FSE

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The sun rises, its rays driving away the shadow of the night. It streams over Jakarta, signaling the start of a new day. The call goes out from the mosques for morning prayers, and early birds respond to the first light streaming into their bedrooms. In one particular room, Venetian blinds filtered most of the light out of the room. It took a few minutes for the sun to gain the right angle to break through a slit in the blinds to fall on blue satin sheets covering the large lump on the bed. A groan, and a pair of white wings stretches out and covers the head of a white dragon. The dragon shifts, and turns his head away from the offending intruder. The wings relax and tuck back into the sheets.

The dragon's shoulders could be seen gently rising and falling while the light continued to fill the room. The white walls were decorated with tons of posters befitting a 17-year old dragon. There were pictures of the dragon with friends and family members. One in particular was of the teenage dragon, shaking the paw of the President of the Swiss Confederation, his parents all prim and proper behind him. The dragon's tall and brawny father looked very proud, and his mother was dressed in a stately and controlled manner, but still showed that she was a good-looking dragonness. The teenage dragon though, didn't look as proud. He certainly had a nice looking smile, but his eyes did not reflect what was plastered across his muzzle. The Swiss flag, spread on the wall of his room, was seen in the background of the photo as well. The wall also held posters of his favorite movies and pro football players from his favorite team, which was the 2009 Schwitzer Nati team.

A clock on the nightstand near the sleeping dragon displayed a digital read of 5:25AM. "Wach aup! Wach aup" it shouted in increasing volume.

"Augh..." A heavy clawed hand smacked the clock with a thud. The white sleeping form mumbled and covered his head.

Not but five minutes later, his door opened and the lights turned on. "Tobias! Get up! It's time to head to school," said a female voice.

"Nerm...Can't be...too early."

"Tobias dear, we're not in Switzerland any more. It's Indonesia, and it's time to get up for school."

"Eerrrgh..."

"Dear, I know it's hard to get used to, but it's best to do it. You should acclimate to the time change soon."

"Two weeks..." Tobias mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"It's been two weeks since we moved here, Mom," he mumbled a little louder. "Shouldn't I have gotten used to it by now?"

"I know that you're not completely happy with the current living situation, but your father works for the Swiss Embassy. He has to go where he's told to go."

"Oooh..." The white dragon buried his face into his pillow. "Can't I just have ten more minutes?" he muffled. "I'm a growing dragon."

This entire time, the fit dragonness stood in the doorway, eyeing her protesting son. She entered the room and walked purposely toward his bed. "Alright Tobias Bachmann..." The blue covered lump cringed a little under the sheets. He knew what was coming. "I've had enough of this. I've got things that I have to do, and I can't stand around and...Tobias! Why aren't you wearing your pajamas?" She had just torn the sheets right off of the white dragon to reveal that he was wearing nothing but his boxers. Tobias's white tail was curled around him.

"Mom!" he protested.

"Don't 'Mom' me. Answer my question," she said firmly, but held no annoyance. It was merely curiosity.

The white-scaled teenager swung his feet over the edge of the bed, just to show his mother that he was meaning to get up, though he thought about laying back down as soon as she left. "It's hot, Mom. It gets too warm at night to wear pajamas." Sitting up, it could easily be seen that the teenager was in great physical condition. His forearms held a toned outline, despite his scales. They led up to his large biceps and tris, and his sturdy shoulders connected his arms to a wide and defined chest. At 17, he already held a coveted six-pack of abdominals.

"You have an air conditioner, and I can feel that it is on," his mom said.

Tobias scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with an excuse. His eyes peered down to avoid his mother's questioning gaze. He caught sight of the slight bulge in his boxers, symptomatic of morning wood, and then remembered that his mother was standing over him. "Mom!" he screamed.

"What? What are you freaking out about? Oh...That?" she said pointing towards his boxers. "Trust me, son, I've seen a penis before."

