Chapter Three: Basic School for Dream Fairies
Bea was so excited to go to the school on Monday morning she felt she couldn't possibly eat breakfast. But after a lot of encouragement from her mother she got something in her system before heading out the door. Her father followed her to help her get into the pod that would take her to school. She had argued with him and her mother all night before going to sleep about getting on the pod this morning.
"I can use my wings, just like I did with mom on the way to see the Ancients," pleaded Bea.
"I know you can do it, I just think you are still too young to do it every day all by yourself," Mr. Featherstone stated.
Mrs. Featherstone smiled, "What if you miss the pod? We don't want you to be late to school you know."
Mr. Featherstone could see the disappointment in Bea's eyes and so he offered, "Maybe next year, when your classmates have wings too. You don't want to make them all more jealous than they already are going to be."
Bea didn't particularly like this decision and went to bed that night feeling very angry. Now, with a new day ahead of her, she gave up on being angry, and focused instead on how wonderful it would be to show everyone her wings. Her mother had spent all morning warning her about not showing off too much and keeping them smaller in class and to definitely not try to fly, even during recess. Bea was in her fourth year of basic school and students were not allowed to fly at all until they were in their fifth year. Bea nodded repeatedly without really listening. She knew the rules, but she had been imagining this moment for a long time and she had it perfectly planned out. When she got out of the pod, just in front of the school, she was going to use her wings to float down and out of the pod. It would be the best opportunity to show everyone her beautiful wings. Her father gave her a gentle push as they left the house and started to walk to the pod stop. They had just arrived at the SW3 stop when a pod floated down off the silver line and two young fairies stepped out. It was Catherine and Curtis Royce.
Cathy was Bea's best friend. They spent every moment of free time together. Cathy's brother, Curtis, was also Bea's friend. She often wondered why she got stuck with such a terrible brother when she could have had an awesome one like Cathy's. Cathy and Curtis were twins and so they looked very similar. They both had the same hazy shade of blue hair. Cathy's was long, down her back, while Curtis' was short and spiky. Cathy's face was round and small and her tiny button nose finished off the effect, making her always seem to have a kind expression. She had beautiful big eyes that had very long lashes. Meanwhile, Curtis was almost too pretty to be a boy. Curtis never seemed to have a problem with that and would bat his long lashes just like Cathy. They had jumped out of the pod just before it touched down and were now walking hand-in-hand down to meet up with Bea and her father.
"Good morning, you two!" Mr. Featherstone greeted them.
"Good morning, Mr. Featherstone," they replied in unison.
"You guys shouldn't keep wasting pods on meeting up with Bea," Mr. Featherstone said. He knew that the Royces lived on the northern part of the island and Curtis and Cathy had traveled in the opposite direction of the school and wasted an extra couple of minutes to meet up with Bea.
"Our parents don't mind. Besides, we wanted to be the first ones to see Bea's wings!" Cathy said as her eyes turned to her best friend.
"Let's see your wings! Let's see your wings!" Curtis squealed.
Bea didn't need an excuse and brought her wings out to their full size. She watched with excitement and satisfaction as Cathy and Curtis's eyes bulged in surprise.
"Wow!" Cathy breathed.
"Those are beautiful!" Curtis cried. "They are huge too! Thank goodness you will grow into them because they are almost too big now."
"Yeah, a little," Bea laughed.
"Wow!" Cathy repeated. Her expression hadn't changed at all and Bea laughed even more as she watched her friend stare.
Mr. Featherstone put his hands on Bea's shoulders and Bea disappointedly shrank her wings until they were just the size of her back and readied herself to enter the pod. It was just the children going today and so all three of them planned to squeeze in one pod as they had done every morning.
"You three ready?" Mr. Featherstone had his hand outstretched, ready to toss the bubble for the pod in the air. The three children readied themselves and with a gentle flick of his wrist the pod leapt out of Mr. Featherstone's hand. A line of dust left his fingertips and immediately the bubble grew into full size. He reached inside and pressed the SE4 stop's button that would leave the children right in front of the basic school. Cathy, Curtis and Bea all filed into the pod and it slowly floated up to the gold line. Once inside the pod Cathy and Curtis leaned in on Bea and started bombarding her with questions.
"Did it hurt?" Cathy questioned. She had been the first to speak and Bea had been surprised to hear her voice. Of the two of them, Curtis was the talkative one and Cathy was more quiet and reserved. Bea was sure she knew why Cathy wanted to ask her question first. Cathy would be turning eight in January and she was worried about how things would go.
