Question Tink: Getting An Education (Completed)

“Hey! I'm sitting here!” Teri, who was all of six inches tall, yelled at the enormous butt descending on her.

The woman let out a scream and hurried away, yelling that a doll had come alive. Teri just looked over at the little girl who was staring at her with wide eyed wonder, and said, “Some people just don't pay any attention do they, Michelle?”

“Nnnnooo!” the three year old said, her eyes still as big as saucers staring at the little fairy.

“Now where were we?” she asked, wrapping her fuzzy, pale blue wings around her like a cloak to fight off the cold A/C of the train. “Oh yes. There I was a huge fairy eating cat to one side, and another one just a foot away ready to turn me into a quick meal. My mice warriors were scattered and fleeing for their lives. All I had were my brains, a pencil and some string.”

A voice blared over the PA, telling them that they had two minutes to exit if they wanted to get off in Berlin. A giant woman came rumbling down the aisle. “Michelle, its time to go, this is our stop.”

“But Mommy, I'm listening to a story,” the girl whined.

Before Teri knew what was happening, the girls mother had picked her up and was lifting her high into the air, muttering about not knowing where the doll had come from. “Help! Kidnapping! Help!” she yelled.

“OH MY GOD! IT'S ALIVE!” the mother screamed. She dropped Teri, grabbed her daughter and ran out of the car.

There were only a few people left in her car on the train to Dunwich, some of them pointedly ignored what was going on, others shrank back into their seat. One teenage boy wearing dark glasses, gave her a small smile. She waved at him as she flew down to sit on the windowsill to watch the city of Berlin go by as the train began to move again. She made sure to keep an eye on her luggage, which consisted of a change purse and a roll up jewelry box made for traveling.

After a few minutes, the boy picked up his courage and came over, sitting in the free seat. “Hi,” he said.

“Hello, I'm Teri.”

“Um, I'm Thad. So you're a mutant?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Nope. Totally normal baseline out for a ride.”

He opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, and then shut it again.

“Are you trying to catch flies, or impersonating a fish?” she asked, giggling.

He gave his head a shake and found his voice. “Sorry, I just wasn't expecting to see someone like you here.”

“Where should I be?” she asked.

That stumped him. “Well, um, I don't know. Just most people like you seem to try to, you know hide.”

“Been there, done that, it's boring,” she said, channeling her sometimes friend, often tormentor, and guardian Mouser. “Where are you heading off to?”

“I'm actually going to school. It's pretty exclusive.”

“Cool so am I!”

Thad looked around the car, and saw that the few people remaining were edging farther and farther away from them. “Is it Whateley?” he whispered.

“Yep. You're a mutant to?” she asked just as quietly.

He looked at her wings and small size, the confusion clear on his face. “Yeah, I am. Didn't the MCO give you trouble? They wouldn't leave me alone, I had to make sure the local heroes knew where I was all the time, and could barely leave my house. You don't even look human.”

“Nah. They were a bit of a pain, but I just yelled at them and they didn't bother me again.”

His jaw dropped.

“Nice tonsils.”

“You yelled at the MCO?” he squeaked, like his underwear was five sizes too small.

“Yeah,” she said as if it was no big deal. “The guy hit me with a tennis ball as big as I am, plastered me against a wall with a high velocity volleyball, almost got me crushed on a weight lifting machine, and then he was going to give me the code name Butterfly! He's lucky all I did was grab his nose and yell at him.”

Thad turned white, and slumped down in his seat. “C-can you destroy the world or something?”

“No. Why?”

“The MCO makes mutants disappear if we look at them the wrong way! How did you get away with that?”

She briefly thought about letting him know her guardian was sleeping with the head MCO officer of the Omaha, Nebraska branch, but decided that being seen as a six inch tall badass would probably be better. “Well not everyone has my charm.”

“So... what can you do?”

“Fly, PK field, night vision, regeneration. You?”

He looked at his feet, and mumbled, “I'm a manifestor, I can make any natural liquid.”

“Cool! I'm a little thirsty and ran out of water, could you give me a drink?” she asked holding up a small, half pint plastic bottle.

“You really don't want me to. It's not really pleasant looking,” he told her.

“Oh come on,” she insisted. “I sneezed myself out of my own chest cavity, worked as a rat exterminator over the summer and did childrens parties as a fairy princess, believe me nothing can shock me anymore.”

“Ok, but I warned you,” Thad said. He closed his eyes, and ten seconds later his cheek developed a tiny white headed pimple. It grew, bulging outwards until it was the size of a pencil eraser, the skin was stretched so tightly it was see through, revealing what looked like water inside of it.

The smile slowly dropped from her face, she blinked several times in surprise, then she was flying as quickly as possible to the bathroom, covering her mouth to stop herself from puking. The door handle proved difficult, she had to grab it in both hands, bracing her feet against the door to lever it up and flap her wings pretty hard to get it open.

Not bothering to lock it she flew to the sink and let rip. Once her stomach was no longer trying to exit through her mouth she took a moment to compose herself, and wipe her mouth off. Primly she flew back to her seat, made sure her luggage was still there, sat on the windowsill, and smiled at Thad who was busy wiping water off his face with a well used handkerchief. She noticed his water bottle, which had been almost empty, was full.

“That is a really interesting power,” she said as if nothing had happened. “Where are you from?”

“Wyoming. This is actually the furthest I've ever traveled,” he said, focusing on playing with a strap on his book bag.

“This is the furthest I've ever gone to. But we're almost there, so buck up.”

They began talking about classes, cottages and what they expected to see at their new school, which made the time fly by.

**

The train stopped at Dunwich, grabbing her bags, Teri flew onto Thad's shoulder and held onto his ear, while he grabbed his duffel bag and headed for the door. “So how are you getting to school?” she asked.

“A shuttle bus will pick us up here. Didn't you read about it in the introductory packet?”

“Introductory packet?”

He pulled out a thick book, that must have weighed ten times as much as she did. “Everyone is suppose to get this by special delivery.”

“All Mouser gave me was the acceptance letter, the address and the day I was suppose to be here. I was just going to call a taxi.”

He gave her a look.

“What?”

“You just hopped on a train with no idea what was going to happen once you got here?”

“Yeah.” He kept giving her the look. “Hey I ruled my own kingdom for two weeks. I think I can handle a little trip like this.”

“Y-your own kingdom?”

“Yeah,” she said, daring him to object.

“Ok, ok, how about you come with me to the shuttle and we'll go to the school with everyone else?” he asked.

“Sure,” she agreed, happily. “I need to save my money anyways, I'm not sure when another movie role will come up.”

“You were in a movie?”

“Oh yeah, its a great fantasy adventure. I played a really important role.” She started telling him all about the movie while he walked to the waiting room.

Even for a roomful of mutants, some of whom had horns, thorns, vines, scales and fur, she got attention. She ignored them all easily, having spent the last four months with a cat woman who was loud, crazy and all too often sex crazed. And then there had been the Anime convention she'd gone to in early August to do some modeling with Mouser. A room with a little over a dozen teens was next to nothing for her.

“Oh, good a phone. I'll be right back Thad,” she flew over to the phone and grabbed a hold of it one handed. Her PK field which normally just affected her hands, wrapped itself over the receiver making it seem almost weightless, and holding it steady for her. Dialing Mousers cell she waited impatiently for her guardian to pick it up.

"Hello, Mouser Extermination Agency and Child Entertainer, I'll remove your pest and entertain your kids, how can I help you?" a chirpy voice shouted into the phone trying to be heard over a loud grinding sound.

“Mouser, it's me Teri,” she shouted back. “Did you get an introductory package or something from my school a few days after the acceptance letter.”

“Oh, give me a moment to think Butterfly. Right, right, right. I did get that, I was going to give it to you before you left, so you'd have something to read on the way there,” Mouser said.

“Why didn't you?!”

“Well instead of taking the plane, we had our road trip, so I was going to give it to you when you started to get bored. But then we hit the walking scarecrow, and then the Burgermeister got angry with us, and-”

Teri hung up before she started getting flashbacks of the road trip from hell, and banged her head a few times against the phone. Flying back to Thad, she landed on his shoulder and sat down to sulk.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“My introductory packet is probably circling overhead in low earth orbit right now. Can I borrow yours?”

Thad blinked several times, stuck a finger in his ear to clean it out, and gave his head a good shake. “Did you say it's in low earth orbit?”

“Yeah.”

“You mean it's in space.”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Don't want to talk about it.”

“But why is it in space? HOW did it get into space?”

She grabbed his nostrils, her blue eyes glowed brightly. “If I was old enough to drink, I'd be at the bottom of a bottle of vodka trying to forget the last twenty four hours. If you want to keep your nose intact, give me your introductory packet.”

Not daring to look away from the very scary fairy, Thad reached into his bag and pulled out the introductory packet for her.

“Good boy,” she said, patting his nose. Taking the packet she flew up to a convenient ledge and began reading.

**

Teri skimmed through the introductory packet, with a bit of a sinking sensation in her stomach. Near the front of the book, under GSD, it asked students with severe GSD to contact the school for alternate means of getting there.

She looked at her tiny body, her boneless, fuzzy wings, and her abnormally muscular yet shapely breasts, and decided that she probably did qualify as being a GSD case. Probably a severe one. Shrugging she pushed the thought aside, it was probably nothing, she had made it there relatively intact after all.

Flipping through the rules and regulations, she got a good idea of what was and was not acceptable, as well as the fact that she had to wear a school uniform. Playing with her long purple hair, she wondered where she would find a uniform in her size, and if they would let her wear shorts underneath. Another thing she didn't like was the flags, not being allowed out on certain days, it sounded like a prison. Pulling out a piece of mechanical pencil lead wrapped up in a bit of cloth to keep her hands clean, she began doodling a song bird costume with holes in its back for wings.

She heard a lot of people moving around down below. Putting the book off to the side, she saw that there were at least twenty or thirty students now, and they were grabbing their bags. A well dressed Asian woman was raising her hands to bring some order to everything.

Flying down to land on Thad's shoulder, she gave him back his packet with a big thank you, then shut up to hear what was being said.

“Everyone please wait your turn, once your name is called please get onto the bus in an orderly fashion. If you name is not called out come and speak with me after everyone else is on board,” the woman said.

Thad was one of the first ones called, forcing her to sit on the back of a chair while she waited. With nothing better to do, since her name probably wasn't on the list, she looked at the students getting on board. There was a girl wearing a big hoodie with a face like a frog, a blind girl with a kitten on her shoulder, a guy who looked like Arnold, she wondered how he was young enough to go to high school, and more.

When the last student was getting on the bus, her name still hadn't been called. The woman looked around, and didn't see her. So grabbing her things Teri flew over to her. “Excuse me! You missed me.”

“I'm sorry, you are?”

“Teri Mouser,” she said using the name she'd put on the form.

“You're guardian said that you would be coming by alternate means.”

Teri sighed. “I'm sorry, there were several problems, including a lost introductory packet, so here I am!”

“I see,” the woman said, looking around nervously. “Come on lets get on the bus quickly and we'll get everything sorted out.”

Flying on board, she saw that almost every seat was taken. With no better choice, she flew to the back of the bus and sat on the last seat available, which had a pink backpack covering most of it. There was still plenty of space, so she just sat down and smiled at the pretty girl beside her.

“What the hell are you?” asked the girl, pushing whitish blue hair out of her ocean blue eyes.

“Wonderful. Magnificent. Awesomely beautiful,” she said. “And you are?”

“Serena.”

“OH! Like Sailor Moon! Do you have moon beam powers?” Teri asked, jumping onto the girls arm.

“NO! I'm a water avatar. Now get... get off me,” Serena said, trying to shake her off.

She slid off and sat down with a pout. “Shoot. That would be so cool if you had a moon avatar.” Teri started smiling again. “It's pretty neat how they call the dorms cottages, I'm in Whitman, what cottage are you in?”

“Obviously your a Whitman girl. I'm in Dickinson,” the girl said primly.

Smiling even more broadly, “It's awesome that we'll have roommates. I never had a roommate before, except for my guardian Mouser, she's half cat. I'd be worried if I were you. Your roommate will probably want to borrow your clothes all the time, and your hairbrush, and maybe even your toothbrush,” she shuddered. “Now me I don't have to worry about any of that. Most people would have trouble even finding my toothbrush, much less using it.”

“Could you please shut up?” Serena asked. “I'm getting a headache.”

“What classes do you want to take. I just saw in the introductory packet that they have flying class. I'm a really good flyer already, I had to do a lot of it for my acting career, but I'm going to take it anyways, practice makes perfect after all. Can you fly? I know water doesn't fly normally, but maybe you could be jet propelled if you tried.”

“What?”

“I'm trying to decide if I want to take survival or martial arts. I'm already good at surviving, I've done it for fifteen years already without failing once, so that would be an easy class. But martial arts sounds really useful. I could win a fight without having to drop a shelf on someones head or grabbing their noses and flying really high into the sky and dropping them.”

“Please shut up.”

“Hey do you think they have any boys my size? I had a boyfriend when I was big like you, but now that I'm all svelte and nicely packaged, most guys are just a little too big for me. Do you know any cute guys with a little friend? I'd owe you if you can help me get a boyfriend. I really can't handle a big guy, I don't think there's enough yoga in the world for me to do the really fun stuff.”

Teri kept up the non-stop chatter for the entire bus ride, as Serena gave the impression that her brain was leaking out through her ears. When they finally came to a stop at Whateley, Teri's new best friend ran down the aisle, knocking down anyone who got in her way.

“Bye Serena, I'll find you tonight for supper, OK?” Teri shouted after her. “I really liked her,” she said to herself.

She waited until the bus was almost empty and flew out over the heads of the last few students. Two men wearing uniforms with the words security written on them were standing beside the bus. The Asian woman, Teri hadn't caught the name of, was also there, looking for her apparently.

“Ms. Mouser, would you please go with security, there are some things they'd like to know about your trip to Boston,” the woman said.

“Do I have to?” she whined. “I'd really like to forget everything about it. And if this is about losing the intro packet, I'm really sorry, but its probably burning up in the atmosphere right now.”

That got a strange look from everyone. Fortunately the woman seemed to take it in stride. “Don't worry you're not in trouble, but there are some things that need to be discussed.”

Sigh. “Lead the way.”

**

“IT WAS ALL MOUSER'S FAULT! If she hadn't made that joke about the fish we could have walked away with no problems!” Teri shouted, after finishing her story.

The chief of security, who had introduced himself as Delarose, rubbed his head clearly confused and suffering a headache. A picture from a spy satellite showing a jet propelled pickup truck, with several parachutes strapped to the top, flying out of a burning flying saucer, was on his computer screen.

“Ms. Mouser, do you or your guardian understand that it is not safe to be a mutant? And these displays are dangerous for not only you, but this school and its students?” he asked.

“I didn't want to do it. I told her to keep driving. But do you know how hard it is to get her to do something, anything, sensible?”

“Uh huh. And how do you explain this?” he asked.

A security video started playing, showing Teri wearing a mouse dress, riding a cat, chasing a teenager through a grocery store.

“Well, um... I was trying to sleep and he was making too much noise,” she said, biting her lip and playing with her wings. “I was in a really weird place at the time!”

“Right. And this?” Another picture came up, of her and Mouser at the back of an H1 rally flashing peace signs as an H burned in the background.

“Mouser said it would be fun, and look cool on her Myspace page.”

