"Good morning class." he greeted the room.
"Good morning Mr Concolor." the students droned back and I could actually join in since I already knew his name.
"We have a new student joining our class today, his name is Nobu, please make him feel welcome." he told the class and I felt many eyes on me that made me feel uncomfortable. Mr C started did the register and then talked about events that would be happening this term, likd any changes to policy the students needed to know about since breaking up six weeks prior.
"Hey Nobu!" someone sitting behind me whisper yelled and I turned to face them. I didn't even have to sniff them this time, I know the facial features of a lion when I see one, I raised my eyebrows at him in question. "You a feline" he nosed.
"Yes Mr lion." I answered and a few of the guys around him smirked.
"How did you know that?" he demanded with his mouth hanging open. He had russet brown eyes, dark blonde hair on the longer side and a deep tan, athletic build and an arrogant air about him.
"My mother's a lioness and my brothers a liger, I know a lion when I see one." I explained and he looked me over, his brown eyes boring into my skin. I had to fight off shifting in discomfort from his instense staring.
"You don't look like either." he pointed out. He was a genius! A grey haired and blue eyed male couldn't possibly be either of those.
"Because I'm not." I confirmed, fed up with the conversation already.
"What are you then?" he pushed and I sighed.
"I didn't tell Mr Puma over there and I have no intention of telling you either." I declared.
"How do you know he's a puma?" he asked me and I just sighed again, loudly on purpose and turned back around. I felt him tapping on my shoulder non to gently and I turned around to send him a glare. "I wasn't finished talking." he stated.
"Well I was." I scowled and turned back around to face the class.
"He doesn't look like a tiger either." I heard a new voice say from behind me, obviously talking to the arrogant lion. They continued to chatter behind me, a few more of the guys around them joining in and I tuned them out, not interested in their conversation and looked out of the window for a while.
"Why won't you tell us?" the annoying lion tapped me on the shoulder again and I let a small growl slip from my lips so express my dislike for him and the contact. This guy was irritating, I didn't like him already, such a nosy nuisance.
"Because I don't want to." I hissed, not even bothering to turn around this time.
"But why?" he whined and I sighed loudly and rubbed my face in an aggravated manor.
"Why won't you jump off a cliff?" I retorted in a cold tone.
"Because I don't want to?" he said slowly, sounding confused.
"But why?" I asked him, mimicking his whiney voice and smiled, some students around us snickered. Conversation over. I glanced over at the guy next to me as he was listening in on the conversation and I raised my pale eyebrows. He bleated in fear and was suddenly a goat instead of a human, I sighed and turned to look back out of the window, not interested.
"Billy." Mr C sighed. Really? Billy? So original. The goat hopped out of his clothes and onto the floor, somehow his beanie and wireframe classes were still on his head, hipster goat indeed. Some of the students snickered and Mr C stared them down and they quickly shut up. Mr C looked over at the Billy goat and then at me and I shrugged. I didn't do nothing. "Why did you shift?" he asked Billy and he looked over at me.
"I just glanced at you." I defended. "And I've already had my breakfast." some of the predators in the room sniggered at that and Mr C frowned. He glanced around the room.
"Nobu, why don't you swap seats with Rhim." he suggested and I looked behind me and easily spotted Rhim, he was practically shaking in his hooves. He eagerly jumped up and I got up from my seat and stepped away so he didn't have to brush past me. I walked down the aisle and sat in his old place. Rhim was a deer of some sort and I glanced at the source of his previous quivering. Ink black hair, a strong, square, pronounced jaw, large chateraise green eyes, tall, but on the more compact and well-muscled side. I sniffed the air, feline. Jaguar maybe? Melanistic if so, due to the hair colour. His strong nose twitched as he took in my scent and grunted, his foam green eyes studying me. I studied him back, having the urge to purr for some reason, he was handsome, I'll give him that.
"You gonna tell us yet?" that lion started up again, but now I was behind him. I looked away from Mr Jaguar and huffed at the lion but ignored his words. "Hey kitty." he crooned mockingly and I let out a piercing and lengthened meow, warning violence was imminent if said annoyance didn't fuck off. Everyone in the room with good ears winced and the prey animals made themselves look smaller, sinking down in their seats. "Take that as a no." he quickly turned back around and I grumbled and rested my chin on my hand.
"Bloody lions." I muttered and I saw the Jaguar next to me smirk. "Something funny Mr Jaguar?" I raised my eyebrows at him and his already large eyes got bigger.
"How?" his deep and rumbling voice asked me, I tapped my nose and he looked impressed. The bell signalling the end of homeroom sounded and I looked over at my schedule, gym, I sighed loudly again. Everyone got up and started to walk out the classroom, I walked up to Mr C's desk.
"Yes Mr Unica?" he asked.
"I'm exempt from P.E until winter unless it's held in the gym, where do I go instead?" I inquired and he looked confused. He glanced down at some of his papers and skimmed it, nodding.
