just beside the door, in the left corner. 

On the desks were names written on tape. I eventually found my desk. It was in the second to last row, and farthest from the window. I placed my things down into the cubby in the desk and sat down.

I was very tempted to shift into a big furred one and curl up, but the Dean had told me using my Power without permission was forbidden, and could land me in very serious trouble.

Actually, since when was I so receptive to commands? A thought niggled at the back of my mind, but I ignored it. It wasn't important.

Finally, it was 8:00. Most of the seats had been filled, and I noticed that Summer was also in my math class. She was sitting in the front row, right in the middle.

The teacher came in at 8:03, and handed out a sheet of paper.

"I'm Ms. McDonald. I will be your math teacher for this year." she said in a clear voice. She was short, had ginger hair, and was thin. 

"I see some some new faces in the crowd. Let's all introduce ourselves. Nathan, you begin."

The boy -Nathan- stood up and said, "I'm Nathan." Then sat back down. 

"Why don't you tell us your hobbies, Nathan?"

"I like to fuck my ginger haired teachers." After saying so, he thrust his hips forwards. There were a few titters from that. Ms. McDonald suddenly vanished, and reappeared right in front of Nathan. 

"Nathan, I graduated from this school. And guess what?" Ms. McDonald grinned wide, shadows gathering around her. "They gave permission to use our Power on misbehaving students, so long as they don't die." The shadows grew darker, and the lights began flickering. Ms. McDonald's eyes were now the only part of her visible. "Now, would you repeat that, Nathan? I didn't hear you very clear the first time."

Nathan gulped, but stayed quiet.

The shadows suddenly disappeared, and Ms. McDonald reappeared at the head of the class.

"Nathan, what are your hobbies?"

"I-I like to work on cars."

"Good. Now, the next person, on Nathan's left, please introduce yourself."

The process repeated, but I made no effort to memorize my classmates' names. I didn't see the need to, because there was no need to memorize them right off the bat. I'll just gradually learn them.

"Alright. Your turn." Ms. McDonald's voice snapped me out of my mind, and I noticed she was looking at me. 

I stood up and said, "Storm. Hunting." And sat back down. I didn't like that one bit. It was... stressful being seen. I was too used to my existence continuing solely from being unseen. Just having that many sets of eyes on me triggered my instincts. Because of that, I forgot to add the extra words like 'my' and 'is' and 'name', etc.

There was a pause, and then Ms. McDonald asked for the next student to introduce them self.