Ariel Hobbes reluctantly shoved her math textbook into her already-bulging backpack and tried to zip it up. The school day had seemed to take forever, what with it being Friday and all. But the substitute today for history class? He made her tail twitch. And her fur stand on end. And every other possible negative reaction a tiger's body could summon.

"That no-good mudslinger," Ariel muttered under her breath as she slammed her locker closed. "Where is the trust, I ask you, where is the trust?"

"You're talking about Mr. Polaris, right?" came a voice from over Ariel's shoulder. Ariel swiveled her head around to see her best girlfriend, Kiki Georgeson, standing behind her. Kiki was relatively new to the school, and to Zootopia itself. The young monkey hailed from Primate City, but her father had decided to expand his window-washing business to the capital of Mammalia. The Georgesons' apartment was right across from the Hobbes's, and Ariel and Kiki were in a few of the same classes at school, so it was only instinctual that the girls should become friends.

There were the obvious differences, of course. Ariel was a naturally outgoing young animal, and an active one. Her main passion was swimming; she had already won several competitions individually and as a member of Possum Aquatic Center's team. She was extremely independent, since both of her parents had jobs outside the home: her father was the editor of the Zootopia Times, and her mother worked as a doctor in the Rainforest District. This independent spirit had often gotten Ariel into trouble, but she didn't give a snarl.

Kiki, on the other paw, was shy and bookish. She was never seen without a book tucked under her arm, and she rarely spoke to anyone. She never did anything without the permission of her parents, and was generally a rule-follower.

However, Ariel and Kiki had discovered that they shared a love of current events, what was happening in the world around them at the time. Every day, they would examine and discuss the newspaper headlines of the day, usually provided courtesy of Mr. Hobbes. The girls also bonded over the fact that they both had an annoying little brother to deal with. Calvin Hobbes and Duke Georgeson were the bane of their respective sister's existence, and the boys also happened to be best friends. Fortunately, the girls had come up with a few ways to negate how annoying their brothers were.

Kiki helped Ariel calm down somewhat, which helped avert trouble on many occasions. In return, Ariel helped Kiki enjoy the spices of life. In short, they went together like peanut butter and jelly.

Ariel answered her friend, "Yeah, is that guy biased or what? He kept lecturing us about how the Civil Rights movements biased the world in favor of minorities. As if there weren't enough differences between predator and prey."

"I know!" Kiki exclaimed. "He needs to get his head into the present. This is Zootopia. Mammals don't eat other mammals!"

"I'm just praying Ms. Lambsted gets well soon," Ariel quipped as she shouldered her backpack. "Then we won't have to deal with that guy anymore."

"Maybe we should send her a get-well card!" Kiki suggested. "We could have all our classmates sign it."

Ariel laughed, "Great idea, Keek! I'll make one when I get home. You're doing tutoring, right?"

Kiki nodded. "I'll see you when I get back," she affirmed. The two waved at each other, and out Ariel stepped into the busy city of Zootopia. She'd catch the ZTA to her apartment; there was a stop right near Mincoln High. As Ariel sat down, she felt the familiar buzz of her PawPhone. Apparently, she had a new text from her friend Diego Barnum; of course, she was eager to reply.

Sk8rfant73: Yo Ari! Whazzup? R U out of school yet?

TigerSplash6: Yeah, ok day. History sub was worse than your Uncle Jerry.

Sk8rfant73: Sry. Speakin of Uncle J, wanna do ice cream tomorrow?

TigerSplash6: Can Kiki come 2? We have a project we wanted to work on.

Sk8rfant73: Sure! He has banana splits, lol

TigerSplash6: Great! C U then!

Sk8rfant73: Stay cool, Queen of the Pool!

The transit pulled up just as Ariel put away her phone, smile on her muzzle. That elephant's cool-as-ice nature always made her feel better. Calvin teased her about crushing on him, but they were just friends. Such thoughts put a bounce in her stride as she boarded the transit.