"You are indeed exempt from gym until winter, the weather is nice so gym will be outdoors today. I'll show you where the library is on the way and inform your gym teacher to make sure he knows." he informed me and headed out of the class, me not far behind. He took me to the library and told the librarian I needed to stay here until break due to gym being a double period and then headed off. Guess I'll read for two hours, good job I like to read. The librarian gave me a small smile and I returned it before finding a comfy chair and claiming it with my bag before going off to find a decent book, once that was done I sat down and read it for the next two hours until the bell signalling break sounded. I stayed there for those 15 minutes as well. When the third period bell sounded I looked down at my schedule, English, room 21. I put the book back and asked the librarian for directions which she happily gave me and I thanked her and went on my way. The billy goat, Rhim and the Jaguar were in this class as well and I sat next to the last one, it should save me from having to move again. Billy was also back in human form, wouldn't want to scare him and turn him back into a goat. A rounded balding man in his later years walked into the class sweating profusely, it was still early in the day, even I wasn't that hot, he was human so he had no excuse.
"Good morning class." he wheezed.
"Good morning Mr Bellamy." the class mumbled, I only said the good morning part, due to not knowing his name prior to them saying it. He did the register after and somehow butchered my name completely.
"We are going to be studying Skellig by David Almond this term, you will be required to fill in this slip and hand it in with the stated money and one will be issued to you. If you already have a copy of the book just let me know in a moment and bring it in next lesson. So does anyone already own a copy of the book?" he questioned the class and I was the only one who raised my hand. He noted it down and asked the student sitting closest to him to hand out the slips and the pieces of paper got shared throughout the class except for me.
"Now has anyone read the book before?" he prodded and again I was the only one who raised my hand. It was actually a pretty good book, I was looking forward to studying it. "Ok." he mumbled. He then asked the same student to hand out some more pieces of paper. I looked at it and it was the first couple of pages of the book printed out onto the paper. We spent the rest of the lesson studying and dissecting the words written down until the bell rung. I looked down at my schedule again, History, room 32 and I frowned.
"I have the same class, you can follow me." the Jaguar offered.
"Thank you, and what's your name, I can't keep calling you Mr Jaguar." I thanked him and he chuckled.
"Name's Ambrose but everyone calls me Ro for short." he introduced himself.
"Well thank you again Ro." I repeated and earned a smile. I followed him to our next class and sat next to him again.
"Why weren't you at gym Nobu?" that damn lion started talking again, we were in the same class, 'again', I internally groaned, wonderful. I ignored him and made myself busy by getting my equipment out of my bag. He obviously noticed I wasn't going to answer after staring at me for two straight minutes as I ignored him and turned around with a defeated, yet still determined expression on his face, he would be asking me again then, just brilliant!
"He's probably injured or something." one of his friends guessed. The lion turned to look at me again and I felt his eyes all over me as he tried to find an injury that wasn't there.
"It doesn't look like there's anything wrong with him." he said insultingly and looked me over once more to be sure.
"There's going to be something wrong with you if you don't start minding your own business." I growled at him and felt my shift wanting to come to the surface to teach the stupid lion a lesson. He smartly dropped it for now.
"May I ask why?" Ro inquired gently and I turned to look at him. He had a friendly expression on his face, a relaxed and open posture. He had a friendly and welcoming feel, my shift taking a strong liking to him, maybe I'll give him a little inkling.
"My hypothalamus isn't suited to this climate." was my explanation and he looked confused but I didn't elaborate. He was about to say something when the history teacher came in.
"Good morning class." she called. She was a small shifter lady in her late 20's, in a knee length blue and green office dress and was some sort of bird shifter.
"Good morning Mrs Finch." well that answered my question. Some families had a close tradition of only mating with the same species, mainly bird species and often their last name showed what species they were.
She taught us about the medical health system and diseases in history, like cholera and small pox. The bell rung for lunch.
"Do you want to sit with me at lunch?" Ro offered.
"I would like that." I accepted with a smile. He smiled back and it made his pale green eyes light up, giving me the urge to purr again. He led me to the cafeteria, we sat right down at a table as I had packed my own lunch, and so had he. He had walked over to a table with three other students, all of them shifters as well.
"Hi guys, this is Nobu." he introduced me as we sat down and I smiled shyly. "Nobu this Is Carrie, Felix and Benjamin." he informed me. Carrie was the only female in the group, she had reddish or fawn coloured dreads and darker skin, very large olive green eyes, defined cheekbones and rounded chin. Her ears were elongated, pointed at the end, generally a small face with a broad forehead and short-ish straight nose. I sniffed the air, another feline, hmm... Caracal maybe?
Felix had white fluffy hair, a light grey where his animal ears would be. His eyes were a hazel grey, his nose long and slender, short and narrow chin with an overly round face. He was small and slender in appearance. I sniffed the air again, getting canine, I concentrated on his scent... fox... artic fox I'd guess, from his pale hair and it's fluffiness.
Benjamin was tiny and timid, I doubt he was over five foot if he stood up. He had large rounded ears, a light brown hair straight an in kind of a bob cut. His eyes were huge and black behind circular wire rimmed glasses, very small nose, and chubby cheeks. His hands were small with long nails, and looked at me wearily. Like with the other two I sniffed the air, definitely a mouse of some sort, due to his large ears a Dumbo mouse possibly?