Archaic Gethen

Beasts Are Out

Mandy looked around the classroom, counting how many people had fallen asleep. So far, she had got to nine, and most of them were drooling.

Mr Landy, her History teacher, was droning on about the history of toilets, pausing every few minutes to look back at the textbook he was holding. Mandy found it quite boring, but listened anyway, in case it was important.

"C’est tellement ennuyeux." Mandy breathed, resting her head on the table. Born and raised in France for the first five years of her life, Mandy Summers spoke fluent French. She was so used to speaking it at home that she sometimes answered questions in French on accident. Most of the time, she never realised.

"Did you say something?" A brown-haired boy asked her. He had soft hazel coloured eyes, but had an annoying reputation. His name was Callahan Spurway and he was the class joker, always making irritating puns and laughing about them afterwards, even if no one else had joined him.

Mandy sighed. "Yes. I said c'est tellement ennuyeux." That earned a confused look from the boy.

"What does that mean?" He asked. Mandy was about to translate it into English, but was interrupted by Mr Landy.

"Miss Summers. I hope you're listening." He warned, giving her a stern look. Mandy nodded quickly and then busied herself with her notes, pretending to write down words that she did not hear.

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying..." Mr Landy happily went back to preaching about toilets, sending the girl in front of Mandy to Dreamland. Mandy sighed again and looked back at Callahan, who was sniggering quietly.

"That was your fault, you know. I do not know what you're laughing at!" Mandy whispered, keeping her head down. That only made Callahan snigger harder.

The French girl turned her head away from Callahan and sneaked a peak at the boy sitting next to her.
He was a tall athletic boy, with dirty blonde hair and a handsome face. He had green eyes, which always surprised Mandy whenever she looked at him. His name was Drayden, and Mandy had a small thing for him.

He noticed her looking at him, and gave her a small smile. Mandy's face flushed and she smiled back, turning to face Callahan before she did something stupid. The annoying boy had to smash his face down on the table to stop himself from laughing out loud.
"Is he OK?" Drayden's voice was like an alarm going off in her head, signalling Mandy to go into her 'Don't Mess Up' mode. She turned to Drayden again and gave him a small smile.

"Yes. I think he is OK. Just laughing at one of his stupid puns again." Mandy said, giving a tiny laugh at the end. Drayden nodded, giving Callahan a funny look. Mandy looked back at him, hoping he would stop laughing. He was still going.

"Mr Spurway? Do you find something funny about the history of toilet making?" Mr Landy asked loudly, making the girl in front of Mandy wake up. Callahan instantly stopped laughing and looked up, his poker face on.

"No, sir. I was laughing at -"

BOOM.

Callahan would never get to finish his sentence, because just at that moment, a massive explosion shook the building, sending everything into disarray.