Becoming a Dragon by Andy Holland

suddenly hating him again for reminding her how different she was from the rest of the school.
    The headmaster waffled on for a while, and then after him a few other teachers spoke, each of them as dull and forgettable as the Headmaster. The speeches seemed to drag on for ages, and Crystal was very relieved when they were finally told to find their form teachers and follow them to their classrooms. Her form teacher was a grumpy-looking individual called Professor Silver, who glared at them unpleasantly as they all lined up to follow him to their classroom. He led them to the southern tower, where their form room was situated, adjacent to the common room for their house, which was shared with the students in their second and final year. Despite the school being the most prestigious and well-funded in the Kingdom, the classroom resembled every other classroom that she had seen in her life, with the wooden desks just as worn and tired-looking as every other she had sat at.
    Professor Silver had assigned them all desks already, and made clear that he wasn't going to entertain any requests to move seats. The desks were arranged in four rows of six, each spaced out equally, with a gap the width of a desk between each desk. He had arranged the students so that no girl sat next to, behind or in front of another girl, so Crystal had boys all around her. Fortunately, John was not one of her neighbours. He was seated in the second row, two rows in front of her and one across to her right.
    She could see the princess she had met at her party, Princess Daisy, quietly trying to ask a question at the front of the class, but the Professor was shaking his head as she was talking. He directed her back to her seat, which was next to John, and addressed the class. He was a thin, smartly-dressed man, with very short red hair, and he regarded the students with a cold, disdainful expression.
    "I'll give the answer to this question to the whole class; I expect a few more of you will ask the same question. The seating arrangement is fixed, and I'll entertain no requests for students to swap seats." There were a few groans at this announcement, and he raised his hand to quieten them.
    "None of you will find yourself seated next to or in front of or behind anyone from your own region. No girl is seated next to another girl, or in front of or behind another girl, and obviously this is true for the boys as well. This is intentional, and careful consideration went into this approach.
    This school exists to encourage the formation of strong and close bonds between the leaders and people of influence in the five regions, and I have chosen your seating in order to best facilitate that bonding. Other classes may allow students to choose their own seats, and happily allow regional based cliques to form; while I can't completely prevent that from happening, I won't make it easy."
    Daisy looked over sadly at her brother, sat at the opposite side of the class, who shrugged back at her. She looked quite upset, and Crystal dreaded to think what her cousin would say to her about Daisy if they were sat together. Although in this case perhaps Jenna was right; she really did need to grow up and manage without her brother watching after her all that time.
    Crystal turned her attention to her new neighbours. She didn't know the two boys next to her, but their name plates said Daniel and Jerome. She could tell that Daniel came from the West, with his dark red hair and flashy clothes, but Jerome was harder to work out. Generally, she would know where someone was from after just a glance. Those from the north and the east all had hair that was more orange than red, but the northerners were tall and pale, and the easterners darker and stocky. The westerners occasionally fooled you, as they had a lot of immigrants from other regions, but normally their high cheekbones and dark-red hair gave them away. Southerners were easy for her to spot, having grown up in the south, and she