FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It's been exactly one year now. It's been 365 full days since I was in the car accident that took away what tad bit of normality I had. To make matters worse I start college today. I'm Jack by the way. Today was the day I had been dreading since I graduated from high school. College usually means a brand new beginning for many people, but for me it means completely starting over from square one. The way I see things I have to make all new friends, get use to the campus, and learn my way around a whole new city. The more I thought about it the more I didn't want to get out of my bed. When I finally opened my eyes to look at the clock, it seemed that my anxiety had forced me awake an hour earlier than I was supposed to wake up.

As I slowly rolled my way out of the bed I was hit square in the face with a pillow. It appeared that my roommate had been up for quite a while and was already dressed. She furrowed her brow and began to fuss at me.

"What's wrong with you?" She inquired.

"I really don't want to go. How about I go tomorrow?" I replied with a faint smile on my face.

"If you don't get up right now I am going to put that picture of you that I secretly took onto the social media site of my choosing."

My eyes shot open and I ran over to my closet, searching through my neatly hung clothes. "There is 100% NO need for such a threat."

She grinned and her tail flicked like it usually did when she was delivering devious threats. "That's much better, now hurry up. You know how long it takes you to do your hair."

I rolled my eyes and grinned, "Oh look who's talking Sai, you just flat iron your hair and put a hat on." She laughed and went to sit in the front room of our apartment. Sai was a snow lynx, defiantly on the short side standing at 5ft 2inches, but the shine in her bright blue eyes and her attitude made up for her minuscule height. She had been my closest friend for what seems like my whole life. She is the most bull headed, obnoxious, loud, rude, outspoken person I know and for that I thank her. If it wasn't for her I most likely would not have made it through high school. She was always there when I was too shy or scared to speak up for myself, which is most of the time.

As those thoughts flowed through my weary mind I slowly trotted my way to the bathroom. I looked in the large triangular mirror above the sink base and my smile faded to a frown. "Still there." I said out loud even though no one could hear me. The car wreck I was in last year had barely done any damage....well to me anyway, the car was totaled; I only suffered a broken arm. But in the wreck I lost one of my antlers and for some reason it never grew back. So instead of looking like the odd looking deer I already was, I look like a unicorn who's horn didn't get the message to move to the center of its head. The white fur going down the center of my face and light blue fur surrounding it mixed with my height of 6ft 11inches, and my red eyes made me stand out enough as it was, and now I had to deal with this.

I've gotten into the habit of brushing my white hair down and flipping the longer side of my hair up so that it would hide what's left of my broken antler. I dyed the section of hair I usually flip over my broken antler the same color as my bright red eyes so my eyes wouldn't stick out as much as I thought they did. When Sai told me the red hair dye made them stick out more I tried to dye it back, but she wouldn't let me so I ended up keeping it. It's developed into something that reminds me of her every time I look at it so I suppose it's a good thing. Once I got finished with my hair I realized that I hadn't taken my shower first.

"Damn It!" I yelled, looking into the mirror.

"You did it again didn't you?" Sai yelled from the living room, laughing.

"Yeah, now I'm going to have to do it all over again when I get out of the shower. Could you do me a favor and pick some clothes out for me. I couldn't decide on what to wear anyway."

I could hear her getting up from the couch, "Sure thing, don't have too much fun in there!"

"I see your jokes are still terrible." I said laughing as I turned the hot water on.

When I finally got out of the shower and finished my hair I moseyed to my room and looked at the clothes Sai had laid out. I saw a loose baggy, low-cut black and purple sweater, a matching tie, and a pair of tight jeans that she enjoyed seeing me wear. After I got dressed and stepped out of my room, Sai grabbed my car keys.

"I'm driving today." She said with a smug grin on her face.

I shrugged my shoulders, grabbed all the junk I needed for my classes, and followed her downstairs to the parking lot. It was surprisingly empty this morning, although that was most likely due to just about everyone living in our apartment complex being college students. However, unlike the parking lot, the traffic was hectic, and as usual Sai's road rage kicked in from the first red light and kept going until we parked.

I could already tell this was going to be a long day because we were already getting odd looks in the parking lot. Sai could tell I was getting antsy so she jabbed me with her elbow and smiled.

"Well, I can already tell this is going to be fun." She always found a way to make things less awkward. I smiled back as we pulled out headphones out in unison.

