Lori snickered at the teacher's remark and whispered to Flara,

"All that's missing is Dren in dragon form."

---

When Shyra finally did turn back towards the front, she noticed a commotion going on about a girl that apparantly was never in human form. Though she was grateful for the lack of stares directed at herself, the subject in question still made her burn with bitterness.

---

Shane was hard pressed to contain his laughter. He had to admit, though he was with Flara quite often, even he rarely saw Flara's human form.

Flara glared at Lori more than at anyone.
"You know, that would be even more attention-attracting than me as a human. At least some people have seen me as a human. No one here has seen him as a dragon."
She glanced over at Dren, the only one who wasn't staring.

Dren ignored everyone's remarks about Flara, though he couldn't help but hear one small conversation, and he had to force himself to not try and find the speakers.
"Well, at least she shifts. Dren...no one has ever seen him shift."
"I heard that some have seen him, before the incident happened."
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure, but I heard that he lost control as a dragon and killed his brother."
"Really?"
Dren tried to ignore the two, who were gathering more listeners, and tried to finish his homework before the teacher got to him. He wished the bell would ring, but of course, it as still the beginning of cla.ss. It would be a while, and not even the teacher could stop the conversations.

((Poor Dren...D`:))

((sowiiiiie!!!))

Lori turned red and said,

"You know I didn't mean it, Flara." She turned away to stare at her desk and mumbled, "It's not like I know anything about it, he won't tell me."

---

Shyra heard the exchange between the students regarding the so-called incident. Her anger flared and she turned her head to regard them. She quickly caught thier eyes and the glare of her own, mismatched eyes, shut them up, her intent obvious. She glanced over her shoulder once more at the person in question, her ex
pression one of curiosity and concern.

---

Shane snapped out of the daydreaming into which he had fallen when he heard mention of Dren's condition. His fists clenched so hard in anger that his nail almost drew blood. his pale hair also gained a slight blue tint, though no one noticed it.

Flara shook her head.
"No! I didn't mean it that way! I was just saying."
She chanced a glance at Dren, who was looking even more alone than ever. She then turned her attention back to Lori.
"He hasn't told anyone. I think he wants to, but...can't. He needs someone to confide it. I feel sorry for him."

Dren noticed that the small conversation had stopped, and glanced up to see the new student glancing at him. He had no idea if she had shut them up, or had been listening. He sighed and looked down at his paper again, finishing up the last question just as the teacher came around. He handed him the paper, and the teacher moved on.

Lori only nodded, though she continued to look away. She did glance up when the teacher called attention to himself and cla.ss began in earnest.

--- (time skip to ending bell)

Shyra picked up her bag and glanced at her schedule. She had combat next. Lovely. She had noticed that most of the students had the same cla.sses here. Pretty convenient, she thought as she walked towards the gym.

---

Shane sighed as the bell finally rang and he picked up his bags. He walked slowly, waiting for Dren. He wanted to make sure he was alright.

Dren shoved his books and papers into his bag haphazardly, then shouldered it with a slight glare. He turned around and saw Shane walking slower than normal. he sighed, and took quick steps to catch up with his friend. He gave a look that said 'What now?'

Flara organized her books in her bag, making the next needed most accesible. She waitied for Lori, a grin on her face.
"Time for Combat! I hope we get to shift today. Otherwise, I'll go insane."

((I was thinking more along the lines of the combat cla.ss being in an open courtyard, with covered sidewalks. Because my idea of combat here is like...swordsmanship and aerial combat. And anyways, I have such an idea. I want to be the first to post when we get there.))

Lori patted her shoulder good-naturedly and smiled, hoping for the same. she sorely wanted to fly today and give her claws a good testing. She headed towards the courtyard quickly, eager to begin what was probably the best clas.s of the day.

---

Shane looked at Dren and silently asked with his ex
pression "You okay?"

Dren shrugged.
"Its been one of those days. With Flara showing up human, everyone's turned to the subject of my own reluctance to shift."
He smiled a bit, trying to change the subject.
"I hope Mr. Fertan is okay. After Flara missed her mark yesterday and sliced him like an onion and put him in the hospital. I just hope we don't have a new sub. They are so hard to explain to."

~~~

Flara grinned and ran ahead, not wanting to be too late to her favorite clas.s. As she stepped out into the courtyard, she nearly jumped for joy to see the whole clas.s shifting into their dragonic sides. Sure enough, the sub walked over and told her to shift. He was a heftier man, but it was obvious that it wasn't fat--rather, muscle. Flara put her bag on the sidewalk and walked out onto the gras.s, shifting quickly. She rose a bit, her thick tail still dragging on the ground a slight bit. After all, she didn't want to seem like an escapee. She glanced down as Dren walked out, and tilted her head curiously at the sight of an arguement.

