FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The classroom was silent, save for the scritch-and-scratch of pencils against paper, the occasional eraser chirp, and a couple of kids with a persistent cough.

It was only the second Monday since the kids had gotten back and already they were doing a quiz--a math quiz at that. Last week they had reviewed what they went over before the break, refreshing their memories. They also learned about the Alligator, who likes to eat the biggest number. In lieu of weekend homework, the kids opted to take a Monday quiz over the Alligator.

Lyza ended up doing the homework anyway. Her parents decided to ground her for no reason, or at least no good reason. They felt she was being too disobedient or something. She didn't really care now; after throwing a tantrum and boiling for a few hours she had decided to just sit down and keep busy.

The quiz was really easy at first. A lot of the problems were almost exactly like the ones she did in the book. Some of them required you to solve little equations on one of the sides to actually see if the result was smaller. Halfway down the page they started getting trickier; fractions and parenthesis were put in. That wasn't so bad though, except she didn't feel too confident about her answers.

Then came the last ten problems. They involved negative numbers. At first she panicked--then remembered that negative numbers were always smaller than positive numbers, so the Alligator loved positive numbers. But there were a couple of Alligators that were so confusing she didn't even try. Two negative numbers. She tried to think, thought really hard too, but she couldn't really decide on which negative numbers were smaller.

Ms. Hupp called for the quizzes. She quickly _whick_ed a couple Alligators at random, and passed her test forward to Shy William.

"So, we'll see if you guys can learn without homework, huh?" Ms. Hupp commented, stacking the papers into a neat pile and placing them in a plastic tray on her desk. "So, since we have a few minutes before recess, I think there's someone who needs to do a Getting to Know presentation."

Lyza glanced over at Robert, along with the rest of the class.

"Are you ready, Pan?" The raccoon asked.

"Yes ma'am," the panda muffled. He hopped out of his seat, holding on to the belt loops of his jeans as he did so. He went to his backpack to get his treasured item.

"Yes, Lyza?"

The rabbit lowered her hand. "Excuse me, but his name is Robert," she said matter-of-factly.

"Whose is?" Ms. Hupp asked back.

"Pan's," Lyza responded.

The bear glanced over his shoulder.

"Is that so?" Ms. Hupp asked, still talking to Lyza.

"He told me last week," she explained, "he said it mea--"

"Hang on, Lyza," Ms. Hupp interrupted, "This is his Getting to Know, let's let him explain."

The class started chuckling. Lyza glanced around nervously. She focused on Robert as he walked to the white-board,

"Whenever you're ready," Ms. Hupp spoke.

"Um..." He looked at his paws, fidgeting with a long, slender box, "What do I say?"

"Well, you can tell us your name and what you have in the box."

He took in a breath. "My name is Pan--" he paused, squinting his left eye at Lyza, "Or Robert."

The class murmured.

"What's your name mean?" Asked Rini.

Robert rolled his eyes. "Well, really, Pan is my last name," he explained, a little wearily, "and Da isn't my real first name. It means 'big', because I'm the big brother."

"Big?," Kelly-Elly whispered, "I'll say."

Lyza glared, "That's not nice Kelly."

"Oh," Ms. Hupp replied, "How interesting. How old is your little brother?"

"Two years younger," Pan replied, a little annoyed.

"Does he go to our school?" Arthur asked.

The presenter sighed. "No. He goes to another school."

Ms. Hupp, noticing Robert's agitation, moved the presentation forward; "What did you bring?"

Lyza eyed the small wooden box in Robert's hands. It looked so small, she wondered what could be inside. She was reminded of Ket's presentation, and how inside of a little bag was something like real treasure. Maybe he had something like that.

The box was opened by sliding the lid away. The bear reached in with his thumb and fore and middle fingers, and lifted a long, thick-handled brush with a very thin and petite tip. "I brought a paintbrush," he replied.

The class exchanged glances, until finally Angela spoke; "That's not a paintbrush. It's too small."

"There are many kinds of paintbrushes, Angie," Ms. Hupp said, "Your dad works with big paintbrushes because he's a construction worker. Why don't you explain what kind of paintbrush that is, Robert?"

"It's one that artists use to make really detailed lines." He moved the brush into the position an artist would, tracing it carefully across the air. "It's got a big handle so you can control it easier."

"Are you an artist?" Ms. Hupp interviewed.

"I wanna be," he said, "My grandpa is an artist and he was famous when he was younger. He still paints, but he has bad arthritis so he doesn't do it so much any more."

Lyza raised her hand, and Ms. Hupp called on her. "What's Arthur-i-tuss?"

The class erupted in laughter; Lyza's ears fell.

"Quiet everyone!" Ms. Hupp snapped, "There's nothing wrong about having trouble with a new word. Does anyone know what arthritis is?"