"No, not really. I mean maybe for just a tiny moment, but then it was just cool feeling. "
Curtis couldn't take his eyes off of Bea's back. Even though her wings were smaller now he stared and stared until it seemed like he would be able to stare a hole right through them.
"When did it happen?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the wings.
"Just a little after I woke up," Bea explained.
"Man I wish I could have wings," Curtis sighed.
Bea laughed at Curtis. He was always wishing something funny like that. She had heard him complain many times about how unfair it was that only girls got wings. Sometimes the other kids at school would make fun of him if he made his opinion too clear. But Bea could completely understand why Curtis wanted wings. They were amazing and you could fly!
With this thought Curtis seemed to be thinking the exact same thing as he blurted out, "Can you fly?"
Bea went on and explained how her mother had let her break the no-fly inside rule before breakfast on her birthday. When Bea told the story though it was decidedly different from how things had actually happened. Bea left out the part when she crashed and rolled on the floor to the delight of her brother. This time around she had floated gracefully down the hallway and landed beautifully right in front of her brother, leaving him angry and also a little impressed.
"I bet you will be a flier, like your mother," Cathy said in a quiet voice. Bea almost didn't hear her and she was just ready to say something back to her friend when she realized that they had reached the school. It didn't take even a minute to get to school from Bea's house.
"You guys mind letting me get out first?" Bea asked.
"Sure, be our guest," Curtis replied.
Bea readied herself by the door and had already let her wings expand twice the size they had been before. The pod had come to a halt and the door slowly rose up. At school there were teachers waiting by the pods to make sure that the children didn't jump out too soon and to help avoid accidents as many pods were all arriving at the same time. Bea wanted to leap out of the pod before the teacher noticed what she was doing. She worried that if she had her wings at their full size they might catch on the pod on her way out so she kept them a little closer to her body. She took a big jump and the minute she hit the air she willed her wings to grow out. Below, her magic teacher, Mrs. Golden, was waiting. She was so surprised when Bea had leapt out of the pod that she had stumbled just a bit. It took her a moment to catch her bearings and in that moment Bea had fluttered up higher than she was expecting. Just then a line of fairy dust raced up to her and caught her midair, plastering her against the sky for all to see. Bea was surprised and embarrassed as the other students all stopped to stare at the strange sight. Mrs. Golden had finally gotten up and dusted off her clothes and slowly brought the line of dust holding Bea down to the ground. Even though it only took a moment it f
elt like an eternity to Bea as all of her classmates stares made her face bright red and hot. So much for a graceful entrance she thought as the teacher let her free on the ground.
"Nice wings," Mrs. Golden whispered as Bea walked past. "No more silly flying tricks though, OK?"
Bea nodded in embarrassment and tried to ignore the students that had all formed around her trying to touch her wings and ask her questions. Her wings were now back to their smaller size, but the younger kids were still in awe. The older students were talking amongst themselves, laughing and making rude comments on how silly Bea had looked stuck midair. Bea just wanted to hurry and get into the classroom to avoid everyone when she literally ran into a fellow fourth-year student, Veronica Iverson. Veronica was a very pretty fairy. She had hair the color of the sky before the sun sets, a deep rich blue. It was shiny and smooth and seemed to ripple like waves when she moved. Her eyes were sharp and made her look like she was always angry, or at least thinking about something very serious. Her features only added to her presence, which was very commanding. Although she was just a young girl, she walked with pride and confidence.
Veronica was always seen with her two best friends, Natalie Copper and Christina Meadows. They were also fourth-year students. Bea never understood why Veronica hung out with the two girls. Christina was particularly unpleasant.
"Beautiful entrance today Beatrice," Christina sneered.
"Yeah," Bea gave a small laugh as she tried not to make eye contact with them. She wasn't in the mood to fight.
"Too bad those wings are being wasted on someone like you," Christina gave a little flick to Bea's wings. These girls were part of a gang of sorts. Behind them stood about four or five younger girl fairies, a couple of which Bea was sure were sisters of the fellow fourth-year girls. They were all laughing, some of them were laughing too hard and deliberately and it made Bea's face even redder than before. She hated being caught by this group of fairies and wanted desperately to get around them and into the classroom. But it seemed that they had blocked the doorway completely and Bea was forced to give up and listen to their teasing laughs and taunts.
"What a dumb move, Beatrice!" heckled a small girl with freckles.
"Yeah, what a show off too, you must think you are cooler than all of us just because you already bloomed!" This comment came from Natalie who was smiling at Christina as she made her comment as though she was expecting praise for her jibe.
