Superhuman: Dawn of Power

Awakening

"What would this race track do to benefit classes here?" Clarence began, trying to convince Red to stop with this line of questioning. "You never let anyone ride Pizza. Not even the six-year olds."

"They could easily fall off! Pizza is not that friendly to people who are not me, you know!" Red mumbled some words to Pizza, before turning back to face him.

"Pizza likes me, though." He told her, secretly sending a telepathic message to her horse for it to nod it's head.

"You're telling Pizza to nod their head." She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "I'm onto all of your little tricks, Professor."

"Okay, you got me." Clarence laughed, before turning his heel. "I'll think about your request, but don't think it means that I'll do it."

"Thanks, Professor!" Red called out to him. "I'll make sure to finish all of my school work on time if you do!"

His next stop was the botanical gardens, where a student by the name of Ackley Cenehard usually camped out. It was hard to get in the gardens - as thanks to Ackley, the plants would usually grow out of control. He wouldn't allow other people to trim them, either.

"Ackley!" Clarence called out to him, having tripped up on a few roots already whilst trying to navigate his way through. "Are you in here?"

A few branches moving behind him revealed the boy, sitting in a field of roses. He was fiddling with his beach blond braids, adjusting them to how he would see fit. "Sorry, Professor. I couldn't hear you. I was listening to the roses."

Clarence sat down in a space where no plants grew (if he had sat on a rose, Ackley would never let him hear the end of it) and handed him the notes. "You asked for these?"

"Yes..." He took the notes and looked them over with his blue/brown eyes. "Um, there was also another reason as to why I wanted to talk to you, Professor." He looked slightly nervous, his lip trembling.

"Is it about the other students?" Clarence sighed. Ackley had had a history with students being careful around him. He had pale, green skin, and always being in the botanical gardens had earned him a few giggles from others.

"They don't include me within their games." He began. "There's a contest every Friday to see who can destroy your favourite tree and fix it back up together again, and I always have to go back and fix it, but I don't get counted for it!"

"T-They do what to my favourite tree...?!" Clarence made a mental note to shut this down immediately.

"I've told them they should stop, as it hurts the tree, but they don't listen..." Ackley played with a nearby rose, making it bounce up and down.

"I'm sure one day you'll have lots of friends." He told him, putting his hand on his shoulder in a supportive way. "Remember when I first brought you here? You used to hang out at the same tree, day after day. You were quiet back then, and didn't really talk to anyone. But now, you're a main leader in group projects."

He smiled a little. "I have people who act nice to me when we do those. They're fun."

Clarence stood up, remembering that he still had other students who asked for the class notes. "If you have any concerns, feel free to visit me at any time, Ackley."

"Thanks, Professor. You've helped me a lot." A vine patted Clarence on the head, which he assumed was another way for him to say thanks.

After Clarence had crawled my way back outside, he looked down at the list Luella gave him to see that the next student on the list was Felice Noble. She would usually be hanging out at the library, so he headed there immediately.