literature

Misleading Titles

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Most seniors in high school would be happy and excited about being out of class and walking away from the school, but, when you're walking away from one school yard to the middle school across the way, with the whole class full of twenty-five plus students and the teacher, it's a different story. A story that Sorrel couldn't help but complain about the whole way with her best friend, Firedrake by her side.

"This is completely stupid! Just stupid!"

"Oh, Sorrel, it's not that bad."

Sorrel gave a 'hmph' in response to Firedrake's nonchalant attitude over the assignment given to the two of them.

"Not that bad? Firedrake, they are making us watch children, Firedrake!"

Firedrake only rolled his eyes and toyed around with his dangling dragon earring as he spoke, his fingers messing around with the silver piece. He started chuckling when he could practically see steam escaping her ears.

"I think it'd be interesting," He confessed to his dark skinned friend with a smile.

"Interesting?! Firedrake, we are talking about a child here! This isn't taking care of a little plastic baby or a sack of flour, this is a living breathing child!" Sorrel yelled out, her shoulders tensed up, Firedrake gave her another eye roll and just smiled at her.

"It's only for a month, we get to pick the child we want to hang around with, and, this is better than a plastic baby or a sack of flour because we get to learn more about that who that child is." Firedrake pointed out, wagging a finger at her. Sorrel let out a low huff and put her hands on her hips.

"Whatever, I don't wanna know about some brat..." She grumbled crossing her arms, Firedrake just held her close with one arm draped around her shoulders and nudged her gently.

"They're seventh graders, not that bad."

She scoffed at him and shoved him off, and started to smooth her curly brown hair out, she then sneered and asked,

"Why seventh graders again? Why not eighth? I mean they're closer to being in high school, aren't they?" She asked, not seeing their teacher, Professor Barnabas Greenbloom walk up behind her when she asked.

"My dear, it's not about being closer to high school, I figured you'd learn that by now," The professor cut in before Firedrake had the chance to speak up, his voice caused the two of the them to jump and look at their teacher. He then gave the two of them a warm smile. "No, No, It's about getting to know the younger ones, tell them about yourselves, likes and dislikes and so on." He explained to her, Sorrel and Firedrake gave each other a look and then looked back to him.

"Uh huh, and the real reason it's seventh graders and not eighth?" Firedrake questioned, eye brow raised up, arms crossed, and his gaze questioning.

"The only eighth grade class that would do was snatched up by another teacher..." The professor confessed with a heavy sigh, he then waved them off and walked a little ways a head forward. "Doesn't matter, it's going to be fun nonetheless, now hurry along."

Sorrel gave the professor a bitter snort once his back turned, she the frowned when she noticed the middle school building getting closer. Sticking her tongue out, Sorrel turned back to Firedrake.

"I really don't want to do this, I mean, we are nothing more than babysitters now." She grunted to him, Firedrake just chuckled to her and gave her a friendly head pat.

"It won't be bad, tell you what, if you manage to pick out a kid you like and not kill him or her before the month is over, I'll go mushroom picking with you." He offered, Sorrel instantly perked up at that. Practically clapping her hands together, she asked,

"You mean it?!"

"Yes, but, you gotta do the whole project, writing and all, and don't scare the poor 7th grader." He told her firmly, she smiled broadly a big toothy grin on her face.

"Oh boy, I'm going to get twice as many mushrooms!"

Rolling his golden eyes, Firedrake tucked his hands into his pockets and stared off as he walked with the rest of the class, the middle school now just a block away as they turned into the parking lot of the building. The closer to the building they got, the more anxious Firedrake started to get.

What child would want him for a buddy? It was kind of obvious that he looked a bit intimidating, especially to children. His hair dyed a light silver color, almost to the point of being white, he had one side of his hair shaved in a typical Skrillex style cut, and as if that wasn't strange enough, add his piercings to the picture. One dangling silver dragon earring on one ear, and in the other ear he had a golden dragon earring that hugged the side of his ear. So, it wouldn't surprise him if a couple of students avoided him.

He looked over at Sorrel, she looked normal, dark skinned, a bunch of darker freckles littered her whole body, and she had light brown curly hair that bounced whenever she moved. Of course, she was probably going to have a couple of kids come up to her, she'll probably scare them off the moment too many start to crowd around her.

"Alright, single file, and please, do your best to remain quiet! Some of these classes have tests going on." Professor Greenbloom told them as they approached the middle school doors. Firedrake and Sorrel both rolled their eyes at the professor's request, like these seniors were gonna be quiet.

They entered the school, Firedrake as a little surprised how cramped the hallway seemed to be, it could hardly fit three teens side by side, it forced all of them to squish together, making Sorrel grasp on to Firedrake's arm for dear life, he could feel her claw like nails dig into his skin, but, it didn't bother him too much, Sorrel always got like this when in a crowded around other people, he was use to it by now.

