All For Not

Parge 15

"Miss Feathertail, welcome to your first mythological anatomical studies, please find a group with a free seat," his hand gestured out as if he was about to bow, turning stiffly I peered around the room to see only one free seat right between two people; the resident tortured artist and the stoned gorgon of Enid's dreams. Walking forward I take notice of the room's details, everything designing the room ranged from minuscule plants, to small skeleton remains and hearts that were preserved in various ways. The large bookshelf at the front of the classroom was the first thing in my view sitting down in the seat between the boys, behind me and my new group-mates sat a small curly haired kid and two of the resident sirens.

"So, are you new here?" I sighed letting my bag fall off of my shoulders before one of the straps slid into my hand and I pulled it up into my lap to open it up, "are you under the influence of drugs?" The gorgon had a weary smile as I turned to look at him and not the bag I was unzipping on my lap, huffing I spoke tiredly, "relax Petropolus," I paused, looking up at his beanie, "your snake's are starting to show..." He rushed to pull his beanie down as I faced the front, Xavier smiling at me, waiting patiently before stopping and looking forward after a second when he saw me pull out a notebook and a pen. "And you've chosen this class for?" Turning to the other side I relaxed my posture just the slightest and Xavier looked back at me smiling brightly his mind clearing itself of burdening thoughts, "helps with proportioning of drawing and painting," he scrunched his face slightly as if he began to regret how he worded his sentence, "of course, it's only proper to draw the correct appendages and sets of teeth," his chuckle is soft as he speaks back, "what about you? Why'd you pick an anatomy class for mythical creatures?"

"Simple, know thy enemy," I looked away setting my bag on the floor, "or more simpler to understand, it's one of two classes I have without my sister beside me," he watched me, his expression becoming confused, "you don't want to be in the same classes as her or something?" I frowned, "no it's just that I don't get many chances to follow my own interests or speak on topics when she's in the same class as me, it's a rare occurrence." I blankly turned back to him, his only response was to roam my face with his eyes, "okay class, open your assigned notebooks and flip to a new page, the topic of the day is the true myth or the extinct species; Mermaids.

"Miss Feathertail, extinct or Myth?" I furrowed my brows in ridicule at the question that a child would be able to answer correctly, "extinct." The teacher smiled and nodded as he smacked the palm of his hand with a book with fake leathered scales on the spine of the book, "good job, now does anyone know exactly why they are extinct? Yes, Mr. Thorpe," the teacher gestured and welcomed Xavier to speak his answer, "they evolved." Another correct answer, "good job, but the ultimate, real, question," his over emphasis on the words was too much and his smile was persistent, "is why and how did the Mermaid race evolve and what did it evolve into?" I noticed no sirens raised their hands despite the close relations with the creature of topic, "yes, Mr. Potropolus, please everyone feel free to answer not just the 'table of sight', please tell us why Ajax," I sat listening, admittedly curious about the table naming, "prey to predator study, when humans first started to travel across the oceans they hunted the population so they evolved to survive."

"Precisely. Now, when the hunting first began there were hundreds of thousands of mermaids, multiple well formed societies that predominantly resided in the water. Over a set number of years however," he paced to the side and stood at the front of his desk setting the book down behind him as he spoke with his hands clasped together, leaning on the wood as I listened intently, eyes following every movement naturally. "The numbers dwindled immensely, it's truly a tragic loss for outcasts, the massacres of many species before us paved our way into evolving a community of all of our different species."

"Miss. Feathertail, please demonstrate your knowledge on mermaids and their species, anything we haven't covered so far, if you don't know it however don't be embarrassed or ashamed this is your first time in this class," I sighed connecting our line of sight, "Mermaids over several decades evolved rather quickly at the death of most of their population, markings, eye color, abilities and scales changed during this time to better hide with the water along with their tails, fins and nails, teeth became sharper as they switched from prey to predators along with their abilities. Sirens are the only living descendants of mermaids, the direct evolution." Tilting my head I continued, many eyes on me, "siren song is one of the many adaptations used for controlling to killing and devouring their prey, in return for the ability of voice they lost the magic in their tears, one of the few reasons mermaids were hunted to near, extinction." The teacher was surprised as he smiled at me, "not to leave out one of their further adaptations, the ability to walk on land and transform their tails to legs, also a way to further hunt prey down, never truly allowing them to escape..."

"Well then, it seems you are rather informed. I hope you continue to show such prowess Miss. Feathertail, alright class I want each of you to list off certain aspects of mermaids and their qualities of evolution and then I want you to compare them to another species of your choice." He turned and I looked down at my book immediately starting to write in small curved words, "how do you know all that stuff? Didn't you go to normie school?" I perked up, "I did, but, not everyone is naive to the ways of being an 'outcast' are they?" Ajax nodded, turning away, "sorry, I didn't mean it like that..." I narrowed my eyes at the boy, "don't apologize," stopping for a second, I looked down at my book, blinking a few times and relaxing my stature. "I'm not used to talking to many people, forgive me..." I finished my words in a softer tone, suddenly feeling wrong for the way I spoke to people, "he knows, most of us here can tell. Although it is kind of weird you know this stuff, most people don't know these things because it's not one of the core courses everyone has, it's pretty cool," I nodded, looking over to meet the gaze of Xavier who looked stunned as my eyes landed on him. He smiled looking to the front as I blinked owlishly, his head turning back as he laughed softly before he paused, smile disappearing slowly as it began to fall, "hey, are you okay? You're eyes," he pointed his finger at his face and motioned between his own eyes as he spoke to me quickly, "I swear they just started glowing at me or something." I swallowed spinning back to the front as I became flustered, "I'm fine, it's just cold in here," he furrowed his brows as he watched me fidget, "it's warm," he leaned closer whispering into my personal space, "why would the temperature have anything to do with your eyes anyway?"

He smiled as I fiddled with my fingers, interlocking them above the table before hiding them in my lap. He enjoyed the moment as I became slightly distraught, "I won't tell anyone..." I paused looking at him, relaxing, "if you do it again for me." I swallowed, clenching my fingers together tightly, digging into the skin as he watched my face and body language change and react to his words. He still had the smile plastered on his skin but he chuckled along with it and sat back in his chair so he could write and glance at me from the side.

"In private of course..." I swallowed again and turned back to face the front of the classroom in my shock and confusion. One thing was clear through the exchange though, he very much so enjoyed teasing me.