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To the average anthropomorphic teen animal, today was just another day of living the typical life of going to school at Westminster High School in the town of Valimore, California. But not for everyone, that is. For me, it was yet another school for this seventeen-year-old red fox that I was going to be attending the third high school in my life and hopefully the last one. My parents got transferred to this city because of their shared job as maintenance workers for a big power plant stationed all across the country. As a result of this, my whole life has been impossible to find a permanent place to call home when their job forces us to relocate where Mom and Dad are needed. I don't hate them or blame them for that since the saying is home is where the heart is, yet I can't help but feel like everything else in my life tends to suffer from the constant moving.

The same fear of going to Westminster High School began to bubble up in my gut as it did every time I was being taken to a new school. The fear of not being able to form meaningful relationships with other students before we have to move again. I haven't had the opportunities to really get to know many students in elementary and middle school and high school I got to stay for most of the year as a sophomore at one school in Montana before I got transferred four months before summer vacation where those last months and the first half of my junior year were spent at another school in Kentucky.

Luckily for me, the next move happened right before summer vacation ended so my parents informed me with full assurance that I would be attending my full senior year at Westminster High School and graduate from here with no moves to interrupt those plans. However, that did nothing to help settle the anxiety I felt building up inside me of the prospect of how I was still gonna be the new kid attending this school. My hands tightened around my journals and reading books I usually carried as my thoughts on my experiences with past schools made my blood freeze over. Those thoughts soon were abandoned as I felt the car come to a halt and I witnessed the two-story building that would be my new school.

A paw brushed the top of my head soothingly as I looked over to my mom. "Are you getting nervous again, Wes?"

I looked away in shame. "I know I shouldn't be with how many new schools I've been to, but I can't help myself. It's not exactly been an enlightening experience to be the new kid in every school for all of my grade school years."

"But this is the first time you're starting a school at the beginning of the school year so it's not like every other time you've had to hop in those classes in the middle of lessons they've been teaching for a few weeks," Mom pointed out.

"But I'm still new and I know that there are gonna be kids like Hank and Geraldo and Randy and all of them," I confessed.

Mom frowned and sighed out at that comment, knowing those names of past bullies I had to deal with in my other schools. She then said, "I know things can be hard. Most kids have been bullied for a myriad of reasons no matter how stupid. Your father was bullied for being too enthusiastic about science classes when we were in school and my love of extra-curriculars like choir and theater gave the cheerleaders of my high school years a reason to insult me. I know you've been through it and while I would say things like to not worry about it or this school will be different, we both know that would be a lie. But you know what to look out for so you can use your past experience to avoid these types of people as best as you can. I'll also talk with your principal so they are aware of any bullying development that may occur here. And what's the one thing you know you can count on?"

I couldn't help the small smile that my face made as I looked over to her and answered, "How you and Dad will always be there to support me. No matter what."

"That's right, Wesley. You're a proud Conaway and we will always be there for you!" Mom then leaned over as we hugged each other before I felt that familiar peck she'd always place on my forehead to comfort me before we pulled away with me having to readjust my glasses back on my face as our hug made them slip down my muzzle. "You best get going. Don't want to break your perfect attendance record by getting a tardy on your first day at your new school."

"Right," I nodded at her before I hopped out of the car and waved to her before she waved back and began to drive away. I watched her leave before turning to face the school as many students were seen walking in or hanging out by cement pillars next to the school entrance. I steeled my nerves and began my approach to the entrance. I felt multiple eyes on me and the usual hush whispers, knowing that the plethora of students were commenting on me and how they don't recognize me. But it was easy to ignore as I entered my school and took in the commons area.

Red, black, and gold school colors adorned the commons area with school flags hanging down with the dragon head emblem embroidered onto them, showcasing the school's mascot in all its glory as the three floor-like carpeted steps, also in school colors, had countless groups of students huddled together as they laughed and joked and spoke to their friends while the tiled area in the center of the commons was left open due to the cheerleaders using that space as they performed a welcome back to school chant and routine they must have practiced over the summer as some students clapped and howled at the cheerleaders while others acknowledged their routine but continued on their way.

I was quick to pull out the map of the school I printed out from the school website from my journal as I scanned over the first floor of the school to find the attendance office was directly next to me down the hallway to reach the doorway inside. I began walking down and into the office as the school secretary, an older sheep lady, spotted me as I walked in.

"Hello, young man. May I help you?" She asked, her boujee voice monotone and uncaring.

"Yes, ma'am. My name is Wesley Conaway and I'm new here. I was told to pick up my schedule and locker info here," I responded with a cheery demeanor.

