Author's Note/Disclaimer: This takes place after Zak looses his Kur powers and the death of Argost. And he's being treated as a normal kid by his parents now. In fact, they're sending him to High School... With a couple of friends. He's 14 in this, so he's a freshman. This is his first day of school. Enjoy!
I don't own the Secret Saturdays, though it's a good show.
"But Mom, Dad, do I really have to?" Zak was complaining to his parents in front of a school building. It was in a town not too far from their house, but far enough away where no one could find them. They still wanted to remain a secret. His parents just smiled a bit.
"Zak, we just want you to be more like a normal kid now that you don't have to worry about that Kur problem anymore," Doc told him.
"I know you're nervous kiddo, but it'll be fine, I promise." Drew gave him a kiss on the forehead.
"I'm not nervous!" he replied. "It's just stupid. Plus, Wadi and Ulraj are coming. You call that normal? That's the opposite of normal! Wadi's a thief and Ulraj is a fish!"
"Hey!" Ulraj snapped.
"Sorry, just stating the facts."
"Wadi was the one who wanted to come. Maboul just agreed that it would be a good experience for her," Drew said, "and Ulraj came because he wants to learn more about the surface world. He has one of his advisers in charge in his absence. Plus, this is a good chance to test out the new camouflage technology your father made."
"Speaking of which, let's get that on you before you go in the school building," Doc suggested. He went up to Ulraj and put what looked like a wrist watch on him. "Just tell me if it has any malfunctions at all. You can pick any form you like by turning the face. It still works like a normal watch as well so it doesn't draw in suspicion. If it breaks, well... I'm not sure. Just tell me if it does."
"Of course," Ulraj told him, "I understand. So, I turn this and it changes the way I look?" He turned the face on the watch and his skin became a dark tan. His hair turned black. It was short and just a bit messy. His face looked human and he had icy blue eyes. Even his clothes changed into a long-sleeved white button up with the sleeves rolled up, an unbuttoned black vest, a pair of blue jeans, and light grey sneakers.
"Whoa. Okay that was pretty cool, "Zak admitted, "but still, he doesn't really know anything about the surface world. He'll stick out like a sore thumb."
"Well, excuse me." Ulraj crossed his arms and turned away from Zak angrily.
"Well, you may look normal, but you have to act normal, too. That means you as well Wadi. Stealing isn't normal. And Ulraj, in all the time I've known you, you've never really acted like what most people would consider 'normal'."
"Not everyone in this school is going to be normal, Zak," Drew reminded him. "You three will just be the odd bunch out, which will be fine as long as you can get along with each other. And I'm sure there are other students just as... different as you."
"Yeah, I'm so sure," Zak grumbled, but went along with it anyway. He didn't like this idea, but going against his parents was an even worse idea. All he wanted was to go back to helping cryptids like before. Now he was stuck going to school with a thief girl and a fish boy, which he didn't mind hanging out with, but with other kids around it might get annoying.
The three finally went into the school and Ulraj looked at the watch. "I wonder what other settings are on it. I'm going to go find out." He went into one of the bathrooms. There were high pitched screams and in all that, you could barely make out Ulraj saying, "Sorry, sorry. I didn't know it was only women." He quickly got out and went into the other bathroom.
Zak face-palmed and said, "Yeah, we'll fit right in." He then noticed Wadi was gone.
'Where could she have... Oh no...'
She was by a guy about twice her size, taking his wallet. Zak ran up to her and whispered, "Wadi, what are you doing?"
"He stole five dollars from a boy over there," she whispered as well, pointing, "I was going to return his money." She took out a five and put the wallet back, and then returning the bill to the kid it was taken from.
"Wadi, you must be crazy to do something like that! He's probably a jock and a lot stronger than you. If he finds out you took it, you're toast!"
"What, you don't trust my skills? I can handle myself." She now seemed angry with him as well, turning and facing away from him.
"That's not what I'm worried about. Fighting is prohibited on school grounds. You could get suspended. Or worse, expelled!"
Ulraj then came out and walked back over to them in the same form. "There are a lot of forms in this device. It's incredible, but I feel that this one suits me best. What do you think?"
The bell rang.
"Yeah, great, now we have to get to class. If we're late, we'll get in trouble."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
History was their first lesson and Zak nearly fell asleep more than once.
"Mr. Saturday! May I remind you, you are in my class. And I don't take slackers lightly!" The History teacher had scolded.
"Sorry, Dr. Beeman. I'll watch the videos more closely now," Zak mumbled, still half asleep. Wadi giggled next to him.
"Well, since it is your first day, I'll let you off with a warning. However…" the teacher slammed his hand down on Zak's desk, snapping him awake. "Don't fall asleep in my class again."
"Sorry, Mr. Darren," Zak said, yawing. "I'll pay more attention from now on."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
As history class ended and they walked to biology, Ulraj said, "You were worried about me acting normal, and yet I'm acting better than you. At least I didn't fall asleep during the lecture."
"At least I didn't fall asleep during the lecture," Zak mocked, "Yeah? Well, shut up!"
"Well! You don't have to be a jerk!" Ulraj crossed his arms again.
"Look, you don't have to point out every mistake I make, alright? Besides, you walked into the women's bathroom Mr. High and Mighty!"
"That was an honest mistake. You never told me there were two of the bathrooms for men and women."
