Abnormalities

(Lena's POV) Chapter Six

"Honey, where did this sweater come from?"
I gaze up at my mother, examining the two-toned green sweater at the edge of my bed. Sitting up, I rub my eyes and yawn, replying, "A... a friend lent it to me. I was cold yesterday and forgot my sweater here."
Mama lets go of the sweater and sits by my feet. "Must be a pretty big friend of yours, that sweater is huge.."
"He is over a foot taller than me, so.." I say, yawning one last time.
"Well, best you return that to him when you see him next. Come, breakfast is ready," Mama says as she leaves my room. I push away the covers and follow her down the hall and into the kitchen. Papa has little Hayden around his waist, putting a stack of pancakes up onto the bar. I hop into my seat and thank Papa for the food as I dig in.
"Sweetheart, did you get a chance to meet that boy? The one who moved in recently?" Papa asks as Hayden babbles on. He hands the little one to Mama so she can feed him.
"I, uh, I guess I did? He's pretty quiet... b-but cool, too! He lent me his sweater and gave me a chicken sandwich yesterday," I reply, mouth filled with pancakey goodness.
"Aw, how sweet," Mama says. "Reminds me of your father when I first met him."
Papa chuckles as he flips over another pancake. "What's his name again?"
I rack my mind for a moment as I try to remember. All of yesterday just seemed to fly by.
"...Mason. That's his name."
"That's a wonderful name," Papa says. I nod in agreement. Stuffing my breakfast in my mouth, I jump down from stool and rush back into my room to get ready for school.

As I walk out of the door, I see Mason down in the parking lot, standing alone. Quickly, I wave Mama and Papa goodbye and rush down to the ground level, calling out Mason's name. Exhausted, I catch up to him as a familiar car pulls up. I can feel Mason staring down at me.
"Is there something wrong, Lena?" He asks quietly.
"I... I, uh," I say, choking on my own breath, "I wanted to give you your sweater back." Shaking, I unzip my backpack and pull out the sweater he lent me last night and hand it to him.
"Oh.. Thanks." Mason takes the sweater and ties it around his waist.
"Oi, Mason! Stop talking to your girlfriend and get over here! School starts soon!" Cam shouts from his Jeep. Mason waves and gets in the car.
"Hey, Lena?" Cam shouts again, "Would you like a ride to school?"
I shake my head. "I'll drive my own car, but thank you anyways!"

