Life as a Dragon's Mate

Chapter 2

I woke up to a thunderstorm happening. I got out of bed and looked in Mutti’s room. She was up reading a book. I crawled into her bed.

“School is canceled today. Apparently there is a big leak in the roof. We can have a movie day if you would like.”

“That sounds good to me. Disney movies or superhero movies?”

“You choose and we can watch them in here.” Mutti turned on the TV and DVD player. I walked to the front room and picked out Hercules, Pocahontas, Mulan, Frozen, and Cinderella. I carried them back to Mutti’s room.

We watched Cinderella first. Halfway through, Mutti made popcorn. When the movie was over, Mutti had me get in the bath.

“Mutti, what kind of dragon are you?” I was playing in bubbles with a princess rubber duck and a dragon one.

“I am a light and poison dragon. Why do you ask?”

“I was just curious. What all can you do?”

“I can either hurt or heal someone as well as control how dark a room appears to people. Why are you so curious about this?” Mutti grabbed a towel to dry me off when I got out of the bath.

“So that’s why our house is always so bright to me, especially during a storm. Is that also why I do not take long to feel better when I am sick?”

“Yes, bambina. Are you ready to continue watching movies?” Mutti held the towel open in front of her.

“Yes. Can we have pizza for dinner?” I stood up and stepped out of  the tub.

“Yes we can.” Mutti dried me off quickly. “Go pick out some new pajamas and I will make us some lunch.”

“Peanut butter and honey sandwich please.” I then ran to my room and grabbed my red and black nightgown. I slipped it on and met Mutti in the hallway.

We ate in Mutti’s bed and watched Hercules and Pocahontas before the power went out. It was storming loudly outside and a lot of thunder and lightning. I snuggled into Mutti’s side and buried my face into her chest.

“It’s okay, Bambina. The power will be back on soon.”

“It seems so loud and dark.”

“Loud noises typically don’t bother you.” Mutti paused to think. “Is it the dark that you do not like right now?”

“Yes. Scary creatures hide in the dark.”

Thunder struck loudly and the house shook. I buried my face more into Mutti’s shoulder. She wrapped her arms around me and held me close.

“No creature will mess with you. My scent is all over you. I love you, Bambina.”

“I love you too, Mutti. How do you know that no one will bother me?”

“No one ever wants to mess with a dragon. We are very protective of what belongs to us.” Mutti petted my hair. “You are my most prized possession. I will protect you until my last breath.”

“Won’t I die before you do?”

“Not if I have my way. We will have this talk more in depth when you are a teenager.”

The power came back on after that. We continued to watch movies until bedtime. I fell asleep while thinking of the future.

I woke up to the smell of bacon cooking. I got up and dressed in the outfit Mutti had picked out for me. It was a pink shirt with a white dragon on it with piercing green eyes. My shorts matched the eyes. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and slipped on my black tennis shoes.

“Fraea, breakfast is almost ready. Can you please set the table for me?” Mutti did not sound awake at all.

“Coming, Kaikai,” I spoke as I walked out of my room. I quickly set the table and waited for Mutti to bring out breakfast.

"Orange juice or milk to drink?"

"Strawberry milk please." I said as Mutti put a few pieces of bacon and some scrambled eggs on my plate and then ate.

"School starts today. Are you excited?" Mutti had set our drinks down and filled up her plate.

I gave her a strange look. Why would I be excited to go away from the only person in the whole world I trusted?

"Honey, I will be there. I am the PE teacher. You will see me a lot while you are at school."

I smiled brightly. I wondered if Mutti had anything else she was doing, but I was too busy eating to voice my thoughts.

After we were done with breakfast, I grabbed my backpack and followed Mutti to her electric green Chevrolet Cheyenne super pickup to head to school. We sang along to the radio the whole ride there. It took us twenty minutes to get to school.

"I will see you soon, Bambina. Have a good day. I love you." Mutti kissed my forehead before walking down the hallway to the gym.

"See you soon. I love you, too." I walked into my classroom and noticed that I was the first student there. I found my desk and unloaded my backpack. "Good morning, Mrs. Schamorr."

"Good morning, Fraea." Mrs. Schamorr looked at me. She seemed to be waiting for someone specific. She kept looking at the door every one to two seconds. "You are here early."