He rolled his eyes, seemingly unconvinced by her well thought out and articulate answer. “I was informed you don't have an introductory packet, your house mother has a copy for you when you get to your cottage. I want you to read it very closely, especially the rules and regulations while off campus and on red flag days. We won't hold you responsible for actions that are largely the fault of your guardian and done before you arrived on campus, but if you do make a spectacle of yourself or this school to people who are not in the know, you will be punished appropriately. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. As long as you follow the rules, you'll have a good time at Whateley and you won't see me very much.” He stood up and showed her the door. “We have a guide from your cottage waiting outside to show you around the campus. Sorry you missed the regular tour but this was deemed important enough that we needed to clear it up quickly.”

“No problem. It makes me feel special having my own personal tour guide.”

Outside a pretty deer like girl was waiting, wearing a brown dress that matched her soft looking fur. “Hi, Butterfly is it? I'm Psydoe.”

“Actually it's Te-”

There was shouting from the lobby, someone was shouting about a brawl and that they needed Doyles ASAP for an eye injury. They both jumped to the side as security guards charged out from their offices, strapping on guns that were larger than Teri.

“Wow! Does that happen often here?” she asked.

“Only a few times a month usually. Have you eaten lunch yet? We can get your ID and a meal in Crystal Hall the first stop,” Psydoe said, as they walked outside, her hooves tapping gently on the tiled floor.

“Food is good. I need a lot with all the flying I do.”

**

After being shown around campus and seeing a wide variety of students who made an anime convention look normal, Teri was finally able to see her cottage. The house mother Ms. Savage was waiting for her with an introduction packet in her hands.

“Hello Butterfly,” the woman said.

Teri slapped her face, would she ever leave that nickname behind. “It's Teri, or Tink. Not Butterfly,” she said.

“Oh I'm sorry, your file said you liked that name. Teri, we have a special room set up for you and your roommate. If you'll come with me, I'll introduce you to your roommate and show you the special additions to help you out,” Ms. Savage said.

Teri thanked Psydoe and followed the house mother up to the second floor. At the end of the hall was her room. The door looked different from the rest, as there was a tiny shelf with a door just her size at about chest level for a regular person.

“We thought this would make things easier for you. We understand you can open regular doors, so this is the only one that's been modified, I hope that won't be a problem.”

“It's great.”

Stepping inside, it looked like a dorm room from TV, two beds, desks, nightstands, wardrobes and dressers. Her roommate was already all set up if the messy bed was any indication.

“We've given you some small furniture that is more appropriate for your size on top of your dresser and desk. I'm not sure what they will do about your laptop, but we have left enough space for you to use the full size model if you need to.”

Teri flew to the dresser where a chair, desk, wardrobe and dresser sat on the top all made in her size. The desk had a similar arrangement. Both had small LED lights that while not exactly desk lamps to her, were much more manageable than a full size light.

“Thanks! This is great. Have you had other tiny people at the school?” she asked.

“None of them as small as you. But we try to make things easier for our students, within reason,” Ms. Savage told her. “You can add pictures, furniture that is your size, and other things that won't damage the room. You are expected to keep this room tidy, and your clothes can be washed in the basement laundry room. Your clothes can be washed by machine can't they?”

“Most of them. A few I need to get dry cleaned.”

“If I may, where did you get such nice clothes in your size?”

“Anime dolls from Japan and people who make custom doll clothes using all normal materials. They're expensive, but my modeling jobs help pay for them, and when I model clothes for companies and websites they usually let me keep the clothes,” she explained.

“You're a model?”

She nodded. “You wouldn't believe how popular a fairy girl can be online. Mouser got me really good contracts so I get a small flat fee, clothes and if its a website, a share of the advertising profits. And I played a horde of evil fairies in a movie, that should come out in January online.”

“Have you thought about joining Venus Inc?”

“What's that?”

“It's the schools modeling club. They help you find agents, control your image, and get contracts. Several students have gone onto careers in modeling with their help,” Ms. Savage said enthusiastically.

“I'll check it out. But I'm not sure if I'll have enough time, with school work, finding a job for my scholarship, and friends, how much time do I really have?”

Ms. Savage smiled more broadly. “If you are a member of Venus Inc, that actually counts as your after school job. You do have to work at it, and the hours can occasionally be bad, but if you keep it reasonable and under control there shouldn't be any problems.”

“Cool!”

They chatted a bit more, Ms. Savage explained the house rules, and gave a short tour of the cottage, and then there was nothing to do but relax for the few hours before supper was served in Crystal Hall. From the delicious if small late lunch she'd had with Psydoe there, Teri couldn't wait for supper.

She read through the introduction package for over an hour when she remembered she had to make a phone call.

Taking a quick trip to the row of phones downstairs, she made a quick call to Glow Worm back in Lincoln Nebraska, letting him and the rest of the Lincoln Freedom Squad she'd made it alright, as well as her cottage and room number so they could ship a present she'd bought for herself to her. With her limited space for carrying things she hadn't wanted to risk breaking such an expensive toy that would be very helpful for taking notes.

Flying back to her room, the door was open. Smiling she put on a burst of speed to meet her roommate.

“Aw dammit!” she and Serena shouted at the same time.

“You're my roommate?!” they said in stereo.

“I thought you were in Dickinson?”

“There was a mistake,” she said in a resigned voice. “I got told I was suppose to be here after doing the whole tour with Dickinson. Then I got here and I was told this was the last room available.”

She flew to the girls shoulder and patted her on the back. “Ouch, that sucks. Well at least I won't be able to borrow most of your stuff. And I did say I'd find you for supper. Want to join me?”

“I guess so. Just don't talk about anime, or boyfriends, or that weird mole on your back, I heard enough of that on the bus.”

“Sure thing.”

They headed out the door and were at the stairs when a cat girl with big ears, and golden brown fur came walking up the stairs talking with a girl who's skin looked like outer space, right down to stars and galaxies.

“Kitty!” Teri screamed, body checking the girl and rubbing her face in the soft fur.

“Did someone lose a familiar?” the cat asked, trying to crane her head back far enough to see the thing hanging from her neck.

“Oh your fur feels even softer then Mousers'. I'm Teri, a freshman here. What's your name?” she asked, not letting go of the girl.

Cat girl picked Teri off by the back of her shirt, holding her up like a strange new animal. “Miyet. My roommate and I need to go see our dorm now Teri. It was... interesting meeting you.” Putting Teri down on the banister, Miyet practically ran up the stairs.

“I like her,” Teri said to Serena, who was hiding her head in her hands.

**

They reached Crystal Hall which was full of people half of whom were staring around in wonder, and the rest talking with old and new friends. Getting in line, they had a wide selection of fast and easy comfort foods, hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, pizza, and sub sandwiches. Teri got quite a few looks when she took a burger as big as she was, along with a small pile of sweet potato fries. Serena got the same, in almost the exact same proportions.

“Do you see a free table?” Serena asked.

Teri flew up and saw Thad sitting off in a corner with another boy. “Follow me!” she shouted down to her roommate.

They made their way through the crowd, Teri having a much easier time of it than Serena. Finally they reached the Thad's table, he was sitting with a boy who's hair was made of leaves and his skin looked like smooth white birch bark. “Hi Thad! Can we sit with you guys?” she asked.

“Um, uh, yeah, sure,” he answered, looking at her nervously.

“Thanks. This is my roommate Serena. Serena, this is Thad.” Placing her tray on the table, she slipped off her shoes and sat on the edge of the tray, nibbling on a fry almost as long as she was.

“Hi Serena,” Thad said a lot more comfortably. “This is my roommate, Sap.”

Sap nodded at Serena, blushing and seemingly unable to speak.

“What can you do, Serena?” Thad asked.

“I'm a water avatar. I have really great reflexes, and I can move my body around like I have water for bones, and breath water. I'm also a great swimmer,” she said proudly. “What about you two?”

“Cool. I can make any type of natural liquid.”

“We DON'T need to see it done!” Teri exclaimed, earning a confused look from Serena.

Sap finally found his tongue. “I can control plants. Speeding them up, slowing them down, make sure they're healthy or kill them, nothing too impressive.” He took a seed from his pocket, and in a few seconds he had a rose in full bloom.

“That's interesting,” Serena said, not taking the flower. “Teri you never told me your powers.”

“PK field, regeneration, flying, and night vision,” she said, grabbing another fry.

They talked about their impressions of the school, favourable; classes, cool; and rooms, neat.

As they were leaving, Teri took to the air and a young girl in a floor length cape over top of normal street clothes looked up in surprise. “Ok, who let the hobgoblin in here?” she asked.

Teri looked around to see what the girl was talking about, when something zapped her, sending her tumbling to the floor. She laid there for a moment trying to remember what breathing was. Some people were yelling angrily. Getting to her feet, she jumped into the air and got between Serena and the witch.

“What the hell was that about?!” she yelled.

“You're... you're not a hobgoblin?” the girl asked dumbly.

“Do I look like a hobgoblin!”

The girl nodded, her eyes going from Teri's eyes to her chest and back again, repeatedly.

Looking down, Teri saw that the front of her dress was gone. And since she couldn't find a bra that worked with her wings to save her life, her stacked chest was there for everyone to see. With a little eep of embarrassment, she grabbed witchy's shirt yanked it off and wrapped herself in it, leaving the girl standing there in a lacy pink bra, her cape, and a black skirt.

Witch girl jumped her, trying to get her shirt back, and the fight was on.

Serena got in the way of one of witch girls friends who was moving in to help, flattening and stretching her limbs to wrap the girl up. Thad rubbed his hands together coating the floor in something slippery, that sent the girls three other friends tumbling to the ground.

And Sap threw the remains of his pizza at witchy, missing her completely and hitting another table.

The resulting food fight was one of the largest first day food fights on record.

**

Teri sat in front of Chief Delarose for the second time that day. This time she was wearing pizza stained skin tight shorts, and a wash cloth with a hole cut in it for a makeshift dress. Her hair was a mess of food and grease.

“What did I tell you about following the rules?” Delarose asked.

“She shot me! And destroyed my dress! That was literally one of a kind.”

His look let her know what he thought of that excuse. “And you couldn't go to security with a complaint, you had to rip her shirt off?”

“I was there practically naked, I panicked. Come on, she at least had a bra on, I can't even wear one with these wings of mine.”

“Uh huh. And why did you leave Lamia hanging by her bra from the light fixture with one stocking in her mouth and the other tying her hands together?”

“It seemed like the best way to end the fight. She kept casting spells and stuff, and tackling me. It was better than trying to knock her out, that's dangerous with my strength,” she said innocently.

“Detention for a week at Hawthorne,” he said. “It would be longer, but you were provoked.”

“What will I be doing there?” she asked.

“Whatever Mrs. Cantrell, the house mother decides. I hope you like scrubbing.”

“With this hair,” she pointed at her hair which hung down to her waist, “not really.”

**

She took a long bath once she got back to Whitman, filling a basin she'd bought during the tour, with hot water and bubbles, and placing it in an out of the way corner of the shower area, since having a shower was right out. Some of the girls seemed jealous as she relaxed in what to her was a massive tub.

Cleaned up and ready to hit the hay, she jumped onto her pillow and pulled a silk scarf over herself for a blanket. She looked over at Serena was sitting on her bed writing in her diary.

“Thanks for helping out Serena. Sorry about annoying you on the bus.”

“No problem, I wasn't exactly polite. Just please don't get into another fight, my parents are mad enough at how much they're paying me to be here. If I get detention or worse I'll never hear the end of it,” she groaned.

“I'll try my best, but no promises.”

Ms. Hastings came to her office promptly at 8:55am, passing Teri with a polite good morning. At 9am, she opened her door again and came out to greet Teri personally.

“Good morning, Ms. Mouser, or would you rather I call you Butterfly?” she asked, with a smile that would have men and a fair number of woman falling all over themselves.

Teri didn't notice the smile, she was too busy slamming her head against the padded arm of the chair. “How did she do it?!” she finally half screamed.

“Who and what?” the beautiful student counselor asked, utterly confused.

“Mouser! How did she somehow get that stupid nickname she gave me, into the freaking student records?”

“Oh dear,” Ms. Hastings said, turning as red as her hair. “It said on your application that you wanted to be called Butterfly, but there were problems with the MID, so you're in the process of trying to change it. Mouser is your guardian, right?”

“I'm going to kill her!” Teri said, stomping the chair as hard as she could.

The counselor took a moment to regain her composure by straightening her red blazer and skirt. “Would you like a few minutes in private to calm down?” she asked.

Taking a deep breath, Teri shook her head. “No thanks. I should have known she'd do something like that. By the end of the week, there will probably be a giant cake delivered to my cottage covered in butterflies asking everyone to call me that.”

“She'd actually do that?”

“Oh yeah. Ever since she caught me in the grocery store, she only calls me Butterfly and got EVERYONE calling me that. I think it's her idea of a joke, or she just can't get the idea that I'm a pretty butterfly out of her stupid cat brain,” she fumed.

Obviously deciding discretion was called for, Ms. Hastings motioned to her office. “Shall we go in and get your classes organized?”

Once again taking a deep calming breath, Teri flew through the door. “Ok, that's a good idea. Mustn't think about cats being run over, eaten by dogs or being declawed. And you can call me Teri.”

They both sat down, Teri sitting on the desk, and looked at the monitor which was placed so it could easily be read by a student and Ms. Hastings. It was currently showing her academic records, with a lot of question marks beside them.

“We have a problem with your transcripts, which is why I asked you to come in first thing,” Ms. Hastings said.

“What's the problem? They're right there,” Teri said, it being her turn to be confused.

“Well, the problem is, you were declared legally dead. Whateley has dealt with situations such as this before, when parents don't want to admit they have a mutant child, but in your case they actually have the body. That is a new twist on things.”

Teri nodded, she'd watched her own funeral from a safe distance away. “So you don't know if I'm me.”

“Correct. Which is why you were able to fill out the forms with the surname of your unofficial guardian. This isn't an insurmountable problem, but it requires a morning of hard work on your part.” Ms. Hastings pulled out a stack of papers. “I have some placement tests for you to take, and depending on how well you do, will determine your classes.”

“HURRAY! Let the torture begin!” Teri said gleefully. Reaching into her change purse, that was like a suitcase for her, which held her student card, MID, spare cash, and a few little supplies she might need, including a change of clothes after the previous days wardrobe malfunction, she took out a piece of lead wrapped in cloth, and a cut off pencil eraser.

“I see you came prepared,” the counselor said approvingly.

“I need to carry this big thing around everywhere just for my ID, might as well put a few more things into it. I have the room and it's not like it weights a lot.”

The woman didn't quite seem to know what to say to that, since the change purse would have fit easily into her hand. She led Teri to a small side room where she could do her tests in private, and let her get to work.

Taking off her shoes, Teri stepped onto the first paper, English. That went fairly well, some of the questions left her grasping at straws though, like, ‘Name three of the Canterbury Tales and describe the essence of each tale in one sentence.’ She had thought the Canterbury Tales were just one long story. The essays were another problem. With her writing, a half page essay would take all day. After a quick discussion she and Ms. Hastings agreed to make it three good size paragraphs.

When that was done, Ms. Hastings handed her the history test, and pulled out a pen to start marking the English. Then the counselor really looked at the papers, and blanched, the writing was so small it was unreadable to her eyes. Excusing herself, the woman went off to look for a magnifying glass, or possibly a microscope.

The history part was no problem. She'd never been at the top of the class, but she did ok. Math was a toss up. The first part was easy, the trig and calculus wasn't impossible, but she did a lot of erasing and crossing out. The last two pages were impossible, and she just handed it over with an apology.

