Dragon's life in college

Siblings talking about college

This is a story my friend is writing while at college. She has given me permission to post it on here, please be nice in the comments. If you see any errors, feel free to comment on them. She's mainly just writing this story for fun.

Nigel drew his wings closer about him as he tried vainly to huddle into a smaller ball. He shifted himself a little bit, hoping that his large, imposing frame might be better able to shrink into his corner of the cave that he shared with two of his siblings. But while it was impossible for him to make himself any smaller, what was worse was his inability to block out the conversation going on. Nightroarer and Sunspear, his older brother and sister, were telling his siblings Swiftstrike and Bloodclaw, about college.

Nightroarer and Sunspear, both a year older than Nigel and his siblings, had already completed their first year of college at Stormcrest Academy, one of the best dragon colleges around. This year was Nigel's turn, and he was completely terrified of it. Which was why his siblings had decided to hold the college conversation in his shared cave instead of in their cave. They were teasing him, again, about his fear of everything. Not overtly, they knew Mother was on the lookout and would be swift to rebuke any dragon she caught misbehaving too badly, but still teasing.

"It's great," Sunspear said, casting a sly glance over in Nigel's direction. "There are so many dragons all over the place." Nigel flinched slightly.

"Are they nice?" Bloodclaw asked. Nigel knew why he was asking that question.

"Some," Nightroarer answered. "But others are very aggressive. Very dragon-like as Father would say. There's a reason why this college is one of the few to offer an Evil Dragon Overlord major. Most colleges just have Dragon Overlord majors. So, there are definitely some dragons which I would not like to meet."

Nigel wrapped his wings even tighter about him and tried to focus on his packing in an attempt to tune out his siblings' conversation. They had been doing this for over an hour now and Nigel was personally surprised that he hadn't left already. But he would soon. The longer he managed to not give into his fear the more his siblings would continue to tease him.

He glanced down at his packing. He didn't have much with him. A stack of thin, metal sheets for homework and any other projects that required writing. Some other useful school items. All of his math books, Nigel took another look through the stack to assure himself that he had not forgotten any. Yes, they were all there. Nigel took a deep breath, already feeling a little calmer. Math, it was the only thing he could do well, even though it was very undragon-like, as his father constantly said. And one last item.

Nigel lovingly ran his claws over his typewriter. Mother had offered to get him a new one for college to use for his Accounting classes, his major of choice, but he had refused. This typewriter had been with him since the first day he had discovered his skill in math, and he wasn't replacing it just because he was going to college. Nigel shuddered at the thought of college.

He was only going to college because his father had "insisted," more like ordered, that he attend college with his siblings. Nigel knew the reason why. His father made no secret about the fact that Nigel was a disgrace to the name dragon and that he couldn't wait for him to be gone. To be honest, Nigel sometimes felt sorry for his father. After all, he could easily understand the standpoint his father was coming from. Nine children, the four oldest and the four youngest turn out perfectly dragon. And the middle child, is a scaredy-cat, math nerd. Nigel understood perfectly well. If he could, he would want himself to leave as well. But that was impossible.

"What classes do we take our first year?" The question cut through Nigel's mind.

"Oh, well, there Flight School," Nightroarer listed off. That didn't sound too bad Nigel thought, but all the other would be. "And then there's History of Dragons, boring; and Incineration. You only need to take one semester of that though, unless you fail it."

"But it's impossible to fail," Sunspear broke in, "unless you completely lack any control over your fire and burn everything that's not supposed to be burnt. Burning the instructor's tail would certainly earn you a failing grade."

Nigel winced. Another of his undragon-like qualities.

"And some of the instructors, do not take kindly to failing," Sunspear continued. "I heard of one dragon who failed Incineration class his first semester of college, and his instructor refused to let him take the class again until his last semester, when he was stuck with all the beginner dragons. And the instructor constantly told the new students to not be like the other one who hadn't been able to pass until the last moment."

That's going to be me, Nigel thought, minus the passing. He could feel his fear clawing up again. He tried to focus on other things instead, but now he couldn't his siblings' conversation out of his mind.

"Do all the instructors do that?" Swiftstrike wanted to know.

"No. But if the students learn that a dragon has a weakness or is failing a class, they'll tease him from that point on until the day he graduates. If he managed to graduate. You do have to have a passing grade in Incineration class in order to pass. And if a dragon doesn't manage to pass at the end of four years, then he must really be a disgrace to all dragons."

That did it. Nigel suddenly whirled around and bolted past the huddled group of smirking dragons and out into the sky beyond. He could catch brief snippets of their talk as he hurried by...

"What's Nigel doing?"

"Probably gone to count all the clouds."

"Scared of college."