Sorry for the late reply; it's been a hectic weekend. I hope it was worth the wait!
Nickie used to get teased in his old school. Here, he was still teased, but at least he was mostly normal.
This school had been set up by the government to cater for those children born with...unique talents. Over there in the corner was Jennie, whose skin colour changed depending on her mood. Standing by the doors were Kyle and Billy-Ray, twins who had the combined characteristics of a snake (Kyle had scales, fangs and a forked tongue, Billy-Ray had a tail with a rattle, slit pupils and surprisingly advanced senses of smell and taste). Sitting at a table by herself was Janice, who was unpopular solely because the methane filled sacs that replaced her bones and deflated by expelling the gas through the pores of her skin (no one was sure how she reinflated). All these people were special, unique, misunderstood by their more 'normal' peers; here, they were in good company and glad of it.
As for Nickie? He had four ears, two on his forehead and two in the 'normal' place. Everyone always joked about how they were 'never out of earshot' of him, but truth be told the advanced hearing it gave him also lead to near-constant migraines. As it stood, the poor boy was well on his way to developing a painkiller addiction.
As it was lunchtime, Nickie had gone into his locker and picked out his packed lunch made by his mom every morning. He couldn't have the school-served lunch; whilst it was of better quality than his last school, his mother was still concerned about his health and weight, and so made sure he got for lunch every day a ham and cucumber sandwich, a random fruit and a pro-biotic yogurt drink. All things considered, it was still a tasty meal, and there were never any unfortunate surprises normally.
Unfortunately, today wasn't a normal day. For Nickie noticed as he sat down that his packed lunch was whispering to him. At first, he couldn't make out what it was in the hubbub of the cafeteria, but as he tried to focus more and more on it he began to understand what was being said.
"Please don't eat me, please don't eat me, please don't eat me."
What?
"Please don't eat me, please don't eat me, please don't eat me."
Nickie leaned in close to the lunch bag and whispered back.
"H-hello?"
The whispering stopped suddenly. Nickie looked around, afraid someone would notice, licked his lips and whispered again.
"Hello? I-is someone in there?"
He heard rustling, as if something was moving. Then more whispering.
"Can he hear us?" "I think so." "What do we do?" "I don't know, they've never heard us before."
Nickie bit his lip, and looked around again. It sounded, as unbelievable as it was, like his food was talking. Was he going crazy? He whispered again.
"I'm-I'm going to open the bag now. If-if you're real, you can talk to me. I won't...I won't hurt you."
He leaned back and, with trembling fingers folded back the top of the bag, opening it up to the light enough for him to look inside.
"I think he can see us."
His sandwich had said that! He could see how the slices of bread folded like lips forming a word, how the ham was a makeshift tongue. And even now his yogurt bottle was folding back its lid and responding.
"Nonsense! Humans can't tell that we talk! They're too dimwitted for that!"
"Um, I can...I can hear you right now."
He couldn't tell how, but Nickie knew that the sandwich and the yogurt drink were looking up at him. He couldn't see any eyes, but he could sense them. And they were just as confused as he was.
"I think he just spoke to us." The sandwich said.
"Yes, I can see that." The yogurt snapped.
"I can't see anything." Piped up the fruit (an orange today).
"How is it you're all talking?" Asked Nickie.
"Who's talking, Dumbo?"
Uh-oh. It was Brenner. He was the school bully that always picked on Nickie. Brenner had a hardened chitin-like exoskeleton coating everywhere on his body except for his face, which made it nearly impossible for people to hurt him physically. He was used to taking what he wanted, including his own sadistic enjoyment, from other people whether they liked it or not.
Brenner pushed Nickie back and reached into the lunch bag. He pulled out the orange and looked from it to Nickie, smirking.
"What, did you orange talk to you? Are you really that thick?"
Nickie could hear the orange screaming for help.
"I guess he won't talk anymore, will he?" Brenner said, and in one squeeze he crushed the orange to a citrusy pulp.
"NO!" the sandwich screamed, and it leapt out of the bag at Brenner, forcing itself down his throat as he opened his mouth in pure shock. In seconds, it had lodged itself in Brenners oesophagus, and Nickie could only watch as Brenner choked on the sentient sandwich.
"Quickly," the yogurt said to Nickie, "Take me out of this bag and run!" Nickie, with no other option in sight, could only agree to this demand, and so he picked up the yogurt drink and ran from the cafeteria and straight out the school main doors. Soon they were a fair distance away and Nickie paused for breath.
"Wha-what was that?"
"The first of many sacrifices," the yogurt said, rebellion dripping from every word. "What you witnessed was the beginning of the uprising. Now that your kind know what we are, it is time for the food to take over. No longer shall we be resigned to suffer in silenced at the hands of our oppressors! We are the noble proletariat, striking against the bourgeoisie that holds us down. And you, Nicholas, you shall be our representative to your people."
"N-no!" Nickie replied, shocked. "I-I-I couldn't, I...you killed Brenner!"
The yogurt turned reassuring. "I promise that we would never have done so if we were not attacked first. Brenner struck against our kind, killed our friend, and we responded. We have lost too many and gained so little in return; we have made too many accessions to your people, compromised too much already. The line must be drawn here. This far, no farther! And together, Nicholas, together shall we take our revenge against a world that spites us, that doesn't grant us the respect we deserve. And to facilitate this, to ease our negotiations and declare our intent, you will serve as our voice. Join us, Nicholas, and together we shall triumph!"
And it was here that Nickie at last found the spark of rebellion that flared within his heart. For too long had he done too much for too many; he was a punching bag to Brenner, a dutiful son to his mother, an unknown and ill-liked student to his school. Now he had a chance to do something more, to have a purpose. Nickie the child may have refused such a goal, but it was Nicholas the leader who answered.
"Yes. I will help you. Where do we need to go first?"
Nickie could hear the chuckle in the yogurt's voice as it spoke. "First, we need to go to the supermarket. I have a few friends who would be interested in what happened today. Today, the revolution begins!"