After walking down the hallway of look alike doors for a few good seconds, they made it to their destination, the middle school gym. Of course, no other classroom would of been big enough for all the students. Once inside the gym, Firedrake was quiet surprised on how many middle schoolers were sitting around in the orange floored room. He was also surprised on how small they were. The tallest one couldn't be any higher than Firedrake's waist.

At the sight of the high schoolers, a lot of the preteens instantly started to run up to them, however, before anyone could formally speak to one another, a loud whistle cut through the air, signaling silence among the crowds. Everyone brought their attention to the teacher with the whistle dangling around her neck.

The teacher gave a smile at all of them and then turned to their professor.

"Barnabas, good to see you again, friend." She greeted him, they shook hands as their Professor walked up to her, she then clapped her hands together and put them on her hips, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Alright, shall we go over how this is going to go?" Barnabas suggested and the other teacher nodded at him in agreement.

"This is how it's going to go. You each get to pick one buddy, one high schooler and one middle schooler per group, no more, no less. Now, you got a month to learn everything about your partner, from their favorite color right down to their ancestry. You are going to take photos of your times together, I believe that every one of you have a list of activities that you can do with each other, you don't have to do everything on that list, but, I expect at least five things on that list done and completed, oh and one final thing. You better choose who you want to partner with wisely, because you cannot change once picked." The woman called out to everyone in the gymnasium, she was about to blow on that whistle around her neck, but, their professor cut in before she could,

"One last thing. Have fun!"

With a harsh blow of a mildly annoying whistle, everyone started to scatter and talk to one another, well, almost everyone, Sorrel and Firedrake stood there rather awkwardly, Sorrel still clinging to her friend's arm for dear life. Sorrel looked at Firedrake, her big brown eyes pleading with him, he knew she didn't want him to leave her side, but, he kinda had to for this project. He just shook his head at her and gave her a soft smile.

"I'm still going to be in the gym, Sorrel, I gotta find someone, don't worry, I won't stray too far." He said gently, as he slowly peeled her hands off of his arm. She pursed her lips in a slight pout, still, she understood and looked around for her own partner, but, she still had to say one last thing before Firedrake walked away.

"This is still stupid."

Shaking his head, Firedrake walked off, looking for someone who could be his partner in this. Seeing a group of seventh graders talking to one another, he started to walk up to them, but, when he got too close for comfort, they scattered away from him. Frowning a bit, Firedrake rubbed the back of his head and gave the gym another good look around. So far, a lot of people were already paired up and talking to one another. One kid was even bothering Sorrel.

Seeing a child seemingly walk up to him, Firedrake smiled and walked over to the child, a girl, he raised his hand in a wave and was about to introduce himself only to have the little girl swerve to the left and start chatting with a different high schooler. Making Firedrake stand there awkwardly mouth still open and hand still in the air. Finally brining his hand down, the silver haired teen shut his mouth and put his hands on his hips.

"Oh, We're missing one!...I know who's missing, Ben!" The female teacher yelled out, arms crossed, her face showing obvious frustration, Firedrake had a hunch that this Ben kid had a history of going missing during class around, Firedrake pursed his lips to the side when he saw a pair of feet sticking out from beside the pull out benches sitting against the wall. Slowly walking up to the feet, he found himself looking at a boy, it made Firedrake frown when he noticed how small this boy was compared to the other children.

The boy sat up stiffly and even backed away from Firedrake, This kid's eyes wide with a slight fear as the teenager slowly squatted down to meet the boy's eye level.

"Hey there, don't be scared, I won't hurt you," The silver haired teen calmly spoke, making sure not to frighten the kid any more than this child was. "My name is Freddrick, but, everyone just calls me Firedrake...Who are you?" He asked, having a suspicion that he already knew who this was.

The boy didn't answer right away, giving Firedrake some time to get a look at the boy's features.

This kid had black messy hair, some very pale skin, blue eyes, he looked a bit too skinny, and he looked very young, too young to be a seventh grader.

"...Go pick another kid, you don't want me." The kid spat out, his blue eyes hardening, his voice bitter towards Firedrake, it was enough to throw the teen off guard. Taking a few seconds to register what just happened, he could only shake his head and speak once again,

"Well, you see, none of the other kids want to be around me-"

"Welcome to my world." The boy grumbled out darkly, cutting Firedrake off in midsentence. He then let out a huff and sighed out. This made Firedrake frown, putting one of his hands on the floor below, he shifted so he was now sitting down in front of the child.

"I see, we already have something in common then!"

"That's not funny..." The boy mumbled, but, he did seem to relax just enough to were it was visible in his features. Swallowing a bit, he looked Firedrake up and down, his blue eyes scanning every little feature on the teen.

