Shapeshifter *ON HOLD*

Chapter One

"Swann!" 

A wrinkly hand slapped down on Agnes's desk, jolting her awake from her daydream. She took a glance at her teacher's frustrated face, and quickly got her notebook out.

"Whey are yiur notes?" He asked in his distinctive Asian accent. 

"But Mr.Ching, I don't recall you telling us to record any notes," she murmured, fiddling with her pencil. Her face burned as the whole class turned to look at her.

"That's becahs you wuhnt paying attention! You were beezy looking outside the window. We were wahching the documentary on endaingered species."

"Oh," she grumbled, "Sorry."  

"Agnes, thees has happened too much. You are in for detention with Ms.Stenker today after school. I'll give yiur mom a call."

She sighed. Embarrassment creeped over her face, and she cast her eyes down. Soon, the bell rang, its exasperating sound resonating in her head. She trudged out of class, carrying her books in her arms. 

"Hey sucker! Looks like I won't be able to bully you today at the bus stop," a voice jeered. Agnes knew immediately it was Gradin, that evil blonde with the leering face.

"Great. I don't want to see you anyways," she replied quietly, ducking her head.

"You're gonna fail grade eleven you know, your skill for math is just unbelievably awful," he said sassily.

"You're attitude towards others is gonna drag your learning skill marks down too." She quipped, biting her lips nervously. She knew she shouldn't have said that.

"Well you still suck."

That got her angry, even though she's heard it many times in her life. The fury swelled inside her, adreline rushed through her veins. She waited for herself to simmer down, then she inhaled sharply. 

"I don't see the point in teasing you, because it would take the rest of the day for you to figure it out anyways," she retorted. His expression of powerless rage made her smile. She marched down the hall to her locker, back slightly straighter.

                        *          *          *

Agnes creaked open the door to the detention room, cringeing as the hinges shrilled. Ms.Stenker, or Ms.Stinker as the students called her, adjusted her glass.

"Not a surprise to see you again. Weren't paying attention in class?" Ms.Stenker queried, her face taciturned like usual.

"Yes," Agnes answered.

Ms.Stenker directed her towards a chair. Once Agnes sat down, Ms.Stenker started giving her a long lecture. But Agnes didn't care. She wasn't harking at all.

In her mind, she saw pearly white beaches. The aquamarine water scintillated in the ardent sunlight, which penetrated the shallows. The moon was a faint thread of silver against the cerulean sky. Iridescent flowers swayed in the wind, grasses bent their heads. Seagulls cried, their voices shattering the peace of the beach.

Agnes had always had a great imagination, which led her to have strange dreams every night. Dreams of a land far away. Dreams of the past, of the dangers yet to come—like the death of the sun in five billion years. She could almost feel the searing heat, see the effulgent mass of gas,  hear the thundering boom as the sun combusted.

She has also daydreamed plenty, mainly of being a Pegasus. She imagined the world diminishing from view, palls of clouds moistening her wings. Her silky tail and mane flying, shimmering. The moonlight gilding her wings as she soared under the flickering stars.

Then there was that dreadful and familiar feeling  of quivering. Of fading away from herself. Of becoming someone else. Snapping back to reality, Agnes averted her eyes to her hands.

They were balling up into hooves.

Horror hammered her spine, and nausea seized her stomach. Her heart thrashed in her chest, bile dragged itself up her throat. She pushed back, clenching her teeth.

A calm took ahold of her. She felt peculiarly serene. Unknowingly, she started to chant in her mind.

I am the one in control. I was always the one in control. I will fight.

With a desperate shove that left a throbbing headache, she was herself again.

"...which is why students get held back... always...it...the...fail math and...like...never...you." Ms.Stenker finished. Her voice sounded vague, and Agnes heard it in fragments, like from millions of miles away.

Agnes  rubbed her eyes, blinking rapidly.

"That's it for today, young lady. I don't want to see you back here for a while," Ms.Stenker warned.

"Bye," Agnes bid farewell. She strode out the room, slamming the door behind her. 

                        *          *          *

"Again. Seriously Agnes, I can't put up with anymore. Sweetie, you can't just be in your own world all the time," Agnes's mom chided, her brows knitted together. 

But my world is the only world I can be happy in, Agnes thought.

"Yeah sis. Even I'm better than you at math." her little brother, Ethan, broke in snidely.

Agnes threw them all a rueful glance, then climb up the stairs to her bedroom. In the mirror, was her beautiful self. Her shoulder-length light brown hair cascaded down in gentle waves. Large hazel eyes shone on her face. She had small, full lips with dimples on either side whenever she smiled. A beauty mark was on her right just above the lips.

Many people have told her she was an angel of beauty. In fact, many boys liked her and had asked her to dance at school parties. Yet that wasn't what she wanted.  All she wanted was to be normal, to be able to have friends who she could trust.

Though she knew she was a long way from that.