“Aisshh, crazy school with crazy students.” Baro cursed as he ran down the stairs, two at a time, bursting through a crowd of students that had gathered at the bottom of the stairs, some trying to get up the stairs, others trying to hold them back. He did not want to know what was going on there or get involved in any way, so he squeezed through and ran as fast he could. As he turned the corner, he ran into someone.

“We've got to stop meeting like this.” the guy giggled, rubbing his shoulder. Baro hoped he hadn't done too much damage, realizing it was the boy that had crashed into him the other day. Hah, then he didn't have to nurse his guilty conscience, they could just call it even.

“Oh, heh, I'm sorry.” Baro apologized awkwardly and started walking past him when the boy stopped him with a simple “Hey.”. He turned, not sure if it was such a good idea to interact with anyone that frequented this school, but since he was just about the only person on the entire campus that didn't freak him out, he decided to hear him out.

“So ehm, my friend's stuck in detention.. and I know you're new here... so ehm.. do you maybe want to have lunch together? Eating alone kind of , doesn't it?” the boy grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He was kind of cute, in a dorky kind of way.

Baro was about to turn him down, when there was a huge commotion in the corridor from which he had just come. Well, he did need to get out of here, and if he was eating with this guy, there was less chance that the psycho from the roof would bother him. Not in a cafeteria full of people, right? Oh, who knew? It was impossible to figure out the dynamics in this school. Everyone was a freak, so it was tough to sift out who were the weirdos and who were just normal freaks, if there were any to begin with. Ah, he missed his old school more than he dared admit to himself. He squeezed the bear that was attached to his phone. It was becoming a habit, a coping mechanism.

“Oh, what the hell, let's go!” he shrugged. He didn't really care anymore.

The guy's face lit up, a huge smile dancing on his face. “I'm Gongchan. You can call me Chan or Channie if you want to, or come up with your own nickname if you prefer, or Gongchan if that makes you more comfortable.” he blurted out all at once. There was something that told Baro Gongchan wasn't the most popular kid this school had ever seen. But in Baro's eyes that was a huge compliment.

“I'm Baro.” he replied, nodding as if to say 'nice to meet you'.

“So what's your story?” Baro asked with his mouth full, thankful that at least the food was edible. He had half expected to receive a tray full of slimy worms, or some gooey purple substance, or maybe just one tiny pill that when you swallowed it, you became instantly full. But it was just normal food. Or, normal school cantina food, just barely resembling actual food. Yet it was strangely comforting to know that these supernatural freaks had to eat crappy cafeteria food too. At least they had one thing in common with the rest of the world.

“Oh, you mean.. like.. which myth I belong to?” Gongchan asked to clarify, adding in a quiet whisper “Is it true that you're.. just human?”.

Baro nodded. It figured that the whole school knew about his lack of powers. It was only a matter of time before he became the favorite target of all the biggest and scariest bullies. And in here, it wasn't just size, it was about who had the scariest power. Baro shuddered at the thought. He imagined being chased by fire breathing, poisonous gas spewing, eye-laser shooting tormentors. The things they could do to him, it wouldn't be a simple head first dive into the toilet bowl or a solitary time out in the small confinement of his locker. It would be something so much worse. The knot in his stomach reminded him of its existence. Yeah, it was a good idea to make friends, allies. Then at least someone would notice it if he went missing.

“I'm a shapeshifter.” Gongchan admitted. Baro was grateful that he didn't ask any more questions about why he was here if he didn't have any supernatural abilities. He didn't feel like talking about it, and besides, he had no idea himself. It was just a stupid decision his parents had made, to push him off the cliff of normalcy, making him plunge into the unknown without a safety net, completely exposed.

“Oo, that sounds cool! Can you change into a duck? Or a fox? Or.. or... a huge bear? Though maybe doing it here might be a bit... heh..” Baro asked enthusiastically, his skin itching to get a demonstration. It was like something straight out of a comic book. A shapeshifter superhero, sticking up for the unpopular kids in his high school. It was a definite advantage to have a shapeshifter on his side. Then when the kid warlock, the storm monger, the ice maker and the ghost ninja attacked them, Gongchan could just change himself into a huge venomous spider and eat them all. The indigestion alone would probably hand him a can of whoop , but it was worth it. He would help him through it.

“Well, in theory, I can change into all preexisting life forms, but..” Gongchan started quietly explaining.

“Awesome!!” Baro cut him off accidentally with his outburst of excitement. His mind racing through all the possibilities. Maybe this semester wasn't going to be as boring as he had expected.

“Why a duck, though?” Gongchan enquired, curiosity painted all over his face.

“I don't know, I just like them, quacking their way through life, not taking any from others...” he shrugged.

“So, you only have that one friend, the one in detention?” he knew he shouldn't ask, but he found it so unbelievable. Here was this extremely likeable kid with adorable looks and an incredible power, and he had only one friend? How backwards was that?

“So you have no friends, huh?” Gongchan replied dryly, clearly hurt. He deserved that. It had been a really inconsiderate question and he knew it.

“Touché!” he snorted, sending him an apologetic wink, hoping he wouldn't hold it against him. “I did have a bunch at my old school though..” he couldn't resist adding. He wasn't bragging, he just wanted them to exist somewhere else than just in his mind.

“Oh, you must miss them a lot..” Gongchan sympathized. “I have allergies.” he randomly added.

“Okay.” Baro didn't really know how to respond to that. “So like, you can't eat nuts or something?” he asked to be polite.

“No, I'm allergic to my feelings.” he explained, a shadow of sadness momentarily visiting his otherwise bright face. Man, could nothing be normal in this stupid school? He couldn't begin to imagine how that even worked. So being happy would send him into an anaphylactic shock?

“Ah, rats!” Gongchan exclaimed, his eyes glued to the entrance of the cafeteria. Ugh, it was the psycho from the roof and his possy of twenty. Baro found it nice to know that he wasn't the only one that didn't like him. He was not in the mood to have another run in with him, so he quickly excused himself, making an escape to the bathroom.

When he returned a few minutes later, Gongchan was nowhere to be seen. There was however a rat on the bench where he had been sitting. Huh. Could it be?

A girl on the next table spotted the rat and started screaming, “Rat! Rat!!”. It started a panic that spread to the adjacent tables and before long the whole cafeteria was in a frenzy. A tiny little rat could terrorize hundreds of supernatural beings? Baro snorted at how ridiculous that sounded. A severe case of 'the mouse and the elephant'.

A cantina worker came running from the kitchen. A chubby scary looking lady dressed in white, food stains covering her front, wielding a big chopping knife in her hand. This could only end badly.

Without thinking, Baro grabbed the rat and hid it under his sweater. Making sure nobody noticed he had the rat with him, he sneaked out of the cafeteria and ran. As fast he could.

Phew. He sat down on the window sill in one of the corridors, he had no idea where he was. His heart was racing. He could feel the rat's heartbeat as it lay motionless in his hand, it too was beating abnormally fast. Compared to humans, but Baro had no idea what was normal for rats, nor which doctrine Gongchan's heart followed while in shapeshifter mode. Then a thought occurred to him. How awkward would it be if this wasn't Gongchan at all? If this was just a normal rat he had under his sweater, he thought chuckling nervously to himself.