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"Ugh, what is with this damn splitting headache?" I said to myself as I walked towards the bathroom. The bathroom looks as it usually does with the plain white walls, beige countertop and boring silver sink. The aroma was always the same, lavender, thanks to my mother. I go to grab my toothbrush but I realize I can't get a grip on it and realize why once I look down, my hand had turned into a dragon's talon. My first instinct is to call Terrence or Zoe for help but I remember that I can't tell anyone about what I am so yell for my parents instead.
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"Max, what's wrong?" I hear my dad say.
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"Have a look for yourself," I reply once I get to the bottom of the stairs.
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"Well this is certainly new, and unexpected," says my Dad, "How long has it been like this?"
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"I'm not sure. I woke up with a headache, went to the bathroom and it was already like this. I have no idea if it happened in my sleep or not, " I say, "How am I supposed to go to school like this?"
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My Dad, Jack, turns around while scratching his head and thinking to himself until he finally turns back to me and says, "We may just have to play this by-Uh Max, check your hand again."
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Looking at my hand again I notice that it's suddenly back to normal, "Okay, now I'm really freaked out, is this going to be a common thing until I turn 17?"
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"I never had this issue, but I'm going to say yes, it's better safe than sorry in this situation. If you feel a headache coming on again, you may need to hide somewhere just in case it pops up again," says Dad.
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"Lovely, just lovely. I guess I'll go get ready for school and try not to spew fire," I say and proceed back up the stairs into my room, and begin to get ready for school.
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"Make sure you bundle up Honey!" Says my Mom from the other room.
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"I know, Mom!" I proceed out the door and the chilly winter air hits me immediately, luckily I don't live too far from the school, so I don't mind the walk. I also tend to meet up with Terrence and Zoe on the way since we're all in the same neighborhood. A few minutes go by and I run into Terrence.
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"Hey T, I begin to ask, were you able to finish the History homework?"
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"Hold up, we had History homework," Terrence replies.
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"I'll take that as a no then."
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Terrance and I have been best friends since the fourth grade and we're now juniors in high school. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that calls him "T" instead of using his actual name. Unfortunately for me, he had quite the growth spurt standing at a full 6'2" in total height and I'm only 5'8". He's also an African American and a football player. Of course, he's also a big guy with a six pack and arms the size of a cantaloupe.
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"Where's Zoe at this morning?" Terrence asks.
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"Oh yeah, she told me that she had to go in early to finish some things." I say as we're about a block away from the school.
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"Our honor roll student didn't get something done on time?" Terrance asks.
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Now Zoe stands at a full height of 5'0" and has midnight black hair that's as curly as a strand of DNA. Compared to my boring brown eyes, I pale in comparison to the other two with Zoe's electric blue and Terrence's forest green to go with his jet-black clipper hair.
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We make our way towards our school, Watch High School, and as always it's roughly a medium sized school with cherry red bricks, a roundabout in the front of the school with a few trees planted and a decent sized parking lot for students and teacers, when Natasha suddenly appears. She's got a huge crush on T and he feels the same, neither of them know it yet though because of how oblivious they are. Natasha is roughly 5'4" and has crimson red hair that's as curly as the pattern a leaf makes as it falls to the earth.
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"Good morning my fellow classmates," Natasha says.
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"Good morning." T and I say in unison.
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"No Zoe this morning?" Natasha asks.
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"She's already in there doing who knows what," I say.
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The three of us walk into the building with about ten minutes until the bell rings, so we go our separate ways leaving me alone with my thoughts. It's the day after Christmas which also means it's a week before I turn 17. Not only that, but it's also when my transformations will start, according to my parents. I start walking up the stairs and finally get to my classroom. As soon as I enter, I see Zoe's hair as it swirls around her while she turns towards me.
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"It's about time you got here, I almost thought you'd be late." Zoe says.
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"Ha ha, very funny, you should know by now that I am never late," I say.
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"Well you could've fooled me," she says while heading towards her own class.
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I take up my seat in about the middle of the class and pull out my books and such for History. "Oh shit, that's right, home work," I say under my breath. The teacher, Ms. Pomper, already doesn't like me because she knows I find this class incredibly boring, so this certainly won't help. Of course, the first thing she asks us for is our homework, which I have not done.
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"Well well, what do we have here, Max?" she says to me with a glare, "didn't do your homework, again?"
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"There's a slight chance that that could be true," I say.
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"Miss too many of them and who knows, you may fail the class," she says as she walks towards the front of the room with some of the other kids giggling at my misery,
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Ms. Pomper I'd say is roughly in her sixties, which is why I assume she teachers History is because she was alive during it. She almost always wears some kind of flowery dress, the usual glasses with rope that goes from the lens to the ear on either side underneath the temples.
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"By the time she started class I ended up tracing the graffiti on the desk with my fingertips, your usual high school stuff you see everywhere. The doodles of random things, notes, the occasional dick by some guy most likely, and who knows what else.
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"I'm coming for you, Max, Max, Max, Max..Max..."
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I jolt awake with Ms. Pomper standing over me once again, "Max, Max, Max, wake up!" She says. "First you don't do your homework and now your sleeping in my class? What is it with kids these days?"
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"Sorry, Ms. Pomper-" I begin to say as the bell rings and I leave as fast as I can while still trying to process what that dream was about. "What the hell was that, and who's coming for me? Was it even meant to be taken seriously or an actual dream?" As I'm leaving the room I catch sight of Zoe and Terrence as we all have next class together somehow.
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"Zoe! T!" I say across the hall to get their attention.