"Mom!?!" he yelped. Tobias flushed and turned around. In public, Mrs. Bachmann was an upstanding and polite lady, befitting someone whose husband worked for the Swiss embassy. Behind closed doors, she could be a little lewd at times.

She giggled. "Tobi, don't be like that. Come on, I changed your diapers, you know. And I had to be with your father at least..."

Tobias turned his head, "Agh! Mom! Please! No! Don't talk about that. I'm up now! I'm up!"

"Heh-heh. Knew that would wake you up." She turned to leave the room.

"Hey, Mom." Mrs. Bachmann stopped at the door. "Is Dad...?"

"He's already left for the Embassy, Tobi."

Tobias's shoulders sagged and his wings were limp. "....Okay."

"He'll be home later tonight though, dear. He said he would be."

Tobias muttered a noncommittal, "Uh-huh."

Mrs. Bachmann gave her son a sad smile, which he didn't see. "Alright. Get dressed, Tobi. Breakfast is waiting for you. Oh, and try wearing the vest we got you. You'll look nice for your first day of school. I checked the dress-code. It's perfectly acceptable."

"Yeah. Okay," he said in the same noncommittal tone. The door to his room closed, and he sighed to himself. "Wearing a vest on the first day of school?" he moaned. "It's way too hot for that." He sighed and pushed off of his bed, the desire to curl under his sheets still floating in his mind.

'Oh, well,' he thought. 'At least I have the advantage of my mom driving me today...She'll probably make me ride the bus for the rest of the year though. Bjorn is probably still curled up, like the wolf he is, sleeping without a care back in Switzerland.' He opened his closet and found a few pairs of the school uniform he was subjected to wear--a white-collared shirt, a red neck-tie, and a pair of black slacks. Beside them were a pair of blue jeans and a faded-red, sleeveless shirt he liked to wear with the Swiss white cross up in the left corner. He took the school ensemble over to his bed, along with a lime-green tweed vest with the tag still on it. He tore the tag off with his claw and set the vest down. 'I guess it does look nice.'

Before dressing, the dragon took a few minutes to stretch. He spread his white wings wide and flapped them a few times, making a whooshing noise as the muted-yellow sinews of his wings caught and pushed the air. Next, he stretched his arms behind his back, pulled his legs up by grabbing his ankles, twisted his torso, and finished with a few jumping push-ups, clapping as he came up from each one. Each repetition was fluid. He made it look a lot simpler than it really was. He almost wished that someone was admiring him as he did that. Just for kicks, he threw in a few one-armed push ups, since he got his blood pumping.

Afterwards, he stood in front of his full-length mirror and flexed his arm, watching the slightly pumped muscle engorge in front of him. "Heh, lookin' good Nüf." He gave himself a suggestive wink, just to practice it. There were going to be a lot of new people he'd meet today. Better look your best. Never knew who might be looking. Best to put on a good show. Leave the crowd eager for more. That was what he told himself for the last few days as he was trying to mentally prep himself for school.

The white dragon slipped his arms into the sleeves of the white-collared shirt, kept his arms straight out so he could slip his wings into the tailored holes in the back. Getting new clothes was always a big expense, because just like any other winged creature, they almost always had to make sure their wings weren't being pressed. Years ago, many clothing companies kept getting complaints from winged consumers that they were being specie-ist because of their refusal to adjust their clothing lines to accommodate them. Consumers won in the end, but wing position varies from species to species. To meet consumers half-way, winged designs had slits in the back to insert wings, but they were in a standardized position to try and meet a middle area where wings usually sit. The result was a sometimes uncomfortable fit. Winged anthros always knew a few friendly tailors to help remedy their situations.

This was something Tobias, or Nüf (as he preferred to be called), learned about when he was young. Little legal or governmental matters was something he always heard about from his father whenever he was home, which as he got older was not very much. He sometimes thought that his mother was a single-parent, but she never seemed to complain, at least not to him.

