AN: Thank you RobinxHoodxFan09 for your review! Enjoy!
Charlie stared at the brown-haired girl sitting three seats over in the front row. It was the same girl he'd snarled at yesterday. And it was so strange. Before yesterday, he didn't even know she was in his class; now he couldn't ignore her. History was usually the one class he threw himself into, and he hadn't listened to a single word of Mr. MacIntyre's lecture. His regret gnawed at him, made it impossible to focus.
He drummed his pen against an empty sheet of paper. His foot beat a rhythm on the floor. The girl in front of him stopped writing her own notes. Still watching the other girl, he sucked in a large breath, and then let it whoosh out. The girl in front of him peered over her shoulder, eyebrows raised.
He stopped tapping the pen. She turned back around.
He poked the girl with his pen. She twitched, but otherwise didn't respond. He poked her again, a little harder. No response at all.
"Em!" He whispered, "Emily!"
Charlie was just opening his mouth to whisper again when the girl spun around in her seat, her blonde-streaked hair whipping him across the face.
"What?" She hissed quietly, her British tones sharp. Ouch. Charlie figured he was in trouble when the nicest person he knew was annoyed.
Still, he persisted. "Do you know that girl? The one up there?" He motioned with his head. Emily followed the motion, a crease in her brow.
He waited impatiently. Why was this taking so long? If she knew the girl, then she knew the girl! The pen started tapping.
"That's Allison Wakefield."
Charlie jumped. The pen rolled off his desk. Emily just stared, vaguely amused. "Right, her name, thanks."
All of a sudden, the hair on the back of Charlie's neck began to prickle. Somehow, Charlie had forgotten they were actually still in class. He watched Emily's brown eyes widen dramatically, and he knew he really didn't want to turn around right then. But, of course, he did anyway.
Stern dark eyes pinned him to his chair. Charlie gulped involuntarily. Though Mr. MacIntyre was his favorite teacher, he had always thought the man seemed far more suited to being a marine than a high school history teacher.
"Mr. Bannister, Miss Drake," Mr. MacIntyre drawled, "If you're finished?"
He felt the eyes of the entire class trained on him. His wings drooped. He noticed Allison Wakefield watching as well, but her face was unreadable. Mr. MacIntyre shifted to the side, blocking Charlie from the classroom's gaze. Though the look in the teacher's eyes was firm, it was not unkind, and his growling voice was softer than usual. "Just, uh, pay attention, Bannister."
"Yes, sir."
Charlie made sure he paid attention the rest of the class period. But the minute the bell rang; he shoved his notebook into his backpack and raced past Emily to catch up with Allison Wakefield. She was fast, and Charlie briefly lost sight of her when she melted into the crowded halls.
Charlie stretched out his longs legs and walked as quickly as possible without actually running.
But Allison had a large head start, and Charlie was forced to stop again and again to avoid knocking someone over with his wings in the thronging high school hallways.
Finally, he caught a glimpse of her, stopping at what must have been her locker. Perfect! He caught up at last, ignoring a group of sophomore girls who shuddered dramatically as he passed.
"Hey, uh, Allison?"
She looked up from her backpack, brows raised. Her face was still inscrutable. "Yeah?"
"I just wanted to apologize for, you know, the way I acted yesterday."
A smile flickered across her face, lightening her solemn gray eyes. "Thank you, Charlie."
At a loss for what to do, he nodded and turned to go; rather surprised she knew his name. All the way to the cafeteria he wondered how she knew him when he had never noticed her. But then he entered the noisy room, and everyone went silent, their eyes shooting to him like filings to a magnet. Oh, right.
Allison slid breathlessly into a seat at the beat-up lunch table. She had gone first to see her math teacher about a piece of homework, and had arrived just in time to see the cafeteria's reaction to Charlie Bannister. It angered her to think that the scene occurred every day, with both Charlie and to a lesser extent his family. No wonder Charlie was in a bad mood the other day.
She pulled a sandwich from her backpack and bit into it furiously. Her head jerked up at the sound of laughter. Ross Brody, her best friend of six years, leaned toward her across the table, grinning broadly. "What'd that poor sandwich do to you?"
