Galactic High

“Move it Sephy, or we’re in detention again!”

The three girls rushed to their homeroom class for the end of day announcements. The one who had just spoken, Nika, was in the lead, which was usual for the sporty Kizun. Her pointed ears were twitching as she used her pink furred tail to push herself forward and turn corners quickly.

Sephy was behind, taking up the rear of the group and panting heavily, dashing forward with her purple translucent wings whenever her legs failed her. It was times like these the light purple skinned Skritta really regretted skipping out on cardio exercise. “I’m trying! It’s not my fault there’s another shootout on the 3rd floor! Chiyo, can you help us girls out?”

The third girl in the party, Chiyo, was simply floating in the air with her telekinetic power looking bored, close behind Nika. The light-blue skinned Ilithii was laying down reading a book, not even looking like she heard Sephy at all. Eventually, she looked down with her glasses at the two before the familiar telepathic link hit both of their minds.

Oh fine then, if I must…

Both Nika and Sephy were suddenly picked off the ground before being dragged at high speed towards the classroom behind Chiyo. Fellow students were quickly and violently pushed aside by Chiyo’s power as, like a bullet, the three girls shot around the corridors to their home classroom before coming to an abrupt stop. Both Nika and Sephy began retching and clutching their stomachs immediately as Chiyo rolled her eyes and telepathically reached out with her mind for the presence of the teacher.

We have a few minutes.

Nika and Sephy took the time to breathe and slowly the nausea subsided as more of their fellow classmates passed them in a rush and found their seats.

“Hey guys! Didn’t think you’d get here before me!”

The three girls looked around to see their friend Alora walking up to them. The pale, angelic-looking Eladrie clearly hadn’t been affected by the firefight rampaging below that had blocked off their usual route to their home classroom, though even if it had, her army of male admirers would likely plough a path through without Alora even knowing.

“We wouldn't be without Chiyo!” Sephy laughed, throwing an arm around the startled Ilithii and pulling her in for a quick hug.

“Well nice, we want to make a good impression!” Alora singsonged as she skipped into the classroom.

“What does she mean by that?” Nika asked.

“Haven’t a clue” Sephy happily quipped. “Maybe Miss Class Representative just wants to set a good example for us.”

You’re too much of a lost cause for that Sephy, maybe it was about our uniforms?

Chiyo frowned as she looked at her two companions. The teachers and prefects were very serious about their uniform policy, and the last thing Chiyo, Nika and Sephy wanted was to be set an essay to write on top of their homework. The three girls had ruffled skirts and blazers, their shirts untucked and their ties crooked from being yeeted halfway across the school by Chiyo. Quickly, all three girls fixed what they could as they followed Alora and took their seats near her before any of the usual creepy classmates took the spots themselves. There ended up being a few vacant seats scattered around the room, the shootout clearly being somewhat of an inconvenience for the rest of their peers.

A few seconds later their homeroom teacher walked in briskly. Mrs Schlart was a selectively strict teacher, being a stickler for certain rules, usually about neat uniforms and not causing distractions in class but was arbitrary on others, and genuinely seemed to want to help her students improve themselves. As far as the faculty at Hive Station Bastilla School went, she was one of the good ones.

Usually.

The lanky, white-scaled Vivren hadn’t even been able to start the class before three boys ran in panting, then groaning at seeing their teacher look at them in anger. It was clear from the looks of all three of the reptilian Xarak, that they had attempted to blast their way through the firefight to get to class, evidenced by their uniforms being torn and ripped in places, with one of the boys having been shot several times.

“OH?” Mrs Schlart raised her voice. “So glad you could join us, gentlemen. Would you care to explain why you’re all late to class?”

The boy at the front spoke up. “Miss, there was a shootout on the third floor and we were pinned down. We tried to push past but Xzareth got shot and we had to carry him up here.”

“Oh? And I suppose you think getting shot is an acceptable excuse for being late to class with your uniform a mess, do you?” Mrs Schlart asked in that same loud, accusatory tone.

“I...erm...well….”

“IT IS NOT!” the teacher yelled at the three reptilians. “DETENTION AFTER CLASS!”

The three boys growled quietly under their breath as they found their seats.

“OH?” Mrs Schlart yelled, not finished with them yet. “ARE WE FORGETTING SOMETHING?”