After getting his uniform and vest on, he looked at himself in the full length mirror. He had to admit that the tweed vest did look really good on him. He filled the school uniform very nicely too. Standing at roughly 6'5", the white dragon was a very formidable looking specimen. "Heh," he gave a smug grin. "And I'm only 17." He flexed his arm again, feeling the tightness of the fabric around his bicep. "I've still got more growing to do."

"Tobias!" he heard his mother from downstairs call. "Come on! We need to get going!"

Nüf straightened his uniform on himself and checked his bag to make sure he had everything. He ran downstairs and saw his mom waiting at the front door, with her bag on her, a little boxed lunch, and a plate with a sandwich on it. "Eat this on the way over," she said handing the plate over first and then the boxed lunch. "I hope you have everything because we need to go now."

She opened the front door, and Nüf was hit with a blast of heat. "Gah," he moaned. "It's gonna be hot today, too." His mother paid no attention to his protest, so he jogged over to the car right behind her. He hissed a little as he sat on the very warm leather seat, the interior of the car feeling twice as humid as outside. "I hope the AC is working," he muttered.

Mrs. Bachmann started the car and began to pull out of the driveway while opening the windows a crack to let some of the heat escape while the AC unit warmed up. "So what's bothering you, Tobi?" his mother asked simply.

"Nothing," he muttered again. He chomped into his sandwich. He licked his chops a little because it was indeed good, a fried egg with crispy bacon strips on whole-wheat toast. He couldn't help but grin a little.

"Tobi," his mother gently chided.

"What?"

"I'm your mother. I know that when you're upset, you murmur over the slightest annoyance. Your father does that too."

"Hmmf." It was what he could get out after taking another bite of the sandwich.

"Is it about not being able to see your father?"

Nüf swallowed. "No," he sighed. "I understand. I mean, he did say that he'd wish me luck on my first day before he left..." Sometimes it was what he really needed to get a good start to his day. He at least knew then that his father had spoken to him that day and was thinking about him.

They turned on to the highway to head towards inner Jakarta, where Nüf's new school was. "I know, honey," she said comfortingly. "But he got called in and had to go. The Embassy wanted to make sure that he could get started on his work early."

"Yeah." He couldn't help but grumble a little bit as he put the rest of the sandwich in his mouth and chomped on it.

Mrs. Bachmann rolled up the window. "You look nice in your school uniform."

Nüf could already feel his scales dry a bit. "Thanks." He grinned and tugged at his collar. The mention of school was shifting his focus and making him a little nervous.

"What did I tell you about the vest?" she said with a smirk.

"You were right." He smirked back. Another tug at his collar.

"Don't be nervous, Tobi. You're going to do fine."

"I know...It's not classes I'm worried about. It's..."

"Meeting new people?" Nüf nodded. "Don't worry about it, honey. You never had trouble with friends back in Switzerland. Besides, you already know somebody there right? There was that get together at the school grounds for foreign transfer students. There was a bull you met...um...What was his name?"

"Bill."

"Oh yes, Bill. He's a foreigner too, so at least you're not alone in your class. He...is in your class, right?"

"Uh...yeah. I think he is. He seems nice, but I think he's from Canada."

"Well, what's wrong with Canada?"

Nüf took a second to consider, "Um...nothing I guess."

"Look honey, I know it can be difficult, but you're fluent in the language. I'm sure you'll make friends with other students very quickly. And besides, I'm sure you and Bill can help each other adjust to your new surroundings."

"...I guess."

"Maybe you'll even meet a girl today," she said with a grin.

"Mom," he said with a slight huff of a chuckle.

"Just don't get her pregnant upon first seeing her."

"Mom!" he flushed.

Mrs. Bachmann giggled. "There we go. At least you're not moping." They drove on a little bit. "It is girls you're interested in right now, right?"

Nüf was staring outside, looking at the passing edifices of the city. He gave a shrug. "I guess. I'm not really sure right now." Both of his parents knew that he was bisexual. They had seen him bring home some girlfriends and one or two boyfriends back in Switzerland. His last school year was wrought with many significant others. That was when he started to work out heavily and really develop his body. Suffice to say, his classmates took notice, and he took full advantage of it. He actually loved the attention: girls fawning over him, and guys giving him some longer than necessary stares. Both involved always had a good time, and Nüf would admit to himself that he definitely had some skill with winning the affections of others.

