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

Chapter 32: Our PRS Teacher Just Called Us All Potatoes and I Kinda Agree

Samantha joined the queue of students out the door. Almost as soon as she stepped out, a paw cautiously tapped her shoulder. She spun around to face them and was pleasantly surprised to see the dog from the park - Ryo, was it?

He gestured towards a wall and mumbled something inaudible. Samantha assumed that he was asking if she could step aside for a moment to avoid the rush of dogs so she followed him over to the wall.

"I, er, f-found this backpack outside the music rooms... and I was w-wondering, er, is this... yours?" Ryo stuttered out, looking extremely nervous and... flustered? Samantha paid it no mind and her eyes drifted to the backpack Ryo was holding out. Her eyes widened and a smile spread across her snout as she reached out and took it.

"Thank you so much! I was really worried I'd lost my Mi - er, it! And the stuff inside it, of course... ehehe..." Samantha scratched the back of her head awkwardly and gave him a grateful smile. "I must've left it last night, when I, er..." She paused for a moment. The puzzle pieces came together in her mind and her eyes widened once again.

"V-visited." She finished awkwardly, not wanting to tell him that she had been standing outside and listening to his music like a... creep.

"Oh... I-I see... w-well, I guess... I -"

Samantha felt a paw grab her shoulder. She gave him a short wave and a "bye?" before she was pulled away to join Elena, Luna, Sharon and Zephyr just around the corner. Elena smirked mischievously and would've wiggled her eyebrows if she had any.

"Oh, so who's that?" She said casually, but Samantha could tell she was trying to hide her excitement... or amusement. Samantha didn't know which, but either way probably wouldn't result in... a nice, peaceful night for her.

"Just... some guy I met at a park." Samantha replied carefully. "He found my backpack, which I lost yesterday. So I thanked him. That's... it, really."

"Really now? It sounded like a little more than that." Elena giggled. Luna looked slightly amused and both Sharon and Zephyr looked confused.

"Nothing more." Samantha repeated firmly, now realising how annoying her teasing must've been for Elena. Well, whatever - it wasn't like she actually had feelings for someone she just met anyways. To change the subject, Samantha quickly pointed out, "So we have, uh, PRS next, right? What does it even stand for?"

"Apparently, Philosophy and Religious Studies." Sharon replied, still looking confused. "And what was that about...?"

"Nothing!" Samantha said quickly. "Let's go to class!" Samantha tried to ignore Elena's mischievous expression as she nudged her way past Luna and Zephyr to hurry away.

———

Half to Samantha's relief and half to her frustration, Elena wasn't in her class. This at least meant that Elena wouldn't be around to tease her, but it would definitely suck in the long term.

Sharon sighed as she scanned the queue of students in front of the classroom. "Such a pity Elena isn't here... we nearly have a full house."

"Exactly what I was thinking." Samantha nodded. "It must be harder for her though - none of us are there with her."

Luna waved a dismissive paw in the air. "Elena's pretty social. She'll be fine."

"I hope so." Zephyr sighed forlornly and said nothing more.

"He seems pretty sad about Elena not being here." Samantha remarked quietly to Luna. Luna scoffed. "He'll get over it eventually. He's just being dramatic over his c-"

"Shut up, Luna." Zephyr snapped. Luna just rolled her eyes and sniffed. "You don't have to deny it - it's pretty obvious, you know."

"Guys, stop fighting!" Sharon exclaimed. "Luna, stop picking fun at him. Zephyr, you know she's just joking..."

Samantha frowned and looked between the two siblings. "Sorry," she whispered to no one in particular.

The lights in the corridor flickered once. Samantha looked up at the ceiling in confusion.

The lights flickered again, then went out entirely. The students began to murmur worriedly and shuffle around.

"What's going on?" Sharon whispered. Samantha opened her jaws to reply, but she was distracted by a spark of light closer to the front of the queue. She stood on the tips of her paws to see who it was and was slightly surprised to see Vivian, with a paw in the air. Her paw was surrounded with a yellow-white light and she was staring fiercely up at the lights.

All eyes swivelled to look towards the source of lights. Electricity crackled over Vivian's paws and the lights slowly flickered to life.

The door to the PRS classroom opened and a dog peered outside, looking slightly surprised. "So, another elemental in the house, hm?" He scanned the line and his eyes landed on Vivian. "Ah, you didn't have to. I was just... making a dramatic entrance."

The lights brightened and reverted back to its normal brightness setting. Vivian put her paw back to the ground and turned towards the teacher with an unreadable expression.

The dog, at first glance, had a lot of hair and fur. His back was covered in two stripes of hair - one red and one orange. A brown-orange beard covered most of his snout and chest and a yellow soldier's hat was perched on his head. He squinted at the class for a moment, and grunted, "What a stupid looking class of potatoes I have."

One of the students let out a harsh bark of anger and leaped to his paws. Samantha quickly identified the figure to be Oscar, from the way his black, dragon like wings were expanding and growing to became twice the size of his body. His tail lashed out, suddenly becoming more serpentine.

The teacher peered at Oscar for a moment, completely unfazed. Finally, he barked with laughter. "I'm joking, kid. Don't need to take it to heart. Welcome to PRS, and I'm Mr Derlay. Come on in."

The line of confused students slowly began making their way in the room. Oscar slowly shrank and reverted back to his usual form with a half annoyed and half confused expression. "Who the heck does he think he is...?!" He hissed under his breath as Samantha passed. Samantha decided not to answer him and passed the intimidating looking teacher into the PRS classroom.