I growled low under my breath--my school day was not going well. Almost all of the students at the library-slash-institute I had to go to were males. Snotty Schimite teenage males. Welcome to the closest thing to Hell that Novonnia has. "Why don't you go close your muzzle in one of those huge tomes you're carrying around?" I shot back irritably as I looked for the nearest exit that would take me out of this hellhole.
"Why don't you? That's all the worth those books are to you," the ruffian continued to taunt. "After all, no need for any of that knowledge, bastard girl."
This time I didn't bother to reply, I just continued to slink away, head down. Of course, it was our equivalent to a lunch hour on Earth. For us, a time to socialize and roam -- well, everyone except me. There was scarcely a soul on the entire planet I wished to speak to and certainly not anyone in that school. As it were, I just wanted to get away during out break.
I slipped past other students and climbed out the window I usually used. Not that the building was cramped and smothering, but it was still a relief to be outside and away from all those snotty pricks. The sun was shining brightly through the leaves as I walked down the path to a lake surrounded by a small glade. It was the only place that seemed deserted during our breaks--except for me that is.
I stepped down to the beach and took off my shoes, then my outer robes. I waded out a ways into the lake until the bottom began to fall away from beneath my feet, then I pushed off and swam out into the water, beating with my tail. This body wasn't made for swimming like I wanted to, though, so I shifted.
My scales slipped more easily through the water and my webbed flipper-like feet were much better for propelling myself than just human hands and a finned tail. I raised to the surface, sticking the end of my elongated muzzle into the air for a fresh breath before arching my back so the spines raked the surface to shoot myself down towards the bottom of the lake.
You've never felt anything like swimming freely or flying, it's amazing! The feel of freedom like no other; maybe the ghosts feel similar with their ability to move through walls and other barriers. My joy was in swimming, though. Moving up through the darkness back towards the shimmering light then plunging back down. A rock makes a surprisingly wonderful toy, underwater of course...
As I swam back up, though, I came face to face with a ghostly white dragon. Though I'd seen many, many ghosts before this one startled me and my breath came out in a gush of bubbles as I back paddled and shot up like a rocket, leaping straight out of the lake and landing hard on the bank with a wet "splat" of my flipperlike paws. I flopped on the bank, breathing hard and coughing up some water.
"I...don't know... She...doesn't quite look human even in her anthro form, what if she scared him?" a soft wispy voice of a young female ghost asked the ghost dragoness as she climbed out of the water, tiny rivers running down her gleaming sides.
"Hello again, Yureith," I breathed heavilly, pushing myself up off the bank still coughing up water.
"Greetings, Iulia," the ghost dragoness responded quietly, laying herself down with her forepaws folded over one another.
"You...know each other?" the other ghost asked uncertainly, blinking a few times. When I looked at her I could see in life she had been a pretty girl with glasses and long black hair. Somehow, she seemed strangely familiar... "Then why were you so scared when you met up with Yureith?"
"I wasn't scared--she just startled me," I explained as I shifted back to human form and slipped my outer robes back on. Water seeped into them from my wet hair and underclothing, while a few drops fell from my earfins. Great, I was going to get it a bit more with these wet robes...then I realized, I'd already spent more time than I'd intended to there, I had to go! "Sorry, I would honestly love to stay and talk to you...but I have to get back to my school before I get grief from both my teacher and my peers!" I said hurriedly, rushing off towards the building.
"Hey, wait! I need to talk to you!"
