{"sf1_id":906213,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Adventures of Peter Gray Chapter 21: School","author":"Domus Vocis","words":3042,"posted_at":"2015-09-03T15:04:00.000Z","tags":["1899","Adventure","Anthro","Brothers","Canine","Character Development","Coyote","Feline","Fennec","First Person","Furson","Highschool","Human","Humor","Hybrid","New York City","Plot Development","Puberty","Raccoon","Raccoon/Fox","School","Story Series","Street urchin","Teacher","boy","gray wolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/906213-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-21-school","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/906213","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=906213\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter\n21\nSchool\n          As I slept\npeacefully as a newborn cub, I thought I fell into the Hudson.\n          Instead, I\nhad a bucket of water thrown on me. \n\"Git up ya mutt!\" a gruff\nvoice shot. I spat and grumbled while staggering offa the hay bale. I lifted me\nmuzzle and blinked through wet eyes to see a growling lion holding a dripping\nbucket. \"Go on! Git goin' or I'll skin yer 'ide lika deer! Now! I ain't got\ntime fer this!\"\nI stumbled offa the bale and\nnearly slipped on the cobblestone from last night's morning new. While walking\noutta the alley, I grumbled, but waved to the lion. \"Thanks for the free bath!\"\nI shouted with me canines in happy view. \nOnce I was on the street near\nJoseph's Bakery, I spotted Bromley selling papers again for sixty cents apiece.\nThe German shepherd newsie nodded to me with joy and tossed a nother newspaper\nto a nearby gentletiger and his wife.\n\"Morning Peter!\" he shouted to\nme. \"Happy September!\" \n\"Ya too Bromley!\" I wagged me\ntail and turned a corner of the street. \nI hadn't seen Blink much since\nthe strike ended. I wondered how he was, and if more reporters bothered him. It\nmade me a tad wee jealous, which the hybrid found amusing. I remember Blink\nchuckling to me and saying it didn't matter if we were famous or not. \"I's just\nglad dat Pulitzer git his muzzle outta de gutter,\" he said last time we hung\nout. \nAfter Pulitzer made the deal\nwith the newsies (the gentlewolf paid for all the unsold newspapers and allowed\nthe Newsies Union to still exist) and ended the strike, the rest of the summer\nwas as boring as...well school. Blink was busier than ever with the Union and\nkeeping his job, and nothing eventful happened throughout the rest of August.\nNever\nthought I'd say this, I thought bitterly yet gleeful, but I'm glad school is starting today.\nWonder how it'll be...\nAs the sun rose higher into\nthe sky, and the smog of nearby chimneys flew over the brick tenement houses\nall 'round me, I made it to the street Lancie and James lived on. A couple\nwagons passed by and the occasional workers went on their way, and the lingering\nsmell of summer air brushed against me fur. \nA couple flights of stairs and\na 'hello' to one of their neighbors later, I found the wooden door leading to\nthe Lawton residence. I knocked once, then twice. \n\"Hello?\" I called. I put an\near to the door and tried to listen. I didn't hear anything, so I leaned\ncloser. I grinned soon as I heard footsteps on the other side. \"Jamie, Henry,\nya in there? It's Peter!\"\nBefore I knew it, I fell flat\non me face when the door opened.\nI sighed and breathed in the\ndusty flood through me nose. \"Ow,\" I muffled.\nA pair of human hands grabbed\nme shoulders and pulled me up. \"Oh Lord are you alright Peter?\" James asked. \"I\ndidn't know you'd be there...\"\nI looked up to see the kitchen\n\n\"Who is it Laura?\" Henry\ncalled from his bedroom. \"Is it Lance?\"\nI chuckled while James helped\nme up, and I stepped into the kitchen. \"No it's me Mr. Lawton,\" I spoke loud\nenough for him to hear. \n\"I thought I told you to stop\ncalling me 'Mr. Lawton' sonny,\" he replied back. \"I for one don't like being\nreminded how old I am.\"\nLaura laughed shortly and\nturned to me with her motherly smile. \"But honey, you're not even forty-five\nyet to be called old,\" he said while grabbing something offa a nearby counter.\n\"James, here's your lunch for today: \nI chuckled\nSoon as I wiped the dust offa\nme shorts, I felt a pair of small arms grab me legs and hug them like a steel\nbar. \"Doggie!\" Annabelle chirped while giggling. Me tail flicked at her nose\ninstinctively and she giggled more while pulling at me right leg. \"Doggie!