Scales & Tales - The Tales of Mystic High - Book 1

Chapter 29

She looked on at the pond, her eyes darkened. "I wonder... who that feeble siren is... the dumb little siren who made my life oh much more worse than it was meant to be..." she saw the sun rising up, and scowled. "I can't now. I'll need to wait until nighttime..."

Atlantic walked to his next class, fidgeting with his sleeve as he went on his way. Occasionally he would accidentally run into someone or someone would bump shoulders with him, and he would mutter out a small 'sorry'. Once in his first period, he sat down in his mathematics class and took a deep breath. He hated walking to class, it was always so awkward. Getting out his notebook, he started to doodle on the sides.

"What's that?" A boy asked, peering over Atlantic's shoulder. He had platinum blonde hair that was almost white, and green eyes. He seemed friendly, at least to Atlantic.

"Er, uhm," Atlantic stuttered, bringing the page that contained a tiny little sunset drawing to his chest. "A drawing," he finally whispered out.

The boy hummed, nodding. "It looks really good! Do you like drawing?"

Atlantic let out the tiniest, "yeah."

The boy smiled. "That's great! I find it really interesting, despite the fact I can't draw if my life depended on it."

Atlantic let out a weak chuckle. "It gets easier the more you practice."

"Oh? How long have you been drawing for?" The boy questioned. Atlantic thought for a moment, but he couldn't remember.

"Uhm... for as long as I could write, I guess... probably before..."

The boy's eyes widened. "Dang... well, I'm Talon. I'm a Griffin. And you are?" He held out his hand for Atlantic to shake.

Atlantic hesitated, before shaking his hand. "I'm Atlantic, and I'm a Shark."

"Shark?" Talon raised an eyebrow. "I think I heard somewhere that sharks also have a higher chance of having a naturally chipped tooth. Is that true?"

Atlantic thought back for a second. "I think I had a friend in middle school with a chipped tooth? I'm not sure, though, I've never asked."

Talon nodded. "I'm just wondering. I have one, so I like to know I'm not the only one." He pointed at his left-most incisor, which looked like it had been sliced in half.

Atlantic hummed in awe and curiosity. "Woah, that's actually kind of cool!"

Talon smiled, his eyes wide in surprise. "Really? You're the first to have said that..."

"I am?" Atlantic gasped. "I would've assumed most people would think that's cool..." Talon shrugged. "If I'm being honest, people usually see it as some freak thing. They say

I must be part vampire, or make fun of it."

Atlantic scoffed. "Let me guess. Anchor's bullied you?" Talon stared at Atlantic, dumbfounded. "Who's Anchor?" Atlantic chuckled dryly. "Just... be glad you don't know him."

Talon was about to say something else, when Mrs. Yancy walked into the room. "Good morning, students. Now let's begin..."

"... and that's how you solve for x!" Mrs. Yancy finished, writing a circle around the answer, which was 4.35.

Atlantic looked at the board in confusion. "I... what? I don't understand this at all... what the heck? Did she even explain this?"

Talon let out a silent chuckle, causing Atlantic to turn around to him. Talon said, "oh, sorry, I didn't mean to laugh... I can help, if you want? Math's my best subject..."

"Oh, okay!" Atlantic's face lit up a bit. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Alright. How does 6:30 sound? I have football practice before that."

Atlantic kept a mental note that Talon was on the football team, and nodded. "Yeah,

that'd work."

Talon smiled. 'Great! I'll see you then."

Atlantic was in his bedroom, doing some stuff on his laptop when a knock on the door echoed through the halls. Atlantic looked at the clock, suddenly remembering the little tutoring session he had planned. Exiting the room, he saw Atlantic doing the same thing with a confused expression. "Did you invite somebody over?"

Atlantic nodded. "This boy in my math class wants to help me since I didn't really understand the assignment."

"... oh?" Blackout cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Okay, then..."

Atlantic opened the door, to be met with Talon, holding a notebook. "Hey, Atlantic!"

"Hi!" Atlantic greeted back with a smile, letting Talon in.

Blackout looked at Talon for a second, before shrugging half heartedly and going into his

room.

Atlantic glanced at Blackout, before turning back to Talon. "Well, I guess we should go to my room."

"Yeah," Talon nodded. Atlantic led him to his bedroom, and Talon glanced around. "Ah, more drawings? Oh, is that a canvas?" He gestured to a picture of seaweed surrounded by water and bubbles.

Atlantic responded, "yeah. That was my first attempt on a canvas."

"Your first try?" Talon blinked in astonishment. "How are you that good!? Oh my gosh, I wish I had the talent you do..."

Atlantic smiled. "Thanks..."

Talon took a few more glances around the room. His eyes landed on the plant that held Atlantic's gay flag, and Atlantic followed his eyes before giving off an awkward smile. "Is that a gay flag?" "Y-yeah..." Atlantic mumbled, ready to get yelled at.

'Oh, cool. I'm aroace, so don't worry. I support," Talon said.

Atlantic let out a breath of relief. "That's good..."

"Well, I guess we better get to work," Talon hummed, and Atlantic nodded. Atlantic headed towards his desk, before pausing. "Oh, I'll go get myself a chair from the island. You can sit there."

"Alright, thanks," Talon accepted, taking a seat.

Atlantic went into the kitchen portion of the dorm, and went to the island, getting one of the barstools that was luckily not attached to the floor. He picked it up, and carried it back to his room. Atlantic set it down, before plopping himself down on it.

Talon opened his notebook, and Atlantic got him out of his backpack. "Okay, so..."