Waking up the next morning was a cruel joke.

My alarm clock went off at seven in the morning. Colin slapped me in the face instead of the alarm clock, like a terrible person. What a crappy wake up call.

After getting up and going through my morning routine, I arrive at the kitchen counter. My backpack hung off one shoulder but it had nothing inside. I never got a chance to go shopping yesterday for all the supplies I needed because of Annie’s hospital run. Not that I blame her though.

“Good morning! How do you like your eggs?” Jac inquires estactically. He was a bit too excited for the first day of college. Jac told me that nearly fifty years ago, he also tried to break tradition and go to school. It… didn’t go well. Apparently, his parents told him that if he tried to live in the human world, he would be cut off from the colony.

“Sunny side up, if you can. What’s got you in such a good mood?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. Jac danced his little lizard dance to the radio song as he cracked an egg over the pan.

“Of course it’s because you are making my dreams come true!” Jac says. He sways his tail to the music and shuffles the pan back and forth over the burner. The egg sizzles.

“Do you want to come along? They won’t mind as long as you stick close.” I offer. I really wouldn’t mind carrying that old man lizard around with me. If he smiles and dances like this while cooking eggs every morning, then it's worth it. He is like my own grandfather now, and I want to make him as happy as possible.

“You’d do that? You would really do that?” He is more surprised than I thought he would be. Of course I’d take him with. Any dragon that interested in the human world deserves to see it first hand. Jac’s eyes are bright with excitement. I can tell he wants to go more than anything else in the world.

“Of course. Eat something, and then we can go.” I tell him. It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only dragon in the world that is interested in the human world.

Colin walks into the room with pj’s and slippers on. His short blond hair stood in every direction possible. I couldn’t help but think he was cute like that. I wish I could just hug him good morning and tell him very directly that he is cute with a bedhead. How come I can’t just come out and say things like that? I want to, I really do. But it never feels like the right time… or maybe I’m just not well-versed in how to give and receive that level of affection. It feels like I could make an irreversible mistake at any moment if I’m not careful. I probably think too much.

“I can’t believe you are going through with this.” Colin grumbles when he sees my empty backpack hanging off the chair behind me. He pulls out a coffee mug and pours himself a cup of coffee. “We have perfectly good schools here, in the colony.” Colin sits on the stool next to mine and grumpily sips at his black coffee.

Apparently, no one has introduced dragons to the idea of putting milk and sugar into coffee. It is impressive that he could drink it black though, I’ll give him that.

“Hush, Colin. We need this. Our species just needs a little kick in the butt to get us to open up to humans. We shouldn’t close ourselves off to others just to keep our traditions.” Jac scolds him. He scoops the sunnyside egg onto my plate and passes it over to me. I pour myself some orange juice and get ready to enjoy that delicious looking egg.

“But why should we have to change to fit into their culture? We aren’t human.” Colin argues. I try not to feel offended. I might not technically be human, but I sure as hell feel like a human.

I always feel like I’m wandering around clueless in the dark when I’m in the supernatural world. But not when I’m in the human world. Things make sense to me there. That has to count for something. That’s got to make me a little more human than the rest of the dragons.

“That human form you’re permanently stuck in sure has me convinced.” Jac mocks. That must have been a tough blow because Colin shut up after that. I’m pretty sure Jac is the only one allowed to say that to Colin, since Jac is also a rider. Since Colin can’t transform, his “human” form is the only one he’s got. It must be hard to justify his non-human status at times.

“Anyway, it’s about time we go. Are you coming, Jac?” I asked with a wide smile. Of course, I knew the answer but that didn’t stop me from asking again. Colin gave me an irritated look when I’d asked his grandfather over him. I was willing to take Colin with me too if he actually wanted to come. I’d seriously doubt it though.

Jac is about to tell me “Absolutely!” when Master Wei came into the room with wrapped gifts in both hands.

“Before you take my mate and run off to the human world, I wanted to give you this. Consider it an early christmas present.” He hands me the gift in his right hand. “And this one's for you, Colin.” He hands Colin the box in his left hand. Colin bows respectively and takes the gift with both hands.

We thank Master Wei for the gifts before ripping them open like savages.

Under the wrapping paper is a box with a picture of a laptop printed on it. My heart leaps with excitement. A laptop? No way! I ripped the paper off faster to get the box open quicker. I couldn’t believe he got me a laptop!

I looked over at Colin and saw him holding a laptop box as well. They were small chromebooks, but were very nice. I’m surprised. I didn’t think they had things like this in the colony.

“Wow. This is amazing, Master Wei. Thank you so much.” I tell him with a grin spreading from ear to ear. This is perfect. Who needs paper and pens when I could just type everything now. At least, I think that’s how college works.

“You are very welcome. I expect that you will use it for school before anything else.” Master Wei tells me sternly. I nod. He’s just like a parent when it comes to things like these, but I understand why. The colony was quite strict on technology. Phones were an especially big problem in this new era.