Just then Bea felt a friendly hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw that Curtis and Cathy had caught up with her.
"Why don't you all just leave her alone? You're just jealous," Curtis said in a clear voice. He was good at coming to Bea's rescue like this when the gang was bugging her.
Christina's face broke out into an even bigger sneer as she said, "Jealous? Curtis, we aren't the ones that are jealous. You are! I bet you go to sleep every night wishing and wishing that you would wake up like a girl with wings, don't you?"
Curtis' face turned bright red and his hand clenched into a fist as it withdrew from Bea's shoulder. The moment was tense and Bea was wondering if there was any way to escape when she heard someone coming down the hall.
"What are you all standing out in the hall for? Class is in the classroom, not out here. Go, sit down!" The teacher's voice was sharp but kind. It was their nature teacher, Mr. Cedarland.
Basic school for dream fairies was very similar to the schools on earth. The building mirrored those that the fairies had seen below. It was made of a warm red brick and the classrooms had a large chalkboard at one end and rows of desks with chairs connected to them. The teacher had a wood-like desk at the front where he/she would sit or stand during the class lesson. Dream fairies attended basic school for six years. They began when they were five and completed basic studies when they were ten. There were generally 24 students in each grade. Great care was taken to try to keep balance when fairies had children on the family island, so there were 12 boys and 12 girls in each class. (Expectant families make a special trip to the Ancients to have the three wise elder fairies use their powerful magic to help choose if the baby will be a boy or a girl.) Students had six classes a day. The teacher for each subject taught all grade levels throughout the day. For Bea and the fourth graders they started their mornings off with nature, followed by sports calls, then history and finally life class. They then took a break for lunch and finished the day off with music and magic classes.
Their first class of the day, nature, was one of Bea's favorites. Mr. Cedarland, the teacher, was funny and engaging and always knew how to explain things in a way that his class would understand and appreciate.
The students had all filed into the classroom and sat down. Bea caught Christina's stare across the room and quickly turned away. Bea liked Mr. Cedarland even more because in his class he always allowed the students to pick where they wanted to sit. This meant that Bea was surrounded by Curtis and Cathy and the gang was on the other side of the room. The hour went quickly as Bea listened to Mr. Cedarland explain what kinds of trees could be found on earth below. Much of the dream fairies studies revolved around earth. Nature class was very similar to the kind of classes taught on earth, examining atmosphere, weather, plant life, animals, and insects. Even the past creatures of earth were studied as a way to understand life there and those who inhabit it. This information was incredibly important to the dream fairies as they carried out their missions every night. At times though Bea wondered why she needed to know all of this information if she was going to be a flier. Fliers didn't really need to know about what they were delivering, they just had to deliver it.
Bea wished that nature class lasted the entire day, but the bell rang and she gathered her books and got ready to leave Mr. Cedarland's classroom. Fourth year students had sports class next. Their teacher, Mr. Underwood, was waiting for them outside at the large field that sat next to the school. Sports class was always outside since the weather was the same beautiful day every day on the island. Bea really liked running around outside and learning all the strange games that were played below. Her favorite so far had been badminton. She also thought it would be something to see a game of soccer played in the large stadiums that they had on earth. They had learned that sometimes the number of spectators for these games was more than all the fairies on their family island and Bea just couldn't imagine that many people all together in one place at one time. There was one time that Bea knew of when a large number of fairies gathered together. It was for the flying competition for the older kids to get into training school. A few of the top flyers for that year were chosen to participate in the competition from each island in the community. Bea hadn't had a chance to see the competition but she begged her mother each and every year to take her. Now that she had wings she started having dreams of herself racing around an unknown track to huge applause from the massive crowd gathered and being awarded an excessively large gold medal.
The fourth years were running today and as they ran, Bea, Cathy and Curtis spoke briefly to one another. It was a great chance to catch up with her friends since Mr. Underwood didn't seem to mind if the students talked as long as they kept running.
"Sorry stupid Christina was bugging you today," Cathy offered as she kept pace with Bea's running.
Bea smiled at her friend. Cathy was always so sympathetic. "Don't worry about it. Curtis came and saved me," she said as she nudged Curtis in the arm.