\nDoggie!\" \n\"Nice to see ya too\nAnnabelle,\" I knelt down and pulled the little girl away from me, then smiled\nat the adorable little thing in her blue dress. \"How are ya this fine day?\" \n\"School! Jamie going to\nschool!\" \nMe and Annabelle's mother\nchuckled with her giggling. It was hard for me to believe how much Annabelle\nhad grown over the months. Instead of a little tyke in a pretty dress, she's\nturned into an adorable little human girl. \nShe suddenly kissed me nose,\ncausing me to sneeze, and her to laugh. \"Ah sorry there,\" I commented. Wiping\nme nose, she ran off to bother her father while I stood up to me footpaws. I\nlooked to her mother again with curiosity. \"So when is Annabelle supposed to\nstart school Laura?\"\n\"Oh Annabelle?\" Laura asked.\n\"She'll turn four in early October, so I think it'll be by next year or so\nPeter.\" She paused a moment, and pulled her hair back. \"Though me and Henry\ndear are considering whether an education is best for her, or if Annabelle\nwould be better off working.\"\nI flicked me ears attentively.\n\"Maybe,\" I shrugged with a wagging tail. \"I for one think school is important\nma'am. James needs it, and I'm pretty sure she'll need it too.\"\nLaura looked at me funny, and\nblink before asking, \"You don't go to school Peter, so how would you know\nthen?\"\nI folded me ears and frowned.\n\"So what's for breakfast ma'am?\" I changed the topic quickly. \nAs I rubbed me tummy from its\ngrowling, James stepped forward and presented himself. \"How do I look mom?\" he\nasked. \nMe and the Mrs. looked to\nJames, who was wearing a brown pair of trousers held up by black suspenders. Me\nhuman friend also wore a pair of black shoes and a white shirt tucked\nunderneath a brown vest. \n\"You look amazing honey,\" she\nsmiled while stepping forward to fix his hair. \"And here's a quarter to pay for\nlunch this afternoon. It isn't much, but you'll have a decent lunch.\" She gave\nus both a quick hug, gave each of us a quarter, and told us she'd see us later.\n\n\"Have a nice first day at\nschool sonny! You too Peter!\" Henry said as we left. \"And remember to learn so\nyou won't have to work with your old man instead.\"\nChuckling, James grabbed his\nschool slate and tucked it under his arm quickly. \"Thanks Dad!\" he shouted.\n\"Bye!\" \nWe walked down the stairways\nand walked outside the building, just as Lancie jumped outta his doorway.\n\"Please Ma! No!\" the raccoon sounded desperate, and we watched his muzzle turn\nwhite as his mother appeared from her doorway next door. \n\"Lancelot Turner, apologize\nfor that at the moment,\" she gasped while flicking her greying tail. In her\nright paw was a wooden spoon and the other a bowl of something smelly. \"And you\nbetter finish your pottage later tonight young raccoon, or no dessert for you.\"\nLance shook his muzzle. \"I'll\ntake the Hail Mary's tonight, but I gotta get to school. Bye!\" he turned to me\nand James, who knew what to do and ran for it like the plague. \n\"Have a good day at school\nsweety!\" Mrs. Turner shouted blissfully.\n\"Yeah! Have a nice day at\nschool Lancelot,\" a pair of familiar voices called from Mrs. Turner's door. I\nglanced me head and saw it was Bobby and Billy, Lance's younger raccoon\nbrothers by a year. \"Have fun at school while we have fun.\"\n\"Inside that is. Boys, get\ninside or you'll get sicker,\" me left ear caught their mother whisper. I hadn't\nseen those twins in a while, not that I was complaining. The last time Lancie's\nbrothers hung out with me, they used some of Old Man Holler's leftover glue I\nhad in me pocket and pasted me tail to a wooden fence. \nThe three of us jogged the\nstreet for a full minute until their street was outta sight. As the city began\nto come to life in the morning, I snickered, \"Lancelot?\"\nLance folded his ears. \"Yeah\nyeah, what's wrong with my name Peter?\" he asked with a curled tail. \nI shook me muzzle and tail\namused. \"Nothing Lancelot,\" I grinned. Just then, a thought crept in me noggin'\nand I leaned to whisper something into James' ear, causing the human boy to\nstop himself from chuckling. \n\"What did ya say?\" Lance asked\ninsistently. \nA passing wagon full of wheat\ncaught me scent, lightly sprinkled with freshly picked apples. It distracted me\nfor a moment, and Lancie had to slap the back of me head with his paw to get me\nattention again. \n\"Huh?\" I asked hungrily.\n\"W-What did ya say Lancie?