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Killerflurry’s orange-yellow whiskers twitched and his
eyes sparkled with excitement as he sat impatiently in his desk, watching his
Neoschool teacher. Killerflurry, a starry Lupe, had recently transferred from
a private school on Mystery Island to the Neopian Public School. Flurry, as
he enjoyed being called, absolutely hated his old school, Tiki Trees. The Pets
that had attended were all snooty know-it-alls. Not to mention, he also had
had to wear a school uniform, a hideously ugly lime green Hula Skirt complete
with a flowery necklace. Flurry shuddered at the mere memory, his star spangled
pelt shaking.
His teacher, Mr. Bronston, a crimson scaled Draik,
leaned nonchalantly against his desk as he took attendance.
"Poloroe?" he growled, glancing at his sheet.
"Here!" a Faerie-winged Gelert replied, waving
his cream colored paw in the air. The Draik nodded and then grimaced as he read
the next name on his list.
"Ugh… Zarrelian?"
"Here." A Halloween Ixi, wearing a scowl to
match his teacher’s, glared at the Draik from under his narrowed eyes. Mr. Bronston
snorted.
"Too bad. Zaveeni?"
The list went on for awhile, some pets answering
the Draik’s call with chipper voices and bright smiles, while some, like Zarrelian,
somberly groaned out their replies. Flurry fidgeted uncomfortably in the small
wooden desk. That was one thing that he would never get used to. The desks at
Tiki Trees were much larger, and provided a lot more pawroom. Still, sore legs
were better than grass skirts and leis any day. Finally, Mr. Bronston finished
the roll call, and beckoned Killerflurry up to the front of the classroom. The
Draik jerked his head irritably at the Lupe, who grinned and waved shyly at
the Pets. Mr. Bronston cleared his throat, straightening the silken tie that
hung around his neck. It was his personal favorite, jet-black with a large yellow
frowny face in the middle.
"This is Killerflurry," he said, gesturing at
the starry Lupe. "He just transferred here from a private school on Mystery
Island. I don’t think that I need to tell you that I expect you to treat him
with all the respect that he deserves…" The Draik glared at Zarrelian out of
the corner of his narrowed yellow eyes for a moment before turning back to Killerflurry.
"Killerflurry, is there anything else that you’d
like to say about yourself?" he asked, drumming his claws on his desk. The starry
Lupe shrugged.
"Well, I like to be called Flurry, since Killerflurry
is a bit of a mouthful, and I’m not really a killer, anyway. I like Gormball,
soccer, my Spyder, and Sticks N’ Stones."
Mr. Bronston nodded curtly. "Very good. Alright
Flurry, you may return to your seat."
Killerflurry trotted back up to his desk, smiling
as he caught sight of a bunch of Pets grinning at him and flashing him paws-up
signs. The Lupe returned the grins and slid into his seat, already warming up
to his new school. Mr. Bronston sighed, and reached up to the ceiling, grabbing
hold of a small bronze hook and tugging it down, unveiling a huge, glossy map
of Neopia. The Draik snatched up a long meter stick and slammed it against the
map, casting a steely gaze over the classroom.
"Alright, now who can tell me the name of the
world that I’m pointing at?"
Killerflurry was looking around the room, checking
out his new classmates, when he spotted the peculiar Halloween Ixi in the front
row shooting rubber bands at the Faerie Gelert that sat beside him. The Gelert
looked as though he was doing his best to ignore the Ixi’s onslaught. The starry
Lupe raised a brow. What was the Ixi’s name again? He racked his brain before
finally remembering.
Zarrelian.
What a strange name is was! It kind of reminded
Killerflurry of a character from The Neopian Times that he enjoyed reading about.
Maybe the Zarrelian’s owner had named him after the character.
Killerflurry was jolted unpleasantly out of his
reverie by the sound of a meter stick being slammed upon a desk. The Lupe turned
his head in the direction of the noise, and instantly saw where it was coming
from.
Mr. Bronston, apparently, had finally noticed
Zarrelian’s rubber band attack on the Faerie Gelert and had struck the Ixi’s
desk with his meter stick. Killerflurry watched in amazement as Mr. Bronston
picked Zarrelian up in his claws, spread his wings, and soared up to the ceiling
of the room, where he deposited the protesting Ixi on one of the light fixtures.
The Lupe turned to his desk neighbor, a golden Scorchio. The Scorchio didn’t
seem very surprised. Come to think of it, none of the Pets did.
Mr. Bronston drifted back down to the ground
and continued teaching, as though nothing had happened at all. Killerflurry
glanced at the light fixture. The Ixi was still there, scowling miserably at
the occupants of the classroom.
