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The First Day of School (Part 2) by 12 as SonicHowler Originally published February 24, 2007

Upon checking his schedule, Ky found that his next class was at 10:00--an hour from the current time. Looking to his left, he could see Leo going through his first class' notes on his laptop. Since the wolf didn't have any notes, he let out a sigh and pulled out a book. He began to read it, but his mind couldn't concentrate on it. The way Leo acted bothered him--not in an I'm-sick-of-the-way-you're-talking-to-me kind of way, but more of an I-wish-he-would let-me-help-him kind of way. Ky put the book down and watched Leo. The tiger's crystal blue eyes moved back and forth across his neat writing on the tablet PC, pausing now and then as he connected the words to the lesson in his head. Ky sighed once again and decided to try and talk to him.

"So! What class did you have, Leo?"

"Biology," Leo mumbled, paying more attention to his notes.

"Ew, Bio.... Is your teacher nice, at least?"

"Yeah," Leo murmured again, moving his finger down the side of the touchpad to get to the next page of notes.

"Heh, that's good. I just came from History. It's the most boring class in the world, but at least the teacher's cute, and--" Ky gasped and covered his mouth, realizing what he had just said.

"Cool," replied Leo nonchalantly. Ky raised an eyebrow. Not that he minded at that point in time, but Leo wasn't even hearing him.

"Careful, dude, your tail's on fire," said the wolf, voice sounding a little agitated.

"Excellent. Look, I'm kind of busy reviewing my notes. Try and bother me later."

Frustrated, Ky sat back on the couch. The clock ticked by a good half hour of uncomfortable silence until Leo finally seemed satisfied and shut down his laptop, slipping it into his backpack.

"Heh, ambitious guy, huh?"

"I intend to stay ahead of the game--in school_and_ in basketball," Leo explained.

"That's a good thing! I remember when--"

"You're really gonna try and make me talk to you, aren't you?" Leo said. It was more of a statement than a question. Still, it made Ky's ears droop.

"Well... no... not if you don't want to.... I mean, I'd like to, but if you don't want to I'm cool with it, it's just--"

"Alright, then what do you want to talk about?"

Ky blinked in surprise. He really hadn't expected that. He knew what he wanted to talk about, but Todd had warned him not to bring up this particular subject. What else_was_ there to talk about?

"Umm... I don't know," he said quietly.

"Well then, don't waste my time."

"Wait! Yes, I do know," Ky said. If he couldn't bring the subject up directly, he'd bring up something close to it and let Leo decide whether or not he wanted to talk about it. "Why are you acting so mean to me? Even the guys you know from basketball practice yesterday felt it; I could tell they were getting a bit irritated with you after awhile."

Leo didn't even look at Ky. "It's none of your--"

"--business, yes. Just know that I'm gonna keep on asking you this!"

Leo suddenly stood up. He did not like being pressured into things. He leaped onto Ky, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled back a fist, blazing fury in his eyes. Ky yelped, clenched his eyes shut, and flattened his ears, not wanting to fight. Leo growled low in his chest, fist trembling in midair, breathing heavily, apparently trying to decide whether or not he really wanted to do this. Ky opened one eye and looked up at him.

"S-stop," Ky gasped. "Don't hurt me...."

Leo shoved him roughly against the couch and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Ky panted shakily.

"Fur alive! I'm gonna get myself killed on the first day!"

He took a little breather before shaking his head clear and going into the bathroom to check on his clothes. After hanging them up on the shower curtain pole to dry, he decided to get ready for his next class.

"Oh, great," he said aloud. "Dance and Step. This'd better not be any kind of ballet thing." He put on his sneakers, left his bag where it was, and headed for the auditorium.

He arrived there a good five minutes before the final bell rang, but already the stage had a pawful of furs on it awaiting the instructor's arrival. All of them were stretching their limbs in preparation for whatever the teacher would have in store for them. All of them were very flexible. Footpaws went over heads, heads went down and touched footpaws, footpaws separated and created splits, and everyone looked as limber as a bunch of rubber bands. Ky was pretty flexible himself, though he wasn't_that_ flexible. He stood next to a cute-looking kangaroo up on the stage, did a few high kicks to loosen up his muscles, and then lifted one leg as high as he could.

