When Cheez-It saw that the ground wasn’t as muddy, he slipped out of Jess’ arms and gracefully landed on the earth.

It was about halfway there that Jess realized that it was lunchtime, and she is to be expected at the Great Hall. With a groan, she picked Cheez-It up and started jogging there, hoping to not be late.

The unfortunate thing was, however, she was in fact late. She watched as people turned to look at her, a clumsy human with her chest rising and falling in heavy motions. She watched as Refic- Professor Lykman stood up from his seat and headed her way.

Jess decided that instead of accepting her fate in front of the whole Folk class, she ducked and went to her crappy table in the corner.

Cheez-It, having been freaked out by the sudden running, hastily jumped out of Jess’ arms and swatted at her, hissing.

“I’m sorry, Cheez-Boy,” Jess huffed, trying to calm her breathing. “We were going to be late-”

“And you were,” a baritone voice hissed above her. Flinching slightly at his tone, Jess looked up to see Lykman glaring down at her with his arms crossed. Why do you care? Jess finally calmed her breathing.

“I’m sorry, sir.” The professor rolled his eyes.

“As you should be. If this was the first impression you wanted to make at this school, a late and lazy student, this would be the best way to do it.” Despite the malice in his voice, the demon sounded almost bored. She felt herself being studied, and she hated it.

“Sir, I have not shown to be lazy at this school, with all due respect-”

“Are you talking back?” Jess fought the urge to scoff.

“No sir, I’m merely sticking up for myself. You’re making a claim you have no proof of.” The professor’s eyes were trained on Jess. It felt as if he was trying to burn her under his gaze. Jess, however, was stubborn. She kept eye contact with him, trying not to smile at how silly this was. So much for being a respectable teacher if all you do is harass me.

Lykman looked away finally after a few more moments. Feeling a sense of relief, Jess felt as though he had actually backed down for once.

“Well,” Lykman started, taking a second to look back at the teacher’s table, “If you so wish to prove yourself, prove I have no evidence, you will not be late to my class, hm?” Jess smiled against her will.

“That is something I can do, sir,” she nodded. With a moment of uncomfortable silence, Lykman finally left her alone.

Jess hadn’t realized she was holding her breath until he had sat down in his chair across the room. Why is he the one who always gets on to me?

“Jess?” She heard a familiar voice ask. Jess looked up to see Bri standing meekly in front of her. Cheez-It chirped and trotted across the table over to her.

“Oh, hey Bri! Feeling any better?” Jess watched the cat try to rub up against Bri multiple times, only for Bri to step aside. Bri nodded, looking away. “You can pet him, y’know. It would make his day… more so than you have already.” Bri smiled slightly and started stroking the familiar.

“Thank you…for this and for earlier…. It helped a lot…,” Bri’s ghostly voice seemed to echo in Jess’ head as she felt what Cheez-It was. It was just as nice as before, and Jess felt as though she was… how does she put this, building up a tolerance? It was weird, but Cheez-It wasn’t complaining, so neither was Jess.

“Of course, Bri. Any good friend would.” Jess smiled at Bri, noticing her slight blush. Bri nodded, taking glances at Jess as if she was nervous. Well, she always seemed a little nervous. Jess tapped her hand on the damaged wood of the table, feeling the graininess of it.

“How was your last class…?” Bri asked, more quietly than usual. Jess had to think for a moment to decipher what she said.

“Oh!” Jess had figured it out. “It was fine. I got to show off a bit. In all honesty, I felt like Spiderman!” Bri gave her a confused glance. “Oh, sorry. I forgot.” Jess chuckled lightly as Bri nodded. “I was swinging on vines in the forest… hey, do you know Hailey?”

“That sounds like fun… and I’ve heard of her… why?” Jess thought for a moment, but decided she’d trust Bri.

“This girl named Reese was making fun of her and being really transphobic. I had to step in, but I think I made Hailey upset…” Jess trailed off.

“I hate Reese…” Bri said, somewhat loudly. “She and Ana torment the school, especially people like Hailey…” Jess was confused.

“Why do you say that?”

“They think that the way you’re born is the way you should stay… and obviously that’s not true…” Jess nodded.

“Agreed, but I wish they would just grow up. They’re adults now. Let other peo-Folk live their lives.” Bri nodded.

“Anyway… have you had anything to eat yet…?” Jess shook her head, feeling her stomach.

“No, just when I got here, Professor Lykman made it a big deal that I was late.” She shrugged.

“I’ll go with you… if you want… to get food I mean.” She added the late part quickly, a light dusting of pink still on her pale cheeks. Jess smiled.

“I would love that.” Jess chuckled slightly as Bri’s eye widened.

“O-Okay…”

Together, Bri accompanied Jess to get some food and then said her goodbyes as Lykman glared at the two.

There Jess sat, alone at the dusty, beaten up table. She ate her food in silence except for the occasional “Don’t do that” directed at Cheez-It mischief. For some reason, he found the corner of the room where they sat to be full of apparently tasty bugs. Disgusting.

Once the bell rang for their next class, Jess quickly put her plate away and took Cheez-It (along with her things, of course) and headed towards the Sirens’ Lake. Upon making it there, it seems as though Jess was the first to arrive.