"Well," his mother added, "whatever makes you happy, Tobi." His parent's had been pretty supportive of him, though there were some slight nagging questions in their minds. "I mean, I question why a little bit, but it's nice to see you open yourself up to love, Tobi."

He turned his head towards his mother and gave a gentle smile. "Thanks, Mom." Nüf thought about it and he considered that he hadn't actually had many experiences with actual love. His parents loved him, of course. He knew that. Sure, he wasn't a stranger to sexual intercourse, but genuine affection for his partner? He racked his brain for a moment, considering his past escapades from his last year in Switzerland. There weren't really many who actually inspired a sense of "love" in him, if really any at all. There was one that he felt was possible, a female Abyssinian cat named Agda, but by the time he felt that twinge of actual romance, he heard from his father that the government was going to send him to work at the Embassy in Indonesia. He was able to break it off very easily with Agda, since he didn't have a lot of time to get invested. She had thought it was for the best too. She didn't want to get caught up in a long distance relationship. Then there were a few other flings he had before he took off with his family. Safe. That was how he preferred it to be.

Before he realized it, his mom had pulled up to the curb of his school. It wasn't anything really fancy. A white-washed 3-floored building with several windows set inside it. It was a standard looking public school, but Nüf almost thought that all the windows in front of him were eyes, peering down on him, evaluating his every move, waiting for a mistake so they could disregard him entirely. 'That's silly,' he thought to himself. 'And miss out on all of this?' Fighting the urge to pose, he thought for a moment of how popular he was back in Switzerland: star athlete, very popular jock, animated and interesting speaker, and it also helped that his father worked for the government. 'What am I worried about? This will be cake.' If anything, Nüf did have a healthy sense of self-esteem.

He gave his mom a quick smooch on her cheek. "Bye, Mom. Thanks again."

"You're welcome, Tobi. You're going to be fine."

He grabbed his bag and opened the door. "Oh, Tobi!" his mom said. "Just so that you know, you're going to need to take the bus home. Best get you used to it as soon as possible."

"Alright," he sighed.

She handed him some money. "That should cover your fare. There's a little extra in case you need something else today. I love you, honey."

"I love you too, Mom."

"Have a good day, Tobi."

"...You too, Mom." He gently closed the door, and his mother slowly pulled away. He looked up at the building. Most of the students were filing into the building, but there were some stragglers hanging about the front stoop and the benches that were strewn about the flagpole. The two red and white stripes of Indonesia's flag fluttered a little in the brief moment of wind that graced the humid climate. Nüf checked his watch, 5:57AM. He had best start heading for his homeroom now, before the bell.

'Okay. Head up, chest out. Show them your stuff,' he thought to himself.

As he walked into the building, he felt what would have been a breeze of ventilation, but it didn't serve at all to cool him down. 'If anything, it's just moving the hot air around.' He fanned himself with a piece of paper he had in his claw. It was a reminder of his class assignment, class 2-G. Second year students meet on the second floor of the building, but the reminder held a special notice saying that there was a mandatory assembly in the auditorium for the first day of school. Like most schools, it was a big pomp and circumstance ceremony for introducing the first years, making them feel like they're welcomed and that they have their whole life ahead of them and that choosing this school was the first step on their path toward a successful adulthood. 'Can't believe I have to sit through such bull like that again.'

Nüf suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder, he snapped his body around. "Ah!"

"Ah!" Nüf panted for a moment. "Don't yell like that. I'm not that scary looking."

"Uh, no! No, no, no. That's not what I meant. Um, no. You just startled me because you turned around so fast."

"Ugh," he groaned. "Anyway, what's up, Bill?"

