Prompt: School

"What is 15 × 17, Gray?"

"Hmm?" Gray said, lifting his head off of his desk. The other Higher Learning Krys giggled.

"Gray, you're expected to stay awake during your classes," the teacher said. "Do you need to flunk this class to learn that?"

More giggling from his peers.

"Sorry, ma'am," Gray said. "I've just been really tired lately."

"That's not an excuse," the teacher said. "Now, what's 15 × 17?"

...

The class did not end on a high note for Gray. It was Basic Math 100, a class most krys took when they were younger. Of course, some krys did indeed fall out of the sky and needed to be taught basic math, but most had some memory of space to rely on.

Gray did not.

That, and he kept saying "people" instead of "novas" or "krys" or other variants. Most of the population was deathly scared of humans, which made the slip-ups worse somehow. And, even worse, the teacher of Basic Math 100 Did Not Want To Teach The Class. So she was extra strict and extra rude, something that rubbed Gray the wrong way.

At least the higher leveling learning wasn't all bad. He still got to live in his house with BlueShy, at least.

He walked to the bus stop, his tough bookbag casually slung over one shoulder. The bus was pretty fast, allowing Gray to get home in 5 minutes when it would take him twenty.

Another kry sat on the bench, casually examining their knife, a circular nick on the flat side (for extra cutting?), bandaids and patchwork visible all over. Gray unconsciously touched his own bandage.

"Hello," the unknown kry said. "Waiting for the bus or getting out of the heat?"

"The bus," Gray said calmly. "Yourself?"

The kry spun their knife on their finger. "The bus."

"Cool," Gray said.

"You in school?" the kry asked.

"Higher level learning," Gray responded.

"Interesting, interesting." The bus decided to pull up at that moment. Both krys boarded the bus, and it sped off.

...

"How was school?" BlueShy asked.

"No," Gray said.

"That's not a proper response," Blue said with a slight smile.

"It's my response," Gray said.

Blue sighed. "You really hate that college class, huh?"

"I don't know why a teacher would teach basic math if she thought of us all as lower for taking it," Gray muttered.

"Maybe try to complain to the instution?" Blue suggested.

"Later," Gray said. "I will later."