Feral High, Ch. 1 (Patreon)

The hustle and bustle of Feral High was on an all time peak as of late. As of last month, political talks had progressed and the Human-Anthro cohabitation act had finally been passed, to much dismay and delight on various sides. Some Anthros maintained that they were the superior Species than the Homo Sapien, while others openly encouraged integration. And the buzz had been growing steadily in consistency ever since the Principal had announced that a trial period of Human exchange students was due to begin. Entirely voluntary, the Human students would be under strict protection and no bullying allowed of any kind. Every student was to be courteous, welcoming, and hospitable so as to improve interspecies relations and also hopefully spark the initiative for more schools across the country to begin such integration. Long story short, Feral High could not wait to meet its new student body members.

For Anon however, it was a different story. Coming from a lacklustre background, and raised mostly by his grandparents, not much had been going well for him at his old, all Human school. Socially an outcast mostly due to being unable to stand out in nearly any significant way, he had few friends who were not online, had no specialities when it came to preference or elective choices, and no special skills to speak of. He was a blank slate, and one that had been forced into obscurity by the prowess and intimidation of his peers. So, when the offer had been made to transfer schools, he had leapt upon the opportunity. Here was a chance to redefine himself, really get away from the faces he feared and resented so much, and try something new. Brand new, since no Human had ever done this before. His average grades also meant that he had been a prime candidate; his school's grade-point average would not decline, and the new school's would not be affected.

The only issue was that he had been forced to move, entirely, from his hometown to the new one. He hated moving, had done it all his life, which also led into why he had few actual friends in-person. And he was going alone. His grandparents would be sending him money, and he would apparently be staying in what amounted to a government paid dorm room only a block or so from the school campus. Meals were easy enough to come by, his cost of living was incredibly low, and after a few months, he had been told that he could even apply for a job if he desired. The Integration lady had been very sweet, and informative, and he had even taken a few classes on how to act around and with Anthros, a nearly alien experience to him for the most part. As they came in all shapes, sizes, varieties, and species, he had only been told to learn the very basics; be courteous and respectful, don't show your teeth, don't wear animal-print clothing, and above all else, do not wear fursuits. He had been surprised to hear the last one, apparently there had been an incident at a convention. It had not gotten violent, but if he had thought Racial Appropriation had been a serious enough claim for Humans, it had been three times as bad for an Anthro.

As he made sure, for the fifth time, that he had all of his materials on hand, his backpack must have weighed 50 pounds from the variously sized books shoved into it, he glanced out the window at the outline of the school just barely visible in the light fog. The mascot emblazoned upon the billboard up front, somehow hilariously, was a Chimera, with the three different animal heads all breathing fire. He had been wondering how an all Anthro school would even cover a mascot, what with Humans using any and all kinds of animals and such. Did Anthros just use mythological creatures instead? It would have been like his old school having the mascot be "the Washington East High Humans." He chuckled and then checked the time. The patrol car would be there any minute to escort him to the school. Not expecting trouble, the dean had still told him that for his first week or so, it was better to just let himself be taken to school rather than walk.

Sure enough, his house phone began to ring, and he plucked it up. A deep, growly voice came from the other side. "Hello, Anon?" He answered that it was him. "Hello, this is officer Heen, I was supposed to be your driver this morning but I'm having some personal trouble and I'm sending my partner today instead. I hope that's all right." He told them that it was, and that he understood. His only question was what species was the partner, so he knew what to look for and be careful about.

Laughter came from the other end of the phone. "That's a very fair question to ask, my partner is a Meerkat, goes by the name of Suri. He's a riot, so you shouldn't have any issues. Very low-key guy, great sense of humor. He should be there any minute."

From what he understood, Meerkats were rather small animals, and he voiced the question to Heen as to how he was able to drive. He immediately felt bad, wondering if that was racist...speciest? Heen seemed to be even more entertained.

"He has to use a booster seat," they responded. "I give him shit about it all the time." A crash sounded from the other end of the line and he heard loud swearing. "Err...sorry, got to go," officer Heen said, and just as they were putting down the phone, he heard the police officer start to yell, "Mckenzie Heen you are not going out wearing tha-" Click. His head rang a bit from the feedback.