"Oh! I-I'm surprised you remembered my name, Tobias." The 6'1" brown bull, though shorter than Nüf, was just as fit as the dragon. He had a slight curve to his mid-section, but that was typical of all cows, male or female. His two white horns hung out to the side and arched up a bit to the inside. Bill sheepishly put his arm behind his head, and his face had a bit of a blush to it.

"Nüf," the dragon said.

"Pardon?"

"Call me Nüf."

"Oh! I'm sorry!" The bull stuttered, "It's just that at the foreigner's get together your name tag said Tobias and I thought..."

"Well yeah, it is my actual name, but I prefer being called Nüf."

"Um, Ny-oof, ay?"

"Uh, right, but slur it together."

"Nüf."

"Right. Just like that." Nüf grinned and patted Bill on the back. "Whoa," he marveled. "You're pretty solid, man."

"Oh, um, thanks." Bill blushed again.

"Gosh, you sure blush a lot. I don't know many bulls, but you don't seem like a typical one."

"Oh...um, sorry." The bull slumped his shoulders.

"Whoa, hey man. There's nothing wrong with being different like that. It's actually quite intriguing that you're not stuck-up. I mean, uh, that's been my experience with bulls."

"Oh, okay..."

Nüf felt a little bad. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," the bull interjected. "I know I'm shyer than most bulls. I mean, I wish I could be more forward and open...like you."

"Like me?!"

"Yeah. I mean, at the get together, you didn't have any trouble talking to people. Me? I'm worried about the introductions when we get to homeroom. I'm trying to think of the right thing to say."

Introductions? Nüf hadn't really thought about those. They're pretty standard, but he did start to get a little anxious about making a good first impression in a completely different language. Bill did have a point though. Both of them had a good enough grasp on the language to operate well enough, but neither had much experience with casual conversation. Nüf made a note to work on that. "Well, to be honest, I'm a little nervous about that too."

"Really?" The bull brightened up a bit.

"Yeah, but you seem to be a cool guy. Just be yourself, and you'll do fine. At least that's what my dad tells me."

"Wow. Okay. I'll-I'll try that. Your dad sounds like a nice guy."

"Yeah, heh, he kind of is," Nüf said with a slight grimace.

Bill tilted his head a little. He was about to ask the dragon a question, when the 6:00AM bell rang. "Oh! We need to get to the auditorium!" Bill looked anxious again.

"You're right. You know where it is, right?"

"Um, yeah. It's down the hall here on the left. Come on!"

Bill and Nüf jogged down the hall along with the rest of the straggling kids. Nüf noted that he didn't see too many dragons among the students. In fact, as the two of them entered auditorium, he wasn't sure if he saw any other ones. He felt like he had a neon sign above him, singling him out. It also didn't help that he was naturally all white and had two horns and stylishly messed up white hair. He stayed close to Bill, following him to where class 2-G was assigned. He was glad that Bill was in his class. He didn't want to be standing up longer than he had to be at the moment.

As he surveyed the room, while things quieted down, he noticed a few other oddities. He did see another critter that had wings, but he looked more like an eagle. He saw a tall_--'Probably taller than me!'</i> he thought_--brown critter that had two extra sets of arms, and he could have sworn he saw something blue with tentacles taking a seat as well. Most of the other students were foxes, cats, dogs, tigers, and wolves. He spotted one wolf in particular.

The wolf was of medium height, probably a little shorter. There wasn't anything very distinguishing about him. He was mostly grey, with some fluffy looking ears, and his muzzle was mostly white. He did have a pair of square-rimmed glasses on, which was probably what made him catch his eye he imagined. Aside from that though, nothing looked really out of the ordinary about him, yet Nüf found himself trying to look at him again during the ceremony. He thought that he must have been in his class because he was in the same row as he and Bill. He knew for sure that he was at least in the same year. All the third years were assigned to the back section of the auditorium, followed the second years and first years.

