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Being Monday, though, the course of the day and my mind inevitably shifted to other things. First period I was a teacher's assistant for a German class, one I'd taken the past couple years in high school but had opted out of this year - which inspired me to actually focus on helping out, because lifting my gaze from grading papers for any span of time would mean meeting the teacher's sharp gaze and hearing her hissed Why did you drop my class? even if she didn't actually say it.

But it wasn't so bad, though. While going through the other classes' papers, repeatedly marking with an X or a check and only occasionally filling in the correct answer, I usually had some time to cool off and unwind and get myself ready for the rest of the long, dragging week... though "cool off and unwind" usually meant "remember everything I'd forgotten to do over the weekend".

These past few years, though, that list had just gotten shorter and shorter. Sure, it stressed me out, and sometimes I caught myself staying up until and even past midnight making sure my homework got finished - thirty questions for calculus, a thingy for creative writing next period, a lab report for chemistry tomorrow, a little survey of sorts for astronomy, and a take-home quiz for history that I actually still had two questions of - which maybe... wasn't the best, but I always felt better the following morning knowing that I'd finished (almost) everything that needed doing. Even between the drowsiness and drifting-off during class.

Besides, it had just become routine. Finish class, on Tuesdays and Thursdays slack off in the library during my free period, then head towards the buses, get home, and start homework. It felt good getting something done, you know? Besides, it's not like anything was ever catastrophically difficult. This is public school.

Just like any other day at school, the best part of the day came when I found myself so engrossed in whatever it was keeping me busy that I didn't notice the passage of time... though I could do without the sudden startled jerk that came with the bell overhead ringing out to signal the end of first period. So I set the papers to the side, hoisted my backpack onto my shoulder, said goodbye to the teacher, and then set my brain back into autopilot mode to make my way through the halls toward my next class.

It'd be creative writing, and because it was a monday, all we'd do would be looking over and commenting on our classmates' over-the-weekend assignments. Write a short story, the teacher had said,about a character with a certain physical or personality trait that they aren't aware of, while the audience - the reader - is. In my story, the guy was actually dead the whole time, and didn't find out until he tried to give his mom a hug in the end and couldn't. Totally inspired by a movie I saw last Thursday, but whatever, right?

More often than not it turned out to be a nice, slow-paced, easy class, and today was no different, save for a five-minute stretch in the middle when someone's phone kept on going off, they kept on silencing it, and the teacher kept on glaring at them until I'm sure we all thought we were about to see one of the classic "give me your phone; you can get this back from the office at the end of the day" scenes. Some teachers had a less strict stance on that matter than others, but if you pushed them enough...

Actually, that whole thing led me to check my own messages. Since about a year or so ago, I'd been in a group chat with a small circle of friends, but it tended to be fairly quiet during the week... and other than that, the number of texts I sent and received during the average day had dropped off considerably since my girlfriend and I broke up.

Sure, I missed the attention a bit, but... everything else that went with it? The jealousy of imagined deceit (I should be flattered that you think I'm hot enough for other girls to even look at me, I'd told her once), the annoying idea of "I have to do this thing I don't want to, and you're my boyfriend, so you should have to do it too" which kept me up way too late on weekdays and resulted in more than a few wasted afternoons, the almost-constant being-bugged-for-money - "hey, let's go see a movie," "hey, wanna go to the mall?", "hey, there's this new game coming out," "hey, can I borrow some gas money?" - where she'd first imply that I would be the one 'treating' her, and then would just straight-up say it...

So. Yeah. No. It wasn't her I disliked; it was just the way she acted. That's what I kept on telling myself and my friends, at least. Mom didn't seem surprised at all when I told her we were no longer a thing, and the extent of her questioning me about consisted of "so what took you so long?" over dinner that night.

Whatever. After creative writing came my calculus class, with Mr. Thompson: a good class with a good teacher. One of my favorites, in both cases. On the days when my friends were somewhere else or if I just felt like being kind of antisocial, I'd just stay in my seat once the period ended and eat lunch in this room - at this school, we have three periods in a row, then lunch, then fourth period at the end of the day. Day after day, Monday to Friday except for big standardized-test days, with the classes you attended each day switching back and forth: a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, and a Tuesday-Thursday schedule. Sometimes it sucked, sometimes it wasn't so bad. Again - whatever.