\" He asked his little question again, and I looked to\nJames with a mirrored grin and smile. \"Ah it's nothing, we were just wondering\nif you're gonna play with King Arthur after school?\" Me and James laughed while\nclutching our stomachs, and didn't care about the puzzled looks from passing\nfursons on the street. \nMe raccoon friend folded his\nears more and whimpered. \"That's not funny Peter,\" Lancie muttered. \"If the\nother boys make fun of my real name, I'll be the laughingstock of the school\nyear.\"\nI was about to make a comment\nof how he and James only had to go to school until next year, but the comment\nof his mentioning his real name got to me. No one else besides Hansel and\nEdward knew this, but I had a secret similar to Lancelot's, and I wouldn't want\nme friend to know it either. \nWith a meaningful nudge in his\nright shoulder, I smiled at the raccoon. \"Me and James won't tell yer name\nLancelot,\" I grinned playful. \n\"Yer still not gonna let this\ngo are ya?\" he asked while turning to us with a flicking tail of annoyance. Me\nand James nodded in approval. \"Remind me to haunt ya two for the rest of yer\nlives when I die, will ya?\"\nI wagged me tail. \"It'll be me\nhonor Lancie.\"\n\"Mine too,\" James spoke.\n\"Fantastic,\"\nAt last, the school came into\nview, and the three of us raced to the metal gates. Being a lighter than the\nrest of them (thank being on a low diet for that), I was first, James was\nsecond, and Lance was in last place. Soon as I happily waltzed in the school\nyard, I noticed the vixens and she-wolves were...different somehow. It was like\nthey grew taller overnight, and wore their hair in braids. One vixen named\nMartha Mayfield looked like an older version of herself with a taller stance\nand a fluffier tail around her school dress. \nJames and Lancie noticed it\ntoo, and it took the raccoon a slap in the back of the head to get his eyes\noffa the Anderson twins to our right of the school yard. \"Ow!\" he yelped,\nturning to me with a light frown. \nAs he made a 'cunning' remark,\na she-wolf's angelic voice nearby caught me ear's attention. \"Is it that Peter\nGray fellow? Is it me or has he gotten more handsome?\" it was from either\nConstance or Abby, one of the Constance twins.\n\"Yeah, didn't he help with the\nnewsie rally a month back?\" a hyena I only knew as Janice whispered to\nConstance/Abby. \"I remember seeing him hang out with that Blink kid once, but I\ndidn't know his name back then.\"\nMe ears flushed red, and me\nfootpaws grew weaker than kelp. \nA vixen named Hannah\nwhispered, \"If he smelled better, I'd date him.\"\nI froze in place. What?\nSuddenly, the school bell rang\nlike church above us, and everyone 'round me started running inside. I turned\nto see her, but every one of the boys and girls, humans and fursons, ran inside\nwhile a nearby wolfish teacher shouted for everyone to head inside. Luckily,\nthe Presser Lesser wasn't in sight, and I casually walked around the right\ncorner of the building to Room E. \nYesterday, James and Lancie\nwere told that they'd be having class in a room called Room E in the school, and\nit got me noggin' rolling like a stone on a hill.\nThe best part of Room E was\nthat it had a window facing the brick wall that circled the school, and hung\nnext door to the chalkboard inside. That gave me the ability to entertain the bored\nstudents while sitting on a tree branch below the outside window.\nThe tree was fulla leaves\ngreener than the grass below it, and its limbs were steady for me paws and\nfootpaws to grasp onto. I climbed up a tree limb, and marveled at the feeling\nof bark on my palms again. \nFeels\ngood again...\nThe tree limb closest to the\nwindow was still strong to support me nimble body, and it only took me a couple\nof shifts to get meself into place. Stood up a bit, and loomed up to peer\ninside.\nRoom E looked like an average\nclassroom, almost the size of a tenement apartment, except it was fulla desks\nand posters on the walls. By the door on the other side of the room, I could\nsee cubs and kits running through the halls and a few coming into the classroom\nwith their stuff. \nAt last, me ears heard the\nclaws against the floor, and me nose smelled the scent of the fennec fox\nherself of the class. I ducked me head a bit, and knew Ms. Lesser was in the\nclassroom, probably eyeing out for a cub to torture with math and reading. \n\"Class settle down, settle\ndown at this moment if you please,\" she called out loudly. I heard the other\nstudents settle in the crowded wooden desks and still whispered to each other\nbefore a whacking sound silenced the room. Either a tile fell again, or the\nPresser Lesser had her ruler in her paw. \"I'll be taking attendance at the\nmoment. Leonard Alderson?