Chapter One: Sable

"Tom, Sable is new here. Do you think you can show her around?"

Clutching my binder and books, I smiled shyly and cleared my throat. "Hi, I'm Sable."

"Oh, um, hey," he said, running his hand through his fur. "I'm Tom." He looked to Mrs. Howard. "Yeah, sure. I'll show her the ropes."

"Thanks," Mrs. Howard, the school principal, said. She walked over to the school office, leaving Tom and me alone.

"So, uh, welcome to Paw Prints High School," Tom said.

"Thanks," I said quietly. My heart began to throb. I had been waiting for this day my whole life, when I would finally be in high school, but now that I'm here I'm realizing it's not as exciting as I hoped it would be. Arriving a week late didn't help either.

"So, this is the lunchroom," Tom said. He pointed to a huge cafeteria we were standing by. "It's cool."

"Cool," I said, giggling nervously. Tom was a brown raccoon with a black mask covering his eyes. He had small, round ears and a black, pointed nose. His bushy tail stuck out from the pants of his dark blue uniform. He's so cute, I thought, squealing inside my mind. I hope he's in my classes.

"And here's the offices and stuff." Tom pointed to a few small rooms lined up in the front hallway next to each other.

"Oh," I said, nodding. "Okay." We began to walk upstairs.

"And here's some classrooms," he said, sounding bored. "And over there's the gym and locker rooms. Swimming pool is downstairs, but we never use it. Dunno why."

"Okay." I didn't know what else to say.

"And, uh, here's your homeroom." He cleared his throat. "Uh, our homeroom. You're in my class."

"Really?" I asked, trying not to sound too excited. "That's cool. At least I know someone now."

"Yeah," he said, uninterested. His eyes wandered to something in the back of the classroom. I didn't see anything where he was staring, until I realized he was just trying not to make eye contact with me.

"Ms. Sable!"my teacher, Mr. Shill said, clasping his hands together. He asked for some forms my "mother" was supposed to sign (I forge her signature all the time) and told me to take a seat next to Tom. When I gave my new neighbor a small smile, he didn't even acknowledge it.

"Okay, class," Mr. Shill said. "Can anyone tell Sable what we're up to in our chemistry class? Hm? Anyone?"

Not one hand went up. My gut twisted. I really hope these kids are nice...I'm terrified as is; it'd be nice to have a friend.

"Ah, Thomas! Why don't you tell Sable what we're up to?"

Tom shifted in his seat and awkwardly turned to face me. "Um," he said, looking anywhere but at me. "We're learning, like, the molecular structure of atoms and...stuff." He added quietly, "I think..."

"Very good!" Mr. Shill said, pleased. "Now, partner up! We're continuing the experiment today."

I looked around at everyone exchanging seats and smiling with their friends and partners. Tom did a crazy handshake with some anteater I didn't know. Great. I'll be alone.

Mr. Shill looked my way. "Oh, Thomas!"

"Don't call me that," Tom grumbled so the teacher wouldn't hear. Then louder, "Yeah?"

"Pair up with Sable."

Tom rolled his eyes. "But-"

"No buts! She's new and we want her to feel comfortable, right?"

"But-"

"Right?"

"Right..."

"Lonny," Mr. Shill said to the anteater. "Pair up with Greg."

"'K," Lonny said, smiling at Greg. Something told me they had a lot of inside jokes and caused trouble often. That crooked smile...it just irks me.

"Okay, so, here," Tom said, moving his desk closer to mine. He pulled out some beakers and test tubes, some powdery stuff, and a measuring cup. The beaker was filled with an eerie green liquid. I was never good at chemistry, so let's see where this leads me...

"Here. Fill this with this." He handed me the powdery stuff and the measuring cup. He turned around to talk to his friends. All I could hear was the constant jabbering of everyone in the room.

"How much?" I asked Tom. "Tom? Tom?" He wouldn't listen. Oh well, I thought, and decided to fill the measuring cup up about halfway with the powder. Swallowing, I poured it into the beaker and instantly heard sizzling.

"What the heck?" Tom mumbled, turning around. "How much did you put in? You're only supposed to fill it so that the green turns to blue!"

"No one ever told me that!" I exclaim.

I scoot my chair back as the concoction explodes...right in Tom's face.

"Ugh!" he screams, rubbing his eyes.

"Oh God...," I begin to panic. "Are you okay?"

"No! God, this burns! What's wrong with you?"

"I-I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to! I just didn't know how much to put in!"

"You're an idiot!" he screamed, stomping out of the room. Mr. Shill glared at me for a second before running after Tom. I blushed a deep red as everyone in the class began to laugh at me. I tried to fake a smile and laugh along at my stupidity, but it didn't work. It never did. I twiddled my thumbs and played with the tie on my shirt to concentrate on that instead of all the hollering, but I'm pretty sure the entire school could hear it. I knew high school wouldn't be easy, but anything could be better than this.