I think Mr. Thompson, unlike most of the other teachers, intentionally went easy on us for a math class directly following a weekend: we turned in our homework, took a quick quiz on it, and then sat back for a review... of what we'd just quizzed over. It wasn't until then that my mind finally drifted back to that cheetah I'd seen this morning, first between masses of other dragging students and then right before class started.

Wonder how things were going for him, and how he was handling his first day. I'd moved to a new school during junior high, and I don't know if it was just the age I was at, or the way my personality's configured when dealing with new places and new people, but - I remember it being not a great time.

Instead of paying attention to the review like I maybe-should-have been doing, I found myself thinking back and forth between him and wherever else my tired thoughts brought me. I used to be friends with a cheetah, way back in elementary school... we both played cello in the school orchestra, but then he went to a different middle school, and then _I_switched schools as well, and we never saw each other again... I think we're still friends on some social media platform, though?

I used to think his sister was hot. I forget what her name was, but there was one time I went over to their house, but Mom only let me if I did my homework while there, and while I was sitting at the kitchen table, that sister of his came up, leaned over my shoulder, and helped me out... you fucking bet I was over the moon, thinking I'd inherited Dad's ladykiller genes and was about to land a phone number.

I was also, like, ten years old. So. Not really sure whatever happened to her, either; Mom used to keep in contact with their parents, but I think they fell out contact over time as well.

Another thirty or so minutes spent between not paying attention and half-drifting off, and then the bell rang again. Today I'd forgotten to bring a lunch (read: had been too lazy to put one together), and I really wasn't looking forward to standing in the long lunch lines that seemed never to move due to the numbers of other students that just kind of slid in halfway up with their friends, but... today was macaroni and cheese day. What else could I do?

Since I was already up and walking around, I figured I might as well stop by the usual spot, instead of heading back to Mr. Thompson's room to probably just eat my food and put my head down to get a not-so-great ten-minute nap in. Tyler looked up at me when I rounded the corner, his tall ears perked. He'd snatched a roll from someone, though had no lunch of his own, and now chewed on a chunk of it.

"So," he said, between bites.

"So."

He tore off another piece, briefly showing sharp whitish teeth. Not that he could help it, but I think that was a jackal thing - eating like that, showing teeth. Mom had commented on it early in our friendship, after we'd had him over for steaks. "Monday," he went on, chewing between words. "How's it going? You feelin' it?"

Funny thing, though: afterwards, he'd given me one of his usual bright grins and said 'you think I'm bad - you should see me girlfriend. She;s a hyena'. I think that species difference was actually part of why they ended up not working out.

"Is it possible to 'feel' a Monday?" Just like this morning, I dropped my bag to the floor and then slid down beside him, careful to keep everything on my tray balanced. Hardly anything sucked more than losing your lunch (not like that) right as you'd prepared to eat. "Dude - I just wanna get home and go back to sleep. I wanted to go back to bed before I'd even gotten out of bed..."

"Hear, hear." Tyler pointed a sand-furred finger towards my tray. "You gonna eat your bread?"

"Go crazy. I just want the mac."

"I dunno how you can eat that stuff, man, but - whatever. To each his own, right? Even if your own is crappy high school mac and cheese." He raised his paws, his own half-eaten roll alongside mine in one. "I'm not one to judge."

"You can't judge."

"Hey, now, what's that supposed to mean?"

"You once ate a piece of jerky-"

"Okay, so? Who hasn't?"

"-off my floor-"

"Five second rule. When you take relativity into effect with the speed of the planet's orbit, that's, like, seven seconds. That was the main plot point of the Acceleron game that came out recently."

"-that had been there for two weeks-"

"I had no way of knowing that! Besides, it's jerky! It's supposed to last a long time."

For a moment, the only noise between us was the crinkling of the cellophane wrapper of the plastic fork and spoon given with each lunch. I still kept eye contact with the jackal for effect, though, even though it really was a pretty funny story.

