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"…Flurry… Flurry… Wake up… Poloroe, go and get the
smelling salts from my desk, would you? I hope I don’t get fired for this…"
Killerflurry groaned as he sat up, rubbing his
head. The Lupe blinked blearily. He looked around, and was surprised to see
his entire class crowded around him. Mr. Bronston sighed with relief, wiping
his brow. He waved a claw at Poloroe, who was bent over the Draik’s desk, rummaging
through all the papers, pens and erasers in hopes of finding the smelling salts.
"Poloroe, it’s fine. He woke up." Mr. Bronston
said, glancing at the recovering Lupe. Poloroe turned around and grinned.
"Oh, good." The Gelert said, shifting his large,
shimmering wings. Killerflurry furrowed his brow in confusion.
"What happened?" He asked, still feeling extremely
confused.
"You fainted." Mr. Bronston replied. Poloroe
nodded energetically.
"Yeah! Right after you heard who your partner
was!"
The Lupe moaned, "Don’t remind me!"
Zarrelian, still lounging atop the light fixture,
sniggered at the starry Lupe.
"Hey Killer! I’m your partner, remember?"
Killerflurry snarled, massaging his aching head
ruefully. Mr. Bronston snorted.
"Alright, alright. Enough of all this… Everyone,
back to your seats." He cast a glare across the room. "Well? What are you waiting
for? NOW!"
The pets quickly dispersed, scurrying back to
their desks. Killerflurry trudged solemnly back to his seat, propping his head
on his paws. Mr. Bronston flew down to the front of the room and cleared his
throat to grab his students’ attention.
"Now, if you’re unhappy with your partners…"
the Draik began, crossing his arms over his chest. Killerflurry’s heart fluttered.
"—Then you’d better grin and bear it! All partnerships
are final and no substitutions are allowed!" Killerflurry sighed, feeling his
excitement welling down again. Mr. Bronston smirked and began to write instructions
on the board for their first science assignment. The Draik turned away from
his chalkboard and faced his students.
"We’ll be starting with a very simple diffusion
experiment. Diffusion is the process of particles from one substance spreading
through the particles of a liquid, in this case, food coloring into water. You
are to meet with your partners and perform the experiment as it is explained
in your text books." Mr. Bronston glanced at his watch. "You may begin… Now!"
Killerflurry decided to make the best of it.
After all, Mr. Bronston certainly wasn’t going to change the groups, whether
he liked it or not. The Lupe sighed and began pulling out papers and pens, pausing
only when something small and hard whammed him on the shoulder.
"Gack! What was that?" Killerflury whirled around
to come face to face with Zarrelian, his lab partner, for the first time. The
Ixi sneered and seated himself beside the Lupe, pulling Killerflurry’s textbook
across its polished wooden surface so that he could see its contents. Killerflurry
decided to try and make friends with the strange Ixi who had been forced to
work with.
"So, Zarrel…" he began uneasily. "You’re a Halloween
Ixi… Can you fly?"
Zarrelian shrugged. "I dunno, I’ve never tried."
The Ixi allowed his gaze to wash over the Lupe’s heavenly pelt.
"So, you’re starry, huh?" he sniggered. "No
offense, but your stars are hideously ugly." Zarrelian adopted a thoughtful
expression. "Say, do your stars do anything? Like, do they glow when you get
mad?"
Killerflurry sighed, and rolled his eyes. "You
tell me."
"A-HEM!"
Both Pets turned around sharply, only to see
Mr. Bronston standing before them with his arms crossed over his scaly chest.
"I believe we’re supposed to be doing an experiment
now, young Pets!" he snarled, furiously scribbling some sinister looking notes
in his mark book. He paused, and then drove a claw into a box that he carried
under one arm. He then pulled out two pairs of eye goggles.
"Put these on," he growled, and then stomped
off to glower at the next pair of Pets.
Killerflurry raised a brow as he regarded his
goggles critically. They were pretty goofy looking. Out of the corner of his
eye he saw Scales snapping his goggles over his eyes, and then felt slightly
encouraged. With a small smile, the Lupe fastened his goggles over his eyes
and carefully adjusted them so that fit comfortably. Gingerly, Killerflurry
grabbed his test tube and poured some water in, carefully reading the instructions
in the textbook.
"Zarrel," he murmured, squinting through his
foggy goggles. "Zarrel, could lend me a paw? I just need to add the drop of
food coloring…"
"Sure, Killer," Zarrelian replied, grasping
the bottle of food coloring between the knuckles of his hooves. He was about
to squeeze a drop into the test tube when Killerflurry gasped and pulled the
test tube away.
"Zarrel! You aren‘t wearing your safety goggles!"
the Lupe exclaimed. Zarrelian snorted.
"Oh come on, Killer. All we’re doing is putting
a drop of food coloring into a test tube of water. What do I need safety goggles
for?" the Ixi retorted. Killerflurry shrugged and flailed his free paw exasperatedly.
"I don’t know, Zarrel, but the text book says
you have to wear safety goggles while conducting any lab experiment…" Killerflurry
furrowed his brow. "And don’t call me Killer! Call me FLURRY!"
"Move aside, Lupey!" The Ixi shouted before
pushing the Lupe’s starred paw aside. Zarrelian snatched the test tube from
Killerflurry, it’s contents swirling and crashing against the rube’s glass sides.
With his tongue protruding slightly from the corner of his mouth in concentration,
Zarrelian, safety goggle free, squeezed one drop of food coloring into the water-filled
test tube.
KABOOM!
With a tremendous bang, the test tube exploded,
sending splashes of colored water and shards of glass ricocheting around the
classroom. The Pets shrieked and fell to the ground, even Mr. Bronston had to
make an undignified dive under his desk to avoid being struck by a particularly
large piece of the test tube.
Killerflurry turned to his stupefied lab partner,
his muzzle agape in shock.
"What did you DO?!"
Zarrelian shrugged nonchalantly, pausing to swerve
away from a rocketing piece of debris.
"I dunno. Are you sure that that’s water you’ve
got there, Killer?" The Ixi bent down to a puddle of the liquid that had spilled
onto Killerflurry’s desk. "Smells like vinegar to me…"
The Lupe groaned, throwing a paw across his brow.
"Oh man, you must have accidentally grabbed the test tube filled with my vinegar
instead of the water!" he sniffled. "That vinegar was supposed to be for garnishing
my shrimp salad at lunch…"
To be continued...
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