I have this feeling that Flug probably didn't have the greatest time at school.

-Keta

Chapter 4

Flug knew that he was adopted from the moment that he could form a fully coherent thought.

There's no way that he could have remained in the dark for long, even with willful ignorance. Everything, from his budding, genius level intelligence to his curly, reddish-orange hair, was out of place when compared to the other Slys' black hair, brown eyes and average levels of intelligence. But none of those differences really bothered him. Hell, if he'd been less observant he would have likely remained in the dark, but those things were of little consequence.

No, the special difference was really more of an issue.

His adopted family is entirely human, and Flug… well, it's a little hard to call yourself human when you drink human blood… And he's certain that if the chance came, he would jump at the chance to devour human flesh.

He wasn't sure what he is.

That didn't stop Kayla from loving him wholeheartedly, and as proof of her love, she decided to him until he was old enough to hunt for himself. She decided to protect him for all time…

On Flug's first day of school, he walks hand-in-hand with Kayla up the big stone stairs leading to the desolate brick building. His body quivers and his hands shake, but his face bears a wide smile. The closer they get to the door, the more he shakes, but that smile refuses to falter. Once they get into the entrance hall, she drops to her knee and kisses her brother on the forehead.

"It's going to be a good day," she whispers. "You're going to have fun."

He nods sharply, but the way he shakes betrays his nervousness. "I'm going to get kicked out of class."

"No, you won't," she reassures and ruffles his hair. "You're going to amaze everyone, and your teachers are going to love you."

"I'm seven," he mutters, his voice teeming with doubt and contempt. "You're thirteen and we're in the same grade."

"And? You belong here… You're so smart."

"Yeah, yeah."

She laughs and stands back up, grabbing his hand once again. They walk down the hall to the office, and Kayla asks for her brother's schedule before standing to the back and watching as the secretaries fawn over the 'smart little man'. Flug looks utterly annoyed by the attention, but he doesn't say anything; he's gotten pretty good at bearing the affections of middle-aged women who think he's too cute for his own good.

He's eventually saved by the arrival of the principal who hands off his schedule to Kayla without a word. Flug knows that there's been arguments, but he's glad that they won't affect his first real day of school; pre-K didn't count, especially when he kept getting kicked out for doing experiments. He's glad that the arguments haven't followed him here; he just wants to be normal, well as normal as a genius monster can be.

Kayla ushers him out of the office, her nose buried firmly into the paper, and after a moment, she looks down at Flug with a wide smile. "We're in the same classes!"

"Great," he replies, condescension leaking into his voice. "Now we can get kicked out together."

Despite Flug's pessimism, he has a wonderful morning.

Kayla sits him up at the front of the classroom, partly so he can see and partly because he gets so excited about learning; she doesn't want anything to distract him. Up there, he cannot see the older kids giving him weird looks, and if he focuses on the teacher, he can ignore the whispers of disbelief.

Their first class is algebra, and while Flug had already started studying trigonometry, he still finds himself elated at the review. The topic is pretty droll, but he can't deny that the idea of proper schooling fills him with enough enthusiasm to make up for the material. He doesn't learn anything new, but being asked questions and being allowed to answer them without ridicule is amazing. By the time class is over, his teacher is enamored with the little genius and cannot get enough of asking him to solve increasingly hard problems.

His second class progresses in much the same way: chemistry.

But all good things must come to an end, and for Flug that came at the start of health class.

Considering his obvious inhuman parentage, it would be completely understandable if he didn't know much about the other species, but that would be removing his ravenous appetite for information. With this factored into the equation, the honest derision and confusion when his teacher begins droning on about reproductive health without a micron of factual information to be seen, is completely understandable.

Despite the coil of disgust that this misinformation brings out, it isn't until the man starts talking about how a woman's vagina and urethra were one and the same that he cannot keep his mouth shut anymore. "That's not how the human body works," he says, his small voice catching the teacher by surprise.

The older man turns around, his eyes narrowing as he takes in the sight of the little boy with a defiant expression. "And how would you know how the human body works?"

"I've read every anatomy book in the library as well as quite a few medical textbooks," he admits, "and they all say that you're wrong."

"I am your teacher," the man growls, his voice dropping an entire octave in his anger. "You should respect that."

"Why? I'm sure that I'm smarter than you!"

There's a thump as Kayla's head meets her desk.