And so it was Monday once again. I quickly ate my breakfast and headed out to meet Gus. We made it a habit to always walk to school together. When I arrived at our usual meeting spot I saw him leaning against a tree, checking his phone. He looked up and smiled at me.
"Charlie mind if we wait for Ricky?" Gus said.
"Dude we're gonna be late and I really do not want to sit through detention with Mrs.Willowsby...again," I said.
"C'mon. Surely she will understand ur tardiness. Ricky doesn't know this place as well as we do" Gus said nudging me in the side with his elbow.
Mrs. Willowsby was a very strict centaur and even stricter as a teacher. If you came as much as a nanosecond late to her class she would give one a lengthy dose of detention. As if on cue Ricky appeared behind me, nearly scaring me to death.
"Sorry I am late. Shall we make our way to school then" he said.
Gus and I nodded as we started walking to school.
"You're in our class. Fair warning Mrs. Willowsby is one hell of a teacher. Nobody likes her because she gives detention if you look at her in a certain way. You see she is a centaur and because she is so hated wed call her the Horse Demon" Gus explained as we walked.
As we walked I could see an odd figure in the woods. The guy or gal or it was dressed in a long black robe. I gently nudged Gus.
"Dude, are you seeing this?" I said pointing in the direction of the hooded figure. But the hooded figure had vanished just as quickly as he had appeared.
"I don't see anything. You must've imagined things" Gus said with a shrug.
I know what I saw. Just who was that person? Why was he spying on us? Was he part of a satanic cult hellbent on world domination? Many questions swam through my head as we walked to school When we arrived at the school Mrs.Willowsby was looking at us. If looks truly could kill we'd be dead on the spot right now. She whinnied in annoyance.
"You three are late!! Again!! What poor excuse do you have this time" she said.
"Well to be fair Mrs.Willowsby. We are but two humble high school teens showing our new pal around town so surely you will let it slide" Gus said putting on his best angel voice.
"Oh, all right just this once but do not make this a habit Van Helsing or else! You too Andersen" Mrs. Willowsby said stomping her hoof on the ground to emphasize that she meant business. We nodded as we went to our usual desks.
"Here you can sit next to me. The gal who was my desk neighbor transferred to the Night Class so that one is free for you to use!" I said hanging my backpack on my chair before taking a seat.
"Alright students today we have an exchange student from Barcelona, Spain give a warm welcome to Ricardo Gonzales," Mrs.Willowsby said. Ricky waved shyly to the rest of the class.
"You are so cute Ricky" a girl spoke up. It was from Molly. A kind, timid cyclops girl who was too big for her desk. Ricky blushed.
"Thank you" he muttered under his breath.
"Ok class today we are gonna learn about the history of the Mythical Race known as centaurs" Mrs.Willowsby started.
The rest of the class went by fast. I could barely focus as I kept thinking about the mysterious hooded figure I saw in the woods. I pretended to write down what Mrs.Willowsby said as I doodled the hooded figure in my notebook. I had a great photographic memory so I could draw the thing perfectly from memory. I was so immersed that I didn't even notice the bell ring for recess. I quickly stuffed my notebooks in my backpack and hurried after Gus and Ricky.
"Charlie dude what were you doing? You were zoning out completely" Gus asked. I pulled out my notebook and flipped to the page with my doodle of the hooded figure. I showed it to Gus and Ricky.
"Whoa...is this the thing you saw?" Gus asked. I nodded.
Ricky eyed the drawing carefully.
"I have never seen anything like this before," he said.
"Neither have I ...I wonder why this person was creeping on us?" Gus said
I shrugged, not having an answer to his question.
"I say we go out to find him after school. See it as an epic adventure like in our DnD campaigns" Gus suggested.
I swallowed a lump of nervosity as I dumbly nodded. Why do I get myself into these things?