Untitled Fantasy Story

Chapter 1

I needed to stop doing that every time I saw her.

Her brisk strides disappeared down the hallway and was drowned out by the sounds of fighting. I slipped out of the empty classroom with furrowed eyebrows. Looking down at my feet, I saw that I still had her stupid flip flops. They weren't even in the dress code for any of the people groups' uniforms.

I could turn her in.

Considering that both the Alaligera and the Nyxta were here, we were definitely at the heart of the school, right by the headmaster's office. A stupid decision to start a fight right there, but tensions were always high when the two groups intermingled. I strode to the headmaster's office, hoping she'd accept my testimony. There was no reason not to; Dakota had been caught with flip flops countless ones before. Then she'll be caught and be out of my hair for a short while.

I just needed to dodge the fighters and the bystanding crowd for a while first. Stupid, stupid! They were right in front of the headmaster's door. She would come out any moment and—

The crowd dispersed as the door flew open with a bang. If it were not for the fierce glare held in her slanted eyes, the disdainfully disappointed sneer that revealed her fangs, or the sheer power she was capable of, one could easily mistake her as a rookie, maybe even a mere student of the school. She possessed a timeless youth, and she was short and frail, almost sickly-looking. The perfect kind of person to underestimate.

"Who started this?" She pointed a finger at the two culprits. "Hawley, Jansen, I will not tolerate this intolerance on the first day. We have important guests that will be here any minute today, and if our school is painted with this kind of reputation, all hell will break loose. You will be punished accordingly after the rally. Now all of you, go!" She waved her hands away from the door, and then she made eye contact with me. "Dillon!"

"Yes, ma'am!" I straightened my posture, and she narrowed her eyes even more. I doubted the headmaster even knew my name, much less the body I made up just earlier this morning.

"Come into my office. We have plenty of things to talk about."

The crowd stared at me, and then whispered to themselves as I took slow strides toward the open door and the stern headmaster. She looked back at the crowd and said, "There is no commotion here. Why don't you... what do kids do on the first day? Mingle?" Her attention turned to me as the crowd dissipated, and she closed the door behind us as we entered.

"Dakota was wearing flip flops—"

"When is she not, Ms. Dillon?"

"Ma'am, I am not a miss." This will be a long year.

"Oh, forgive me." She dipped her head down. "What would you prefer to be called?"

I scrunched up my face as I though, and I shrugged. "Bri is fine, I suppose."

"Yes, and I suppose you want to be on a first name basis with me as well?" She arched an eyebrow and sat down in the chair behind her desk. The headmaster wasn't even on a last name basis with anyone. "I appreciate that you are relaxed, but you cannot afford to be insouciant toward authority. A lack of professionalism will come to bite you in the butt if you don't control it.

"Ms. DeShmidt will be punished accordingly as well, but a dress code violation is hardly something to approach me about." She waved her hand dismissively and leaned forward. "But you're not here to talk about Ms. DeShmidt's attire."

"Actually, ma'am, that is what I came in for."

"Yes, but that's not what I called you in for." She smiled and gestured to the chair on the other side of the desk. "Please, sit."