The three boys stopped in alarm and looked at each other in confusion.

“MR XHARL! Why do you think it’s acceptable to bring a long-barrelled firearm to class and NOT put it on the weapons rack by the whiteboard?”

“Sorry miss” The offending boy apologised before moving to the rack.

“I’ve told you before that if you shoot one of your classmates with that thing while a lesson is in progress again it will go on your permanent record!” Mrs Schlart told the boy sternly. “I’m confiscating your shotgun, and your grenades too! You can have them back at the end of the day.”

This went on for another ten minutes while Mrs Schlaert took the register, as their fellow classmates came in and were appropriately punished by the teacher and told where to sit near the front of the class. It was near the end of the school day, with only about ten minutes left to go. As time went on Nika wondered if there was going to be anything even remotely interesting in these end of school announcements. It had been a rather boring day, with only one fairly lame school shooting. Already she could hear the low buzz of medical droids moving to clean up, heal and restore to life those who had been caught up in the mess. She looked to her friends. Alora looked attentive as always, being the good girl she was. Chiyo’s eyes were glazed over, no doubt astral projecting subtly. Sephy looked about to fall asleep, only getting away with it because Xzareth was bleeding out while Mrs Schlart yelled at him to not fall unconscious in class.

They were all interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Ah! Excellent!” Mrs Schlart went to the door and opened it. The four girls couldn’t see who their teacher was talking to but she was acting...friendly?

“Thank you for bringing him here Mr Zalgo I’ll take it from here. It’s so good to finally meet you! One moment please!”

The teacher walked a few paces and faced the classroom.

“Alright class I just have one major announcement today, we have a new student joining us!”

After having heard that the students in the class started whispering amongst each other, which the teacher didn’t even bother trying to stop. Though new students came in groups regularly, usually new classes were created for them to fill up. It was very unusual to have a new student join an existing class like theirs.

Nika, Sephy and Chiyo all quickly turned around with questioning looks to Alora, now all wide awake and paying full attention. Alora just gave a quick smile before all eyes snapped to the front as the teacher spoke to whoever was outside. “Come in!”

The class stared silently in anticipation as the new student walked in.

It was a very strange and unusual being even Chiyo couldn’t identify. It was a whitish-pink bipedal creature with two arms ending in five-fingered hairless hands. At a glance, it seemed to be hairless all over with the exception of the top of its head, which lacked any sort of antenna or horns whatsoever. The light-brown hair was medium short and had clearly been combed a little, though it still looked a little messy. The two wide eyes were a similar colour, a piercing dark-brown that examined the class with a seemingly cool demeanour. Quickly, Chiyo checked its aura with her third eye and saw that she’d gotten the expression wrong. It was male, and his aura was like nothing Chiyo had ever seen before. Despite this the usual colours of fear were paramount, swirling between terror and shyness. His face had a mouth and nose like she and her friends had, though shaped a little unusually. The two sensory organs on either side of his head were likely for sound detection, but apart from that there was nothing else to him, no tail, no wings, nothing from what they could see that wasn’t hidden by his brand-new school uniform.

Sensing the thoughts of her friends and sharing what she had found with them, Chiyo knew that they had come to the same conclusion she had.

He was cute!

They could barely catch what the teacher was saying as they asked the creature to introduce themselves and tell a little about themselves to the class while they had time.

“Umm…Hi there!” The creature was clearly nervous and shy, speaking much softer than Sephy was expecting, but having some force behind his words all the same. Not meek like many of the servant class Rikt, but also not like the growls and snarls of the warlike Xarak. Sephy would have a very hard time thinking about homework tonight...

“My name is Jack and I’m a Human. We’re a species that come from a Deathworld you’ve probably never heard of called Earth. I’ve been told I’m to attend this school until I graduate with you guys or until I am able to return home...if I can. I….um....look forward to working with you?”

That was strange. What in the name of the gods did he mean by that? The whispers kicked off once more until the teacher spoke up again. “That’s right! Jack is from a species we haven’t encountered before just as he hasn’t encountered us. I am sure you’ll make him feel welcome and included.” She finished on a dark note, staring at several of the class troublemakers. Nika felt a little sorry for the human boy. It was only a matter of time before he got into conflict with some of the assholes in their class, many that were born to be natural bullies and warriors, respecting nothing but force. Despite that, Nika was a fighter herself, and there was something about this human that had her instincts on fire. She was intrigued!

