Chapter 1: New Beginnings ~Des-Berfo High~
"Are we there yet?" A young voice asked, tired. The question was answered with only a sigh. A teenaged German shepherd, the owner of the voice, slouched lower into the backseat of his parents' car.
"Are you ready to make new friends?" An older husky asked from the front seat. The young sheppie sighed.
"Dad, you know as well as I do I'll have the same amount of friends here as I did in the last town. Even if I do make new friends we'll just end up moving away." The older husky turned back to the road.
"Now honey," An older shepherd started in, "you know this move is for good. You'll have a much better time here in Deston." The young sheppie merely shrugged his shoulders, his mother turned around knowing there was no changing his mind.
The sheppie gazed outside his window. It was dark out, it had been raining almost all day long but the closer they got to Deston, they calmer the weather got. This was the fifth time they had moved, and he was tired of it, he hadn't had any good friends since Elementary. They had been driving all day and had started the night before, they were moving cross-country. The only thing he was really looking forward to was cooler weather, especially winter. He had always thought snow was beautiful and the last place they had lived was in Texas, where he was lucky to see fake snow. They were moving to Ohio, just south of Lake Erie, where they were basically guaranteed snow come winter. He thought of the snow they'd have this winter, of the snow he'd seen as a pup and he slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Donnie. Donnie, honey, wake up." A paw shook the sleep out of the sheppie.
"Wha-?" Donnie started.
"We're here. We're in Deston." His mother replied gently. Donnie sat up and peered out his window.
He'd never seen such a charming place. Deston was only a small community, and everything was neat and tidy, the streets and walks were well kept and all of the businesses were sporting school colors and banners. As they drove on, Donnie saw two young dobies playing a little one-on-one in a small park near town hall and wished he had friends like those two appeared to be.
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Swoosh.
"Ha! Derrick, now that's how you shoot!" A young dobie shouted as his shot fell through the hoop beautifully.
"What are you at?" Asked another dobie, the other's friend.
"HORS. And you?" The dobie asked.
"I'm HOR." Derrick replied, his friend started laughing. "Ha,ha. We're all 2-year olds I forgot. Oh shut up and shoot Ken." Derrick passed the ball back to his friend.
"I don't know, I'm kind of hungry, wanna just call it quits?" Kenny asked.
"Oh, chicken are we?" Derrick asked, his voice dripping with ego.
"Fine fine, I'll call it in your favor then, how about that?" Kenny called as he pulled on a clean shirt.
"Wow, you really must be hungry. It's fine, we'll call it a draw, since you know I would have totally decimated you." Derrick and Kenny both laughed. "So what are you in the mood for, Taco Bell, Wendy's?"
"How about Marie's?" Kenny asked.
Derrick sighed.
"What? Marie's has the best sandwiches in town!" Kenny replied.
"Yeah, but you're not going there for the sandwiches. You've got a crush on Marie, admit it." Derrick replied. Kenny blushed.
"I do not! Fine, let's just go to the Black Bull and get some chicken or something." Kenny replied, defeated.
"No no, we'll go to Marie's so you can get your estrogen fix, and I can get my pie fix. If there's one thing Marie can do right, it's bake a pie." Kenny and Derrick agreed on this and headed up to Marie's on Main Street.
As they both sat down to an order of Italian roasted chicken on wheat and a slice of cherry pie, Kenny remembered something.
"Hey, did you hear there's a new guy coming to school?" Kenny asked.
"No. Who is he?" Derrick asked, too wrapped up in his pie to carry on the conversation too intently.
"Some shep. He's gonna be in band I hear." Kenny replied. Derrick stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth.
"Band? We've got to find this guy today. Before he makes a mistake." Derrick replied. Kenny sighed. Derrick didn't hate band, he hated someone who basically presided over the band, Devon LeVaughn.
"Just leave Devon be Derrick. He hasn't done anything bad with the bandies for years." Kenny pleaded.
"No, he hasn't done anything bad with the bandies, that we know of! Which means he's most likely doing far worse things and keeping them quiet about it. He IS a senior now, without seniority he had so much charisma and power in band, with it..." Derrick let Kenny draw his own conclusions for dramatic effect.