He was just wiggling a finger in his ear when a honk came from the front of the house's driveway, followed almost a second or so later by a rapid knocking on the door. He walked over to answer it, and opened it. Given what he had been told, he automatically looked down. Standing at just underneath half of his height, a black and blue clad Meerkat police officer stood there, grinning up at him widely with his sharp little teeth on display, long tail standing tall, and a patrolman's hat cocked to one side to account for his ears. His nametag read "Suri".

"Well hello there and good morning, young fella!" he said in a higher-pitched and nasally sounding voice. "All ready for your first day at school?" He had his paws balanced on his hips and was practically bouncing on the pads of his footpaws. Apparently Anthros didn't wear shoes? On closer inspection, he saw a black padded wrapping around the paws, leaving the claws and digits free but functioning as actual footwear.

Anon nodded ascent and smiled nervously down at the officer. He was nervous as hell, as was to be expected, and he did voice that he had actually no personal experience in being one-on-one with an Anthro, let alone being alone in a school full of them. He worried how it was going to go.

Suri nodded along, smiling the entire time, and tipped his hat to the side a little more as his ears perked up. "Oh trust me, I getcha," he said sagely. "When the Predator-Prey act was passed, there was a lot of hesitancy among the cities and schools as to how that would go along. But we didn't even have a single incident. Anthros are much more interested in cohabitation and finding solutions for peace than you'd think. Hell, a few years ago, you'd never have seen a Meerkat as a police officer, let alone with a partner more than three-times their size. Now, Heen and I just had to make sure we know who is driving that day, so that we don't have to keep readjusting the dang seat. But hey, we gotta get you going! Gotta get you all ready and presentable for the governor to make his little speech this morning. You good at speaking to a crowd?"

Anon balked and shook his head, then relented that he had been involved a little bit with the Acting and Debate teams back in his old school, although he'd never done exemplary in them. He felt absolutely no fear of Suri, and as they talked, he plucked up his heavy backpack and lugged it out to the squad car parked in the driveway. He waved shyly at the neighbors who were out doing their trash, a large Water Buffalo male in a bathrobe and shorts, and an Ibex woman who was watering her flowers. They both waved back.

As they opened the doors to the car, Anon actually allowed to sit in the back which was kind of exciting, since it was a real life police car with reinforced cages and everything, he noticed that Suri clambered up into it on all fours with incredible agility, buckling himself into a honest-to-god baby car seat. It was all black and padded, but had floral stickers plastered onto it, most of which were heavily faded and not sticking as well as they should have been. He asked Suri about it hesitantly.

Suri glowered at the stickers but made no move to take them off, in fact he padded one down firmly with a clawed finger before he started up the car with a roar of the engine. "Heen does that every so often to tease me. Gets a huge kick out of it but I always get mine."

As they started off slowly down the residential street, Anon noticed that the vast majority of the species out and about, including the crowds of students already arriving in droves, were all large Mammals, Reptiles, and Birds of all distinctly African species. The entire neighborhood was in fact. As they drove, and students turned to look at the car, he saw lions, zebras, alligators, leopards, and many more, all as if they had walked right here from the plains of Africa. He voiced the observation to Suri, who glanced back at him in the rearview mirror.

"Oh right, you're pretty new to all of this...well here's the thing. We as species all evolved around one another in our original habitats for centuries. When we all became Anthros, we broke up city districts into those appropriately divisioned kinds of areas as well, so that we didn't have to go from seeing all our friends and neighbors be spread out to all other kinds of places. This way, we can meet other ecosystems more smoothly. Kind of made the transition easier for some. This is the African district, so that's why you see all those kinda folks around here."

Anon supposed it made some sense, but he was quickly distracted by the sight at the front of the school. Separated by orange traffic cones and white ribbon tape, he could see entire crowds had formed on either side of the main walkway of the school. Species of all sorts clambored and stood there, craning around one another, with the tallest standing in back and the shorter species in front. Multiple police officers stood by lazily, as if not expecting any trouble, and the governor stood alongside the Dean. Both of them were Zebras, and looked almost similar, as if related. He was surprised that he could tell but then again, maybe he had actually learned something from all those lessons given to him by the Integration office.

The car rolled slowly to a stop and Suri looked back at him, grinning widely. "Here's your stop kid, you ready?" Anon didn't even have time to respond before the Meerkat cop clicked something on his dashboard and the door to the backseat swung open. Wincing, he lifted up his backpack and stepped out of the car. Immediately upon seeing him, the crowds of Anthros went quiet, dozens of bright and variously shaped eyes scanning him up and down. He felt so small and alien, unable to really tell what any of them were thinking. He almost felt like a meal being sized up, before a warm paw touched his shoulder and he looked around, then up, to see another officer, this one a very intimidating male Lion, grinning down at him. He had a star on his uniform and was much more grizzled, if still well groomed, than his fellows. He had seen a picture of this guy before, apparently he was a Police Chief or something.

