This morning started with a rather rude awakening. My father woke me up, looking a bit mad. Okay, understatement, he looked pretty ticked off. My alarm hadn't gone off yet, so it was before 7 in the morning.

"What the hell happened to the windshield on the Focus? What were you doing yesterday!" he yelled, looking like he was restraining himself. Probably from swearing any more than that. Don't get me wrong, my dad's not a violent person, but you don't want to break things around here, that's for sure.

"Whoa, geez, calm down. I was just going out to get a game and-" I started.

"Another game? It seems like that's all you do!" he said loudly.

"Dad...let me finish-" I started, again interrupted, though this time by a fluttering of feathers.

"Oy, what in the devil is going on here?" Lawrence said, tilting his head a little. There was a bit of an awkward pause in the conversation as he popped up. "What?" he looked at me. "The crazy loony there looks like he's seen a ghost." No, not quite a ghost. But, a pretty well-sized bird in the house.

"Anyway, yeah, I hit that bird with my windshield. It fell out of the air and smashed into it." I said.

"How is it still alive, then?" he asked. A valid question, really. I kind of wondered the same thing. Then again, I wasn't going all that fast.

"I was in the residential streets, and...I...guess it's durable? I don't know. It was an accident, though, I-" I got cut off again. Geez, always getting cut off, though once again, by something different. Guitar and drums.

"Take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green, and-" my alarm clock started. I pushed down on the button.

"Anyways, it was an accident, I need to get ready for school." I said. Of course, there were still questions.

"How late were you driving, anyways?"

"Like, 10 or so, about."

"Right, you look like a zombie."

"Hey, I was up later than that. Had to take care of this bird. I wasn't just going to let it die." I said, really just "BSing", as I called it. I didn't do anything for Lawrence...didn't need to, really.

My dad just paused for a moment. "...right. Never mind. Just let it heal and get it out of the house, then. Don't want it making a mess all over the place." he said before leaving my room. Lawrence glared at him as he left, then looked at me, looking horribly offended.

"My word! How undignified does that old man think I am?" he said, ruffling his feathers up. "I will at least go outdoors to do that business, thank you very much!"

"Well, he probably thinks you're a big pigeon, too." I said and then paused. "Wait, you understand English, too?" I asked.

He nodded. "Mmm, yes, picked up on quite a bit of it in various countries. Can't speak it because of this bloody beak, not to mention these vocal cords. I'm not made for speaking your crazy moon language."

I just cocked an eyebrow. "Crazy moon language? You think our language is crazy, I'm understanding and speaking yours! Humans don't normally make those kinds of noises! Humans don't understand animal talk, much less -speak- it!" I said loudly, just really confused right now. My dad burst into the room again.

"Get that bird to shut up! Ugh, chirping and squawking away." he said loudly. We just went silent until he left the room.

Lawrence just snickered. "Hahah, I do say that your voice has about as much refinement as one of those pigeons."

"Oh, can it. What do you think you are, a songbird?" I snapped back, getting my things ready for school.

"Oho, I sound better than you, I'd bet a pound on it!" he snapped back.

I just scoffed. "You're in the US. I have dollars, not pounds. And I don't think you even have a pound, you're a bird. Where would you keep money?"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, right. You and your dollars. You Americans are always the odd man out. Your Imperial measurements, too."

It was my turn to snicker. "Really? Who else uses "pounds" as their currency? Spend most of your time in the UK? Turns out most of Europe uses something called the "euro". Besides, we're not the only ones to use dollars."

"Blast! Ah, true. Well, I suppose there's not many European countries that use it, but-"

I cut him off. "Yeah, places like Egypt and whatnot."

"Ah, bug off, already." he scoffed and ruffled his feathers.

I had to ask something else. "How did you get into America, anyways? Or, for that matter, why? Seems a ways to travel."

Lawrence only paused for a moment. "You know what? I'll tell you that later. You've got to get to school, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, I do. I can't just leave you on the ground here, though. Brothers will find you, and I don't know how that will turn out."

He shivered a little. "Ah, blimey. They're not very animal friendly, I assume. Fine when I can fly, but I'm quite grounded." he said. As I crouched down to pick up my books, he hopped up onto my shoulder. I yelped in surprise and flailed a little. "Calm down. You'd think a spider had hopped on you, the way you just panicked."

"Well, excuse me if your talons and weight took me by surprise." I said, slipping on my backpack. "I don't know if school will be any safer."

"Oh, come now, I'm not that heavy. Besides, looking at another country's school will be quite interesting!" he said, sounding kind of excited. I guess he liked to think he was all classy and cultured. Was he? I don't really know. He sure was trying hard to act it, though.

