Cheez-It didn't like the slightly muddy ground of the forest. Jess watched as he would pick up a paw every now and again and try to shake the dirt off. She didn't dare make a joke towards the familiar in fear of being scratched. Not only did he have to leave Bri, but he was dealing with this? He could not be very happy. It was when he started hissing in frustration that Jess had to do something.

"Do you want me to carry you, Cheez-It?" Jess offered. After stopping to think, the cat jumped into Jess' arms, getting mud on the elbows of her sleeves. Jess snickered, thinking about how she just got this and already made it messy.

Jess continued the walk into the forest until she came upon a little wooden classroom set up. The chairs were long rows of logs and the desks looked like mushroom heads. At the front of the little classroom was a desk made of vines and a blackboard, the only thing not made of plant material.

The forest itself looked like a dream. Sunlight speckled through the leaves and on the ground, and the trees were tall and mighty. There were vines connecting them and birds perched on them, talking to the air. The brush around the ground reminded her of back home, and it stung a little. She missed it, but she felt as though she was betraying her parents by liking it here so far, without them.

Jess, thankful she was on time, sat in an empty spot generally away from the fairies. She didn't want to take anyone's seat. She could feel the wood underneath her and wondered how any of the fairies could sit here for hours at a time.

"Alright my wonderful students," a soothing voice snapped Jess back into the present. She looked up to see a fairy taking her place on top of the desk rather than on the log behind it.

The fairy had blond dreads that complimented her tan skin. She also had vitiligo, which Jess was beginning to wonder if it was slightly more common in Folk than in humans, or if she just was never exposed to humans with the condition. Either way, when Jess noticed the fairy's deep brown eyes, she felt comforted in some weird way. The fairy had purple, female wings that were ever so slightly translucent. To top off her white, collared button-down, the fairy adorned small mushroom earrings on her long ears.

"I must welcome our new student to our classroom," she waved over to Jess, to which she instinctively started standing up. "Oh no, dear. I won't make you do that." The fairy sounded slightly airy, almost as if she was stereotypically high on the shrooms she wore. Nonetheless it was warm and welcoming. Jess, grateful for the change, sat back down. "I am Professor Strong. Would you like to introduce yourself? Don't feel too pressured." Jess nodded.

"Hi! I'm Jess. I don't have cool wings like you all, but I do have a cat, so that's something," Jess presented Cheez-It while some people in the class laughed. Guess I'm getting the hang of this.

"Why isn't he simply adorable! And we're not to touch him, correct?" Jess nodded.

"Not without permission, no." Professor Strong silently clasped her hands together.

"Well, now that we got introductions out of the way, let's get to what we've been all waiting for: Skill practice!" Strong hopped off of the desk and the fairy stood up. Jess could feel a buzz in the air, as if the fairies were anticipating this all day, which they probably were.

The fairy professor talked the fairies through the techniques of creating flowers, vines, and other plant matter from the power in their bodies. It involved, as Strong put it, pretending that you are a part of the plant and you resemble that style of your life. It didn't make much sense to Jess, but she still listened. Eventually, she let them go to practice on the surrounding foliage.

Stolen story; please report.

Jess gently placed Cheez-It on the log to protect his paws and walked over to the nearest flower. She channeled the energy within and pretended the flower was made of clay. She gently placed a hand around a petal and stretched and pulled it, enlarging the petal. She carefully did this to each petal and eventually the stem, creating her own form of art.

"I appreciate the care you take in your chosen plant," she heard Strong comment over her shoulder. Jess slowly turned around, running a hand through her hair.

"Oh, thank you ma'am!" She responded, blushing slightly at the admiration on the professor's face. The professor nodded and walked away, gently helping the struggling fairy a few feet away from Jess.

"Hah!" Jess' ears perked up at the sound of a rather-loud fairy girl. She turned her head to look at them. There was a group of fairies surrounding a rather tall girl. "You really did it!"

Before she knew it, Jess had inched her way over.

"Just leave me alone, Reese, I don't want to talk to you," the tall fairy crossed her arms. Reese, the fairy who laughed, rolled her eyes.

"Too bad, man," Jess felt her face scrunch at the emphasis. "You can get all the surgeries you want. You'll never be a girl. The name Hailey doesn't even suit you." Reese and her little possy laughed.

Jess waited for Hailey to say something, but when her eyes simply downcast, Jess felt the need to step in.

"Hey, hi, what are you doing?" Jess waved, talking quickly. Reese smirked.

"It's not any of your business, human, so stay out of it," Reese huffed. Jess took a deep breath.

"It became my business when you attacked a girl." Reese rolled her eyes.

"Like he's a girl. Are you blind?" Jess shook her head.

"No, but you display a level of ineptitude that borders on the line of imbecilic, and that's embarrassing for you." Jess cocked her head to the side and smiled. Reese slowly looked Jess up and down.

"You're stupid if you think anyone can understand you." Jess laughed.

"I think you're the stupid one if you can't understand basic language, just as you're being stupid by saying transphobic things that, frankly, are none of your damn business." Jess stared Reese down, smiling politely. Her possy stifled a laugh. Reese scoffed and walked away, her little group of girls following her.

Jess turned to Hailey.

"I'm sorry for butting in, but they were assholes," Jess apologized. Hailey shrugged slightly, her arms still crossed.

"It's okay. I should probably thank you. They never leave me alone. Ever since I got my wing surgery, they won't stop pestering me," Hailey looked away and covered her face with her hands. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this..." She groaned.

"Girl, it's not like I'll tell anybody if you want to keep it a secret," Jess ran a hand through her hair. Hailey shook her head.

"Everyone already knows. It's no secret."

"Well, thank you for telling me anyway. It feels nice that you trust me enough to say that." Hailey sighed and uncovered her face.

"I don't even know you. I'll be honest, I don't want to be friends or anything just because you helped me. I really don't need any more attention being seen with the human... I'm sorry." Jess felt a little sting, which hurt more than Ana's insults. She smiled and shrugged through it.

"I get it, but if you ever need anything, let me know, okay?" Hailey nodded and Jess walked off.

After checking in with Cheez-It, finding him asleep, Jess decided to practice conjuring plants out of the water in the air.

She created flowers of all different styles and sizes, small trees, and bushes. It was after she looked up at the vine that she had an idea. After all, she was a big fan of Spiderman. Jess did a little hop back and forth on her feet, psyching herself up to do what she was thinking of. Then, with a burst of energy, she made vines spring forth from her hands and wrap around tree branches. She shrunk the vine after running forward to pick up some momentum and started swinging.

She heard gasps from below her as she whooped, summoning another vine on a tree just a bit out. She felt like Tarzan swinging around like this! She swung around the classroom like that for a while before her arms started to tire. With one final, long vine, she slid down to the ground to find Professor Strong clapping.

She started to get nervous as the professor walked towards her.

"That was magnificent!" Strong cheered softly, taking Jess' hands in hers and started examining them. "How did you do that with such little practice?" Jess shrugged.

"I just had the idea, and yeah...," Jess blushed. Professor Strong's watch beeped.

"We can talk about it later, but your class is now over," the fairy dropped her hands. "I'll see you tomorrow, dear." Jess nodded and collected her things, including Cheez-It.

She walked out of the forest to make it to the lake on time.