"I really don't understand why she is so mean, she must just have no . . . ," Curtis was interrupted though as Christina ran past the three of them and flicked Bea's wings on her way. Bea was ready to sling some insult at her, but she was stopped again by someone else, this time tugging on her wing tip. It was Natalie. She had grabbed just a bit as she ran past and gave a little pull. It hadn't hurt so much as it had caused Bea to stumble a little as she ran. Bea would have been able to steady herself had Christina not just planted a good push on Bea's back and wings as she had run past causing Bea to suddenly fall d
own and roll to a stop. Christina, Natalie and Veronica all met up and started running together as they circled around Bea who was sprawled out in the middle of the circle of runners with her legs twisted up under her. The three laughed and sneered as they kept constant eye contact with Bea as they continued their jog. Cathy and Curtis had both stopped running and ran over to Bea to make sure she was OK. Mr. Underwood didn't seem bothered by the events and simply shouted out, "Get up and keep running! No time to stop and rest now!"
As Bea's class finished running one more time around the field Bea knew that sports class was almost over and a small tiny knot started forming in her stomach. Bea knew this knot well. It appeared every day before her third class, history with Mr. Black. It wasn't the subject that bothered Bea. In fact, if Bea could look past Mr. Black, she knew that she really liked history. Mr. Black was a terribly strict teacher. His lecture style was clear and direct. It might have normally brought some to daydream or sleep, but he was so scary that no one dared even doze off for a moment. The other thing that Bea always hated about history class was the seating. Mr. Black insisted that they always sit in some alphabetical order. That meant that she never got a chance to sit near Cathy and Curtis. This time around she had Natalie, sitting in front of her, and Christina sitting a seat behind her to the right. The two of them would occasionally whisper rude comments straight through Bea and between the talk and the fear of all three of them getting caught by Mr. Black; Bea was tense the entire class time.
The subject of history was fun though. Bea didn't really care so much for the history of those on earth so much as she loved the history of the dream fairies. When they would spend time looking at the old architecture and learning the old language, Bea actually found herself having a really good time. Today they were looking at some of the samples of old architecture by examining some of the Great Halls from different islands. Bea smiled as she remembered the trip to the Great Hall just two days before. It made such a difference having seen it in person. She could feel the light dancing off the photos of the interiors. Bea wondered if she could choose, when she was older, to have a house that was just like the Great Hall. Maybe if she had enough money to buy the right dust or maybe if her husband had a really high grade, then maybe they would be able to.
Bea was caught off guard when the bell rang. She gathered her things and ran up to Curtis and Cathy as they all three made their way through the door and started to head to their next class. As they were trying to exit along with all their other classmates Bea ran square into one of the boys, Johnathan Woodsburough. Bea didn't really pay much attention to the boys in her class. They were OK, most of them, but the other boys always seemed to remind Bea of her brother and made her angry when they said and did stupid things. Johnathan reached his arm around and gently touched the tip of Bea's wings.
"Your wings are cool, Bea," he said as he drew his hand back quickly with a smile.
Bea lost her breath and without really having a second to know what had happened her cheeks flushed red. The moment was over so quickly that Bea was sure maybe she had just imagined it. It was one of the few times that a boy, other than Curtis, had said anything decent to her. It was kind of nice.
Suddenly Bea found herself standing in front of the room for her next class. Life class was taught by Mrs. Palm. Life class was about dream fairy life. The students learned about the different parts of fairy life and what skills were needed for each. Since the dream fairies lived a very contained existence it was important for everyone to do their part. Mrs. Palm believed very strongly in the philosophy that all dream fairies should get along. It was almost as though she could sense the tension in her small class of 24 students and would deliberately set up groups by putting those students that were not getting along together. She did not fail to do this today as she asked Bea and Christina to be partners in today's lesson. Their assignment was to interview one another to determine what skills they possessed to decide which job they might hold in the future. Christina was not necessarily fat, but she was thick and had a lot of power for just a child. Her hair was a sort of stormy blue gray and it didn't have that healthy shine like most of the other fairies. She had a small nose that turned up and Curtis would always say she looked like a pig.
Reluctantly, the two pulled their desks together to begin today's assignment. They both glared down at the blank sheet of paper.
"Start by asking each other questions. What are your hobbies? What do you enjoy? What classes are you good at in school?" Mrs. Palm suggested as she began to circle around the room.
Christina seemed take note of Mrs. Palm's position across the room as she leaned in a sneered," Maybe you can work in entertainment. That display this morning really made me laugh."
Bea's face grew red in an instant. She hated how clumsy she was and she hated it even more when stupid people like Christina had something to say about it. "Shut up!" Bea spat under her breath. She was trying to think of something clever and hurtful to say to Christina when Mrs. Palm made her way to their desks.
"Having trouble girls? Don't make it harder than it is. Well, look here," Mrs. Palm paused as she looked at Bea's wings. She smiled as she continued, "Bea, you bloomed on Saturday, I forgot. These are beautiful. Would you mind showing them to me?"
