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Chapter 1 The bigger they are...

"Aiden honey, time to wake up" my mom says, gently shaking my shoulder.

"Aww, mom! I don't wanna!" I whine, attempting to crawl deeper under the covers, away from the intrusive sounds and touch. I'd been having a wonderful dream about spaceships, damsels in distress, where me and my heroic actions are the only thing that can save us; and I'm eager to get back to it.

"I know sweetie, but you have to, or you'll be late for school!" She says gently, peeling the covers back, leaving me curled up and shivering, holding onto my small stuffed rabbit.

"Do I really have to?" I ask, looking up at her, already knowing the answer.

"Yes you do. Breakfast is in five minutes." She says as she heads back upstairs.

Shivering, and resisting the urge to simply pull the covers back up and go back to sleep, I roll out of bed and grab my glasses from my nightstand. My basement room is still dark and cool so I quickly pull on a housecoat over my pajamas. As I head up the stairs, I'm greeted by the smell of the bacon and eggs mom is frying. Yawning hugely, I sit down at the table.

"Well good morning to you too." She laughs, dumping a large pile of eggs, and half a dozen strips of bacon on my plate, and setting a large glass of orange juice in front of me.

"Thanks mom." I say, eagerly digging into the eggs. "I hate mornings."

"No. You just don't like getting up." She says, pointing an accusing finger at me. "You'd stay in bed all day if I let you."

"Not all day, just until my friends get out of class." I reply with an innocent grin.

"Aiden!" she starts in her motherly lecture tone. "I know you don't like school, but it is important. An education is the most important thing you can have in this world because without it, you'll never get a good job."

"I know." I admit grudgingly, pushing the remainder of my eggs around my plate.

"Why do you hate it so much?" She asks, a note of concern creeping into her voice.

Looking down at the floor, I whisper. "Because everyday I get picked on! They make fun of my glasses, call me a runt, push me around; I can't get away from it! I HATE IT!" without realizing it, my voice had gotten louder and louder until I yelled the last three words, and slamming my paws on the table causing my orange juice to spill.

Sitting down next to me and putting a loving arm around my shoulders, she says "why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Cause it's embarrassing." I admit, my eyes tearing up. "And I don't know what to do."

"Well, that's what moms are for hun." She says, wrapping me in a big hug "You can always come to me with problems you're having, big or small."

Openly crying now, I burry my face in her neck.

"Oh sweetie." she says, holding me tight and sounding close to tears herself. "There's only one thing you can about this."

"W-what do you mean?" I ask, my voice breaking.

"What can you do to make them leave you alone?" She asks, a sly edge making its way into her voice.

"Not go to school!?" I ask hopefully.

"Nice try!" She says, chuckling. "The only thing that will make them leave you alone is to stand up to them."

"I can't do that!" I exclaim, with a stab of terror. "They'll beat the crap out of me!"

"I don't think so." She says knowingly. "Once they realize that you're not going to let them bully you anymore, they'll give up, and move on to someone else." "And if they do try to hurt you" her eyes narrowing and a crooked smile appearing on her face, "Kick em, that's what those martial arts lessons are for. If you make them bleed, they'll definitely leave you alone."

"What if I get suspended?" I asked, feeling slightly caught off guard by this suggestion.

"Well, then I guess you'd finally get to sleep in." She says now shaking with laughter. "NOT!" She adds quickly having seen the wheels turning in my mind, and poking me playfully in the ribs "That you should TRY and get suspended just to sleep in."

"Oh alright." I say, rolling my eyes, my voice heavy with mock disappointment.

"You'd better go finish getting ready." She says, back to her normal relaxed self. "Get dressed and then I'll drive you to school.

After dumping my plate in the sink and cleaning up the spilt orange juice, I headed back downstairs. On the way I step into the bathroom and run through my normal teeth brushing and face washing routine. Before leaving, I examine my appearance in the mirror to make sure no remains of my breakfast have become stuck in my teeth. The rather goofy but more importantly food free grin and of a 12 year old wolf stares back, so I head back to my room.

Closing the door, I take off my pajamas and housecoat and replace them with jeans and a comfy black t-shirt. I grab my mostly finished math homework off my desk and shove it into my backpack along with my books, pens, and other school supplies. After double checking to make sure that I've got everything I grab a light jacket and head back upstairs.

"Alright mom, I'm ready!" I call from the top of the stairs towards the kitchen where I can hear her washing dishes.

"Ok." She calls back, turning off the water and grabbing her car keys off one of the hooks on the kitchen wall where everyone hangs their keys.

Heading out the front door, we say goodbye to my grandma who always gets up to see us off for the day, before climbing into the car and pulling out of the driveway. The short drive to the school is uneventful as usual. The only excitement on the trip is the usual collection of parents speeding and cutting each other off in an attempt to get their kids to school before the bell.