\"\n\"Here, here, here,\" the class\nchanted for a long while. \nI knew and didn't know their\nclassmate's names, but I did catch a few ones I knew and loved, especially when\nit got to me frenemy Gavin Flint. By the time it got to James and Lancie's\nturn, I nearly fell offa the tree limb five times, and me footpaws felt a\nlittle sore standing on the bark. \n\"Now class, we will begin\ntoday's lesson by going on a few ground rules some of you may be familiar\nwith,\" Presser Lessor said sharply. \"First off, no talking unless spoken to...\" \nThat's\nme cue!\nI peered me eyes over the\nwindow, and saw the Presser Lesser to be waltzing between the desks toward the\ndoor. \"Second rule: never eat in class until lunchtime, or I'll give you a lashing\nnightmares are made of. Third rule...\"\nI poked me head up in view of\nthe window and swung me head back and forth, trying to talk like Ms. Lesser\nwith her annoying voice. A couple student widened their eyes at me, and stuffed\ntheir giggles with silence. I even got James' and Lancie's attention at the\nfront desks. \n          \"Quiet\nplease...\"\nI made funnier faces with me\nmuzzle and giggled with the students smiling at me amusement. I made moose\nhorns while imitating Ms. Lesser, she gave evil eyes to chuckling classmates,\nall while talking about some sister of her's from Britain recommending her a\nbook of sorts. \nThen, a ruler in her paws\nsmacked someone in the head bursting with laughter, and I had to hide under the\nwindowsill. \"Silence!\" the Presser Lesser finally snapped like a monkey. The\nsound of a canine yelping softly suggested she smacked her ruler at a student,\nturning me ears in slight fear. Slight fear.\n\"Class, I will be back, but one movement from where you are will  \nI slowly peered me eyes over\nthe window and into the classroom, oblivious to what happened along with the\nstartled students. \n\"Peter, she's gone,\" James\nsaid in between snickers. \nGavin chuckled. \"Yeah come on\nin, wolf,\" the 'yote announced. \nI perked me ears and happily\ncrawled through the open window, me tail happily wagging. No sooner than me\nfootpaws touched the floor did the door open, and I jumped out the window to\nhide. \n\"Oh class, that reminds me of\nsomething,\" Ms. Lesser suddenly entered with a happy tone. \"There is one final\nrule of this school year...\" I ducked me ears and head when she turned, and the\nsound of the fennec teacher's footpaws clattering at the floor came me way. It\nstopped, and I felt meself lifted in the air by me back collar. \"No street rats in my classroom.\"\n\"Ow! Lemme go witch!\" I\nwrithed and shook me limbs wildly. \"Lemme go Presser Lesser! Lemme go-\"\nShe pinched her fingernails\ninto me right ear, and probably gave it a piercing while dragging me to the\ndoor. I stumbled on me footpaws while the aged fennec screamed that she should\nskin me fur like a deer hide. I passed other classes and happily waved to the\nother surprised students and teachers mid-lesson. \n\"Yer doing well everyone!\" I\nshouted in fits of pain and giggles, me tail curling and wagging at the same\ntime. \"Learn all ya want! Happy first day of school-ow! Easy!\" I cleared me\nthroat and lowly growled when she pressed her nails into me ear tighter. \"If ya\nwant me to go with ya so much ya coulda asked me outta dinner first!\"\nWe came to the entrance of the\ndamp school, and the fennec tossed me outside like a cub caught with his paw in\nthe cookie jar. \"If I see you one more time this year, I will call-\"\n\"-the police ya scrawny brat,\"\nI rubbed me right ear tenderly, hoping she didn't poke a hole in it or\nsomething. \"Yeah, I've heard it before, and we know you'll never turn me in.\"\nMs. Lesser lifted a paw of\nhers and pointed at me, her eyes fixed on me nastily. \"Police! I need police!\"\nshe called with her tail raised and eyes surveying the school yard. \n\"Bye!\" I ran.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/897294-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-20-helping-blink.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/910586-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-22-david-who.json"}