AN: Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I have had it written up for a week or so, but been very lazy about typing it up. Plus, had some school stuff to do. But, I hope that you all enjoy it. The next update shouldn't take so long. Working on chapter 6 at the moment, writing. Still need to type up chapter 4.
The last bell of the day rang, and I began picking up my notebook and pen, and putting them into my bag. Other students were talking to each other, but no one was talking to me. Rory had been wrong about our identical class schedules, since we didn't share our last class of the day. I had a second Literature class and she had some sort of history course. I let everyone else leave the room before I did, ensuring I could keep the comments to a minimum.
As I walked out of the classroom, I scanned the other students for either long dirty blonde hair or long brunette hair, however I saw neither. I had no idea what Pairs was doing, but I did know that Rory had to get on the bus as soon as she could to get back to Stars Hollow as quickly as possible for a dinner with her mother and grandparents back here in Hartford tonight. I didn't really understand it either, but she seemed to believe it made sense, and that is really all I needed to know to be sure she was probably correct.
Seeing neither of the girls that I was looking for, I left Chilton to get home. Some people drive to school and still others take the bus. However, both of these options had issues for me. Driving would require that I have a specially modified seat that would allow for my tail to fit through a hole and rest behind my seat. And, riding the bus wasn't better, since I would have to either find a way to hide it from sight or take all of the comments that would come twice daily. Perhaps, eventually everyone would get used to it, but I didn't want to take that amount of time to wait. So, instead, I walk to and from each day. Plus, it isn't all that long of a walk, just a couple of blocks each way. It was the perfect time for me to reflect, and it was always good exercise. And today, I needed to reflect on everything that had happened to me. The first thing that happened was that I was forced to reveal my true self by a major jerk named Tristan. But, that was followed by my making my first real friend in a long time, after seeing an angelic being watching and then pitying me as my tail was pulled. Then, I went to my first class at Chilton, where the only comment was on the stupidity of my last name's meaning in regard to my curse. So, that class was pretty fine.
My next class was a bit worse. It was a very strange class, Religion in History, and somehow the subject for the day was the Serpent in mythology and its ties to Satan. That was fun, coming into a class with a snake tail and the last name of Snake. Lots of talking about things I had already read up on, such as the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, Quetzalcoatl in the Mayan religion, Jormungard in Norse mythology, etc. I have no idea why Chilton had a Religion in History class, but it was sure to be an immensely interesting class, whenever we got off of the Serpent, or until I got more used to the school and that students.
Then came what I might begin calling Hell on Earth, but is actually called Government and Politics. The teacher, Mr. Rynhard, was a man in his fifties who had fought in Vietnam, and then become a governmental lawyer, and then, somehow, a teacher at Chilton. He was a hardcore Republican and an uber devout Catholic, both of which often showed up in class while he was teaching. And he treated failure and being different as crimes against America. My coming into class with a snake tail, which he took to be fake and an affectation, was a horrible offense. He attempted to grab at my tail to rip it off, and looking at his still very muscular body, he might have. However, I was faster, and had my tail move around to the other side of my body, and stepped out of his reach.
Directly after that occurred, he said, "What do you think you are doing in my class with that demonic piece of clothing?"
I looked him in the eye, letting a bit of the snake into my eyes, and said, "It is not false. It is a snake tail growing out of the base of my spine. If you pull it, it hurts like Hel herself is trying to attack you. I am your new student, Matthew Colubra, and I know it means Snake. May I take my seat now?" I then went to the back of the classroom, sat down, and waited for him to start class.
He stared at me for a second or two and then launched into a diatribe on how the Democrats were ruining the country and how "the heathens of the illegitimate religions of the world are ruining good Catholic values and making our schools home for the demons of impropriety," giving me a look after saying "demons", and talking about all non-Catholics as the "heathens of the illegitimate religions", explaining how he believed that anyone who was not a Catholic was following a false g-d, and making the Evangelical Christians look very open to discussion and accepting of other's beliefs. The entire class, I was wondering why Headmaster Charleston kept him as a teacher, since it seemed that all he did was rant and rave and yell at his students for an hour a day every school day of the week. Getting out of that class made me so very happy.