Waving goodbye to my mom, I head through the doors to the school, blending in with the other students making their way to their various classes. Making my way through the crowd, I manage to get to my locker without incident.

Depositing my jacket in my locker I catch a glimpse of a tiger named Carl, watching me closely. He's huge, easily six inches taller than me, and half again as heavy. He's also the cause of my reluctance to return to school today, for he's been trying to get me to do his homework for him, which I finally refuse to do. Knowing he's looking to catch me alone so that he can harass me, I run to catch up with one of my friends, walking towards his class.

"How's it going Dave?" I ask, walking up behind the cheetah.

Dave is a little taller than me, but even thinner with a cheetah's natural lanky frame. Being a couple of years older, it still sometimes surprises me that he's one of my closest friends, and is taking some of the same classes. Usually, the older students despise and ignore their younger peers, but Dave has always gotten on well with younger students, even more so than ones his own age.

."Going good Aiden." His surprisingly deep voice cutting easily through the clamor of the hall. "Thought that math homework was gonna kill me. My brain is still hurting!"

"No joke!" I exclaim, as we round the corner and putting a paw to the side of my head, and massaging my temples. "I think Mr. McGuiness is trying to do us all in, so he doesn't have to give a final!"

"Wouldn't surprise me at all!" A soft female voice says from right behind us.

"Beth!" we both yell jumping slightly, turning to see the lithe cougar that we'd known since starting school.

Beth is also taller than me, and unlike many of the females here, she isn't painfully thin. She's not fat by any stretch of the imagination; the clean lines and lean muscle of a natural huntress are visible beneath her soft grey fur. She's the same age as Dave, and like him, she prefers to associate with the younger students rather than many of her own age group whom she views as "self centered egotists who couldn't find their own ass with a map and both hands."

"When are you gonna stop sneaking up on us!" Dave says, in a slightly annoyed voice. "You know I don't like it!"

"I'll stop." She says innocently, trying hard not to laugh. "As soon as seeing you boys jump out of your skin stops being so much fun!"

"Oh ha ha, very funny!" I shoot back, a disgruntled look on my face. "We're just here for your personal amusement aren't we?"

"Among other things." She says flirtatiously, bating her lavender eyes and running a claw under Dave's chin causing an excited shiver to run through his body. They had been dating since the previous year.

"Get a room!" I call jokingly to them as I head into the classroom.

The day was going smoothly until after lunch. While walking to my next class, the food, some type of grayish meat product, decided that my stomach was not where it wanted to be. Coming out of the restroom, I find the doors to the classrooms already closed. Turning to head to class I feel a fist jammed into my already abused stomach. Vomiting up whatever was left of my lunch, I then feel myself hoisted off the ground by my shirt and slammed into the wall. Stars explode in my head from the impact into the concrete, and my glasses fly of my face onto the floor.

"Hiya Aidumb!" Carl sneers, inches from my face, his breath overloading my sensitive nose, his height and strength allowing him to easily hold me against the wall.

"Carl! What do you want!" I manage to croak out, his fist still putting pressure on my chest making it hard to breath.

"I told you to write that paper for me ya little prick!" He growled, pushing me harder against the wall. "Now, thanks to you, I'm gonna get an F! Remember what I said would happen to you if I failed?"

"GET OFF ME!" I hiss, starting to panic, hardly able to breathe with his fist pressing against my ribs and his hot breath in my face.

"I said I'd make you regret it!" he whispers in my ear, lifting me, and throwing me into the opposite wall.

As I hit the wall, a number of things happened in such quick succession, that even now I have trouble sorting it out, time seemed to slow down. Blood is now dripping down my muzzle and throat, from splits in my nose and lip, and my left shoulder feels like it was dislocated from the force of the impact. Down the hall, I see several classroom doors open to see what the commotion is. Most importantly, I see Carl charging forward with his right arm cocked back for a crushing roundhouse.

At that moment, something in my head snapped. Crouching slightly as he charged, I managed to dodge his punch, which instead, connected with the solid concrete wall behind me. Howling in pain and anger, he took another swing with his left arm, as my martial arts training kicked in and I used the power of his own punch, to flip him completely over onto the ground, which only enraged the feline more.

Teachers were running towards us from both sides now, students were yelling, "Get Him

and similar support, but all of my attention was on the tiger in front of me. Dropping into my fighting stance, with my left foot forward and my fists in a high guard I was ready when he finally got to his feet. As soon as he had regained his balance, he charged his claws out and flashing. Looking back, I almost feel sorry for him, he never knew what hit him.