"We wouldn't be getting all those looks if you hadn't have dressed so flashy. Where do you even find pants that bright a shade of yellow?" She just stuck her tongue out at me.

"At least my shirt is black and I think they are staring at you, bean pole."

I smirked at her and we started to walk into the huge main building of the college. There were tables and chairs scattered about, most of them being filled by furs and humans enjoying each others' company. We had shown up about an hour early, so we found an empty table, sat down, and started listening to music while talking about random things.

As the time passed more and more furs walked in and all the tables began to fill up. All of a sudden one of the seats from our table slid out and was filled by a shirtless lizard with an odd smile on his face.

I could see Sai's face making the expression that meant something regrettable was about the come out of her mouth.

" And who the heck are you lizard boy?"

I had face-palmed before I knew it, but I could hear him laughing so I was hoping her words hadn't offended him. "I, cat girl, am Aro and would you prefer the seat empty?" He said with a smirk.

She Smirked back and crossed her arms. "Well at least you have a since of humor. And lizard, there's a slight chance that I just might."

He looked around, "Well all the other tables are full and I sure as hell am not standing up so you might just have to deal with me, by the way I'm a dragon, not a lizard."As they laughed and squabbled, my mind started to drift off into the music I was listening to.

All of a sudden I felt a poke on my shoulder and realized it was Sai. "In case you weren't listening, like I knew you weren't, this is Aro, and surprisingly enough our next door neighbor at the apartments. Aro and I are also majoring in the same thing, so now I have someone to argue with in class."

I smiled and said hello. Looking at my phone, I realized it was almost time for classes to start. "Guys, its almost time for class we should get going or we're going to be late." I said as I stood up and grabbed my canvas bag.

I waved goodbye to Sai and Aro and we went our separate ways. I knew my first few classes were going to go by rather slowly, so I braced myself. Math, English, and then psychology. It seemed like they would never end. As I walked from class to class I realized I didn't stick out as much as I thought I would, and I finally started to relax a bit, although I still got a few odd stares every now and again.

Finally the classes I had been waiting for all day started, my sketching class and my painting class. Since I was majoring in art I had been anticipating them all day. When I walked into my sketching class all the furs and people seemed very friendly and laid back. Before I knew it, the class was over and I was headed to my painting class. This class' professor was very easy going and ended up letting the class out early to do the assignment for the day. The assignment was landscape painting, and since it was autumn I decided to head to the huge park in the center of campus. It was a lovely park, with huge trees and a large man made lake in the center with a walk way going over it. I found a good spot to set up my canvas stand, put my headphones on, and I started to paint.

Usually when I paint I drift off into the music I'm listening to. After a while I came back around and I noticed in the center off all the scenery I had painted was what looked like a giant snow capped mountain leaning against a brick gate. I furrowed my brow in confusion as looked around to try and see what I had painted. I looked around several times before I saw what I was looking for. It, well he, was jogging. I leaned over my canvas to get a better view but my foot got caught up on one of the supports and I fell. Water colors of almost every hue went flying everywhere and it felt like the moment was happening in slow motion. As I tried to get up, I noticed everyone in the immediate area was staring at me due to my spill. I could have literally died right then and there from the embarrassment. I stared at the ground as I started to pick myself up, but all of a sudden an ivory hand crossed into my view of the grass below me. When I looked up to see whose hand it was I saw and absolutely monumental white boar with blond hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a compression shirt that showed his figure. He was simply huge, I had seen full grown dragons smaller than him.

As I put my paint spattered paws into his huge claws he quickly pulled me up to my feet and smiled, "There now. Are you alright?"

I was almost in tears as I looked up at the boar, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry-" My mind was in a haze and I'm sorry seemed to be the only thing I could think to say.

The boar put his hands in front of him and smiled gently, "Woah, woah, woah. Now there's no need to apologize for anything. You haven't done anything wrong. I just want to make sure you're okay." He said giving me a once over and then meeting his cold blue eyes with my fiery red ones.

I could tell he was trying to be nice, so I tried to look a tad less embarrassed about the whole situation by putting a half-hearted smile on my face. "I'm fine...I'm just a little shaken up." I answered as I tried to wipe the water colors out of my face fur.

He gestured his thumb towards the dormitories, "Well, maybe I could help you carry these things back up to the building while you walk it off? Are you in the dorms?"

