The Silver Dragon Chronicles Chapter 3

My alarm clock blared annoyingly at exactly 5:30 AM.

         What is that noise? Taiya moaned. I mentally explained about how I had to get up early for school.

         So let me get this straight- it takes you two hours to take a shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast?

         No, I said. I just like to get up early and get all that stuff done quick, so I have time to relax in the morning.

         You are crazy.

         It’s not that weird.

         If Taiya could’ve raised an eyebrow, she would have. Wanna bet?

         Oh, come on.

         At that point I ditched Taiya and hurried through a cold shower. Once I was done, I flopped onto my bed again with my wet hair wrapped in an indigo towel, thinking about the dragon mystery.

         What’s so mysterious about dragons? Taiya wondered.

         Ignoring, ignoring.

         HEY!

         Sorry, I need to think. IN PEACE.

         Fine, I can take a hint. More eye rolling.

         I shut off the mental connection.

         An hour and a half passed and I came up with exactly… nothing. Reluctantly I reopened the conversation connection. I got a hint of Taiya’s feelings- ouch. Sorry, Taiya. I’m really not used to sharing my head.

         Tell that to my wounded pride!

         You have got to be kidding me. Look-

         I’m joking, Lily!

         I mentally berated myself for not picking up on that.

         You think I’m used to sharing my head? Look, it’s hard on both ends of the spectrum and I’m just as frustrated as you are- what with knowing almost nothing about the world in general. Hey, are we gonna go back to that shop again?

         I was a little disconcerted with the abrupt change of subject. You mean the Oddity Shop? Yeah, I go there after school almost every day.

         I want to check out those books. They looked weird… in a good way, though. It’s hard to explain.

         Weird in a good way. Just like Taiya. Wait… it was a long shot, but maybe there was something in the shop that could explain Taiya’s sudden appearance.

         You think so? Taiya sounded just as hopeful as I felt.

         Not sure. But we might not be able to find out if you can’t stay quiet for about eight hours.

         What for?

         Carlson Middle School.

                                                                        ~~~

         I dunno about this, Taiya said apprehensively, safely hidden in my navy blue backpack. It seems a little risky.

         That’s the point of what I’ve been telling you for the last hour.

         We were on the front steps of my normal-looking school. The brown brick walls were pocked with scribbled ink messages that no janitor could keep up with. Backpack-toting kids surrounded us, making Taiya and I surprisingly inconspicuous, seeing as neither of us would fit under the dictionary definition of normal.

         Now remember, keep your mouth shut. Not a word.

         I thought you were the only one who can hear me.

         Yes, but the less I hear from you, the easier it is to pretend there isn’t a dragon talking to me.

         And that’s important, right?

         To put it mildly.

         I ignored the frustrated thoughts Taiya was sending through and ambled into the school, finding my army green locker, gathering books, and depositing my backpack. I slipped into English unnoticed.

Taiya was fascinated with the classroom. Curiosity bubbled through her conversation, and I could sense a question onslaught coming on. Mrs. Parrish, the teacher, walked into the classroom, to my extreme relief. Grateful for an excuse to stop the questions, I insisted that Taiya volunteer her opinions as little as possible.

         The class itself was a dull one, just peer editing the essays we’d drafted for homework. By the time I was finished scratching red correction marks over Jason Sherman’s paper, it was time for second-period study hall.

The teacher in charge of us was Mr. Carney, who taught seventh-grade science and is quite possibly the most relaxed teacher the school has ever seen. He’s the only teacher who lets us actually talk in study hall- not that anyone bothers with the rule anyway. Actually, I wish they would listen to the rule.

I caught whispers from the resident Queen Bee, Chanel Winters, as she made her daily failing evaluation of her peers. “Check out Mandy’s makeup- she looks like a clown!”

“What about Little Miss Perfect?” some wannabe friend of Chanel’s reminded her.

“Right,” she said. I could feel her penetrating stare boring into the back of my head.

Chanel’s voice lowered an octave. “Well, as always there’s the jeans and the sweater- I mean, does she wear anything else? Her hair’s curlier than a poodle’s, and of course she’s the only person in class actually doing her homework. She’s such a goody-goody. It’s almost disgusting to watch.”

“Smart aleck,” her friend added.

“That too,” Chanel amended.

I could feel Taiya in my pocket, tensing up, reverting to brute instinct. She clawed at the denim, and a growl that only I could hear ripped from her teeth.

Taiya, cool it! It’s no big deal- they do it almost every day.

How can you just stand by and do nothing like a coward?

Ouch. They’re jerks. It’s no big deal, I repeated, as if going over it again and again would make it true. Honestly, it did sting a little. To be completely truthful, I couldn’t remember a day at school where I hadn’t been excluded, ostracized, made fun of. The insults had heaped up so much that I was pretty much anesthetized against them. However, there was the occasional day when the laughing gas wore off. It was never much. Just a little bite. Like a bee sting. A vaccine.  Yes, that was it- a booster shot that replenished my mind’s hypothetical shield against the harsh words of others. Sticks and stones can break my bones but names will never hurt me.

Yeah, right.

Taiya’s reaction was my secret desire- to lash out. Fight back. Be more than a shadow in a desk chair.

I gripped the pencil in my hand so tightly my knuckles turned white. Not now. Not here.

It was so tempting. No.

My mind was so mixed up I couldn’t remember why I was telling myself no- only that it was important. Breathe.

Okay. Better. What the heck was that?

I dunno, Taiya said complacently, what was it?

It was a rhetorical question.

What’s a-?

A question where you don’t expect to get an answer.

Then what’s the point of asking it?

I silently groaned and went back to my homework.

                                                                  ~~~

         I think I broke Mach 1 when I ran to the Oddity Shop after school. In my opinion, speed calms the mind, and that’s what I needed to do.

         The bell jangled as I more slammed than shut the door to the shop. As my gaze swept over the dusty volumes, looking for something about the mythology of dragons, I heard voices. I followed the sound and my mouth dropped open.

         Remember what I said about never seeing a customer in Hollis’s Oddity Shop for two years?

         There was a girl standing at the counter with an ancient book in her hand.

         She turned around and saw me with my mouth gaping open like a fish, right hand in my jeans pocket. Taiya curled around my finger and I mindlessly yanked my hand out.

         The girl was probably about my age or maybe a little younger. She was petite, with shoulder-length ash blond hair and pixie-like features. Her eyes were the brightest, creepiest electric blue I’d ever seen. She was wearing a pink t-shirt that looked like a Hollister or Aeropostale shirt minus the brand name and a pink-and-black plaid skirt that actually looked really cute on her.

         She smiled, revealing her perfect pearly whites. Her gaze fell to my right hand. Taiya was in plain view, wrapped around my index finger in a way that looked like she was a really weird, really cool ring.

         I snapped my jaw shut, realizing too late that I looked like an idiot. The girl’s expression turned incredulous and excited at the sight of Taiya. “Oh my gosh, you bonded!” she exclaimed.

         “What?”