Allison rolled her eyes. She took another bite of her sandwich, giving him a shrug that was simply too nonchalant. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his right eyebrow rise in question. Gritting her teeth as she chewed the sandwich, she considered her options. Lying to him would never work. To some, she was hard to interpret, but he could read her like a picture book. Having someone who knew you that well could be terribly inconvenient. Her only option was to decide how much of the truth she wanted him to know.
She really didn't want Ross to know how worked up she got over seeing Charlie's family ridiculed, especially when she didn't know why she did. Over the past few years, Ross had become like a protective older brother; whenever she was upset, he had to do something about it. And Allison didn't know what she wanted him to do in this situation.
Ross watched her expectantly, his greenish-blue eyes sharp. Allison sighed and set down her lunch. "It's nothing. Really," She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, avoiding his probing stare, "People can just be so-" She broke off with another sigh. Unconsciously she looked over at the table on the far side of the cafeteria where the dragon family sat, and she missed the similar look on her friend's face.
"You know, Als, you're right. And we should do something about it."
"Yeah, we should…" Allison whipped her head around, "Wait, what?"
"C'mon," Ross gave another huge grin, grabbed her arm, and just about dragged her across the cafeteria. She had just enough time to scoop up her backpack before he pulled her away. In less than a minute the two were standing in front of Charlie's family.
Ross dipped his head. "Hey, guys. Mind if we sit here?"
A few of them exchanged looks, but a tall blonde girl sitting at the other end of the table smiled and spoke up immediately. "Sure, Ross, why not." Allison couldn't help but notice that Charlie didn't seem to agree. She felt her face curve in a frown as well. How did Ross know this girl?
"I'm Ross, and this is my friend Allison."
The two closest to Ross and Allison scooted over as much as they could and Ross flopped down easily in the space provided. Allison sat stiffly, not at all comfortable. The blonde girl who had spoken before stretched her hand across the table. Allison shook it, her eyes widening. The girl had a strong grip!
"I guess it's only fair we introduce ourselves. I'm Karen." After settling back into her seat, she raised her eyebrows at the person on the other side of Ross. A pretty girl with a curtain of dark brown hair looked up from her book reluctantly and absentmindedly introduced herself as Hannah Foley. Allison had to smother a laugh. With that distracted look, her wire-rimmed glasses askew and her hair mussed as if she'd just run her hands through it, Hannah looked like a preoccupied college professor.
Allison turned her head as the boy on her right spoke up immediately. "My name is Ryan Drake.
It's a pleasure to meet you both." He said, sitting as straight in his seat as he could. His clipped British speech was utterly polite. Despite his formality, Allison thought he could be no older than fourteen or fifteen, and not very tall.
The next girl looked young and very nervous, but still smiled warmly when she told them her name was Abby. With the same careless confidence that Karen had shown, a stocky boy with reddish brown hair introduced himself as Ben Bannister.
Allison already knew the last two from history class. Charlie held her eyes, daring her to scorn the people he cared about. He was fiercely and absolutely devoted to his family. Emily sat on his other side as always, her small smile in place.
Silence. Abby, Ben, and Ryan exchanged glances. Allison squirmed.
"Hey, Ross, how did you think you did on the math test?"
Ross instantly grasped what Karen was trying to do. "Oh, uh, yeah, I think I did alright."
Pause.
Ross's eyes darted around the table. It had to be done. "So, how do you feel about the weather?"
Everyone laughed while Ross turned red and grinned. The barrier had been broken. Everyone was soon occupied in conversation except Hannah, who had gone back to her book long ago. To Allison's surprise, quiet Emily asked her about the history assignment, and somehow they went from that to talking (and laughing) about pretty much everything. Looking around at the small group, Allison wondered why all the other kids tormented them. Other than Charlie's wings, none of them showed obvious signs of being dragons.
When the bell rang at the end of lunch, everyone at the table stood to leave, and Allison was surprised at how disappointed she was. She groaned. "I've got Mr. Blair next."
She looked to her best friend, but he must not have heard her. Ross left with Ben and Ryan after a hurried good-bye, leaving Allison feeling rather abandoned.
Emily came up and linked her arm through Allison's. "I'm going that direction, too."
Well, her mother was always telling her to make new friends. As they walked down the hall, still talking, Allison smiled. This could be better than she'd thought.