Smiling a bit, Firedrake scooted closer to the boy, only to have him huddle closer to the wall.

"You still haven't told me your name." Firedrake whispered to the boy, his eyes flickering up to stare up at Firedrake, he then looked away and swallowed.

"Benjamin...just call me Ben, everyone does..." Ben whispered back to Firedrake as he flicked his gaze back down to the ground. Felling his lips twitch a bit, the teen stood up and wiped his legs off.

"Well, Ben, I say me and you make a compromise, since nobody wants to talk to either of us, lets be partners for this." Firedrake suggested with a playful wink to the boy. For a moment, he thought he saw the boy's eyes light up, but, if they did, then that light quickly died. Ben then looked away and mumbled something almost inaudible,

"I mean if you want to then..."

Ben flinched when Firedrake brought his hand down for Ben to take. The flinch made the teenager frown deeply. When he realized what he's done, Ben huddled his knees up to his chest and swallowed an obvious lump in his throat. He then just shook his head and looked away, his breath soft.

"Right..." Ben breathed out and grasped Firedrake's hand, pulling the smaller kid up to his feet, Firedrake raised an eyebrow when Ben only reached up to the top of Firedrake's thigh.

"So, Ben, I noticed that you're rather...Small..." Firedrake said to Ben as they walked along the gym. He noticed a twinge of pink flood into the boy's pale cheeks and the kid pouted a bit at that.

"That's because, Benjamin is super smart, that's why," The female teacher cut in from behind, causing the two of them to jump and turn. The beside the teacher was Firedrake's own professor, she gave everyone a smile and continued, "Benjamin is really suppose to be in fifth grade at his age, he's proven to be smart enough for the eighth grade, but the school wouldn't allow him to skip that far ahead, so he got placed here with my class." She said brightly, beaming happily as she said that. Professor Greenbloom looked at Ben up and down.

"My, my, aren't you a lucky boy." Banarbas said to Ben, the boy just looked away, but said nothing in reply. The teacher just smiled once again, and then spoke to Ben, leaning down so she's face to face with him. Firedrake didn't like that, the way she was leaning down, it was almost insultive to the boy.

"Why don't you go and sit over there, I need to talk to your partner real quick." She said, tilting her head towards the bleacher. Ben gave her a dark glare as he sulked away as the teacher asked. Once out of earshot, she turned and gave Firedrake a slight scowl. "Ok, I'm going to be real honest here, Benjamin is rather smart-"

"Rather smart? My dear, if he's really suppose to be in eighth grade while being...how old is he nine? ten? then he's almost a down right genus!" The professor exclaimed loudly, his eyebrows up in surprise at the female teacher next to him.

"Well, it doesn't change the fact that you might not want him for a partner," She said, earning surprised looks from both Firedrake and the professor, she put her hands up quick and spoke up before either of them could speak, "Now, let me explain...Benjamin is rather...Problematic."

"How so?" Firedrake challenged her as he looked over the lonely boy sitting over by himself on a bleacher.

"Well...He's known for often times snapping at people who try to get too close to him, a reason why he's often so alone, if anybody tries to befriend him, he pushes them away, understand, if you be partners with him, it'd be disastrous, I can't see it ending well, I know it's rather mean of me to say this, but, pick someone else."

Looking back to the teacher, Firedrake's eyes flicked over to his professor, he had a very obvious frown of disapproval on his face. Firedrake found a frown tugging at the corners of his lips as well, he then remembered what the professor had said early that day, and shook his head from side to side.

"No, I'm not, because it's not just about the project, it's about learning about one another and making friends along the way. You should of seen it, when I told him I'd be his partner, he looked happy for a brief second. I'm not just going to bail on him because you say he's problematic, so what if he is? If he wants me as his partner, then, I'll happily do it." Firedrake told her firmly, the professor gave Firedrake a warm smile in the end of what he said. The female teacher pursed her lips a bit and then shrugged.

"Alright, but, I did warn you." As all she said in the end and then stalked off, once gone, the professor lightly slapped the teen on the back with a warm smile.

"I know you'll make a perfect partner to Ben. Oh, Looks like Sorrel has her own partner as well, I got to see this." Without another word, the professor walked off and Firedrake looked back at Ben. He was still just sitting there, looking down at his hands.

Firedrake just scoffed to himself, how problematic could this kid be? Nah, this project was going to be a breeze. Just wait.
HUMAN AU! Thanks to a project, Frederick, aka Firedrake, has to befriend and get to know a seventh grader for a month. At first his partner seems to be just a hardheaded kid, but, over time the high schooler starts to notice some questionable things from his partner. WARNINGS: ABUSE IN LATER CHAPTERS!
© 2014 - 2024 evilkat23
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Cheyenne-Rose's avatar
:D This is so awesome! I can't wait to read the rest of it!