Chapter 45: First Day Blues
"C'mon Kairi! Think of what you're doing! You can't go through with this!"
"M-Mama, I'm scared..."
"She's GOING Mew, no ifs ands or buts about it!"
Kairi firmly crossed her arms as she stood in front of South Sancturia Academy, her school. As she began impatiently tapping her foot and staring Mew felt his resistance dwindling.
"Haaaa..." Mew hung his shoulders and then bent down next to Maria, patting her on the shoulder and leaning in with a whisper, "Don't worry Maria, I'll keep this vixen from dragging you to Hell."
"Wanna repeat that, Mr. Whiter?" Kairi demanded with the guttural growl of a demon.
A chill nicked his spine. He stood right up and gestured to her kindly, "Seriously this isn't necessary, I'm teaching her plenty at home."
"Joe Dark's telling me otherwise."
Mew grumbled out the side of his mouth, "Rat bastard, always lazing about unless he can screw me over..."
She stamped her foot down and leaned in with her fists on her hips, "She's GOING and that's FINAL! She needs to be around kids her age and get an education!"
Mew felt slighted by these ridiculous ideas, "I'M teaching her-"
"Video games are NOT a form of a education Mew." And no surprise she fought back...
"Tell that to Freddie Fish you cold-hearted..."
"Mmmrrrr...!" She puffed her cheeks set ready to burst with anger.
Mew nervously tucked his hands behind his head and laughed. Kairi settled upright with a blush and remarked, "Mom already got her signed up anyways."
Mew glanced aside at Maria. Her eyes were growing big and wobbling, and she gave this tiny, lower lipped pout. Mew's heart sank, a word of disagreement rising to the tip of his tongue. He gestured a finger at Kairi, met by a glare that wasn't as strong in the face of seeing their daughter's expression.
Yet, Mew relented.
He bent down and patted the pouted out of Maria's head, ruffling her hair playfully as he told her, "Its ok Maria. Seven hours'll pass before you know it."
"Ok..." She murmured.
"Heh. Can I tell you a secret?" Mew smiled and leaned in closer, whispering something in her ear with a slightly mischievous look on his face.
He then pulled away and her spirits were lifted in an instant, "Now go get 'em honey!"
"Ok papa!" She pulled up the small flowery backpack behind her and rolled on up to her mama. She took her by the hand and walked her towards the school.
She looked back to find Mew waving her off. She frowned one last time and Mew relaxed his arms and muttered, "Class is back in session. Where does the time go?"
Her first foray into school...He can only hope it all goes well.
…
…
She went inside with her mama and was greeted by a buncha other students. Bigger students, like mama. There was a lot of running around blocking the way forward.
She squeezed her mama's hand and was guided through the crowd. Mama got frustrated when one of the students nearly trampled over her feet..
Eventually they found an opening to run through the halls. It was so long. Like how those skyscrapers in the city would be if laid down. A lotta gray blurred together, over and over with the occasional door in-between.
"Fifth grade, fifth grade...Its been a long time since I came down here," Murmured mama, "There it is...!"
She made a sudden turn to the left. There was no more crowds to worry about. Just one big, tall, wide door that towered over them, shoving the nearby lockers out of the way.
Maria felt dizzy, and trembled.
"This is Ms. Marigold's class. You'll like her. Trust me." Mama started to let go, and Maria grabbed hold of her wrist and refused to let go.
"I'm worried mama..." She pulled in to her mama's hip for a hug.
Mama bent down and stared her in the eyes. Her face didn't look like an ogre's anymore either.
"I know. Its tough the first day..." She put both hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "Just...be yourself and it'll all work out."
"What if it doesn't...?"
"Then..." Mama paused for a few seconds and then sighed, "Don't take your stress out on your classmates."
"Ok..." Maria sighed.
A sharp ringing came from above and mama sprung to her feet, "S-Sorry Maria I gotta get to class! Later!"
She turned and ran away. Maria tapped her pant leg with a dangled hand, then pulled it back towards her beating chest.
She slowly turned to the monstrous door beside her and reached out towards the handle. Opening it up caused a vicious tidal wave of light to come flushing out and blind her. Then, there was laughter.
