As the morning sun rises the light peeks through Seth's window and hits him on the face. He woke up rubbing his eyes and saw Thally who was near the window.
Seth did not feel like waking up, he knew he could skip and sleep but that wouldn't sit right with him. After getting up from bed and stretching for a bit, Seth then went to the bathroom to get ready for school. After that, he put on his clothes, Thally climbed onto his shoulder and they went downstairs.
They didn't waste time and ate their food quickly, Seth made sure to give Thally her food, After he was done he packed up the plates and went to his parent's room.
"Good morning Mom, Good morning Dad, I am off to school," He said with a smile on his face.
Hellen was the only one in the room well with her pet lizard perched up on her shoulder. "Have a good time honey, Your dad was overworked last night, now he is sleeping in his lab"
"Yeah I am not surprised," He said with a small chuckle, Thally was having an intense stare-off with the lizard, and Seth noticed it. "Oh?, Thally why are you having a staring competition with Zed?, he is an E-rank beast"
Thally puffed her cheeks and turned away. "hmph it was looking at me weirdly" Hellen and Seth chuckled at her expression, After that Seth went outside and walked his way towards school as he chatted away with Thally.
"So you were quiet this morning," Seth asked Thally with a smile. "Well I didn't have energy and I was very hungry"
Seth then thought about something. "Did we eat dinner last night?" He muttered only remembering he took five injections and the. Immediately went to bed.
"No…I mean I can still get energy from sunlight, water, dirt, nutrients, blood, flesh, and bones" She said with a nod.
"And you are back on that subject" Thally glared at Seth. Huffed the next second, at least he didn't get bitten this time.
Arriving at school, Seth went to his class and went to sit there, Thally for the first time was seen by others, Seth would just say he had abilities but they came late, Yes it's a perfect plan.
After taking his seat, Emily who was already in class came towards Seth. "Oh are you already showing people you have abilities"
She was close to him. "Uhm yeah, I don't think I need to hide it that much"
"Well okay, though it is kind of disappointing that other people know your secret," She said with a wink.
Seth didn't get her actions well. She was acting strange this morning. "Are you on your period?" he suddenly blurted out.
Emily froze for a moment, her face turning a shade of red. "What?!" she exclaimed, stepping back. "That's not something you just ask out of nowhere, Seth!"
Seth's eyes widened as he realized what he had just said. "Oh, uh, sorry! I didn't mean—"
Emily shook her head, letting out a small laugh. "You're hopeless sometimes, you know that? But no, I'm not on my period. I just… I don't know, maybe I was just surprised to see you bring Thally out in the open like that."
Thally, who had been sitting quietly on Seth's shoulder, tilted her head. "Why is it surprising? I'm a perfectly normal—"
"—Carnivorous plant girl" Seth interjected while giving her Thally a small poke on the cheeks.
Thally let out a small huff, crossing her arms in a playful pout. "I was going to say 'perfectly normal friend,' but sure, let's go with that," she replied, rolling her eyes with a grin.
Very soon people came towards Seth with a hint of curiosity, Jake did not care what was going on and continued playing a game on his phone. After telling the students he had abilities but they manifested quite slowly they bought albeit not as much.
After that they dispersed and treated it like it was nothing, Seth was quite baffled by their lack of reaction. "Heheh, what did you think would happen, some people's abilities can have something like Thally… Well despite Thally being a parasite" She whispered the last parts in his ear, her breath was warm.
Seth shivered slightly at the warmth of Emily's breath on his ear, and Thally wriggled a bit on his shoulder, clearly not liking being called a "parasite."
"Hey, I'm not just some ordinary parasite," Thally whispered back, her tone a mix of pride and irritation. "I'm special."
Emily smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Special, huh? Well, I guess Seth wouldn't have you around if you weren't."
Seth chuckled, feeling the tension from the earlier awkwardness fades. "Yeah, she's one of a kind." He looked around at the other students, who had mostly gone back to their conversations and activities. "I just thought they'd be more… interested."
Emily shrugged. "Most of them are just used to weird stuff by now. It's not every day you see a plant girl, but in a school full of people with strange abilities, it's just another Tuesday."
Seth nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, I was kinda nervous about bringing Thally out like this. I didn't know how people would react."
"Well, i am happy that I don't have to hide" Thally said with a small smile.
Seth smiled, feeling a bit of relief. "Yeah, I'm glad too. It was starting to feel weird, keeping you hidden all the time."
Thally nodded, her tiny hands clutching Seth's collar for balance. "I'll be honest, it's nice to stretch out a bit. But we should still be careful, right? Not everyone might be as accepting."
Emily nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you never know how some people might react, especially with something as unique as Thally. But I think it'll be okay. Just be yourself, and everything will fall into place."
"oh by the way did your dad say anything when you came to my house a few days ago" Emily then started awkwardly laughing. "ehm well he said if I wanted to go meet a friend I should have asked him and now…." She paused shyly fiddling with her hands.
"And?" Seth asked as he felt a sense of foreboding.
Emily bit her lip and hesitated before answering, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Well, now he wants to meet you. He thinks it's only fair since I visited your house."
Seth blinked in surprise. "No offense, the last time I met him he made me go train with your brother while he was the coach, that is why I don't come to your house that often, and now he wants me to come…what happens if I don't. Show up? Will he make me do more training?" Seth asked, half-joking, but with a nervous edge to his voice.
Emily let out a small giggle, though there was an apologetic look in her eyes. "Well, he might. Dad's really big on the whole 'building character through discipline' thing. But he also just wants to get to know you better, especially since… well, since we've been hanging out more."
Seth glanced at Thally, who was still perched on his shoulder, and then back at Emily. "I guess it wouldn't be too bad. I mean, I survived last time, right?" He gave her a playful grin, trying to lighten the mood.
Emily's expression softened, and she smiled. "Yeah, you did. And don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't go overboard. Besides, it's just dinner. How bad could it be?"
"But does he think we are dating?" Seth asked with a tilted head.
Emily chuckled. "No, he knows we are good friends"
"Good friends, huh?" Seth said with a teasing smile. "Well, as long as he doesn't make me run laps after dinner, I think I can manage."
She nudged him playfully. "Well if you do, I can cool you off with a little bit of water" A ball of water floated on her palm.
As the two were talking. Jake who was holding his phone heard everything they talked about, he was angry and his phone was starting to crack. 'Just because he got his abilities doesn't make him special'
He thought glancing at them acting all lovey-dovey, it made him sick, was he just jealous that Seth always smiled despite being bullied, yes he had stopped bullying him but was he ready to stop despising him?
Jake didn't hate Seth but he couldn't help feeling a mix of jealousy and frustration. Seth had been the easy target for so long, the one person Jake could look down on to feel better about his insecurities. Now, with Seth revealing his abilities and gaining attention from people like Emily, it just made Jake's resentment bubble to the surface.
As the bell rang, Jake tried to push his thoughts aside and focus on the day ahead. But it was difficult to ignore the way Seth and Emily were laughing together as if nothing had changed between them, yet everything had.