Chapter 1
Exodus woke, the morning sun luring him from sleep, and the sound of a whistling tea-pot drawing him from his red and black sheets. He stretched, admiring himself in the mirror on his closet door.
He was about 5'11, broad shoulders but a flat stomach. His fur was black, and his hair was green with ashen gray tips. He also put in his earing, always wishing he'd not done the wrong ear. People got the wrong idea, which made being bisexual even harder, because explaining that made him look gay already.
He leapt across the room to a pile of used clothes he'd neglected to wash, picking up his favorite hoodie. It was black with a red liner in the hood, which was perfect for the autumn weather. He also slid into his jeans, which bore tatters on the knees from skateboarding. He wondered why people bought them with the holes already there, it just wasted the opportunity to give em' holes, he thought.
Outside his room, on the landing over the lower level, he leapt over the railing, landing on the couch next to his sister, . She had pink fur, with a brighter pink underbelly. She had shaggier fur, because she insisted it was "hip" to grow it out. She shrieked in her high-pitch voice, and punched Exodus in the arm.
"Yow!" He yelped, shocked by her strength.
"You know not to scare me like that!" She crossed her arms, pouting.
"No fighting, you two." It was Exodus's mother. "Apologize to your sister, Exodus."
"Sorry you're so easy to scare," Exodus said, sliding off the couch and smoothly grabbing his backpack off the floor where he'd left it last night.
"MooooOooom!"
Exodus was out the door, smirking as he dashed off toward school.
The bell was ringing as he arrived. Late again, and even his friend Shakey had failed to wait for him. He dashed across the lawn, passing through the doors into the slowly emptying hallway. "No, no, no, no NO!" He repeated aloud, scrambling to bolt at top speed to his locker… three floors up. He had been late three times this week, and truancy was looked down on like murder. He entered the stairwell, each footstep bouncing around with a thunderous echo.
Upon reaching the top floor, he hit the door and and fell through. Landing on his stomach, his messenger bag slid across the floor, hitting someone's foot.
Exodus looked up, and saw standing there, Reba. She was in her cheerleading outfit, but oddly enough was not accompanied by her sister, Janice. She giggled, and extended a hand helping him up.
"Smooth as ever, I see." She punched his shoulder, immediately dragging him over to where his bag lay, and picking it up, securing over his shoulder and patting him down.
"You don't need to… I can… UGH. Okay, are you done yet mom?" Exodus asked, annoyed.
"Almost. And that's Mrs. Mom to you, moron." She motioned for him to follow her and the two of them walked to class.
After class, the bell rang for lunch, and Exodus exited, clawing at his hair. Reba was waiting for him, holding his bag.
"Forget something?" she held it up for him, with a devious smirk. Of course, he took it, though begrudgingly.
"I told you, mom, I'm a big boy now!" He kicked the locker aside the door, grunting and pulling up his hood. His arms crossed, he stood like a statue.
"You okay, there buddy?"
"Am I grounded if I didn't do well on the test?"
"Yes, honey. And your father is going to be even more upset, after all the time he spent tutoring you."
"Boy, you're really getting into this."
"Oh, look! Here comes daddy."
Shakey came running up, jumping on Exodus's shoulders, and pulling the strings on his hoodie. He then leapt off and watched Exodus untighten the hood, and give the death glare to him.
"Hey, Exo-dick."
"Well, if it isn't future Jeffery Dahmer?"
"Woah, what crawled up your ass?"
"Maybe all that tutoring you gave me was bogus, because I know I flunked that shit."
"Yeah? Well maybe you should have spent the time actually studying…?" Shakey gave that know it all look, which always pissed Exodus off, even when it was justified or just a stupid joke.
"I have a disability, okay?" Exodus leaned against the wall, "It's called "I've got better things to do than learn the hypothesis of a triangle," okay?"
"You have better things to do? Like having to repeat 10th grade, man?"
Exodus gritted his teeth. "Why don't you just lay off, okay? I get it! I'm a loser! I'm not going anywhere in the math world, clearly!"
"Hey, well maybe you shouldn't call people the future Jeffery Dahmer? Huh?"
"It was a JOKE dude! Lighten the HELL UP!"
Shakey froze. He was shocked. Then, he scowled, and turned his tail, mumbling something. Exodus watched as Shakey walked away, in a huff, punching a locker on his way.
"Dude, that was so not cool." Reba said, crossing her arms and glaring at Exodus.
"What," exodus said, "are you fucking kidding me? He's the one who took it way too hard!"
Reba didn't say anything, she just shook her head. She turned and stormed off, just as the bell emptied what little of the hallway students were left into their classrooms. Exodus stood, baffled. Eventually, he turned to find his way to lunch.