Then it was time for languages. Teri had taken a single term of Spanish, which she hadn't finished but was listed on her transcripts, and was learning Japanese thanks to all her anime watching which wasn't recorded. She struggled through Spanish verbs, tenses and grammar, actually starting to sweat and was ready to collapse when it was done.

Science was last. Like the math, the first part was relatively easy, although physics was well beyond her, she did ok with the biology and chemistry. Taking one look at the advanced science, left her head spinning.

Finally everything was done and it was well into lunch. Despite suffering eyestrain from reading with a magnifying glass, Ms. Hastings was able to finish marking everything within fifteen minutes of Teri. “Well Teri, you've forgotten several things during your time away from school,” the woman chided, “but you're doing fairly well in every subject, and should catch up quickly. Your transcripts say you nearly finished your freshman year, but because you will be learning about your powers, and the higher standards Whateley has compared to most other schools, you have been registered as a freshman and will take several freshman classes.”

“Hurray!”

“Your enthusiasm fills me with glee,” Ms. Hastings deadpanned. “We'll have you in Calculus I, English II, Spanish I, Powers Theory 1, Flying I, and I think Survival I would be best for you.”

She frowned. “Do I have to take Spanish? I started learning Japanese over the summer, and I think its a lot better.”

Ms. Hastings raised her eyebrow in question.

“I've been doing a lot of modeling for anime websites, and I've picked up some of the writing. And Mouser started teaching me, she said short videos showing me speaking Japanese while in costume would double the amount of money I could make.”

“Well, you're in luck. There has been a growing number of students asking for Japanese language class, so it is available. You'll be with students ranging from freshmen to seniors, but don't feel intimidated, most of them are beginners. Are the rest of the classes agreeable?”

“I'd like to take Martial Arts instead of Survival. I can't hide myself, and I can just fly away if someone comes after me, I want to learn how to fight!” She mimed a couple of punches.

That brought a look of disbelief from Ms. Hastings. “Are you sure?”

“Definitely!”

Ms. Hastings tapped her pen against her chin. “I'll have to ask Sensei Ito, he's in charge of the class, and I'm not sure if your size will allow it, but if he agrees you can try it out.”

“Great,” she said, thinking of how much fun it would be to throw some people around. “Is there anything else?”

“Well, your flying class is only twice a week, Saturday at 10am, and Wednesday at sixth period. Your Powers Theory has a lab, but that is only twice a week, so we need one or two more full time classes. Because of your size I'm not sure what would be best.” The counselor frowned for the first time that morning. “Normally I'd recommend home economics, but I don't know how you could work around hot ovens and stoves. Costume Class could be useful, however you are very noticeable, so there isn't much clothing can do for you, and I believe armour will be problem.”

Teri pulled out a small sheet of paper listing some of the classes she was interested in, and thought she could handle. Learning to shoot would be cool, but out of the question. “I want business accounting. I need to start keeping track of my money from modeling. And I do want Costume Class.”

“Very well. I guess the Costume Class will help if you want to get into a career in fashion.”

“Yeah, and I have to custom order my clothes. Knowing all the terms and things will help.” She read over her list again. “You're to help me get a student job right?”

“Yes, Teri. What are you interested in?”

“I was told Venus Inc, is a club and a job. I want to do that.”

The woman suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Yes, I suppose that would interest you. I'm not sure how easily you could join however. I don't recall them ever letting in a member with GSD as severe as yours.”

“What! I have ten thousand Facebook fans for my modeling stuff, and I've starred in a movie. They're just scared of the competition if they don't let me in!” she said, slamming her fist into her hand.

“Please calm down,” Ms. Hastings said, motioning for her to sit down. “I said it wouldn't be easy, not that it was impossible. With your portfolio, they'll definitely have to consider you.”

“Humph, you've got that right.” Her stomach growled loudly. “Thank you for everything, Ms. Hastings, but I think its time for lunch.”

The counselor rubbed her own stomach. “Past time, in fact. I'll send you your class schedule as soon as I hear back from Martial Arts, and I'll contact Venus with your request this afternoon. Have a nice day, Teri. And please remember its a red flag day, you have to use the tunnels.”

She stiffened at hearing that. It was a beautiful day outside, there was no way she was going to stay inside some dusty old tunnels. Instead of heading downstairs Teri headed for the roof.

**

Ms. Carson was talking to a group of government officials who had never been to Whateley before and needed a tour to learn what was what, at least a portion of it. She smiled politely at the officials, and smiled nicely at the new students who were out enjoying the fresh air, or moving their luggage to their cottages, sometimes alone, sometimes with other students, and a few times with parents looking around nervously.

As she was explaining, vaguely, about the security measures they had in place, one of the officials stopped dead, and pointed at a tree. “What on earth is that?”

Ms. Carson looked at the tree, and saw what looked like a fairy, covered in pigeon feathers. Slightly bloody pigeon feathers.

“Tweet! Tweet!” the pigeon fairy said, looking around nervously.

Pulling out her phone, she pretended to dial a number, while glaring at the girl. Projecting her voice just so, she said, “Ms. Mouser, your pet bird has escaped. Please collect it IMMEDIATELY and go to administration AT ONCE. I will talk to you shortly.”

The pigeon fairy, turned white. “Tweet, tweet!” it said, and flew away so fast it lost several feathers.

**

Teri sat in the chair, for once refusing the desk, hoping she would be lost in the dark leather. There were still a few feathers stuck in her clothes and hair, but she'd gotten rid of most of them, and had her wings folded protectively over her body.

“Sit on the desk where you can see me, Ms. Mouser,” the Headmistress said.

She jumped up, and then looked at her feet, rubbing her legs together to get rid of some grey down.

“What were you thinking? Where you even thinking?” Headmistress Carson asked.

“I needed the sun. I'm solar powered and was running out of energy!”

That received the withering glare it deserved. “According to security reports, you've already talked to Chief Delarose twice, once for your actions on the way to Whateley, and then for fighting. If you are attempting to set a new record for number of times you can go to security, you're definitely a runner up. Are you proud of yourself?”

She bit her tongue before she said something stupid, and simply shook her head.

What followed was an epic tongue lashing, explaining what could happen to someone like her if she upset the wrong people, how it could affect the school destroying the secrecy which helped keep it and the students safe, and examples of what happened to mutants who weren't careful in extremely gory details. When Teri finally left a half hour later, she was weak kneed, woozy, ready to throw up, and had an extra two weeks of detention at Hawthorne.

Flying back to Whitman, through the tunnels, she decided that Costume Class was the most important class of the term. She needed a better bird costume.

**

That evening after having supper with Serena, Thad and Sap, Teri headed to Hawthorne to begin her first evening of detention. It was still a red flag day, so she had to go through the tunnels, and she got lost twice. But she made it to the Hawthorne stairway with a few minutes to spare. Flying up to the common room, a large jet black skinned person who looked like he could take a hit from a truck and laugh looked up from a table where several people were playing cards.

“Hi, are you a new Thornie?” he asked, in a voice that could possibly be friendly.

“No, I'm here for detention,” Teri replied, refusing to be intimidated.

“Detention!” a guy in the middle of a strange machine that looked like a baby's walker said in amazement. “It hasn't even been two days, what the heck did you do?!”

“Nothing much,” she said, fluttering in the air.

There was a laugh from behind her. “This student is the one who helped start the food fight yesterday after someone mistook her for a hobgoblin. And a few hours ago was caught by Headmistress Carson herself, pretending to be a bird while it was a red flag day.”

That announcement had a bunch of kids give her a cheer. Not sure what to make of it all, Teri turned to see a large black woman in some kind of hover chair. “Hi, I guess you're Mrs. Cantrell?”

“Yes I am, it's nice to see someone being prompt for their detention, and properly dressed,” the house mother said, taking in the nomex coveralls that Teri was wearing.

Teri just shrugged, the coveralls had been part of a modelling shoot showing off some clothes a woman could make for dolls, based off of an engineer from a sci-fi anime. It seemed as good a time to wear them as any. “So what do you need me to do?”

“What can she do? She's two inches tall!” a girl said behind her back.

“Hey, I'm six inches tall!”

“Tink,” Ms. Cantrel said, using her code name, “can you hand a mop?”

She nodded. “I've mopped kitchen floors before.”

“Good, you can mop the floors to start with, with everyone moving around the last few days, they need a good scrubbing. Mal, can you show Tink where the supplies are?”

A boy who looked like he was maybe twelve years old, with shiny, pale green skin and old clothes that were thread bare and well worn came over, he smelled faintly of rot. “Come on,” he said enthusiastically.

They were walking down a hall, when a girl with short black hair done up almost like spikes, a heart shaped face, and a body to kill for stepped out of a room, taking off a pair of rubber boots and gloves. She had a sad smile on her face.

Mal stopped dead in his tracks. “Watch out for that girl,” he said.

The girl in question looked at Mal. “Do I know you?”

“No, but I know you. You're a Goodkind, why the hell are you even here?”

Giving a resigned sigh, her hand resting on her belt, she answered, “I'm visiting my cousin and some friends. Now, if you'll step aside, I want to talk to Fire Forge.”

“My friends told me you're a freak, half boy and half girl. That just matches the sick fucks that make up your family,” Mal snarled.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Teri said, flying between the two before blood started to fly. “I'm new here, so who is she and why is she so bad?”

“That's Ayla Goodkind-” Mal started.

“THE Ayla Goodkind?! You're serious! Absolutely serious, that it's her!” she shouted grabbing Mal by the collar which disintegrated in her hands.

“Yeah-”

“Oh MY GOD! OH MY GOD!” She spun around and grabbed the girl shoulder. “Did you know you're Ayla Goodkind! Oh my god!”

She suddenly stopped, scratching her head in confusion. “Wait a minute. I don't know anything about any Ayla Goodkind.” Smoothing out the ruffled shirt, she smiled apologetically at the girl. “Sorry about that, I got a little excited. Ok, Mal now that that's out of the way, where's the mop?”

Flying onwards, pushing Mal in front and leaving a confused Ayla behind them, she and Mal finally reached the supply closet. Mal pointed out where everything was and then stormed back downstairs.

With the help of her PK field, she was able to fill the bucket and get the cleaner in without too much trouble. Then she started mopping the floor. She couldn't rid of the worst marks, since she was so light really scrubbing at it was a lesson in futility, but the floor was relatively clean without taking too long. Although she got several odd looks and stares as she flew along the hallway pushing a mop.

Emptying the bucket was the hardest part. She had to grab it by the handle, fly to the edge of the drain, and catch the wheels on the side as she flew forwards, without flying up. She splashed herself and the floor several times trying to empty the bucket, and was cursing by the time it was done. Turning, wiping the disgusting water from her face, she saw a man standing behind her.

“That type of language isn't appropriate for school,” the well dressed man said.

Spitting out some water, she just nodded.

“I'm Louis, or Fubar if you prefer. Now you get the fun job of cleaning my pool.”

“You have your personal pool? That is so unfair!” she cried.

“Just wait until you see it and then tell me if it's unfair or not,” he said, leading her downstairs.

In the basement was a large tank encrusted with snot and looking about as pleasant to swim in as a septic tank.

“I'm not jealous anymore. Why would anyone want to swim in that?” she asked.

“I don't swim in it, I live in it,” Louis replied. A large animal in the pool moved towards the edge and a big wad of snot suddenly flew from its head, through the water and into the air to land back in the water where it floated on the surface. “That's my real body. This is just a psychic construct.”

“COOL!” Teri shouted, and flew through his chest.

Fubar gave her a strange look. “You're the first student who has ever tried that in the first meeting. And without a second or even first thought.”

“I've never flown through anyone before, I wanted to know what it was like.” She looked at piles of snot building up along the edges of the tank. “I'm guessing that I get to pick all of that stuff up. Right?”

“Yes. It's a side affect of my GSD. Let me show you the shovel,” he said happily.

All of the gloves and boots meant to keep her clean were useless, being so much larger then she was. Grabbing the snow shovel in a bear hug, Teri flew over the tank, pushing the snot balls in front of her, until they formed a disgusting mat right at the edge. Grabbing the snot can, she put it on its side just inches from the water edge, using rubber boots to keep it from rolling.

Flying to the far edge of the pool, she flew inches from the dark water, right at the snot wads. When the shovel impacted them, it shook her so badly her chest nearly touched the water, but the ugly balls hit the edge of the pool and with a gross squelching sound flipped into the container, most of it anyways. She got more balls into position and repeated the process several times. By the time she was done she'd had to change the snot can and the bags inside four or five times.

Putting the shovel away, she was wet, exhausted, filthy and wanting a bath, possibly with boiling water.

Fubar gave her a look of approval as she dragged the last snot barrel back into place. Then she grabbed a fine mesh net, and again skimmed the pool, hugging the dirty handle to her body. Eventually the tank wasn't pristine, but it was ok. She landed on a table and laid on her back, trying to catch her breath.

“Good job, Tink. Now you just have to do the outside to,” Fubar said cheerfully.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she groaned, barely able to lift her head up.

He chuckled to let her know he was. “You did nicely for your first day of detention. Be sure to come back tomorrow on time, we've got lots more work for you. And if you ever want to talk come by for a visit.”

Waving weakly, she flew back to Whitman.

**

“Wow, what happened to you Teri?” Serena asked, as Teri stumbled up the stairs. There was music playing and the sound of girls talking and laughing from the common room.

“Mopped a cottage, then cleaned a pool full of snot. I'm going to peel off my skin now and burn it,” she said. Serena gave her a sympathetic look and headed back to the party after a few words of sympathy.

Stripping out of her clothes, she threw them in the basin. Wrapping herself in her wings, dragging her basin and small bag of toiletries, she made her way to the bathroom.

Filling the basin with hot soapy water, she got most of the snot off the coveralls, and put them off to the side. Washing the basin thoroughly, she filled it up again went to her little corner and scrubbed every part of her body until her skin was red. Her hair was harder, and since she couldn't use a hair dryer properly, she was forced to dry it out as best she could. First squeezing the water out, blotting it with a washcloth, wrapping it in a washcloth while she went back to her room and got ready for bed, then combing it, repeatedly, with a leave in conditioner and finally putting it into a braid.

Finally ready for bed, she climbed onto her pillow and collapsed.

**

The next morning, she and Serena got up at about the same time, and headed off for breakfast. On the way out Ms. Savage handed Teri her class schedule. Martial Arts was right before lunch, along with a note saying she needed to purchase a gi. Once again Teri wondered where the heck she was suppose to get a uniform or anything else in her size.

It was still a red flag day, parents could be seen dropping their children off outside, but the day was so beautiful Teri couldn't bear the thought of staying inside all day.

“I'm going outside,” she said.

Serena gave her a look. “Do you want to get into even more trouble?”

“It will be easy, trust me. Just open the bottom pouch of your book bag a little,” she said.

“How is hiding in my book bag better than going through the tunnels?”

“I just need my head sticking out. It'll be fine.”

Looking around to make sure no one was looking, Serena opened the pouch enough for her to get in and stand up. Putting the bag on her back, the not so willing accomplice muttered, “If we get caught, I'm saying you hopped in without me knowing it.”

“I'll take all the blame. Don't worry.”

Somehow they made it to Crystal Hall without getting caught. Grabbing a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon they sat down to eat, after looking around to see if anyone they knew was around.

“You missed a great party last night,” Serena said.

“I heard you guys in the bathroom. How are the girls in our dorm? I haven't really had a chance to meet many of them.”

