Judgment: Part Two

      So much has happened I can hardly remember it all. I have been foolish, and I suppose I received my punishment for it, but that doesn't mean I can't regret it. Oh and regret it I do diary. I have accused some of being cynics but I have fallen deep into my own hypocrisy. I believe that we all have must have are failures Diary, but why in the name of Fyora did I have to pick one as completely eternal as this. I had it coming from the moment I entered Neoschool, and like everything it came…

      It was cold and raining, the foliage from the trees had mostly fallen, blanketing the green grass in the deep hues of fire. The rain painted the trees naked and dark against the cloudy sky. The streets were wet and small puddles were placed in the most inconvenient of places. This was my favorite kind of day. The day when others slipped and slid in water, where I felt most comfortable, watching others fail, while I succeed. That morning I was walking to Neoschool with Solange. Or more she was flying and as I was skidding through the puddles happily behind her. I was wearing my twisted roses T-shirt and a scarf, my new wool one I got for my birthday. Solange as usual was wearing no unnecessary adornments. She didn't like clothes and thought her feathers did the job quite well enough. She looked beautiful no matter what she wore.

     "We're going to be late!" Solange's voice rang through the almost empty street playfully. I winced at the purity of it. I shrugged and slid a bit faster.

     "Hurry up," Solange prodded again, flying faster and lower, so that she was in front of my direct line of vision. I offered a sigh as a response. She merely darted ahead dodging trees and puddles with relative ease. I trotted behind her as usual, and soon Neoschool came into view.

      It wasn't nearly as foreboding as it once was and it all seemed a little small and more than a little gray. The lawn was choking with pets, which were huddled together in their respective cliques. It took a moment for me to take it all in; the clique set up seemed to be different today. It all seemed looser, more welcoming. I shook my head, such illusions! My crazy thoughts were soon disrupted however, as the bell rang loud and sharp into the heavy air. Crowds of pets of all sizes and ages poured through the small doors at such a slow rate I wondered if the mass of fur, scales and feathers was moving at all. I had to prod a few of them with my horn to actually get them to even scoot a centimeter. "Pets!" I muttered wearily to myself. Solange caught the remark and sent a half grin my way. I bumped into a group of Lupes, who looked tall and menacing in their splendor. I backed away my eyes full of mistrust and resentment. These were pets I had hated and feared since the day I saw them talking with Solange about me falling down. One of them smiled at me graciously, too graciously.

     "Here you need a hand?" She asked quietly. I looked her up and down, she was wearing a Yes Boy Ice Cream shirt, and that at first gave me a bad impression, not to mention her superficial silver coat that glistened with dew drops and other merry happy things.

     "No thanks." I answered just as softly, but with more than a slight twinge of scorn. She looked taken aback, as if she had expected me to be gracious. She shook her head and merged back into her clique where they were no doubt talking about other pets, but not me, I had foiled their plans of beating me down. Solange gave her another odd look, but said nothing. Soon they were all heading reluctantly into the classroom, and as usual I was the last one in.

     "Pricilla," Solange hissed through her beak. Ms. Lerner was patrolling the younger ones first in the class taking what little desire to learn they had out of them before winter break. She still as usual was watching me out of the corner of her eye, just like she always had since that first day. "What!" I mouthed back, although it was hard to do with my big Flotsam lips. Soon Ms. Lerner, the skunk Lupe was to my desk checking over my homework with a slight frown, and no more conversation was possible.

     "C," Ms. Lerner proclaimed loudly. A few people gave me looks of pity. As usual the lesson came and went quickly, spelling, and strangely the word was swimming pool. That rang a bell, I thought, trying to place the memory. However the words that rang in my head were much more recent. I got a C. Average. That's what I was, average, nothing more nothing less. My whole life would amount to becoming a janitor and of course Ms. Lerner would calmly say that was important, need to keep the floors clean for the better pets, I thought bitterly.

      Soon the class was over and all of us stumbled outside again for allotted thirty minutes of exercise. The air was damp and cold but as usual that didn't stop the small group of athletic pets from running around like crazy. Solange was one of the last ones out; she had to discuss her B with Ms. Lerner. I was left alone, hugging my scarf tight around my neck, the damp wind whipping around me especially hard. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a yellow speck. I whirled around expecting to see something, but all that stood in front of me was damp grass and the smell of old rain. Then paws were around my neck tugging at my scarf. My fins went up to defend myself, but by the time they reached my neck the scarf was already gone.

     "Hey! Give that back!" I shouted angrily after the yellow speck which was slowly becoming visible. Then I saw her. Mellie, a small swift yellow Mynci. She waved my scarf around like a flag.

     "Your neck really is pretty though, you should wear it plain more often." To an amateur her voice would have sounded earnest, but I was no amateur.

     "Give it back now! You little idiot! I hate you! URGGG!!" I yelled louder, hurrying after her, slipping and sliding through mud and puddles. Dirt and sweat mingled on my face sliding down and around my horn. Breath was carefully spent as I hurried after Mellie, chasing her around the schoolyard, and soon I had no more left to spend. The chase wouldn't continue much longer anyways, I thought, looking at the worn and weathered clock on the side of building, recess was almost over. As soon as the clock hit twelve, the bell rang, as annoying and persistent as that silly Mynci. Why was everyone so bent on making me like everyone else? The fact that I wore a scarf was unique to me! Why couldn't they just let me be!

      I gave a frustrated sigh and headed in and there to my surprise were two figures. A small rainbow Pteri was talking to a yellow Mynci with a lavish wool scarf around her neck. She turned to Mellie smiled and then strode up to me. My mouth opened in disbelief. Solange's eyes were narrowly framing her beak, and her small forehead was crinkled in annoyance. Before I even had a chance to open my mouth she spoke. Her words like that of my owner now, worried and condescending. My brain began running around in small little circles, mumbling in disbelief.

      "Why did you call Mellie an idiot? What did she do to you?" I held up my flippers, my mouth moved, but no sound came out. Images flitted through my head, of Solange, me playing with her, us buying each other birthday gifts, even when I played that practical joke on her with dung, never had this expression been directed at me before. I looked at her, my face blank, what was happening?

     "You really think everyone is out to get you, but they're not. They really aren't, maybe if you would just see that-" I cut her off.

     "Everyone is out to get me and she-" I said motioning to Mellie, "especially hates me. She was making fun of my neck." I pleaded to Solange, why couldn't she understand?

     "No, she actually thought it looked good," Solange remarked staring at Mellie, who had now retreated into the shadows, my warm new scarf still in her grubby little paws.

     "Yeah, right," I whispered sullenly to myself. The conversation was about to continue but, a river of students carried Solange, Mellie and myself to the classroom. Reality always asserted its hold on our petty emotions; it really was a spiteful creature…

      The quill stilled for a moment as if it was pondering what to write next. The raining was becoming weaker and weaker and faded now to a background noise. The sun was peering wearily out around the clouds, asking the sky if it was safe to come out now. The sky firmly nodded persuading it out. A rainbow appeared dazzling the sky. For the moment though the room was stuck in the deeply contrasting colors of black and white, there was no room for a rainbow there.

To be continued...