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They spot me at the same time and make their way towards me. As they do, I'm still debating on telling them about my dream or not because they might just say I'm crazy or to not think anything of as it was just a dream. I'm also conflicted because of my parents telling me not to tell anyone about what I am, although I'm not entirely sure that they are even related in the first place.
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"Hey man, so did you get chewed out by Ms. Pomper?" T asks.
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"Yeah, but not as bad as I thought, since I'm still alive. You better make sure you've got your done by the time you have her class." I say.
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Our next class is Math, and it's all the way on the other side of the school. Zoe and T have engaged in another conversation but I've totally spaced out just thinking about the dream. I begin to try to focus on the cream white walls, the tiled floors or even the occasional bulletin board filled with club posters to try and bring myself back to reality. Eventually, T notices how quiet I am and literally snaps me back to reality by snapping in my face.
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"Everything alright dude?" He asks.
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"Huh? Oh, yeah yeah, I'm fine." I say.
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"Thought we lost you there for a second Max, you seemed really out of it," says Zoe.
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"Yeah, it's nothing. I just spaced out for a second," I say and by this time we've now made it to our next class. Luckily for me, I did his homework as this is my best class. It also helps that Mr. Keel is a super chill dude. He's your average guy I'd say, mid-30s, 5 o'clock shadow, always tries to wear a suit and tie for some reason. We enter the classroom, and take our seats. Of course, we're completely spread out because most teachers know not to put us close together. His classroom is filled with a mixture of math posters and inspirational quotes that it kind of throws people off. I can respect that he's trying to connect with the students, but maybe not try so hard.
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"Good morning class," says Mr. Keel.
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"Good morning," the class says in unison.
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"So today we will be going over chapters 5-6, probability, which I know is everyone's favorite," he says.
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With that being said, the class opens up their textbooks and the lesson begins. For the most part I'm trying to focus on the lesson, so that I don't think too much about the dream from earlier. Like last class though, time flies and the bell rings.
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"Aw man, it's about time! I'm starved!" Says T while slapping me on the back.
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"You and me both man, let's head over the cafeteria before all the good food is taken." I say.
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"Oh shit, good idea. Hey Zoe, you comin'? Terrence asks.
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"Yeah, give me just a second," she replies.
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We get our usual trio together and head towards the cafeteria. I run my hand along the cream walls as we walk and for the most part we're all just chatting about nonsense stuff. We get to the stairs and Terrence decides to just take them two at a time since he's a giant. I, on the other hand, will go one by one like Zoe and try not to fall and die. During the descent of the stairs I begin to feel another headache coming on and I start to have a mini panic attack that something is going to happen in front of these two.
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"Hey, you guys go on without me, I've gotta hit the restroom real fast," I say and without waiting for a reply I bolt for the bathroom. It's the same as most school bathrooms, all white everywhere with a few urinals and stalls. I get into one of the stalls as my headache begins to hit me full force like someone is using a jackhammer on my head. I'm attempting to guess what part of me will transform next, but I get a strange feeling in my back around my shoulder blades and the next thing I know it feels like my skin is being ripped open and I think blood is dripping down my back because it feels wet now. All of a sudden though I hear a loud "Whoosh!" as wings suddenly appear on my back. They don't appear to be very large yet, but they at least go over the size of the stall and they're a dark red with a small midnight black horn or peaking out at the top. They're also very sinewy and you'd think they were almost see through on the bottom part of the wing.
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I begin to feel super claustrophobic and I think it's because of my wings and they want to be able to move, but I can't risk it without destroying half of the bathroom. I try to calm myself down, but this headache isn't getting any better and the claustrophobic feeling just keeps getting worse, like the stalls walls seem to be closing in on me, the toilet is getting closer as is the door. Out of sheer panic, I burst through the door to escape that feeling, but I suddenly remember my wings only to see that they're gone now. I also realize that I don't seem to feel any pain when parts of me transform back which is interesting. I finally decide to leave the bathroom once I think I'm safe enough and I notice that Zoe and Terrence actually waited for me at the end of the marble stairs.
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"Hey man, everything alright?" T asks.
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"Huh? Oh, yeah. Everything's fine man," I reply.
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"Well, if you say so."
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We walk for a little bit longer before Zoe comes up to me and whispers, "Are you sure you're alright? You look a little pale. Also, there are now two holes in the back of your shirt and they weren't there before you left."
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This conversation would be so much easier if I could just tell them already, but instead I have to lie straight to their faces and it sucks, "Oh those, yeah I was just uh, testing something, yeah that's it."
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"Come on you slowpokes, I'm hungry!" Terrence says since we slowed our pace to talk.
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"Hold your horses, we're not all athletes here," says Zoe.
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We join him at the bottom of the stairs and make the rest of the way to the cafeteria in mostly silence. We get there and it's about as loud as one might expect. You've also got all the cliques in their usual areas, jocks in one, nerds, preps, etc all have their own little tables that fill the café.
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"Well I guess we should go ahead and get in line," I say.
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"The sooner the better," replies T.
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We go to get in line and we have to wait about five minutes before we are able to actually get to the food. Terrence does his usual mountain of good, seeing as he's an athlete, and I just get a few things as does Zoe. We barely manage to find an empty table and we all sit down sit. For the most part, we're all just eating and only talking here and there. About halfway through lunch I finally start to forget about the dream I had during period one.
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"Look man, Terrence begins, I don't know what's going on with you or whatever, but we're both here for you, we've got your back."
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"Yeah, yeah, thanks guys, Iappreciate it," I say a little halfheartedly since I can think about is thatdream and when the next headache will show up.
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