Strange imaginations by Bridget Kathleen (philippa perry book .TXT) 📕

When I first saw him, Zalor Kain, he was dancing on top of a table with two other girls under both his arms. His golden blonde hair was a mess and pulled back, his bangs sticking to his sweaty face and his deep blue eyes looking tired as he moved his head this way and that. The music was uncomfortably loud and annoying. Why had I come to this party in this first place? A lot of these people mad fun of my small, soft bunny ears and my upturned pink nose. It wasn't normal for my race to have such small ears. The bigger the better, as they always say. Having small ears or a small tail, like, not being fluffy enough, meant that you were not bred right and if that happens then you bring shame to your family, which is ridiculous, because how is someone capable of controlling that sort of thing? Each race is different, though. Sometimes being small is a good thing, and sometimes it's important to be really big. For me, my race is complicated: having a small nose is good, well, I got that down, but having small ears is a bad thing. Having big feet is another good trait, but I unfortunately posses small feet. I'm lucky if I find shoes my size in my age group. Some of us are far off worse, though. But calling me a bunny would be considered an insult. We all have specific names. Zearos which means rabbit/rodant, that's what I am. Rambios, the reptile family. Jabos, the cat family. Teltos, the dog family. Mandos, fish family. Xeos, bird family. Geotos, which are races that have been mixed. That's something that is not smiled upon in most places.

There is one race, though, the fool of all of us, no matter if you're a Geotos: The monkey. The monkey is the fool among all of us, the trickster, the joker, which is exactly what Zalor is. Born from a long line of Geotos he has strangely found his way here to this party. I currently lay bent over on the floor after being pushed, my hands getting sticky from the food and drink that has been spilt on the floor. That's when I looked up and saw him dancing with those girls. The table shook hard and finally it broke. The three of them went tumbling backwards with a loud cry from the girls. For a moment I was worried and thought for a second if I should go see if they were ok, but sure enough the two Jabos girls stood up laughing and pointing at Zalor and then just walked away, leaving him there. Zalor was the type to bring the laughs, he was definitely the joker, but also the fool seeing how after awhile the others didn't think much of him. He wasn't exactly the life of the party, but he did bring people together. Too afraid to get back up, I crawled over to the broken table where Zalor lay half awake and drunk on carrot juice. He was a complete mess and talking nonsense. I didn't understand a word that came out of his mouth. I leaned over him, looking at his complex face. He had a fine jaw that was thin and smooth looking, a straight nose not too long or too short and it wasn't too thick or thin either. Zalor had a very pretty complexion and if done right he could easily wear make-up to make himself look like a girl, but his boy-ish body would give himself away at once with a second glance. He was lean and muscular from what I could tell and had really big feet. Hmm...did Monkeys have that big of feet? I stopped looking at his feet and went back to looking at his face. He was a pretty boy and I felt my cheeks get hot. Oh no! Zalor shot up and bonked me in the head with his. I fell back and he completely knocked himself out.

It was then that I heard the sirens and loud horns of the police. Everyone started to scram then and I was still on the floor. I was about to make a run for it too but when I saw Zalor still lying there I knew there would be serious trouble for him if he was caught, especially for who he was. So, I did all I could do and grabbed his arms, pulling him. I managed to pull him out of the house and on to the back yard just as everyone was leaving. For being a Zearos, we have strong legs, so pulling Zalor along was a piece of cake for me, besides falling all the time from everything on the floor and ground. I managed to get us behind a bush and waited until the police left. For being such a big party I figured there would be more police. I considered myself lucky and looked down at Zalor who was just starting to wake up. I put a finger to my lips to hush him and he continued to lay there just looking up at me with sleepy eyes.

When the police left I looked back down at Zalor, that was when I introduced myself to him. All he did was smile and say to me, "Nice ears." I was absolutely appalled by his rude behavior and bonked him on the head. He fell back on the ground, passed out again. For some reason I felt bad after hitting him; I guess I just don't know my own strength and I reached out to touch his face but held my hand back. It was getting late and I needed to get home and I felt terribly stupid for going to this party. Of course I felt bad for leaving Zalor there passed out behind a bush in someone's back yard, but what was I suppose to do? I didn't know who to call and there was no one I knew who knew him well enough to help out. I figured this was the best place to keep him. I did manage to save him from the police even if he won't remember. The truth is, I helped him simply because I found him absolutely fascinating.

