Chapter 10 In The Halls

Right below the Koopa Clown Car laid the school. Standing tall and proud, constructed from good old fashioned brick and mortar, the place looked like a regal academy as it rested among the green of the Mushroom Kingdom. Trees and flower beds aligned the perimeter, with colors popping and catching Celia's eye. There were multiple levels to the building, as the rooves were almost touchable from so high up. Students filtered into it like worker bees entering the hive. Celia wondered if the students words would sting like bees too.

Roy lowered the clown car right in front of the school. From this angle, Celia could see that most of the people entering the school were Toads. There was one Toad with a power star acting as the charm on a necklace, and another Toad who looked like he had just got done smoking a fire flower. Some Toads were big, some were small, but still, they all looked at Celia and Roy with strange looks. Some even had expressions that one could only describe as "venomous."

Celia gulped. She wanted to curl up in a little ball and hide deep within the bottom of the Koopa Clown Car. However, Roy wasn't going to let that happen, as indicated by the laughter he let out.

"This place don't look too bad," he said. One toad gave him a glare, which he responded to by waving at them. "Hey! We're new here!" The Toad cringed and noticeably picked up the pace as they made their way into the building.

Celia shrunk down a little bit. "I don't...I don't get a really welcoming vibe from this place."

Roy snickered. "The students jus need time to get used to us." He hopped out of the Clown Car. "They're probably jealous of how awesome we are!"

Celia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's it."

Roy chuckled and held out his hand to assist her out of the Clown Car. "This'll be fun. I promise."

Celia was about to say that she didn't believe that he could really live up to such a promise when the school bell rang. She sighed and took his hand, all without saying a word.

"Come on," said Roy. "Let's go to the office."

They needed to go to the office in order to get their schedules. Despite knowing this, Celia's stomach still did flip flops. What if there was another Toad there who would hate them? Even with Roy's enthusiasm, this did not seem like it was going to go well.

So, they walked into the building hand in hand. The first thing that was brought to Celia's attention was the smell. It smelled...clean. Much cleaner than any building that housed a bunch of teenagers had any right to be. The scent of lemony cleaning supplies and cranberry air freshener made her feel like she was stepping into a building that housed a local fruit festival.

But not only did the building smell clean, it looked clean too. The floors, composed of shiny white tile, looked like they could be eaten off of without the fear of consuming any unwanted germs. This was a big contrast to the sewer that Celia had lived in for six years, and as a consequence, made her feel like an unwelcome germ. The walls were a sky blue, a color that Celia knew was supposed to maintain a calm, orderly atmosphere. However, all it did was make her certain that she would stick out all the more with the fiery colors on her body.

She hadn't even started classes and already she felt like she didn't belong.

"Come on," Roy whispered. He led her to the office, which was literally to the right of the entrance. Sure enough, just as Celia feared, there was a Toad sitting at the front desk. As cool as her power moon earrings were, and as welcoming as her smile appeared, Celia still felt like she would be turned to a pulp if she looked in this Toad's eyes the wrong way.

"Hello! You must be the new students."

"Yep!" Roy exclaimed.

The Toad's smile grew bigger. "I'm Mrs. Mush. I'm the secretary here, as you can plainly see. Mr. Funge is the principal. He's a very nice guy, as long as you don't get on his bad side."

Celia laughed, her tone tinged with unease. Knowing how Toads often responded to her existence, she didn't have high hopes for her interactions with the principal.

"Good to know," Roy said with a grin. "Anyway, we're here to pick up our schedules."

Mrs. Mush nodded. "Of course. Just give me one moment." She went into the another room, her little legs moving at a speed that was surprisingly fast for a Toad.

Roy chuckled. "This is so cool! It's like we're actual, legitimate teenagers now!"

Celia scoffed. "Mmhm. Cause going to school is the only way a teenager can be considered legitimate."

Roy nodded. "Yeah, don't you know anything?" Right at that moment, Mrs. Mush returned with some paper. Roy smiled at her. "Ah yeah boy, now we're moving up in the world!"

Mrs. Mush chuckled. "Yep. You're taking the first steps towards a brighter future." She handed over the schedules, as well as a map of he general layout of the school to each of them. "I hope that you enjoy your classes here at Mushroom Academy."

"I'm sure we will!" Roy exclaimed. "Come on, Cee, let's get going."

Celia nodded and stepped out of the office, all while looking back into Mrs. Mush's smiling face. The sight of the shiny white teeth made Celia's stomach churn even more.

Once they stepped out into the hallway, Celia looked over at her schedule. She noticed that there was only one class on there; special education with Ms. Tish. Which made sense; her parents did sign her up for the "catch up classes" after all. This wasn't concerning.

No, what was concerning was the fact that Roy had a lot more items on his schedule. Language Arts, Physics, Ceramics for an elective. This meant that Roy wasn't going to be by her side at all during the school day.

Roy must have realized this too, because he looked back at her with a somber expression. "Ah man. I won't get to see you."

Celia sighed. "Yeah." She didn't even attempt to hide her displeasure.

In response to this, Roy smiled and stroked her shoulder. "But hey! It'll still be fine!"

Celia nodded despite her instincts telling her not to. "Sure."

The bell rang a second time, prompting Roy to smile."Well, I best get going. See you after school."

"See you after school,' Celia said quietly.

Roy was halfway down the hall when he stopped and turned around. "And hey. I love you."

Celia smiled. "Love you too." If the rest of the day turned out to be crap, at the very least she could have the pureness of that saying staying with her.

With that, both Celia and Roy went off in separate directions. Celia kept looking at that map, desperate to get to the classroom. Most of the times, she buried her face in the map so that she could avoid looking at the Toads, Because boy, there were a lot of them. They clung to the lockers like lichen, chatting away in their shrill, ear bleeding voices. Every once in a while, a Toad would activate a power up and go to town on the rest of the students. This made Celia even more desperate to get to class. She didn't want to be beaten up. Not on her first day.

Unfortunately, the beatings seemed to becoming inevitable. The Toads followed her with their eyes, gawking at the sight of her. Amidst the chaos, some whispered back and forth to their friends, possibly about the strange girl with fiery hair and golden skin. This made Celia's heart pump. If they were talking about her, they were most likely not saying something pleasant. They were probably talking about how odd she was. How much she didn't belong amongst their kind.

Thankfully, after what felt like an eternity, Celia found her classroom. She opened the door, only to find that there were no other people in the room. No students, no teachers, nothing. As she closed the door behind her, she wondered if she was in the right place.

"Hello?"

Someone poked their head out from behind a wall and smiled. "Ah, you must be Celia!" They stood up and came over to her. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Ms. Tish."

Celia gawked. "You're Ms. Tish?" She hadn't known what to expect from her teacher, but this was definitely the last thing she had expected.

Ms. Tish was a koopa.