FSE

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Aiira trudged out of the bus after Geoffrey, nervous of the glances their group was already attracting from the dozens of humans loitering around outside the school. One of the humans, a foolish boy, let out a whistle as they passed. "Hey, I didn't' know the circus was in town! How much d'ya think old Butterball paid 'em to come here?" He said this to a round of laughter from those around him. Thankfully, all of the new students ignored him, or else there probably would've been a brutal fight on the first day - and that would not have been a good way to start off the year.

They were soon inside, and Greensville High looked no nicer inside than outside. It was the same cold grey stone as outside, with only a golden helmet emblazoned on the floor of the main room and a few black-and-red banners proclaiming "Centurions" marring the bland efficiency of the area.

The principle, a short, balding, chubby man with a permanently red complexion, awaited them there, dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and grey pants. He made a short speech about "keeping up with work" and other such things, but Aiira really wasn't paying much attention to the human. She was, instead, busy studying the others in the room with her. She realised that her older brother, Kern, was in the room, seeming equally disinterested. He looked almost exactly like his sister, with the exception of their shapes - and, Kern's tail was tipped with black, not white like Aiira's.

Finally, the principal was done talking, and he handed out their schedules and planners. Aiira studied her own. She had health first period, with an instructor named Peterson. That's where she had to go right now, then.

Once she arrived at the tiered-floor room, she found herself surprised. All of the others in the classroom with her were non-humans, with the exception of the middle-aged instructor. Most of them she had seen on the bus. The Kaisen, the Sa'kri, the Sathi, the Mogram, the Volenk, the Naiesha, the Mauva, the Aranii, the Illani, and, she noticed two faces she knew - her brother Kern and Geoffrey, the Phelgon from the bus, sitting next to each other and chatting quietly - they seemed to have stricken up a friendship.

"Alright then, students!" Peterson barked at them. "When I say your name, say here!"

"Trogan!"

"Here!" Answered the Kaisen.

"Nopla?"

"Here, of course." Replied the Sa'kri with a smile.

"Braul!"

"Here, sir." Offered the Sathi.

"Thomas!"

"Think I'm here," said the Mogram with a slight smile.

"Ugrik!"

"I don't know. Are we talking physically or mentally here?" Asked the Volenk with a slight smirk. The instructor's glare told just what he thought of the joke, but he moved on.

"Jilian!"

"Here," the Naiesha mumbled.

"Trik!"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here." The Mauva sounded nervous as he spoke.

"Alexandria!"

"Just Alex, please, but yes, I'm here," answered the Aranii.

"Nikolai!"

"H... here, s-sir." The Illani's grasp of English seemed rather limited.

"Kern!"

"Back here!" Answered her brother's voice.

"Geoffrey!"

"That would be me," the handsome Phelgon returned.

"And... Aiira, is it?"

"Uhm, I'm here." She realised she sounded small, nervous, and looked away to hide her blush.

"Well, it seems that everyone is present, and so we will begin. Our first lesson is going to be on the reproductive system. There are books for each of your species up here, if you would like to come get them..."

The group trudged towards the desk, muttering and joking amongst themselves. Aiira moved to take a book as well, though she felt her face burning brightly again, and she grabbed the closest book she could see that was for Ashnavar and practically bolted back to her seat. This quick movement, of course, bought her a few low chuckles, as did her bright blush.

"Ooh, fox lady shy, ain't she?" Ugrik called after her, grinning widely as her blush deepened even more while she huddled nervously in her chair.

Geoffrey walked over and sat next to her, smiling slightly. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine..." She glanced sidelong at him, noting that he carried a different text book than her - it was for Phelgon rather than Ashnavar. "Just... not very comfortable talking about... well, this kind of thing."

"Ah. I see." He changed the subject. "I heard that there are more non-humans that are going to be going here. There's supposed to be a hundred or more by the end of the week, they say."

"Really?" Her embarrassment forgotten, her eyes lit up at the news - she loved meeting others like herself.

"So I've been told, yeah."

"That's amazing!"

By now, the others had filtered back to their seats, many of them examining their books - and, of course, several of them were taken surreptitious glances at the photos and illustrations in said books.

"Now," boomed Mr. Peterson, "I simply wish to explain the rules of the classroom today."

Almost a half-hour later, Peterson finished up his explanation of his basic rules, and let them have a small amount of free time.

"The only homework you have for tonight is to just briefly look through your books. Now, do as you wish, but remain in your seats and keep the noise low."

Kern joined Geoffrey near Aiira, looking at her curiously. "You okay, sis? What was that all about?"

She huffed. "You know that I'm uncomfortable when it comes to this sort of thing, Kern!" The truth was, of course, that she was uncertain. She was not quite innocent, having taken a few nervous looks at some things she might not have otherwise, through internet searches, but she had always lost her nerve and closed the browser before she became brave enough to look for more adventurous things than simply tight clothing. She had never actually seen a male's parts, not even illustrations. She'd always been too nervous for it. Still, with this... she was curious as to the possibilities.

Still, that didn't stop her from being extremely glad when the bell rang. The next class up on her schedule was language arts. She sighed.

