"You'd think the deformation of your face would say that you don't like me," said Steve Brown, grinning his cursed grin. It had been a perfectly fine evening.
"I'm getting the feeling the reason I've had to change school is something you know about."
I grip the freshly cleaned door, wondering if I should slam it in his face. But he is leaning on the door frame. Tch.
"Fine! Come in. Just tell me what kind of trouble you brought this time."
I go to the kitchen and make tea for us both. Something thuds on the table. Looking over the kitchen bench, I see a folder.
"Why should it be trouble?"
"Why aren't I a full-fledged teacher? And just an aid?"
"It wouldn't have anything to do with you setting fire to the gym?"
I roll my eyes. Those events weren't related.
"They were well aware of my experiments."
"They didn't expect you to raise the temperature of the air high enough to spontaneously combust the stage curtains."
"They agreed they'd needed to be replaced years ago."
I couldn't care less for his response as I navigate the moving boxes filling the lounge room floor. Don't spill the tea.
Good, I got them to the coffee table. He wipes the side before taking a sip.
He sits so casually on the couch, you'd think he lives here. I guess that's childhood friends for you. Whatever. I gave myself the better teacup.
As I look in the folder on the table, I see a class roster. Not one of the classes I was assigned to as an aid, either.
I put my teacup down as I see my name in the teacher's spot. I snatched it up, glancing at Steve,
"Your doing?"
"You've always wanted a... lively... classroom." He sips the tea, looking away.
I scan the basic information beside each precious student's face. Ah...
"Are they the candidates for the Inter-Racial Research Team?"
Steve nodded.
"See, you are the one bringing trouble."
It was more than the fact that he was the "Human Hero" tasked to foster peace between races. He was also nosy. Especially in my business!
He shrugs,
"Would anyone else be able to handle it?"
"I haven't taught a class yet."
"But you have been around the continent and met various people from every race."
"Yeah, and whose idea was that?"
Wait. Hold up. I narrow my eyes. He's caught me in his trap from a while ago...
I bite my lip.
"Drat... I'm not going to give them special treatment."
"Details are in the folder. I'll make sure they all arrive in your classroom in three days." He gives me a warm, genuine smile. I shiver.
Nodding, I round him up and push him out the door, grabbing his cup on the way.
"I've an introduction to prepare. Don't let me see you again!"
I catch an "Always the charmer," as the door closes.
How many protective barriers will I need to prepare?
...
Anyone else would think it's just a normal day with their fellow Humans. But I clasp the windowsill of my classroom every time I see a non-yellow magic core in the students walking through the school's front gate.
Steve assured me that the students of this class have all been briefed on their need to hide their true race. Looks like I won't have to worry about that, seeing as they are all arriving in their Human forms.
As the bell rings for the start of class, the last two boys run in.
"Good morning students!"
So much colour fills my vision. Earthly browns swirl within elves. Reds activate and contract within Beast-kin. Flowering colours explode from the Nymphs across the classroom. Blues wash purples through the Mermaid. Orange flickers within Fairies. Even the pale glimmer of yellow in Human cores is beautiful.
"As you may have noticed from the differing magic in here—this isn't a normal Human class. In fact, we have only one full-blooded Human."
The boy grimaces. He shouldn't be able to see the other kids' magic intensify as I said that, though? I shrug.
"I shall lead today's introductions to inspire friendship between us all!" I pull out my phone and play the piece I had prepared. Projections of my family and my younger self dance around the front of the classroom to music.
"My name is Magenta Charles - that's Miss Charles to you - and this is my very first year of teaching. I am only half-Human myself. I grew up in East City with my parents who've looked after me since young, as well as my perfect little brother, and came here, to Mid-City, for university."
Projections of me receiving my High School Certificate, Bachelor's Degree, and other certifications as well as visual representations of my aspirations are the next selection to fill the front of the classroom.
A black substance flickers through the half-Dark Elf half-Human's eyes. She must look forward to being able to graduate.
"I was set to go back to East City, however, that punk of a hero," I reluctantly show a few photographs of Steve (in awkward positions) over the years, "pulled some strings and here we all are."
I can't help my massive grin, nor the passion I hold oozing out into visible wind patterns behind me.
"My. Very. Own. Full-fledged. Class."
My eyes are watery, but clear.
"Welcome to the all-races classroom!" I hold my arms out wide as I send projections of fireworks across the room. I play their booming sounds too. At an appropriate volume, of course.
I look to the back of the class, where a couple of boys awkwardly sit.
"As the last two to arrive this morning, would Markus or Callum like to start the self-introductions to the rest of the class?" The boys look at each other before the Human scrunches his face and nods at me. I wave him to the front of the class.
As they all introduce themselves, I record their magic signatures, saving them in my phone.
"I'm so glad to have you all here! Let's make this an amazing year. Never hesitate to ask questions and remember that I will always protect you and be on your side. As a few of you have stated or inferred, this class is the first of its kind, with a representative from each race—"
"Or more."
"—and therefore, the teaching will not be as structured or strict as the normal human classes, due to many differences, but mostly because we are all working out how this works." I display one of the news articles from the Fairy killings and children kidnapping incident 18 years ago. The Fairy boy frowns.
"I know this was a hard time for many, and that it escalated so far isn't good. However, it has led to you all being my first group of students, and I am already thankful that it is each of you. I am very much looking forward to the two years ahead. These two years here at school are to give you the foundation of learning for you all to go into university and take part in the first inter-racial research team, or if you would prefer, go back to your hometowns and teach others the basics so they may go into university and take part in the research team themselves. Even if you don't decide to go down either of these options, for the next two years you will be under my full protection and teachings. So, let's continue to get along, shall we?"
