Gfoxx2

Happy to see literally anyone is actually reading this! Feel free to let me know if you have any questions, comments, or corrections. Obviously, I can't promise I can answer everything, as that can enter spoiler territory. Hope you have fun with this one!

Standing there in the doorway is the tallest girl I’ve ever seen. I’m just about five nine myself, but she’s well over six feet tall. She’s also one of the few girls I’ve seen so far wearing pants and a tie, just like my uniform, rather than the more feminine skirt and bow combo that the rest of the class has. It fits her well, going with her broad shoulders and amazonian stature. Strangely, her hair is a mess of pure white fluffy curls, as white as fresh snow. Her skin is very pale, and I realize I’ve never understood the term “porcelain skin” until seeing it now. Jutting up from her hair is a pair of light brown, ridged, backwards swooping horns. Below that, flanked on both sides of her head, are a pair of big drooping sheep ears. She looks down at me in surprise, her eyes a sparkling emerald green, and I can see she’s got a scar over her left eye, which cuts the white hair of her eyebrow down the center.

“Miss Shawcross,” our teacher interjects disapprovingly, causing me to jump slightly. For her part, the newly arrived Shawcross simply ignores the teacher and walks past me to take her seat next to mine. “Do you even have an excuse for your tardiness?”

“Yeah,” she replies, her voice deep and powerful, yet still with an air of mature femininity to it. “Train was late.” She gestures towards me, and suddenly I realize I’m still standing awkwardly next to the teacher. “Who’s this guy?”

Before the teacher can respond, I answer for her. “My name’s Jason.”, I say with a bit of bite in my words. “I was just introducing myself before you showed up late.”

To be honest, I can’t say what possessed me to speak up. I’ve always been kind of a quiet guy, the type to keep my head down and do the job that’s in front of me. Maybe, being completely outnumbered by women, I just felt like I had to take control of the situation to prevent myself from being emasculated.

While I see Ms. Valentine has a look of disapproval, I’m surprised to see the sheep-like girl smirk at my words. “Sorry, tough guy. I guess we’ll just have to get to know each other after class instead.”

A murmur of discontent begins to erupt from the assembled classroom before Valentine calls out with a clear and authoritative, “Enough.”

That gets everyone to shut up. The teacher gestures back to my seat, and sensing the tension in the air, I take the hint and sit down.

The bunny eared woman clears her throat. “Since Miss Shawcross had such difficulty in arriving to class on time, I suppose shall have to repeat myself. I understand that the… novelty… of having a male in your class may be distracting, but I will remind everyone again. You are here to learn, not to flirt. Do I make myself clear?”

A chorus of voices answer her with a less than enthusiastic, “Yes Ms. Valentine,” except for one voice at my right who responds with a “Sure, whatever.”

Ms. Valentine continues with the roll call, as well as a few morning announcements, but I can barely pay attention to them. My mind is racing, trying to make sense of just what exactly the situation is that I find myself in. I like to think of myself as a fairly perceptive guy. Detail oriented, you might say. And ever since I walked into Villanueva Academy this morning, things just aren’t adding up. While the teacher drones on about what to expect in the coming year, I scribble some notes on the edge of my half finished sketch of the school. After a bit of writing, what I’ve come up with is…

1. I haven’t seen a single other dude since I woke up this morning. Well, it's possible I may have seen one on the street on my way to school, but I was too busy on my phone to take note.
2. Everyone in this academy so far has been dressed up in what I first assumed was animal cosplay. Really elaborate animal cosplay. Given I’ve seen some girls swishing their tails or twitching their ears, not to mention one girl without ears at all, I think it's safe to say it might not be cosplay. But whatever's happening here is freaking me the fuck out.
3. Most of the girls I've met have acted… weird. I can’t quite put my finger on what's behind their stares, but the way they gawk at me is really disconcerting. And the ones in front of the bulletin board treated me almost like a leper. I don't know if this is the kinda conservative place that's big on keeping plenty of space for Jesus, but even if it is, those girls kept enough room between us for the whole damn last supper.

There’s obviously a lot of detail missing here, but what I’ve got so far is already strange enough. I suppose the staring and the social distancing could be due to some aspect of school culture I’m not familiar with, and it's possible I suppose the academy was once a girls school and still hasn't fully transitioned into co-ed recruitment, but that still doesn’t explain the weird animal features on all the girls.