She opened her eyes as the light faded. Compacted into this big square-size room were almost thirty other kids her age. Some were the same size as her, others bigger, others smaller. They had lotsa hairstyles and hair colors. Some had weird bumps on their face.
They were playing. Having fun. Their energy reminded her a lot of how Papa acted. But there was a whole room of them! Maybe this won't be so bad after-
"Settle down!" Came a shrill, feminine voice from the right. And the kids obeyed like a group of soldiers.
Maria saw a woman standing behind a desk. She was as big as mama in height, but not in length or width. She had frizzy curled brown hair, a black dot to the left of her mouth, a sweater vest, saggy shirt, and loose pants.
It was like how Alura conducted herself. What did papa call that kinda person again? Oh yeah, a slob!
She tapped a white piece of rock twice against the desk and started to swivel towards a big green board behind her, "Now then students, I know its been a wild summer vacation with all the monster attacks and..."
She paused a stared directly at Maria. Maria saw her eyes light up bright red, and her voice turning a little sinister, "Well hello there..."
"Gulp...!" She shivered at her knees.
The woman's hair began to move on their own, hissing with fanged mouths, "You must be the new student. Come in, introduce yourself to the class..."
Maria paced herself over beside the desk, where the woman placed her cold hand onto the back of her head and nudged her closer towards the other students.
All the light in the room was fading. The students' faces were draped in shadow as all of them stared with bright white eyes and toothless smiles.
"H-Hello..." Maria pushed out, lowering her chin to her chest, "I'm...Maria Whiter."
"Anything ELSE you want to say to the class?" The woman urged with a sinister chuckle.
"I...I'm the Planetary Aurian of Venus?" Maria found herself saying without realizing it.
Many of the students burst into laughter. Their pointing fingers acting like pins and needles on her body. It became a madhouse. And the students' words became barbed with venom.
"Stupid! Stupid!"
"Planetary Aurians are heroes! You're just a little girl!"
"Ha ha hahaha!"
Maria gripped the straps of the backpack tight and felt dizzy again. As if to rub it in, the woman groaned and moaned loudly, "Oh goodie, another joker..."
With a sigh that could crack wood the woman gestured her clawed hand towards the tables and said, "Take your seat in the back Maria..."
When the laughter continued though the woman stamped her hand down and her voice, now softer in tone, proclaimed, "And the rest of you, pipe down and get your books out!"
The students settled back down. Again. But their eyes didn't stop looking down on her from atop their rising desks and seats.
A long trip down between the desks led her to her own, which was perfectly sized for her. She quietly laid her backpack down beside it and pulled herself onto the seat.
"Splat!"
An icky, squishy noise came from her butt. But it couldn't have been her doing. Could it? No way.
As she started to pull her skirt inward a couple students close by were chuckling. The one sitting to her right, the tallest girl in the class with lumpy brunette pigtails and a somewhat portly body, was flashing a very big grin.
Maria found, underneath her butt, a wadded up piece of paper covered in some sort of gooey, bubbly liquid. She hesitated to pick it up.
Then "Smack!", a wet impact was felt on her cheek, making her drop the wad. She plucked a second wad off her cheek and stared at it. The grinning girl from before lowered a straw from her mouth, then raised her fingers as an "L" before her forehead for...some reason.
"Eww, spit...?" Maria flicked the wad back to the girl's cheek and they let out a gasp.
Then they stood up and raised their hand to shout, "Ms. Marigold! The new kid threw a spitwad at me!"
"What?" Maria stared dumbfounded at the girl trying to lie in front of an adu-
"Maria, don't start any trouble on your first day. This is your first warning." The teacher remarked, sounding rather tired throughout.
The girl sat right down with a proud smile on her face and flashed a look at Maria, who wondered aloud, "B-But I didn't start..."
"Now, since this is just the first day we're only going to go over the basics of what you'll be learning over the course of this year."
Maria clammed up and felt distressed upon peeling her school manual open. She had heard teachers were supposed to be smart, but this one seemed worthless. And apparently, classrooms were a battleground.
But as the little angel of mama said upon her shoulder, "Don't start a fight Maria. Be good."