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It was a Monday morning and I had just arrived to my homeroom class on the third floor of my high school. I was on my second year and no longer holding the title of a little Freshman, but unfortunately my ears would have something different to say. I wore blue ribbons in my hair to help hide my ears; my brown hair didn't help much either seeing how my ears were completely white. Tired from last night I walked to my seat next to the window on the first row. I stopped suddenly when I saw him, Zalor Kain. He was here earlier than me and the few kids in the class paid no attention to him, probably because of who he was. I stared at him for a few seconds as he continued to stare out the window, his head resting in his palm. The opened window blew in some fresh hair, pushing his hair back a little. "Excuse me," I said, finally walking up to him. "That's my seat." Zalor turned to look at me, not surprised at all. "Can I have my seat back, please?"
Now he seemed shocked. "You're asking me?" I nodded. "Asking?" he questioned.
I was a bit confused and looked over to the group of kids on the opposite side of the room. They were looking at us but only for a second and then went back to their conversation. I looked back at Zalor and gave him a quick smile. "Uh...yes?" I answered him.
Zalor sat back in the chair and crossed his arms. "I didn't know we had assigned seats."
     "We don't," I started. "I just really like sitting in the front. Most of us find seats at the beginning of the year and just stay there." I explained.
Zalor nodded a few times. "Ok. Fair enough." He stood up and that was when I noticed that his white uniform shirt wasn't tucked in and his tie was lose underneath his collar. "You might want to tuck in your shirt." I told him. He ignored me though and took a seat right behind my desk and continued to look out the window. I hung my book bag behind my chair and took out a book to read for the next twenty minutes.

As the classroom began to fill up the teacher, Mr. Greystone, walked in and everyone took a seat. He cleared his throat and gestured a hand to my side of the classroom. "We have a new student here with us today. Everyone meet Mr. Kain. Zalor Kain why don't you stand up?" I placed my book down in front of me and looked behind to see Zalor standing up. He looked extremly uncomfortable.
     "My name is Zalor Kain. I'm from Gratos," he stopped talking for a moment seeing how a few kids were whispering with each other. Mr. Greystone didn't even bother to stop them. "I know what you are all thinking and it doesn't bother me. I'm only here because I have to be. I don't plan on making a lot of friends. Besides, I'm not very good at introducing myself so I'll just leave it at that." Zalor sat back down, leaving everyone in the room speechless. He said he was from Gratos, a dangerous place to live at least from what I've heard. I could tell that Zalor wasn't from the city from the moment I saw him and heard him speak. He was very different from the rest of us and not just because of his race but because of his personality. I guess you could say that was what sparked my real interest in him. He wasn't afraid of the others, at least that's how I saw it. He spoke his mind and didn't care what people thought of him. I found that to be a really admirable thing. Mr. Greystone cleared his throat again. "Mr. Kain, you might want to re-think the way you are dressed." he eyed Zalor's un-tucked shirt and then sat down. Zalor didn't say a word, only tucked his uniform in.

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As the day went on I dressed for gym class and because it was such a nice day we were outside. I pulled up shorts and tucked in my shirt and double checked to see if my shoes were tied nice and tight. I walked outside, already stretching my arms behind my back. That was the usual routine in gym class. Our teacher, Mrs. Kent, blew her whistle, singling us to line up so she could tell us what to do next. I knew what was coming and I didn't need to listen to her to know what she was going to say. Like always, on nice days, us girls were always split from the boys. "Track season is coming up, and I figured we can get a head start from all the other local schools and start practicing at least three times a week. Being outside gives us that advantage and will make it easier. So, hop to it and start warming up your legs. Girls one side and boys on the other." We were given our order and we did just as she told us to.

Everything was going smoothly until Zalor made his grand appearance. He was late and still had one shoe untied and he quickly tied it in a double knot. He was informed right away by Mrs. Kent about what we were doing. My heart was beating fast now and