"I think she likes you" Ken, The fox eared boy said with a laugh to his friend.
"Dude, she's slime" Brandon replied- although it was done affectionately with a smile. He really did like her. "she's.. squishy"
They laughed a bit between themselves though Brandon was looking at Zoe now and then. They were not the brightest of students, nor the stupidest... just average really. They were having a good time on their first week of school. The teacher Miss Summers occasionally looked at them sternly. They had to get some work done eventually.
"She's also transparent." The fox boy winked. They were good friends, and had been for a long time. Almost like brothers, and their different appearance didn't change that.
"Okay Ken," His friend smiled back glancing at the teacher to make sure they haven't been caught still not doing any work. "Here's a good question for you. Which chick do you think is the hottest here?"
"No contest... its got to be that three eyed chick" smirked the fox-boy. "I would definitely go for her"
"She is so hot!" Brandon agreed leaning conspiratorially to Ken. "Eyebrow raising" They both had a laugh at that. As it settled a bit Brandon had another look at the girl his Fox-like friend looked at. "I think she's out of your league though. I wonder who she is?"
Its true, the girl had to be the best looking in the class. It wasn't just her exotic look though, it was like she projected some kind of aura around herself. There was something about her that stirred the males, turning intrigue into curiosity, and curiosity into... interest. It was hard to place what it was exactly about her. It certainly wasn't her clothes. She was wearing very ordinary jeans, and a very plain yellow shirt. But still they looked... nice.
"Dunno her name... I'll find out." The fox boy promised. "You can have the slimey girl."
The snake boy put on a thinking pose. "There's lots of other girls too... dig the smurf" He said with a sideways glance to Dora.
They again laughed.
Ms Summers had enough of the two of them. "Brandon! Ken! From now on no talking. Get on with your work."
"yes miss," Ken said quickly, his fox ears drooping slightly
"Um- yes miss" Brandon said too sneaking another look to Zoe.
Ken whispered quietly. "Are centaurs hot?"
"Dude,.. Shh" Brandon smiled a bit chewing on his pen.
The lesson progressed in relative silence. Everyone was glancing at each others shapes now and then, taking on the little details that were missed. Some found comfort in others looking worse then they were, probably not realising the same person thought the same to them.
about half an hour later the teacher spoke again. "End of the lesson, please submit your books.. However Ken, Brandon, you two will have to stay behind and finish it. No break for you."
"Aw man!" both of them look resigned.
Zoe and Dora continued to talk. Harry, sort of followed them from behind.
"What stuff can you?" Dora asked the slime girl. "I mean you look like you could be a shapeshifter!"
"Well, I cant make precise shapes... more sort of vague shapes." Zoe flexed her arms showing it.
"Its still cool.."
Zoe smiled a bit. "How about you? I mean your blue... but can you do anything?"
Dora thought for a bit about that. "Its... kinda embarrassing, " She said looking around. "I'm not just blue.. I got um... blue fur." She glanced down at herself. "it kinda looks like a swim suit"
"Really? You must be boiling under all that!" Zoe looked concerned.
"I manage... I just... well you know. Hair on a girl, its not exactly a good fashion to have" She sighed a bit. "My clothes tend to turn blue after a while wearing them too."
"Come on, I'm a slime mould. Do you see me worrying about 'that'- hey.. where Harry?" They glanced behind but Harry was nowhere to be seen.
They back tracked a bit, finding a crowed around the three eyed girl. It looks like Harry was being teased- by other girls.
"Hey three eyes!" A strange cat girl said with a giggle. "She's all eyes and no brain!"
"L-leave me alone..." The oriental girl said quietly trying to go past them. She looked very scared, she didn't seem to know what to do. Every time she tried to go though, they blocked her.
"I hate to see her mascara bill" another girl teased back.
Harry didn't seem to know what mascara even was.
"I bet if she cries, it will drop down her nose! Lets find out!" The cat girl purred right into Harry's face and flashed her claws, making the exotic girl cringe.
Zoe had had enough. "Leave her alone!"
They all turned to see Zoe.
"Go away Slimer" the cat girl said laughing.
"Slimer huh?" Zoe ran as fast as she could towards the cat girl. She went with such speed, she was actually going through the floor at each step. She impacted onto the cat girl going through her arms, as she gave a huge shreek.