“Pretty nice mostly. Most of the ones who have GSD seem kind of shy, not like you. There were these two girls Grace and Charlie, who kept trying to get everyone to show off our powers,” she said.

“Grace... She's the frog girl?”

“Yeah, she bent a metal bar into a pretzel. And then Charlie melted it over a metal garbage can. I wish I could do something like that,” Serena said, looking at her hands.

“You can tie yourself into knots, that has to count for something.” Serena looked at her skeptically. Grinning Teri said, “Hey at least your boyfriend will be really happy.”

The resulting blush was bright enough to light up Crystal Hall.

“MOMMY look it's a fairy!” a childlike yell filled Crystal Hall.

Teri wasn't sure what to do. She knew she was on thin ice for the fight and ignoring the red flag the day before, but the rule book had said that it was fine for GSD students to eat in Crystal Hall despite the possibility of visitors being there. The question was should she ignore them or not?

The sound of running feet and the look of shock on Serena's face decided her. Spinning around, with a big grin on her face, she was about to do her usual 'I'm so happy to see you' routine she'd learned at kids parties, when she stopped dead. Coming towards the table was a pure white Sasquatch in a pink dress with her long shaggy hair in pig tails, dragging two regular sized parents behind her as they desperately tried to get her to stop.

“Oh, she's so pretty! Just like a butterfly!” the enormous little girl shouted.

Teri, who had been forced to learn how to project her voice like a stage actor to simply be heard in a regular conversation, screamed loudly enough to be heard throughout Crystal Hall. Leaping into the air she headed as fast as her wings would take her for the doors, slamming into them hands first and barely slowing. Sasquatch girl, was right on her tail, leaving a trail of overturned chairs, tables and students.

A group of parents and kids who were about to enter Crystal Hall, screamed a little as a fairy flew past, missing several of them by mere inches. As they tried to catch their breath, a big hairy beast yelling at the fairy to stop, sent them flying into the bushes.

Teri saw some security guards ahead of her, flying straight at them she grabbed the largest one so hard he spun around, becoming a human shield for her. “Shoot it! Shoot it!” Teri screamed.

They never had a chance.

Sasquatch girl pushed them out of the way before they could react reaching for Teri with a hand that could palm a basketball. Reacting purely on instinct, Teri threw the security guard at the girl, kicking off of him at the same time for more speed and took to the air.

Normally she could go about fifty feet high comfortably, then the winds started to get a bit too strong and she began losing control. So at fifty feet she stopped and looked back down, expecting to see Sasquatch girl crying.

Instead all she saw was a pair of massive hands encircling her, as the girl squealed with joy.

They landed safely from the jump, Teri cushioned by the hands, and the girl simply bending her knees with the force of the impact. The hand opened a little, and Teri felt a finger rubbing her hair, and a sweet little girls voice. “Oh, just what I always wanted, my own little fairy butterfly! I'll call you Georgina, and I'll hug you, and pet you and squeeze you, and pat you, and pet you, and rub you and love you!'

Teri gave up trying to move, the grip was like solid iron. Instead she watched as security and the girls' parents came towards them, slowly, very slowly, excruciatingly slowly. Finally it was too much. “WILL YOU GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND RESCUE ME!”

**

Ms. Carson and Chief Delarose were both looking at Teri as she sat on an eraser on a desk trying to get the wrinkles out of her clothes.

“Don't you even think about blaming this one on me!” she snapped at them.

“So did you get into trouble for this morning?” Thad asked, as they sat beside a big window in the library enjoying a bit of peace and quiet, his eyes looked almost exactly like the brilliant sun shining on them.

“Nah,” Teri answered, waving away the thought. “They mostly wanted to know what happened, and that I was alright. India on the other hand is in big trouble.”

He looked at her incredulously. “Her name is India?”

“Yep. But she'll always be Sasquatch Girl in my heart,” she put a hand to her chest and looked longingly upwards for a second. “She's confined to her cottage for a while, and has to write out a full page apology to me and every student she pushed out of the way. Apparently they thought she had her strength and stuff under control, but seeing how pretty I am made her forget she doesn't have the body of a seven year old little girl anymore.”

“What cottage is she in?”

“Hawtho- Dammit!” she yelled.

“What's wrong?”

She hid her face in her hands. “I have to go to Hawthorne after lunch for my second day of detention. I'm going to be seeing her everyday for three weeks. I'm doomed!”

“What if you go ask security to change your detention?” Thad suggested.

She flew up and kissed his forehead. “You're a genius! Come on!”

“Wait, why do I need to come?” he asked, as she grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the tunnel entrance.

They reached security and walked right up to the front desk. She remembered the officer there from the other day. “Hi Mr. Harris. Um, can... can I talk to Chief Delarose about something really important?”

He gave her and Thad a cautious once over. “He's rather busy right now dealing with the problem from this morning, Ms. Mouser. Maybe I can help.”

“Well, you see, um... Thad you explain!” she said, jumping behind him.

“Um, right,” Thad said, his voice cracking. “Teri was saying that the girl this morning, India? Uh anyways, she's in Hawthorne where she... Teri I mean, is doing her detention. So, well Teri is wondering if she could not do her detention.”

“Not, not do my detention, just not do it at Hawthorne!” Teri shouted over his shoulder.

Harris, shook his head. “I'm sorry but I can't switch your detention assignment. But I'll tell Ms. Cantrel about your concern. Don't worry, she'll make sure if you see India that there will be someone there to keep anything like this morning from happening. And if something does happen or you don't feel safe after trying it today, Chief Delarose will get you something a bit more appropriate.”

“Ok,” she said, draping herself over Thad's shoulder in defeat. “Thanks anyways.”

“Where to now?” Thad asked as they walked away.

“Anywhere,” she said into his shirt. “I'm going to be crushed to death by a hairy seven year old kid this afternoon.”

Picking her off his shoulder by her feet he held her up to his face. “What happened to the girl who yelled at the MCO? Who pretended to be a pigeon in front of the Headmistress? Who hung a person who was like fifty times your own size from her bra in Crystal Hall?”

“She was attacked by a Sasquatch, and now has to get ready for round two,” Teri replied swaying in the wind.

He gave her a good shake. “With that attitude you're doomed. You just have to be clever about it and you can keep her off your back.”

“Oh yeah? What would you do against a hundred foot tall giant who can run as fast as you and jump as high as you can fly?”

“I don't know. Find something to get it's attention away from me, I guess.”

There was some nasty laughter. “Oh, is the little baby talking to his dolly because he misses his mommy.”

Teri turned around still upside down. “Sorry nope, I don't have any dolls. And I think you need glasses, I'm obviously a girl.”

“Oh, crap,” Thad whispered, looking at the very strong looking teenager in front of them. “Hey Legbreaker, I've heard about you, you're a PDP. You're like one of the coolest kids in Twain.”

The boy smiled a little. “Flattery will get you pretty far. Tell you what. Throw your friend away and I won't beat you up.”

Teri looked at Thad, who looked like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Very quietly, Thad said, “Uh, Legbreaker, that might not be such a good idea.”

“PDP, that means you have a forcefield right?” Teri asked.

Punching the wall hard enough to leave a crack in it, Legbreaker took a step forward, an evil smile on his face. “Yeah, there's not a thing you can do to hurt me. So you're not going to throw her away? I guess I'll get to pound two idiots today than.”

He took another step, raising his foot high to really stomp the ground. Teri moved into action, slipping out of Thad's hand, she grabbed the bullies shoe, coming in from the side to put him off balance. He started to spin and she went with it, her PK field grabbing the boy and making him seem almost weightless to her. This did nothing for his actual mass however. With just one spin she was thrown off her feet still flapping her wings, and the began flying down the hallway, just like an out of control top.

With Teri in the very center, Legbreaker hit the walls of the tunnel, trying to grab something, anything to stop the spinning, leaving head size dents in the stone. Then the vomiting started.

Teri was finally able to let go, staggered a few steps, and then fell to her knees throwing up. Legbreaker, was on his belly, gagging and spitting, clutching the floor and moaning for it to stop moving.

Thad ran over, grabbed Teri and took off.

“Whee! Stop the world! I want to get off!” Teri shouted.

“I am so dead later,” Thad gasped, not slowing down in the slightest.

**

Teri flew into Hawthorne, carrying a plastic bag. She, Thad and Serena had went shopping at the school store earlier getting school supplies, things for their room, and for Teri a few survival items.

Louis was waiting for her. “Teri, how are you doing?” he asked.

“Pretty good. Um is India around?”

“Don't worry she's in the common room, with Slab and a few others, she won't go near you and if she tries we can keep her from overreacting,” he assured her.

Biting her lip, Teri said, “Actually, I kind of want to see her. But yeah, keep the big guys around her, just in case.”

“If you're sure, I think that would be good for both of you. Follow me.” Louis walked up the stairs, leading her to the common room.

India was sitting hunched over a table, the big black guy from the day before was talking to a bone white girl with metallic silver hair and a lot of tattoos. A few people she saw briefly the day before were there as well, one girl wearing a sweater was sitting beside India, pointing something out to her.

“India,” Louis said, “there is someone here who wants to talk to you.”

The enormous girl turned around, her eyes were red probably from crying. When she saw Teri her bottom lip started to quiver. “I'M SORRY!” she shouted, causing Teri to fly behind Louis. “I just saw you and you were so cute, I just wanted to give you a big hug.”

Peeking out of Louis' chest, Teri watched the big girl for any sign of a hugging. When the girl didn't do anything except play with the hem of her dress, she flew towards her. “Ok then. I don't mind hugging, but you have to at least ask first, and not hold me for like twenty minutes. And if you REALLY want to hug me and can't control yourself, I got you this. You can hug it as much as you like,” Teri said holding out the bag.

Gingerly, India took the bag and looked inside. She grinned, showing off teeth that were almost as large as Teri. “Oh, she's so nice,” India said, pulling a large stuffed butterfly from the bag. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“India aren't you forgetting something?” the big guy asked.

“Oh yeah, sorry Slab.” India turned to grab a piece of paper from the table.” I have to give you this, the principal said it was part of my punishment. Frostbite helped me. I'm really, really, really, really sorry.”

Teri took the paper which was covered in childish printing. It was a full page apology and basically begging for forgiveness. Looking at the sad, tear filled eyes of the hairy, little girl who was like a hundred feet tall compared to her, Teri felt her heart melt. “Awww, I forgive you!” flying up to kiss the girls pudgy nose.

India squealed with joy, and reached out to give Teri a hug, stopped and then squeezed the butterfly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Alright India, you still have a lot more apologies to write, and Teri still needs to work for her detention,” Louis said.

“Ok,” India and Teri both said, with a groan.

“So am I cleaning your pool again?” Teri asked. “Because I seriously think that's cruel and unusual punishment for someone my size.”

“Don't worry, no more pool cleaning unless you do something really bad,” he said, with a chuckle. “We're actually hoping you could help out some of the residents, with settling in. Once classes start tomorrow we'll most likely have you helping out some of the students who need help in English and math, as well as a few classes you might share with them.”

Whispering a prayer of thanks to whoever was listening, she followed Louis to a door with the name Dr. Heavy written on it. Someone had taped a piece of paper in between the two words, with 'NOT', written on it. In black marker.

Teri knocked on the door. A boy shouted for her to wait, and a minute later the door opened, also the gravity seemed to disappeared. This was bad, because she'd been flying and with the sudden disappearance of gravity her wings sent her flying into the ceiling.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” she cried, standing upside down, rubbing her head.

A boy who looked to be all of eight years old, but with an adult size head, grabbed the top of the door frame and looked at her. “Hey Fubar, you found someone smaller than me!”

“Dr. Heavy, this is Teri, she'll be helping you get everything organized in your new room,” Louis said.

“Hi,” she said, still rubbing her head. “What happened to the gravity?”

The boy did a backwards somersault, grabbing a rope that hung from the ceiling of his room. “It's my power, I stop gravity around me. It's pretty cool, and this term they gave me a little jet pack so I can fly around the tunnels and buildings, I can even go to class now.”

Carefully, Teri flew into the room, grabbing another rope to stop herself. Lying on her back in midair, with her hands behind her head, she grinned at him. “This is a lot easier than flying around all the time. Are you really a doctor?”

“Yeah, I got my doctorate in computer science when I turned fourteen, just before manifesting.”

“Wow, I'm still struggling with high school. So what exactly do you need?”

“I need to unpack my bags, but I can't really get a lot done when everything keeps floating away,” he said pointing at the clothes and things that were floating all over the room.

“It's all clean?” she asked, eyeing the underwear nervously.

“Yeah.”

“Cool.” With that, she started going around the room, quickly learning how to control herself with her wings, and bouncing off of different things in a controlled fashion. They talked a bit as she worked. He told her how he used to give off 8g's of force, and that was how he got his name, until a girl from Poe, reversed it. He called it the best day of his life.

She told him about her own manifestation, which had him turning green for some reason. And then they started showing off what they could do in 0g. After ten minutes of twisting, turning, and bouncing off of everything in the room, Louis popped up. “Teri, it's time to get to work in another room.”

“By Heavy, keep working on your triple backflip, you almost have it,” she said, flying to the door. “Ok, Louis what next?”

She spent the rest of the two hours helping a girl called Jello, who could barely work up the energy to do much more then watch a video on her laptop, and point at where her clothes and stuff were suppose to go to. Followed by mopping the floors again, and finally fetching supper from Crystal Hall for India, and a few other Thornies who couldn't leave.

Then she was finally released and after a quick shower under the faucet at Whitman, and a fast supper alone, Teri was able to sit in the common room with fabric and sewing supplies.

“Whatcha doing?” a girl with paper for skin that was covered in strange symbols, and long ink black hair asked.

“Sewing myself a gi, for martial arts. They don't have any in my size,” Teri answered, using a claw to cut some fabric. Grabbing a two inch piece of thick thread with marks placed regularly along it, she measured the thick cotton again, and marked it with the nub of a charcoal pencil, and cut it again.

“You could just go to Cecelia, and save yourself all this trouble,” the girl said.

“Who?”

She seemed amazed that Teri didn't know who she was talking about. “Cecilia, she has a clothes shop in Dunwich. She can make clothes for anyone in a few hours. No one told you?”

“No. So thanks for letting me know, I'll try to see her this week. I'm Teri.”

“Page. That's my code name. I never thought I'd have a code name like a superhero,' she said, her cheeks became black, like someone had coated them in ink.

“My code name is Tink. I don't use it much, I don't really see the point,” she said, spreading her wings.

Page nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, that would be hard to hide. You're really good at sewing, how can you do it so quickly?”

“I don't have any trouble with the thread and needle being too small,” she explained. “So it's really easy for me. And I had to make my own clothes for a while.”

“That's neat. My mom tried to make me learn how to sew, but I kept poking my fingers and finally gave up.”

“What are your powers?” Teri asked.

“I'm a psychic and a low level wizard. I can read minds and emotions. But don't worry I know how to stop it, and I wouldn't dream of using it on people,” Page hastened to add.

Teri stopped sewing the pant leg, and eyed the girl. “That is... COOL! What am I thinking right now?”

“A-are you sure you want me to read your mind? Most people freak out when they learn what I can do.”

“Yeah, go for it.”

Page took a deep breath and closed her eye. Her skin became pure white, and than words appeared on her face and arms. Teri flew up to get a better look at them. She started singing what she saw, “This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my-”

“Ok, enough! I don't want that song stuck in my head all night,” Page shouted. The words on her skin coalesced back into the mix of symbols and patterns.

