Pondovadia: World I Love, Tears I Drop

Chapter Five: This is the Time, This is the Place

August 30, 302X

9:35 AM

It was a typical Tuesday and all was busy in Miss Linon's classroom.
Bell, Ponce, and Toshi were reading a seinen manga about a swordsman in medieval Europe, a few boys were playing tabletop football, and some of the girls were gossiping in a circle.

"Did you all hear? There's a new girl in our grade!"
"Oh my. What animal is she?"
"Violet, does it really matter what kind she is?"
"Well sorry for wanting to know, Tabitha"
"I heard that she's a donkey"
"Hm. I don't think we have any donkeys in this school before her"
"We have to invite her to aesthetic club"
"Violet, you dumbass, we're not inviting her today!"
"Don't call me a dumbass, Leila!"
"Try saying that when you failed that math test last week"

Miss Linon opened the door and walked into the class. Her eyes were baggier than usual and her wavy dark brown bob cut was messy. She was wearing a baggy white Blyned Jagwar sweater, black leggings, and pink flats without socks. In one paw, she carried a thirty two ounce hydro flask. In the other, she had some pills.

The bulldog sat down at her desk and took the pills with a gulp of water.

"I'm never going to a concert on a Monday" she groaned to herself.

Most of the kids started snickering, making Ellie Linon roll her eyes.
"Laugh all you want, kids" she frowned. "But I had a great time at that Blyned Jagwar concert"

More snickering rose up.
"I don't get paid enough for this...."

————
12:01 PM

A gold donkey with maroon hair in a fluffy braid walked into the busy lunchroom. She carried a small beige picnic basket covered in apples in her hands. After finding an empty table, she sat down, crossed her legs, and opened up her picnic basket— it was filled with a bottle of apple cider, some cress sandwiches, a miniature charcuterie board, and a few bite-size cakes. A note was on the bottle.
"Good luck on the first day, pumpkin! Your ma and I love ya— Pa"

Just as she was about to sip some cider, a voice called to her.

"Yooooo hooooo!!!! New girl!!!!!"

The donkey turned around from her lunch to see someone run up to her. It was a perky looking shiba inu— the one from social studies class with the pastel clothes. She was eagerly bouncing on her tiptoes, her platinum blond bob flouncing in the air.

"Heyyy!!" the puppy twirled in her spot. "You should totally come sit with us, new girl!!"

The donkey was quiet and took a real good look at her classmate. She packed her lunch back into her basket.
"Okay?"

"Woo!" the dog grinned. She turned around before babbling about herself as they walked to another lunch table.
"Follow me! So anyways, I'm Sandyna Sanchez. I'm the secretary of the Aesthetic Club here, so I'm kind of a big deal here. I'm into vaporwave, obviously! But I also love anime, iced tea, the aesthetic club, and lots lots LOTS more! My dad's a Mon Uni professor— he teaches multimedia, whatever the hell that is, and my mom's a secretary for one of the attorneys here! So what about you, new girl? What's your life story?"

The new girl was stunned just hearing Sandyna and her motor mouth. Luckily they were almost at the table— a stylish cream cat, a slender purple butterfly, intellectual lilac dolphin, and quiet white rhinoceros were sitting there minding their own business.

"Oh, well" she looked down at her hooves. "My name's Jennifer"

"That's a super cool name!" Sandyna was revved up again. She turned to face everyone else.
"Look who I found!!! It's the new girl!!!"