Shadowed Scales

Chapter 3: Mouthful of Fur Through a Maddening Crowd

_CHAPTER THREE_

Mouthful of Fur Through a Maddening Crowd

Mathematics was one of the subjects everyone feared except for the brainiacs. They were the only ones that hung onto every word the teacher would have said.

Sameer on the other hand, was indifferent about it. Mathematics was a basic knowledge he had honed in order to get good grades to please his parents. After all, the whole of Gryphon Cross knew his father and almost half of the school had been to his mother's clinic for their dental checkups.

During the whole lesson, he instinctively glanced over at Arthur's direction. He still had that odd typewriter on his desk, but he at least had a calculator with dots. How could he tell what to press if he couldn't see?

Sameer shook his head, realising he was thinking too much into this. He did promise himself that he would stop by at his favourite convenience store to buy newspaper for his parents and a piece of chocolate for himself.

"Sameer!" his math teacher Mr Tombo was an African grey parrot. He was pointing at the board, where additions and subtractions were written down. Sameer sighed, knowing that the teacher either wanted him to pay attention or answer the questions.

Gesturing to the board, Sameer inwardly rolled his eyes. Of course, the teacher wanted him to solve most of the questions and his classmates were expecting him to. In a sense, these little things were the reason he hated his parents so much.

He could never be like them! He didn't want to be like them!

So far, the sums weren't that difficult. All he had to do was write the answers and tell whether it was an odd or even number. His classmates were either copying the answers or were spacing out.

Once he was done, he went back to his seat. Sameer felt something tapping his side. It was none other than Arthur. Some of the others in the class were already whispering. He didn't need good hearing to know that they were talking about him.

"Wow, you're so smart!" Arthur whispered excitedly. "I may not know what you just wrote but you sounded so sure."

The Egyptian cobra was confused by this, not ignoring the warmth feeling in his chest from the bat's praise. "I never said anything."

"But how you were writing on the board," Arthur continued to whisper in an excited tone. "The scrapping of the chalk against the board sort of sounded like you knew the answer."

Sameer only covered Arthur's mouth with his tail. "Shhh! Stop talking. Class is not done yet."

He watched Arthur's ears drop and he simply nodded. "Okay...sorry..."

Mammals talk too much! The Egyptian cobra thought to himself in annoyance. He was dreading the thought of going back home at this point.

Because the entire school knows about his parents' reputation!

...

He wished he had not jinxed himself.

School was over for the day and the minute the Egyptian cobra slithered out of class, a mass of students crowded around him, because Arthur was walking in his wobbly way beside him.

He was getting so uneasy to the point his hood has been flaring out to its maximum width. Normally, most cobras had their hoods flared for a little bit to keep up an appearance or show that they were not scared of anything while hiding the fact that they were.

In this case, Sameer thought the school had become crazy just because this blind bat couldn't stop following him around!

"Hey," Sameer lowered his head down so that he was facing the Honduran white bat eye-to-eye despite the said bat tilting his head with a smile. "Can you stop following me? I really need to go home."

"Oh? You walk home all by yourself?" Arthur asked, his cloudy blue eyes were wide with wonder. Sameer slithered quickly, hoping the bat would stop pursuing him. It was unnerving because the Honduran white bat's eyes reminded him of the fog: bleary and terrifying!

"Yes, I go by myself," said Sameer, hoping this conversation would end soon. "Don't you have some place to go?"

Arthur shook his head. "I'm waiting for my dad. Is this the entrance of the school gate or the bus stop?"

The Egyptian cobra wanted to groan but that was short-lived when one of the teachers happened to walk outside, telling Arthur about where he was. He sighed in relief, making his way downtown to his home.

But before that, he purchased a Daily Grind newspaper at the convenience store and a bar of his favourite dark chocolate with honeycomb inside. It was a guilty pleasure of his since his mother would always make healthier desserts.

It's not that he didn't like her cooking, he loved them. But eating the same desserts and snacks prepared by his mother could be tiresome sometimes.

The rest of the day, he began to think about the new student at Gryphon Cross. So far, there were mixed feelings amongst the school since they never had a blind classmate before. From his memories, he remembered feeling lost since snakes aren't the best to be used for P.E. since they lack limbs.

But that was when he met other snakes in school like Hazrul and others who had their own exercises to make up for their limbless bodies. Though, some snakes like those of the Pythonidae and Boidae were more reluctant to exercise due to their ever-growing body lengths.

Then again, who was he to judge?

Before he could even answer the door to his house, the front door was opened by none other than his parents. And they didn't look too happy.

Oh no! What did I do this time?

"Mama...Baba..." Sameer bowed his head down. "I'm home."

"Sameer, we need to talk," said his father, beckoning him to come inside with a flick of his tail. His mother said nothing but closed the door behind them. All Sameer could do was slow his breathing because he feared what his father might have to say.

After all, he wasn't titled Judge for nothing.

The young Egyptian cobra coiled himself around one of the ottoman seats, eyes at the same level as his father. With his deep brown scales with black pattern, Judge Nadir looked regal as ever.

"Now, tell me why are you friends with a blind bat?"