Lily's first day is not going well. She hasn't made a single friend, and it's quite possible that she's made a few enemies. The dinosaurs in her class are all meat-eaters, and while she's sure that she's not on the menu, they seem to look down on her because of her diet. They make rude comments about her intelligence, or the perceived lack thereof. Whenever they start to tease Lily, however, the teacher scolds them. She seems to be on her side. This might have something to do with the fact that the teacher is a friend of Lily's mother. Perhaps they have some sort of arrangement.
Unfortunately, Lily's winged savior is not always around. She may be in charge of the class, but she is not the only teacher, which means that she'll be replaced with other instructors throughout the day. Lily has learned that there will be four people teaching her, including someone called "Mrs. Harding" and a baryonyx that Lily has not yet learned the name of. The latter is going to be teaching her French, so she has to call her Madame Something. But that's not important right now.
Her main teacher, the one with the wings, is often busy. Her son goes to school too, but he's in a different class. He seems to get in trouble with his math teacher, whom Lily recognizes as the man who always wears black. Lily's teacher is sometimes called to the office because he's been acting out. This means that there's a brief moment when Lily is not under her watchful eye, and thus, it is quite easy for the other children to tease her.
And they do.
They poke her with their nasty claws, sometimes making shallow scratches on her skin. She whines unhappily, but tries to keep quiet, because her mother told her not to talk unless the teacher asks her a question.
Of course, things get rough during Free Time. There is a box of colored rice on a table with empty bottles and cups in it, and Lily has been eager to play there all day. When the teacher announces that they are free to roam for fifteen minutes, Lily rushes over to the table excitedly, but a raptor cuts her off. He sneers and pushes her away, grabbing the cup she had her eye on. A flower-neck dinosaur moves over to make room for her, but the raptor hisses angrily and snaps at him.
"Don't let her play here! She'll eat all the rice!"
Lily wants to tell him that she would not eat the rice, because other dinosaurs have been putting their hands in it, and besides, rice is only good when it's cooked. She doesn't, though. Her mother told her not to pick fights with the other children. This seems like a bad idea.
Abandoning her desired station, Lily waddles over to the toybox. The children who are already playing give her spiteful glares, but she ignores them. She reaches into the box and feels around for something to play with. Lo and behold, she finds the perfect toy. It is a stegoceratops, and it is green like her mother. Lily is thrilled to finally be able to play with a doll that looks like her own species. She quickly sits down and examines it thoroughly. It's beautiful. Before she has a chance to play, one of the raptors takes his plastic T-Rex and knocks the stegoceratops out of her hands. He does it with such force that Lily's fingers hurt in places, but she doesn't care. As she reaches for her toy, another raptor grabs it and places it in his spinosaurus' mouth, shaking it back and forth violently. When it falls out, he kicks the stegoceratops over to Lily.
"It's dead."
Lily picks up the stegoceratops and straightens its legs lovingly.
"No, he isn't. He's okay."
The first raptor, the one with the T-Rex, slaps it out of her hands again.
"It's dead now. I killed it."
Lily tries to rescue her toy, but a third raptor grabs it and throws it across the room. Pushed to her limit, Lily starts to growl. The first raptor takes one look at her and laughs.
"The cow is mad at us!"
The second raptor snorts.
"Give her a plant. She's probably hungry."
Lily frowns. Standing up, she makes herself look as big as possible. The raptor doesn't seem daunted.
"Whatcha gonna do, plant-eater?"
She screams with rage and pushes him over.
This earns her a timeout.
Somehow, the teacher saw her pushing the raptor, but didn't hear what caused the kerfuffle in the first place. She speaks with Lily's assailant in the hall, probably to make sure that he isn't hurt. That's Lily's theory, anyway. She wouldn't be surprised, since everyone here is so awful.
Standing in the corner sullenly, Lily forces herself not to cry. Crying would only make her look worse. If her mother finds out that she pushed a raptor, she'll be very disappointed, maybe even angry. It's not fair! This was supposed to be fun and educational, but instead, it's a total nightmare. Lily feels her eyes prickling, but she's too angry to be sad. She feels like she's been wronged.
When she looks down, Lily notices that there is someone with her. It's the stegoceratops toy. This is where it landed when the raptor threw it. Lily bends down and picks up her companion. He isn't broken, but Lily can tell that he's hurt. Cradling him in her arms gently, she strokes his beak and closes her eyes.
"We're gonna get out of here, you and I," she whispers, "I promise, we'll escape this awful place . . . or die trying."
