Three Shades of White

Chapter 1

Devaki turned a corner and kept walking. She was in the new school she would be attending for that year. There was a war back at home in Ikire so she had been sent to Shawaki-Huzu. Her long wolf tail rusted slightly. She was a silver grey pure blood wolf. Her ears twitched listening to all the sounds in the hallway. The very tip of her tail was white, while the rest a beautiful silver grey. The same silver grey as the tall ears that twitched on the top of her head, poking out of shoulder length black hair. Her cold blue eyes glanced around again. There! She opened a door. This was her classroom. Three rows of eleven were crammed into the middle of the room, with barely an aisle between them. Devaki wondered where she would sit.

"Do you need help?" Devaki jumped and turned around her tail lashing slightly. She grabbed it and finger the end. An old man with two small brown grey ears poking out of a mop of white hair stood behind her. He was shorter than her with gold rimmed spectacles over his eyes. She saw a black and white ring tail flicking behind him. He was a raccoon. A calm, gentle smile lit his face.

"Um, yeah, are there assigned seats in here?" Devaki asked. The man grinned displaying his small pointy coon teeth.

"I don't teach this class, sorry." He said with a shrug. "But who are you wolf girl? I've never seen you here before."

"Uh no. I've never been here before. My name is Devaki, what's yours?" She asked letting go of her tail to shake the old man's hand.

"My name is Mr. Alavi, a raccoon which you probably already know. It was nice to meet you Devaki. A teacher should be along soon." Mr. Alavi said hobbling off. Devaki walked in the door and waited, letting her tail rest on the clean tiles. She wasn't sure how early she was. Her ears twitched as she heard someone whistling. She glanced to the side. An older man with grey hair and a beard walked in shuffling through a stack of papers. Small, round black ears poked out of his head, and she couldn't see his tail. No doubt he was a black bear. Unlike Mr. Alavi, he was energetic and bouncy.

"H-hello, e-excuse me." Devaki said softly. The man jumped and turned to look at her with dark brown eyes.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" He said setting the papers down. Devaki felt her ears go down with nervousness.

"Um, I'm new here and I was wondering if there was a seating arrangement or something." She said quickly her tail flicked up.

"Ah yes, Devaki right? Nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Bear, ironic with who I am. Your seat is row two seat six." He said pointing. Devaki smiled and set her things down and slid into her seat, letting her long tail curl and flop on the floor. She had spent a long time that morning brushing it. She read while she waited. She heard loud voices and looked up. A girl walked into the room with three boys behind her. The girl was a red fox. They were laughing and talking, until they saw her.

"Hello, who are you?" The fox girl asked.

"I'm Devaki, a wolf, who are you?" Devaki asked her ears twitching. The girl's tail flicked and the boys looked at her.

"My name is Vixen, a red fox. This is Alvin the rottweiler, Galen the persian kitty, and Laydon the Newt." She said flicking her tail at her companions. Devaki nodded. Mr. Bear directed them to seats near the back, except for Alvin who was right by the teacher's desk. The class slowly began to fill. Devaki had never seen so many different animals in her life. People stood in groups of two to three talking and laughing. One seat was empty. It was the one right behind Devaki's desk. Five minutes before class started a boy entered as the teacher exited. He had black hair and golden green eyes. Devaki gasped. It was a Halfblood. He had black wolf ears and tail like her, but from his back two massive black eagle wings sprouted. He was tall. Devaki watched everyone move out of his way. No one liked Halfbloods. They were a mistake. The DNA must have been messed with. Devaki leaned over to the tabby cat girl beside her.

"Uh, hello, who is the Halfblood behind us?" She asked. The girl turned and glanced at the teen behind them.

"That's Rebel. I'm Atara by the way." The girl whispered.

"Nice, I'm Devaki. Why are people so afraid of him, even if he is a Halfblood? I mean as a group he couldn't harm you." She asked. Atara was about to answer when she looked up and shook her head. Devaki glanced up. Rebel was standing right by their desks. Both girls sat up and looked ahead of them. As he passed by, he hit both of them with his wings. Atara wrote a note on a piece of paper and tossed it to Devaki. It said,

He is the class bully. Don't say that out loud! He gets really mad. Best stay out of his way. Devaki scanned the paper then went to crumple it, when suddenly the paper was torn from her hands. She looked up, her ears lowering with fear. Rebel was reading the note. He turned and glared at Atara.

"I told you not to do that. Introduce me like that!" He growled grabbing her collar.

"S-sorry." Atara said. Devaki noticed Valiance, the wolverine, stand slowly.

"Hey stop it. Let her go." Devaki snapped before she could stop herself. Rebel turned his head and looked at her, his ears laid back in anger.

"What?" He snarled his fangs visible.

"C-can you please stop?" Devaki said lowlering her ears and looking away. Suddenly his hand grabbed her collar. Devaki looked up. Rebel had released Atara and grabbed her.

"You are going to regret life at lunch time." He growled baring his wolf teeth at her.

"I already regret it." Muttered Devaki. He thrust her back and walked to his seat. Hands behind Devaki helped her back into her seat. "Are you okay?" Devaki asked Atara who was accepting water from Valiance.

"Yeah, thanks for the help. You are so going to regret it." Atara said pittingly. Devaki shrugged, but inside she was nervous. When lunch came, Devaki followed the other girls outside to eat, ears down hoping to avoid the handsome Halfblood. In the school's courtyard, Devaki scanned the area for Rebel. He was nowhere to be seen.

"He doesn't like to be outside with people much because he's a Halfblood." A bunny girl named Eleta said when she noticed Devaki looking around. Her long fuzzy ears flopped slightly shading her eyes from the sun.

"Thanks, I'm just a bit nervous." Devaki said, sinking her fangs into her sandwich, all appetite gone.

"You could try apologizing." The redhead, Phoenix proposed. Her golden eagle wings were spread, giving them all shade to sit in. Devaki scanned the girls faces. They were nice people and had quickly included her.

"That would be a good idea." Vixen said. She had her tail curled underneath her for a cushion. "It will keep you alive for a while longer." Devaki did not find this encouraging. She fingered the end of her long fluffy wolf tail. She stood and walked back toward the school building. She put her things away then looked for Rebel. Devaki didn't need to find Rebel, he found her.

"Well well well, it's you." He growled, grabbing her collar and dragging her face a few inches from his. His tail was lashing and his wings raised menacingly.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what happened. Please don't kill me." Devaki said nervously.

"I should hope so. From now on, stay out of my way pinecone." He growled. Devaki nodded. He stood and smiled still holding her collar. Suddenly he threw her across the hall. Devaki hit the wall and fell to the floor. She bared her teeth at the figure of the Halfblood as he stalked away.

"I'll stay out of your way you big genetic mistake." She hissed under her breath picking herself up and dusting everything off with her tail. Then dusting her tail off.

"How was it?" Peta, the calico cat, asked making room for her.

"He just yelled a lot and threw me across a room, otherwise I'm fine." Devaki responded.

"Wow you got off easy." Zia the peacock said with a shrug.

"Glad I did." Devaki said. That night when she got to the house she was staying at, she texted her parents. Hey mom, dad. School is fine. There is a Halfblood bully in my class though. Not sure what to do.

Don't worry honey. Just try to stay away from him. Halfbloods are curses after all. Sleep well.

Good night.