Burdens [Furry BxB]

Chapter 1 - The First Day

Roger Colton»

It was sometime toward the end of January that the new classes were starting. A fox gave off a disgruntled sigh, upset that he had to take this class he had been put it. He had gotten very sick the last year and they pulled him from it for the rest of the time, but now he had to make it up. Still, his friends had agreed to take the class with him, since it was not required for them to take it the prior year, as well; they were simply going on a different academic path.

It was a math class. A simple one, just mainly for a credit. He knew it would be a breeze, but the thing he dreaded most was watching others struggle with it. There was nothing in any of his courses that he did not understand immediately, and he got frustrated at the hardship of others, observing their fights trying to overcome such simple information.

Still, he showed up to the class. He recognized the teacher. A skunk, mid-forties, male and always in a suit and tie. He dressed professionally and acted the part. He did not know the skunk personally, but had always heard of him. The teaching method was the most notorious thing he did, and it was another reason for why the fox dreaded the class. The skunk liked to pair students up so they could have a study buddy, and practically mandated that they study together after school. He did not really do anything after class anyway, since he did not really enjoy dealing with others, but having someone impose their presence upon him was not something ideal. He only hoped that it would be one of his friends that he managed to get paired with.

He took his seat and looked around. Students were filtering in, many types of animals from many species. Dogs, cats, wolves, foxes, birds, lizards, dragons, skunks, ferrets, otters... he kept seeing more and more. There was a particular wolf that he noticed that had sat across the room, and he stifled a groan. He immediately was precognizant of the agonizing and painstaking battle for the wolf to grasp even the most simple of concepts.

The wolf had been known for being a bit slow. Still, he was big and spent most of his free time in the gym or football practice, of which he was part of the team. He was a defensive tackle due to his size and ability to stop anyone's attempt at moving past him. It was an ability that served him well enough to look past his bad grades.

The fox believed it was really the only reason that the wolf had not failed out yet, even if they were just sophomores in high school. He did not know him personally, but he had heard things. After all, there were no secrets where they were.

The teacher spoke up, "Welcome to your new class. Please bear with me while I learn your names. I'll take a quick attendance of the class, make a few announcements, and then we should be done for the day. You all should be getting your books tomorrow if you have not already."

He began to read off a list of names, a student speaking up to show that they were there. A few students, however, were not. They got to the fox's name fairly quickly as it was near the front. "Colton, Roger." He rose his paw to it.

A bunch of names, until finally, the teacher called out the last one. "Wright, Hunter." The wolf rose his arm sheepishly. The teacher did not see it, so he repeated the name, and the wolf made a sound. There was an acknowledgement, and that was the end of that.

"Okay, as you all know, this is a fundamentals sort, of course, basic math and all that. This is the practical portion of it, and I'm sure you'll encounter many opportunities to use the things you learn here later on in life. Now, I'll pass out your syllabi, and I'll need you to look over them with your parents after class. You and your parents need to sign them and give me the back paper," the teacher told them. He walked around, passing a stack of papers to the front desk of each row, requesting that they took one and passed the rest back.

They read through the syllabus quickly. The skunk paused every so often to put emphasis on certain points, but most of it was the same as any other class. He mentioned, "Tomorrow I'll be assigning you all your study buddies. We have an even amount of students, so no one will be left out. Prior to that, however, we'll take a short aptitude test to see where you all are, and you'll be put with someone appropriate."

That gave the fox a little bit of hope. He thought that perhaps he would be paired with one of his friends, since they all were fairly close in their abilities. He would just have to wait until the next day to see which one of them he would be stuck with, and perhaps convince them to just say they studied together but had done their own work at home.

The class let out. He journeyed onto the other classes in his list, and it was the same thing. He did not share any classes with his friends aside from the first. He managed to schedule himself busy enough that he did get out of physical education for the year, but would have to pick it back up the next. He figured it would be a nice break from the monotony.

Lunch was the same. The same hour that he had last year, and he sat around with his friends off to the side, away from the rest of the school. He would see the occasional wanderer, but no one ever went to their side of the school since it was far away from the more popular hangout spots, as well as the food. They sat by the science classes since they got along with many of the eccentric science teachers.

They discussed their classroom arrangements, their plans for the year, and how much they already looked forward to going back on the break and rotting their brains in front of either a computer or television screen. The fox paid no real heed to the conversations of his friends, albeit piping in every so often. He looked at them in between the soft chuckles they gave under their breath in a sort of attempt to have refined humour in their juvenile banter.

There he was, a fox amongst dogs. Different breeds, of course, but he was a different species. It did not matter to him, and the others did not seem to care, but every so often, there were those that felt one or the other was superior. Sometimes it was true.

It was of no concern to him. There were more important things that he focused on, mostly that of their cognitive abilities and general demeanour.

Spending time with his friends felt like an eternity, and yet when it was over, it felt like it had been but a blink of an eye. They said their farewells and drifted off to their other classes. Every time, he reminded himself to never wish time away, for there was never a time when there was enough.

And yet, the time dragged on. It was a bittersweet sort of agony - he would watch the clock, waited for the clock hands to hit their designated positions, signalling when he could return home. He had no interested in the beginning days of school, it was just administrative proceedings that he felt he could do without.

The walk home was not long. Just a few blocks away and a turn of the corner and he would see the neighbourhood in which he resided. His house was a fair size. He had no siblings, just his parents, so they did not need very much room. It was a sort of off-coloured white on the outside, slightly aged, but still well taken care of. His parents were well-to-do, and they both worked odd hours of the day and night in their jobs. He saw them from time to time, but he enjoyed the peace and quiet.

There were no vehicles in the driveway. He took out his key, unlocked the door, and entered. He dropped his bag at the base of the stairs, walked up to them, and took his shoes off in his room.

His room was at the very top, past the second floor, and into what would have been the attic, but had been converted into his accommodations. It was spacious enough that it fits a single bed, a desk, and some room to move around in. He had an odd assortment of books he had collected over the years, a television, computer, a console or two with some games off to the side, and a skylight next to the actual light he used in the evening. The floor was mostly wood, but he had placed a rug atop it so as to give it some semblance of civilized living.

He had a window next to his bed, as well. It was in the flat part of the wall that he had. He could look out into the street and see his neighbours and some of the occasional traffic. There were no great sights to behold.

He felt sleepy. He had been up late the night prior and was now paying for it. He did not even feel hungry enough to wait for his parents to come home. He sighed, walked back downstairs, and took out the necessary papers in which needed signatures. He placed them on the coffee table in the living room where he was sure his parents would look and take appropriate action. He ascended the stairs back to his room and climbed into bed.

Sleep hit him like a brick.