Late Night Photography
I took the first step out of my door on my journey to school. When my foot hit the gravel path, I nearly fell over, but I caught myself before my face was kissing the ground. I had lost my footing because I was immensely exhausted, and my eyes struggled to stay open. The reason I was so sleep-deprived was the fault of the previous day.
When we returned to the classroom from Mr Woods's Office, we were assailed with questions. Everyone from the Omega class had seen my fight with the lion and leopard, and nearly everyone was excited about it.
Jack the dragon-obsessed guy had declared me his rival and said something about how he wasn't going to lose to me. I can still hear his laugh as he talked about werewolves being a noble and powerful race but are unfortunately second to dragons.
Elizabeth the book-absorbed owl wanted to thank me for the inspiration I had given her for a book. When I first saw her, I thought she was the quiet and studious type, but once she started talking there was no stopping her. Don't get me wrong the praise from her was kind and refreshing, yet it didn't stop it from being exhausting.
Mr Woods got rather angry when 'lesson time' was being wasted by 'poking at the hibernating bear' and the rest of the school day was spent learning 'proper school etiquette'. I could tell Mr Woods didn't have the best impression of me from this incident and the fight beforehand.
After Mr Woods's two-hour lecture, Lleu insisted on all three of us walking home together. I told him I was heading to the Blue Cow, which was in the opposite direction from most of the houses in Wylde village. Lleu didn't say anything to me, but the way he looked up at me was as if he was begging to come with me. In the end, I invited the two of them to come with me, but I was dreading to see Blue's reaction.
Per my prediction, Blue had a smug smirch on her face when she saw Lleu and Davy follow me in and sit at the same table as me. Blue did sit with us and talked with us all the while wearing her grin. She was especially focused on Davy since we had talked about him before. Fortunately, it was rather busy in the Blue Cow because a lot of students were relaxing after the first day.
Before we left the Blue Cow, Lleu made us all join a group chat, and this happened to be the main cause of my sleep deprivation. All through the night, Lleu was sending messages.
— 00:23 am —
Lleu: ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ
Lleu: Look at the time!
Lleu: We should go to sleep
Kate: Yeah
Kate: Your probably right
Kate: Cya tomorrow
Davy: ヾ(^_^)
Davy: (- o – ) zzZ
Lleu: Goodnight
Kate: Night
Davy: Knight
— 01:46 am —
Lleu: Is anyone else still awake?
Lleu: I can't fall asleep
Kate: Yeah, I'm up
Kate: But I'm probably gonna try go back to sleep
Lleu: Okay then, I'll Cya tomorrow
Kate: Cya
— 2:31 am —
Lleu: Kate
Lleu: I know you said you were going to sleep but I went to check on Davy and saw he was asleep in his cat form
Lleu: I was wondering if you wanted a picture
Lleu: It's adorable /ᐠ. ｡.ᐟ\ᵐᵉᵒʷˎˊ˗
Kate: Ok send me it in the morning.
Kate: You should probably get some sleep
Lleu: K
Lleu: I'll try
Kate: Night
Lleu: Goodnight
— 3:07 am —
Lleu: You awake
Kate: Yes, but hopefully not for much longer
Kate: Go to sleep
— 3:53 am —
Lleu: Kate
Lleu: Are you still awake?
Kate: GO TO FUCKING SLEEP
Lleu: K
Just remembering the sound of my phone dinging with every text was nearly enough to send me into a frenzy. I seriously considered throwing my phone through my window last night. Every time I came close to drifting off, 'ding'.
"Good morning, Kate. Did you sleep well last night?" Lleu called out to me from across the path. Him and Davy seemed to be walking to school together.
'Did he seriously just ask that?' If I wasn't so tired, then I would probably snapped at him but right now I haven't got the energy.
"Morning." I managed to reply whilst yawning. "And no, I didn't manage to sleep well, thanks to a certain someone's messages all the way through the night."
