Principal Bapo pinched her upper nose bridge until it reddened. She had to do that to keep her nerves calm. Her fingers bore into her skin as if it wasn’t red enough already.
“Another one?” She rested her two-foot-long teaching stick beside the teacher’s table, refusing to give any of her students eye contact. She had to be strong above the platform. It was her mountain, and she was the lion. Lions can’t waver.
“Y-yes madam.” The woman at the door, who must have been one of the new hires, jittered on her heels. Her name eluded the principal’s memory. Bapo tried to read the woman’s ID, but she was too far away. All she saw were blurs and scribbles.
“Significant damage?” Bapo gripped the side of her table, steadying herself.
"N-none so far, m-madam.”
“Stop calling me madam.”
“O-oh.” The assistant scratched her cheek. “Sorry, m-miss.”
“Better.” Bapo took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the strength and calm she needed. Inside the classroom, the students sat idly. Some of them fiddled with their fingers, pens, and erasers. Some wrote things on their notebooks, that, Bapo was sure, were the farthest thing from notes. A couple of students at the far back pretended to read, using their phones in between unmoving pages.
Most of them looked at her though, anticipating what she’ll say next, as they always do.
“Continue reading your books on from pages 66 to 76.” A phone notification rang from somewhere at the back of the room. “Answer the quiz at the end of the chapter. Make sure to put your answers in complete sentences. Write them down on a one-whole piece of paper. And you—” Bapo’s eyes met with her phone-using student. He recoiled, setting his book down and pocketing his phone. “Collect the papers and place it on my desk after class time.”
She took her teaching stick and walked past the door. “Where is it?”
“U-uhm.” The teaching assistant shifted her feet. Bapo saw her ID clearly now. Florence. “Classroom of 3-D madam—I mean, miss.”
“Come with me,” Bapo beckoned. Florence followed. They climbed the stairs to the third floor. Even from the stairwell, she could already hear the commotion: small feet stomping on the floor, the metal legs of chairs and tables scraping on the tiles, and tiny voices talking all at once.
Bapo opened the door to the classroom and most of the commotion stopped, except for the shy roar of a dinosaur on the other side of the room. The dinosaur towered over the other students. Its neck and head protruded from a stretched and tattered blouse. A girl.
The dinosaur bowed her head, recognizing the principal’s presence. Good, she’s not yet rabid. Bapo faced Florence. “Get me a towel, ASAP. And also, a bottle of Coke.”
Florence nodded and ran the span of the hallway, disappearing into a far corner.
Bapo entered the classroom. It smelled of body sweat and dried-up saliva. She will never understand kids’ fixation on saliva. She grew conscious of her own and swallowed. A barrier of chairs messily stacked and placed together separated the dinosaur from everyone else.
A girl walked up to her. She had her hair tied into a neat ponytail. She knew this kid— Katrina, the class president. “Miss, we tried. We tried what we could.” Her face was disheveled. “We even tried to give her chocolate, but it didn’t work. We need your help.”
“It’s pronounced choc-lit.” Bapo studied the room. “What exactly happened before this?”
“Miss Florence was asking us to turn in our homework. We were passing it forward then…” Katrina motioned to the shredded pieces of paper on the ground.
“I see.” Bapo moved some of the chairs to leave a pathway wide enough for her to walk through. “You have any more of that chocolate left?”
Katrina handed Bapo three pieces of Hershey’s Kisses. “That’s all we have left.“
That should be enough, she thought. “Anyone get hurt?”
“No. We got away pretty quickly, miss.”
Bapo neared the dinosaur, careful not to make any sudden movements that might agitate her. The dinosaur kept her head bowed. The chairs that surrounded them made it look like boxing ring.
But no, Bapo would never hurt a student. Not in any condition. Not even in this. This is less of a boxing ring, more of a cage. She hated cages.
From the dinosaur’s neck hung a ripped lanyard where her ID dangled. Right about now, her ID photo was looking extremely different from her real-life appearance.
“Greg,” said Bapo. The two of them locked eyes. Her eyes still looked very human. Bapo’s stomach dropped. She knew that look. She knew that look too well. “I’m gonna need you to calm down.”
Greg made a series of low and weak screeches that Bapo couldn’t understand. But her actions seemed friendly, obedient.
She held her hand up to reach for Greg’s snout. Her mouth opened, and Bapo retracted her hand. She thrusted her teaching stick up to press on Greg’s lower jaw. A crucial pressure point for control. It didn’t hurt as much as it looked like, she reminded herself.
Greg’s head lurched forward, but Bapo contained her with her stick, preventing the dinosaur’s advance. “Easy there,” she said.
An open dinosaur mouth is a danger to everyone here. Bapo unwrapped the chocolate with one hand and tossed it into Greg’s open mouth.
The dinosaur felt chocolate with her tongue, and then, cautiously began chewing. With a calm motion, Bapo placed her hand gently above Greg’s reptilian nose. “This might hurt a bit.” Bapo pinched the upper area between Greg’s two nostrils. The dinosaur jolted, but Bapo remained firm, installing her hand in place and securing her teaching stick below Greg’s jaw.
She’s done this countless of times before. It’s why she’s the principal. This time was no different.
Greg’s head jerked violently, but there was nothing that would make Bapo release her hold. The students trusted her. Greg trusted her.
After a few moments of flinching, Greg calmed. Bapo felt the dinosaur exhale, relieved. Behind them, Florence ran and bumped into one of the chairs. Bapo gave her a cold glance. Thankfully, nothing fell. Despite the noise, the dinosaur grew calmer. Calmer, and calmer.
Greg shrunk back to normal size, and Bapo reached out and grabbed the towel from Florence’s hands. She draped the towel over the shivering student, covering her body. She embraced Greg. “It’s going to be all right. It’s going to be fine.”
Greg answered with more shivers. In between shakes, she nodded.
“Okay.” Bapo faced Florence. “Where’s my Coke?” She had started shaking, but she couldn’t let the others see. She was the principal; she had to be strong. Stronger.
“H-here.” Florence fumbled a can of Coca-Cola from her hand to an unamused Bapo. The principal opened it and took several swigs. Then she tapped her teaching stick onto the ground to find her balance, to steady herself again.
“Katrina,” Bapo said. “Fix this.” She indicated at the mess. “Florence, accompany Greg to the clinic.”
“W-will she be expelled madam—I mean lola—I mean miss!”
“No.” She didn’t give anyone a chance to protest. It was law that all dino-humans should be exiled, excommunicated, extinct. Students have been expelled for less. But that was an argument for another day. Bapo walked out of the room, sped up onto the hallway, and turned a corner.
When no one was in sight anymore, she stopped and leaned on the wall.
Her stomach growled, but not because of hunger. It was a vicious growl. A primal growl. The dinosaur inside her wanted to come out.
No, she couldn’t’ let that happen. She pinched her upper nose bridge until it reddened.
She had to do that to keep her nerves calm.
She took one last swig of her soda and threw the can to the nearest trash bin. She tapped her teaching stick on the floor, regaining her balance, her composure.
It’s going to be all right, she told herself. It’s going to be fine.
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