The story of Graham.
Chapter One[]
The young monkey sat at his desk in the class room. He paid no mind to his teacher, rather, he was more focused on the little gadget he held in his hand. He was careful not to let anyone see, in fear of being sent to detention again. He tapped the side of his little device, and the tiny light embedded on the top of it flickered to life. The silent fan under it caused it to hover above the desk.
The primate nudged it in the direction of the pencil sharpener across the room when his teacher wasn't looking, and the contraption hovered over and deposited a pencil inside it and grasped the metal crank with its mechanical arms, sharpening the pencil, before removing it and returning to the monkey. It dropped the pencil on the desk, and the monkey grabbed the invention out of the air and hid it in his desk, praying nobody saw as he began to write, not his math problems or spelling words, but his ideas for the next invention. He already had everything for the school year memorized, anyways.
"Mrs. Myre, Graham used his invention again!" Called a voice from the back of the room, and the teacher, a tiger, approached the young monkey.
"Graham, is this true?" She questioned sternly, glaring daggers at the young boy.
"N-no M-muh-ma'am." Stuttered the monkey, but the teacher could tell he was lying. She reached into his desk and pulled out all his inventions, crushing them in her paw, rousing a cry of protest from her student, a sound Graham instantly regretted as he saw his world turn upside down. His tools fell out of the pockets of his dirt and oil stained jacket and clattered onto the floor. When his pockets were emptied, the teacher set him back down, right-side up, and pointed at the door with a paw.
"Graham, go to the principal's office. Now."
---
"Now, Graham, I understand you're new, but around here, we do things a little differently. That means no inventions. They're dangerous and could cause a disaster. Like last time." The principal said, tapping his paw idly on the desk. Graham instantly recalled his first day at his new school. He had tried to use an invention to simply bring himself a piece of paper from the teacher's desk when nobody was allowed to leave their seats during class, but instead it went haywire and nearly burned the school down.
"B-but s-sir, it ac-actually w-worked th-this t-time. Ah-all I..I..I d-did was g-get m-myself a p-p-pencil..." Graham sniffled, tears rolling down his cheeks, remembering all his inventions that had been destroyed. "I-I-I think m-my inventions c-could ch-change the w-world s-someday. I was only t-testing one out..." The young monkey stammered, voice growing quieter with each word.
"I'm sure they could. But no more inventions in school. You're going to have to stay after school for today. You are dismissed." The principal said, and escorted Graham out the door with a note.
---
The young monkey returned to his classroom and sat in his seat, way in the back of the room. He read the message crudely written on the side of his desk from a previous student.
"SKOL IZ 4 CHUMPZ"
Graham sighed as he played the message over and over in his head. He had gotten so distracted he hadn't noticed the teacher speaking to him.
"Graham. Answer the question." She said, her face showing no emotion other than anger.
"Um...........Ah..." The monkey mumbled something that was barely more audible than a whisper and the teacher walked back to her desk.
The bell rang and every student poured out of the classroom. Graham tried to sneak out with them, but his teacher grabbed his coat and dragged him to his desk.
"You are to write "I will not invent" on the chalkboard fifty times, then you will sit silently for the remainder of the two hours or do your homework. You may not speak unless spoken to. Do you understand?" The feline said sternly, adjusting her glasses.
"Y-yes..."
Silence.
"I-I mean y-yes m-ma-ma'am."
With that, the teacher returned to her desk and Graham approached the chalkboard.
---
After Graham returned home from school, the second he got inside the house he began sketching ideas for his next inventions instead of doing his extra homework. Once he got the basic ideas down, he began to gather scrap materials and started building something out of them. He was remaking his destroyed inventions, better, stronger. He was going to have to be extra careful with these. His aunt and uncle didn't exactly appreciate his crafting skills any more than his teacher did.
"I wish I was back home with my parents..." The monkey silently sighed, for he knew that they were the only ones who understood. But his parents were gone, and now he lives here. He never really liked his aunt or uncle; they either ignored him entirely or beat him. Graham was sick of it. He looked to the map and the calendars he had pinned on the wall and an idea appeared in his head. He glanced at his backpack and the rest of his inventions before beginning on the paperwork.