Teri fell back to the cushion. “That was so cool! I could read what I was thinking!”

“Yeah, that makes using my power really, really awkward,” the girl moaned.

“Can you control what your skin shows?”

Page nodded. “A little, but its pretty hard.”

“Oh man you can make it look like you have really bad ass tattoos. Or embarrass someone by pretending your reading their mind, and writing down some really embarrassing stuff, like he's worried about his tiny penis, or a girl is still sore from a wild night with her boyfriend,” Teri said, thinking of all the things she would do with that.

“I couldn't do that!”

“Fine, fine. What classes are you taking?”

**

It was lights out by the time Teri finished her gi. She'd have gotten it done faster but she'd talked to a bunch of different girls, while sewing and cutting.

The gi wasn't great, the edges were barely hemmed, one leg was shorter than the other, it was a little loose in the top, and the holes for her wings were a bit too wide. But it would do until she could make a better one, or get to Cecilia. It wasn't like someone would look at her closely enough to notice the problems, they'd need a magnifying glass.

Heading off for bed, she wondered what her first day of classes would bring.

**

The campus was a lot more crowded and full of amazing sights, that had freshmen looking around in awe as they headed to the Schuster Hall auditorium for the opening day assembly. Teri was flying over the crowd, trying out do a cloud boy who was changing his body into steadily stranger things, as she did aerial gymnastics. They were joined by a boy and girl who looked like twins, and began flying circles around them. This got a lot of other students who could fly, or at least jump joining in, showing off what they could do.

The bell rang informing them it was time for the fun to end. With a wave to her fellow fliers, Teri flew to where her fellow cottage mates and landed on Serena's shoulder.

“I don't think that's the school uniform,” Serena said, looking at the mouse dress Teri was wearing.

“It's my uniform, and a part of my fairy heritage. Both of which are perfectly acceptable according to the student handbook,” she said, smoothing the black fur.

Page reached out to stroke the fur dress. “Is that real fur?”

“Yep. My dad taught me how to tan leather, so I made a few dresses out of mouse skin after I manifested, since I didn't want to wear dish clothes or doll clothes all the time.”

“I thought a costume had to hide your face.”

Teri put her braided hair through a hole in the dress as she pulled up her hood made from the mouse head, which covered her upper face. Some hastily sewn on loops of strings to hidden buttons on her shoulders, kept it in place and she was able to peer out of the eye holes, which gave her a mouse like appearance. “How's this?”

“Disturbing,” Serena said.

“Excellent!”

They filed in, Whitman was the second of the cottages, so they were near the front. Teri waved at a few of the kids from Hawthorne, as her cottage found their seats. Seeing that there was no way to see the stage, and not being interested in the speech, she pulled out a small piece of cloth she'd folded and stitched together to make a pillow.

“What are you doing?” Page asked.

“Catching up on my sleep. You height advantaged people have to look awake, not a problem for me. Can you make sure no one sits on me?” she asked.

“No. If I have to suffer through this, so do you,” Serena said, giving her a light poke in the ribs.

“Hey that's not fair, this is like the one advantage I have over you guys, and you won't let me abuse it for all it's worth?”

Serena glared at her. “I don't think I've seen you walk more than five feet since I met you. You're always getting rides in backpacks and shoulders.”

“Five feet for you is like five miles for me. Look at my tiny little legs! And it's not like I weigh much more than a pencil case,” Teri said.

“You're staying awake, Teri. I have a bottle of water, and I'm not afraid to use it,” Page said, pulling out a bottle that was big enough to hold Teri inside.

“Fine. But I don't have to pay attention,” she insisted.

“No problem, we won't either.”

The speech finally started, and within the first minute Teri had fallen asleep. No one poked her or tried to drown her.

**

After the assembly, they filed out for their classes. Teri flew to her locker to grab her child size backpack she'd stashed there the day before. Throwing her change purse inside, she headed for the first class of the day, Japanese.

Able to fly over the crowd, even with her backpack hanging down, she made it to class with plenty of time to spare. Strangely, as she was going along, she saw an Asian girl wearing a vest covered in gadgets, who couldn't be older then eleven or possibly twelve, walking through the crowd, and a lot of much bigger kids were getting out of her way.

Wondering why the kid would get be walked around so carefully, while other much bigger students were struggling to move at more than a snails pace, she found a seat at the front of the class. Putting her shoes on the side of the desk, she struggled to pull out her notebook, flipping it to the part she'd marked for Japanese. To save space, considering her small writing, each class was going to be written down in the book. A single book would probably cover her for the term.

More students filed in, including the Asian girl. The girl scanned the room, and zeroed in Teri, with a squeal of excitement. “Hi, you're sssooo cute. I'm Generator, what's your name?”

Standing up, she did a little twirl in the air and curtsied. “Thank you, I'm Teri.”

Pulling something from a pocket, Generator pressed a button and three elf like fairies appeared. “Hi,” they said.

“OH! I'm not alone anymore!” Teri said, giving them a hug group hug. “Are you being enslaved by this horrible child?” she asked glaring at Generator.

“Yeah!” the blonde one cried. “I'm Trixie, and I've been locked up forced to server her since she kidnapped me.”

“She kidnapped me to! Right from my magic tree! She makes me wash her underwear! BY HAND!” the redheaded fairy cried.

“And we're kept in her pocket until she needs us! Do you know how boring that is?” the third one asked.

Generator began pressing buttons on her bracer. “Stupid AI. Definitely need to reprogram it later.”

“Don't worry sisters, I'll protect you. Just stick with me, and we'll overthrow our giant oppressors!” Flying to Generators desk she landed on the book bag, so she was eye to nose with the girl. “You've got a pretty nice set up here, using fairy slave labour, Generator. But things are going to change starting now. You can start washing your own underwear.”

There was a little cheer from behind her.

“No more shoving these poor, innocent little creatures in your pocket. They need fresh air and sun.”

“And ice cream!”

“And money! We've been wearing the same clothes all year”

Teri nodded. “Right, ice cream and money to.” She started muttering to herself, making numbers in the air. “Let's see, fairy minimum wage is fifty dollars an hour. Room and board is... You owe these fairies one million dollars. And of course my fee as their negotiator is 50% of the outcome, so that will be 1.5 million dollars payable by the end of the month.”

“HA!” Generator laughed. “Fairies don't exist, so I don't have to pay you anything. Nice try though.”

“Do I have to get the dwarf police and centaur lawyers after you? You won't like them when they're angry.”

“Bring them on! My roommate will eat them for breakfast.”

“She'd better bring a big appetite then. And a lot of water, I don't go down easily!” Teri paused. “Wait that doesn't sound right.”

There was a cough from the front of the room. “Maybe you can discuss this labour dispute after class,” the teacher, a handsome Japanese man said.

With a little eep, Teri jumped back to her desk, where she and her three fairy friends sat down on her book.

The teacher, Professor Shizuki, took attendance, and went over what would be expected in class, before going over some basic characters and words. Teri wrote everything down, with the help of the three fairies who corrected her characters. Brunhilda, the brunette fairy, whispered that Generator had been studying Chinese all last term, so they'd been programmed to know it as well.

At the end of class, the freshmen were given their school laptops. Teri could just fit it into her backpack, and unlike the others, hers had a little booklet taped to the shell, saying that it was voice activated so she wouldn't have to type on it.

As they got ready to leave class, the three fairies gave Teri a hug and jumped back into Generators pocket. “It was really nice meeting you Teri,” Generator said.

“I liked meeting you to. I was afraid this class would be boring.”

“So what class do you have next?”

“Powers Theory,” she said.

Generator rolled her eyes. “I hope you have coffee. Dr. Quintain can put anyone to sleep.”

“Hurray! I didn't get enough sleep during the assembly. Glad I brought my pillow. What class do you have?”

“Martial Arts. If you want to defend yourself, you have to take Sensei Ito's class.”

“I have that in third period. I have a gi and everything made up.”

They realized the classroom was empty when the warning bell rang. “Crap, gotta go! Bye Generator, see you tomorrow!”

By flying at top speed she made it to class just in time, the only seat left was right in the front row. That suited Teri fine, and she quickly pulled everything out, and was ready to go when Dr. Quintain started talking. Within the first minute she felt her eyelids drooping, to the monotone recitation of the book.

Looking around in a desperate bid to stay awake, Teri saw a few girls she knew from Whitman, Thad's roommate Sap sitting with a group of boys who ranged from looking baseline, to having see through skin, to being covered in rusty metal. There was a girl sitting off by herself, who seemed to be weaving and bobbing as she sat in her chair. Her hand wrote in her book, while her head rested on her wrist, two feet away. A group of baseline students who looked like high class models sat in the corner, eyeing the obvious GSD students warily.

Bored of staring at the students, she began doodling in her notebook. Even if the teacher saw her doodling, he couldn't say anything, he wouldn't be able to make out what she was writing.

**

Martial Arts, started off well. Emphasis on started.

She got a lot of odd looks in the change room, when she came in with her tiny cloth bag holding her gi and underclothes, she got even more looks than the blind girl and her kitten.

“Hey Teri, I didn't know you were in martial arts,” a frog girl from Whitman said.

“Hi Grace. Yeah I'm here, I need to learn how to fight properly,” she said miming some small punches.

“Teri, these are my friends Caroline and Taylor,” Grace said, pointing at the blind girl and a girl with a perfect body and long brown hair. “You guys, this is the crazy fairy I told you about, Teri.”

“Wow, I never saw anyone as small as you before. How do you think with such a small brain?” Taylor asked, leaning in close.

She stuck her tongue out at the girl. “Hey I'm pretty smart, so don't be making fun of my size.”

Caroline put her hand on the girls shoulder. “Taylor, remember people aren't your devises or machines. She may hang you from a light by your bra.”

“OOOHHH, you're that girl. Really sorry about that,” Taylor said, backing away a little. “I just meant that the brain can only go so small before it starts losing functions. It's a miracle you can ta- er, that you're as smart as you are.”

“I'm just awesome,” she said humbly. She quickly changed out of her clothes, putting a tank top on under her gi.

The four of them walked out and found most of the students already lined up along the edge of the mat. Some were standing, some were sitting on their butts, and a few were sitting on their knees. Caroline got on her knees, placing her white baton and kitten in front of her, while Grace crouched down more like a frog, and Taylor sprawled on the floor. Teri knelt down, beside the blind girl so she could be close to the kitten.

They made idle talk about their classes and cottages. Taylor and Caroline were roommates in Dickinson, and seemed to be pretty close. Teri warned them about how boring Powers Theory was, since they had it in the afternoon. And Grace told her about Costume Shop, since she'd had it in the second period.

The talk was getting interesting when a tiny Asian old Asian man came walking in followed by a tall black woman. Teri suddenly felt self conscious about her poorly made gi, as the old man looked over the students with what looked like passive contempt, noting every flaw he saw.

The black woman gave a brief introduction, introducing Ito Sensei, and herself Tolman Sensei , listing the rules of the class, and what was expected, and how skill trumped training. Then the little old man started talking, and things got really interesting when he picked out a girl who looked like an amazon warrior capable of taking out India. Caroline smirked when the girl got to the center of the mat, Teri really wanted to know how the girl knew what was going on.

“I am completely human but trained. You, Brianna, are superhuman, but untrained. You are a level five exemplar with skin capable of resisting high caliber bullets, and strength and agility well above anything a human can hope to achieve,” Ito explained. “I wish to fight you, to demonstrate what proper training can accomplish.

Brianna smiled, slamming her fist into her palm so hard it made Teri wince just listening to it. “Alright, sensei,” she growled.

“If either of us can restrain the other, or place our opponent in the capture cage we have won the fight.” He held out his hand a staff slammed into his hand. He spent another minute explaining the rules about bowing, where to stand at the beginning, and that 'hajime', meant begin.

They took their positions and bowed, then Tolman shouted hajime and the fight was on.

Brianna went on the offensive, swinging wildly but quickly. The way her muscles bulged, she was throwing everything she had into the punches. Not that it did any good. Ito moved almost casually out of the way of the blows, quickly backing up yet seeming utterly calm and relaxed.

The exemplar gave a scream of rage and her fists became a blur, for all of a second.

The staff went between her legs, right at the knees. Using her own right leg as a fulcrum, the staff slammed into her left leg hard enough to make half the class wince in sympathy. Her knew gave way, and she fell on butt.

She bounded to her feet, trying to do a spin kick. Ito raised his staff, letting her hit it with her inner thigh. The wood snapped in half, but Brianna fell flat on her face, much to Caroline's apparent delight, if Teri could judge by her laughter.

Ito backed away from the furious girl. He was sweating and looking nervous, taking his eyes off of Brianna for a second to wipe his brow. She saw the opening and charged him screaming. Some of the students screamed and covered their eyes expecting to see blood.

Teri leaned forward and saw Ito duck and dodge under Brianna's arms. She slammed into the door of the capture cage, bending double halfway in the cage. Ito grabbed her legs and flipped her in one easy motion, closing the door behind her.

“Do you yield, Brianna?” he asked, showing no sign of worry or tiredness.

“Fuck you! You cheated!” she screamed, grabbing the door trying to rip it off its hinges. The door rattled a little but didn't budge.

“Of course I cheated. I made you angry, and embarrassed so you would stop thinking,” he told her. Turning to the rest of the class. “In this class you will all learn how to cheat, use the environment, your enemies mistakes, tricks and your training to survive, because your enemies will be doing the very same. Now Brianna are you ready to concede?”

She glared at the Sensei, but nodded. He let her out of the cage and she stalked back to her place.

The class was split into two groups, Teri joined the side that had no training, which was most of the class. Ito Sensei first watched and instructed the trained group of four students, while Tolman showed Teri and the rest some basic moves and blocks.

“This is no good,” Ito Sensei said when he watched Teri go through the motions.

“What?” she said surprised, she had thought she'd been doing pretty well.

“Sensei. Call me sensei or soke.”

“What, Sensei?”

“When you fight, do you stand on the ground or fly?” he asked.

“I usually fly.”

He nodded. “Fly in front of me, brace yourself and use the block you were just practicing.”

Not sure what to expect, Teri did as she was asked. Ito hit her with an open palm right at her block, she went flying backwards out of control. “You're too small for this move. Anyone with any strength can knock you back.”

“I just wasn't ready!” Teri said.

“No you are too small. You must learn to use that to your advantage,” Ito said.

“I'm NOT too small!”

He looked at her carefully. “Tolman Sensei, come here.”

She came quickly. “Yes, Soke?”

“I'm going to demonstrate a basic arm lock Teri, watch closely.” Ito showed Teri how to grab the opponent and slowly went through the movements twice. Teri flew around watching every action. After the second time, he said, “Now lock my arm.”

Teri grabbed his arm, as copying the hold as closely as possible with her six inch arm span. Ito waited patiently as she failed to do anything that could possibly stop him from moving. When she hadn't given up after two full minutes, he flicked his arm like he was throwing a card. Teri flew across the room, cursing and screaming, and hit the wall with a solid thud.

Staggering to her feet, Ito walked over and looked down at her impassively. “You want to learn, which is good. But you have to learn your own style. One that relies on speed, deception, and some basic strength. Watch how the others are moving and think how you can move.”

Ignoring the snickers from some of the students, Teri flew around the class, watching, learning and thinking, but by the end of it, she hadn't come up with any good ideas.

Tink headed off for lunch after martial arts, not bothering with a shower since she hadn't done enough to work up a sweat. At Crystal Hall she met up with Page, Serena and a few other Whitman girls. They were all talking about their classes, which ranged from the common history, English and science; to the weird, magic, esper and quantum physics; to the holy cow they teach that at school! Which included firearms training and how to shoot a fire accurately at one hundred feet.