So she'd just stay quiet, for now, and hope this was just a one-time thing.
The teacher first did something called "attendance" which resulted in everyone but Maria calling out their names. Then the teacher opened her own manual and began writing on the big green board.
"Fifth grade is an important time in Aurian education. This is when you are expected to experiment more with your Drives. Compared to fourth grade the classes are mostly the same: Math, Reading Comprehension, Science, Biology...But now you'll be tackling two new subjects."
She tapped her white stone on the bottom half of the board a couple times, "Blacksmithing and combat. Now..."
She leaned back and sighed loudly, "We were SUPPOSED to cut these classes after our leader was outed as a massive megalomaniac, as you know...BUT thanks to those recent monster attacks our faculty decided at the very last minute without telling me to reinstate them."
"I know about those monster attacks. I helped fight them off with my friends!" Maria spoke up.
The rest of the class chuckled and the teacher's face sagged like twenty years of age had been slapped onto it, "Are you wanting to spend your first afterschool session in detention Maria? Second warning, don't make it three."
Maria sunk into her school manual with a frown.
The mean teacher started discussing the subjects in slightly more detail and after a while Maria realized...She didn't understand a darn tootin' thing about any of them except combat! Math involves a buncha numbers, reading involves a buncha words, and science and biology involves a buncha numbers AND words.
There came that dizziness again, centered entirely in her head.
"Maybe papa was right, school is terrifying...!" Beside her right shoulder, a tiny papa in angelic clothing nodded his head, receiving a stab to the forehead from a flung trident by the now devilish mama on her left shoulder.
She shook her head and raised the manual closer to her face, "I can do it! Mama made it through this, so can I!"
She just had to be herself. Be herself...Be herself...
An hour into class out of seven for the day the students were forced out of their seats and followed the teacher out into the looooong, cold halls. She had them all chained up by their wrists and ankles, standing in a single file line behind her.
They traveled throughout the building to see what the other facilities had to offer. She got to take a sneak peek at the gymnasium, the library, the cafeteria, and something called a principal's office. The latter was introduced with a strict warning from the teacher that this is the last place they want to go, especially herself...
"The teacher seems to hate everyone, even herself." Maria jotted down in her head for later.
They were also allowed to ask questions! But only one per student, per facility. Something about wanting to keep a schedule.
So for every spot they went to, Maria asked a question. Though it all boiled down to "What's this place for?"
The teacher seemed tired but not as mean as usual answering every question.
"This is where you'll play sports and do combat exercises."
"This is where you can borrow books and videos pertaining to your education."
"This is where you eat and can talk with your fellow classmates for an hour."
"This is the worst place ever. If you're dragged into here expect your life to be over...I-I mean, not your life just...Ugh, lets move on."
As the teacher took them back to their classroom Maria was feeling a little better about school. It seemed there was a lot more to do than just sit in an uncomfortable wooden chair for hours on end staring at books as thick as grandmama's hips.
Suddenly Maria felt a prick on the back of her head and looked back to find a small paper airplane falling to the ground. She picked it up before it fell too far and noticed a bit of writing in the center crease.
"Teacher's pet!" It proclaimed to her.
She heard some familiar chuckling and looked up to see the spit loving girl from earlier planting her pig fingers before her lips.
Then she laid them sideways and whispered "Bark! Bark!" How weird.
Maria crumpled the paper up a bit and then turned back to say, "Teacher, why is one of the students barking like a dog?"
The teacher turned around with a groan and stared straight out to the perpetrator immediately, "Kris, this is a quiet walk, please keep it down."
The meanie's eyes lit up in shock but Maria didn't know why. She pulled the same move on her earlier. Did...did she not think that'd happen to her too?
"School is weird..." Maria threw the paper into a trash can they passed by and it chomped it right up in its fanged mouth, then they returned to class.
A couple more hours passed doing a whole lot of nothing really. The teacher had a very powerful mouth to talk for that long.
But then came something everyone in the class was excited for: Lunch time!
According to the teacher, every student gets free lunches at the cafeteria if they want it. There were rumors though that said lunches were "ugly", "muddy", "disgusting". It didn't sound very digestible.
