The sound of the bell rang across the hallways.
Class was starting. students poured inside chatting among friends in what looked like a normal day of school. The teacher was yet to be seen but the students seemed to know where they liked to be. Each teenager walked in glancing towards the space-alien girl who clearly stood out in the center with her warm pink hair and strange antenna. Some were very excited to see her in their class!
Scott was doing her best to be as ‘normal’ looking as possible. The new alien-girl had floated onto the chair beside her desk and tried to position like she was ‘seated’. Nobody recognised her.. she knew them of course. Should she tell them? She was lost in thought as her body hovered a few inches above subtly floating like a petal in the breeze. She couldn’t help that her body swayed, magnified by the subtle motions of her legs and arms or even an idle thought. Though she had mastered how to move she had yet to figure out hovering completely still, not certain if that was even possible. A fish couldn’t exactly be still in water and maybe the same applied to her.
Dennis was sitting in his usual desk next to Scott. The larger teen glanced to the pink-haired girl with a cautious smile. They were still friends.. right? Her words did make him feel a lot better. Why should a gender change make anything different? Dennis was trying his best not to feel depressed over the situation... though he wasn’t too sure ‘why’. Maybe he just didn’t like change. If this were a normal day they would be chatting about cards or video games, maybe the latest movie that came out. They might even talk about the new semester. Mostly though Dennis was so angry about Greg…
What was his deal anyway? He glanced to see where he was seated.
Greg was at the back talking to Laura… well… smooth talking to her.
Laura was.. a very pretty girl. She was known as a musician and played a oboe. The instrument case was often at her side. She had medium blonde hair and a very fair face. Her nose small on a rather young rounded face that has yet to really mature. She was slim in build but fairly tall at five feet six. She had a classy look to her. Greg was engaged in conversation though Dennis couldn’t really hear what he was saying. At the look Greg simply gave a grin. It looked like Greg might have been trying to ‘chat her up’ and Laura was either being polite or amused- but it was hard to tell.
Laura’s expression began looking uncomfortable. She started looking more towards Scott.. the alien girl. It was likely Greg had told her. She seemed very confused… Would she tell other people? Greg was messaging people on a phone- whatever was happening Dennis felt like he could do nothing to stop it or protect his friend.
Finally an older male stepped in wearing a casual white shirt and dark black trousers. Mr Paterson had short white hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His eyes brimming with an apparent youth in contrast to his age. “Well good morning class!” He called out with great exuberance and charisma.
Almost instantly everyone snapped to attention and some even mouthed a morning greeting back- and were quite embarrassed to have done so automatically.
“Well now!” He said excitedly. “I see we have some new faces here. Welcome to the final semester. You know the drill by now, we’re going to work hard and achieve great things!” His rousing approach to the students did seem to strike a chord.
Dennis felt a smile creep onto his lips. The unabashed enthusiasm was just different to what he was experiencing in his heart… he glanced to Scott hoping she could feel better too.
The alien girl was paying attention but she seemed like a deer caught in headlights. She was tense and just trying to keep her head down.. which seemed to cause her body to literally sink under the desk. It was something the whole class noticed as she sank lower and lower. “Ah- Kaza!”Scott banged her head underneath the desk when she had tried to float up quickly.
The scene made Greg grin. “ET phone home?” he called out in a mocking voice.
The entire class burst into laughter. Scott scrambled out of her desk looking utterly mortified as she tried to float back to her chair.
“Maybe she lives under there.” Another voice said as each teenager seemed to mock and tease her. Greg had somehow given license that the girl was now easily mocked. “She’s hiding from the government!”
Even more laughter roared among the teenagers except for Dennis who was looking as mortified as Scott. He had been through this sort of thing when they teased him about his weight. He didn’t let it bother him any more but Scott looked really upset now.
“Enough,” My Paterson called out sharply- and almost instantly there was silence. He had wanted the girl to introduce herself but.. the teacher was pretty good at working out body language. He silently wished he had been warned that he would be getting one of the star travelling aliens in his class. Where was she on the register anyway? No notes… nothing. “I’m sorry miss, there might be a mix-up. May I ask your name?”
Scott looked up but held her hands on her desk to stop her from floating. “I’m.. S-Scott,” she said quietly.
“Scott…?”
“Scott’s a girl?” A very curious looking girl gasped. She started taking pictures of the startled alien. “Wow- did they abduct you? Is this proof of alien experiments? Where did they store your normal body?”
“Please stop Jennifer,” Mr Paterson said with a subtle edge to his voice. He had no time for this kind of craziness. It was barely five minutes and he was annoyed to have lost control of the class to this extent. “Scott, we’ll have a talk. Please go to my office. The rest of the class has earned themselves a pop quiz.”
A collective groan echoed in the classroom.
