Manakete Mooning

I knew she was different when I first set my eyes on her. Everyone avoided her but she had an oh so georgous smile and the way her eyes sparkled was alluring. She didn't say much in class but she'd be the top in class for the subjects I had with her and I wouldn't have been surprised if she was top in all her subjects. Everyone would be jealous of her intellect but no-one would befriend her. The strangest fact about her was that she had very slightly pointed ears and some of the bitchy girls would make nasty jokes concerning elves.

One day in mythological history, Mr Jones said we were going to learn about the origins of how shapeshifters came about.

"So what do people think of when I say shapeshifters then?"

Sally put her hand up immediately.

"Yes, go on, Sally"

"Well Mr Jones, the two common examples that most people come across are lycanthorpes (werewolves if you must) which are people who turn into wolves or vampires which can turn into a variety of animals including rats, dogs and bats."

"That's correct, Sally, but do you know how they actually came about?"

"Ermmm…I'm not sure about the werewolves but for vampires, I believe it was because they accidentally buried people in short term comas and when gthey woke up, they would be screaming for helpbut people would think that the dead had risne. Baically, the same reason for why people thought zombies existed"

"Well Sally, we won't be learning about zombies today since they are not shapeshifters but does anyone know the reason why werewolves came about?"

No-one offered an answer.

"This is going to be a bit funny but it was because of hairy men who were streaking in the middle of the night"

Everyone in the class except the girl who I was talking about before tittered.

"Does anyone know of any of other examples of shapeshiters?"

She had put up her hand.

I saw Mr Jones had to look at the register for her name.

"Yes Kiki, is it?"

"Yes sir, it is and my late birth mother told me of the manakete which were people who could transform into drgons, sir".

The rumours must be true that Kiki was adopted. I felt a pang of sympathy for her.

"Sorry, Kiki. did you say dragons?" Mr Jones spluttered.

"I did indeed, sir"

"Then Kiki, how did this come about and it sounds a bit too far-fetched if you ask me to be honest, aare you sure you didn't just make this up right now?"

"No, sir, I did not. We live in England where the flag is after a saint and of course, dragons have appeared in myths and legends all over the world yet no-one has captured or retrieved any evidence of their existence"

"Well Kiki, that's because they don't exist, elf girl" a girl at the baack of the class hollered as she got up.

I peered over my shouklder and saw the familiar face of the school bully, Betty. Many imagine scgoolgirls to be quite dainty but Betty was definitely an exception. She had chunky arms with legs to match and she could easily take on any of the boys in the school, myself included, in a fight and win.

"Quieten down, Betty, and let Kiki finish first before you give any opinions please"

Betty grumbled and sat back down.

"Thank you, Mr Jones, as I was saying, then how come there has been no evidence then . the only logical explanation and under the presumption that dragons existed in those times of course is that they must have blended in wth the environment"

"You mean like lived in caves in dense forest, Kiki?"

"No sir, I mean with the humans since when aint Georfe slayed the dragon that had been terrorising England, history books say that it had inspired peo[le to start culling dragons with regular hunting parties but of course, they never did find anything"

"Kiki, are you saying that they simply just transformed into humans then? Ecause that is preposterous since evolution occurs over rs over millions of years"

"But sir, dragons were advanced and intellectual beings who lived for thousands of years as legends say"

"Kiki, I won't hear of it anymore and just on time, class is dismissed"

I whispered over to Kiki, "I belueve in what you said"

"Thanks, what are you called?" Kiki smiled as she got up.

"My name's Adrian."

"You heard my name already". She stuck her tongue out at me. "What have you got next?"

"History but I want to know more about the manakete race, they seem incredible being able to transform from such a large thing to a human like me and you"

"Yes, that's true." Kiki shifted uneasily

"I imagine that they'd be wise since their lifespan lets them have so much time to absorb knowledge"