She got there quickly, and found she was only one of three non-humans in her class. Herself, Trogan, and the green-scaled Dalynther, who she had learned was called Hrolik. Every one of the thirty other people in the class was human, and they were fascinated by the three oddities among their midst. Of particular interest to them was Aiira herself, and she supposed it was probably because she was female. She sighed softly, hoping that it wouldn't always be like that.

For the most part, the class was uneventful, the teacher, Mrs. Shavowski, snapping the rules at the class with enough force to almost hurt. Other than that, however, they learned absolutely nothing.

Next in line was art class, which she had always been good at. Once more, all that happened was a simple explanation of the class rules, nothing more, with a bit of free time at the end. Aiira noted that there were, again, only a few other non-humans in the class - Geoffrey, Nikolai, Trik, and Jilian, along with herself. She managed to get her seat put right next to Geoffrey's, much to her delight.

The rest of the day fused together, with the notable exception of lunch and gym. Most of the other species' members had decided to sit together, and formed a knot of non-humans among the cafeteria's tables, but Aiira decided that it would probably be better if she just sat by herself, and so she did. Several others migrated towards her when she did so, however - Kern, Geoffrey, Thomas, and Nikolai, who seemed to have banded together as a cheerful group of friends joined her at the table, doing their best to include her in conversations. A few of the more open-minded humans joined them as well - two males and two females, introducing themselves as Tylor, Zach, Caitlin, and Kayla.

They seemed perfectly fine with the presence of the non-humans here - in fact, they seemed like the types that were left outside the well-defined social circles of the school. Tylor had fair skin and blonde hair, and wore glasses, Zach was a shorter type with dark brown hair cropped close to his round skull, Caitlin was thin and small, seeming quite fragile and delicate, with long brown hair, and Kayla was slightly better built, seeming more athletic than any of the others, her body toned in comparison to the average human - not so great considering the non-humans. Still, their entire little group chatted quite comfortably, with the exception of Aiira herself, who kept herself a bit distant and drew in her notebook when she finished eating.

She heard whisperings among the louder talking, seemingly between Geoffrey and Thomas.

"Hey, she's kind of cute, isn't she?" Thomas whispered to Geoffrey, glancing over towards her once.

"Kind of cute?" Geoffrey scoffed, and for a moment Aiira almost winced, but then he spoke again. "I think you're getting 'kind of cute' mixed up with 'absolutely stunning.', in case you weren't sure."

"Oh, so foxes are your kind, huh?"

Geoffrey no doubt would've replied, but Kern cut into their conversation with a sharp growl. "That may be the case, but that is also my sister, so keep your paws off of her."

Aiira almost sighed out loud in disappointment. Her brother was good to her, that was undoubted, but sometimes it would just be better if he remained quiet.

And that was why lunch was odd. Gym class, however, was just as interesting - if not more so.

"Today, class, we will be playing a short game of capture the flag. Do you know the rules?" Most of the class, all of them non-humans, did not, and so the teacher was forced to explain - which, of course, was simple enough. "Two teams face off. Each team has its own half, and that is the only area where they can tag an opposing player. When a player gets taken out, they have to go to the prison area until one of their team mates can tag them and get them back in. The overall objective is to grab the opposing team's flag and bringing it to your own half. Understood? Good."

Before the game began, they were all allowed a chance to change and prepare. Special changing rooms had been provided for the non-human creatures, while the others were reserved mainly for the humans. There were also a few private changing rooms, for those uncertain of themselves. Aiira, thankfully, had thought ahead and brought clothing to change into, figuring that she might need them. This particular set of alternate clothing consisted of a pair of black shorts and a black t-shirt. She changed into them quickly before she exited, waiting impatiently for the game to begin.

She noticed that Geoffrey had changed his shirt - now he wore a grey muscle shirt along with his cargo pants. He shot her an easy grin, then turned back and jogged out onto the floor as the teacher blew a whistle signifying the preparation period of the game was about to begin. Aiira glanced about, noting that she had Kern, Hrolik, Nikolai, Julian, and Trik on her team. Squaring off against them stood Geoffrey,Alexandria, Ugrik, Thomas, Trogan, and Braul.

The game began, and Aiira darted forward, ducking between the relatively slow Ugrik and Braul, trying to avoid touching either of them. Hrolik, she saw, had been tagged as soon as he had crossed the boundary line, byAlexandria, who had then kneed him lightly in the groin and dragged him off towards the prison area as he squirmed. Something similar happened to Thomas, who had been caught and thrown to the ground by Nikolai, and Trogan, who was brought to the jail by a proud Julian.

And then Aiira herself got caught. She noticed a dark shadow approaching her at great speed, coming in at her from the left, and tried to dodge away, but she felt strong arms wrap around her waist and bear her to the ground - although whoever had brought her done had rolled them over mid-flight so that she landed on top of the small pile.

It was Geoffrey. He smiled up at her as he stood up, pulling her with him.

"Hey, you're caught, you know."

"Yeah, I kinda figured, actually. Believe it or not."

"Whatever you say." He said this with a smile, robbing it of any insult it may have contained.

She laughed as she was carted off to "jail".

This was going to be a very interesting year.