"Fine, then...I guess I just need to make sure not to be talking to you in the middle of school, or people will look at me like a freak." I said, a little nervous about that.

"There's stranger people out there, you know." Lawrence said with a chuckle.

I just shook my head. "I don't see many people talking to animals."

"Mmm, I suppose. But trust me, there's stranger out there." he said, fluttering his feathers a little. What was that supposed to mean?

"If you say so..." I shrugged a little. "Just don't act out during class, okay?"

He scoffed. "Me, act out? Poppycock."

I just let out a slight groan. Him acting out seemed more likely than I felt safe with. "Sure, sure...well, I guess it would be best for us to be heading off before we're late."

"Yes, off into the wide open sky of knowledge!" he exclaimed. I just sighed and rolled my eyes. For a little bird, I had this feeling he'd be quite a handful.

"If I met a person like you, I really don't know what I'd think."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Hyper, snide, and trying his damndest to be British." I chuckled a little.

"Well, maybe. I'm a bit excitable being in a new place, though!" he fluffed out his feathers.

I chuckled slightly. "Eh, I might end up depressing you, then. I don't look forward to that much around here."

"Well, way to dampen the mood." Lawrence fell silent after that, at least for now. I didn't think that wouldn't last long, though. For now, I just went out to the bus, which had already pulled up by the time I had finally gotten out of the house. Needless to say, with Lawrence on my shoulder, I was getting some funny looks. He seemed to be giving strange looks back, too.

"I tell you, this is one time I wish my sense of smell was less sensitive..." he said with a shaking of his feathers, trying to tuck his head in between his wings. I held back a snicker as I sat down in the bus, backpack on the floor.

"Hey, what're ya doin' with a bird?" a voice came from behind me. Great, just my luck. Got the seat in front of these two airheads.

"Yeah, come on, why you bringing it to school? Animals will just act out." the other said, starting to poke at Lawrence. Lawrence just looked irritated.

I suppose I should introduce these two. The one that contracts half of his words is Lucas, a big jock who wants to go into boxing someday. I hope he does. Means I'd get to see him get the crap beaten out of him sometime. Not that he has anything against me, he just likes to pick on everyone. Honestly, I don't know if he even knows the difference between the people he tries to torment.

The other is Andy, an athletic kid who likes to think he's a brainiac. I think he likes to torment kids smarter than him, from what I've seen, but I don't claim to know for sure. Maybe I'll see him out on an injury from his football playing, that would be great.

"That would be "why are you bringing it to school", Andy." I said.

He just continued to irritate both me and Lawrence, shoving me a bit. "Hey, don't get smart with me!"

"Also, I wouldn't be doing irritating the bird, either. I don't know what he does if you get him angry." I said.

"It's just a dumb bird, and it can't even fly. I can see that." Andy snickered.

Lawrence scoffed. "I'm the dumb one? I'm smarter than the both of you put together!"

"Oh, look, it's angry, I'm so scared of-" he started, then suddenly yelped as Lawrence snapped out and bit his finger rather quickly, looking absolutely steamed. "Gah! I'm gonna-" he started. I grabbed Lawrence and held onto him.

"Hey, I told you not to keep doing that. If you'd listen to people-"

"This doesn't concern you! Let me get my hands on that thing before I make you drop him!"

"You try that on me, there's a bus driver and whole group of students here that would report you. I'm sure some of these students would love to see you in detention."

There was a pause before the bus stopped at school. "I'll get after you later...you and that damn bird." he said before getting off the bus.

Lucas just chuckled getting off the bus. "For a smart kid, 'e sure's dumb." he said to himself. Like I said, I think he just picks on whoever he can pick on.

"Hey, shut up, the stupid thing bit me!"

"Well, don' poke it, dummy."

"Why, I oughta-"

"You oughta what? You can't do nuthin' and you know it."

I just walked past and chuckled. At least those two didn't get along very well.

I heard another chuckle, though from Lawrence. "Well, I can see why you don't look forward to coming, but at the least, those two are amusing."

I shook my head. "Glad you think so."

"I shouldn't have bitten him, though. For the obvious reason, I can't fly or anything. That and he was absolutely vile." he shivered a little.

I had to laugh a bit at that. I got weird looks again. Spontaneous laughter. Geez, I was going to look like a nut. I whispered to him. "All right, I can't have you doing that. I don't want people to start thinking I'm going stark raving mad, okay?"

"Well, then don't reply to me, for starters!" he said with a bit of a laugh. I shook my head. Yeah, I was right. He was certainly going to be a handful.