Brave (New Earth Saga)

Ch. 3

Everything happened so fast. One moment I was safe and sound in my desk when suddenly huge fingers wrapped around me. My arms were trapped down at my side under the grip so I couldn't even "defend myself" with them.... As if that would have mattered.

"Hey! Stop!" I screamed in shock. My request had the opposite effect when the grip on me seemed to tighten. Was I going to get squished on my fricken first day of school?!!!

"Stop!" I screeched as loud as I could but the student, Billy, either ignored me or didn't hear me for he kept rumbling making his way toward the back of the room where he'd previously been sitting. In a fast moving haze I could hear Mrs. Hollaway and other giants responding to Billy's actions. To my human ears it was like an all-encompassing surround sound of giants and their vibrative voices molding together.

In my panic, I tilted my upper body and head forward and bit down as hard as I could on one of the giant fingers holding me uncomfortably tight.

"Ow!" yelled this foolish student, Billy.

With that he released his vice grip on me and I began free falling to my death. When Billy was holding me I was surely around thirty to forty human feet off the ground. Could I survive a fall from that height?

I screamed at the top of my lungs until I felt myself fall into something... surprisingly soft? It felt like I was in a hammock, or a soft, gigantic bowl. Looking up, I found that I was inside of a giants baseball cap.

"You grabbed a human without her consent," roared the giant holding the baseball cap I was sat in. It was the voice of an angry male.

"Billy Sharp, To the principal's office immediately," cried Mrs. Hollaway.

"But it bit me! I was taking it to my desk," retorted Billy.

It... He was referring to me as an it... like I'm not a person to him? WTF!

"Shut up!" roared the giant boy holding me in the hat as he punched Billy in the face with his free hand, knocking Billy to the ground.

Between the yell, and sudden movement, I found myself curled up in the hat holding my ears and closing my eyes. It felt like I was under water and couldn't fully make out what was going on. Over and over in my head I prayed for this whole thing to end. What I knew was I felt small. I felt helpless. I felt weak.

"Hey, are you okay?" The giant holding the hat repeated to me.

Mrs Hollaway screeched over him, "Boys! Both of you to the principal's office, Now!"

"What should I do with her?" asked the boy holding me in the hat. Being suspended high above the ground and passed around in someone's hat sure is a recipe for feeling humiliated.

Mrs. Hollaway put the hat with me on her desk as she made a phone call. Meanwhile, I was melting in discomfort and humiliation as I hid inside of the hat. I could hear the not so subtle whispers travel around the room, feeding more fuel to my embarrassment. It was my first day of school and I was cowering inside of a hat hiding my splotchy tearful face.

I've never been one to get emotional in front of others. I'm pretty sure even Joe's only seen me cry a handful of times... and that's including these past months since my mom died. I don't like to be the weak one. Even with my mom, I never wanted to add more worry or stress to her life.

Mrs. Hollaway hovered over me and spoke very quietly... for a giant. "Morgan, are you hurt?"

"No... I-I'm okay," I spoke through my tears.

"I think it's best if you go have some follow-up with Vice Principal Campbell."

Suddenly above me was a second giantess looking down on me as I was still sat in the hat. She was a beautiful "petite" giantess with long, wavy, chocolate brown hair shaping her modelesque face. She appeared to be in her late 30s early 40s if I had to guess.

"Can I stay in the hat?" I asked.

"Sure," The brown haired giantess answered, smiling down at me. She then escorted me to the school's main office.

The trip was short, and took me inside what I now know was the school's main office. I was finally set down on the ground... or the human level, of the office, where I was able to exit the hat, and be greeted by a round human male with straight, thinning, red/orange hair, meshing well with the hue on his round, rosy cheeks.

"Morgan Mangello, welcome to Wendelton High School. I'm your Vice Principal, Mr. Marshall, and I am so honored to have you as a part of our community. Please join me," Mr. Marshall invited as he gestured to a human sized office with "Vice Principal" written in the school colors, blue and white, on the door.

I took a seat at one of the two brown chairs sat in front of Mr. Marshall's impeccably organized desk.

"Alright Miss Mangello, Let's discuss, shall we?" Mr. Marshall said in a sharp tone that was a drastic contrast to his previous chipper demeanor. I didn't even know where to begin, so I remained silent.

"Morgan, it's first period and we already have one student at the nurses office after being bitten, and punched, and another student next door in Principal Howard's office holding an ice pack to the very hand he used to defend you with. We knew going co-ed was going to have it's kinks to work out, but I must say I am certainly surprised to find you are the first human student to have an altercation. I thought given your current living situation you would be understanding, but It's clear living with Mr. Mangello has made you dangerously bold."

"Um, I wouldn't say it was an altercation, I was,"

"You were immediately judgemental of a student in the process of learning how to inhabit space with us," Mr. Marshall stated, cutting me off.

"What?!" I asked, completely shocked.

"We have zero tolerance for any physical violence on this campus. That rule applies to all of our students. Giant, and Human."

"Wait, Mr. Marshall, I was just sca-"

"You need to be brave Morgan. This school represents equality. If you kids can't get along you'll ruin it for every other high school in the nation considering going co-ed."

"B-but he grabbed me... He grabbed me without asking. They're supposed to ask."

Mr. Marshall let out a sigh before continuing, "Morgan, I'm sure Mr. Mangello treats you very well, I mean we don't take lightly everything he's done to make this school possible, but I'm afraid your expectations from our Giant brothers and sisters may be unrealistic. Not every Giant who enters this school has had such intimate relations with humans like your guardian has,"

He said the last part about my guardians intimate relations with humans like it was an insult. This was a harsh reminder of all the judgement that surrounded my mom and Joe when they were fighting for their right to get married. Not to mention that he not once referred to Joe as what he was... My DAD. I would never refer to him as my guardian, like what?! That's just... cold.

"I am sorry that my actions were interpreted how they were. He was holding me incorrectly, and without asking, and I guess I freaked out,"

"I understand Morgan, just know that you need to check your prejudice. Do you really think a young man came to class to hurt you in front of the rest of class?"

"Well, n-no,"

"Do you know how much trouble any giant would get in for hurting any human citizen, let alone a child,"

"I guess,"

"So Morgan, you can work on your own entitlement issues, and learn to accept your larger classmates after school in detention."

"Detention?! What?"