Flerae: A Lie Untold

Chapter 5: Your Name's Not Here

- Ocean-

I run for what feels like forever. I finally stop when I reach a gigantic mud hut, made from dozens and dozens of mud huts put together to form one big weird shaped building. The Land School. The land cat dragons probably don't call it that, but that's what I've always know the school as. 

I quickly glance behind me to check if Carp followed me, but there is no sign of him. 

I turn my focus to the school. I sigh. Well, I guess I'll see how this goes. I enter the building. 

In a room next to the entrance a plump grey cat dragon works on some sort of paper work. 

"Um... I... uh..." I start to say.

The cat looks up and gives me a welcoming smile that gives me some confidence. 

"Has school started yet?" I ask.

"Yes," she replies, "it started a few minutes ago. It's still first hour."

"Um... thank you," I say, but instead of going to wherever "first hour" is, I just stand there, very awkwardly. 

"Do you need anything?" the lady asks.

"No... well... yeah... well... no?"

The lady blinks at me in confusion. "So... do you need my help?" she says.

"I just... I just don't exactly know where my first hour is."

"Hmmm. What's your name?"

"Ocean."

"Sorry, this is going to take a while, there are a lot of students at this school. What did you say your name is?"

"Ocean," I repeat.

"Your last name?"

I hesitate on at this question. I probably should say Mer, but mer cat dragon magic isn't taut in this school. "Fluffy," I finally say, using the name for magicless cat dragons.

"Hmm, Fluffy, Fluffy, Fluffy," she says, flipping through a stack of papers. "Aw, here we are, Natthen, Oscar, Olivia, Penny, Huh. Your name's not here. You sure I didn't hear you wrong? You said your name is... Ocean, right?"

"You didn't hear me wrong. That's my name."

"I'm sorry, Ocean, but your name's not here. Are you a new student or something?"

"I've been, uh, homeschooled my whole life," I lie.

"Hmm. Did you decide you want a change? Public school?"

"I guess..."

"Is your mother here?"

"My... Mom?"

"Yeah, I will need her to sign some paperwork in order to get you a schedule."

"Um... could I bring those papers home for her to sign?"

"Sure, I was planning on giving you the papers anyway," she stands up and walks towards a shelf full of lots of papers and forms. She studies each little cubby's label until she grabs a paper off a stack and hands it to me. 

"You need to choose 18 classes you'd like to take. The ones with stars are the ones you have to take, other than that, you're free to choose whatever you'd like. After you've finished filling it out, you'll need to have your mother sign the bottom. Bring it back tomorrow if you can."

I nod and I run back home, quickly scurrying into my makeshift home before Carp sees me.