Papa's meals were all very, very good. Joe Dark described them as "decent", "goes down well", while Alura would say "decent", and "goes down well" too. Very positive sounding words.
She got to the cafeteria, and waited in line with all the rest of the students. The cafeteria was split based on grades. There were "Elementary" students here, "Middle Schoolers" to the left, and "High Schoolers" even more to the left. Mama, and papa if he was here, were considered "High Schoolers", so she wasn't allowed to mingle with her.
It was a silly rule but apparently trouble arose sometimes.
Maria tapped her fingers together impatiently as most of her lunchtime was getting wasted waiting in this never-ending, never-moving line.
It kinda snuck up on her when she finally arrived to the actual food. She caught a whiff of steam rising to her nose, and stared down at a buncha vats of bubbling liquids. One brown, one white, another some kinda brown-ish gold.
A towering presence rose behind the vats, mouth obscured in a triangular, goopy object. It raised a ladle in a threatening manner and dunked it into one of the vats, which began to boil over. Then it took the goop out and slapped it down upon Maria's tray.
Maria flinched and stared the faceless monster where their eyes should be, "I-Is there anything else to eat...Like hot dogs?"
Suddenly a glint of red appeared twice on their face and they moaned angrily, "Eat what you're served."
Maria gulped and carried her bubbling tray to a table. She gravitated towards an empty table and sat down. There was a lotta chatter from the other students of all grades. She didn't catch anyone from her class though. Not that she seemed to have made a good first impression. Or even that she wanted to hang out with meanies.
She slowly picked up a fork and looked at her tray of slop. Of the three steaming piles, the golden-brown one seemed the least bad.
Her brain hesitated, but her poor stomach objected. She couldn't go the rest of the day without food, that'd be torture!
"H-Here I go..." She dipped her fork into the boiling pile and quickly shoved a bit of it into her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut.
The food melted in her mouth with a sweet and somewhat tart punch. It was like...eating an apple! Just mushier, and easier on the teeth.
Her eyes sprang open and she dug right back into the "slop". The veil lifted, revealing a pork chop, mashed potatoes, and applesauce cup on her tray.
This was really good. Not as good as papa's, but a good second place. She finished her cup in seconds and went straight for the pork chop...
"Ooops!" Spoke a familiarly rude voice as she felt herself getting bumped in the back, her face nearly kissing the potatoes.
Maria stood up immediately and turned around to find that mean pig-faced girl named Kris, joined at the hip by two other girls of smaller size in all directions.
Kris looked smug when she put her fingertips on her lips and snickered, "Oh I'M SORRY, I didn't see you there. You're just so tiny."
Standing face-to-face there was at least five inches of height separating the two. For Maria, it was the difference between fighting a goblin or an ogre.
The two girls behind Kris laughed like hyenas, and Kris herself crossed her arms and leaned in dangerously close, "Hey. That pork chop. Give it to me."
Maria glanced back at her tray and then to the girl, "Don't you have one already?"
"So? I want yours too." Kris said firmly.
What was this girl's problem? Was all those extra inches on her waist filled with mean energy?
"T-This is my meal. Get your own." Maria muttered back.
"What was that?" Kris smirked and used her bigger hands to shove Maria in her chest, "I couldn't hear you!"
Maria grabbed onto the edge of the table and didn't fall all the way down. All three girls kept on laughing. Maria's heart felt like it was pumping like crazy. She stared the girl blank in the eyes and said, "T-Then maybe you need a hearing aid."
Kris widened her eyes while the other two let out a long gasp of "Oooooooo".
Kris grit her teeth and then shoved Maria again, "Got a mouth on ya squirt? I ain't gonna say it again. Gimme your pork chop!"
Maria grimaced as she was shoved again. Her blood was boiling. She stared the girl in the face and listened to her insults, "C'mon retard! Get moving!"
Maria's eyes flared open and a bit of gas started to form beside her. Then she felt a tug on her hair, and saw her angelic mama begging her, "No! Don't resort to violence! Be a good girl. Be yourself."
A rough cough came from the other side. Her papa, in angelic clothing, closed his eyes and echoed something his real self said much earlier, "Other kids are going to say mean things. They're just words. But if someone decides to get physical..."
