Don't you just hate waking up to your red alarm clock ringing in your ears? I sure as hell do. Groaning, I hit the STOP button on my alarm. I pull the covers from my face and wince as the sunlight from my window hits me in the face like a slap.
I groggily emerge from my cocoon of blankets, rubbing sleep from my eyes. I stay put for a moment, waiting 'till my mind is no longer opaque from sleep. Once I can think clearly, I stumble out of bed, quickly getting dressed before I head to the bathroom and brush my teeth.
As I'm running a comb through my curly blonde hair, I spot myself in the mirror and heave a sigh. I grab my makeup bag from under the sink and apply lip gloss and mascara. "Skylar, breakfast!", Susie yells from downstairs.
"Coming!", i say, brushing tan blush over my little freckles on my nose and cheeks. I go to my closet and carefully choose an orange, spaghetti strap tank top, a white vest, and jean shorts. I throw on a pair of my white Hollister platforms and run downstairs, into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Skylar", Susie greets me. Susie is my mom. She likes me and my brother to call her by her name.
"Good morning", I mumble, taking a bite of the toast on the table.
Our kitchen is totally white. Walls, counters, floor, table, chairs, barstools. Everything except our microwave, fridge, and dishwasher. Those are stainless steel. I know what your thinking: Oh my, isn't she fabulously rich. Well I'm not rich. And neither is Susie. We sort of inherited the house. My grandfather had bought this twenty first century fashioned house only a couple months before he died. Me and my brother grieved for him, but after a week or two, we started having random, one-person, dance parties. Cause our home before this was a total dump.
"Hey, Sky", Jake (my brother) says, pouring milk into a bowl of Cheerios.
Jake has blonde hair like me, and we both have gray eyes. Did I mention that we are twins? What I don't get though, is how he managed to not have freckles while I get stuck with them. Susie always tells me that freckles are angel kisses, and I always smirk at Jake when she says that. Angels like me better than him. Ha.
"Hey, today's Wednesday", I tell him with a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "I bet you twenty that the bus will beat you this time", Jake gambles. "You don't even have twenty dollars", I accuse. Susie pours me a glass of orange juice and I nod to say thank you. "Yeah, but I NEED twenty dollars", he pleads. "No deal", I stand up and put my plate in the dishwasher. "But leave my bag with Jessie again", I say.
I grab my denim backpack and hand it to Jake. He starts unzipping it and i slap his hand away angrily. He goes back to eating his cereal. "I don't have anything in there anyways. I didn't have any homework last night. But give me my phone from that side pocket", i point at a little unbuttoned compartment.
Jake passes over my red Windows phone and sets my bag on the floor. "Don't loose that. It was expensive", I say looking pointedly at my bag. Jake puts his bowl and spoon into the dish washer and walks out the front door.
I take a swig of orange juice and say, "Bye, Susie". I put my phone snuggly into my front shorts pocket and walk out the door too. Outside is pleasantly warm and sunny, like most days in California. Birds chirp from their treetop nests and squirrels scutter around in the leaves. "How about five dollars?", Jake asks meekly. I shake my head.
"Damn", he curses under his breath. We see the bus coming down our neighborhood. It stops at our house and Jake gets on, but I stay behind. Jake's head pops out a bus window. "Ready...Set...Go!", he says.
I shift into a falcon and start flying ahead of the bus. Yeah, that's right. I shifted into a falcon. As in 'changed shape'. I'm a shape shifter. In fact, most of us are shape shifters. We call ourselves shifters. Our scientific name is mutator formarum. It means shape shifter in Latin. Confused? I think I should explain this to you. Almost everyone in my world can change their shape or form into any animal that they know. Watching Animal Planet doesn't cut it. We cant shift into fairy tale creatures like unicorns and dragons because they aren't real.
But only one family out of every four can shift. Nobody knows why its like that. Some people think it has something to do with race, but no one really knows for sure yet. The people that can't shift are normal, human beings. We have to go to different schools because its 'dangerous' for humans to be around us. And we have two presidents. One that represents the shifters and one that represents the humans. But lets focus on us shifters.