"So, it's my fault now?" Zak looked angrily at him, "I knew this would be a bad idea. I mean, do you even know what most of these classes are?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," Ulraj said, "Biology is the study of life, History is the planet's past, English is learning the language English, Algebra is a different form of math which is learning to calculate numbers, Gym is a class to get into top physical form, though I don't think I need it. We also have an art class as well. Considering we have art in Kumari Kandam, I think I know what art is."
"But we've also got homeroom," Zak said, trying to trip him up.
"That's easy. Homeroom is... when you learn more about homes?"
"Nice try," Zak laughed, "It's just a class for having fun... sort of. You could also use it for studying, reading, or doing homework."
"Well, just because I didn't know one class is no precedence to say I should go home. I'm doing fine here." They then walked into the biology class to see dead frogs on all the tables.
"What have they done to those poor creatures? And why are they showing us?!" Ulraj gasped.
"We're going to dissect them," Zak explained, "you know, cut them open to see what the anatomy looks like."
Ulraj looked sick. "That's horrible! These gentle amphibians did nothing to them. Why would they do such a thing?"
"They don't think it's evil. They use it to teach." Zak noticed Ulraj was looking a bit pale and sighed. "Look, if you don't want to do the dissection, just tell the teacher you feel sick. She'll let you sit out in the hall with the rest of the squeamish students."
Ulraj just nodded and told the teacher what Zak said. She let him go into the hall. She asked Zak and Wadi if they needed to leave as well, but both of them shook their heads. They were then put at an empty table, meaning they would be a team in the science class along with Ulraj. The rest of the desks had four people, but since there were only three new students, it was just them.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
As class ended and Wadi and Zak came out, Ulraj got up and asked, "Were you at least gentle with them?"
"Dude, we ripped them open. Nothing was gentle about what any of the students did," Zak told him, feeling a bit bad for Ulraj. "But at least we weren't playing with it like those idiot jocks. Gross."
"I know," Wadi agreed, "And the things they said. It was just cruel."
"What did they say?," Ulraj asked.
"Let's just say their frog was female and leave it at that."
"What's so bad about female frogs? Or is it females that you don't like in general?"
"What? I never said I hate girls! I mean, I like Wadi, don't I?" As the words came out of Zak's mouth, he covered it and blushed bright red. He could always tell her he meant as a friend, but the fact that he covered his mouth and blushed wasn't helping.
"You... like me?" Wadi stammered, her pretty tan cheeks flushing red as well.
"No, I meant like as a girlfriend. Wait, no! I meant as a friend that's a girl. A best friend. Someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. No, not like that. I mean, uh..." He sighed as he realized his rambling didn't help his case.
"So, we're just friends?" Wadi asked, almost sadly.
"Yes…thank you for understanding." Zak sighed in relief as he somehow managed to fix what he'd done. That's when he noticed Ulraj laughing. "What are you laughing about?!"
"Oh, nothing," Ulraj smirked. Zak just sighed and they continued to their Algebra class.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Their Algebra class had ended and they were in art. Ulraj was painting, that being his best artistic talent in Kumari. He was actually painting Zak as he drew when someone came into the classroom late and everyone looked over.
"S-sorry I'm late, Ms. Nickelson," the girl said, "my teacher kept me after."
Ulraj couldn't take his eyes off her.
Her long fiery red hair was spilling in curls around her slightly pale face. Her grass colored eyes just seemed to emphasize her features. She had small brown freckles dotted across her nose and cheeks. She was a bit short and slender. She wore a long sleeved dark red v-neck with tan slacks and black dress shoes. She seemed timid as she hid her face when everyone started staring. She quickly darted over to one of the empty tables.
"I never knew someone from the surface could be so beautiful," he mumbled dreamily.
"You say something?" Zak asked him, turning away from his drawing.
"I'm just going to... paint someone else."
"Didn't even know you were painting me." Zak shrugged and went back to drawing.
Ulraj went over to the girl and asked, "Would you mind if I paint you?"
"M-me?," she started running her fingers through her hair nervously and she blushed a bit." B-but I'm not special. I mean, I-I'm not pretty or anything."
"I think you're a perfect model."
She just nodded in agreement.
Ulraj got a new canvas and started painting. She just sat there still as he did, looking over quite often. But she darted her eyes away when he looked back at her. He smiled as she did. He kind of liked how nervous she was.
It was almost the end of class when he finished.
"C-can I see it?" she asked him. Ulraj held up the painting for her to see. In the painting, even though her head was down, her eyes were facing towards him. The light had been shining on her, but Ulraj had made it brighter, emphasizing her features that much more.
"I-I'm not that pretty," she said quietly, blushing a bright red.
"Well, I just paint what I see," Ulraj said. "…this is what I saw when I looked at you." She seemed to blush even more and looked away again.
"A-Ange," she stuttered.
Ulraj assumed that was her name. "Your name is unique. My name is Ulraj."
"And my you think my name's unique?" she giggled a bit, but then gasped and looked away again. "W-where are you from that you have such a strange name?"
"I'm from..." Ulraj knew he couldn't tell her the truth. If he said he was a king from Kumari Kandam, she'd probably think he was crazy. "...from India. I know, still a bit of an odd name."
"N-no, not odd. Just... different. M-my name is French. It means Angel."
The bell rang and they both had to leave. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow Ange," Ulraj smiled. Ange just nodded with a small smile of her own, blushing as well.
So, what did you think? Yeah, I know, cut the day short. The last half of the school day will be posted in the next chapter. R&R Please!
Credit:
Beta Read by SimplyMonkey and Dylexa.