As we walked to our next class, a Calculus class which I had been thrown into but had no foreknowledge or want to take it, I asked Rory if she knew why Mr. Rynhard was allowed to continue teaching at Chilton. She had no idea either, other than either he does his job so well that Headmaster Charleston couldn't fire him, or he knew where the bodies were buried.
After Calculus, which was a fine and dreadfully boring class with no questions asked about me, we went to lunch.
As we moved through the food line, I asked, "So, what do you know about Paris? Is she one of your friends?"
"Why do you want to know, Matt?" she asked me, no anger in her tone, only interest and mild concern fighting for dominance in her kind voice.
"Well, because I think she is cute and may be if the two of you were friends, you could help me to learn about her," I said earnestly. I truly wanted to learn more about the beautiful Paris Gellar, and I thought that perhaps Rory might know things about her if the two of them were friends.
"I am not completely sure if the two of us are friends. Sometimes it seems like we are and then something stupid will happen and then we aren't friends anymore. I tried to help her out last year with a guy she liked, but when he didn't want a second date and told her I asked him to ask her out, she became furious at me. And when the same guy told her I was going to a concert with him at the end of the year, which I wasn't, she didn't talk to me all summer unless she was forced to do so. So, she can be perfectly sweet one day and then terrible the very next day"
"You make her sound kind of horrible, Rory. Is she really that terrible?" As I asked this, we were walking to a table to sit and eat.
"Her home life is less than ideal and her life seems to mainly revolve around school, so maybe she is really a nice person and just hides herself behind rudeness and cruelty. But I know of doubt that, but I would gladly be wrong about her."
"Maybe we should stop talking about Paris, and maybe you could tell me about where you have grown up?" I said, sensing her want to change the subject, as I took a bite out of my hamburger, and she ate some of her salad.
"That sounds like a great plan." And she began to tell me all about Stars Hollow.
After lunch, we went to our Biology class, with Ms. Evans, a youngish white woman with vibrant red hair and green eyes who saw my tail, and did the whole lesson on snakes, both the venomous and nonvenomous varieties, and seemed to be sincerely interested in my "interesting physiology" as she put it. She was a very nice teacher, and for some reason has a nearly eleven inch long willow stick on her desk. Once during class, I swore I saw it emit sparks. I was sure that she would probably become one of my favorite teachers.
After class, she took me aside and asked me if I knew how the tail had grown, and I had to tell her that all I knew was that one morning when I was around the age of ten, I woke up to find a snake tail growing out of my tailbone. She told me that she hoped that I had a good day, and Rory and I went off to our next class, which was the last one of the day and the only one which we did not share. She went to her History of the World class, and I went to my Monsters in Literature class, which I had personally chosen for my love of monsters, and of literature.
The teacher himself was a bit controversial, possibly. He was probably in his mid-thirties and wearing a kilt and a Mexican poncho and had hair in the style of a Mohawk and colored like a Union Jack. He introduced himself to me as Dr. Hyde, "like the monster", and then talked to me about what the class would be doing this year, before class started. I knew that he would be quite an interesting teacher.
When class started, he talked about the monsters in Frankenstein, since there were three types: the Doctor, the Monster, and the Mob. Each of them were monsters for different reasons. The Doctor was a monster for going against nature and creating a life and then trying to destroy that life when it displeased him. The Monster was one for being a monster composed of parts from dead bodies, and that is pretty much the only reason, other than the whole killing his creator's bride. The Mob were one for trying to kill what they did not understand simply because they did not understand it.
When class ended, it was kind of sad. But I knew that the next class would be amazing. I waited until everyone left and asked Mr. Hyde why he was wearing such an insane outfit. He said that he enjoyed bothering Headmaster Charleston with his outfits. I laughed with him and then left to try and find Rory. When I didn't, I left for him.
As I finished my recollection, I found myself outside of my apartment building. I walked inside to go up to my apartment on the fifth floor.
AN: Please review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.