Lleu's body reflexively entered a bowing position. "I'm sorry!"
"Don't worry, it doesn't bother me that much." I was taken aback by Lleu's dramatic declaration. "What are friends for if you can't message them at 4 am?"
Lleu's face lit up. "As an apology, I want you to have this as a gift." He passed me a square piece of card.
When I turned the card over, I recognised that it was the picture of Davy sleeping in his cat form. The quality was flawless, and the angles and lighting seemed professional. In the picture, Davy was curled around a small stuffed animal, and he was chewing on its ear. His face seemed to be so at peace, and the way he clung to the toy was adorable.
"How did you get such a high-quality photo?" I asked with genuine curiosity.
"I took the picture with a better camera than the one on my phone. It only cost me…" As Lleu went on explaining his camera, Davy was still in the dark about the photo and his curiosity was getting the better of him. He peeked over my shoulder and as soon as he saw the photo it was snatched out of my hands.
"Wait Davy, give it back." Lleu sounded desperate when he saw Davy holding the picture.
Davy pulled on both ends of the photo until it tore in half, he then proceeded to rip up the smaller pieces until there was nothing left but a pile of shredded paper.
"That took me an hour to get the perfect shot!" Lleu fell to his knees when he saw the remnants of the photo flutter to the floor.
Davy's face was completely red, and the way he gritted his teeth clearly showed he was annoyed, it was the first time I had seen Davy angry. Even when he was being yelled at by the lion and leopard, he didn't make this kind of face. It was unexpectedly cute.
For the rest of the walk to school, Lleu apologised to Davy, and after a few minutes of pouting, he forgave Lleu. When we arrived at the building, we saw the other first crowding around the bottom floor. Other than ours all first-year classes are held on the first floor, so outside of break and lunch wasn't much interaction between us and the rest of the first years.
When we got to the stairs a familiar purple snake was crying at the bottom. She was bashing her fist against the stone steps yelling "Shitty stairs!" with every hit.
"Umm excuse me, are you ok?" I asked as Davy and Lleu cowered behind me.
"It's you!" When Ame saw me, her face lit up, and she stopped banging the stairs. "You're strong, right? I saw you beat up the lion guy."
"Yes, I beat up that maned punk." I said reluctantly. I wasn't a fan of the reputation I had built.
"Perfect." Ame leapt into my arms like a snake pouncing on her prey. I caught her in a princess carry, and she wrapped her tail around my body, so I couldn't let go.
"What are you doing?" I asked, very confused.
"You're going to carry me up the stairs. Get your two buddies to grab the end of my tail, and I'm sure we will be able to get up there in no time."
"If I remember correctly, you were crying at the stairs yesterday. What's your problem with the stairs?"
"Haha, foolish leg person. Imagine walking up stone stairs with no shoes on, now imagine that you're crawling up the stairs with nothing below the waist on, and now imagine doing that with two people sitting on your back. It hurts!" Ame was having a fit in my arms whilst she tried to make me climb the stairs. "Come on let's go. I don't want to be scolded again. I'll give you a reward if you get me there." Her orders quickly descended into begging.
"Fine." I sighed as I prepped myself to walk up the stairs with the added weight. Ame being a snake woman had quite a long bottom half being over 5 meters in length, so even when she was wrapped around me, Davy and Lleu had to carry part of her tail.
Each step felt like my feet were going to burst from my shoes, and Ame was constantly squeezing me with her tail. Every time one of us was out of sync and her tail was pulled slightly, she would make a high-pitched squeal and thrash around.
It took an extra 10 minutes for all of us to reach the Omega class. Davy and Lleu weren't exactly the athletic type, and we were all exhausted from yesterday. There were still a few minutes before class started, so Ame decided to reward us.
She dropped a small sweet into each of our hands and wore a happy smile. "If you can help me again tomorrow there's more of where it came from."
' ' 'That was so not worth it.' ' ' All three of us thought in unison.