Bea suddenly felt an inner strength flow throughout her entire body. She slowly stood up from her desk to make sure that everyone in class had brought their attention to her. She was so proud of her wings and really wanted another chance to show them to everyone without it being part of some silly accident like that morning.
"Go on," Mrs. Palm encouraged. She had mistaken Bea's slow movements as a sign of hesitation.
Bea willed her wings out to their full size and was not disappointed as sighs and exclamations of surprise were heard from every student in the classroom. She even heard Christina catch her breath and Bea had never felt happier than at that very moment.
"My dear! Those are huge! The monarch, well, you will be an excellent flier I am sure. Just like your mother. See Christina, an easy answer to your assignment for today. Simply ask Beatrice if she has wings and if they are suitable for long flights. The answer to that is clearly yes, so I think we can be sure that Bea will fly for the missions," Mrs. Palm said with a smile. She rested her hands on Bea's shoulders as she finished and Bea slowly brought her wings back down to the proper size. "Now all you need to do is figure out what Christina will be good at in the future." Bea was almost positive that she had seen Mrs. Palm wink at her as she left the girls to finish their assignment.
Bea felt like she could breathe so much easier when she walked out of Mrs. Palm's life class and met up with Cathy and Curtis for lunch. The three went into the lounge and grabbed their school prepared lunch bags and headed for their favorite spot outside in the courtyard.
"That must have been terrible to be paired with Christina today, Bea," Cathy said sympathetically as the trio started into their lunches.
Curtis snorted and it caused him to choke. There was a pause as he got his throat cleared before he was finally able to add, "Yeah, but it doesn't even matter does it? Did you see the look on Christina's face when Bea had her wings out? It was perfect!"
"It was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Bea smiled at her friends as she felt that despite some rough spots in the morning, maybe her first day at school with wings was going to end on a high note.
After lunch the fourth-year students had music and art class. This was taught by Miss Weed. Class was fun now since they were focusing on music more than art. They had been practicing some old fairy songs that had to be sung in the old language. This was one of the few times that the dream fairies used the old language. Bea loved learning it and loved the way it sounded. Of course, the class wasn't very good at making the words really ring the way they were supposed to, but when Miss Weed would show them by first singing a bit it was mesmerizing. Bea couldn't explain it if she try, the sound was so insanely beautiful and yet sad at the same time.
Bea was so happy to get to her last class of the day. Their last class was magic. Mrs. Golden, the teacher who had plastered Bea to the sky that morning, was their teacher. Bea loved Mrs. Golden. She was simply the best teacher. She could teach anything and Bea wouldn't care. Mrs. Golden was a petit fairy. She had short hair and it was the perfect shade of sky blue. She had smaller wings, but she more than made up for it with incredible magic ability. It was rare for a female fairy to teach magic since it was usually the male fairies that had higher grade dust. Mrs. Golden was very unique in that she had studied and practiced until her abilities were easily in competition with most advanced male fairies, despite her lower dust grade. In basic school, magic theory was the only kind of magic that could be taught. None of the students had any magic ability at this age, save the small bit of magic it took to make ones wings expand and contract. Bea didn't even think of this as magic since she didn't really think about it when it happened. Magic class was sometimes hard for Bea to get her head wrapped around. She had a hard time memorizing theory and incantations. Cathy on the other hand was naturally good at any part of magic class and was obviously one of Mrs. Golden's favorites in class. As much as Bea tried to stop herself, she would get a little jealous each day as she watched Mrs. Golden's approving smile as she listen to Cathy answer another question or ace another test.
Today's class was over much too quickly and Bea was reluctant to gather together her books to get ready to leave for the day. She met up with Curtis and Cathy and the three of them headed out the front door of the school. Bea looked up into the clear blue sky above them and imagined the spot where she had been caught and held up for everyone's entertainment that morning. Her cheeks grew red as she tried to shake the embarrassment once more. As she stood glued to the spot in reflection she hadn't realized that she had stopped the flow of students leaving the school for the day. A couple of students ran into her, not noticing that someone had stopped in front of them. Bea felt a hand gently grab her arm and pull her aside.
It was Johnathan. He smiled at Bea as he let go of her arm, "You should be careful. Don't want another scene do you?"
Bea couldn't find her voice in time to say anything to Johnathan as he had already turned and walked away to meet up with his friends. She did know that she had an unusually big smile on her face, a smile that would not go away as she watched Johnathan get into a pod to head home.
The True Stories of Dream Fairies: Bloom Page 3