When we are little, our teachers at school take us to Zoos. Our Zoos aren't for just enjoying the animals. They are made for learning. There are Zoos that show only one class of animals, like mammals or reptiles. While we are young, we can still change into any animal we want. But around our 20th birthday, we find our Full Form. We no longer can change into any animal we wish, only our Full Forms. Whenever we try to shift shape, we just change into our Full Form. We have no idea what our Full Form will be. For hundreds of years, people have tried to figure out how to predict what a persons Full Form will be, but they never found out. The coolest part is that we can talk when we are shifted. No matter what form we are in. And our voices don't change at all. But the strangest thing is that when we shift, our clothes just disappear. When we shift slowly it looks as if our clothes melt into us. And when we shift back into human form, our clothes are still on (thank God). So back to the story.
I hear the yellow school bus coming up behind me. Its gaining. I fly over to the sidewalk and shift into a greyhound without stopping. I keep running, dodging the pedestrians that get in my way every now and then. I pump my legs, breathing in one ragged breath at a time. I ignore the stinging of the concrete on my paws. The reason why I'm running to school is because I'm practicing for Track. Last year I wanted to join Track, but at our school we cant do Track until 10th grade. And I'm in 10th grade, so now I'm joining Track.
The bus is right beside me now. Crap, I think. But then I look ahead. I smile, knowing im going to beat the bus for certain. A traffic light turns red, forcing the bus to stop. "Bye-bye", i murmur running ahead.
"Hey, Skylar", Samantha and Jessie say in sync. "Hey", I say back. Finally, I'm at school. I sit down on the cool concrete of the sidewalk. "Your panting", Jessie states with a grossed out look on her face. "And drooling", Sami adds, running a hand through her brown hair. I look down at the ground and see a puddle of drool on the sidewalk. "Sorry", I mumble, and shift back.
"So, do you think you'll make the track team?", Jessie asks. I nod my head. "Hell yeah. I beat the bus here. And we left at the same time. It got stopped by a traffic light", I say proudly. "Well, I don't think they have traffic lights on the Track runways", Sami says sympathetically.
I scoff. Is an insult to underestimate. You NEVER underestimate me. "Well, would you like to race on human foot before our first class starts?", I ask Samantha. "Nope, I'm fine", she says, glancing at Jessie. "Oh, here's your bag. Jake dropped it off", Jessie hands me my backpack.
I put it on and walk over to the water fountain. I take a couple sips and stroll back over to where Jessie and Samantha are talking. "Did you ask your parents about that scholarship thing with the visitors tomorrow?", Samantha asks. "Yeah, my mom and dad were more than happy to sign my permission slip. A free scholarship is hard to come by, especially with my grades", Jessie says.
"Susie signed mine too", I say. Our principal had announced a week earlier that some visitors were coming to our school. Our parents had to sign a slip for the visitors to be able to pick some of us to come with them to a study facility for a year. They do a random project and if its done successfully, then everyone that participated gets a free scholarship to whichever college they want. It is supposed to be a surprise of what the project is, but allot of rumors involving feet, zombies, and coleslaw are going around. I know, not a pretty picture.
"How exactly do you think they are going to choose the people?", Jessie asks. I shrug, not caring in the least. "We should get to class", Samantha says, walking inside the school building. "Since when did she get all goodie-goodie?", I ask. "I have no idea", Jessie says, an astounded look on her face.
We follow Samantha inside and go to our lockers. Kids are walking, talking, and shifting all at once. Its a madhouse. But to be truthful, this place feels like home. Not the school part, but being around other kids my age that can still shift into any animal they want too. Susie nearly never shifts, and it can be really irritating. And when she does shift, her Full Form is just a raven.
"Hey, Skylar", a boy named Mason says as he passes by. "Hey", I mutter, taking my Science book out of my locker. "C'mon, lets go. The bell is about to ring and I don't want to get trampled on my way to class", Jessie whines.
She is unusually short for her age. She could pass off as thirteen instead of fifteen. Me, on the other hand, could pass off as nineteen instead of sixteen. I'm really tall. Jessie and I walk to our Science class and sit down in a couple of desks in the back. Our Science teacher is writing on the dry erase board. I take out my phone and look at my Facebook. Two notifications. So special.