A scoff comes from the window side of the classroom.
"Let's start with a show of hands of who has gone to a school before?" I lead the charge by raising my hand high. Many of the students follow suit. Only the Forest Elves and Nymphs do not raise their hands.
"Leave your hands up if it was a human school." Most of the Beast-kin lower their hands.
"Keep them up if you've done all your schooling years from K to 10 so far in a human school." Only a few hands remain. A relieved sigh escapes from the Human boy.
"Okay, okay. Well, good news. The first big event for this school is the Athletics Day at the end of next week."
"Heh, heh. Right up my ally," Ryu, the Dragon-kin, boasts.
"Athletics?" Exclaimed a Dryad, "Aren't we supposed to learn words and things?" A twig pops up through his green hair.
"Why learn words when we can play?" The Naiad muses, drawing rivers from her desk to the floor. Whoa.
I wipe up the water from the floor with some wind magic.
"Yes, we will learn all sorts of things, from the alphabet to calculus and research techniques. Indeed, the next big event inside the school are the testing games happening halfway through the year."
"Inside the school?" Queries the Frog-kin, adjusting his glasses as his hands secrete a minor noxious mucus.
I nod, "We'll get to that. For now, I'm going to go through a very quick introduction of school and what there is to expect. So, pay attention. Also," I pick up a pen and notepad off a desk. "Using this pen and this paper on each of your desks, write down any questions you have as I go through. Draw pictures if you can't write. Else, just hold on to the most important question for when I'm done. Alright?"
I look each student in the eyes. Most nod or stare back at me. As long as they pay attention to me, it's all good.
"Please stay in the seats you're in for the rest of the schooling year."
The youngest two Nymphs immediately switch seats.
OK.
"I'll let you know how school works..."
I want to tell them everything. What a student is. What a teacher is. What lunch and recess are. The topics we'll learn over the next two years. Why we wear a uniform.
Should I tell them about that time I was in high school and blew up the science lab because I didn't listen to my teacher and used the wrong amount of chemicals?
I do.
"That's why you should always pay attention to all of your teacher's instructions, alright? All of them!"
Except for that one time when my substitute teacher was wrong, made me stand outside class the whole day holding a book above my head for correcting her and she got in trouble with the Principal and I was given a free lunch.
Wait, I said that out loud. Maybe I shouldn't have told that story.
"You'll all get a free lunch today so just enjoy that."
As I take a breath before talking about all the school facilities, the bell for recess rings. I pout.
A knock comes from the door. That'll be Miss Grears.
Opening the door let in a brown-haired lady carting a large box. I stay behind her.
"Hello, class. I'm the school nurse, Miss Grears, so feel free to come to me with all your troubles. Although I usually deal with physical injuries, my minor was psychology, so the school is happy to pay me for counselling you guys. Also, I do know who and what you all really are, so if you want to complain about Miss Charles here, you only have me or the Principle, really." She smirks.
"Either way, we were unsure of your preparations for high school, so we've brought recess for you all." Putting the box on my desk, I ask the half-Fairy half-Dryad to hand out the apples and muesli bars to everyone.
Miss Grears whistles as she watches the girl fuse with the air and send off the food simultaneously to each desk.
"Yeah, that's awesome. However, it is something that can't be done anywhere else in the school. Miss Charles has prepared this classroom early today though," (I nod), "so in here is fine."
Miss Grears helps me go through all the classroom things and start to figure out where each student is up to in their schooling.
The lunch bell rings, and after warning them to stay in human form, we release them into the school.
All but one leaves the classroom. David, the only one who fell asleep in my class. The normal swirling of the Elven earth magic was a very slow staggering in him. I wonder if that's because of the Rabbit-kin side of his genes?
I turn to Miss Grears, "Am I that boring?"
She looks to David, then rolls her eyes at me.
"I assure you, boring is not the word to describe you."
I hope she's right. Not that she's often been wrong in the last four years I've known her.
I wonder how everyone else is doing. Pulling open a map of the school from my phone, I use it to open portals around the school in places students won't see. From one bush, I hear growling.
Oh? A beast-kin boy from a different class is heading in the direction of Ryu and Lee, the strongest two Beast-kins of my class. All three are growling. I wriggle my toes.
As the boy approaches, he holds up his hand in front of him, staring Ryu in the face,
"Arm wrestling match."
"Ahahahah," the growling from Ryu is replaced by loud laughter. I wince. Ryu grabs the boy's hand.
"One, Two, Three, Fight!"
Red sweeps through both boy's arms. The red magic of my student is much thicker and brighter.
Miss Grears grips my shoulder and shakes her head as I start to put my hand through the portal.
My student wins.
"Ahahahaha. Good meeting." The boy bows his head as he massages his hand.
"Bastion Collier."
"Eheh, Ryu Mahrous."
The boy, Bastion, opens his eyes wide, "I see." Then grins, "An honour."
Lee scoffs. These Beast-kin sure do like to scoff.
I check the other portals. Normal Human stuff. Good.
"Oi!"
It's the portal near those two Beast-kin again. I see more red; another Beast-kin?! A stocky female points at Ryu,
"Here. After the bell rings for the end of school. I challenge you to a duel."
Oh no.
"Ah! You're on!" I can hear the excitement in Ryu's voice.