“You're not saying much for once Teri, what's up?” Page asked.

“I have homework for Martial Arts, and I'm trying to think,” she admitted.

“What you have to beat up five kids before tomorrow?” Serena joked.

“Ito, said I can't learn what he's teaching, I have to make my own style, since I'm too small. I've thought of a few things, but tying people up, dragging them into the air and dropping them, dive bombing them with things and people, and slashing them to ribbons with my claws won't help me much against bricks and people with forcefields,” she kicked a chicken nugget across her tray.

“You could use a weapon,” a normal looking girl except for her purple skin and constantly shifting hair said.

She frowned, “Thought of that Adira, but I'm too small to get one that would do any real damage. Being small sucks.”

“What about powders or something. Fly in throw a sack of something like pepper spray and they're blind. You don't need a lot of it.” Serena suggested.

“Thanks you guys, but what seems like a little bit to you is a lot to me,” Teri sighed. “I may not feel it weighing me down, but it's not exactly easy to carry things that are the same size as me.”

“So talk to a devisor and get a bag of holding,” Tracy, a perfectly ordinary girl Teri only really knew by name, said.

“A what?”

“My brother told me that a lot of devisors can make a pocket that's bigger on the inside than on the inside, and you don't feel the weight. A purse could hold ten or fifteen books, a belt pouch can carry a bazooka. If you have the money that would be great for you,” she said.

Teri's tray slid across the table as she jumped at Tracy, who gave a little shriek, landed on her shoulder and started kissing her cheek. “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! YOU'RE MY NEW BEST FRIEND!”

“You're welcome! Now let go!” Tracy shouted trying to push Teri away.

She let go, blushing. “Sorry, I got excited.”

“Ya think!” Tracy said, wiping her cheek with a napkin.

“So... Tracy, my good, wonderful, amazing, fantastic, excellent friend, do you know any devisors?”

**

Teri flew to Costume Shop, twirling and spinning through the air with a silly grin on her face. After much begging and puppy dog eyes, and a promise to never kiss her again, Tracy had agreed to talk to her brother about who Teri should talk to about getting a bag of holding. And Teri was already thinking about what she wanted.

Entering class, she again took a seat at the front of the class, and noticed that over half of the students there were suffering from GSD. Page came in a few minutes later and down beside Teri. “Hey, have you heard anything about this class?”

“Nope. I forgot to ask a sophomore I met this morning,” Teri said. “So are you going to be designing your superhero costume here?”

“Hah, watch out supervillains or I'll write down your most embarrassing thoughts on my face!” Page said in a loud voice. “It doesn't have quite the right ring to it. What do you want to learn? You already have your wild fairy costume.”

Teri straightened her mouse skin dress. “I'm hoping she'll tell me how to move up to cat skin dresses. And make them bullet proof, with a hundred hidden pockets to hold everything I need in them, and a cape so I can glide down out of the sky striking fear in the hearts of onlookers.”

“You don't need a cape to do that. Believe me, just five minutes talking to you ought to strike fear in most people.”

“HAHAHAHA! I love it!” Teri cackled rubbing her hands together.

Page looked around the room. “See just a minute or two of talking and you already have half the class thinking your nuts.”

An old woman who looked like she should be sleeping in a coffin to save everyone time, came walking in, wearing what seemed to be an old table cloth that had been mutilated to form what could kindly be called a dress by a near sighted bat.

“Good afternoon class, I am Mrs. Ryan,” she said in a cracked and wheezy voice.

Teri wrote down the what was expected in class, afraid that if she didn't the zombie teaching them would eat her brains. Even if her brain was tiny, she was very attached to it and would be quite upset if it disappeared down a maw.

Finally the aging vampire asked the class a question. “Who can tell me why you should wear a costume?”

Teri flew up raising her hand.

“Yes, the butterfly girl.”

“To make a statement,” Teri said as loudly as she could. Then she realized what she'd been called. “HEY! I'm no butterfly! I'm a fairy!”

“I'll be sure to remember that,” Mrs. Ryan said. “Thank you for your answer, that is one reason.”

Other students shouted out more obvious answers, from staying hidden, to freedom of movement, to protection and more. Then she asked for a volunteer who felt they stood out, and wanted to fit in a bit more.

Teri once more flew into the air with her hand raised, actually getting to within a foot of the evil ghost made flesh. In fact up close, she realized that the teacher looked almost exactly like Ms. Bitters from Invader Zim. “Oh! Oh! PICK ME PLEASE!”

“Very well, you will do nicely,” Mrs. Ryan said. “What is your name please?”

“Teri Mouser!”

“Teri, why aren't you wearing a standard school uniform?” she asked.

“This is my costume and a costume of my fairy heritage,” she said.

The teacher eyed her carefully. “As far as I know, and I have studied extensively, there is not and in the course of human history, never has been a fairy culture.”

“We're rather new, but going strong,” Teri said proudly. She noticed that half the class was trying not to laugh, a quarter of the class was laughing, and the rest were staring in amazement.

“...Right. How do you think wearing a skinned mouse makes you fit in?”

Teri cleared her throat preparing to speak loudly enough so that everyone could hear her. “I don't look human and never will. If I try to look normal people will assume I'm a mutant. If I look like this, they'll think I'm a cute fairy or something. Children love the look, and if worst comes to worst, people will call the police, not the MCO.”

“So you're making a statement that you're so different, you could come from a fairy tale and people don't have to worry about you?” she asked.

“Yes!”

Mrs. Ryan turned to the class. “What are some clothes she could wear to try to fit into society safely?”

“She could dress like a policeman,” someone said.

“I have a costume for that,” Teri said.

A girl shouted, “What about looking like a nurse?”

“Got that to.”

“A scientist oufit!”

“I have three.”

A business suit!”

“I have six of those,”

“Teri,” Mrs. Ryan said, “you actually have all of those outfits?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head happily.

“Why?”

“I model clothes for dolls, and I get the clothes when we're done. Would you like to see them?” she asked.

“Yes actually, if you could bring some in tomorrow we can discuss how different looks get different reactions.” Turning to the class, “Now, why are those costumes that were mentioned useful for fitting in?”

**

“I can't believe you got away with that,” Page said after class.

“Got away with what?” Teri asked.

“Saying that your dress is part of your culture,” her friend said as if it was obvious.

“Well it is. As long as I'm the only fairy in the world, I make up the culture. I can't help it if I'm all alone in this cruel world.” She glanced at her schedule, “I have Calculus now, what about you?”

“Physics, joy.”

“Have fun. I'll see you at supper,” Teri said flying off.

The rest of the day passed normally, if in a rather boring way. Even detention at Hawthorne was merely helping clean things up. By the time it was lights out, Teri was actually wishing something interesting would happen.

**

Teri flew to the table with a cereal box ripped open at the top and the plastic bag holding the cereal full of milk, there were some glares from people who had wanted the cereal, but she ignored all of them.

“What on earth is that?” Thad asked, while Serena, Page and Sap looked at her in amazement.

“A short time offer of Sugar Coated Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, with extra frosting. The breakfast of champions!” she shouted. Stripping out of her mouse dress, revealing a bathing suit, Teri grabbed a spoon flew to the top of the box and proceeded to eat enough sugar in five minutes to cause a sugar overdose in an entire kindergarten class.

“SOWHO'SUPFORDOINGSOMELAPSBEFORECLASS?ORCLIMBINGCRYSTALHALLANDMOONINGTHETHIRDFLOORELITE?” she asked.

Everyone edged away from the twitching fairy girl, wondering who would be the first target of a super powered hug, kiss or some other bout of insanity, and wondering if an attempt at a fast getaway would make them the focus of Teri's attention.

“Teri, how about you start run- er, flying and we'll catch up to you after breakfast,” Serena suggested, speaking slowly and calmly.

“OKTHATSOUNDSLIKEAREALLYGOODIDEA!!!BYEBYE!!!” and she took off, pulling an impressive 0 to 40 in three seconds. The doors being made of an extremely hard crystal, survived the impact although the metal frames did flex dangerously before returning to their original shape and the hinges smoked for a few seconds afterwards.

“So who's going to give Teri her dress back when she calms down?” Thad asked.

**

Teri flew around the campus like an out of control ping pong ball, following whatever caught her attention. This led to several strange experiences for students and teachers making their way to classes and breakfast.

**

Earth Mother and Eliza Grimes were on there way to Kirby Hall discussing some of the more intriguing new freshmen, when Earth Mother stumbled forward a shocked expression on her face.

“BEHOLD MY NEW JUNGLE KINGDOM!” a squeaky voice shouted from the general area of Earth Mothers' vine covered lower back. “I CLAIM THIS LAND IN THE NAME OF THE FAIRIES!”

Before either woman could get over their shock, the voice shouted again. “OH DOGGIE!!”

There was an eruption of leaves and flowers and a streak of colour could barely be seen flying towards a werewolf looking boy.

“What was that?” Grimes and Earth Mother asked in stereo.

**

Generator was just telling everyone in Team Kimba about how interesting Japanese class was as they went to get breakfast, when something grabbed her shirt spinning her around. It had been moving so fast she hadn't seen it moving until the last second, and before she had stopped spinning her Kitty Compact was flying with the blades out, while the rest of the team ready for action.

“HI GENERATOR!” Teri yelled, not realizing how closely she had come to pain. “DO YOU HAVE YOUR FAIRIES FOR JAPANESE CLASS?! I CAN'T WAIT TO TALK TO- RYOKO!!!!!!” the fairy girl screamed in delight upon seeing Tennyo.

Tennyo fell backwards as she was hugged by a fairy no bigger than her hand, who didn't seem to know how to shut up, as it gushed about how cool her Tenchi Muyo was.

“Jade! What is this thing?!” she finally managed to get out.

Before Jade could say anything, Teri was off and flying, screaming something about pretty flowers.

“Um,” Jade said at once for a loss of words.

**

The Outcasts stopped to watch as a group of freshmen screamed and scattered from something. Jericho discretely tried to zoom in with the spy camera he'd created and attached to his clothes where it wasn't really noticeable.

He saw a bird or something stop in midair, take one look at Razorback and begin to fly towards them like a miniature guided missile. His hand instinctively went to the sonic weapon in case the thing attacked Razor and set him off. There wasn't enough time to do more than that when the fairy stopped just over ten feet away, looked at Jericho's trendy and colourful outfit, screamed in terror and flew straight up still screaming.

'What the hell?' Razorback signed.

“I don't know,” Jericho said.

Eldritch was shaking her head and muttering something about crazy fairies.

***

Chief Delarose sat in his office going over security reports from that night as he drank his herbal tea. There was a knock on his door, and Sam came in. “Chief, we have a lot of strange reports of a talking bird assaulting students and faculty, then fleeing at high speed. No reports of injuries yet.”

“A bird?”

“Well the reports vary, but they all say it is small, has wings, talks and flies at high speeds,” Sam said.

“I think I have an idea of who it is. Just give me a minute,” Delarose said. Picking up his desk phone he hit a button for the PA system. “Tink please come to the security office. I repeat, TINK, please come to the security office immediately.”

“Where was the last reported sighting?” he asked Sam.

“By Dickinson, the student, I'm assuming, was playing with some squirrels feeding them a granola bar she had stolen from a girl.”

There was a shout from the hallway and Sam ducked just in time as a fairy girl wearing a bathing suit, came flying in and splatted against the wall behind Chief Delarose's desk. Delarose gave a long suffering sigh as he heard the girl fall to the ground.

“I'm ok. I'm ok,” Tink said. Jumping onto his desk, she stumbled over the security reports for a few seconds before falling on her back. “Hi Chief, you called me? I came as fast as I could,” she said still lying on her back.

“Ms. Mouser, what are you doing?” he asked.

“Talking to the most interesting people,” she replied.

“Why are you wearing a bathing suit?”

She raised her head high enough to look at her body. “...I don't know.”

Speaking slowly and distinctly, Delarose asked. “Do you remember what you were doing before you started flying around?”

“... Not really. There was milk... and chocolate... and I think sugar... and then things get blurry.”

He rubbed his forehead fighting off a headache. “Since you already have three weeks worth of detention, I don't want to add anymore to it. You're getting your powers tested today, so that we can, hopefully, avoid this happening again in the future. Sam can you please escort Tink to the testing lab.”

The two left, Sam carrying Tink to make sure she didn't fly away if she saw something colourful. As he tried to get back to work on the security reports, his phone rang. Sighing again he picked it up.

“Chief why am I getting calls from several faculty members about being attacked on their way to class?” Carson asked.

He rubbed his forehead again, today was going to be one of those days.

“So Teri, how was your power testing? Are you safe and sane now?” Serena asked late that night when Teri came stumbling in, well after dark.

“It was awesome,” the fairy said flying over to her bed. “Let me tell you all about it.”

**

“Dr. Hendricks, I'm sorry but there has been a change in the power testing schedule,” Admiral Everheart said, as she walked into the lab holding a doll in her hand.

“What? Why?” he asked, standing up so quickly he banged his head on the shelf over top his computer.

“This student, Tink, is showing unusual symptoms, irrationality, ADHD, forgetfulness and increased speed after consuming an entire box of a sugary cereal. The Chief decided it was essential to get her tested to avoid a recurrence.” She placed a fairy like girl wearing a bathing suit on an unoccupied desk.

The sight of her reminded him of the file he'd read a week ago when they were planning everything. “But her powers are relatively straightforward. Her GSD is unique but there is nothing that requires immediate attention. That's why she's scheduled for next week.”

Tink flew over to him, landing on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. “See! I'm perfectly fine, and don't need any of this. The Chief is just being overly protective. Can I go to class now, I really don't want to miss Japanese.”

Admiral Everheart gave her a look that would strike fear in seasoned soldiers. “Tink, after your actions this morning, you have at least ten faculty members lodging complaints against the bio devise that escaped containment. Ms. Chulkris was last seen preparing several counter spells if anyone attempted to declare her body their kingdom again. Finally we have five new training teams of students who have stated their desire to hunt down the crazy bird that attacked them. You need this.”

The tiny mutant looked at her feet and traced circles on the desktop with her toe. “Oh. Sorry.”

Hendricks sighed. “Alright, let's get started. Tink we'll begin with a scan of your brain, please come with me.” She followed him to another room, where a devise that looked vaguely like a bare bones MRI sat in the middle of the room. Seeing that the girl was already in a bathing suit, he didn't bother having her strip and put on a gown.

“Lie down on the table with your head on the...” he looked at her small size. “With your body on the pillow. This will take about three minutes, and is completely painless.”

“Ok, Doc,” she said, jumping up onto the scanner.

As he began typing instructions into the terminal, he wondered what the problem was, she seemed obedient enough. After a minute, the screen lit up, Hendricks waited the few seconds it would take to show exactly what her brain activity was like.

“That's odd,” he said.

“What's odd?”

“There's nothing there,” he said punching some keys to increase the magnification.

“Are you saying I'm brainless,” an indignant voice demanded.

He looked up and saw Tink standing on top of the terminal, looking quite peeved. “What are you doing?”

“You said it would take three minutes.”

“Yes, I did. Now what are you doing out of the devise?”

“It's definitely been three minutes, so I got up.”

He looked at the clock. “No it's been just over two minutes. Please get back on the machine.”

Sighing, she flew back to the machine and laid on the pillow. Hendricks began typing in the commands again. Once more the image appeared.

