The first thing I notice as I step onto the school grounds is just how regal the building looks. An edifice likely dating back to the colonial era, the stately two story building is topped with what looks like a white stone clock tower that stands in contrast to the muddled red brickwork beneath it. With its green grass grounds surrounded on both sides by modern commercial buildings, Villanueva Academy looks like it was frozen in time three centuries ago. Back on the west coast growing up in the suburbs, the oldest building I’d seen in town was probably an abandoned strip mall. I suddenly became acutely aware of just how out of place I was standing here. Sure, both the parents I lived with were lawyers, but we weren’t exactly loaded. While my mom was insistent about getting me into this school, I can’t help but wonder just how much my tuition cost them.
Seeing as no one else is waiting outside the school, I step through the front doors with haste. Objectively, the cold wasn’t too unpleasant, especially considering the warm winter blazer my uniform came with, but I was a California boy at heart and anything under 70°F may as well be freezing to me.
Sure enough, the other students waiting for the start of the school year are gathered in the front lobby of the building. Looking around, there’s a small crowd of about two dozen people here. They seemed to be congregated around a bulletin board on the wall, which I was told ahead of time would have everyone’s homeroom classes labeled. I make my way over there myself, but as I move into the congregation I notice… is it just me, or is everyone here cosplaying?
All around me, on almost everyone’s heads, I see animal ears. You know those weird anime catgirl headbands they sell? It looks like they’ve all got those on. Well, actually, on closer inspection, I don’t see many cat ears here, but pretty much everyone has some kind of animal themed accessory. I see floppy dog ears, I see cute little horns, I even see a pair of bug-like antennae. And when I look down, most everyone’s got a variety of tails peeking out from small slits in the back of their skirts and slacks.
Is the first day of school some kind of weird furry spirit day I wasn’t aware of?
Someone next to me gives a small gasp, shaking me out of my thoughts. I look in her direction to see a short girl, maybe just over 5 feet tall, with a surprising hairstyle for a private school student. The sides of her head are shaved, and she’s got a short curly mop of hair just on the top of her head. Her big brown eyes stare at me in amazement, her hand covering her mouth in shock. The back of her hand, and in fact her whole arm, is covered in a sort of sleeve of feathers, which I initially assumed to be an extension of her uniform. I’m so surprised by her staring at me so blatantly, I barely register that she apparently doesn’t have ears.
…
Wait, what?
Before I can react, her gasp draws the attention of a few other members of the crowd, at which point I realize that I’m almost entirely surrounded by girls. Actually, scratch that; this whole crowd is girls. There’s not a single dude here other than me. I’m suddenly very self conscious, and quickly feel my face start to heat up. Did I accidentally wander into an all girls school without realizing it? God, imagine the embarrassment!
And the girls are reacting strangely to my presence. As the ripple of recognition flows through the crowd and everyone turns to look at me, they all back off from me, giving me a good couple feet of distance, creating a hole in the crowd. The girls all begin murmuring to one another, and the snippets of conversation I pick up don’t sound good. Stuff like, “I can’t believe he just walked in here,” and “I didn’t expect to see him already,” makes the blush rising to my cheeks intensify.
Confidence, I quickly decided. This is my first day at a new school, and if I don’t project an air of confidence, they’re going to start rumors about the new kid before I can sit down for homeroom. I puff my chest out, trying my damnedest to ignore my rising embarrassment, and eek out a small “Good morning everyone,” without cracking my trembling voice. I take a quick look at the board. To my overwhelming relief, I do in fact find my name, and I can see that I’m assigned to room 2C, on the second floor. Good to know that I’m in the right school at the very least. With a quick nod to the assembled girls, I make my way down the hall (the crowd parting like the red sea to let me pass) and begin to look around for the stairs.
As I walk away, I hear the conversation pick back up from the whispers it was a moment ago, and desperately hope they’re not immediately gossiping about me.
This is going to be a good year, I tell myself defiantly. I believe it less and less with every step.