As the distance between us dropped, I took a step forward putting my right foot forward and then, rotating counter-clockwise on it I brought my left around and up, a whirlwind of grey fur and raw fury. The full force of my spin kick hit him squarely in the face, knocking him completely off his feet and onto the ground where he lay unconscious, blood pouring out of his nose and from his split lip.

Walking away from the unconscious cat, I bent down to retrieve my glasses from the ground. Just as I stood up, I felt a paw drop onto my left shoulder. Fearing Carl had snuck up behind me; I spun again on pure instinct, and struck out blindly with my right paw, a punch which made contact with the owner of the hand. Unfortunately, it wasn't Carl; it was Mr. Clawson, the huge bear who just happened to be the principle.

"Oh God! Mr. Clawson, I'm so sorry!" I stammered, a feeling of pure terror spreading through my entire body. "I didn't know it was you! I though Carl was attacking me again!"

The big bear just chuckled kindly. "It's not your fault Aiden, I should've known better than to sneak up behind you after what just happened. And don't worry about the punch, it takes more than that bring me down." He says with a touch of dry humor in his voice.

"Sir. I d-didn't mean...." Words failed me as I felt hot tears forming in my eyes.

"It's alright lad." He whispers, putting his arm over my shoulders. "C'mon, let's go to my office and talk."

As he steers me through the crowd of onlookers, I see expressions ranging from fear, to support, to amazement on their faces. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Carl, still lying disoriented on the floor, being helped up by Coach Whitmane, the lion who teaches gym class and coaches the football team. We get to his office and he shuts the door behind as I sit trembling in on of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Well Aiden, you certainly did a number on him!" Mr. Clawson says, failing at keeping the amusement out of his voice. "I'll be surprised if he doesn't have a broken jaw, or at least some missing teeth."

" Sir i'm really sorry..." I start to say, tears flowing freely again, before his raised paw cuts me off.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Aiden!" He says reassuringly. "Between you and me, Carl got exactly what he deserved. I've had countless complaints and reports filed against him, from the students, and the staff. But nothing to use as grounds for expulsion or suspension. Also, if someone attacked me like that, I don't think I would have stopped, even after he was on the floor." He finishes, a note of menace in his normally gentle voice.

Not really knowing what to say to this, I just stare at the floor.

Before the silence can stretch for more than a few heartbeats he speaks again, this time with humor in his voice. "You know, it's actually rather funny!"

Looking up in disbelief, I manage to ask "What's funny?"

Starting to chuckle, he explains "I saw that last kick you threw, nice form by the way. Anyway, back when I was in middle school, I knew this wolf, and I'm sorry to say that I picked on her a bit myself."

My eyes grew wide. "You were a bully to?"

"More like a joker who's not really funny, and doesn't know when to stop." He admits. "Anyway, it had been raining all morning, and she had to walk to school, and didn't have an umbrella."

The story was apparently bringing back fond memories for him because he started laughing. "She walks in the front doors looking like she'd been thrown in the lake, and I being the joker I was took a big sniff, and yelled "Hey! What smells like wet dog?!"

Laughing myself now, I watch the big bear as he acts out the story.

"Well." He started, a tear in his eye. "She didn't appreciate it very much, and planted that exact same kick upside MY head!" He exclaimed, clutching the side of his head. "I have never been more surprised in my life, than when that wolf, who was about half my size, spun around and did her best to kick my head off!"

By now both of us were laughing uncontrollably by now. He had his head on his arm, while he pounded the desk with his free hand, and I'm clutching at the stitch in my sides, trying desperately not to fall out of the chair.

"Anyway...." He manages to get out between deep steadying breaths. "I learned my lesson, so maybe Carl will too." A note of sadness crept into his voice as he continued. "Unfortunately, I still have to no choice but to suspend you for a couple of days. Even in self defense, fighting is against school policy." Raising his paw in response to my look of outrage, he continues "I know it's not fair, but my paws are tied by the rules, and I have to follow them. Even if I don't want to."

"I understand" I admit grudgingly. "How long?"

"Three days." He answers, looking in the rule book. "Best I can do. You can come in after school every day to pick up your assignments."

My ears drooped, it was only Tuesday, that meant that I'd be out of school until next Monday.

"Alright." I say, not happy about it, but understanding that he has to follow the rules.

"Look on the bright side Aiden." He says, unable to miss my sadness. "This will give you some time to yourself, not to mention time to sleep in a bit." He finishes with a knowing look on his face.

"That's something I guess." I say getting to my feet and heading for the door.

"Oh! One more thing!" He calls, just as my paw wraps around the doorknob.

"Yes sir?" I ask, turning around, afraid that more punishment is in store.

"Tell your mom I said hi! And tell her, that her son kicks just as well as she did" he says, laughing and rubbing the side of his head.