~~~

"Time to shift, we're practicing aerial combat today. Mr. Fertan left it in his notes."
"But, sir, I--"
"Cut the chit-chat, time for clas.s. Now, shift, if you will."
"But I don't shift..."
"Nonsense. Mr. Fertan said nothing about any students not shifting. Now, shift."
Dren grimaced, then nodded. He set down his bag next to Flara's, then stepped into the shadows behind where everyone was gatering. He was really hesitant to shift, and as he glanced out, he felt a slight bit of fear in his heart. But he concentrated, thought of shifting. It was slightly harder than it had been before, as he hadn't shifted in years, but it was still easy--he had perfected his dragonic form.

Blue eyes glowed in the darkness under the rooftops covering the sidewalks. For a split second, they remained there then, in a flash of black and red, a long, serpentine dragon shot out, hitting off of Flara's tail, then the roof, then into the air, within the span of a few seconds. Dren held there for a moment, his blue eyes shining, seemingly with sadness and ashamedness, under the mane of red fur, before he suddenly shot off, spiraling into the sky, curving and coiling as he sped away from the school, toward the woods.

~~~

Flara looked up as soon as Dren had hit off of her tail, and gasped in shock at the sight of her friend. She would have followed, but boy, was that one fast serpent, and she could never catch him, but maybe...
"Lori!"
The golden dragon shifted mid-landing, landing hard on her feet. Ignoring the slight pain in her legs, she ran to meet her friend, panting.
"Lori...Dren...shifted..left...I'm not...fast enough...You think you could catch him..?"

Lori barely hesitated, taking off into a full-dash sprint. In one fluid motion, she shifted into her dragonic form, feathers flaring as she went from running to flying without a pause in between. Being so light, she was quick, and she chased after the dragon that used to be Dren. Damn that stupid sub!! He shouldn't have shifted like this! With a roar, she called out to him, "Dren!! Stop!! It's me, Lori!"

---

Shane was in the middle of shifting when he noticed everything going wrong. Dren was in his dragon form, flying away from the school, Lori was flying after him, and Flara was obviously having a nervous breakdown. He padded over, worry weighing heavily in his chest as he demanded, "What happened, Flara? what's going on?!"

---

Shyra didn't bother talking to the sub about her own condition and simply leaned against the wall of the courtyard, arms crossed. Her attention was wrenched away, however, as the guy from the before, the one who didn't shift, actually did... and flew away? Huh? She wondered. What is going on? Glancing around, she caught sight of one of the guys that had been with the other one and went over. She stayed a short distance away but lingered close enough to hear anything he said without seeming conspicuous.

Flara held up a hand to him, taking a moment to calm herself down for a moment before explaining.
"Dren got into an arguement with the sub, and ended up being forced to shift. Now he's flying away for who knows what reason. Just a flash of black and red was all anyone saw before he left. Well, probably. He did stop for a second. I saw pain in his eyes..."
She shook her head.
"But anyways, I'm not fast enough, so I asked Lori to go after him."

Dren glanced back, wishing he could return to his friends. He had not completely perfected his dragonic form when he stopped shifting, and that was why he left. It wasn't the fact that he wasn't perfect, it was the thing he couldn't control. He turned his head slightly, looking at Lori.
"Exactly."
He picked up his pce, even though they were already above the trees.
"If you can keep up, I'll tell you."

Lori let loose a growl of frustration and redoubled her efforts, pounding her wings furiously. It was lucky that she was as light as she wa else she wold have not chance of keeping up with him. she said,

"Fine, but you'd better keep your promise, Dren! I refuse to let you out of my sight!"

Her song dragon blood was rising and she had to give extra effort to keep herself from breaking out into a battle song. It was the one thing she never did at school, since the song dragon race was almost wiped out.

(meh, just a little something extra I wanted to give her :3 nothing special really, doesn't give her extra powers or anything)

----

Shane placed a bracing hand on Flara's shoulder as she recovered. he also watched the rapidly shrinking dots that were Dren and Lori. "Damn they're fast..." He muttered.

Flara nodded.
"They are. You'd never know, really, looking at their human selves. But Dren was out of here in a flash, I barely saw him..."
She glanced up, sighing. She hoped neither would get hurt, or in trouble...

~~

Dren could feel his energy draining, though he still had much left. He glanced back at Lori, then sighed. He stopped, spiraling down to the ground in easy swirls. He landed lightly, then coiled himself up, Head watching where he suspected Lori would land. Despite his gentle eyes and disposition, his body was a hard black, splashed with red sporiadically. His mane of fur ran from head to tail tip, along his spine, starting between his long horns and ending in long fur tipping his tail. He blinked slowly, not really willing to give in, but he'd rather now than later. He was extremely jumpy, as he always was as a dragon--or had been--and he would fly at the slightest scare.

((Thats okay. <3))