"'ello, mate," greeted the kangaroo cheerily in an Australian accent. "Heh, you'll 'ave ta stretch that leg more than that!"

Ky chuckled. "I'm not quite at that flexibility level yet, dude."

"Really? Shame. You'll 'ave to learn ta do somethin' loike this!" The 'roo suddenly did a perfect split and then slid back to his footpaws without even using his forepaws. Ky let go of his leg and stared.

"Oh, man.... Only if someone can take care of my medical bills!"

The kangaroo grinned at him. "No worries, mate. You'll get used to it. Moi name's Theo Stroyden." He held out a paw. "And you are?"

"Koi--I mean Ky Carterson," replied Ky with a friendly smile, shaking Theo's paw.

"Ah, Ky Carterson. Oi heard Coach Jay's put you up for the ball team!"

"Yeah, heh, and some kind of recruit put me here in Dance and Step."

"Ditto, but that's alroight. Oi loike dancin'. You any good?"

"I think so. I'm not into the ballet, pirouette-and-pose kind of dancing. I'm more into the hip-hop type."

"Oh, the whole pretend-to-have-sex stuff that they do at clubs?"

"No, not that!" Ky laughed. "Have you ever been to a concert and seen the backup dancers? It's that. I believe there's a name for it, but I'm not sure what it is."

"Ohh, gotcha. Anyway, look sharp, 'ere comes the instructor!"

The dance instructor was a panther. She walked gracefully onto the stage, wearing a light blue leotard. "Welcome to Dance and Step!" she greeted. "You were all chosen to take this class because my recruiter found that you are great dancers. My name is Mrs. Lithbaum. This class will be very simple. There will be a three-week course to get you started. Those of you who I decide are not serious about this class will be immediately removed after that three-week period. Are there any questions so far?"

A mouse raised a paw. "Yeah, um... just what will we be dancing to?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked that," replied Mrs. Lithbaum. "Of course, we will be starting with the artistic form of dancing. That's all you need to know for now."

A few groans and murmurs arose from all the students, Ky included. "The artistic form of dancing" could only mean two things: ballet or interpretive dancing, both of which most of the guys dreaded. Most of the girls in the class seemed pretty indifferent.

Mrs. Lithbaum waited for the groans and complaints to stop before continuing. "For the first few days of class, we'll be working on nothing but stretching. You'll be surprised how demanding this form of dance really is. You'll be able to bend your bodies in ways you've never dreamed of by the time this three-week period is over, which will greatly aid you in what follows. Now, we're actually going to start this with a tip: the more you practice these stretches, the better you will become at them. It's like taking a shower. If you don't do it every day, you're going to stink."

There were a couple of chuckles from the group. Without warning, Mrs. Lithbaum bent herself backwards. Her belly parallel to the floor, she reached back with her paws, putting her palms flat on the floor. With one fluid movement, she brought her legs up and over, and just like that, she was on her footpaws again. She curtsied afterwards amid mild applause.

"Some of you can already do something like that," she said. "To those of you who can, good for you! However, you will not only be expected to participate in the stretching exercised, but you will also be expected to assist your peers that are having problems. Now, let's get to work!"

An hour and fifteen minutes later, the bell rang. Ky had never stretched so much in all his life, but his muscles felt loose and ready for action! He felt as if he could run across the country and back. He decided to go for a quick jog before his next class, which was in fifteen minutes.

Leo sighed. When had his life become so out of pace? He had just come from Mr. Russels' History class. As he had somewhat heard Ky mention that morning, it was boring. He didn't have his next class for another fifteen minutes, so he sat down on a bench just outside the classroom building to review his notes. The waves that broke on the shore not so far away created a nice breeze, and the warm sun and cloudless sky made it a beautiful day to relax. Birdsong echoed throughout the campus, complimenting the beautiful weather--which was far too beautiful for him to be sitting there scouring through notes. He put his notes away, stood up, shouldered his backpack, and decided to explore the campus some more.