Again there was nothing there.

He looked up and there was Tink, smiling contentedly, humming to herself. “What are you doing now?”

“It's been five minutes since I got into the machine. Are we done yet?” Tink asked.

“No,” he said slowly. “We have to start from the beginning again because you keep leaving the machine. Now please lie down and we can begin again. When I say starting, that is the beginning of the count down. Do you understand?”

“So we have to start all over again?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Lets get this over with,” she said as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

He waited until she was lying down and began typing in the commands. When he was half done, he said loudly and clearly, “Starting.”

The image came onscreen. Rather than having a nice clear picture of her brain, it was a fuzzy bundle of colour. He'd never seen anything like it. With a heavy heart he looked at the devise, Tink was there writhing and bouncing on the bed like she was having a seizure, while singing quietly to herself.

“What are you doing?!” he asked.

“Dancing.”

He took a deep breath before speaking. “Why are you dancing?”

“I'm bored.”

“Do you realize you are suppose to stay still for this?”

“Oh, you didn't tell me. You should be more clear about what to do, Doc,” she said, lying still.

Once again he began typing in the instructions. The image came up, and he started to chuckle, there was nothing there. Without looking up, he asked, “Tink, why did you move off the table?”

From the top of the terminal a high pitched voice said, “Well it's been at least four minutes since you said starting. I thought we were done.”

“Nnnnoooo. We had to start over again, because you were dancing.”

“Why didn't you say so?” she asked, giving an exasperated sight.

Silently, he went to his desk, and after a quick search came back with something that would help. “Tink, for this test can you please wrap your wings around yourself, and hold still for thirty seconds?”

**

As Hendricks looked over the brain scan, he had to admit his subject was finally behaving. “Just another minute and we'll be done this part of the test,” he told her.

She mumbled something unintelligible thanks to the strong medical tape that was wrapped around her like a cocoon.

**

“AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!” Teri screamed.

“Oh dear,” Hendricks said, staring at the needle that had gone clean through Teri's arm. Grabbing the phone he hit the emergency button for Doyle. “Send Banned Aids here immediately.”

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!” Teri continued to scream as blood began shoot out of her like a water fountain.

“Well might as well get the blood sample we need,” the doctor said to himself, putting a vial over top of the spurting wound.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”

“You should be unconscious by now. How are you still screaming?” he asked, putting a cork on the tube full of blood.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”

**

“How are you feeling now, Teri?”

“I'm... fine. Why... is the... the... the... room... spinning so much?” she asked, lying on her back and looking pale, even after getting healed.

“You're a little low on blood.” He put some energy drink into a small cup beside her. “You're a regenerator just take a drink and wait a few minutes.”

**

A full physical came next, after giving Tink a few more minutes to recover. That was fine since he had had to find a magnifying glass before he could do the most basic of things. The hardest part had been finding her a gown to wear for the final part of the exam. They'd resorted to using a tissue with a hole ripped in it. A nurse was there to help out and to make sure he acted professionally during the intimate procedure.

And then they ran into a problem.

“NO! NO! NO! NO!” Tink yelled. She was sitting on the highest shelf in the room with her legs crossed and her wings folded around her.

“But it's an essential part of studying how your GSD has affected your body,” Dr. Hendricks said, from down below.

“What part of NO, don't you understand! Those things are bigger than me and you want to stick them where?!”

He looked at the speculum and had to admit she had a point.

**

Finally they were able to begin testing her powers properly.

Dr. Hendricks watched patiently as Tink ran up an 80 degree slope using her her clawed hands and the rough soles of her feet. She was running about as fast as a good sprinter, and didn't seem to be anywhere near tiring.

“You're not going to throw a tennis ball at me are you?” she asked.

“Of course not,” he assured her. He pressed a button and something that looked remarkably like an anvil fell on top of her, flattening her, and sending her rocketing to the floor, where the anvil fell on top of her again with a clang.

“A tennis ball is far too primitive for Whateley,” he said. “I see you have no danger sense.”

He looked up from his console as growling filled the air.

“What are you doing with that?” Hendricks asked nervously, backing away from the flying anvil.

**

“Ow. We're now, ow, going to do some strength tests,” Dr. Hendricks said, holding an ice bag to his bruised skull, and hoping the pain killers he'd taken would stop him from seeing double. Groaning, he pressed the button which started the weight lifting machine.

“I can't lift more than four hundred pounds, remember.” Tink said, as she started pumping.

“I remember.” He slowly upped the weight until the magnetic weights reached four hundred. Then he went a little higher. She still acted as if it was a light workout. Slowing twisting the knob the weight went up, 403, 404, 405, 406...

“AAAHHHH!!!!!!” she screamed as the weight came crashing down.

“Huh, she can lift four hundred and eight pounds now. Interesting,” he said, writing it down. Looking at the kicking legs, he said, “I'll just be a second, Tink. Have to get these findings down while they're still fresh.”

There was the clang of metal, Hendricks looked up to see Tink glaring at him, slapping the bar in her hands.

“PK field can increase in strength while angry. Wish I'd known that earlier,” he said, backing away from the girl.

“COME BACK HERE YOU QUACK!” she shouted.

“Stay away from me! This is all standard practice!” he shouted running away.

**

“If you'll come this way please, Tink we'll start our next test,” Dr. Hendricks said, holding open a thick metal door for the girl.

Tink glared at him, clearly not trusting what was going to happen next. With good reason, as soon as she was inside, Hendricks slammed the door shut and locked it. Limping quickly to the control panel, he pressed a button to begin the agility test, muting the mics in the room so he didn't have to listen to the non-stop swearing.

He had to admit she was pretty good, possibly having some exemplar abilities. She dodged most of the balls until he upped the speed and then she was caught between two balls and a third sent her flying into a wall as she dropped.

The test ended and he opened the door.

“Sorry about that, Tink, but I assure you it is a stand- hey what are you doing?!” he shouted as she grabbed him.

**

“Lets see how you like it!” Tink shouted.

She turned on the volleyballs and watched as the doctor tried to dodge them. Taking a bag of microwave popcorn she'd heated up a minute before while listening to Dr. Hendricks hammering on the door, she sat back and watched the show.

**


Sitting with a groan, Dr. Hendricks held the ice pack to his knee and took another pain pill. “Let's do something easier and less painful now.”

“Ok!” Tink said, happily.

Dr. Hendricks took a moment to explain the initial rules of dis chess, and they started playing. She did ok and then five minutes later the rules changed.

“Hey that's cheating!” she said as he took one of her pieces.

“No it's not. It's the rules in phase two,” he told her.

“Really?”

He nodded.

“Ok.” She took a piece and had it hopscotch across the board jumping over three of his pieces. “King me.”

“That's not right!”

“It's the rules for phase 3. Now king me.”

“Phase 3 doesn't start for another three minutes. And it doesn't have a king,” he told her.

She looked at him like he was an idiot for several moments. “How can a chess game not have a king?”

“Well it does have a king, but not that type of king.”

“Not until Phase 3 at least,” she said slowly, like she was speaking to a small and none to bright child.

“Right. No! Even in Phase 3 there isn't a king.”

“But there is a king right there,” Tink said pointing at the king.

“He doesn't count. You have to checkmate him, you can't make him.”

“Not until Phase 3, when that move I made becomes totally legal,” she insisted.

“No, that was an illegal move!”

“Until Phase 3.”

“Whatever, you have to take it back now, because it's not Phase 3 yet.”

“Actually,” she said, dragging the word out as long as possible. “It's now Phase 3.” Tink pointed at the clock which showed it had been just over three minutes. “So king me.”

Dr. Hendricks began to cry.

**

**

“WHY AREN'T YOU BUILDING SOMETHING?!” Dr. Hendricks yelled at an apparently sleeping Tink.

She opened an eye. “Shush, I did build something and now I'm testing it. It's called a bed. It needs work but its the best I can do with the material.”

“That is not a bed,” he cried, looking at the pipe which was full of carefully braided plastic coated wire and paper she'd grabbed from around the room.

“Maybe not for you, you're way too big, but I'm quite comfortable. You said I had thirty minutes for the test, so I still have ten minutes, and the testing phase is VERY important. I'd appreciate it if you didn't disturb me.”

Hendricks went into a nice quiet room and screamed.

**

“Oh! Marbles!” Teri shouted, her eyes lighting up at the dozen brightly coloured jewels.

“No, they're not-” Hendricks said, but he was too late.

Teri picked up a pretty yellow cats-eye aimed at the largest blue crystal and sent it flying. “OH PRETTY!” she squealed as the two marbles collided, setting off firework like sparks. Grabbing a pink one she sent that into the mix, turning the rainbows into anti-gravity that sent both of them into the air. Grabbing more of them, as Hendricks vainly tried to move in 0g, and keep the marbles away from her, Teri began bouncing the marbles all around the room, zipping after them as quickly as possible. The air turned blue, sparks turned the doctors hair purple, made a wall invisible, had Teri singing show tunes, and the computer playing rap.

Finally the fireworks ended and the crystals blew up in a rainbow of colours. Teri zipped under the table, while Hendricks flew around the room like a beach ball.

When the last of the rainbows died Teri looked out to see that everything had gone back to normal. Well almost everything. Every square inch of Dr. Hendricks was rainbow coloured, and his hair was three feet longer.

“Is it over?” he asked, a puff of purple smoke coming from his mouth.

“I think so.”

“Oh good. “Please remember Tink. When you see shiny, glowing crystals, they are NOT marbles,” he said a second before falling flat on his face.

“Duly noted,” she said, wondering if se should wake him up or not.

**

It was the end of the day, and the testing was finally done. The colourful Hendricks handed a paper to Tink. “This will be sent to Dr. Quintain, but you should know what's on it. You are a PK 2, with one field around your hands and another one around your wings which help you fly. When angry or excited it moves up to PK 3. Esper 1, to account for your night vision, and severe GSD, since your brain shouldn't work. I'm writing you up a very special diet to avoid anything like today from happening again. STICK TO IT!!!”

Tink smiled at him, hopped up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Ok, thank you! I had a lot of fun today! And your hair looks great. Bye bye.”

As she left, she saw him slump to the floor crying into his beautiful long hair.

**

“And that's exactly what happened,” Teri told her audience that had slowly wandered in.

“He dropped an anvil on you?” Mischief asked in disbelief.

“Yeah.”

“You turned his hair rainbow colour?” Grace asked.

“Yep. Every word is true,” she insisted.

“Right,” Serena said. “I've got powers testing tomorrow, so I guess I'll see for myself.”

**

Late the Next Day

Serena walked into the common room, looking absolutely stunned.

“What's up? Mischief asked, looking up from her sketchpad.

“Dr. Hendricks hair was rainbow coloured,” she whispered.

“Teri was telling the truth?!”

“I don't know. I didn't want to ask him.”

On Saturday morning, Teri flew glumly to the table full of Whitman girls, holding her tray of so called breakfast that had been specially made just for her. A mouselike girl she didn't know very well, called Pepper, looked at the unflavoured porridge, buttered toast, a cut up apple, and a small cup of milk, and said, “My grandmother eats that for breakfast.”

“I know. They said I can't have any sugar, or caffeine,” Teri replied in a world weary voice. “No more sweet cereal, chocolate, candy, maple syrup, chocolate, honey, high sugar juice, chocolate, ice cream, soda, chocolate, freeze pops, cake, pie, chocolate, hot chocolate, mocha's, coffee, chocolate, red bull, milk shakes, chocolate, chocolate milk, chocolate milk and red bull, sports drinks, fast food, chocolate, bacon covered chocolate, or chocolate.”

“But you can still have bacon right?” Serena asked, before biting into her bacon and egg sandwich.

“OH RIGHT!!!” Teri flew off and returned a minute later, dodging energy blasts and thrown food from hungry students, carrying a still steaming tray full of freshly cooked bacon. “Now this is a good breakfast!” she said, throwing a small stack of bacon onto her toast.

The girls helped themselves to the bacon bounty, emptying it seconds before a kitchen worker, who was so angry sparks were leaping from his fingers, could sweep in to take it back.

“Where do you put all of that food?” Grace asked, throwing a few pieces of bacon into her frog like mouth.

“They told me yesterday my stomach is super efficient, and about five sizes larger than it should be, so I eat it and it gets converted to sugar and fat in a few seconds. I need all of it to keep flying and work my PK field, so I'll never get fat. Fairy Power for the WIN!”

There were angry grumbles from the non-exemplars and energizers, who were picking at fruit and tiny pieces of food.

As the bacon feast was slowly devoured, and not so slowly in Teri's case, as she ground it up into the porridge and onto her apple, Serena asked, “So what happened yesterday? There were a couple of mobs hunting down birds, while carrying pitchforks and torches, while you were getting tested.”

Teri finished licking the bacon grease from the now empty bowl of bacon porridge, trying to hide a blush. “Well, you see, I kind of, sort of, had a rager incident.”

“A rager incident. But no one died or got beat up,” Page said, looking at her strangely.

“It's not a rager, rager incident. I just became a bit irrational, insanely hyperactive, and had my powers increase to the point that I'm now classified as a speedster while flying. They're thinking of making a new UV armband just for me,” she said, with a silly smile.

That got several strange looks. “Uh, Teri,” Serena said. “That's not something to be proud of.”

“But it means I'm special. Maybe I can get them to make it pink.”

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence as the girls tried to think of what to say.

“Well will you look at the time, I have do some homework,” Serena said, grabbing a handful of bacon in a napkin and headed for the door with her tray. The rest of the table slowly finished eating and headed off to start their day.

Three little fairies came flying down from the upper floors as Teri put her empty tray on a stack of dirty ones.

“Teri!” they shouted. “Come on up, a friend of ours wants to meet you!”

“Another fairy?!” she exclaimed.

“No,” Brunhilde said, “our friend Fey. She's a member of Venus Inc., and was asked to pass on a message for you, since they heard that we know you.”

“Oh! Maybe they're going to ask me to join!” Grabbing Brunhilda and Trixie by the hands, they flew up to the third floor were a table held a large group of pretty girls and one handsome boy. Teri remembered the girl who looked like Ryoko from a pamphlet on the first day saying the girl was off limits for bullying or fighting, so she was curious why the girl leaned away from her as she flew down to give Generator a hug.

“HI!” she said to everyone, standing on Generators shoulder and holding an ear for balance. “Oh, hi A-Ayla, right?” she said to the girl with short, spiky black hair.

There was a round of hello's. Then the most beautiful redhead Teri had ever seen took over. “Teri, I'm Fey. I'm a-”

Teri landed right in front of her. “Oh you're pretty. Have you ever thought of modeling for cosplay? I know a lot of anime sites that would love to have an elf modeling for them. If you want I can get Mouser to ask some of them and maybe set up a double shoot, the mystic elf and the wild fairy! She'd be able to get us top dollar!”

There was laughter from around the table, and Teri realized she had maybe, possibly jumped the gun.

“I'm a sidhe, not an elf. And that is a generous offer but I'll let my agent deal with modeling contracts,” Fey said, not angrily, but not quite as warmly as she had spoken a moment before.

“Oh,” she replied, drawing a line on the table with her shoe and a small drop of apple juice. “Sorry.”

“I'm with Venus Inc., and we're interested in your portfolio. But there are some concerns about,” the beautiful girl frowned unhappily, “your appearance. So as a group we'd like to talk to you and see if you'll fit in the group. Are you free this afternoon right after lunch?”

