The End of Teasing: A Dragon Tales Fan Fiction
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Tales. Belongs to PBS kids.
A/N: Special thanks to TolkienScholar for being my beta reader and Sofia2015 for the suggestion of using a prologue for the first chapter.
Prologue
The taunting words flew around in six-year-old Emmy's mind like wasps.
"Baby."
"Aren't you a little old for pretending?"
"You know dragons aren't real, don't you, Emmy? Oh, that's right, you don't!"
"Stupid."
"Goody-goody."
"Freak!"
To her four-year-old brother Max, she was brave. Yet in the schoolyard or the soccer field, she wasn't brave like he thought she was.
She was terrified, trying to hide somewhere.
Like now. Except that she wasn't exactly trying to hide; more like trying to cover up her ears, to rid them of today's teases and taunts.
"Emmy! The dragons are calling us!" Emmy heard her brother call. But she stood, too upset to speak.
"Emmy! You're scaring me!" she heard Max call again. She blinked, realizing that her now-frightened brother was standing close to the glowing drawer, staring at her. It was almost as if Max was afraid to go near her.
"Sorry for scaring you, Max. I was just thinking about how much fun we're going to have in Dragon Land," Emmy lied, uncovering her ears. She hated having to lie to her brother, but she thought that it would be for the best. If Max found out, he would be worried and tell their parents or one of the dragons. Telling their parents wasn't a good idea because their mother would demand every little detail, and their father would have a talk with the school principal, wanting to speak with the parents whose child was causing the trouble. And while the dragons were helpful at times, what Emmy was facing wasn't exactly something that could be solved with a trip to The School in the Sky.
Emmy sighed. She opened the drawer and got out the dragon box, holding it gently, as she took the glowing dragon scale from the purple velvet that protected it.
As she and her brother said the rhyme that would take them to Dragon Land in a flash, Emmy sighed to herself. She would be in peace for an hour or two before she had to come back to the mess that was her life.