"Ty, it was fuzzy and green."

He shoved the rest of his roll into his mouth, and then started on mine. "Only on that one patch. Besides, it's not like I make a habit of munching on old meat." Then, he swallowed. "...Wait. Can I rephrase that?"

Usually we had more to our little group of friends here, but... circumstances of life and school sometimes stole them away from us. One had a club meeting during lunch every Monday at least, one probably just didn't bother getting out of bed this morning, and... well, Ty probably knew where his girlfriend was. She was a fairly recent addition to this group.

Even with all of that, though, this damn jackal is still the only one I really connect with, you know? If it were anyone else, instead of talking and laughing like this we'd share maybe seven words, not including a halfhearted how are you, and then nothing else until one of us left. It had happened a few times before, and eventually became one of the reasons why I sometimes ate lunch in Mr. Thompson's room.

Today's mac and cheese met my hopes and expectations, of course. Halfway through my meal, I looked over at Tyler again, and how he - how he just... sat there with his head half-resting against the wall, legs pulled up to his chest and wrists on his knees. He'd finished both of those rolls a while back.

"Did you not-" I swallowed another spoonful of mac. Some of the cheese clung to my lower lip; I flicked it off with my tongue. "-get a lunch today?"

He rolled his head on his shoulders to look at me. "No money in my school account 'cause I spent it all on candy from the vending machine. And I forgot that I spent it all on candy, so I didn't think to pack one this morning."

"Dude - if you'd let me know, I'd've gone and gotten a second one for you-"

"Nah, nah, man. You've already done more than enough for my sake. Like-" Once more, his grin came back, and he straightened up. "When you helped me with my algebra homework. All year."

"Weirdest thing about that: if you're good in geometry, you're bad in algebra, and vice-versa. It's like that with everyone I know. I just barely got a sixty in geometry, remember? I had to drop at the semester."

"Yeah, well... some of us just ain't good at math."

"It's not that bad."

He rolled his eyes. "Says the dingo who hasn't made lower than a B plus in calculus all semester."

"And the dingo who got a sixty in geometry."

"Pff. Whatever. Oh - I spoke to Lexi in second period today." That would be his girlfriend. I forgot they shared a class or two. "Said she's totally down to hang out with both of us this weekend. That work? Your place?"

"Yeah, probably." It was kind of difficult getting the last few noodles on the end of the fork, but I got it. "I mean, I'll have to check with Mom, and it's all depending on what plans we have - it is only Monday, you know."

"All day." Dull thump of his head bumping back against the wall. "Sucks, doesn't it? God, I can't wait for this week to be over. We have a pretty long break coming up, don't we?"

"I think? Spring break sometime in the future."

"Ugh. God. What happened to winter break?"

"Ty, it's March."

"I know! Where did the time go?"

"Life keeps going on." I paused, to pull myself up to my feet. "Hey, I think I'm gonna head off to my next class. We had this project due recently, and I wanna make sure I did everything okay."

"Yeah, sure." Then, under his breath but still loud enough for me to hear: "Tryhard."

After tossing my tray into the trash, I came back towards him and crossed my arms. "Hey, you wanna fight?"

Of course Tyler returned my sly grin, complete with squinted eyes. "By 'fight' do you mean 'duel in Edgeworlds 2' again?"

"What do you think I mean?"

"Dude, hell no. You always win. I don't even know how you manage to get that much damage output... the first game is my_ruling realm. Find the balls to face me there, and _then we'll talk!"

"Last time we did, I literally could not hit you. Zero successful strikes."

He sent me off with a trademark sharp-toothed smile. As for my next class - astronomy, another one of my favorites. It was more star-science and right-declination and spectrography than hey look at this pretty star, but... the teacher did recently tell us we'd be getting into more fun stuff. Class was frontloaded with the math and science to scare off those who thought they'd take it as a blow-off to pad their GPA or something. I wasn't really listening.