He wasn't sure what made his feet move toward the gym, but they did. He walked there at a leisurely pace, stopping now and again to admire a young tree or the gardens of newly-planted impatiens within the triangles created by merging sidewalks. He went through one of the three sets of tall glass double doors and through the gym lobby, entering the gym itself through a normal set of double doors. Luke and Todd, along with several other students who didn't have a class for awhile, were playing a friendly game of Twenty-One. Leo sat down in the bleachers to watch. He was pretty sure that Todd had noticed his entry into the gym, but the rabbit appeared unfazed as he sent the ball soaring straight through the hoop. Leo really wanted to apologize for his behavior. Todd truly hadn't done anything wrong. There was just one question on Leo's mind: What would he say? It would be somewhat of an embarrassing bother to him to have to apologize for anything at this point in his life, but he had to say something.

"Tch," he scoffed aloud. "He'd probably ignore me anyway."

With that, the troubled tiger left the gymnasium for his next class.

Literature had never been Leo's favorite class. To him, it was just another History class. All they ever talked about was history: who wrote this or that and why, the sermons of Jonathan Edwards, the people of the 1930's and their reactions to that stuff. Just like with History, he couldn't care less about the writings of dead people. History was just a waste of time, and learning about that stuff was what continued the old enemy syndrome that society was displaying.

The Literature professor was a grey-furred rat who looked as if he was just starting college himself. He wore a comfortable orange T-shirt and khaki cargo shorts. He was sitting at the teacher's desk before everybody came in, engrossed in a book. Leo took a seat on the opposite end of the room, next the windows and in the third of the five rows. He watched the rat closely as students continued to file in to the room. Only when the tardy bell rang did he look up.

"Hello, everyone!" he greeted, standing up and walking to the other side of his desk, sitting on top of it. "I am Professor Thompson, but everyone calls me Jake T. Welcome to Literature! I'm gonna call out your last names; please answer with your first names or nicknames." He picked up his attendance sheet. "Admonson!"

"Rachel!"

"Beaulin!"

"Jordan."

Leo raised an eyebrow. This was certainly unique. Maybe this teacher would make the rest of the class interesting as well.

"Bolt!"

"Richie!"

"Carterson!"

"Ky!"

It took a moment for Leo to realize who had just been called. Ky was in his Literature class. Oh, great.

"Coltford!"

"Leo."

The list continued. Leo's mind began to drift. For once, it didn't drift to his own recent past. It drifted to his future at FCU. He certainly wasn't making any friends.

"Longdale!"

"Swift."

"Mitchell!"

"Stan, Mitchell, or Mitch."

Things have been pretty hectic for him lately, and the team, including Ky, by now, knew that. It was their fault for irritating him. That thought would as a temporarily solace.

"Stroyden!"

"Theo."

"Walt!"

"David." The list finally ended. Jake T put down his attendance sheet.

"Alright, we're gonna do things a bit differently this year!" said the rat. "Fur Coast U has something that they like to call an 'ITP', just to make it sound official. ITP stands for 'Innovative Teacher Policy.' See, some years ago, a class on this very campus got the highest achievement score in the school, and then the state, and then got third in the region, upping the university's overall status, which was already high. Since then, the administration has been holding a standard based on the teaching style of that class' instructor. Personally, I don't know why that teaching style wasn't already used widely. Anyway, I'm sure you and I can all agree that students learn better when they're enjoying it, right?"

There was a murmur of general agreement.

"Well," continued Jake T, "that's how we're doing things. See, I'm just a few years older than most of the seniors here, which is why I'm teaching freshman classes, by the way. I would have used the same teaching style anyway. But let's forget about that right now. We'll get into the school stuff another time. Instead, I want you each to find two partners. No, we're not gonna do that cheesy get-to-know-each-other thing that some teachers do on the first day. What I want you all to do is to work with your groups and come up with activities and ways that we can make this class enjoyable while still learning what we're supposed to. Be reasonable in your suggestions, okay? Go for it."

Leo gave an impressed nod. This could very well be the best Literature class he had ever been to. He teamed up with Jordan Beaulin, a buck, and Richie Bolt, a cheetah. Together, they came up with a good half page of suggestions. He looked around afterward. Ky was on the other end of the room, working with two other furs, looking like he was having a great time....

And I care... why? thought Leo. Ky was so annoying, even in his thoughts. Leo gave a little growl and rested his aching head on the desk while Jordan and Richie conversed.

To Be Continued...