His outfit shifted to a devil's red and he gained a big, greedy smirk, "Show them your strength and lay their ass out flat!"
Maria hung her head, silencing the bully's voice so that only her thoughts could be heard, "Be myself...be myself...I don't wanna get in trouble, but darn it all...! My first mama and papa didn't raise no weakling! I ain't gotta take this from some mean ol' rowdy pig in human clothing!"
She forced herself to stand upright so hard it pushed the table back, causing Kris and a few of the surrounding students to pause and take notice.
Maria then raised her head with a bright, closed-eye smile and said, "I'm sorry. Do you want my pork?"
"Looks like you finally get it connect-the-dots." Kris smirked.
Maria turned around, grabbed the tray, and pulled a quick 180 to slam it into Kris' face mashed potatoes first.
"GACK!" Came a satisfying scream of terror from the meanie before she started to fall towards the ground.
Her two friends caught her, but she rose right back up and threw the tray to the ground. Her face was bright red and scowling.
"Uh oh." Maria's lips sealed shut and she watched as Kris picked up the discarded pork chop and prepared to throw it.
Maria ducked right for underneath the table and the pork chop went flying into the back of a students' head, causing their face to dunk right into their meal.
Another student stood atop their table and proclaimed two very powerful words in this environment: "FOOD FIIIIIIIIGHT!"
The next few minutes were like a blur. Food was being flung everywhere into everyone. Students of all ages went down covered in mashed potatoes, applesauce and the occasional juice bottle. The older students tried to quell the madness, but they couldn't combat the overwhelming power of youth.
Maria tucked her legs up against her chest underneath the table and stared silently into the void. Her heart raced and she couldn't stop smiling.
Suddenly another student, a young boy currently covered in ketchup and bits of salty chips, dove under the table screaming overdramatically.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" His eyes slowly panned towards her, and after a few brief moments he scurried onto his knees and said, "S-Sorry I thought this was empty!"
"...Ummm..." Maria looked him over. He seemed to be her age. His hair might normally be black, and he had some freckles too. His clothes were a mess, he'd gotten the worst of the food fight so far.
He stretched his hand out and said, "Hi! I'm Nikolas the Great!"
"The...Great?" Maria said, slowly shaking his hand in return.
"Yep! Cause someday I'm gonna be a great hero, and that'll be my title!" The kid enthusiastically pumped his fists up and banged the bottom of the table, "Ow ow!"
"Heheh!" Maria giggled.
As Nikolas shook his fists he said, "And what's your name?"
"Oh umm...Maria."
"Maria...?" Nikolas stared deep into her eyes and then gasped, "You're the new kid! Hey, what a coinky dink! We're in the same class!"
"We are...?"
"I probably didn't stand out much with Ms. Donutdozer blotting out all the light in the room. That's fine. I get it," Nikolas looked around and smiled, "This is so fun! Whoever started this is a genius!"
"I-I think I started this..." Maria murmured.
Nikolas spun around and his eyes couldn't have possibly bulged any farther if he tried, "YOU?! Really?!"
Maria shook her head and said, "N-No never mind..."
Nikolas leaned in with eyes lit up and said, "Are you kidding?! That's totally awesome!"
"...It is?"
"Yeah! I wouldn't expect nuthin' less from one of the Planetary Aurians!"
"H-Huh?" Maria shook her head a lot more, "Oh oh I didn't actually mean what I said..."
"Why're you trying to hide it?" Nikolas tilted his head momentarily, "You're a hero! If it wasn't for you my big brother wouldn't be alive right now!"
Maria had to pause and think. When she came to Sancturia to help with the monster invasion she potentially saved a lot of people by fending off that evil mummy. Was maybe...one of those three teenagers she shoo'd off Nikolas' big brother?
Nikolas grinned as Maria blushed, "Freckled cheeks, doll-like red hair...That's how my big brother described his savior. I just thought you'd be a lot older...or bigger."
He gestured his hand on an even playing field from the top of his head to hers and said, "But we're the same age! That's so cool! That means I can be a great hero right now if I wanted to!"
