First Day of School (Pt. 4)

--- Jon ---

“Pix.” He sighed, somehow unsurprised by the fact that the little fairy had followed him to school. “You’re really earning that Mischief affinity.”

The little fairy grinned at him before climbing out of his backpack and stretching, as she let out a long groaning sound.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine spending all morning in a backpack as being fun.” He admitted dryly. “Which makes me wonder why you’d want to waste yours doing just that?”

Pix glared at him before letting out a series of angry trilling sounds.

“No, this is exactly what I was warning you about.” He argued sternly. “School isn’t a fun thing like lessons with Miss Edna were and people here aren’t nearly as positive about magic as the people at camp were.”

Pix refused to meet his eyes, and he couldn’t help but sigh.

After all, even if he wasn’t happy that she’d snuck her way into school, he could still understand where she was coming from. Back in Blackwell people either happily accepted magic or blatantly pretended it didn’t exist when confronted by it. Meaning the little fairy could openly hang out in most places.

Outside of Blackwell however, most people had a certain reluctance when it came to magic. On the surface they were all willing to accept it was real, due to all of the heroes and villains who openly wielded magic, gladly being awed and amazed by the fantastical feats at a distance.

Unfortunately, that was the thing. If you dug a little deeper than the basic hero worship you’d learn that most non-Deviants had a tendency to passively try and avoid anything that had to do with magic, viewing it as dangerous, wild, and -in some cases- unnatural. A tendency that was spread to most Deviant phenomenon whether people openly talked about it or not.

What all of this meant was, that in following him to the city Pix had essentially caged herself in a life of half-secrecy. Something he knew would slowly eat away at the lively little fairy unless he could find a work around of some kind.

“Look, Pix…” He began, once he’d worked through his initial frustration, “I get you want to get out of the house more, but… I, I really don’t think school is the place for that.”

The little fairy gave him a glare that was more of a pout.

“I get where you’re coming from, I do, but…” He sighed, before grimacing. “People here, they aren’t as accepting of magic as Blackwell, at least not the majority.”

That was something he’d figured out as a kid when he’d first picked up an interest in the magical from his time at Camp Bet. Long before he’d actually started learning magic, he’d learned that his fascination with the subject made him more of an outlier in his peer group than anything else. Even the few Deviant kids in school only saw him as a powerless fanboy…

Pix watched him for a moment, and he must of let more of his thoughts show than he wanted, because something about his expression made her own soften.

“I…” He frowned before shaking his head. “Look, I’ve still got to sort out this whole school thing today, but I’m pretty sure I can sneak you into the city park and while it’s not much at the very least it means you’ll be able to get out of the house for a little bit. How does that sound?”

Pix seemed to think about it for another moment, before flying up to him and hugging the side of his head with a happy trill.

“Hey now, no need to thank me. It’s the least I can do.” He admitted.

The fairy seemed to disagree, letting loose a series of trilling sounds that he couldn’t quite decipher as she shook her head.

“Hm, if you say so.” He laughed softly, not sure how else to respond, before his eyes slipped back to his backpack with a thoughtful frown. “Though with that established, we’re still going to have to figure out how to deal with you being stuck here for the rest of the day… Actually it's probably best if you just stay here. I mean, it's the first day of school so I doubt anyone will be coming through here today.”

---

With that matter settled between him and Pix settled, he decided to try and find somewhere other than the theater to eat lunch. Hoping that a change in scenery might help him calm down from the mood he’d worked himself into worrying about the little fairy stuck hiding in the city.

(Yeah, I’m going to have to figure something out there.) He told himself, knowing that just the occasional visit to the local park wouldn’t be enough to keep Pix happy. Especially since the Blackwell forests were significantly more active than the barely-there greenery of the city park.

“Jon!” A voice cut into his musing.

He blinked, pushing his more serious thoughts to the side. “Aliyah, what’s up? Is something wrong?” He added, once he noticed her more stressed than usual appearance.

“There’s…” Aliyah shook her head. “Chester is bullying Josh again.”

“Of course, he is.” Jon couldn’t help but sigh in frustration, earning a wince out of Aliyah from his tone. “Where are they now?”

“Just around the corner.” Aliyah pointed. “I was running to get a teacher but…”

(But it’s not like they’ll do anything.) He wasn’t entirely sure if he could blame them for that choice, given how half of the school’s bullies were in gangs, which in turn made stopping them a health hazard. Something that -if rumor was true- was made blatantly apparent when several of said students ended up jumping one of the teachers after school.

But just because the teachers had been cowed into submission didn’t mean the gangs should be allowed to do whatever they want in the school. An idea he felt wasn’t exactly common, given how when he rounded the corner he spotted a forming crowd of students that (apparently have nothing better to do than be a bunch of gawking bystanders.)

Even through the crowd he could make out the distinct image of Josh slamming into a locker after a particularly nasty punch. “Seriously, it’s the first day of school and Chester’s pulling something like this?”

“The first day doesn’t really mean anything, when he knows the teachers won’t actually do anything to stop him.” A voice commented dryly, unknowingly reiterating his previous thoughts.

“Annette.” He nodded, having spotted the tall but lanky teen standing nearby with her usual glower and glasses. “Why aren’t you trying to help Josh, isn’t he your friend or something?”

“I’ve got enough problems without getting the gangs involved.” Annette scoffed, not quite meeting his eyes. “Besides what can I actually do against a guy twice my weight?”

(Plenty.) The part of him that had grown used to fighting corrupted supplied, even though the rest of him understood that knifing someone in this situation would just make things worse. Especially given the situation with the teachers and the gangs.

(At the very least she could’ve caused a distraction so he can run away.) His more judgmental thoughts argued.

As if she could hear his thoughts, Annette turned a glare on him getting a squeak out of Aliyah who’d apparently hidden behind him rather than getting a teacher.

“You don’t get to judge me Whitaker,” The other teen spat. “I don’t see you doing anything either!”