"Very well. Give me just one minute to look up your information and get everything you need printed out. Please have a seat until I call for you," she instructed me as I thanked her before sitting down in one of the available waiting seats. I waited for a moment before a door in the back of the office opened and I heard a commotion erupt from inside. I soon saw a Rottweiler senior boy wearing a football varsity jacket of school colors and a death metal band shirt emerge with an adult white rabbit woman in a tan suit who had a scar along the right side of her eye as those red eyes bore disappointment into the teenage boy. Their words got louder as she walked him through the office to the attendance office door.

"Now, Elijah. I believe that you will keep your promise not to harass any more students, boys or girls. Especially since you were caught doing so this morning before the school year could even begin," spoke the rabbit.

"Yes, Principal Carver. Whatever you say," he answered back with clear sarcasm in his words as he looked back at her. "And it's Eli; not Elijah."

"I know you don't exactly care about these consultations, but you need to get a hold of your actions if you want a successful future. You're nearly eighteen and a legal adult so these allegations that you are building up in school may come back to bite you in the butt," warned Principal Carver.

"Sure, sure. Can I go now?" Eli shrugged her off as she could only sigh before motioning to the door with her hand as he turned to leave. But not before his gaze stopped on me as he seemed to eye me like I was some criminal who snuck into the school before he opened the door and stomped away.

Soon Principal Carver spotted me as she smiled sweetly. "Why hello, young man! I don't believe I've seen you in my school before."

I shook my head. "This is my first and last year that I'll be attending here. I moved here from Kentucky over the summer."

A look of realization overcame her face. "Oh! You must be Wesley Conaway! It's such a pleasure to meet you! I've been looking forward to meeting you! I've heard great things about you!"

I was confused by this revelation. "Y-You have?"

"Of course! You're a brilliant young man who's been an honor student ever since middle school and showed exemplary grades even in elementary. I review all past transcripts for new students when they come to my school so I can gauge what kind of student is attending my school and I must say, I've never seen a student that moves around as much as you have and yet your grades have never suffered from it. With how different a lot of these school districts run their schools that you attended in various states, it's downright miraculous to see how much of a determined student you are for being able to keep up with the difference in education levels these districts apply. I'm very pleased to have you as a student here!"

"Th-Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate your kind welcome."

"Wesley Conaway! Your papers are ready," the sheep secretary woman hollered as she placed three papers on the countertop.

I acknowledged her with a nod and grabbed two of the papers and bowed my head to Principal Carver. "I should be going now. Still need to figure out the layout of the school with my classes and everything."

I heard Principal Carver call out, "Wait, you forgot this map Miss Vallarta printed for you!"

But before she could bring it to me, I lifted mine up in response. "Already got that covered. Printed mine off the school website last night but I appreciate the notion. Have a great day today!"

As I opened the door and walked out, I heard Principal Carver say, "What a smart and well-mannered young man!" before the door closed behind me as I walked further down that hallway away from the commons until lockers and classrooms began lining the hallway as I glanced down at my map to compare it to my locker information. The paper read locker 2185 was the locker number I was assigned, and the lock combination was 16-34-25. I consulted my map and soon found the set of lockers that began in the twenty-one hundreds but the minute I spotted where they were located on my map, my heart sunk as I realized my locker was right next to the gymnasium which meant my time taking stuff to and from my locker would always place me next to my least favorite place in every school I've attended.

I couldn't stop the gulp that resided in my throat as the sudden dryness I felt inside it was overbearing as I cursed my bad luck as this day went from a decent first day to a dreadful one all within five minutes. I fixed my glasses before I began to follow the map reluctantly towards the gym to find my locker. After another few minutes, I soon found myself in the hallway across from the gymnasium doors and around the corner from the boy's locker room which made me curse my luck even more upon this realization. As I tucked the loose papers into my notebook, I prayed that I could practice getting my locker opened and placing any unnecessary books in my folded arms away before-

"YEAH MAN!"

"WOOHOO!"

"TAKE HIM DOWN!"

-the jocks arrived.

Sure enough, a stampede of football jocks came rampaging out of the boy's locker room as they paraded around, jumping on each other and trying to wrestle each other to the ground. I did my best to ignore them and hide myself from them in plain sight in front of my locker as I began putting in the combination. The minute I did and got my locker open, I heard footsteps behind me as I was grabbed from behind and suddenly pinned against the other lockers. "OW!"

I felt a forearm pin my neck and grip my free hand behind my back to lock me in place against the lockers as the jock behind me laughed. The corner of my vision managed to spot the Bengal tiger wearing the same varsity jacket that the Rottweiler, Eli, was wearing in the attendance office.

"Hey, Eli! Ain't this the geek fox that was eyeing you in the office?" The tiger called over.

"Yeah, that's him." I heard a voice say from somewhere behind me. "Funny thing is I don't remember this twerp."

"I-I'm new here," I managed to squeak out despite how my trachea was being cut off with this brute pushing against my neck.

"Oh! A new kid, eh?" A voice I assumed was Eli's said with a tone of amusement. "Well, let's see how you like your new locker then. Shall we?"

