U.H Book One // Hegemony {ON HOLD}

• Chapter Four •

The classes went by quickly. I had to introduce myself in nearly every one. And luckily, since I take most advanced classes, even though it's my first year, I got to be in the same class as Leila, Starella, and Violet. I was pretty lucky. But I only had all three of them during one class; magic. They all seemed to know each other, and surprisingly no drama went on between them. I was feeling pretty lucky, so much so that I answered a question in class...which I rarely do.

"Now who can tell me about dominant traits?" The gazelle hybrid teacher asked. I couldn't remember her name because it was something really complicated.

"Yes timeb-....Beatrice?"

I winced but shook it off when I saw Leila shrugging at me with a lighthearted grin.

"There are two options for dominant traits. Human or..animal. If you have an animal dominant trait, you can transform into your animal, and you may have paws, whiskers, and fur. However if you have human dominant trait, you cannot transform and you have tan skin color or brown skin color, and no paws or whiskers usually." The class seemed to quite down at my explanation. Most people my age didn't know that kind of stuff but growing up a timebug....I could get extra study time and I loved to read...

The classes continued going by, I had set my place in the school by sixth hour as 'The intelligent timebug' or something like that. I was lucky not everyone cared though. I didn't get into any fights...I almost did at lunch but Leila defended me. I was incredibly grateful for having met her...and the other two. I was just glad I wasn't alone.

The bell rang for us to head home, and Leila, Violet, and Starella decided to walk home with me.

It was beautiful. The cherry blossom trees were sprawled out all over the place, and the pedals floated in the warm, soft breeze. We joked around as we walked. I kept making puns about the cherry blossom trees and everyone would laugh. Violet laughed so hard she started tearing up.

Then we would all sigh simultaneously and start laughing again because of that.

"So..." I began, catching my breath, my sides aching from laughing so hard, "Any more great advice you guys want to give me?" I asked with a smile.

"Depends." Leila began, "Do you remember the advice I already gave you?"

"Hey.." Violet said softly, "I gave her some too."

"Yeah, I gave her the best advice." Starella cooed.

"Uh-..ok let's see...Violet, you said not to get into any competitions or else I will probably die-"

"That's...not what I said.."

"Well that's what it sounded like to me." I giggled nervously, "And Star..you said to get on Mr. Junior's good side, and to not get used to how he treats me because the other teachers would hate me because I look like a rebel?" I said, straining to remember, "And Leila, you said-"

"Aw c'mon! Don't be so self-conscious!" A familiar voice shouted in the distance. Then there was laughter. We all exchanged nervous glances.

"Morph out of that deer, you dumbass!" It was Cedric's voice.

"Come on." Leila said, and began running towards the sound of the voices. Her ears were perked up and as she ran her body slowly morphed into a grey wolf, she ran with incredible speed I almost couldn't keep up, but I managed. We followed her into the woods, and she skid to a stop so suddenly, neither Violet or me had time to stop and we both went toppling down a steep, muddy hill.

I think I passed out for a moment when I must have hit my head on a rock but only for a moment because I found myself sitting up at the bottom of the slope, my ears ringing. I looked over at Violet, who was dusting herself off, then pulled my to my feet. I looked up the hill at Star and Leila who were both looking at us with worried faces.

"You guys alright?" Leila asked, still in her wolf form as she began sliding down the slope.

"Y...yeah." I said. I felt dizzy.

"Yes.." Violet said, softly, "We're ok. Where are those voices coming from?"

We all stopped to listen.

It was silent for a moment, before the laughter started up again. I was just beginning to catch my breath before we started running again towards the sound. We wove between the trees and the voices grew louder. Then we were right there.

Cedric and a few other boys were crowded around a deer who was backed up against a tree with his ears down. Cedric kicked the deer with so much force, he collapsed and started crying.

"Hey, you asshole! Knock it off!" Starella began making her way towards Cedric, her paws balled up in fists.

"Aww, what are you girls gonna do?" Cedric mused, "Beat us with flower-power?"

The boys laughed and gave Cedric a few high fives. Suddenly, Star kicked Cedric as hard as she could right between his legs. He let out a shout and fell to the ground. Star grabbed his hair and slammed his face into the mud, the three other boys began backing away. Cedric groaned, and suddenly the ground beneath him began to shake. I backed away slowly, but Leila grabbed my arm. I realized she was in her normal form again. "Don't worry." She whispered. "We can beat them."

"Wh-what?! I don't want to fight! I hate fighting!" I said, rather hysterically.

"Leila...let's please just leave." Violet said, scratching her arm absentmindedly and looking at the ground.

"Fine." Leila said, sighing and releasing my arm. Then she smirked, "You can leave, but Star and I are going to kill these assholes."