Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 4 - Recess

As soon as the bell rang, the Teacher went to talk with the Principal and the entire class rushed to the door.

Except for Byia and Guyi, who concentrated on their books. Then, a girl’s voice made them raise their heads from the books: “You two made quite an impression on the first day. What were you trying to do? Make us all look like fools?”

The rest of the class stopped near the door and looked at the dumbfounded pair. Lodon placed one hand over Guyi’s left shoulder and squeezed it. “You heard the lady. What was that about?”

Byia stared at the fake smile on Nayima’s face and answered, “That wasn’t my intention. Do you think it would be better if I pretended to be dumb and wasted my time learning everything all over, considering that I already knew what I could learn in this class? What would that accomplish? You would look smarter? It wouldn’t be better if you studied and achieved greatness on your own instead of relying on someone else’s failures? Or do you want to only be pretty and, when people know you better, realize you are dumber than a doorknob? Lodon has an excuse; he was born with a thick head, but what’s your excuse?”

Nayima opened and closed her mouth, unable to answer such surprising remarks. Lodon took a few moments to realize he was being called dumb in a weird manner, and he grunted straight at Byia’s eyes, “You are so full of yourself, aren’t you, little one? Maybe you need a lesson to know your place! I will be waiting for you outside to have a proper talk with you.”

Byia turned her head to the other side and spoke while frowning, “Damn, Lodon, at least brush your teeth in the morning before trying to kiss me! I won’t ever kiss you, smelling like that!”

Lodon gasped and quickly swam backwards. “I… I wasn’t trying to kiss you… Who in his right mind would want to kiss a baby like you?”

Byia smiled and approached Lodon. “Oh, come on, don’t be like that; you know you like me! I am afraid I can’t be your girlfriend; I am too young for that. Maybe in a few more Tides, if you behave properly and begin to brush your teeth, that is. But I can give you a little kiss if you are so desperate. Come here, I won’t bite… much!”

Lodon rushed to the door, unable to think properly about what to do. He just wanted to scare Byia a little; he wasn’t expecting such a reaction.

At the last minute, he stopped and made a tight turn. He went straight to Byia’s face with his tail and caught her off guard. Byia was sent flying all over the classroom and hit the wall behind with such force that she made a dent in it. Guyi quickly grabbed Byia, stopping her from hitting the floor.

Nayima was looking at all that happened, and she disguised a slight smile while mumbling. “Serves you right, tiny one. It went better than I was expecting.”

One classmate arrived with the Teacher and upon seeing all that mess, with Lodon still huffing and Byia knocked down on Guyi’s arms while Nayima was smiling, she rushed to wake up Byia while shouting orders, “Lodon, sit down! Nayima, you too! You both are in for a nice punishment, right on the first day of school! You sure are dumb to cause such a mess inside the classroom!”

Nayima blinked a few times and stuttered, “I… I didn’t do anything!”

“Yeah, right, I have here Byia knocked down, Lodon with a criminal look written all over his face, and you were smiling, very pleased with all this. You have a very sick mind, young lady, and I will make sure that you realize your evil acts. I will be upon you two like a nightmare, and I won’t let you have a moment of rest so that you can try another stunt like this!”

Nayima was boiling in anger, and she clenched her fists while looking at Byia. How dared that little female ruin her perfect school life like that, right on the first day? Nayima swallowed her anger and sat next to Lodon.

While the Teacher was trying to wake up Byia, she whispered to Lodon, “I don’t think that was enough. She needs to get a good scare, or she will mock you forever. You don’t want all the females to think that you are a weak Dragon, right? You will never have a chance with any of them if they start to see you like that.”

Lodon slowly nodded and stared at the knocked-down Byia, devising a plan.

Byia finally woke up and touched the back of her head. She felt something squishy, and Guyi explained, “You cracked your head. Better to take care of that, or the smell in here will be disgusting in no time.”

The Teacher moved to carry Byia on her lap. “Let me help you. I will take you to the School’s Healer to check you up.”

Guyi touched the Teacher’s right arm. “No need, Teacher. She can take care of that herself. This is not the first time she gets hurt; her older brother is always making her bleed like this. Well, at least he used to, but lately, he is the one on the bleeding side.”