***
Killerflurry smiled as he chewed reflectively on his blueberry jam sandwich.
He wasn’t really concentrating on his lunch. The Lupe’s thoughts were still
lingering on the strange events of the morning and the even stranger Ixi that
had caused them.
A sudden multitude of voices and laughter interrupted
Killerflurry from his pondering. The Lupe glanced around and grinned. Five of
the Pets from his new class had sat down next to him and were eating their lunches.
Among them were the golden Scorchio that sat beside Killerflurry, and the Faerie
Gelert that had been attacked by Zarrelian and his rubber bands. Killerflurry
smiled.
"Hey guys!" he said, grinning. The pets jostled
each other and smiled back.
"Hey Flurry!" the Scorchio replied, his golden
scales glittering in the bright lights of the cafeteria. The Scorchio offered
Killerflurry his paw.
"I’m ShiningScales, but you can call me Scales,"
he said, smiling warmly. The Gelert grinned.
"And I’m Poloroe," he added. The Gelert gestured
to the other pets that sat around them. "And this is Zaveeni, but you can call
him Zav." Zaveeni was a robot Acara, who paused from munching on his Apple to
wave at Killerflurry.
"The purple Wocky is Doreetoa, but you can call
him Dor. And last, but not least, is Chirrply, the spotted Pteri… You can call
her Chirp."
Killerflurry shook paws, or in Chirrply’s case,
wings, with all of them before offering each Pet a bit of his desert, a plate
of Earth Faerie Brownies. After they finished eating, the Pets all began telling
Killerflurry about the class. Chirrply, the Pteri, filled the Lupe in on all
of the details about Mr. Bronston.
"So basically, as long as you stay on his good
side and do all your homework, you’ll survive the year without getting yelled
at too much," she said, preening her wings. Dor sniggered.
"Just don’t be like Zarrelian!" he said, nudging
Scales in the ribs. Killerflurry cocked his head.
"What’s with Zarrelian, anyway?" he asked, a
puzzled expression on his muzzle. Scales shrugged.
"I don’t know. He’s pretty weird, huh?"
"Just ignore him," Poloroe advised. "Then you’LL
stay out of trouble." Dor smiled sympathetically.
"Poor Poloroe. He has to sit beside Zarrelian!"
Poloroe shrugged. "It’s not so bad. The worst
thing about sitting beside him is getting caught in the crossfire of him and
Mr. Bronston’s fights."
Just then, the bell rang. All the pets hefted
their bags back onto their shoulders and took off for the classroom, not wanting
to be late, should their bad-tempered teacher yell at them.
Killerflurry and his new friends ran into the
classroom, panting with exertion. Mr. Bronston glared at his students as they
arrived, snapping at the ones who were muddy or wet. After everybody had settled
down, Mr. Bronston grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote something on the board.
"Science partners will be chosen today!" It
read. The word "today" was underlined twice and decorated with the usual, crudely
drawn frowny faces. Mr. Bronston stalked up and down the rows of desks, giving
each Pet a small slip of paper. When he had finished, the Draik soared back
down to the front of the room and cleared his throat importantly.
"Write your name CLEARLY on the paper, then
bring them down here and put them in this hat." He held up an old and tattered
top hat. "Then, I will randomly select your science partners for the remainder
of the year."
Killerflurry grinned as he scribbled his name
on the paper, and then began to think about who he would get as a lab partner.
The Lupe placed his paper into the hat. He hoped that he would get Scales, or
Poloroe. But he wouldn’t mind being paired up with Chirrply, Dor or Zaveeni,
either. He smiled as he thought about the poor Pet who would be unlucky enough
to get Zarrelian as their science partner.
After all the names had been put in the hat,
Mr. Bronston shook it up to scramble the names and then began drawing out the
slips of paper.
"Poloroe and Muerte…"
"Chirrply and Doreetoa…"
"ShiningScales and Dewbeck…"
Killerflurry frowned. He hadn’t gotten Scales
or Poloroe. Mr. Bronston drew the next name out of the bag, and grimaced.
"Zarrelian, and…"
Killerflurry chuckled. Oh well, he thought.
So I didn’t get Scales or Poloroe… I’m sure that my science partner will
be better than Zarrelian.
Mr. Bronston rummaged for a bit in the hat before
pulling out the name of Zarrelian’s science partner. The entire class held its
breath as the Draik slowly unfolded the paper and read out the name.
"…Killerflurry!"
Killerflurry fainted.
To be continued...
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