The ceremony was just as dull and bland as the white dragon thought it would be. The principal just talked about how proud he was to see new faces, how much fun they would have this year, and how much new stuff they'd learn and experience and all that rigamarole. Nüf tuned most of it out. The principle was speaking a little slow. He figured that the guy was aware that he had quite a few foreign students this year and wanted to make them feel welcome. Nüf thought it was a nice and considerate touch, but it didn't change the fact that the subject matter was boring and hackneyed anyway.

Nüf tried to listen in on a few different student conversations. He strained his ears and his mind to pick the words out, but their conversations were slurred and a bit more fast-paced than he was used to. He sighed in his head, 'This is going to take some getting used to.' He and Bill were able to talk well enough because they were both new to the language. It also helped that they had talked a bit during the get together, so they somewhat understood the rhythm of talking they could handle for the time being.

As they got up to head to homerooms, Nüf found the grey wolf again. The wolf looked despondent and bored, just like everyone else, but something seemed to be different. He seemed isolated though he looked just as normal as about everyone else. The dragon tried to get a look at his eyes, but he was being pressed to move forward.

"Something wrong?" Bill asked as they head for the stairs to the second floor.

"Uh, no. I don't think so."

"Did you forget something?"

"No...Say, do you know anyone else at the school yet?"

"Me?!" The bull looked nervous. "Um, no. You're about the only other person I know right now."

"Really? Didn't you get here earlier though?"

"Um...yeah."

"You didn't get to meet anyone?"

His shoulders slumped. "I told you I was shy."

"Nah, that's alright, Bill. Sorry. I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that."

"Oh, it's alright, ay." Nüf kind of wondered if that was a Canadian thing, putting that "ay" on there, but he decided that now wasn't the right time to ask. "Actually," Bill started again, "I almost tried to talk to someone else."

"Oh really?" Nüf asked curiously as they walked into a room with the marker "2-G" above it.

They sat down next to each other as Bill continued, "Yeah. Um, did you notice that eagle looking guy down in the auditorium?"

"Yeah. What about him?"

"Well, I heard that he's a gryphon, not an eagle. I, uh, thought that was very interesting so I almost got up the nerve to try and talk to him."

"You should have."

Bill blushed, "Oh, I-uh-no, I couldn't have."

"Why not?"

"Uh...well, uh."

"You know what, Bill? Don't worry. I'm gonna help you with this." He placed a clawed hand on the bull's shoulder.

"You will?"

"Of course. If you'll allow me to say, you're a nice looking guy, Bill." Bill flushed deeply at this remark. Nüf continued, "You shouldn't worry too much about appearances because you don't have much to worry about."

"Th-thanks, Nüf. I really appreciate it." He smiled at the dragon. "But it's not really how I look that I worry over, although that is part of it, but it's really more of...what to say."

"Well, like I said before. It's all really about being yourself. Don't think about things too much. If you do, you'll end up saying nothing."

"Alright class, take your seats. We don't have much time left before the first period ends," said a male voice that sounded cheery. The voice still held some command behind it, so the students slowly paid attention to the front. Behind the desk in the front of the room, a jaguar stood in a suit jacket and pants along with a red tie and white shirt that mimicked the school uniform. His back was turned and he was writing his name on the blackboard. "My name is Mr. Gregory Shinzu, but you will of course call me Professor Shinzu," he said matter-of-factly with an air of amusement. It sounded as if he was trying to make a joke, and a few students gave some light chitters. "Now students, I will be your home room teacher for the rest of the year. I hope you all will do your best and study hard. If not, I'm going to hunt you down and roast you over a spit, ha-ha!" He gave a wide, animated grin with that statement, and a shadow of confusion settled over the class.

"Is he serious?" one student whispered.

"He is a jaguar," said another.

"I'm not sure I want to find out."

"He looks like he could make good on that."

"Yeah, and if you ran, he's sure to catch you. Jaguars are fast."

The entire time, Professor Shinzu held that same grin, waiting for someone to get the joke. He just slowly turned back to the blackboard and wrote the word "Introductions!"