"AHH! What the hell!"
"I have plenty more of that," She said. So if you don't want to end up as slimey as me, You leave her alone. Got it?"
The entire crowd backed away at this point.
The cat girl shivered, caught between the desire to lick herself clean, and disgusted by even wanting to lick off Zoe's slime. "This isn't over girl... you can't protect her forever." With that the cat girl walked off, struggling to keep her instincts in check.
"Are you okay?" Dora helped harry up.
"I- I-" Harry looked very upset, and started crying. Her third eye did indeed tear up, dripping down her nose.
Dora quickly gave the oriental girl a tissue. "Its okay, they were just... you know."
"N-No I don't" Harry blew her nose. "W-whats mascara?"
Dora and Zoe looked at each other.
"Why... don't you go wash up..." Zoe said eventually. "We'll watch out for you." Though she kind of wondered just what she volunteered for.
Dennis looked at Effie again. The fairy was glancing at her and then looking away very hurriedly. He wondered if he had upset her somehow. They barely said a word to each other ever since Amy left. He wondered if he should say something to her now? Or maybe offer to help with her project?
"Hi" Dennis said.
Effie looked at him again. "Er- hi."
Awkward silence.
"Got anything to eat?" Dennis eventually asked.
"Um- well... er... I actually found that the star burst screen saver tastes quite sweet. Kinda.. like sugar?" Truth be told she wasn't sure they even 'needed' to eat. But sometimes she thought she needed to. That need was satiated by the occasional icon, or other abstract piece data. She found however that hard data, was not edible. Perhaps because only viruses ate them?
"Are you okay?" Dennis eventually asked.
God! Why was he asking this now, Effie asked herself. She was doing everything she could not to think like a teenager. But her body was just so... so... insistent! "I'm- fine. Really." She knew she was attracted to guys... maybe it was even 'normal' to be now. But it was not normal! Was she going to be like this with every guy? She hoped not... But Dennis was the first male she had actually spent any time with since her change. She had no basis for comparison. "Its just Amy gave a lot of tools I need to work out" She said eventually
"Can I help?" Dennis asked hopefully.
"Well- Its- um..." Could she think of any reason not to accept his help?
Dennis sensed her reluctance. "If you don't need it its okay..." he did somehow convey a lot of disappointment in that.
"No- I- I would lo- Like your help" She bit her lip.
"Great! So.. what are you making?" He looked at Effie's editor with a little smile. It was really cute with her picture on it. Similar to the one he was also given, although his had a black border.
"Well... just some basic stuff at the moment. I'm trying to create a program that will tell you how far a fairy is by its ping. It will also warn you if you get too far from your host. Not that I know what the limit is yet."
"Sounds useful. Don't they have a program like that on emergence?"
"Y-yes... but I want to make this one myself. Its a simple one, just two or three simple commands. I can do it... I'm just having trouble converting the timing into distance. It doesn't want to work with short distances"
"Maybe I can help you there" Dennis smiled.
The two were really a good team, as slowly the program took shape.
"B-But this is the girls bathroom!" Harry tensed.
Zoe sighed. "Just go in, nobody's in there and nobody will go in for a while yet. Okay?" She was practically pushing her inside with her slimey hand.
Harry, with some trepidation, went inside to wash her face. She glanced back to the closed door Where Zoe and Dora stood guard. Being in here was creepy. Well at least she was just washing her face.
She went to the basin, looking at herself in the mirror, and quickly poured some cold water to wash away her tears. Slowly she calmed down. Why were those other girls acting like that to her? She looked at the mirror again...
That really strange, alien face looked back. An oriental girl, with an extra eye on her forehead. Three completely identical eyes. She remembered when she first turned into this form, she didn't come out of her room for almost a week. Slowly she came out, coaxed by her parents. They needed her to run a few errands, much like all the others who wanted to avoid the sun.
She wondered how she even knew who fired that spit-wad at Zoe. The image was still clear in her mind, but did she actually see it?
She poked at her third eye, feeling the stinging tears on it... it felt just like her other eyes. strange almond eyes... she could say that it was this eye that was foreign to her, but the truth is all of it was. Her entire face, her entire body, was a stranger.
"Who are you..." She whispered to her reflection.