With that said, I felt the pressure being taken off me as the tiger then picked me up and began pushing me into my open locker which could indeed fit a small, petite person like me inside as I immediately began resisting. "No! No please! Don't!" I begged as I tried to break free of his grip but another grabbed on and I knew that another jock was trying to help the tiger get me inside. But just before I could be squeezed inside, I heard a shout.

"That's enough you guys!"

I looked over and saw a Doberman teenager was over wearing the same varsity jacket as the rest of the team that surrounded me buy noticed he had a patch that read "Captain" on the breast of his jacket that made him stand out from the rest of them as they all stared back at him.

Eli walked up to the team captain with a sly grin. "What's the problem, Michael? We're just having some harmless fun with this new kid."

Michael folded his arms. "Oh really? Like last year when you pranked Scott Miller by throwing paint-filled water balloons at him as a prank during the science fair?"

"Come on, man. Where's your sense of fun?" Eli asked him.

"It stopped when your harmless pranks started getting the entire football team into trouble. We don't need to tarnish the good name of Westminster High School anymore with you going to see Principal Carver twice before school can even start." Michael replied before looking at the tiger. "Just put him down, Jeff, and all of you get to class before Coach or another teacher sees you."

Jeff was quick to follow Michael's order as he released me as the football team slowly began to dissipate out of the hallway and split off to go to their first period. But not before Eli huffed at Michael. "You know, you've become a real stiff ever since the end of last year. I'll see you at practice later. Hopefully you'll be more fun then." As Eli said this, he turned and walked away but not before giving me a side-eye as I watched him leave before trying to put my extra books away into my locker before anything else could happen.

As I was just about to close my locker, a finger tapped my shoulder making me turn around with a frightened jump, dropping the red and blue composition notebooks in my arm as they clattered against the tiled ground and echoed in the empty hallway. The Doberman, Michael, stood there with his hands held up in surrender. "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to check with you to see if you were okay."

I felt myself recoil back, unsure of how to respond as I looked down in worry. He seemed to notice this and sighed out.

"You don't need to say anything if you don't want to. I'll leave you alone if that's what you want." He began backing away as I saw his chocolate brown eyes looking me over as if to see if he could get a read on how I was doing as he turned and began to walk away.

I let out a relieved sigh as I was left by myself before reaching down to pick up my notebooks, but I soon saw my map had fallen out of my one notebook and was now in a puddle of some colored liquid. "Oh no!" I couldn't help crying out as I picked up the map with my fingertips, but the paper instantly fell apart as I tried desperately to get the pieces back together, only for it to fall apart even more as it became unreadable.

In my desperation, I failed to notice the footsteps approaching me until I saw a shadow standing over me. I craned my neck up to see Michael standing above me.

"What happened? I heard you scream before I left the hallway."

I didn't respond as I looked away from him. He then knelt down and picked up a small piece of my map and he seemed to realize what had me so distraught.

"Oh, I see. In Jeff's haste to grab you, he must have dropped his energy drink he was carrying which split out when he did so. He must have picked up the bottle but didn't clean up the mess. That must have fallen out in when I startled you and you dropped your notebooks. I'm very sorry," Michael apologized.

I couldn't help but groan as I whispered, "I should have taken that map they printed out. Now I have to go back and get it to find my class before I'm late." I stood up to begin making my way back to the office but soon realized I didn't remember which hallways I took to get to my locker in the first place. I felt panic settle inside my head but soon saw Michael walking next to me.

"Listen, I want to make it up to you. You clearly don't know where you're going and getting you a new map will make you late for class. How about you let me take you to your classes today until lunch so you don't have to be tardy?"

I didn't like this situation at all but I knew I didn't have a choice. By the time I aimlessly wandered around to find the attendance office to get that map, I would definitely be late for class and I did not want that. I only nodded to him as he smiled.

"Cool! Where's your first class? I can take the tardy if need be so you don't have to worry about being late for your first period," offered Michael which surprised me to hear that but I wasn't gonna complain. I simply held out my schedule for him to take as he scanned over the page.

"Let's see. Your first period is Literacy Studies with Mr. Finster. What do ya know? I'm taking the same English credit with the same teacher as you! Come on! We best hurry now otherwise we'll both be late!" Without warning, he grabbed my hand and began pulling behind him as we raced through the hallways as other students were seen running to try and not be tardy either.

It was lucky our first class didn't seem to be on the second floor as Michael didn't go to any staircase we passed as we passed the library and soon found ourselves in front of the doors of two classrooms before Derek opened the door but didn't go inside. He looked back at me standing there.

"Hurry and go in. I'm not gonna let you be late so you go in first."