Byia placed her left claw on her wound, and the claw began to shine. “It’s a big wound…‘slànachadh’… I think this should do it. My head still hurts a little, but I am fine now!”

The Teacher was astonished, and so was Nayima. None of them would have guessed that such a little female could use Healing Magic as easily as that.

Lodon was frowning. He knew Byia could do that because he was always hurting her, ever since they were two Tides-old. Byia was his favorite punching bag, or she used to be, because, since last Tide, she always managed to run away from him, escaping his punishment for annoying him so much with her presence.

Every time he saw a young male Dragon mesmerized by her, he always wanted to hurt her. It was stronger than him, and he couldn’t understand why that always happened.

Byia and Guyi went to recess, while Lodon and Nayima were now facing a very angry Teacher. “So, I wonder how many days of suspension you both will get, as soon as we go tell the Principal what happened here.”

Nayima turned pale; she wasn’t expecting such a serious punishment. “But… but… I didn’t do anything! Lodon was the one to hurt Baby… I mean, Byia!”

The Teacher approached her snout and made a slight smile. “We both know that is not true. I saw how you have been looking at Byia since the beginning of class. I know your type, Princess. You were always used to being the center of attention, and now having a little female taking all the attention, especially from all the young males in here, was too much for you. You can’t fool me, Princess. I have been a Teacher for more Tides than your age. I saw and I know everything about your character. You are vain, spoiled, and used to have all your whims fulfilled, but don’t worry, we have plenty of time to change that part of you during the next ten Tides. As for you, class clown and bully, I bet you used to bully Byia every chance you got. That ends today. If I find out that you bullied her again while on school grounds, a suspension will be the least of your worries. I will give you so, but so much homework every day that you will only have time to eat and sleep before coming to school again.”

Nayima was stunned. Never had a grownup spoke like that to her. Lodon was gulping, and he managed to answer, “It… It was Byia’s fault! She was saying that I wanted to kiss her! I… I…”

The Teacher pointed to the group of students gathered near the door. “I saw a bunch of them staring like fools at Byia during class. I bet they would not have a problem if she said something like that to any of them. I wonder why you were so offended. For now, let’s have a nice talk with the Principal to see what he decides, shall we?”

The Teacher gently pushed the two scared students out of the classroom, with their classmates opening a corridor for them. A few whispers reached Lodon and Nayima’s ears: “They are so dead… My mother would kill me if I hurt a female… The Princess is toasted…”

Nayima clenched her fists. She got a pretty nickname, but the way they were saying it sounded like an insult. Lodon was staring down while swimming, too stunned to even answer back to his classmates.

Outside, Byia was touching the back of her head, and Guyi took a quick look and reassured her, “Don’t worry, you didn’t lose a scale, and there is not even a scar. You scared me a little back there. Why didn’t you defend yourself and take him down? One or two broken arms would for sure teach him a lesson.”

“I know, but my father always told me to avoid a fight at all costs, even if I had to get hurt. If I stopped his tail, I would probably not have stopped with one broken arm. I would for sure break all his arms and tail. Not a very good way to begin school, right?”

Guyi shrugged. “I guess, but you know he will go after you for revenge. And that yellow girl seemed very pleased about all that happened; I even got a feeling she was the one who caused all that. She seemed a little manipulative, if that’s the proper word.”

“Yeah, we need to watch out for her. I think she is more dangerous than Lodon. We both know how Lodon is; he always does things without thinking properly. That girl is a lot smarter. I guess we just need to stay away from them as much as possible. The school is big; it won’t be difficult to escape them or find a place for us to hang out in peace.”

Guyi made a big smile. “I know the proper place where Lodon will never go after us. The School’s Library! We can stay there for as long as we like, talking, playing games, or reading a book.”

“I guess… But I was thinking we could make a couple of races against the boys in here. I want to see how fast they are.”

“Yeah, right… You want to embarrass them with your speed, don’t you? I guess we can also do that; they will not try anything with a lot of witnesses around. The problem is, if they catch any of us alone.”

Biya placed one arm over Guyi’s shoulders, making him blush. “Then, it’s just a matter of always being together. It will be us against the World! No one shall defeat us!”

Guyi gulped and disguised his embarrassment and the heat that he was feeling all over his body.