"Right this way," the lion rumbled, and together they walked down the concrete walkway towards the front steps of the school, where a podium had been set up. Anon was escorted gently to the side of the Dean, who smiled at him very sweetly, while the governor stepped up to the microphone and began to speak. Anon didn't hear much of what was said, he kept nervously glancing around and meeting the eyes of various students and teachers standing around. It was easy to tell them apart, students wore casual clothes while the teachers all wore uniforms. He would quickly look away every time he locked eyes with someone, it was all a bit much.

Finally, he was nudged forwards by the lion and he had to step up onto a stool to reach the microphone. He tapped it a few times, cleared his throat, and meekly stammered out an introduction. He explained how happy he was to be coming to the school, admittedly reading off of an index card that had been waiting for him on the podium, and asked that the whole student body take good care of him. He also added in that he was a bit nervous but he would like it if he could make lots of friends. When he was done, there was a round of applause from everyone assembled, and the Dean, governor, and police chief all took turns shaking paws and hands with him. He stood off to the side as the speech was wrapped up, looking for officer Suri, who was standing on the roof of his car to see over the crowd, and who gave him a very approving thumbs up. Anon smiled, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

As the students and staff all filed into the school, a few students lingered outside in a more shadowed corner where it wasn't as easy to see them. Three of them were there, all clad in emblazoned, black leather jackets and various intentionally ripped outfits, smoking cigarettes. The shortest of them was a leopard girl, heavy eyeliner around her bright yellow eyes, piercings in her ears, and wearing, along with the jacket, a short skirt that barely came down to her thighs. Modestly curved and athletic, she leaned against the wall of the school and clicked open her phone, displaying an image she had snapped of the newcomer, standing up at the podium, and smiling awkwardly, hand on the back of his head and looking mostly in the direction of the camera shot.

"Pretty cute," she said, voice raspy and lifted by a purr. "For a human anyways."

The girl next to her, sitting on the bumper of a school van, flicked her spotted ears and waved her long canine tail. Her leather jacket was currently hanging off of her shoulders, displaying the tight tanktop she wore, stretched over much more profound feminine curves than the leopard had, and her intentionally ripped jeans cuffed at the knees with fake fur. Her African Wild Dog muzzle turned up to look at the photo and she chuckled, leaning on one manicured paw. "Certainly is, if you're into that anyways."

"Bitch, you know you are," replied the feline, chuckling and flicking the phone over towards the canine so she could get a better look. "If you aren't, I can always take a pass at him."

A huge paw reached up and caught the phone as it sailed through the air. The owner of the paw, the absolute largest of the trio, brought the phone close to her muzzle, eyes glittering. Her hackles raised and she flashed a huge mouth full of sharp fangs in a smile at the human in the photo. The massive hyena girl tapped out her cigarette and adjusted her stance, currently squatting against the side of the school. Head, shoulders, and some change taller than the Wild Dog girl, she wore a heavy metal t shirt so stretched and tight over her assets that it seemed in danger of ripping, and whereas the other two were feminine and long-limbed, their obvious leader was bulky with muscle, her jeans rippling atop of her thick thighs, leather jacket arms only coming down to her elbows and opened wide across the front. Her spotted hide was pristine and thick, and she glanced up at the other two. She said nothing

They both giggled. "You all wanna welcome him?" asked the leopard girl, drawing out one last drag on her cigarette before she tamped it out on the wall and dropped it. "Oh and Kenzie, can I have my phone back please?" she held out a spotted paw to the Hyena as they all stood up straight and began to walk into the school. Various students all still hanging around gave them a wide berth.

The hyena girl didn't respond beyond handing it back over her shoulder to her friend, and then going back to putting both paws in her jacket pockets as she led the way through the halls in search of a more face-to-face meeting with their new school mate. The other two followed close behind, long tails waving side to side.

"You fight with your mom again this morning?" asked the Dog girl just to pass the time.

Kenzie the hyena made a committal grunting sound.

"That's a bummer," said the leopard. "Let's see if we can't cheer you up."

The three girls all chuckled darkly and continued on. Today was indeed going to be very interesting...