Diaphanus

5

Valencia Auclair

Arsenio showed me to my room which I mentally noted was further towards the entrance of the school than I once thought it would be. We got there rather quickly because I was rushing to keep up with Arsenio's fast pace.

He came to a stop in front of the large door of the room I am supposed to be in. Even though I was a couple minutes late I couldn't help but to want to stay here with Arsenio. I had only just met him but I felt very comfortable around him despite who, or might I say what, he is.

"I guess this is where we must say our farewells." He told me with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Arsenio." I raised my hand up to him for a hand shake but he instead decided to take my hand and lay a gentle yet lingering kiss upon it.
My breath hitched and my body instantly heated up. I looked up from our connected hands in disbelief but he only smiled and when I opened my mouth to question him he gave a mischievous wink and left me standing, dumbfounded.

I watched his retreating figure and tried to calm my erratic heart. It was only my first day and I haven't even been here for more than an hour. Although it wasn't chaotic it still took my brain time to catch up with the events piling upon each other.

After a minute longer of trying to bring myself back into a calm state I ambled into the already filled classrooms.

I paused after I made it a couple feet in and nearly all heads turned to me, but just as quickly they looked at the teacher, clearly disinterested.

I guess after watching so many cheesy highschool movies I made it seem worse than it actually is. My peers didn't even care who I am; they are just here for an education, like me. I looked around trying to find an empty seat but it looked like most were taken except for one that was in the middle row but it was further from the windows. I tried to be as light footed as possible while I walked towards my seat, my dad alway told me I would put holes in the floor because of how 'aggressive' I walk.

I sat in the creaky chair and looked at the other students seeing they had text books out on their desk but I figured the teacher would give me one later. As soon as I thought that the teacher approached me silently so as to not disturb the rest of the class. I looked up to him expectantly, awaiting his introduction.
"Ah Ms. Auclair it's a pleasure to meet you," He said pleasantly "I'm Mr. Sawyer, we are out of textbooks but if you could just ask one of your classmates to share they would be more than happy to." He was very brief, he definitely was a no funny business kind of person. After his quick statement I glanced at the people on all four sides of me, trying to figure out which person I should ask to share textbooks with.

"Hey, Auclair," I hear a faintly firm whisper behind me "do you wanna share textbooks?" I turned around in my seat to see who was talking to me. I came face to face with a very peculiar person. I couldn't tell what gender they were but they looked like the sun and the moon decided to have a child. Although they had a femenine and sharp face shape they held very prominent features, like their full lips and strong roman nose. They had an elegant body with dull ebony colored skin. What really took my breath away was the shock of gold hair holding spiral curls that framed their face. They were decked in chains of gold and emerald stones that matched their eyes. I was awestruck by the beautiful creature sitting behind me. How had I not noticed them when I walked in?
I snapped out of my daze "Oh uhm yeah,thanks." I said and hesitantly smiled.
I turned my chair around so I was facing them but realized I would then be reading backwards. I didn't want to disturb their studies so I tried reading off the page the best I could.
"Oh forgive me I forget not everybody can read upside down." They laughed how royalty would, with not a care in the world. They turned the book around for me to read.
"Hey by the way i'm Velda but most people call me Delcour."
"Oh is that a nickname? Mine would be Val I think."
"I don't think you decide on your own nickname, and no Delcour is my last name I simply prefer my last name."
"Well it sounds to me like you got to decide on your own nickname."
I could tell my statement caught them off guard by the way they gaped at me, mouth open and eyes wide.
"Well I guess you're correct Val." They said with emphasis on my name.
I looked down at the book now turned towards me. "Can you really read this backwards?" I curiously asked.
"I said I could earlier didn't I?"
"Yes well I only wanted to make sure you weren't lying to me." I said back with slight indignation. Their eyes narrowed at me, "I would never lie." they said with a sharp tone.
"And neither would I!" I said a bit to loudly, people turned to see what the commotion was and I turned back to Delcour and we burst into a fit of laughter at the same time.

"I'm sorry for being so rude but you yelling is so funny." They said windedly, still trying to stop laughing. "And yes back to your question I can read upside down and I can read backwards. My brain automatically switches words around to their correct format."
"Is that your only power?"
"Mh it's not really a power, more so a skill. I'm actually a fae but I grew up in the mortal universe." They said absentmindedly, while still scanning the same page we had been on since we had been talking.
"Where were you from in the mortal world?"
"I lived in Michigan, although I wish I had been in the place of my people, I enjoyed it there."
They said thoughtfully.

I nodded and turned back to the book and tried to read but I ended up reading the first line of the same sentence over and over again. I was clearly still distracted by me and Delcours conversation. I was distracted, yet excited to think that they could possibly be my first friend, but what kind of friend am I if I don't know my own friends pronouns.

"Hey Delcour," I hesitantly called, they looked up expectantly, "what pronouns do you go by?"
They smiled at my question "I go by any pronouns." They simply said.
"Oh okay I just wanted to check." I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment, I know I did the right thing but I wondered if they thought it was a dumb question.
"Thank you for asking, it always makes me happy when someone asks rather than assumes."
I looked up upon hearing their voice and we shared a smile. I looked away first and stared at the textbook as a comfortable silence fell over us.