Hiding in Plain Sight

The Study of Predators and Prey

     By the time the next class came around, my head was still spinning but I pulled myself out of bed nevertheless and stumbled out the dorm room door.

     I swear to god, if she's in my next class. I thought, it was Eurasia I was referring to, she'd beat me up pretty bad. I reached into my back pocket for the crumbled schedule, reading for my next class, it was the last class of the day. My heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. The Study of Prey and Predators taught by Professor Sechuran and Professor Dire.

     "Why is this even a class!" I shouted aloud, the name Dire rang a bell, but I tried to ignore it, that wasn't my main issue, Eurasia was most likely in that class. I stumbled along to room 203, hope for safety falling away with each out-of-beat step. I opened the door to a horrific sight, students, each wearing some type of hat, were staring in awe to the far corner, I turned to see Eurasia trying to push through persistent Darwin and Hoary, at a point when their barrier broke all I saw was a flash of bright orange hair, "Fen!" I screamed, beginning to run to her side.

     "No. Don't get in the way of the fight, such is the way of predator and prey." A male voice spoke, calm echoing in his voice. I turned, ready to argue and gasped, a man stood at the front of the class with his back to me, he wore a yellow button down and from his balding head wolf ears were prominent, a fluffy tail poked from his formal pants. "But you would know all about that, wouldn't you?" He turned to me for me to see the long fangs that ran from his mouth to the tip of his clean-shaved chin.

     How could I have been so stupid! I thought, slowly backing away to the door, Dire! Dire wolf, one of the most dangerous types! Professor Dire's footsteps fell in-tune to mine as I slowly backed away, he slowly advanced, a twisted grin spread across his face.

     "Our first lesson will be foxes against wolves. Lesson one, no student in this class is aloud to hide their heritage." Professor Dire darted at me, I dodged just in time but my beanie wasn't so lucky, it tore off my head and my white ears sprang out. Without giving me a brake, Professor Dire sprang again, tackling me. "You really are stupid, trying to hide that, your white hair made it oh so obvious." I pulled my self up and attempted to run behind Hoary and Darwin's protective shield. "Don't even try." I felt my hair get yanked back and I let out a small yelp as Dire pulled me further and further away from safety, I tore through my bag trying to find anything that I could use to protect myself. I hadn't bought any textbooks yet so it was pretty bare. All I had were my earbuds, phone, portable speaker (you never know when you need a good speaker), and my keys. I desperately grabbed my keys and as Dire used my hair to pull me to him I spun around.

     "Watch it! I'm armed!" I held key chain, my mom's house key pointing at Dire, his constant smile widened, making him look more threatening. "Stay back!" I shouted once more, I tried to bring out my inner predator, seeing as I was both predator and prey, I tried to twist Dire's image into a fluffy bunny, which made things far easier. A new burst of strength welled up inside of me with an urge to pounce at my prey, I shot my keys at him to get his attention all the while kicking him in the groin. Dire moved back and covered himself, I shot back behind Darwin and Hoary at my free chance. Fennec was curled in a ball on the ground.

     "Fennec, are you okay?" I reached out to pull her up. Fennec lifted her head to reveal scratch marks down her face. "Oh, wow, I knew her fingernails were sharp but I never expected this."

     Fen let out a soft cry then spoke, her voice trembling, "I walked into class and saw Eurasia talking to Professor Dire, she turned to me and, I don't even know what happened, all of a sudden she was a wolf, she jumped on me and started clawing at my face and I didn't know what to do. When Darwin and Hoary came in she finally turned human again, but she was still attacking us, it's been like this ever since." The class had started ten minutes ago so I was genuinely surprised that it had happened for that long, and why she hadn't turned back to a wolf if she had the ability.

     "Remember Eurasia, channel your inner wolf!" I heard Dire call, before I knew it, a blinding light lit up the room, I dared a peak past Darwin and Hoary who had covered their eyes and moved away, where Eurasia stood was a Eurasian wolf and she was staring right at me. She bared her fangs and moved into a pouncing position, I saw what was happening before my body could react. Eurasia flew through the air and pinned me to the ground, I shoved her off and darted back over to my friends, I still had no defense mechanism, we were all alone. I turned to Dire for maybe a little help, but he stared proudly at Eurasia as his prized student despite class starting yet.

     "Hello class! I'm sorry I'm late! I was in a meet-" A young woman entered the room, her hair was grey brown and she had a wide smile that required her eyes to close. Hearing the commotion, she aloud her eyes to open, I could only imagine what she was thinking. "JAMES!" The woman shouted, running over to Dire, "Last I checked you are only the assistant teacher! What have you done!" The woman walked over to the desk in the front of the room and pulled a spray bottle from one of the drawers, walking over to Eurasia she sprayed her in the face multiple times. Eurasia turned human again and spat.

     "What the hell was that for?!" She screamed, but the woman fully ignored her. Walking to the front of the room she turned to all of the class, I then remembered that this was a class.

     "Hello class, I am your teacher, Professor Sechuran. Welcome to The Study of Predators and Prey, and you will learn to do amazing things here."