Who's There to Be There : The First Encounter
When people usually get to their last year of high school, they really want to graduate. The only problem that stands in everybody's way is their grades. This is a story between a gray fox with the life he never asked for, and a black panther with the secrets he could never really get used to. It takes two to make a pair and these two make the most out of their relationship for as long as they can. Until secrets spill out, who knows how each other will handle it.
The first day of school always sucks because you're looking for your classes all over the campus. The campus is pretty huge for a high school, but it's in the middle of the city. There's a lot of different shops that surround the school and there's also cafes with the best coffee. At the moment, I'm trying to find my literate arts class. As soon as I step into the room, everyone bursts into cheer. I'm that big of a "Hot Shot" that everyone has to cheer anytime I walk into a room. The teacher isn't here yet so we get to chill for a couple more minutes.
"Hey man! How are you doing?"
I turn my attention to one of my best friends, Connor, the cheetah in the desk next to mine. "I'm so stoked to see what coach has in mind for us this year."
"Damn right you are! You think we also get a new set of cheerleaders this year?" He winks at the group of girls in the corner of the room and they wave back at him. "You know, I heard our teacher is gonna be a real bitch."
"Honestly, I just wanna kick back and relax." I sat down in my seat and kicked my feet onto the desk and laid back. As Connor and I sat back in our seats just talking about the year, more students came walking in. A raccoon, cheetah, tigers, a lion, couple foxes, and a fennec walked into the room looking for an empty desk. Just then, the bell rings for at least 2 straight minutes.
"You think they'd ever change the damn bell?" Connor jerks his thumb behind him, pointing at the bell on the wall.
"You mean like a girl moan rather than ringing?" We both laughed at the picture of that.
"It's better than the sound of that."
Everybody sits in their desk as soon as the teacher walks in. Following the teacher is a short gray fox that looks out of place in the class. He takes a seat at a large desk next to the door. The teacher is a fox as well but his fur is red rather than gray.
"Students, I expect a lot of work out of all of you. I'll write on the board the materials you'll be needing for as long as you are in this class". The red fox takes a black marker and starts writing on the board.
"Hey do you see what I'm seeing?" Connor is pointing at the gray fox sitting at the desk, doing some paperwork. "He doesn't even look close to being a senior."
"Maybe he's not a senior."
"You know, he actually looks kind of familiar to me."
That got me thinking. We've never seen this kid before, yet, Connor somehow knew him. "How do you know him if you don't know him?"
That got Connor to pull out his phone to check for any pictures he can find on his social apps. Before we knew it, the fox was already right behind us with a stack of papers.
"Not to threaten you or anything but if you don't hide your phone better, the teacher might see. And if you were wondering what my name was, it's Christopher. Chris for short." Chris handed both of us a blank piece of line paper. "If you didn't hear what the teacher said, he said to write about yourself." His voice was really smooth, yet very enticing.
I was completely blown away on what just happened. I laughed a bit but no words could escaped my mouth because I still felt like there was something about this fox that Connor needed to say.
"Thanks for the paper. My name is Connor and my friend here is Jayce. Nice to meet you." Connor started looking for a pencil to use.
"The pleasure is all mine. I always wanted to meet the legend of the school everyone was always talking about." Connor couldn't help but murmur the word "legend" and stifled a laugh.
"Thanks. Are you a fan?" I asked scanning his whole look.
"I'm somewhat a fan, but I mostly go cause my friends thinks it's cool to watch you beat up the other guy."
"That's cool. We should hang out sometimes. Yeah?" Chris seemed pretty cool so I might as well make a new friend.
"I'll think about it." Chris went back to passing around papers.
The whole class was pretty quiet with a bit of whispering and pointing going on. People would be taking quick glances at each other and at the teacher. Majority of the class kept pointing and whispering something about Chris the gray fox that sat up in front, by the door. His ears were down so something must have been bothering him.
The teacher broke the silence with introductions. "You may all call me Mr. Jefferson. This here is my assistant." Gesturing towards Chris to stand up and introduce himself".
"My name is Christopher Cortell. You may all call me Chris." I couldn't help but notice how Chris was pretty slim around the waist areas. He must do sports or something relative to working out. He had long gray ears and a long tail that was coated in gray fur. His arms were gray and his paws were black. However, his chest fur was white. At some parts of his body, there is red accents to compliment his fur color. He dressed up in a casual look with long skinny jeans and a long slim jacket. He looked like an any day teen.He was at least five foot eight. Everyone couldn't help but pass around whispers when he was introducing himself.
"Mr. Chris here is going to pass around the class meet-and-greet that you must return tomorrow, finished". Mr. Jefferson handed Chris a stack of papers and motioned to start passing it around. As Chris walked around passing papers to the other students, some guys would look back at him when he passed. The girls stopped Chris to whisper something in his ear and he would just respond with a nod. "For the rest of the class, you may sit with anyone you'd like. Just stay on task."
Most of the girls sat with each other while some of the guys just sat around on their phone.
Connor motioned towards me. "Watch this". He stood up and went on over to the group of girls and got caught in their conversation.
I just stayed in my seat and took out my earphones to listen to music. I like listening to some techno music or some dubstep. It just sounds so cool to me. Of all the artists on my list, I picked the artist "CTC". A DJ that is famous for his music. He's one of my favorite artists. As I was closing my eyes, Chris took a seat where Connor sat.
"Sorry to bother you but you're needed in the counselor's office." Chris handed me a small pink slip.
I was confused. "Am I in trouble?"
"It's just the counselor's office. I'm assigned to walk you there.
"Alright. Lead the way." I stood up and we both went to the counselor.
Something about Chris seemed weird. His motions were very odd. He kept pulling down is sleeves and he was very quiet, so I decided to start a conversation.
"If you don't mind me asking," I felt a bit rude asking this but, "what year are you in?"
"What year do I look like to you?" His smug face was hard for me to guess.
"Senior?"
"Nope."
"Junior?"
"Wrong again."
"Sophomore or freshman?"
"Neither."
That instantly grabbed my attention. "What grade are you then?"
"First off, I'm not in eighth grade if that's what you were thinking. I'm supposed to be a freshman, but I took an independent study course to get me ahead. Now, I'm technically a senior."
My mind was blown. Is this kid really what he says he is? "So what do you do?"
"I just have packets that I do at home."
"What are you doing here at school then?" It makes me think why people actually wanna come back to school.
He seemed hesitant to answer. "I need to have a fun life at least".
What kind of an answer is that? "What kind of fun?"
"The kind of fun every person loves." He seemed very sarcastic. "Anyways, this is your stop. It was nice to meet you Jayce."
"Yeah. Thanks for the walk." This kid is really weird. "Maybe we can hang out sometime?"
He gave me a small laugh. "Like I said before, maybe." Chris went back to class.
All I had to deal with now is the counselor.