When I got there, she had the door propped open on a chunk of rock (since she also taught an earth science class) and already had a few other students sitting around in the room, most of whom I recognized either from my class or from in here before. An informal gathering, really: the teacher herself sat over at her desk with some eighties rock or something playing from the speakers, while most of the students sat atop the desks in the center of the room in a small circle, talking among one another.

"Hey, Ms. Langford?"

Her ears perked at my voice, and when she turned to face me, her muzzle split into a soft smile that showed the lines of age along her cheeks. One interesting thing was that she actually taught my science class, way back in fourth grade in elementary school; I think it was a relief for both of us to see a familiar face here in high school so many years later, even though she did briefly forget my name at the start of the year.

"Oh! Hey there, Matt. What can I do for you?"

"Oh - I just wanted to check if you got my email. I sent in my project kind of late; I wanted to be sure everything was okay and perfect..."

Her smile widened a little bit, and she reached over to turn down the music. "I did indeed. Gonna be working on getting those graded over the course of this week - I'll talk about that more in class today. We'll be starting a fun new unit today! That was the last project of the semester. So, it's time to sit back and relax. Good thing, too; I got word that we have a new student today. So that'll be perfect for the little partner assignment I have planned."

New student. My ears perked and my tail flicked, but Ms. Langford didn't notice, and turned back towards her computer. What a weird day this was, right? Still, though - good thing about the pace of the class: one thing less for me to worry about. With this as well as the weight of stress about my project having made it in off my shoulders (I'd had to send it twice, since the first time I got an Email could not be delivered notice back), well... hell. It was hard not to make it over to my desk, set my head down, and drop right off to sleep for a nap.

In fact, that's what I ended up doing, though I knew that I wouldn't get much time - and sure enough, not ten minutes in did the bell ring again to signal the end of lunch. Some of the students already in here said goodbye and left; some stayed where they were; and then one by one more came in, the classroom door repeatedly squeaking open and clicking shut behind them.

Familiar voices and familiar faces, filling up the desks all around. A brief snatch of conversation caught my ears, about some new movie coming out this week; another one about plans for prom next month; some almost-unintelligible babbling about a video game? I think?; and then, a few minutes later, Ms. Langford calling out over everyone else to let them know to sit down and pay attention.

It felt weird, but - again and again I looked around the room, trying to make out who this new student was. It'd be the oddest coincidence if it was that cheetah, but even then... why did that matter? There hadn't really been anything about him that caught my attention or anything. He just... did. He showed up, I saw him, and he stuck in my mind.

God. It was like something out of some slice-of-life novel or whatever. Watch - next thing that happens, he's gonna turn out to be my brother or cousin or something, species difference notwithstanding. Whatever.

Another weird thing was, once the bell rang yet again and Ms. Langford came up front for the start of class, that I actually felt a bit of... relief, maybe, to look around and see no new faces, to see all of the usually-empty seats still empty. Maybe that was just my personality, though, that sort of reluctance to talk to someone new, even if it would mean making a new friend... after all, my circle of friends hadn't really expanded since starting high school. Lexi didn't count, since Ty sort of brought her in among the rest of us. She was cool, though.

I didn't even notice when, about ten minutes into class, the door creaked open again, and Ms. Langford interrupted whatever she was talking about - constellations - to greet whoever it was that had just walked in. Everyone else turned to look, but I could feel the afternoon crash, so I just stayed where I was with my chin resting on my desk-

-but then jumped when the end of a long tail brushed across my ankle, and the previously-empty desk beside me creaked beneath his weight. Sure enough, when I finally did raise my head and look over, amber-orange eyes with black tear tracks running underneath them smiled at me.

"Hey," he said, in that same soft-music voice that I'd heard this morning. Now that things were mostly quiet, I could just barely - barely- make out the lingering edge of an accent, hanging off his words. "We have a class together! Imagine that." Then, he held out his paw. "I'm Tony."

Before I knew what I was doing, I'd taken his paw and shook it. He had a good grip, more gentle than firm, but - God, warm, with soft fingerpads. His smile only widened, and suddenly I found myself feeling - I don't know - a lot less tired. I straightened up in my seat.

"Hey," I said. When he released my paw, a light tingling danced through my fur for a brief snatch of a second. "I'm Matt."