After the first class finishes up I pack all the papers that Ms. Valentine handed out over the course of the introductory class, including my course schedule and a simple map of the school. As my resident English teacher, that includes a list of books I'll either need to purchase or get from the school library for the semester. I shove everything into my backpack haphazardly. Normally I'd take more care about this stuff, but to be honest I kinda want to get away from the girls who've all had their eyes glued on me whenever the teacher wasn't looking. Unfortunately, when I look up from my backpack, I can see I’ve already been encircled by my classmates. The whole class has effectively boxed me in, preventing me from leaving my seat easily. I do note that the giant sheep isn't among their number, and her seat next to me is empty as well. She must've ducked as soon as the bell rang, something I've got to remember to do as well going forward.

I clear my throat before addressing the assembled crowd. “So... what’s going on?”

“HI!” the girl directly in front of my desk answers me, a cheshire smile spread across her face. She looks to be about my height, with short gray hair and a pair of oversized mouse ears on her head. I'm surprised to see gray hair on someone my age, and file that thought away for consideration later. Maybe between the ivory locks of Shawcross and this mouse, I should add “unusual hair colors” to my notes. 

“I’m Ashley, I’m with the student newspaper, and I was kinda hoping I could get an exclusive interview with the newest member of the student body!” Her voice is bright and very high pitched, almost like she’s trying to sound like a cartoon character.

I give her a nervous laugh. “Well uh, I’ve got history next period, so it's not like I've got the time…”

“Oh, not right now!” she squeaks out, “I was thinking lunch period! If you’re up for it, just meet me out in the courtyard. I’m the only mouse in school, so I should be easy enough to find!”

One of the other girls, the calico cat I saw earlier, interjects. “Ash, that's not true. Isn’t your sister starting this year?”

The mouse, Ashley I guess, waves her hand dismissively. “Half-sister. And she’s a rat, not a mouse.” The simplicity of her statement implies the difference should be obvious, but the confused look on the catgirl's face suggests otherwise. She turns back to me, her red eyes sparkling. “But just one quick question before you go! You never answered me during your introduction. Are you single? There isn’t a girl, or several girls, waiting for you back in California, riiiiiight~?”

I reel back in surprise, but the bluntness of her question shocks me into responding before I can think about it. “N-no! No, my girlfriend broke up with me at the end of last year.”

The assembled girls all gasp simultaneously. The mouse looks like she can barely fathom the idea. “She broke up with you?”

I nod. “Yeah… she said… we'd be better as friends.” The bitterness of the break up surfaces for a moment before I force it back down. She was going off to college, and I don’t doubt that part of her decision was because of how cringe it would be to have a high school boyfriend. I should’ve expected as much when I started dating an older girl at the start of the school year, but the fact is she was my first real girlfriend. Even though it’s been a couple of months, the wound is still pretty fresh. I really thought me and Lilly had something special, but…

“Well! That is interesting!” the mouse says, pulling me out of my thoughts. She pulls out her phone, complete with a bright pink Hello Kitty case, and types something out quickly. “We’ve got to get to our next classes, but I’d love to talk more at lunch!”

“Sure, I guess.” The crowd disperses enough that I can grab my backpack and make my way out of the room with little fuss, but even so I can’t miss the way all the girls start gossiping to each other before I’m even out of earshot.

Before I even get a chance to mull over the new information I’ve got from Ashley’s questioning, a familiar voice calls out as soon as I’m out of the room.

“Don’t give her an inch,” it says, and I turn to see Shawcross leaning nonchalantly against the classroom wall. “If you let girls like them get under your skin, they’ll eat you alive.”

I look up at her, surprised to see her apparently waiting for me. “Oh, uh... not that I don't appreciate the advice, but I kind of already agreed to meet with her at lunch.”

“Oh, I heard. I’m just giving you fair warning.” She reaches out for a handshake. “Freddie.”

I hesitate for a moment before gratefully take her hand. “Jason.” Her grip is firm, and her hand is larger than mine, but it’s also soft and delicate. I realize now that this is the first girl I’ve touched since my breakup, and try to ignore how pathetic it is that my heart flutters at the thought.

“What’s your next class?” she asks, her ear giving a little flick. Yeah, there’s no way that thing’s a headband. I’ve got to figure out what the hell’s going on with that.

“World History III with…” I pull out the crumpled up schedule. “Pineda.”

She smiles. “Got the same. It’s on the first floor. C’mon, I’ll show you where it is.” She sets off towards the stairs at the end of the hall, giving me a chance to see a cute little lamb tail sticking out from her backside. I quickly jog to catch up with her before slowing to a comfortable pace beside her. I'm suddenly feeling suddenly very self conscious of the girl I’m next to. With her height, my eyeline is about level with her collarbone, and it's quite easy for my eyes to drift down to her chest. While our uniform is quite modest, she's obviously... not small. I try very hard not to let my eyes wander somewhere inappropriate, and instead keep an eye on all the different animal girls walking the halls. At this point, I think I’ve seen dozens of varieties; just in the few moments of me catching up, I've seen a girl with donkey ears, a girl with wide water buffalo horns, and even another girl with feathers. Freddie does a great job of parting any crowds coming towards us; she’s at least a head taller than all the other girls here, two heads compared to most, and they all give her a wide berth. Or maybe that’s my fault? I’m still getting plenty of stares, and the girls don't seem to be in a hurry to pass close to me. Of course, all the them are also gossiping amongst themselves as we pass, but I try my best to block them out.