The last bell rings, everyone in the class is as loud as ever (well, excluding Mason in the back). No one quiets down until a snarling, droopy-eyed teacher walks into the classroom. They all stare in fear, while I on the other hand smile at her cheerfully, praying that this woman doesn't bite my head off.
"Good morning class," she says dryly in a New Jersey-style accent, "my name is Mrs. Canis. You will refer to me as such, or Mrs. C if that's too hard for youses." Mrs. Canis then proceeds to place her coffee by the old computer monitor and slouch over the desk. Her matted wolf ears twitch a bit, and as she reaches back to scratch them, she asks us a question.
"The sub yesterday wrote that you students were picking on one of the humans. Who can tell me what happened exactly..?"
The class is dead quiet. I can feel their eyes shooting draggers at the back of my head. I want to raise my hand and say something, but I'm afraid that if I make a single sound, the class will bash me.
Typical beginning of the year drama...
"Mrs. Canis? May I speak?"
I turn to the back and see Cam with his hand raised. He looks determined. The class collectively looks back at the teacher and watches as she nods. Cam proceeds to stand up and clear his throat.
"Yesterday, while Mr. Johnson was taking attendance, I noticed two students pick on Lena Santez yesterday." He points to a little werewolf student by the window and a harpy three seats behind me. "That one bit her ankle, and this one threw a paper ball at her head."
The teacher glanced at my leg, which was wrapped in bandages near the heel, then glared at the students Cam pointed at.
"You two should be ashamed of yourselves. Youses know that the poor girl can't defend herself, she's human for Pete's sake."
"But, Mrs. C, I-" the harpy quietly says.
"NO BUTS! Expect an email from me to your parents, Mr. Gonzales. You too, Ms. Guire," she yells, beginning to type on the loud, old keyboard. The canine student appears ashamed, while the winged boy looks out to the windows in, what appeared to be, defeated pride. I peer back at Cam and thank him for speaking up.
Mrs. Canis stops typing for a moment and sighs. "Get yourselves into groups of four or five and introduce one another. I don't care how you do it, just get it done."
I grab my things (as one can never trust their belongings in a classroom filled with people who are constantly attacking them) and sit down by Mason and Cam's table cheerfully. I say my thanks to Cam for his actions once more.
"It's no problem at all, Lena! It's their fault for making a mess, anyways."
I smile at him before shifting my gaze towards Mason. He's on his phone with earbuds in, slouching over his desk. He peeks out from behind his sweater's sleeve for a single moment, averting his attention back to the dimmed screen.
Another student comes and sits down with us at our huddle. "Let's get this over with," she coldly states, scratching some skin behind her small, pointed ears. "I'm Heather Williams." The half imp (I'm assuming) puts her elbow on the desk and rests her rosy cheek in her hand. Her soft, short, pastel pink hair drifts in the draft from the AC vent above us.
"Nice to meet you, Heather," I say politely. "I like your eyes, they're very pretty."
"Gee, thanks," she says in a deadly tone. I feel embarrassed and try to hide by putting my hand up by my eye. Her silver irises dart from myself to Cam, then to Mason. "What's up with him?"
Cam, taking a sip of water from his bottle, replies, "He's not really into introductions."
Mason turns his phone off and rests his head on his crossed arms, facing away from the three of us.
"Mason's... really shy," Cam continued.
"Huh, didn't think he'd be the reserved type, from the looks of him..." Heather says. She stares at the two of us. "Aren't you guys going to introduce yourselves?"
"O-oh! Right... uh, well," I stutter, "I'm Lena, Lena Santez!" I shakily stick my hand out for her to shake.
"Santez..? As in, the Santez bakery? You're the kid from the owners of that place, right?" She hardly moves a muscle.
"Uh, yeah! My parents do work there. Do you like visiting the bakery?" I ask happily.
Heather scoffs, lifting her face from her hand. "Are you kidding me? Gross.. I can't stand sugar. It's too..."
"...sweet?" Cam finishes for her.
"Duh. It hurts to even think of sugar."
She's really mean...
"A-ah... I see... t-to each their own, then," I struggle to say. Cam quickly pulls the conversation in another direction.
"I'm Cameron, but you can call me Cam if you'd like." He laughs a bit after his statement, in nervousness.
Heather scans Cam for a moment; "meif'wa, huh? I hear that a lot of people living here are mefi'wa, especially in the most eastern part of the city."
"Yeah, you've got that right. And, you're part imp, correct?"
Heather nods. "Not a lot of people guess it right on the first try, always confusing me with the dragon hybrids and elves... it gets annoying fast. I even had some ignorant dude come up to me and ask if I was a demon."
Mason perks his head up for a moment and looks at Heather, then Cam. Cam hands him a breakfast sandwich from his backpack, in which Mason sits up to eat it. I turn to Heather while Cam whispers to Mason; "Wow, really? I always knew that demons didn't exist here, that's like common knowledge. That guy sounds like a knucklehead," I say, goosebumps popping up and out from underneath my skin as I talked to this gal.
"He was a knucklehead for sure, just like a good lot of the people here." Heather sighs. "Especially the humans who decided to move in for whatever crazy reason they came up with. We would think that humans would stay away because of all the 'scary stuff' here, but no. They think it's okay to come anyways..."
"...Excuse me?" I say, my voice cracking.
She looks me dead straight in the eye. "You heard what I said. I think that you humans are just a wats of space here. Always invading on our peace and trying to 'become apart of our culture', like viruses."
"Why would you say that to her..?" Cam asks Heather. "She's done nothing wrong, all Lena and her family has done was live in peace."
Heather scoffs. "For centuries, we monster-folk have always had to live in fear and hiding from humans. They're vile and cruel, and I won't believe for one second that any one of these people will come attacking us again. It'd wise for you to start thinking the same, kitty boy."
"..You're wrong."
We all glance at Mason, his head raised up and his tired eyes glaring at Heather. My heart begins to beat fast, I didn't think he would just speak up like that.
"Excuse me?" Heather said quietly.
Mason continued, "you're wrong about humans. Yeah, some are mean, but they've changed over the past few decades. You really think that someone, in this day and age, is going to walk up to you and stab you with a wooden stake because you aren't one of them?"
"Well, no, but-"
"If you have no proof to back up your claim, then don't say anything at all." Mason takes a quick glance at me before laying his head back down.