When I arrive, I can see there’s only twenty desks in this classroom, arranged in five rows of four across. I was aware that, as an expensive private school, this place would have smaller class sizes. I just didn’t expect how small. I’m used to being one in a crowd of thirty five, not one in a crowd of twenty. And of course, like a total dork, I was the first one here. I looked over at the teacher, a woman in her late thirties, sitting behind her desk and in the process of typing something. Strangely, just like the students, she’s got some weird accessories on her. While she’s otherwise dressed in a conservative pantsuit, a pair of rabbit ears pokes up out of her professional bob, the black fur of the ears matching with her dark raven hair. Without even looking at me, she gestures towards the whiteboard at the front of the room, which has a sheet of paper taped to it. “Please take your assigned seat,” she advises me dismissively.
A quick glance at the sheet tells me my luck so far isn’t in any danger of improving. My desk was in the second row, far too close to the front of the classroom for comfort. And I had the left center seat, with clear sight-lines to the teacher’s desk. With a sigh, I plopped myself down into my seat and got out my sketchbook to while away the minutes. A quick glance at the clock over the door told me I was still a good fifteen minutes before the bell, and at the very least I could try to clear my head with a quick sketch before class started. Feeling a little inspired, I decide to try to draw the front of the school from memory.
I tried very hard to ignore the fact that the first student to enter the room after me gawked at me like I was a sideshow attraction. Or the next. Or the next. And of course, all of them were wearing those silly animal accessories, and all of them were cute girls. Was I the only boy in the whole goddamn school? I vaguely remember from the brochure and the campus tour that this place was coed, so what was the fucking deal here?
By the time we were a couple minutes from the bell, the whole room had gotten an eyeful of what I was sure was the talk of the rumor mill. First day of school and I had already somehow made myself a pariah. That must be a world record, right? It might help calm my nerves if I actually knew what I did wrong. I glance for a moment at the other students in my row. To the left is a petite girl playing with her phone, a pair of orange fox ears on her head and a matching tail sticking out the back of her seat. I have to say, they compliment her long bright ginger hair and freckles nicely. Two desks away on my right is a smiling girl with her nose deep in some paperback novel. She’s got a swishing black, white, and orange spotted tail. There’s a pair of matching calico cat ears poking out from her short blonde hair, though I can see the dark roots starting to show. She must dye it. And lastly, the desk to my immediate right is still empty as the bell sounds, signaling the start of first period.
“Good morning everyone,” the teacher begins, the whole class (minus myself) greeting her in unison with a less than enthused “Good morning Ms. Valentine.”
“As this is the start of your senior year, I would like to remind everyone here that I will not be tolerating any slacking off. You are the very pride of the community, and the honor of the school rests upon your shoulders.” I couldn’t miss the way she glanced at the empty seat next to me as she spoke, her nose scrunched up in distaste. “While I will begin the roll call in a moment, I believe there are some important reminders that need to be made before we commence the school year. While I don’t believe it needs repeating, save for the new arrival, let it be known that romantic fraternization between students,” she continues, her icy blue eyes turning their gaze on me, “is staunchly and expressly forbidden on school grounds. This is an institute of learning, not a dating service. Now if you please Mr. Kelly, stand up and introduce yourself to the class.”
Again I felt my face burning. All I wanted was to have a nice first day, was that too much to ask? With a sigh of resignation, I stood, and of course the gracious Ms. Valentine stepped to the side to allow me to stand at the front of the class. Still, I had to keep that air of confidence. If they’re going to make me out to be a rizz-less nerd, at the very least I could try to make it hard on them.
Standing at the front of the class, I could see that I was in fact the only boy here. Everyone is congregated in the first four rows of desks, meaning that there are only fourteen girls looking up at me expectantly like I’m some kinda circus bear getting ready to perform a trick for their amusement. Ironic, considering they’re all the ones pretending to be animals.
“My name is Jason Kelly,” I said, forcing my voice to come out even. “I just moved here from the west coast, El Segundo. It’s uh… a suburb of LA.” To my surprise, this revelation is met with a small chorus of murmurs which I pointedly choose to ignore. I’m not quite sure what other information to include here, and in the short silence that follows, one of the girls pipes up from the fourth row.
“Are you single?” she says, leading to a round of giggles from the others. I feel my ears burn once again, and the teacher steps in front of me ready to reprimand the offender, when suddenly the door to the room swings open.
Melkord· Mar 13, 2024