"Okay," he began. "To start off, we should introduce ourselves. I do see some of the old first year students, but there appear to be quite a few new faces in this class. I'm so lucky! Ha-ha-ha!" The atmosphere became one of puzzlement. "Because with new faces comes new talent. And with new talent comes a better chance at winning in this year's athletic festival! And I'm sure to show up that proud lion this year!" He pounded the desk. "No one messes with Gregory Shinzu and gets away with it. Yes. With what I can see here, I see a lot of strong, smart, and capable students. There's no way I'll lose to Himaru this year! Yeah!! Class 2-G all the way!!" He raised his fist into the air. The room was utterly silent.

He continued as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. "Okay, so we'll go around the room and introduce ourselves. We'll start in the front left of the room, work the way back, and then come back down the second column and repeat until everyone is introduced. When you stand up, I'd like to hear: your name, how old you are, where you're from, and two interesting things about yourself." The jaguar held up a finger for each point he mentioned. "Let's start with you!" he pointed to the husky sitting in the front-left desk.

Nüf was a little unsure of what to think about Professor Shinzu. He looked over at Bill. He was just as stunned as he was, if not a little more nervous now because of the hyper attitude of their homeroom teacher. 'I have to deal with this for a whole year?' he thought to himself as he arched an eyebrow. He looked to his right. The class was laid out in 6 columns of five chairs each. Nüf was sitting in the 4th column in the third seat. The middle student in the first column, a flirty looking vixen (despite the fact she was wearing the regulation uniform), was standing, giving her introduction. She apparently liked apples a lot and played tennis. Nüf had a bit of time before he had to give his introduction.

The white dragon saw the bull starting to shake. "Hey, Bill," he whispered. "What's the matter. Are you nervous?" The bull simply nodded, keeping his mouth tightly sealed. "Remember. Don't think too much about it. Besides, in the grand scheme of things introductions aren't that impor-" He cut his sentence short because he saw in the 4th seat from the front in the second column, the grey wolf he had spotted in the auditorium.

The wolf was standing, giving his introduction. Now Nüf would be the first to admit that he's not exactly poetic, but he did note that though the wolf's tone was mellow, there was a timbre underneath it that spoke of longing. What that longing was, he was uncertain. The wolf said, "My name is Dash, just Dash. I'm 16 years old, and I'm from here, in Jakarta. I like to draw, and I also like cats."

Dash sat back down, and Nüf gave a little smirk. 'A wolf that likes cats, huh?' He was intrigued. He found himself staring his way a little longer, and the wolf must have felt his gaze, because he turned his head up from his desk to look at the white dragon. The wolf was a little surprised, so Nüf gave him a friendly smile. Dash almost immediately looked away and stared forward at the weasel who was giving his introduction, a slight purse on his lips. Nüf was confused as to his reaction. He started to ponder it, but he didn't have much time until it was his turn to introduce himself.

He stood up, standing to his full 6'5". He thought he heard a little gasp from behind him as his head stopped rising. He smirked a bit at that. Someone was impressed. It gave him a boost of confidence as he spoke. "Hi. My name's Tobias Bachmann, but you can call me Nüf. I'm originally from Switzerland, but I now live here in Jakarta. I'm 17 years old as well. I enjoy playing basketball and working out." He sat back down. He wanted to know whom it was that gave that gasp, but any attempts to figure that out were gone. He just absorbed the fact that it happened and smiled proudly.

He looked to his left and saw Bill, sweating bullets. "Hey," he whispered. "Just let go man. You're going to do fine."

Bill flinched a little as he finally saw the person in front of him stand. It was going to be his turn next!

"Just talk about what you like," Nüf said to him in one final whisper.

"T-talk about what I like," he muttered back. The student in front of him sat down, and Bill shot up, almost like a rocket. The students were taken aback for a moment, and Bill blushed at the sudden attention. He focused really hard, and said slowly, only stuttering at the very beginning. "H-h-hello. M-my name is William Tavern, but you can call me Bill. I'm 17 years old. I'm originally from Canada, but I also live here in Jakarta now. I like milkshakes and," he paused for a moment, "despite stereotypes of bulls, I actually like the color red." A few of the students chuckled and giggled, but they didn't hold any sort of contempt. It was genuine. Bill sat back down and heaved a sigh of relief.