The bell rings at last and everyone files into their seats. Well, not everyone. The class clown is jumping from desk to desk in baboon form. That's not surprising. He starts throwing pencils and pieces of tape. A couple of people start laughing. He keeps running around the room, slinging stuff everywhere.
I don't start laughing until he tosses some wet paint into Trixy's hair. She shrieks, and I just laugh louder. She looks at me and then at my phone in my hands.
"Mr. Harvey, Skylar Aro has her phone out!", she snitches. That bitch! Mr. Harvey turns from writing on the board and looks at me sternly. "Skylar, give me your phone. You can get it back at the end of class", he says holding out his hand for it. I sigh, handing it to him. I should of just left it in my locker. Trixy is such a bitchy snitch. She has always hated me, and i have always hated her. But making the teacher take my phone away is a new low.
After a boring lecture on atoms and particles, me, Jessie, and Samantha walk to gym briskly. If one of us is mad, we're all mad. And right now, I am pretty pissed about Trixy snitching on me. I push that out of my head for now.
Our school is known as the Bears so pictures of a polar bear is everywhere in the gym. We are called the bears because our principal's Full Form is a polar bear. She was the very first principal of this school, so i guess you could call our school new. It was made about two decades ago.
I sit down on a bench next to Samantha and put my sneakers on. I tie my laces slowly, bored out of my mind. "What are we doing today?" I ask Samantha. "I don't know. Coach Parker isn't here yet". Just then the bell rings and Coach Parker jogs into the gym. He claps his hands twice, getting everyone's attention.
"Hey, everybody. Good morning. Okay, today we are going to play basketball", he pauses, listening to the boys cheer. "But as parrots", he finishes. Everyone's jaw drops open. He smiles, showing his crooked teeth. "Yeah, I know. Not fun. But the school board says we have to. Brad and Allen, you are the team captains. Start picking", Coach Parker orders.
I end up on Allen's team, with the unfortunate luck that neither of my best friends are with me. Everyone shifts into a red macaw and gather with their teammates.
Coach Parker blows the whistle and Brad's team gets the ball. I charge after the ball. If you haven't noticed, we don't post positions while we are at school. It takes too much time. So we all have a free range to run. Its strange running as a parrot because our instincts tell us to fly. I shove past a couple of people kicking the ball around. Then disaster happens. Someone trips me then hits me in the face, full force, with their wing.
I gasp in surprise, but don't think its on purpose. That is, until I hear someone laugh. Already fueled with anger, I shove the parrot that hit me. He shoves me back, but harder, so i tackle him. He shifts into a calico cat and pounces on me, pinning both my wings to the ground.
I shift into beagle form and roll out from under him, growling. I notice that the soccer game has stopped and everyone is watching. Some people are cheering us on, some had shifted and are recording us, and some are yelling "Stop, Skylar!" and "You cant fight girls" and "Your going to hurt her, Dakota!"
Wait, Dakota? The super hot Dakota? The Dakota with olive toned skin, chocolate colored hair, and gorgeous brown eyes? The Dakota that I just so happen to have a crush on? Whatever, it doesn't matter to me right now. I'm angry and I need to take it out on someone. I shift into an owl and scratch his hip. Bad mistake. Dakota reaches up and swats me out of the air with his paw. so yet again, I shift into a Siamese cat.
We start to circle each other. I hiss, daring him to make a move. I jump at him and nip his ear, drawing a smidge of blood. I mess up again. He sweeps his front paw under all my legs and cause me to fall. Out the corner of my eye, i see Coach Parker putting down the phone.
Dakota once again pins me to the ground just as we hear a loud roar. Mrs. Cleave, our principal, jumps at us in her polar bear form. Me and Dakota both dodge her. I have to look up at her. Ill hand it to Mrs. Cleave, her Full Form is both massive and tough.
"I will see you both at my office in five minutes. Do you understand?", she asks sternly. I nod my head, not taking my eyes off of Mrs. Cleave. She shifts back and saunters out the gym. Murmur erupts around the gym, everyone's gaze on me and Dakota. "Wow. Two of the most popular kids in school and they get in a fight", I hear someone say.
I sigh, shifting back into human form and start walking to Mrs. Cleave's office.
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