She thought for a moment, the only important thing going on that day was her flying class, but she'd been hoping to get into town to see the tailor Cecilia for some clothes. Still that could wait, when opportunity arose she had to jump on it, eviscerate it and cook it up in a goulash, Mouser always said. “I'll be there. What should I wear?”

“Just wear something nice,” Fey said. Then looking at Teri's mouse costume added, “If you have it, something a model would wear.”

“Got it! Thank you so much for this chance, Fey,” she said, flying up to give Fey a hug. Turning back to the table. “Bye! Generator I'll definitely be in class on Monday, see you then!”

With that she flew off to get ready for her flying class.

**

Flying class was held outside Laird Hall, although according to the schedule if it was a yellow or red flag day they'd hold things in Arena 77. Wearing a polyester flight suit that looked remarkably like the uniforms worn in Neon Genesis Evangelion, just hers was done up in pink. It had cost her a pretty penny, but it was worth it.

She saw the cloud boy she'd flown with the day before sitting against the wall in his human body, which was fairly dumpy and pimply. Flying over to him, she landed on his knee. “Hi, I never caught your name when we flew together, I'm Teri.”

“I'm Ralph. Why are you in the class, you're a great flier?” he asked, his voice cracking.

“I need to practice flying higher. A strong wind knocks me for a loop. What about you, I'd think being lighter than air would work great for you.”

He snorted. “Yeah right, I can float and change shape, but wind rips me apart and if I try to move quickly I end up leaving parts of myself all over the sky.”

“Doesn't that hurt?” she asked.

“Nah, I just need to take the time pulling myself back together.” His eyes moved away from her, and his jaw dropped. “Who are those?”

Teri turned and saw two beautiful girls, both blonde haired and blue eyes, the older one had angel wings, the other one looked like a wingless angel. “No idea.” Jumping off of Ralph's knee she looked at the rest of the class, which was made up of twenty five students, twelve of whom had wings, two who had jet packs, and the rest looked land bound, but that didn't mean anything here.

A woman walked up to the class, she was very plain except for her golden snake like eyes. The angel winged girl moved to stand beside her. “Good morning class, and welcome to Flying 1. Here you will be learning how to fly, or if you already know how to fly, how to do it better. My name is Mrs. Cavallo, Angel is my TA.”

She took a moment to look at everyone, her eyes seemed to narrow when they fell on Teri. “This class can be dangerous. We won't be flying high enough to have to contact the FAA, so if you fall you're more likely to hit the ground before we can catch you. Also, after we see how well you can handle flying, we'll begin doing obstacle courses, coordinated flying, stunts and rescue scenarios. We have almost as many injuries as Basic Martial Arts, and that is not something I'm proud of. If you intentionally interfere with another student, you will get a detention. If your interference or blatant stupidity causes another student or yourself to become injured, you will fail. Are there any questions?”

There was silence.

“Alright,” Mrs. Cavallo said. “First lets divide you into groups. Who considers themselves a good flier?”

Teri raised her hand, flying up so that people could actually see her. Fifteen others raised their hands, almost all the students with wings, and one of the jetpack kid. Angel reached into a bag and pulled out a few balls, handing one to everyone who'd raised their hand. Teri noticed she was careful to drop them into the hands of the boys, while placing them into the girls hands.

“Now, you lot will show me what you've got. Spread well out, and press the red button on the snitch, it will fly straight up and begin doing some simple maneuvers. You're job is to catch the snitch within one minute, without crashing,” the teacher instructed.

They spread out giving each other at least fifty feet of space to all sides. As they did that, Mrs. Cavallo transformed, the air around her seemed to solidify, gaining colour and texture. Within seconds a giant rainbowed feathered, winged serpent, easily twenty feet long sat coiled up where the teacher had been. It's giant reptilian eyes looked over them, while a long forked tongue flicked in and out of a mouth that could swallow a child in one bite.

Several of the students did their own transformation. Gaining wings, muscular bodies, glowing auras and more. They waited while Mrs. Cavallo flew into the sky on thirty foot long wings. When she was about a hundred feet up, she roared, “Go!'

Teri hit the snitch and watched as the ball silently rocketed upwards. When it was thirty feet up, it slowed down and began spiraling through the air. She took off after it, ignoring a scream and a muffled explosion to her right and a long drawn out scream that was quickly fading off to the left.

The snitch had stopped moving and was floating quite leisurely above her. Putting on a burst of speed, she tried to catch it only to have it jink to the side. Spinning on a dime, she followed, using every bit of speed she had. They headed for the ground, where the students were watching, gasping and laughing as they watched the performance.

Green grass filled her eyes, the snitch looked like it was going to plow right into it, but at the very last second it seemed to hit an invisible floor and bounced high into the air twice as fast. Teri ducked her head, spun onto her back and jackknifed her body, so she didn't break her neck. Slapping her feet against the grass she jumped to increase her speed, barely keeping up with the thing.

Angel yelled out, “Thirty seconds!”

Simple maneuvers my ass, Teri thought, when the snitch began zigzagging, dropping like a stone and soaring back up.

“Fifty seconds!”

Gritting her teeth, there was no way she was going to let some cheating ball get the best of her. Her wings stiffened, and when the snitch rose into the air, going from twenty feet to a hundred in three seconds, she was less then an inch away from it the entire way. As it slowed to change course, Teri drove her hand into it, shattering the shell.

“STOP!”

Breathing hard, Teri flew to the ground, the snitch surrounding her hand like a glove. She saw jet pack girl working her smoking machine, growling as it snapped and popped at her. Three students were on the ground nursing bruises, four were sitting around triumphantly holding their snitches, three more were flying down with big smiles. The rest were sinking to the ground looking unhappy.

Mrs. Cavallo flew down, her body turning to mist until her human form was standing before them again. “Most of you did quite well,” she said with a smile. “Even some of you who didn't catch the snitch show promise. Those of you who managed to catch a snitch are going to be the leaders of your groups.”

The next two minutes were spent giving each leader three students to help out, all except for Teri, she got four, two of them were students who had gotten hurt trying to catch the snitch, and the other two look terrified.

“Hi, I'm Teri!” she said, while trying to pry the snitch off her hand.

As she rolled on her back, kicking the snitch with her feet, the students introduced themselves. Mr. Awesome, a handsome boy who had a bad goose egg and could manifest bat wings from his arms. Cleo a soft spoken girl who could levitate and do some simple flying. Sue, who had nearly broken her leg trying to get off the ground. And Mitchell, who couldn't stop fidgeting, and said he could fly on a jet of flame.

After being given a few minutes to get to know each other, Mrs. Cavallo got down to business. “Leaders, you are going to help your teammates, and keep an eye on any problems. You don't have to fix a problem, just point it out and let Angel or I know about it, if it doesn't improve. Everyone else, it's in your best interest to help out and listen. You will be graded both independently and as a group, 50/50, and the final exam is a group test.”

Giving them a second to consider that fact, she went back to shouting. “Now lets get into the air, just ten or twenty feet, nice and slow.”

“Come on guys, this is easy!” Teri said flying up.

Mr. Awesome grew his wings, and leapt into the air, going up twenty feet and circling as tightly as possible. Sue jumped nine feet into the air and came back down to earth, stopping just shy of the grass, then flapping her arms like they were wings, she slowly rose to ten feet and was able to stop flapping. Cleo walked up like she was taking the stairs, and stopped at exactly ten feet, sitting down to wait. Mitchell didn't move.

Flying down, Teri landed on his shoulder. “What's wrong Mitch?”

“I don't think this is a good idea. I really didn't want to take this class,” he whispered.

“Why not? It's cool to fly?”

His cheeks turned red. “For you maybe. You have a cool power, I just make flames. And they said I had to take this class.”

“Flames are cool. A girl in my floor can make flames, but she can't fly. Come on it can't be that bad.”

“I really don't want to.”

“Do you want to make us fail?” she asked. “Come on, if you do it, I'll give you a kiss. PLEASE!!!!”

“Fine,” Mitchell muttered.

He squatted down, Tink stayed on his shoulder wondering what would happen next.

Fire erupted from Mitchell's bottom, making him resemble either a space ship taking off or someone who had eaten the hottest chili in the history of the world. Somehow people all over the campus could hear Teri's swearing in terror as they headed into orbit.

**

Serena was working on some math problems when she heard the tiny door open. There was a faint thump as if something had fallen and a faint, unpleasant smell filled the room. Turning to the door, she gasped and jumped to her feet. “Teri, what happened?!”

The fairy looked up, her usually beautiful hair was a mess, her large eyes seemed even larger and mostly pupil, her pink suit was dark and filthy from the waist down.

“I-I-I saw- I saw stars!”

**

Teri looked up at her roommate, her head was still spinning from the magical rocket ride and the high altitude rescue. They'd offered to take her to Doyle, but she wasn't physically hurt, so had just staggered back home.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“about twelve, I was about to go get some lunch,” Serena said.

“ACK! I have to get ready!” She was on her feet instantly, and then flying around the room seemingly at random grabbing clothes, before dropping them, then her wash basin, and putting that down, finally settling on her small bag of toiletries. “Get me the strongest hair blower in the cottage!” she yelled.

“Why?!”

“I have a meeting with Venus Inc., right after lunch. I have to wash up, dry off, fix my hair, wear something nice, and I need it done yesterday!” Without looking back, she flew through the door, leaving a baseball size hole in it.

Flying over the heads of the few girls in the hall, she hit the shower at about forty miles an hour, which was blessedly empty. Turning the water on full blast, her claws shredded the ruined outfit, there was no way she was going to get the stains out, and she didn't want to touch it anymore than she had to.

The next five minutes was a mad dash of soap, shampoo, conditioner and bubbles. The mouse girl, Pepper, was knocked on her butt, as Teri flew out not bothering to dry off. A faint sorry, could barely be heard.

Back in her room, Serena was just coming back holding a hair blower that was large enough and so dangerous looking it would make Dirty Harry jealous. “I got this from Ms. Savage. She said it's for some of the hairier girls. Are you sure about this?” her roommate asked looking at the massive thing uneasily.

“Definitely!” Teri said ignoring her nakedness as she braced herself on her desk.

“Ok, your funeral,” Serena muttered. Raising the potentially lethal weapon, two handed with her legs spread for balance, she hit the switch.

If either girl screamed it couldn't be heard over the small sonic boom. Serena hit the floor, instinctively turning her bones and muscles into water so she bounced and jiggled as she hit, rather than getting bruised.

Teri, pulled herself out of the crater that had once been a wall, falling to her knees, completely dry, she gasped a few times to get her breath back. “When... will the... hurting... stop?”

**

After a few minutes to recover, and give Serena time to tell Ms. Savage they needed a wall repaired, Teri was combing the plaster out of her hair, which was standing on end making her look like a purple hedgehog.

“I'm doomed!” she moaned, looking in the mirror.

“No your not. Just hold still,” Serena said, pulling out some styling gel. While Teri sat there, talented fingers, rubbed the stuff into her hair pulling it straight, and quickly braiding the mess into a stiff braid that could potentially club a person to death, but kept the wild hair under control. “I never thought playing hairdresser for my dolls would come in handy,” she said as Teri admired the look.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Teri shouted.

“Yeah, just remember this when I need some help. And please for the love of god, put some clothes on.”

Looking at the clock there wasn't much time left. She had wanted to put on a fancy princess dress, or a business suit, but there wasn't time to mess with all the buttons and things. As she looked through her closet, a dark gold, backless, high slit Chinese style dress practically leapt out at her. It had a skull pattern in a dark purple-blue, since it was a copy of a dress worn by the Female Emperor Hancock from the anime One Piece, it wasn't her first choice, but desperate times and all.

Throwing it on, along with a pair of tight nylon shorts, she was acceptable. Not her usual fabulous self, but definitely passable. Opening the window she flew out the window and headed for Crystal Hall.

People were leaving the cafeteria, although late students, slow eaters and big eaters were still sitting at the tables. Teri's stomach rumbled as she smelled food, but there wasn't time. Flying up to the third floor she saw Fey and quite a few other girls sitting around the table she'd heard was reserved for Venus Inc.

Stopping on the railing she checked her hair one last time, and smoothed out her skin tight dress. Satisfied, she flew over to the table, a big smile on her face. “Hi, I'm Teri. Thanks so much for seeing me.”

Some of the faces were friendly, Fey was smiling, and she got a small smile from one of the older girls who was a blue eyed, blonde haired beauty, a well tanned girl looked at her strangely, but she was smiling to. Several of the girls who were all beautiful, looked uncertain and a few were scowling.

“Please sit down, Tink,” a girl who had a place of honour at the head of the table said. “I'm Heartbreaker, the head of Venus Inc.”

She set down on the table, tucking her skirt carefully under her as she knelt down as demurely as possible, holding her wings behind her like angel wings. For the first time in a long time she felt nervous with all the eyes on her.

“She can't even us a chair,” someone muttered.

“We've looked over your portfolio, Tink. It's very surprising for such a short time,” Heartbreaker said.

She blushed, “Thank you. I got most of the jobs through my guardian Mouser.”

“Still, we aren't sure if you're quite right for this club. Most of our photos are for companies, organizations, school brochures, and similar things. Anime and fantasy websites are not really something we've looked at.”

Teri nodded in understanding. “I'm flexible. I can do movies, Halloween, Christmas, I'd be great on Valentines day. And I'm great with kids, I've done children's parties as a fairy princess.”

That got a snort from one girl. “Please. The camera will barely be able to see you. And were are we going to find costumes for you?”

“The clothes are a problem, however, with a bit of planning they aren't a deal breaker. And she has had professional photo's taken of her, so that isn't even worth talking about,” Fey said.

Teri gave her a big smile and a thumbs up, before returning to being prim and proper.

“Her size doesn't matter, but her attitude does,” a black haired model said. “What would people think if we let a hyperactive girl who terrorized half the school yesterday, and got into a fight on her first day into the club? She already has how many days of detention at Hawthorne?”

That got several nods.

Fey gave them all an imperious look. “She has an attitude, but if detention and fights were a reason to deny entry I should have been thrown out last year. And some of us have worse records.”

For some reason, several eyes turned to look at the blonde girl, who blushed and looked at her lap.

“About yesterday, they have me on a diet so that won't happen again,” Teri said.

She was ignored, as the group formed sides, and people started arguing about how a hyperactive, uncontrollable GSD case could be a professional model. Fey and two other girls were arguing for her most strongly, while the blonde, who was called Solange jumped in occasionally. The rest of the group either argued with them or looked very uncomfortable and avoided looking at Teri. Heartbreaker sat silently and listened to the arguments, only speaking up if it got too loud, or someone became too rude.

Teri tried to make herself heard a few times, but no one was listening to her. After two minutes of being ignored, she stood up and shouted, “QUIET!”

There was silence.

With her head held high Teri looked at the entire table. “I didn't think that my wanting to join would be a problem, after all I am already a professional model with a fan club. But if you are so threatened by me,” she glared at the head of the Anti-Teri side, “than I don't want to cause any hard feelings. I'll still model, and be a success, without your help. After all I've been in a movie, can any of you say that?”

She didn't wait for an answer. “So take me off your list, I don't want to be in your group anyways.” With that she blew a big raspberry at the girls and flew away.

Making her way down to the floor, she heard shouting erupt behind her.

**

In the safety of her room, which had a new patch on the door, Teri was making a poster. She looked at it carefully, trying to decide if she had the words just right. It definitely needed some colour, but she knew an artist online who could do that for her.

Glancing at the clock, she realized she had to go to detention, with a sigh she put the marker down and flew away.

When Serena came in later, she saw an odd message on the desk.