"Whatever, I could always use another guy to pal around with, instead of having to spend all my time with you." Kenny mumbled.
"All right! I'll call around quick and find out if anyone has met him yet." Derrick pulled out his cell phone and frantically started dialing numbers.
The bells on the door to Marie's jingled. Kenny looked over. In walked the fur he'd been waiting for the whole time, the reason why he had insisted on coming to Marie's. Unfortunately, that fur was surrounded by a group and Kenny could hardly see through them.
"Ah, Marie just walk in?" Derrick asked. Kenny gave him a dirty look. "What? Your face lit up when that door opened. Fine fine, I'll just get back to my calls." Derrick turned back to his phone.
In fact, Marie had just walked in, but someone far more important had walked in with her. Marie's son, Jeremy, had come in with her. Kenny and Jeremy had been friends for years, but Jeremy had graduated the year before and Kenny rarely got to see him anymore. Jeremy was a tall slender fox, and quite handsome at that. Kenny could hardly contain himself, but managed to restrain his excitement for a minute.
"Uh, I'm thirsty I think I'll, uh, go up to the bar and get a coffee." Kenny mumbled.
"And chat with Marie I imagine?" Derrick asked, not looking up from a text message. Kenny just ignored that statement and hurried over to the bar.
"Hey Jeremy."
"Kenny! Long time no see, what's going on?" Jeremy asked, his face lighting up with the sight of his friend. Kenny grinned as their conversation took off.
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One hour later......
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Kenny sneaked back to his and Derrick's table, Derrick was up to his eyes in text messages about the new guy.
"Learn anything?" Kenny asked.
"Yeah, putting together information from Daisy, Nathan, Toby and Jess, I've ascertained that he got here today, and that he lives at 203 W. Homan St. also, he's home right now and there are a couple of families over there meeting with them. If we head out now, we should be able to beat Devon to the punch."
Ten minutes later they arrived at 203 W. Homan St., the house was definitely overflowing with older furs but it seemed there were very few furs their age. After asking around, Derrick found out the new kid, Donnie, was in the backyard. Derrick and Kenny headed to the backyard, more of a garden than a yard, and found a young sheppie laying on the grass, spread eagle.
"Hey, uh Donnie?" Derrick ventured. The sheppie didn't move.
"Yeah, I'm Donnie."
"Um, hi I'm Derrick and this is Ken, we go to Des-Berfo your parents told us you'd be going there. We're in band."
"Great." Donnie's tone indicated he didn't care at all. Kenny lay down next to him, and Derrick followed suit.
"May I ask what you're doing?" Kenny asked.
"I'm watching the clouds. The weather is so nice here, especially today." Donnie replied.
"Really? I thought it was hot today." Kenny replied, trying his hardest to make pleasant conversation.
"Oh no, we just came from Texas, it's scorching down there. I'd choose snow and sleet over warmth any day." Donnie replied, sitting up. "I suppose I didn't really properly introduce myself. Hello Derrick and Ken, I'm Donnie Grats. I'm also going to be in band." Donnie had opened up a little bit, and Derrick felt it was time to inform him of Devon.
"Hi Donnie, I've got something to tell you about band." Derrick replied.
"Yeah?"
"There's this kid named Devon LaVaughn, he's a bad apple. To stay safe, you should stay away from him, I'm speaking from experience." Derrick answered.
"Why? What does he do that's so bad?" Donnie asked.
"He basically takes advantage of other furs, he feels it's his duty to formally 'induct' new furs into band. If you hang around with us, he'll probably leave you alone though." Derrick replied.
"Oh, thanks guys. I'm glad I've got guys like you looking out for me already." Donnie replied. "So, what do you guys do for fun around here?" This innocent question lead to conversation spanning the next few hours. Donnie found out he had much more in common with Derrick and Kenny than anyone else he'd ever met.
Finally around 8 o'clock Derrick and Kenny decided it was time to go, and Donnie was left alone at last.
"So, what do you think of Deston Donnie?" Donnie's mother asked. Donnie smiled slightly.
"I think I'm going to like it here." Donnie replied, not knowing how true that statement would come to be.