“Miss Brown! It’s a pleasure to see you again,” Jess heard the voice of Professor Anaklyn, velvety yet powerful. Jess couldn’t help but smile.

“Yep! And Cheez-It,” Jess added, watching the poor cat lift his paws up high into the air, hating the mud. The siren smiled warmly.

“Well, there’s a small lake house where there’s a bathroom for you to change. Are you as excited as I am?” Jess nodded.

“Working with water has alway been one of my favorites, so yes, I am very excited.”

The professor pointed to where the small lake house was and Jess took Cheez-It over there. Of course, once they hit sand, Cheez-It desired to flop and roll around. Jess had to pick the cat up and carry him, squeaking in anger, the rest of the way.

Jess entered the small lake house, and it looked like a rusty old cabin. Quaint? Sure. Old murder cabin from a horror movie? Definitely. She found the bathroom and changed into her swimsuit, stepping out of the lake house just as more sirens arrived from the Great Hall.

She stood there in uncomfortable silence as their eyes slowly drifted to her. Some pointed, some laughed, and most stared. It was embarrassing. Jess shifted slightly until Professor Anaklyn started the class. She directed the class to get ready for the lake, which for sirens apparently meant to remove the outer shell of their clothing to get ready to transform. Jess watched as they dived into the lake, surfacing with gills and finned ears. They wiped their eyes with webbed hands, laughing and splashing each other. Noticing that the siren professor was looking at Jess, she trotted over and joined the sirens.

Cheez-It, finally alone on the sand, plopped and rolled around in it to his hearts’ content. It was cute for a bit… until Jess realized she would have to clean the cat later.

Disregarding that pain, Jess looked at the water lapping at the shore. She stepped in and wow… It was cold. Too cold. Fighting through it, Jess dived in and shivered slightly underwater. She surfaced to find the sirens laughing at her. She blushed in anger and embarrassment. I can’t help I’m human…

The professor guided the class through relearning how to swim with their tails and webbed hands. Jess felt like a dead fish stroking the water with her arms and kicking her feet. It wasn’t fun to say the least. Thankfully, they moved on to what Jess got to show off for: water honing.

Professor Anaklyn, with a tail as deep a color as her ocean-blue eyes, demonstrated to the class some basic movements. The class seemed to get the hang of it, though some struggled. Jess handled it well. After all, she pushed and pulled water all the time. Then it came time for general practice. This was where Jess could shine.

With a small smirk, Jess created a tower of water much like she’s seen in a show she loves. She stood on top of it with the help of a small spell, her smirk growing as the sirens gawked at her. Then, surrounding the platform she stood upon shot out tentacles of water. She controlled them as they whipped the air around her. Feeling proud of herself, she removed the arms of water and slowly lowered the tower. It felt good to show off every once and a while.

The siren professor smiled and clapped as she stepped back down into the water, floating there as if nothing happened.

“That was a wonderful display of control, Miss Brown!” The siren congratulated. “It seems you could be a good tutor for some of your classmates.” Jess smiled sheepishly at the sound of some grumbling.

The professor had them continue to practice on their own until a group of sirens swam over to Jess, surrounding them.

“That was pretty cool,” one of them commented before staring into her eyes. “How about you do it again, just for me?” Jess looked at him like he was stupid and laughed slightly.

“No thank you,” Jess laughed. The siren frowned.

“Why didn’t it work? You’re human, right?” Jess nodded slowly, suddenly remembering the trait of a siren: human manipulation.

“Did you seriously try to manipulate me?” Jess felt herself getting upset. The siren shrugged, laughing as he looked at the others.

“It was worth a shot.” Jess stared him down, glaring through her eye contact with him.

“How about you stop talking?” That was when the siren shut up. He looked around frantically, not able to speak. His friends asked him what was wrong until they put two and two together. Jess smirked as they swam away, but felt bad for what she did. After all, it wasn’t like she knew she could do that. I guess I better learn to control it.

“That was cool,” she heard a monotone voice behind her. Jess turned around, struggling slightly in the water. It was a siren. Jess couldn’t tell their gender, but they had deep brown eyes and a fluffy afro that went with their dark skin.

“Uh, thanks I guess?” The siren nodded.

“I’m Quinn, and you’re Jess?” She nodded.

“What are your pronouns?” Quinn gave her a small smile.

“They/them. Thank you for asking.”

“Of course. May I ask if you need something?” The siren shrugged.

“It was just nice to see them get a taste of their own medicine. They always mocked me because I can’t manipulate anyone. Something’s wrong with my vocal chords, apparently.” Jess smiled slightly.

“Well, I’m glad you got to see that, then.” She saw Quinn smirk.

“Anyway, you should totally write me a letter sometime.” Jess nodded, happy to make a friend.

“What’s your room number?”

“324.”

“Okay, sounds good, Quinn…” Quinn waved, still smirking as they swam away.

With a signal from the professor, Jess got out and changed back into her uniform. She scolded Cheez-It, who now looked a totally different color, a sandy color.

After waving goodbye to Professor Anaklyn, Jess and Cheez-It went to their dorms for their free time.