The Dragon Project

Horrible Homework

My head rested in the crease of my Wild Dragons textbook as I daydreamed about some other time and place. Anywhere but this dingy old classroom. I always started to snooze off when Mr. Lance rambled on too long about wing structure or how 'fascinating' the flame capabilities in a dragon's mouth were. The loud ringing of the school bell interrupted my mid-afternoon nap.

"Remember students, the AP Dragon Studies project is due tomorrow!" Mr. Lance yelled as students walked out the door. I stopped dead in my tracks. The project?!?, my conscience said shakily, looking through files of memories. I blushed a deep red before attempting making my way out of the classroom. The project. The project. The project!

"Oh! Emily, can you stay after class a minute?" I heard Mr. Lance say kindly. I stopped in my tracks and gulped, shuffling over to his desk.

"You do remarkably well in my class Miss. Emily. I'm excited to see what you bring tomorrow!" Mr. Lance said sincerely, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Uh, yeah- It's quite something!" I laughed shakily, putting a hand up to pinch the bridge of my nose distraughtly. "Okay, I-um- have to go..." I trailed off, rushing towards the door.

"Alright! Take care!" Mr. Lance called after me, waving his hand.

I couldn't believe I forgot about the final project. I turned towards the wall to pack my bag, but partly to hide my dumbfounded face. Looking through my backpack, I found a crumpled up piece of paper near the bottom titled AP Dragon Studies Final. I hastily took the paper out and smoothed it against myself. With shaky hands, I held the directions in front of me and skimmed over the criteria. Fuse two dragon scales together... blah blah blah... create hybrid dragon egg... blah blah blah... tame baby dragon enough to handle in class... blah blah blah... explain the advantages and disadvantages your hybrid dragon would have in the wild... blah blah blah. I stuffed my Wild Dragons textbook alongside my Potion Ingredients 101: Adder's Fork to Wool of Bat and slung my backpack over my shoulder. I kept my head down as I swiftly walked down the hallway. I could never finish this project on time.

"Em!" A familiar voice squealed, floating towards me through the crowd of students. I whipped around to see my best friend.

"Bella!" I replied, relieved to be able to tell someone about the project.

"What's up? O M G! I just came from wand design, and it was so much fun!" She said a little bit too enthusiastically, pulling out a bedazzled, neon pink wand from her boot. "I just finished painting it and putting all of these magic dohickeys on it-" She waved it around to show me the beads hanging down from the hilt, "-there were so many choices for the things we could have picked to go on it, like, even pegasus feathers! Can you believe?" Her dragonfly-esque wings flitted with excitement while her large platinum blonde ponytail bounced and swayed with every movement she made.

Bella continued listing other objects with magical properties while I tuned out. Although she tended to be a bit of a chatterbox, Bella was a loving and loyal friend. She stepped back lightly on the ground, her delicate wings lowering by her side. I started to tap my foot out of impatience as she went on about who picked what type of wood to make their wand out of in Wand Design. Her eyes looked down to see my foot and she immediately stopped mid-sentence. After a moment, she lifted her eyes again.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"You only tap your foot when you need me to stop talking. And by the looks of this wild tapper," She stopped to bend down and tap my foot with the end of her new wand, "it's probably something pretty important," She giggled. I smiled back and looked to the side, bringing my arm back to scratch the back of my neck.

"I forgot about a super important project in Dragon Studies," I paused and fidgeted with my fingers, "...and it's due tomorrow,"

"Ouch..."

"Yeah,"

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, not-" a smile lit up my face.

"Actually, could I borrow your broomstick?" I bit my lip. Bella smiled back a 'Don't Think You Can Fool Me' smile.

"Remember what happened last time?" She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows mockingly.

"I know, I know-" I sighed.

"You nearly killed Mrs. Sage's black cat!" She put a hand to her mouth, stifling back a laugh.

"But why do you even need a broomstick anyways? You have wings...?" I attempted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"You know I live, like, all the way across town! And besides, I can't really fly very high -or for very far for that matter- on these weak little wings," She countered. Lifting her wings and bending them a little to make them look frail, she put her lip out in a fake pout.

"Pleeeeeease! All I have to do is go to Greyfire Forest and pick up a few dragon scales. Plus, Greyfire is the BEST place for finding scales, so I'll be flying back here in like...two hours tops!" I pleaded.

"Yeah, sure whatever..."

"Really?!?"

"Yeah, it's out back. It's locked though, the code-"

"It's 7-9-7-0" I interrupted, starting to skip down the hallway. 

"Thanks so much!" I yelled over my shoulder, breaking into a run.

"Wait, how did you know- whatever." She said, shaking her head and turning around with a smile.