Nüf gave the bull a wink. "Nice job, putting in a joke there," he whispered.

"But it's true," he whispered back. "I do like the color red."

After introductions, Professor Shinzu went immediately into the first class of the day, which everyone was there for, IT. The professor drolled on about it, throwing tons of notes at them rather quickly. Nüf was getting a little dizzy at trying to translate things so fast at one time. He needed to take a slight breather and looked over to where Dash, the grey wolf, was sitting. Dash was taking notes, not seeming too bothered about how fast Professor Shinzu spoke. Then again, he was a native, so he'd have no trouble following the language at Shinzu's speed. However, he did notice that his pencil sometimes made movements that really didn't seem like any sort of letters. When that happened, he was using a different notebook that was right under the one in which he was writing notes. 'Must be his drawings,' he concluded.

The dizzying note taking continued for the next hour and a half or so. Nüf decided that he'd probably need to get a recorder to help him until he got a little more used to Shinzu's fast pace. Before getting up to go to the next class, he peeked over to Bill. "Did you find him hard to follow?"

"Well...kinda," he admitted.

"I'm starting to get a little concerned," the dragon admitted.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry," Bill said with a reassuring smile. "You're bright. I'm sure we'll both pick up on things in a hurry."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Nüf noticed the wolf pass by him. He got the impression that Dash was deliberately trying to not look at him. Bill saw him staring and waited behind. When the wolf got to the door, Nüf turned to the bull. "That seemed a little rude, didn't it?" Nüf's muzzle was in a near growl.

"Um..."

"What?"

"I...don't think he was being rude...I think he was shy."

He raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, remember when you stood up for introductions? There was a little gasp."

"Uh, yeah. I remember."

"I was watching and...that wolf, I think his name was Dash? Anyway, he was the one who gasped."

"Really?" The dragon looked surprised, but the bull nodded to reassert his observation. Nüf looked back to the wolf's desk and noticed that a notebook was left on it. He picked it up. "This must be his. He must have forgotten it."

"Why don't you hold on to it? I don't think you'll be able to catch him in time before next period."

"Yeah. I suppose you're right." He put the notebook into his bag. "What do you have next?"

"Um, I have sociology. You?"

"English. Heh, that one should be a breeze. I already know quite a bit of it."

His English class really was simple. He found himself ahead of what the teacher was already covering, so he had a chance to think while lazily taking notes. 'That wolf...He was the one who gasped? I suppose that must mean that he was impressed...but he didn't even pay attention to me when he passed by me. He didn't even smile back at me. He almost looked mad that I looked at him. But...now that I think about it, maybe Bill was right. Maybe he was just shy. I mean, Bill's a pretty tough looking guy, and he's especially shy for a bull. Perhaps that Dash kid was just embarrassed.' He smirked to himself. 'Things just might get a little interesting with this guy. I suppose I could tease him a bit, see if he really is interested. I hope I have another class with him. I should try to sit next to him.' He thought about the notebook he picked up and wondered what might lie inside. He didn't risk taking a peek though. It was his first day, and he wasn't sure how much he could get away with yet.

Nüf thought he might get a chance to check it out during his next class, history. That proved unfruitful too. The history teacher, a kindly doe, was covering a lot of ground, and Nüf needed to make sure to get a good start in this. He had a slight understanding of Indonesian history, but he didn't want to take things too lightly. His father would be watching over his studies, making sure he kept up a good image. His father was like that, and although it annoyed Nüf a bit at times, he understood the reason. At least his father was paying attention to him, even if he thought he seemed more like a hawk circling prey, and Nüf was the prey. Nüf finally got a break to actually try and look inside the notebook, lunchtime.