"But..."
"In fact! I wanna show you what I got!" Nikolas was too full of energy to compete with edgewise. He grabbed a flung apple off the ground and crawled out from under the table.
He stood amidst the chaos screaming "I'LL SHOW YOU ALL MY STRE-"
Another apple clobbered him beside the head and he went crashing to the floor. He forced out a few gasps and shook his hand towards the sky, "G-Gack...M-Maria...avenge...me...!"
Maria's eyes lit up and she suddenly pulled herself out from under the table, snagging the apple from Nikolas' hand.
"Hold on Nikolas!" She stood tall over him and threw an apple into the crowd to knock someone down instantly. She then used her gas powers to catch other flung fruits and toss them back.
"YEEHAW!" She roared, having the time of her life.
In what would come to be known as the "First Day Food Massacre", 100 students had to go to the doctor, and school was canceled early. The chaos was so great that no one, not even the teachers, were able to determine who started this or why.
Maria was able to leave the school wielding a mischievous smile, while her body remained untouched.
Waiting for her outside was good ol' papa. He stood upright with a look of surprise and walked towards her, "Well you're out early!"
He quickly shifted to concern once near her and whispered, "Everything go ok...?"
She smiled big and said, "I started a food fight so they had to stop early."
Papa's eyes lit up and he threw his hand up, "That's my girl! Gimme five!"
Maria clapped both his hands but he stood up with a couple coughs and said, "Uhhh, just gotta ask though...Does your mom know or...?"
She pinched her lips and slid her fingers across them.
"Whew," Papa smirked and said, "So how did it go otherwise...?"
"Well..."
"Maria wait up!"
Maria turned around and saw Nikolas running out of the school towards her. He still looked pretty dirty, but he somehow kept smiling.
Once he caught up he seemed spooked by something.
Papa was glaring at him, "And just who are you?"
Nikolas immediately started bowing, "I-I'm Maria's friend, s-sir!"
"Your name?"
"Nikolas! S-Sir!"
"Hehe..." Papa gestured his hand out and said, "Stand up kid."
Nikolas sprung upright and couldn't look papa in the eyes. So he turned to Maria and said, "Hey, do you want to hang out at my place?"
"Sure!" Maria proclaimed, looking to papa for his blessing.
He tucked his hands behind his head and said, "As long as you get her home by dinner."
"I will sir! Thanks!" Nikolas ran ahead of Maria and gestured his hand towards himself, "C'mon, follow me!"
She ran along after him and yelled "Later papa!" energetically.
Mew shook his head slowly and smiled. He then laid his hands down and murmured, "Sir...? Do I look THAT old?"
He felt another familiar power from the school and turned to find Kairi dragging herself out through the entrance. Her hair was covered in mashed potatoes.
"This is a bad omen for the year..." He barely heard her murmur.
She raised her head to the sight of Mew's smiling face and raised her brows, "Mew? What're you..."
She stopped a few feet away and remarked, "Were you standing out here the who-"
Mew crossed his arms against his chest and said, "So, messy first day back?"
Kairi's lips flopped and she brushed a nice chunk of mashed potatoes off her head, "Ugh. Some smartass kid started a food fight and it spiraled out of control."
"Sounds like it." Mew smiled wider.
"Did you see Maria...? I'm worried she got caught up in that mess." Kairi glanced around for a bit.
"Oh she just left with a friend she made today." He replied with a nudge back.
"She made a friend?" Kairi gasped happily and swung her head down to say, "Ohthankgod!"
She laid her hand over her chest and breathed slowly, "I was panicking all day about her you wouldn't believe it. I thought I gave her the wrong advice...I thought she'd be mocked. I must have aged like ten years in one day!"
"You still look as young as ever Kairi, geez."
"E-Easy for you to say." She said with a blush.
Mew patted her on the back and smiled, "Lets get you home in the shower before the mashed potatoes start sprouting."
"Haaaa. Yeah. That sounds nice." Kairi relaxed her guard and let Mew walk her home. Summer was over. But the real struggle began now...
STORY 6: Summertime Shenanigans END
NEXT: STORY 7: Shadows in our Blood