"Kaikai is the PE teacher. I think we will be here at this time every morning. Do you have a helper that you are waiting on?" I pulled my sketchbook and colored pencils out of my desk and opened to the first blank page I had. I started drawing a field of flowers on a big hill. On top of the hill was a huge tree that touched the skyline and had a black cat, purple dragon, brown dig and white dove sitting in it.

"That is very good, especially for someone so small." The voice was deep and sent shivers down my spine.

I jumped when I first heard it and looked over my shoulder to see who spoke. It was a guy a little bit shorter than Mutti with brown hair and blue eyes. He has on a tye dyed shirt, jean shorts and sandals. I turned back around and continued on my drawing, making sure that I would remember to tell Mutti about the weird feeling that I got from the guy.

"My name is Zaine. I will be helping Mrs. Schamorr with the class. What is your name?"

"Fraea." I spoke sharply, hoping that he would get the idea that I wanted to work on my drawing.

"You have a lot of talent, Fraea. I like how detailed it is." He took the seat right next to me. "I also like your hair. How do you get it so vibrant?"

"It has always been this way. If you do not mind, I would like to work on my drawing in peace." I knew that if Zaine kept talking to me that I was going to lose my patience and get in trouble. I was about to reach for my colored pencils when Zaine put his hand on my leg. "Please remove your hand at once."

"Or else what? No one else is in the room." He grabbed my leg and dug his fingers in.

I screamed as loud as I could. There were footsteps heading toward the door. It was kicked open before Zaine could move away and Mutti was standing there, glaring at his hand.

"Get your hand off my child." Mutti's voice was rough, as if her dragon was fighting her for control. "You have one second before I get the principal who is already heading this way."

Zaine stood up and turned toward Mutti. "She is your pet, huh? We will see for how long she remains that."

I tried to move my chair so that I could run to Mutti, but it wouldn't move. When I looked, Zaine had one of his feet keeping me still. I looked at Mutti, pleading with her to get me out of the classroom.

"You need to allow Fraea to move this instant." Mutti turned to where she could look at the principal and me at the same time. "Mr. Lizard, Fraea screamed because this young man has his hand on her leg."

Mr. Lizard was one inch shorter than Mutti and had black hair and yellow eyes. "Fraea, please come here."

I tried to move but still couldn't. I did not want to get in trouble, but I wanted to hit Zaine or flip the table to move. "Sir, I cannot move since Zaine is holding my chair in place and I do not want to mess up my desk to be able to move." I felt a glare on me as I spoke.

"Mr. Woods, please allow Fraea to move or I will have no choice but to make you leave this school."

Zaine moved his foot and allowed me to stand up. I turned to run to Mutti, only to be tripped by Zaine. I stood up and ran toward the doorway.

Mutti picked me up as I passed her. She looked me over. "Are you hurt, Bambina?"

I nodded my head yes as I rubbed my leg. "I want to go home now. I don't like school."

"The day has not started yet. Do you know where Mrs. Schamorr is?" The principal spoke before Mutti could.

"She went to make copies of the activities she had planned for today." I heard the smirk in Zaine's voice as he spoke.

"Mr. Lizard, I am going to take Fraea to the restroom and make sure that she does not have any bruises." Mutti walked out of the classroom as she spoke. I buried my face into Mutti's shoulder. She set me on the sink. "Let me see your legs."

I pulled the legs of my shorts higher. Mutti and I looked at my right leg. I had half moon indents and red bruising on my mid thigh. "I do not want to stay here with him. I feel sick to my stomach whenever he is around."

Mutti looked me in the eyes, "what do you THINK is the reason for your bad gut feeling?"

"He makes me feel as if he is a bad guy. I feel as if he has an alternative plan of something, and that it has me in it." I had tears in my eyes.

"I got the same feeling. I will talk to Mr. Lizard and see what we can do. How badly do you want to go home?"

"I feel like I am going to be sick if I don't leave his presence." I wrapped my arms around Mutti's neck. I then buried my face in her shoulder.

"Okay, Bambina. We have to go talk to Mr. Lizard." Mutti walked out of the bathroom and to the office. That was the first day of years of headaches from Zaine.