There was a lot of discussion now among the classroom as they observed ‘Scott’ .. float out. With her out of the picture almost all eyes were centred on Dennis. Everyone knew the two were friends and therefore he had to know something. They wanted to know!
“What’s the deal? How is that even possible? Is this a prank?” Dennis was rarely the center of such attention and he was at a loss on what to say.
“Let an expert ask the questions.” A voice suddenly bellowed. The large teen looked at the owner at that voice and gulped.
“… oh crap.”
Mary was a short girl with glasses. Slim and full of energy her dark black hair running past her shoulders. Her skin was of a darkened colour of light brown with almond shaped eyes. Clearly a girl of eastern decent yet she spoke English as her first language. “Come on spill it Dennis! This is the story of the century. Tell us the tale and you’ll be famous! I’ll put you on the front page of the paper with her!”
“No-” Dennis said emphatically. “I won’t say a word!” Would this work? Mary was said to know something about everyone. Usually something to drag out even more information.
“I’ll give you money...” the teenager said with her sweet smile.
“No.” Oh- maybe the rumours were untrue after all. Was it all just money? Dennis wouldn’t do it for money!
Mary tilted her head. “Okay. I know. I’ll give you an extremely rare copy of Mischievous Star Princess Runi 1984 original dub. VHS tape mint condition.” She spoke it very matter of factly.
Dennis’s eyes widened. “How- I mean- how could you possibly know-”
Mary simply grinned. “Deal? I know places… I can get that for you.”
“No! Not even for Mischievous Star Princess Runi- the original 1984 original dub with all voice actress and uncensored scenes, I will not tell you anything about Scott.” He folded his arms. “You have to ask her about it.”
“Though you confirm she is Scott?” Mary asked as she started to write down on her pad.
“No I’m not saying anything-”
“She is Scott,” Greg explained. “-and the reason Dennis won’t say anything is obvious. He’s in love with her.” He started laughing.
Mary’s eyed widened as she then looked to the jock. “Spill the beans!”
Greg started to feign modesty. “Oh… I couldn’t tell you ‘everything’ … Dennis here begged me to keep quiet about it...” It was true. Though the way he said it...
“Shut up!” Dennis cried out.
Greg thought this was just too easy. “I best… not say more,” Greg said quietly. “Though I was with Dennis for a while in the morning. Then Scott came in.. she seemed flustered that I was here. I have no idea what would have transpired if I wasn’t there..”
The entire class started talking about it.
“This… this isn’t like that. Scott and I are friends. We’re just friends!”
The more Dennis insisted the worse the rumours became.
Scott floated across the hallways. Not the sound of a single step echoed and.. that sounded odd now that she thought about it. Almost like this was a dream. She had not said a word… not done a thing. She was just there and everyone was making fun of her. She felt like her body was collapsing as she fell down to Earth with a slight thump.
“Urgh-” she groaned. Was she just this bad at flying? Tears fell down her eyes as she focused her eyes on the doors of the office. Why did everything look so blurred- why was the world so suddenly heavy? She pushed open the heavy doors to the Teacher’s office.
Mr Paterson was genuinely surprised to see the girl struggling to walk. Why didn’t she float? “Come please… have a seat,” he said.
Scott complied. “Sorry- it’s been a.. weird day.”
“Hm...” Mr Paterson looked at the pink haired girl. “Well, I wish you had told me first of the situation. I could have made things a bit easier for you in the classroom.”
“… I just wanted things to be normal,” The girl explained.
“I understand but… anyway, I’m sure it was a bit of a shock to the others. May I ask if this is.. permanent?”
“It.. it is,” the girl coughed. “I.. I’m like this forever.”
“Hm...” Mr Paterson nodded. “Well- I will put you in touch with counselling if you want it.” He looked to the girl with quiet concern. “I don’t know what’s going on but.. you are still a promising student and you can rest assured I won’t tolerate any bad behaviour towards you.”
Scott looked up. “I didn’t want to cause trouble-”
“You’re not causing trouble Scott. If anyone causes -you- trouble I will make sure they understand it will not be tolerated.”
Scott seemed surprised at that. Normally she didn’t think about- well- the idea that she would need such protection. Though admittedly it was nice to have someone on her side. “It’s- It’s fine really,” The girl said balling her fists. “I just want to have things go as normal.”
Mr Paterson nodded. “Well… alright. Though if you do have problems please let me know- or any teacher it’s fine.” The elder man nodded. He didn’t know if Scott would trust him given.. the situation. It might be more suitable for a female teacher to take the lead and he accepted that despite how protective he was of his students. “If you could return to class then.. I’ll be there shortly.”
Scott sprang a little upwards as she stepped off the chair. Floating was.. still somewhat strange.