“So,” she says, breaking the silence, “you from around here?”

For a moment I’m confused by the question before I remember my guide came in late. “Uh, no, I just moved out here from California.”

“Oh, nice. You surf?”

I laughed a little. It’s always one of the first questions everyone’s asked me whenever I travel. Usually right before or right after something about Hollywood. “Nah, I’m not much of a beach guy.”

“So what do you do for fun, California Boy?”

California boy? “You know, normal stuff. Games, hang out. I draw a little too.”

“Yeah, I saw your sketchbook. You gonna join the art club then?”

“To be honest I hadn’t even considered clubs yet. I guess I should, right?”

She shrugs. “It’s required. They should’ve told you that when your application was accepted. Everybody needs to have at least one extracurricular. Most have two or more.”

I nod. I suppose I’ll have to tour the clubs at some point. Considering everything else I’ve experienced this morning, taking care of my extracurricular life seems like such an inconsequential hurdle. “So how about you? What do you do?"

“Sports.” She pauses for a moment before speaking again. “Go ahead and guess which one.”

When I look up at her, and there’s really only one sport that comes to mind. “Basketball?”

She laughs. It's a resonant, and yet somehow girly chuckle. “That’s what everyone thinks. No, I play hockey. Ice hockey, specifically.”

“Oh, yeah that makes sense.” While it's hard to tell given what we're wearing, I get the feeling she's probably pretty built. At the very least, I don't think I want to try getting body checked by her any time soon.

"You got hockey back in California? I can't imagine winter sports are very popular out there."

I scoff. "Of course we do. There's an NHL team in LA, and another in Anaheim." Not that I've ever seen a game of either of them. I think there's another team in Nor-Cal, but as far as I'm concerned, anything north of Bakersfield may as well be another state.

She chuckles again. "Alright, fair enough. You ever play?"

I shrug. "Nah, not my kind of sport."

“No offense, but you don't seem like the sport type to me. What did you play back home?”

I think for a moment. She's right of course, but I refuse to give her the satisfaction. Even though it's been years since I'd played, there's only one that comes to mind. “Volleyball.”

It's not totally a lie. I did play on my middle school team. But if I'm being honest, I think it only sprang to mind because I keep noticing her height.

She laughs again, almost mockingly. “I thought you weren’t a beach guy.”

"W-well, y'know... it's kind of hard to avoid the beach, even if I don't go that often." She raises an eyebrow at me, and she's got that smug little smirk on. I'd be mad if it wasn't such a good look for her.

We come to a stop in front of a door on the first floor. A helpful label next to the classroom displays “World History”. I pull out my phone to check the time, and we’ve still got a few minutes, but Freddie opens the door and holds it for me before I can protest. Of course, the door opens inward, so I have to pass right by her.

"Um... thanks," I mumble as I slip past her into the room.

Unlike our last period, this place is decorated like a proper classroom. The walls are covered in maps from countries all over the world as well as posters with quotes from famous figures, but over the teacher’s desk is a single anime wall scroll, completely destroying the aesthetic of a proper space of learning. Standing in front of that desk is a man in his late forties with a bald head, a full beard speckled with gray, and dusky brown skin. Most notable of all, of course, are the four black goat horns jutting out from his skull, two pointing up, two curling down. Even at a glance, I know those are real. The way they break the surface of his skin in such a natural way… as far as I’m concerned, hypothesis confirmed. Just like everyone else, he's got a matching pair of non-human ears, and given his bald nature it's obviously not a headband. He just straight up does not have normal ears.

Still, I take some comfort in the fact that, aside from the goat accoutrements, he appears to be a normal looking adult man. That means I haven’t stepped into some kind of bizarro scenario where I'm the only dude left on planet Earth. So... that’s nice, I suppose.

“Feel free to sit wherever,” the teacher calls out to us. I eke out another quick “thank you” before I follow Freddie, who’s already taking a seat against the wall about halfway down a row of desks.

“Mind if I…?” I start to ask her.

“Knock yourself out, Beachboy.”

I try very hard not to groan as I take my seat. It’s better than California Boy, but I really hope she doesn’t actually keep using that. The last thing I need after the embarrassing fiasco at the entrance this morning is an equally embarrassing nickname.