Ariel pushed open the apartment door, and the creak echoed through the empty rooms. This was normal, though; her brother had Cub League practice until five. Perfect time for her to get some denwork done, maybe catch up on the news. Ariel made her way to the kitchen table and dug through her backpack for her math book, scanning the headline of the newspaper on the counter: ZPD Welcomes First Rabbit to Ranks.

"Interesting," Ariel thought aloud. "Sounds like the Mammal Inclusion thing we heard so much about is paying off. A bunny cop… I gotta say, I'm impressed. She must have worked really hard at it to get in. Better finish my denwork quick, so I can figure out more!"

Ariel sped through her denwork, finishing in record time. Her math was every bit as yawn-inducing as usual, but the rest of it was interesting. History entailed reading about Richard the Lion-Heart and legends of his time, including one of a wily fox known as Robin Hood. Everybody knew that one, though.

Ariel grabbed the newspaper and began to read the front-page story. The rabbit who had just been accepted into Zootopia's police force was named Judy Hopps, and she came from Bunnyburrow. She was valedictorian of her class at the police academy. According to an interview with Judy, the bunny was fulfilling a lifelong dream by joining the ZPD; she had always wanted to "make the world a better place". That's so awesome, thought Ariel. I love seeing animals go after their dreams. She continued reading, and learned that Judy would be stationed right in Downtown Zootopia. Ariel's eyes widened when she saw that. Maybe she would run into Judy someday soon…

"TigerChase, we're movin'! We're beatin' Stalker at his game!"

Ariel groaned and dropped her head on the table. So much for a quiet afternoon. It looked like Cal was home early, and watching his favorite cartoon. Animally, Ariel despised TigerChase. The episodes were all the same, the villain was completely irrational, and that cyborg bird that served as sidekick got really annoying after a while. Yet every day she had to grit her canines and bear through the adventures of the three tiger kids who got sucked into a computerized world periodically. The theme song didn't help, either. Especially when Calvin sang along...

"Could you please turn down the volume?" Ariel roared in the direction of the living room. "I can hear it clear over here!"

Calvin responded by turning the television up even louder. That was just the kind of thing he liked to do to be annoying.

Ariel continued, "You could always watch WordGorilla or Wild Ratts, you know! It doesn't have to be that show!"

"Pipe down, will ya?" Calvin shouted back. "The TigerSquad is about to get their mission from MotherBoar! This is a good part!"

"Ya know what, I'm just gonna block you out," Ariel said sarcastically as she grabbed a piece of colorful cardstock paper for the get-well card.

"Good. Maybe then I can watch my show in peace!"


Ariel jerked her head up when she heard the apartment door open. There was only one animal it could be at this hour. Calvin was already in bed, thank goodness. Ariel had been up late putting the finishing touches on her card, but now she ran to greet her dad.

"How's my little mermal?" Mr. Hobbes asked as Ariel flew into his arms.

Ariel laughed, "Oh, I'm doing great, Dad!" I'm making a get-well card for my history teacher. She's out sick."

"Good for you. Calvin's in bed?"

"Thank Dog, he is!"

Mr. Hobbes rolled his eyes playfully. "How did he annoy you today?" he chuckled.

"First of all," Ariel started, "he was blasting that idiotic TigerChase show while I was working on homework. Then he tore up the first card I made before Kiki and I could sign it."

"I'll talk to him about it later," Mr. Hobbes sighed. "Right now, you need to get to bed. You have swimming practice after school tomorrow, don't you?"

Ariel's eyes immediately brightened. "Oh yeah, almost forgot! We've got a huge meet this weekend."

"Get some sleep," Mr. Hobbes advised. "I'll see you in the morning."

Ariel nodded, bear-hugged her dad one more time, and pounced off to her bedroom. It was small, considering she lived in an apartment, but there was room on her walls for her most prized possession. An autographed poster of the famed swimmer Sarah Sjohorn. If a bunny can fulfil her dream of becoming a cop, Ariel mused as she snuggled under her sky-blue comforter and closed her eyes, a tigress can surely become a famous swimmer. That's my dream. I'm gonna follow Judy's example and go after it, no matter what it takes.