Chapter 7 Maybe I Should Leave

Draven's POV

Lucky for me, I liked both Croak patterns, so I bought them both. The extra one I could give to Mia.

Now I finally have my first Croak friend.

I have to say, having a friend feels pretty great.

I don't have to sit alone in the dining hall anymore, pretending to be really focused on my food. Now I can actually talk to someone while I eat.

This feels really good!

And Mia stood up to Professor Wilson for me.

She thought I couldn't hear, but dragons actually have excellent hearing. When I want to listen, I can pick up conversations even from outside the door.

Not that I was eavesdropping, though.

I was just worried Professor Wilson might be saying bad things about me to Mia.

And she was, actually. She said they all hated me.

I just never expected Mia to be completely unfazed by that, and even speak up for me.

It was the first time anyone had ever defended me. That felt strange in a way I couldn't quite describe.

Usually dragons don't need anyone to stand up for them. I could silence people with a flick of my finger.

But afterward, Mia was called to the principal's office. I was worried something might happen to her, so I waited in the hallway the whole time.

When she came out, she didn't look happy.

I wanted to comfort her, but I've never had friends before. I'm really bad at this kind of thing.

She told me Professor Jones had said she wasn't a dragon.

So that was why she was upset. I started to feel guilty.

It was my fault. I just wanted so badly to find someone of my own kind that I jumped to conclusions and assumed she was a dragon.

But she doesn't smell like a dragon at all.

I ignored such an obvious sign and gave her the wrong answer.

To make up for my mistake, I'm going to figure out what kind of shifter she actually is.

Hearing Mia on the phone with Lady Davis, I felt a little envious.

She has such a good relationship with her adoptive mother.

I grew up in a foster home too. My adoptive parents were rabbit shifters, kind and gentle people who treated me well.

At first I didn't know they weren't my biological parents, so I just assumed I was a rabbit too.

But I never liked the vegetables they loved, and I wasn't gentle like them at all. I was always getting into fights with the neighborhood kids.

Then, when I was twelve, I shifted for the first time. My size nearly brought the whole house down.

That was when I found out I was a dragon.

My adoptive parents told me that Professor Jones had entrusted me to them. My biological parents were both dragons, but they had died in the Great War.

They had always meant to tell me, but never knew how to bring it up.

Even though I was a dragon and they were rabbits, we had lived together for so many years. I had long thought of them as family.

But once the other kids found out I was a dragon, everything changed. They started to hate me.

They threw rocks at me, called me "son of a traitor," "evil ugly dragon," "fire-breathing lizard."

At first I was furious and fought back every time.

I always won, but my adoptive parents would still go to the other kids' families with gifts to apologize.

They wanted me to come along, but why should I apologize? They were the ones who insulted me first.

Later I learned the truth. In the Great War, my biological father had sided with the dark forces. Many people in the magical world had died at his hands.

That kind of hatred doesn't fade with time. So all I could do was make myself stronger, make myself someone no one would dare mess with.

As I got older, my power grew. One time I nearly burned one of the neighborhood kids alive.

My adoptive parents and I were driven out of the neighborhood.

But no matter where we moved, someone would always provoke me, always look for trouble.

They mocked my adoptive parents for taking in a dragon, saying sooner or later I'd burn them to death.

They could say whatever they wanted about me, but they had no right to mock my parents. I lost my temper.

And because I couldn't control the flames, I caused another disaster.

This time, my adoptive father was burned and hospitalized.

I knew I had to leave.

My adoptive mother gave me a key to a magical bank vault, where my biological parents had left an inheritance for me.

When I opened it, I was stunned. There was more money than I could spend in several lifetimes, along with all kinds of precious gems.

I took out a portion and left it with my adoptive parents, then started living on my own.

A few days ago, I received an acceptance letter from Aetherland Magic Academy.

I was used to being alone, and I didn't really want to come to a school.

But I thought maybe I'd find others of my kind here, or maybe make a friend or two.

Maybe I was fooling myself. But then I met Mia.

The first time I saw her, at the school gate, she was completely clueless, couldn't even dodge Liam's ridiculous ice blade.

Liam is genuinely annoying, so I got rid of him for her.

Later, when I found out she didn't know her own form, I got a little curious about her.

Maybe because she grew up in the human world, she wasn't afraid of me at all. She kept moving closer instead of backing away.

I was scared of burning her, so I told her not to touch me.

But she kept coming close anyway, again and again.

Her eyes were pure and soft. She was bright and talkative, and she wasn't afraid of fire.

Even if she isn't a dragon, I'm glad to have her as a friend.

Seeing how upset she was, I walked her back to her dorm.

That's where we ran into her friend, the eagle shifter.

The way she looked at me wasn't friendly at all. For Mia's sake, I let it go.

I was about to leave, had barely taken a few steps, when I heard my name.

They were talking about me?

I knew I shouldn't listen. I should have just walked away. But my feet wouldn't move.

I stood behind one of the pillars and listened clearly to everything they said.

When Lyra told her everything, I panicked.

I had been holding onto a small hope that Mia would never find out, that when the time was right I would tell her myself.

But I never expected Lyra to say it all out loud, just like that, when I had no way to prepare.

Especially when she brought up the possibility that Mia's parents might have been killed by a dragon.

In that moment, even I started to doubt myself. Every explanation I had ready suddenly felt hollow.

If Mia's parents really did die at the hands of a dragon, how could I ever face her?

I still held onto one small hope. That Mia would trust me one more time. That she would say something.

Please. Just say something.

But Mia didn't speak. She didn't push back. She just went silent.

That silence made it hard for me to breathe too.

She must have started to doubt me as well.

Standing there was unbearable. I finally walked away.

Next time I see Mia, she probably won't want anything to do with me.

A friendship I had just made, gone just like that. My chest ached.

I have hard scales. Nothing can hurt a dragon from the outside. But from the inside, it's a different story.

It felt like a hole had been torn open in my heart. She did it. She actually hurt me.

She turned out to be just like everyone else. So why did she get close to me in the first place?

I never should have come to this stupid school.

Maybe I should just pack up and leave right now.