I blinked at him but nodded as I stepped inside the classroom and the second Michael stepped in, the class bell rang to signal the beginning of class and the new year. The entire class had their eyes on me as a throat-clearing caught our attention as we saw the English teacher, Mr. Finster who was a barn owl with reading specs on his beak.

"Excuse me, gentlemen but if you two could take your seats, I'd like to begin class now," Mr. Finster told us.

I immediately sat at an available seat in the back of the room in the row closest to the door and immediately realized the only other available seat for Michael to sit in was directly in front of me. I groaned inwardly at my rotten luck as I buried my head into my hands.

"Alright now, class! I'd like to start this year off by welcoming you all back to this new school year! I'm very excited to see how you all contribute to my class this semester. While I see many familiar faces from classes you had with me last year, I noticed a few new faces among our ranks today. For those of you who are new this year, please stand up so we can introduce ourselves," instructed Mr. Finster as seven other students all stood up including a red-eyed tree frog, a black Labrador, and a giraffe to name a few. I soon and reluctantly followed suit as I was the last to stand up at his desk.

"Ooh! Eight new students! How delightful! While this class isn't grade restricted, I know all the familiar faces are juniors and seniors so you eight sophomores that stood up just need to give us your name, what middle school you came from, and tell us a fun fact about yourselves. Starting with you." Mr. Finster pointed to the Labrador as he smiled and looked around to the class.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Freddy Barnes and I came from Jericho Middle School! A fun fact about me is probably how I like to spend my holidays with family skiing on the Colorado skiing resorts," he introduced himself.

"Thank you, Freddy! Now you, young lady." Mr. Finster then called on the giraffe.

"Hi guys! I'm Tabitha Jenkins and I'm from Jericho Middle School as well! My fun fact is how I have won multiple awards for regional track and field competitions," she told everyone before taking her seat.

Mr. Finster nodded in amusement. "A young athlete prodigy! I believe our track and field tryouts are next quarter and they will love to have you join! Next!"

The frog was next as she spoke, "I'm Lillian Grinnell but I just go by Lilly. I graduated from Fort Harriman Middle School and if I were to say a fun fact about myself, I guess it would be about how I'm the first sophomore to make the cheerleaders squad here!"

Everyone looked intrigued by this as if to confirm this was indeed fact as I felt my mind wander with my eyes fixated on the Doberman sitting in front of me. I was confused about his motivation to help me out of those situations I found myself in today after leaving the office. I tried to decipher what his angle was and what he was hoping to get out of this. Why would someone like him help me? What is he playing at? These questions raced through my mind before I felt a wad of paper pelt me in the face.

The students began laughing as Mr. Finster seemed to be glaring at a jaguar wearing a familiar jacket near the back. "Harold, there's no need to throw things at people. Young man, are you ready to introduce yourself now?" He now spoke to me.

I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't even notice all the other students were sitting and waiting for me to speak. I felt the embarrassment heat my face up as I gulped and tried to form the words. "M-My n-na-name is Wes..." I petered off as I felt my voice dying down before Harold spoke up.

"I thought you were a fox, not a mouse! Speak up! We can't hear you~!"

The students began laughing again as Mr. Finster scolded Harold. I felt myself shrinking into myself as I felt all judgmental eyes of my peers boring into me as all I could manage to do was grab a pen and tear out a paper from my notebook before scribbling down onto it. I hastily dropped my pen on my desk and quickly ran up to Mr. Finster before handing him the paper and seating myself down to hide my face from everyone.

"Now, class. This is why we don't laugh and make jabs at new students. Not all of us have the social skills to be able to do things like speak up in class. I'm sorry about that and I expect all of you to apologize to him later after class for poking fun at him," he scanned his eyes over my paper and then announced to the class, "I am to tell you that his name is Wesley Conaway and he is in fact a senior and not a sophomore but he is still new this year after transferring from his previous school in Kentucky. Thank you for allowing me to share that with the class, Wesley and let me personally welcome you to Westminster High and California."

Soon hushed whispers began to float along the class as people were surprised by the knowledge that I wasn't a sophomore but a senior instead. Mr. Finster was quick to silence the class before beginning the lesson by asking the leader of each row to pass down the books he began handing out to each row.

I still had my face buried in my arms until I heard something slide onto my desk next to my left arm. I peeked up to see Michael had placed the book gently next to me and he hadn't turned back around as he stared down at me. "Hey, are you doing okay, Wesley?"

I blatantly ignored him by grabbing the book placed on my desk and opening it before pushing my face so close inside that I couldn't see anyone. I heard Michael sigh out before shuffling was heard and I peeked over the book to see he had turned back around to face the front of the classroom. I just kept my face hidden as my thoughts began racing over and over in the back of my mind.

"If I can just avoid people, then I'll be able to get through this last school year with no more issues. No more trying to fit in like in previous schools. I'll just be the average nobody that no one will want to pay attention to. If I do that, then I'll finally have a peaceful year of school."