“Thank you, Jack!” Mrs Schlart quickly turned back to the boy, somehow sensing that he wasn’t comfortable being put on the spot like that. “I’m sure we’ll get to know you better but for now you should sit next to Alora over there, she’s our Class Representative and will help you get settled.

“Thank you, we already know one another” Jack politely replied to the teacher as he walked towards the indicated empty desk. A few outraged whispers from several jealous classmates cut through the silence as the class watched him.

“How does he know her?” “Why does he get to sit next to her?” “Are they dating?”

If Jack heard the loud whispers he did not acknowledge them, though Mrs Schlart certainly did with more people in detention.

He finally reached the seat next to Alora and several other classmates, who were looking at him not unkindly. Likely Alora’s friends. He gave them as friendly a smile as he could, as if to reassure them with a short “Hello”.

Both Nika and Sephy were wracking their minds for the questions they would ask him when the class was over, this friendly-seeming human was like nobody they’d ever met before, and Alora already knew him? She had been volunteering at the temple a lot lately…

Dibs on the new boy.

Both Nika and Sephy snapped around in their seats with a loud crash to look at Chiyo with expressions of utter betrayal. Chiyo for her part flushed a deep blue in embarrassment. That was very out of character for the usually shy and bookish Ilithii.

“Oh? Perhaps you three want to share something with the rest of us?” Mrs Schlart asked, staring down at the girls. “DETENTION!”

******

“Dammit it is good to be back!” Nika groaned as she opened the door to the house and untucked her school blouse, Sephy following close behind, chucking her bag and blazer on the sofa before undoing enough buttons to cool her down. If the school had to enforce a stupid uniform policy they could at least try making them comfortable!

Chiyo, predictably, was already curled up and floating in the air above her seat on the sofa, wrapped up in a thick woolly jumper several times her size. A mix between sleep and meditation, it was the closest thing the Ilithii had to a sleep pattern, which they did at irregular intervals to realign their power and refresh their bodies. Naturally Chiyo had cheated their detention and just went straight home, leaving a psychic projection to complete the detention with their teacher none the wiser. As for her reverie, she was definitely avoiding her stitched-up two friends for the moment.

“Alora isn’t home, where’d she go?” Sephy asked, looking around.

“Didn’t she have to show the new boy around after class?” Nika replied.

“Surely it wouldn’t take that long. This is the main hall, these are the toilets, those are the best places to take cover during a shootout - that sort of thing” Sephy replied, stopping with a big grin on her face. “Maybe she called dibs on the boy first?”

Nika knew her friend was baiting her, but she still raised an eyebrow at that. Alora got a lot of unwanted attention from several guys in the school and out of it but she tended to brush it off and not pursue anything. But still, how did they know each other in the first place? Alora was usually more forthcoming with the rest of the group.

“Maybe she did, maybe she’s rejecting him like all the others before.” Nika replied with a sigh as she got two mugs out and prepared some herbal infusions for the both of them.

“Her loss then! That boy’s mine!” Sephy smiled triumphantly, her purple wings fluttering with false bravado. Nika knew Sephy was baiting her as friends do, and this time she rose to it.

“You sure he won’t reject you and be too hung up on Alora?” Nika smiled, stirring the mugs with her pink tail and remembering the last time Sephy got a little too thirsty for her own good, “Though I’ll admit, he was definitely looking my way!” She added, ribbing her friend back.

“He hasn’t seen you stand up yet!” Sephy replied with a grin “He probably isn’t into short girls!”

“Oh really?” Nika replied, fired up as she grabbed a nearby cushion to throw at the joking Skritta. “I bet he isn’t into flat girls either!”

“A duel it is!” Sephy laughed, launching off the sofa with her wings and swinging at her Kizun friend. “I fight for the honour of late bloomers everywhere!”

As the two girls battered each other with cushions in various states of undress they heard a polite cough coming from the front door. Both girls turned around and froze.

Alora didn’t look too pleased with her two friends, but that wasn’t even the worst part.

The human boy, Jack, was standing next to her, staring wide-eyed at the two somewhat scantily clad girls in front of them with a red-faced expression.

“I was going to tell you this after class as a surprise,” Alora started.

“But we have a new housemate.”