"U-Um Sure but I don't live on campus. I live with my best friend in an apartment complex a little ways off from here..." I said as I spotted the painting and quickly hid it in my canvas bag. "It's alright, I'll clean this mess up myself, it's my fault anyway." I said as I was still trying to wipe the water paint out of my fur.

He just smiled and scooped up my painting easel into his arms. "Nonsense. I don't mind at all; in fact, I'd love to help if I could." He said as he moved the loose straps of my bag over one of his huge shoulders.

I pulled out my cell phone and started to text Sai. "Uum... well... alright... I guess it couldn't hurt anything... I'll just text my friend and tell her I'm walking home. It's about a 30 minute walk from here, are you sure you want to go all that way?"

He just smiled politely. "Absolutely! A good walk would be perfect after that two mile run. Oh! My name's Willis, by the way. Willis Hayglton." He replied as he grinned and reached up to scratch the back of his head shyly.

"Oh... um I-Im Jack." I said nervously, smiling. "Do you know where the school cafe is? If we keep walking along the street it's on we will end up at my apartment complex." I explained as I pointed in its direction.

"I do!" Willis answered with a big grin on his face. He didn't notice he was kind of yelling a tad. "That's just a little ways beyond the other end of the campus, right?"

"Yeah... you got it. Are you ready to go?" I asked as I started to slowly walk in that direction.

"Sure thing!" was the only response I heard before the huge boar was following beside me.

We had been walking a few minutes before the silence had gotten too awkward, even for me. "So... um..." I wanted to say something, but I couldn't think of anything interesting in the least to say. I just ended up getting his attention for no reason.

And just as I had feared, his eyes perked up and he looked down directly at me. " Yes?" He asked, looking kind of relived that I had broken the silence.

"Um well It's kind of awkward and its making me nervous and when I get nervous I usually just end up saying what I wanted to say in the first place but I end up just saying it all in one breath..." I took a deep inhale after that long sentence and lowered my ears, "So... um... do you mind telling me why you decided to help me out in the park?"

It seemed like he had noticed that just his presence was making me a tad jittery so he put a smile on his muzzle. "That's simple. I decided to help because it was the right thing to do.... Mmmm..." He said with a smile on his face, but a melancholy expression spread across expression, "...But I'm sorry if I've made things worse..."

I just looked up with a faint smile on my face, "I don't think there is anyway it could have been any worse... so thank you."

His smile returned to his face as he chuckled softly, "You're welcome."

We continued to talk to each other about different things as we made our way off of the campus. Soon we had passed the university buildings and main campus, Eventually arriving at my apartment building.

I felt like if I didn't tell him why I had fell in the first place it would be like lying to him, so I took a deep breath. "Well I was just wondering... if... you would like to come upstairs to the apartment... to... oh gosh this is stupid." I said as I pulled out the painting I had hid in my bag earlier "...In the park the reason why I fell was... because... I was watching you. Somehow you ended up in my landscape painting and its unfinished... and there isn't a chance of me finishing it... Unless... you..." I could feel my face becoming warm from how hard I was blushing so I started to cover my face with my canvas.

For a second he seemed as embarrassed as I was, and then he started to look like he had a puzzled look on his face. "Uh-mm..." seemed to be the only thing he could mutter as he scratched the back of his head, "...Yeah. Sure! It's no problem... I mean, if you want." He was actually blushing.

The response surprised me more than the fact that I had actually asked him. I could only sputter across my words as I tried to reply. "W-Well only if you want to. I don't want to make things more awkward than they already are." I said as we started to ascend the stairs to go into our apartment.

He seemed really enthusiastic as he spoke this time, "It would be my pleasure! I've never been a model for painting, it will be interesting to see if I can sit still long enough too." He supposed, chuckling to himself.

It felt like his enthusiasm was contagious as a faint smile spread across my face. "I'm glad then."

"Well, this is the place." I said as I fiddled with my keys. I opened the door and waved him in.

"I'm sorry the colors are so dark. Neither me nor my roommate like the place to be bright." I said as we walked into the mono-chrome gothic-themed apartment. The front room's layout was fairly large. We had a black and white section over a rug covered in many shades of gray, A Medium sized wall mounted T.V., and a bar with stools leading into the kitchen.

I looked back at Willis as he tilted his head to get into the doorway.

"Haha. That's fine." He responded as he took in his surroundings and I got everything settled. As I pushed the coffee table out of the way I could hear him say "It's a nice place." We both smiled at each other and with a puzzled gesture he asked "So where do we start?"