Sa the Dragon Boy

((going by chapters now))

I looked at the girl. She held out her hand and said, "Don't worry about them. They're just the popular group of girls that give everyone a hard time. I'm Jade." I warily glanced at her outstretched hand. She let out a laugh. "Hey, it's all good. You just shake my hand." I nodded slowly and grasped her hand, a little more strongly than I would've liked. She flinched a bit, but said, "Wow. Strong grip you've got there."

I had taken my hand away, and she had placed her hand on her hip, grabbing something invisible to my eye. I didn't move. Jade cautiously moved her hand away.

"Do you happen to know any...Human names?" I asked, once more fiddling with my human hair. She nodded. "'Course. Let's see...Well, there's Jess--"

"Jess will work just fine," I interrupted her, as I heard a loud ringing noise. I placed my awkward hands over my ears, as the ringing was much to loud for my ears. Jade gave me a look that said, 'Are you alright?"

The ringing shortly stopped. I uncovered my ears and heard something worse. Laughing. The unpleasant cackling of the same female group echoed in my ear drums. I tried to ignore them as Jade muttered, "That was the bell. First period is starting."

She led me to a large square room filled with many young males and females. An elderly male standing in front of a large dark green wall beckoned me to him. I obeyed and let my legs carry me to where he was standing, a short white stick in his other hand. "Hello," he said, in a warm tone. "You must be new. My name is Mr. Crawford."

He turned to a large tan object, with four long black sticks holding it to the ground. He began to ruffle around with white sheets of material. Mr. Crawford eventually stood back up, and faced me once more. "Well, I don't believe I have a registration form for you. No matter. What is your name, dear?"

I replied, "I am called Jess."

With my sharp hearing, I heard a female whisper, "So she does have a name!"

I immediately knew it was the female who had been rude to me at the front of the school building. Mr. Crawford, completely unaware, continued, "And what is your last name?"

Last name? What was a last name?

"Um..." Unfortunately, I did not know how to answer his question. I looked back at the humans in the room, to see them all making similar expressions as the rude female. Mr. Crawford was beginning to look annoyed as well.

I frantically looked around the room, looking for something to say. I did not know what a 'last name' was supposed to be. My eyes caught a glance of the dark green wall.

"Green," I said to Mr. Crawford. His suddenly tense shoulders relaxed. "You are Jess Green?"

"Yes," I said, sounding more confident than I felt. The amused looks of the humans faded back to an what they were before-- emotionless. "You can take a seat over there by Brittany," Mr. Crawford said, pointing to an empty object near the rude female. I mentally sighed, and slumped in the seat, putting my weak hands on the smooth brown surface. 'Brittany' slipped a folded piece of the white material under my fingers. I looked down at it in confusion. I slowly picked it up and tossed it in her direction. "That is disrespectful to Mr. Crawford," I hissed.

She cackled quietly. "Do you really think I care?"

"You should. He is an elder. Respect your elders."

"Respect your elders?! What planet do you come from?!"

"Earth. Why, did you come from somewhere different?" I replied, unaware of her sarcasm. She made a snorting noise, similar to something a pig would make. "What a freak," she said, with a roll of her eyes.

"Aren't we all freaks?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. She made a distressed noise. "Oh, puh-lease."

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Crawford asked, the white stick in his hand pressed against the dark green wall. I stood up from my seat. "Yes, sir."

He gave a warm-hearted laugh. "Would you care to tell me?"

"Well, sir, Brittany is speaking to me and distracting me from your important teaching methods. Would you mind removing me from her distracting presence?"

Mr. Crawford looked at Brittany with a look that... I cannot describe. It was a mixture of annoyance, hatred and...was it rage? If looks could kill, she would have died a thousand times over.

"I understand," he replied, in such a tone that was much too calm, but contained enough hatred to boil your blood. He continued, "I will move you straight away, Jess." Tension crackled in the air like electricity. I did not know what to do. I snuck a glance at Brittany, who was giving Mr. Crawford the same glare. Humans are so complicated.