Emeral raised her hand, "I know I know! Arthritis is when your joints start hurting, and it makes it more difficult to move. It happens when you get older."

"Kind of like the Tin Man before Dorothy oiled his joints?" Rini tried to clarify.

"That's a very good way of thinking about it, Rini."

The bell rang.

"All right, that's recess. Remember not to catch cold!"

Outside, Robert sat at the picnic tables, where a small crowd of girls sat at the table over. He didn't know any of them, and it wasn't like he was going to go over and say hi or anything. One might have been in his class but he wasn't about to look at any of them; that was just asking for trouble.

It was so tiring, changing schools. He missed his old friends, and snow. There was hardly snow here, it was more like slush. Like the world was covered in melted ice cream. Except melted ice cream tasted better. Not that he tasted the stuff, no way, that would be stupid.

"Ow," he muttered, as something hit him on the back of the head. It didn't actually hurt, he said it more out of surprise than anything else. He looked around, trying to figure out what it was. The girls at the table nearby had grown silent and now they were giggling. Robert sensed they were giggling at him. He huffed and got off the bench, and walked away without looking back.

The kids here were so much different. So weird. He was afraid of this. He'd had a bully in first grade, a real mean one that stole things from him and picked on him because he was fat. But that bully went away and everything was fine. Now he was thrown into a school with another bully. What was his name, Ritzer?

There came a jittery laugh from behind, and someone pushed him. "Hey!" It was that stupid kid that sat next to him. The one with the knock-knock joke as old as his grandpa. He ran away just after he did the act. Robert shook his head. It was starting again.

He continued walking; looking for a place to chill that was out of the way of everybody. Then again, he couldn't really hide because they'd probably find him anyway, and if he stood still he'd surely get pummeled again. He just had to keep walking and keep alert. He went toward the playground, looking at all the features it had: a wall of tires that ramped onto the ground, a corkscrew, a set of straight monkey bars, and a set of curved ones. There was a big tower with kids in it, they peeked out of the holes and stuck their tongues out. 'We're warm and you're not!'.

A wolf pup was jogging around, wearing a lighter jacket than everyone else. Either he was stupid or he was one of the 'tough guys'. Robert hated them the most. They were usually the ones that made fun of his belly. But the pup smiled and waved at him.

He waved back, and then suddenly his jacket collar was yanked and cold sand fell over him. The gritty coldness was like ice and itched like ants nipping at him. He turned around but his hood was flipped over his head and he was pushed. He tumbled forward landing on his hands and knees, biting his tongue from the jolt. He remained there for quite a while, brooding over how much shittier this was than he initially imagined.

"You okay?"

A girl's voice. Great. That's just what he needed. He got up. "Yeah I'm fine," he replied curtly. He started to walk away, hoping the person would just let him be.

"Hey, where ya goin?"

It was another girl's voice. This was ridiculous. He pulled his hood away, unable to avoid looking at the two--three?

There was a boy and two girls standing around him. The boy was looking away, as if watching something from afar. He was a tiger, very thin but a little bit taller. There was another tiger two, she was white and almost blended into the winter like she was a goddess of the snow. And then...

"Oh, it's you." Robert muttered, noticing Lyza.

"What happened?" The bunny asked, brushing sand off his shoulder.

He pulled it away, batting her hand. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"I'm surprised they acted without their head of the totem pole here," said the girl tiger to the boy tiger.

"It's not so surprising if you think about it," the boy said, "Goren is probably taking charge."

"Wher're you going?" Lyza asked, as Robert started to walk away.

"I dunno," he replied. Wasn't his irritated voice a gigantic enough hint he didn't want to be bothered?

"You should stay with us, Robby," she urged, "Walking around by yourself is just asking to get picked on."

He scratched at his back feebly, unable to really do anything beyond rub his hand against his jacket. "I don't care, they don't bother me." He turned away. "And it's Panda, not Robby."

"But you said your name was Robert..."

"But I like being called Panda," he said angrily, "and if I wanted the whole class to know my name was Robert I woulda told them myself, thanks."

"But..." Lyza wanted to stop him but he walked away. The bell rang.

"Let it go, Lyz," Emmy said, "He's not really mad at you."

"Yeah he is," she muttered, "I made the whole class laugh."

Ket shook his head. "You didn't make me laugh," he replied.

"That doesn't help, Ket," Emeral hissed, "She knows we didn't laugh." She turned back to Lyza, "Maybe we can get a chance to talk to him at lunch."

"Good luck," Ket bid with a smile, "and save me a cookie would you, Emmy?"

"Why, where're you going? You're not gonna help?"

He looked away, "Sorry but...I made an appointment." He nodded, and started walking toward the courtyard, "I'll see you guys in class."