Telus Hadrian Efrem Aetus - otherwise known as Theo, has wings on his back. He is sent to a prestigious boarding school to destroy evidence of avian humans a science teacher has collected. If he fails, war between a generation of flying people and h...
"Tel-lis Ay-tis?" The austere female teacher looked up from the name list, lowering her black-rimmed glasses to scrutinize her students. "Who is Tell-is Ay-tis? "
Snickers followed the question. "What kind of name is that?" a laughing girl whispered loudly to her neighbor. To their right, a boy gulped and raised his hand slightly.
"Higher." The teacher ordered, looking contemptuously at the golden-haired boy who took ownership of the queer name. "You are...Tell-is Hadrian Efrem Ay-tis?"
"Yes, miss," he said quietly, glancing down at his cardigan buttons.
"So, tell us, Tell-is, do you have a nickname?" the teacher asked, laying the sheet of paper on the steel table. "Or perhaps a more...normal name you intend to go by?"
"But Teles Aetus is my name." He said confusedly, to the blatant amusement of his new classmates.
"Not anymore, here. Pick a name," she articulated sharply. "We haven't got all day."
"Um...Theodorus?" The boy offered unsurely.
The students howled with laughter.
"Quiet." The teacher commanded sternly. Turning to the boy who standing out like a sore thumb in the middle of the classroom, she sneered.
"Very funny, Mr Ay-tus. However you do not want to cause disturbance in my English classes. I suggest you pick the name Theo and get on with it. Next, Isabella Jones?"
~
"Mother!" Theo took a look at the auburn-haired woman and jumped straight into her arms. "I've missed you."
"Sweetheart, it's only been a few hours." The woman smiled, stretching the wrinkles on her face above her high cheekbones. "How was your first day at elementary school?"
"It was-"
"Hey, Tell-is Blah Blah La-Di-Dah!" Theo turned around to face a group of boisterous boys he recognized from the strict Ms Mary Turner's class. "Your name is so long you can't even spell it!"
Pushing lameness aside, the other boys roared with laughter at the joke, ultimately stopping and scampering off when they realized it was Theo's mother who was looking distastefully at them.
"To answer your question, Mother," Theo took a deep breath. "It was not very good. Horrible even." He cast a pleading look at the woman who had a semblance of worry etched onto her face. "Is there any chance you and father could home-school me instead?"
"Teles darling, I know this is hard for you," his mother began reticently, "but we had this talk before. This is the modern world, and we have to try every effort to fit in, don't we?"
Theo sighed. "I'll...try my best, Mum."
"How about I treat you to a nice dessert of cold cream?" she suggested kindly.
"It's ice cream, Mother," he grinned. "By the way, I go by Theo nowadays."
"To me, you'll always be my little Tellie."
"I'm not little, Mum!"
Mother and son seemed to be in their own world as they chatted and walked happily away from Stonewall Elementary School. Neither observed the curious glances that were thrown towards the duo's aristocratic auras or the mother's archaic, flowing, green gown.
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