This ain't a diary, this is a - mirror?

Chapter 13: I mean, English isn't bad...?

Samantha stood outside the English classroom, surveying the crowd of chattering students. Elena paced beside her, attempting the peer through the glass on the door into the classroom. "What do you think our teacher's like?" She asked excitedly, clearly eager to get on with the lesson.

Samantha shrugged. "All I know is that his name's Mr Carter."

As if responding to her queries, the door beeped and creaked open. A pale blue snout poked through, followed by a dark teal - almost black - head and a single violet eye peering back at his students. His rounded ears flattened slightly and he shrank back through the doorway, before taking a gulp and stepping forward.

"Students, please settle down," he announced in a slightly raspy voice. He sniffled and wiped at his nose with a tissue. "Students?" He repeated, in a slightly quieter voice.

Slowly, the chatter died down. The teacher sighed with relief and sneezed again. "My name is Mr Carter, and I am your English teacher for the year. Please take a seat in the classroom... but I will move you if you talk too much." He stepped aside to let the students pass.

Samantha joined the trail of whispering students alongside Elena. They quickly selected two seats somewhere in the middle and sat down.

Mr Carter closed the door behind the last student and surveyed his class with his one good eye. "Welcome to your first class of the term," he sniffled again, "English. I look to make this class an enjoyable one."

A student's paw shot up. Mr Carter sighed and gestured at them. "What is it?"

"What's wrong with your eye?" The student blurted out, earning a chorus of whispers from the other students. Mr Carter sighed and rubbed at the bandages covering his eye. "It's a long story. Now, any sensible questions?"

Another student slowly raised their hand. Mr Carter glanced over at them and nodded. "Yes?"

"What is our first... topic?" They asked carefully.

Mr Carter smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It's my favourite subject, Shakespaw's Macbeth. It is a... very bloody play, but isn't that you youngsters like?"

He padded over to where the artwork was displayed and gazed fondly at them. "This is what you should hopefully produce for your final project. Oh, and a written piece about the reason you made it... don't worry, it isn't an essay. It's a pretty fun project compared to the others."

He said nothing for a few moments, his eyes glazing over. A student sneezed and he jumped. "Ah, right! Anyway, as I was saying... we will be starting off with the play. I will hand out some textbooks - you must return these to me by the end of this topic. Failure to do so, or any sort of damage the the boom, will result in... er, what was it again?"

A few students snickered. Mr Carter coughed again. "Payment. You will have to pay enough money to buy a new book... or something of the sort."

The dark-furred dog padded back to the front of the room. "Right, textbooks. Er, you, and you - I'm sorry, I'm not very good at names - could you help me hand out the textbooks?"

He passed several books - rather thin for, well, textbooks - to the two students at the very front of the room. "Er, what are your names again?"

The dark brown dog brushed her dull blond braid over a shoulder and took the textbooks. "My name is Vivian Blackwood, sir. I look forward to working with you." She turned around abruptly and began making her way down the row of desks, passing out textbooks as she went.

Mr Carter looked slightly flustered at her behaviour. "Um, thanks, Ms... Blackwood. But please, just call me Mr Carter."

The red dog at the front snorted and took the textbooks. Mr Carter coughed again. "Er, name, please?"

"Evan Silvius." The red dog quickly spat. Mr Carter recoiled slightly. "U-um, thank you for the help, Mr Silvius, but could you, er... be less, um, aggressive?"

Evan scowled and said nothing. He walked down his row, tossing textbooks at the desks to his left and right. Samantha shifted her items to the edge of her desk and readied herself to catch the book.

It never came. Instead, there was a faintest flicker of green - and Evan went crashing to the ground, alongside all the books. Samantha thought she'd heard the faintest snicker coming from the other direction as she pondered whether to get out of her seat to help him or not.

Vivian had already put down all of her books on one desk and was making her way to the red furred dog sprawled on the floor. Evan snarled at her and yanked himself to his feet, snatching the books off the floor with a huff. "I'm fine, I don't need your help!"

Samantha frowned and pulled down her hood. "Is it just me, or is it getting... hot in here?" She glanced over at Elena and scowled. "I meant literally. Don't even get any ideas into that head of yours, Elena."

Elena stopped for a moment to consider it. "Well, kinda..." She rolled up her sleeves and wiped at her brow. "I could've sworn it was twenty degrees colder just a moment ago."

Evan clearly took this to heart - he spun around and barked, "Shut up!" at all of the murmuring dogs. The temperature flared up slightly as he dropped the last of the books on the other desks and high tailed it back to his seat.

The temperature dropped slightly again. Mr Carter looked nervous at the dog's sudden outburst, but he managed to stutter out a, "Uh, turn to the first page...?"

Samantha decided to push this matter to the back of her head and reached for her textbook. It looked fairly worn and battered, even under the plastic cover, but the pages were still - thankfully - attached to the book itself. She flipped through the yellowing pages, marvelling at the scent of it, before turning to the first page.

"Please read Scene 1, Act 1... in five minutes, I will ask some questions about the text and you should be able to answer it." Mr Carter sat down and breathed out, apparently glad that it was over.

Samantha looked down at her book and flipped slowly through the first few pages, her eyes scanning the text eagerly. Next to her, Elena yawned and traced circles on the paper with her paw as she read.

Samantha finished the text and decided to look around the classroom to 'analyse' her new classmates. The classroom had cooled down considerably - Samantha assumed it was something about Evan's power - and Mr Carter had turned off the fans. She thought she saw a few familiar faces in the crowd - Kate, Luna, Sharon, Alexander - but they were too engrossed in reading to notice her.

Samantha was about to put her head in her paws when the bell rang. Everyone immediately began shoving their books in their bags.

"E-er, class dismissed! Take care of your textbooks, and bring your English books to class next time!" Mr Carter yelped. Students were already streaming out of the doorway, chattering excitedly - a completely opposite to the silence in the classroom a few minutes earlier.

Samantha tucked her book in her bag and joined up with Elena.

"That was so boring!" Elena said, yawning behind a paw. "Blah blah blah, witches, blah blah blah..."

"I found it pretty interesting," Samantha offered. "The rest of the story's pretty bloody and stuff too..."

Elena's eyes lit up. "Actually, never mind about the boring bit! I can't wait to get straight on with reading the next part!"

Samantha chuckled as her friend's reaction. "Well, that's great. Now, what do we have next...?"