The non-humans are okay, except for Sephalla.
She's a nightmare, literally. That's the kind of, what, "racial" descriptor? A nightmare is like a horse-demon, so she's quite like the other horse-kids but with coal-black fur and a mane of living rebellious fire, in her case blue giving way to vivid red.
She's also, unmistakeably, a complete and utter prick.
Mud in my mouth, because she tripped me on the field. A crack on my phone, because she knocked it out of my hands. Buttons missing on my shirt. Half of my tie missing. My shoes on the goddamn library roof.
Nobody likes Sephalla. "The Magnificent"? My fucking arse.
I can't exactly fight her. Sephalla is about eight-and-a-half feet tall. She's muscular, toned, and -- most annoyingly -- very, very attractive. The horse girls are generally pretty cute, but Sephalla is gorgeous, and womanly in a way that most adult women must envy her for. Curves like a race-track, breasts bigger than my head, a backside that could crush steel between its cheeks.
'Seph, why did Jake feel the need to report your behaviour towards him as bullying?'
Ugh. They send us to a sessions with the school counsellor, Mr Mayhew, a weak willowy rod of a man. To sit opposite her is ridiculous, as if her claim has as much weight as mine. She's like twice my size, and inhuman besides that; nightmares are demonic, not even regular non-humans, way beyond human limits.
'He's annoying,' she says. Sephalla's voice is sultry, dark, syrupy-sweet, black treacle. 'He's always in my way. I can't exactly see him without looking down, after all.' The nightmare rolls her coal-fire eyes at me, red irises with a hint of flame-blue. 'I can't help bumping into him.'
Mr Mayhew makes notes, and looks my way. 'And Jake,' he says, adjusting his glasses, 'what do you say to this?'
'Does it matter?'
'Of course; speak your mind.'
'But if I say it doesn't matter where I sit or stand, she always finds ways to bother me, will anything change?' I sigh. 'I can't get taller, but she can pay attention to where she stands.'
Mayhew nods, and nods, and turns back to Sephalla. 'Well, Seph?'
The nightmare crosses her arms over her ridiculous, obscene boobs. She wears black, some punk or goth hybrid, with a silvery chain around her neck and a half-tank that covers her shoulders and the bulk of her breasts, leaving her collarbone and a great deal of bouncy cleavage exposed. There's a bump on each breast, faintly visible through the thick lacy padding of her bra -- also black -- that suggests a piercing in each nipple.
'I don't want to.' She shakes her head, in the process causing that living flame to whip about, an incandescent swirl of golden-orange, its core a glorious azure, that behaves like hair and yet flickers like fire. 'Looking down hurts my neck.'