Young children beg their parents for them, but dragons living in this colony weren’t allowed a phone until they were eighteen. Apparently, children didn’t need them because they weren’t allowed to leave the colony until eighteen anyway. That just seems crazy to me. Never leaving home for eighteen years? How do they put up with it? Computers had a similar rule within the colony. People didn’t need computers if there were books. No internet? Insanity.

“Yes, thank you. But why do I have a computer, exactly?” Colin has the balls to ask something so rude. What is wrong with him? Couldn’t he just accept it and smile without arguing about it?

“Aren’t you attending this college with Sam?” Master Wei knits his pearly white eyebrows together in confusion. “This is me, encouraging you to follow your dreams.” He tells Colin. Master Wei is clearly unsure about Colin’s reaction.

“I’m not. I’m a dragon, for Zodiac’s sake.” Colin sounds offended. Seriously, is he a child? Master Wei looks both disappointed and proud at the same time. It takes serious dedication to be both proud and disappointed in someone at the same time.

Master Wei holds the same belief that Dragons are traditionally isolated from humans, but at the same time, knows that eventually we will have to leave the old ways behind. Being on the wrong side of progress won’t get anyone anywhere.

“Well. I suppose we should go then, young Zodiac.” Jac says hesitantly. Nothing more is said as I awkwardly shuffled on my shoes and walked out the door.

Jac climbs up onto my shoulder and sits down. I walk down the hallway and open up the door to the stairwell. Ever since I first found the stairwell, things have gotten a lot easier. No more jumping out of a window like a crazy person, thank you very much.

“That did not go the way we thought it would.” Jac says quietly. I nod understandably. I wouldn’t have expected him to act like that either.

I don’t know why Colin is so against me going to a human college. Does he think I’m trying to relive my old life? That isn’t possible, and he should know that. My family hated my guts. That much was clear.

I hadn’t talked to my family in some time, but that kind of tipped me off. If they haven’t contacted me, it’s because they didn’t want to. I don’t want to go to college to be a human. I am a dragon, and I accepted that a long time ago.

I mean, just look at my clothes! Traditionally baggy clothes with golden trim and red fabric folds. A weird shirt-like cover that hung off of me like a second skin. All of the clothes here were so traditional. If I thought I was still human, I would be caught dead in this. Except… I am about to change out of these. I want to fit in, not stand out.

I pull my regular human clothes out of my bag and start changing in the stairway. Jac jumps off my shoulder and lands safely on my backpack.

“What on Earth are you doing? Have you suddenly turned into a complete savage?” Jac scolds me as I strip bare in a semi-public place. It’s not like anyone but the occasional lone child uses these stairs… not that it makes it okay to strip in the stairwell. I knew that.

I pull off the baggy clothes and replace them with a plain black tee, and some slightly tight jeans. Since the stairwell isn’t heated like the rest of the building, it was as cold as the outside september air. I pull out my favorite jacket: A red and white vinyl letterman with a golden dragon printed on the back. Colin had given it to me one of the first nights I got here. I still love it to this day. I’m pretty sure it is the Colony’s school jacket.

“I can’t go out dressed like a nomad from the 1600’s! But I don’t want to upset Colin or Master Wei more than I already am. He thinks I’m trying to be human or something.” I argue back. I zip up the jacket halfway and slung my backpack over my shoulder. Jac climbs back up and perches on my backpack strap with a perplexed look on his face.

“So, you aren’t trying to be more human?” Jac asks curiously. I start the hike down the twelve flights of stairs. The ground floor felt so far away that I almost regretted not taking the easy way down. The easy way being my wings, of course.

“Of course not. I just- I was raised a human. Going to college is like a milestone. A right of passage. It’s just what people my age do. And besides, I did actually have dreams before I grew a tail.” I tell him, only half-joking. Jac looks relieved to hear I didn’t want to pretend to be human. He should know better, and so should Colin. Dragons seem very worried when one of their own wants to do something outside tradition.

“What did you want to do?” He asks curiously. I step down a flight of stairs and round another corner. Only six more flights. Then I would have to walk or fly a mile and a half to the nearest bus station. A half hour ride into town, and then another walk onto campus. It would be easier to fly the whole way but I knew better than to think it would be okay for me to do that. Humans would freak.

“I wanted to be an anthropologist. And honestly, I still do.” I knew the hypocrisy. A dragon who studies ancient humans? Crazy, right?

“And I assume you haven’t told Colin?” Jac asks. He goes right for the hard questions. I finish going down the stairs and slide the exit key next to the door. For security purposes, a special key card was required to unlock any of the outside doors.

And when I step outside, I realize how crazy everything really is. I went from a huge, populated colony, to the middle of nowhere in three seconds flat. The whole dragon world was hidden here, and I was breaking out, it seemed.

“You would assume correctly.” I sigh. “I just don’t know what’s been up with him lately. Sometimes he’s really happy, and other times it’s like he hates everything. I can’t keep up with these mood swings.” I tell him honestly. Jac nods apologetically as I start my jog through the woods toward the nearest bus station.

“Have you tried talking to him?” Jac says. His voice is uneven from my shoulder bouncing as I jog.

“No. I’m just going to let it be for now.”

***