The SpiralWood Academy

Chapter 2

     The morning bell buzzed throughout the heavily crowded hallways of the academy, Grey looked around anxiously. He stared back down at his schedule, eyeing the title of his first block. 'Power Flexibility', an extracurricular class for oddities that have trouble fighting in general. He had no trouble at all! He was just- scared. The white haired boy took a deep breath, before slipping his ID card into the door's key slot. The door opened with a soft hissing sound, bright lights lined the training room. Inside were a few other oddities, most of them were fledgling and freshman girls.
    They turned to snicker at the slightly older boy. He ignored it and sat down at one of the blue tables that wrapped around the room. A 14 year old fire oddity sat next to him.
    "You look kinda sad, buddy. What's wrong? I'm Riley, by the way." Grey turned to look at the freshman. She had two long navy blue ponytails, with faux wolf ears perched atop her head. She had a cheeky kind of smile, as she held out her hand for him to shake. He chose not to shake it, instead, Grey stared at his ID on his lanyard. Riley sighed, poking his shoulder. "It's not very nice to not respond to someone, mister." She gave him a very childish tone.
    "Ugh... I'm Grey..." He mumbled under his breath, shoving his face against the counter. "And yes, I am a boy, in a class for weak people." Riley giggled at his response.
    "Who cares? I'm sure we can be friends, right? Besties, even! And who said we're weak?" Grey looked up to face her.
    "Why would you want to be my friend?" He spoke a bit louder this time. The girl smiled again,
    "Because it's pretty lame to mope around all day with no one to talk to. I also really like your braid." She pointed at the very long braid that his hair was tied into. Usually people made fun of him for his hair. Even his parents hated it.
    "Thanks?" Grey threw the braid behind his back, not really wanting to look at it. The tardy bell rang, and a tall woman entered the room.
    "Welcome, students, to Power Flexibility! Here we will learn to fully embrace your powers, and get over that struggle of controlling them!" The teacher had a purplish skin tone with pale lavender hair, cut into a pixie bob. She must be an elf of some sort. From Phopia... "My name is Ms. Willowgate. We can start with an icebreaker game!" As the elf began to explain the game, Grey soon found out that they had to use their powers to send a message about themselves to other students. Can't he just show them his ID, or say 'hi'? "Now you can begin! Use your powers to show other students your skills!" Riley jolted up with excitement.
    "Grey, you can be my icebreaker buddy!" Grey glanced at her and mumbled an 'ok'. Riley hed out her hands and a golden flame began to dance on her hand, before swirling into the air and... exploding? What the heck is she trying to say? "Well? Have you guessed my hobbies?" Grey fiddled with his tie, trying to figure it out.
    "You like dancing..." He began, Riley nodding with happiness, "and... exploding?"
    "No, silly! I like making fireworks and dancing!" Grey thought that was a very odd mixture of hobbies. Riley looked expectant for him to do something. He had no clue how he would represent his hobbies with ice or clouds. He thought for a moment. "Get a move on!"
    Grey stood up, thrusting his hands into the air, clouds beginning to swirl around the room, eventually forming odd shapes. One of them was a balloon, and the other a hair tie. Riley tilted her head in bewilderment.
     "Uhm... you like balloons, and... hula hoops?" She inquired, attempting to figure it out. Grey shook his head.
     "I'm so bad at this. I really like carnivals, so I thought a balloon would represent that. I also enjoy styling hair, hence the hair tie, not a hula hoop." The boy muttered, erasing the cloudy images. He sat back down, staring at the desk. Riley leaned over.
     "Hey! Don't feel bad! You're not supposed to get it right! Those are cool interests. I think?" The fire oddity chirped. Soon, class was over, and Riley and Grey were separated as they headed to their next blocks. The hallways' chatter and liveliness overwhelmed Grey. He felt like sitting down and waiting for everyone the pass by. Instead, he found a vacant bench to stare at his schedule. History of Vognurn. Pretty classic for a class, they didn't just learn about their powers, oddities had to get a fullflesh education as well. Grey sat there in a daze, wanting school to be over so he could hide in his dorm. The tardy bell snapped him out of his daydreams. Shoot.