Rude and misbehaving children and teenagers are frequent in most places, except for one. In the town of Daleford, new people are constantly moving in with rebellious teens or children, but one day at Daleford Academy and they all seem to mysteriousl...
Darren was always a bit of a handful as a child, but ever since he became a teenager, he had started to become worse. It would be fine if all he did was hang out late with his friends, but instead he decided he was going to smoke weed and drink alcohol, even around his younger brother Thomas, or Tommy as they called him. Darren knew it was wrong, but he didn't really seem to care. If his parents didn't like it then that was their problem, it helped him to relax and really, it wasn't hurting anybody. Darren was happy and his parents were overreacting in his eyes.
One day, Darren came home from his High School and saw something strange. Why was there a moving truck here. He slowly walked in and started to question his family, "What the hell is going on out here?". As his mother turned around, she scoffed, seeing her son with a joint in her hand, before she sighed and put on a happy face. "We're moving to a new town a little ways away, they have a great education system for your brother" she lied, hiding the truth from her son. In reality, they'd been planning the move for ages, a move to Daleford. It was a great town, and supposedly, Daleford academy could turn even the rudest child into an Angel in no time at all. It seemed far fetched, but his mother needed to try something.
"Mom!" called Tommy, Darren's 10 year old brother, "I can't find my sketchbook! I need to take it with me!". With another sigh, their mother called up to their father to help Tommy whilst she loaded the last little bits into the moving truck. "Honestly Honey, I think you'll like it there, plus there's lots of people your age" he explained, with the same fake smile she typically gave Darren. He rolled his eyes and just went to his room until they had to leave, continuing his smoke until it was finished.
The car ride was extremely annoying, and completely the worst. Because they were in a car, Darren couldn't smoke or drink, which meant he was on edge all the time and would often snap at his parents. Tommy, on the other hand, was perfectly happy and fine, able to relax in the car by either sleeping or watching the IPad their dad had brought with them, whilst all Darren could do was listen to his music, to be more precise, he was listening to My Chemical Romance.
Coming up to the town was weird, there were lots of kids and teenagers there but they didn't seem to be up to any trouble, instead they were all seemingly being good, helping the elderly, doing chores and the likes. To Darren, it was eerily creepy, they all were smiling as they did it, and weren't even fighting it. Kids and teens were meant to be living their lives and having fun, not doing chores, and defiantly shouldn't be enjoying it. For Tommy, it was looking like a paradise. No one here looked like they'd want to bully him, and just like them he often found joy in helping people, so he was excited to settle in.
Most of the week happened in a flash to Darren, he was in his room cooped up and the kids and teens constantly asked if he wanted to come out and help them with things. Obviously Tommy was asked to by them, but unlike his brother, he seemed to happily join in with them, and always seemed to be safe and the same when he came back, so their parents knew that they were fine. Other than that, Darren didn't really interact with the town, but that was all changing on his first day at his new school. Daleford Academy.
When he arrived at Daleford, Darren saw multiple people entering, all of differing age ranges, from as young as 7 to as old as 19. Clearly, this school allowed anyone of any age to attend, and all of them were wearing the same uniform as him, so they obviously went to the same school. When he got in, he looked around the front desk area, when a receptionist called him over. "Darren Goodwin correct? Isn't your brother Thomas meant to be joining us this week as well?" she asked, to which he shrugged. "Yeah I guess he was, but he's ill at the moment" he explained, to which she nodded and handed out his new timetable to him, with the classes that he was in. They all looked basically the same as his last school.
Arriving at his first class, he saw the rest of the class smiling at him. It was his home room class, but what was weird was that the teenagers smiles were all....perfect. They looked the same, and when he looked down, they were all missing their shoes. With a warm wave, the teacher called him over, "Everyone, this is Darren Goodwin, he'll be attending here until he is 18, so 2 years unless he decides to stay, please give him a warm welcome". He then turned to Darren and put his hand out, "Darren can you please hand me your shoes, this school's children learn shoeless due to a study that shows children without shoes learn better". What!? No way was he walking around this school without any shoes on, it was insane! And no way was that safe. "If it makes you feel better, we can provide you slippers for your stay at this school, but the only ones left are a little juvenile" he said, pulling out a pair of Dark Green Dinosaur slippers
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His face cringed in the thought of being caught in those, but eventually he relented and took off his shoes, handing them over and snatching the dinosaur slippers. As he put them on, he felt uncomfortable, as if he was wearing something he didn't need, to which he grabbed his socks off his feet and threw them in the bin, placing the soft slippers back on. Wait...did he just get rid of his socks? Before he could think, the teacher directed him to his seat at the front of the class, before he turned and looked at the rest of the class. They were also putting slippers on, all the same as the ones he was wearing for the boys, and the girls were wearing pink bunny slippers.
Finally, the teachers smiling face turned around and pressed a button on his computer, dropping down a board which began to spiral, and Darren could hear small whispers. As he watched, the rest of the class left but he couldn't, he was stuck to his seat, and then something magical happened. He began to shrink, his hair changing as it reverted back to his childhood. Instead of his red dyed spiked up hair, it was back to being a light brown colour, and much more flat. As he grew smaller, his shirt and blazer melted together, turning red and elongating their sleeves, until they became a red dinosaur pyjama top. At the same time, his trousers and underwear shifted, back to a child's pair of underpants and a black pair of children's pyjama pants, with red cuffs around the feet. Down at his feet, his dinosaur slippers were glowing and then they stopped, with him staring at the screen and drawl spreading down his face.
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Once it was turned off, he closed his eyes and opened them again, moving his toes around his warm slippers and smiling the same plastered smile as the rest of the teens had when he had arrived. The teacher looked at him and spoke, "So Darren how do you feel". Darren responded, "I feel like a good boy, and can you call me Dash, it's what my Mummy likes to call me?". With a nod, the teacher opened the door and the rest of the kids walked in, their slippers making little noise as they entered, all of them also little kids in cute pyjamas. "Now little boys and girls, it's time for the lesson to begin" he said, with Dash taking his seat. He was now a good boy, and when he removed his slippers and grew back up again, he would continue to be a good boy for everyone else
