Back to Human

Chapter One

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The clock struck 3:30. There was a flurry of movement as paint was hastily put away and brushes were cleaned. The students around me picked up their bags and made their way out of the classroom in groups of threes and fours.

Soon I was left alone with the teacher as we worked together in comfortable silence, wiping down tables and putting up chairs. In mere minutes the whole building was silenced with the exception of a few straggling students and teachers. "Thank you for the help, Ash." My teacher Mrs Suffrage said.

"I don't mind," I reply. My bus didn't come for another half hour. Mrs Suffrage pushed her glasses up her nose and blew some curly wisps of her dark brown hair out of her face.

"Still, it is a nice change of pace. Have you completed your piece for the art show yet?"

"Yep, I'll bring it in tomorrow," I reply while scrubbing at a particularly nasty dark blue paint splotch.

"Did you like that video I sent every one of the kitten singing 'if you're happy and you know it'?" And behold, this is one of the reasons I love Mrs Suffrage.

I chuckled. "Yes, it was adorable." We finished cleaning up the classroom and I grabbed my bag before sitting down with Mrs Suffrage.

"I also found a dog that responds to Harry Potter spells I found adorable but I don't want to spam all of you." Mrs Suffrage said as she brought her mug full of herbal tea to her lips before taking a sip.

"Please send it to me, for educational reasons of course!" I joked. I checked the clock above the whiteboard. "Okay, I gotta head off. Bye Mrs Suffrage." Mrs Suffrage twiddled her fingers in my direction in farewell as I left the classroom.

The halls were silent and deserted as I made my way to the school exit. The bright sun almost blinded me as walked out of the building and I shaded my eyes. Outside were two of my friends.

"Hey guys," I called out to get their attention. Josh and Rebecca turned their heads to watch me approach.

"Hey, you wanna come to my house tonight?" Rebecca asked. She played with her tightly curled black hair as she looked at me. I thought of the assignment I had just talked about with Mrs Suffrage sitting on my desk.

"I have to bring something in tomorrow for art, sorry," I told her. Rebecca sighed, accepting that. Josh, on the other hand, didn't let the matter rest.

"Why don't you chill a little?" He asked. He was a nice dude but he couldn't seem to understand my need to constantly be busy.

"Let it go." Rebecca defended me. I was silently thankful for her.

"No, why don't you ever want to hang out with us anymore?" He asked, not unkindly.

"I'm so busy with school and art, sometimes I just forget to make time for you guys," I admitted.

Josh huffed in annoyance without saying another word. Rebecca gave me a sympathetic look before she followed him. I turned in the other direction and started heading to the bus stop. My heart beat fast and my hands shook slightly from the shame of hurting my friends and anger.

I was hurt. He knew how much I loved art. He was the same about skateboarding so I couldn't see why he was being like that. Still a little angry, I continued my walk.

I had to walk a block to get to my bus stop. Every day for the past week or so a big orange cat has greeted me walking to the bus stop with me and waited for the bus with me. I started bringing a small bag of cat food for it.