Chapter 3
Acacia was sitting on a wooden balcony in the heart of the SapWing village, sulking as hunger gnawed at her insides.

To say things hadn't gone well on her first day of high school would be the understatement of the year. The day was bad before Acacia even started school.

Her little brother, Birch, had felt sick after stuffing his mouth with all the capybara in the house that morning, and had projectile vomited all over the tree next to their house after he faceplanted on the balcony. He couldn't stay home, so they had to fly to school while Birch cleaned his face with a sheet of paper from his sister's bag.

Then, when they arrived at the entrance to the courtyard that housed the SapWing school, Acacia realised she hadn't packed any food, so she didn't have anything to eat for lunch.

Her teacher, Baobab, and the kids in her main class seemed nice enough, but in PE, she was stuck in a class with a bunch of bickering, loud, selfish dragonets who all seemed to hate her.

Worst of all, she got called to the principal's office to do a maths test she was supposed to have done a week ago. Why?! She thought furiously as she hauled her way through the exam. Why are they making me do this just because they forgot? I'm not the one with the memory of a tsetse fly.

When they finally let her out, she was hit with a wave of sounds and smells, bright light reflecting off the empty firefly lanterns and splintery wooden floorboards stabbing her talons. The overwhelming sensory clutter she was slapped with all the time was only made worse by the fact she hardly slept or eaten the past two days.

Exhausted and overwhelmed, she covered her ears and ran towards a sheltered spot on a balcony two levels up, where she would have some form of protection from the noisy, mean dragonets below.

She sat there for ages, wings folded over her head as she wallowed in self pity. No one came up to her, but she could hear people whispering about her as they flew past.

"Hey," said a voice softly. Acacia looked up to see a dragonet her size looking down at her with a genuinely concerned look.

"Buzz off." Acacia growled viciously as she drew her wings tighter around her.

"You look hungry," the dragonet continued, ignoring Acacia's unwelcoming hiss. "My name's Lily. Do you mind if I sit with you and give you some of my snack?" She seemed worried and friendly.

Then again, dragons who seemed like that almost always turned out to be mean.

"I said, Buzz. Off." Acacia hissed, snatching a piece of panther from the dragonet's flower-coloured talon as she flew off. She smacked Lily in the face with her tail as she left, for added effect.

"Oh, and you can keep the mango," Acacia retorted.

The last thing she heard before she soared away was Lily's sob as she clutched her dark green cheek, running away crying.

‐-

As soon as she had left the school, her anger wore off, and she felt super guilty for pushing away Lily.

She was only trying to be your friend, one side of her said. Why would you snap at her like that?!

She was being annoying, her other half retorted. And who knows if she was even really like that, or if it was just a cover up so she could betray me in front of her other friends?!

Yeah, and your response was to push her away, like you do with everyone else?

Her other side didn't reply.

That wasn't my fault, Acacia tried telling herself as she flew deeper into the jungle, finishing up the piece of panther. She was being rude, interrupting my sulking like that.

As much as she tried, deep down Acacia knew what she had done couldn't be justified.

I know, she thought suddenly. I'll got to one of the Hives and do something bad to get revenge on the HiveWings!

I'll steal the Book of Clearsight.

‐-

Acacia soared through the jungle, her leaf-shaped wings curved slightly as she glided towards the grasslands.

She had flown home immediately after leaving the school, knowing neither of her parents would be back until dinner.

Landing inside her room, she had scooped up a few of her pouches that were slung on the wooden branches above her, shoving in paper, ink bottles, a map, and a wooden carving she got for her hatching day.

Hurrying into the main room, she took five dried grasshoppers and a bit of mango and popped them into the biggest pouch she had. Right before she was about to leave, she remembered her family, who would be worried sick, and Lily, who would be upset that a dragon who she was trying to be friends with attacked her.

Putting a few of her mother's herbs in one of the pouches under her wing, she pulled it a leaf and some ink and quickly scrawled a message:

Gone to... I don't know where yet. Don't follow. I'm sorry I was such a horrible dragon. Trying to redeem myself. I love you.
-Acacia

Acacia attached the note to the front door, shutting it behind her as she leapt into the golden-green canopy.

As she flew, she scribbled a message on a second, darker leaf.

Sorry for being a jerk. I won't be back.
- Acacia

She found Lily's empty classroom on the edge of the school. It's dark green leaves overlapped to form a room, lockers on one side and desks on the other.

She easily found Lily's desk: it was coated with blue-white lilies on every surface, stretching and dipping and intertwining like snakes fighting.

Grimacing at that image, she tucked the note and her favourite carving into the desk drawer.

I hope she'll forgive me, Acacia thought, although that wish was beat back by the flurry of thoughts crashing about in her head:
Why would she forgive you, after what you've done?
What are you thinking, running away like this?

Wincing as she fought with herself, Acacia straightened up and walked right out the door, trying to fight the sinking feeling of regret, sorrow and anxiety inside her as she flew off into the unknown.

Sorry if this chapter was messy. I wrote it in less than a day! Also, WOW! I can't believe I have 2 readers already. I. HAVE. READERS! Thank you so much for reading my crackfic that I'm writing by the seat of my pants. See you in the next chapter! :D