The sun rose slowly that day, gradually waking up all the inhabitants of Odense. Among them, it woke up a certain black wolf, who had no idea how much that day would change his life. To him it was a regular day like any other, with a slight difference. He was going on a field trip. He slowly moved hsi head, looking at the alarm clock. 7:32. «Half an hour until I have to be at the school door. Great.», he thought. And so he got up in a jump, his fur all messy and tangled up, and hurried into the shower.

«I wonder what Charlie's been up to?...», he sighed while covering his fur in lavender soap. Charlie was his neighbor and pretty much his best friend in class C. However the two of them had been a bit distant lately, and Charlie had confined himself inside his garage for the last three days.

Some minutes later he left the shower cabin, quickly putting on a pair of camo pants and a black t-shirt with a huge golden star, and darting downstairs to see if he could get some breakfast before rushing off on all fours to school.

- Hi, grandma. - he said, opening the fridge.

- Oh, Jamie, you're wearing the same t-shirt again! Don't you think that smells? - she asked.

His grandma was an old grey-furred wolf, and was the only family member of his that was still alive. His parents had died in a car crash when he was only 4 years old. Both him and his grandma were at home back then. On his fifth birthday, he had had to go to his parents' funeral. On that day, as tears rolled down his face, seeing those coffins carrying his most loved ones, he had sworn he would never again let something like that happen. To that day, he still hadn't found out how he would do that exactly. But the promise remained in his heart. She lived merely for him, and it was almost safe to say that he almost lived only to live up to her expectations.

He gulped down some leftover meat from last night's dinner and bolted out the front door on all fours, running as fast as he could to see if he could get to the school in time. He nearly got run over by a reckless driver two blocks away from the school building, but other than that, he managed to get there safe and sound and just on time. The rest of the class was already waiting by the school door.

- Well, well, Mr. Colton, late as usual, eh? - asked the teacher, a middle-aged otter with black eyes.

- *huff* Yes, sorry, Mrs. Griffith. - he answered, quickly merging with the crowd of nearly 50 students.

- Well then, it's a short walk to the Natural History Museum, and I hope all of you are eager to go and visit all the natural wonders of this world. Now, let's get going! - she said, setting a quick pace on the crowd.

The group of students consisted of both class C, which was James's class, and class D. James had never made any kind of acquaintance with anyone in class D, so he really didn't know pretty much anyone outside of his small group of friends. Charlie, as he thought, wasn't there yet. He was probably still going to skip classes for another day and finish whatever he was doing. He gradually slowed down until he found himself lagging behind the rest of the class.

- James, hurry up! - screamed the teacher, nearly 100 meters away.

«Eh, i've been there already, so what does it matter?...I'm just so sleepy.», he thought, speeding up until he caught up.

Since the museum was only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they made an exception for the school trip and opened it for a brief period on that Wednesday morning. As they walked into the museum hallways, filled with plastic replicas of long-deceased animals in what was thought to be their "natural habitat", James found himself following a group of people from class D, who had also drifted away from the group, looking closely at all the exhibits. That group was extremely excited about coming to the exhibit. One of them took pictures of everything in that museum, another one darted between all the exhibits, while a third one bent himself over the glass barriers that separated them from the living (and non-living as well) exhibits.

«That kid's going to get hurt if he keeps doing that.», he thought.

Maybe if he had said it out loud it would've worked. But the next second the kid bent over yet another one and this time, he fell down nearly nine feet into a pit filled with sand and cacti. James jumped in, trying carefully not to land on a cactus.

- Are you okay? - he asked.

- Gah, I think I hurt myself. Ahh, silly me. Now how the hell am I getting out of here? Oh, by the way, I'm Kyle...uh...Fisker. - he said cheerfully, stretching out his white paw.

- Hi, I'm James. James Colton. - he answered,helping Kyle up. - Mrs Griffith! Get over here! - he shouted.

She ran as fast as her high heels let her and bent over the barriers.

- Are you boys okay? - she asked.

- I am, I'm not sure if he is though. He might've hurt his ankle trying to break the fall. - James answered - Can you call someone from the staff? -

And so she did. Moments later, an angry man with a janitor outfit opened a small door that led to the exhibit and took both of them to the infirmary.

- Damn it boys, why would you jump into the cactus exhibit? - he asked, his menacing stare fixed on James.

- I fell down there... - whispered Kyle - Sorry to get you in this mess, uh...James. -

- It's okay, I've seen this museum over and over before. -

- Now kids, you two take a left at the end of the hallway and go to the nurse's office. She'll be with you shortly. - the janitor said, walking back to the cactus exhibit.

- Can you walk? - James asked.

- I think so. Though it hurts a bit. -

- Well, let me help you then. - he said, putting Kyle's arm over his shoulders and leading him to the office.

The door was open, so they just went in and sat on the light brown leather couch and James got to take a better look at Kyle, who had taken his t-shirt off to clean his fur of sand. He looked like a dog of some kind, probably a mix of various breeds. His fur was really white, except for a black stripe that ran along his back. His eyes were copper-toned and his muzzle light brown.

- So, James...you're from class C, right? I think I've seen you around. - he said.

- Oh, yeah. How come we've never met before? - James asked.

- Well, I've only been attending this school since September. I used to live across town. -

- Ah, well, you seem like a nice guy. You're also pretty cute. - he joked, smiling.

«Well...he's kinda cute too...Wait, what, he's a guy...», James thought, blinking repeatedly.

- I'll take that as a compliment then. -

The nurse came in, dropping a pile of archives she was carrying.

- Ohmygod are you kids okay? -

- Uh...yes. I think he hurt himself on his leg, but other than that...we're okay. - said James.

- Oh my, oh my, oh my, people getting hurt in the musem, not good, not good, not good! -

- Uhm...lady, calm down. Just look at him and do whatever you have to. -

- Aah, don't sue the museum! -

- We're not going to sue anyone, don't be paranoid. Now do your job. - James said, getting up so she could take a closer look at Kyle.

«I wonder if he has a girlfriend», he thought.

- Hmm, doesn't seem to be anything wrong, but you should try to skip next gym class. Well, bye kids, lots of paperwork to do! - she said, running out of the room.

- That was odd. - said Kyle, getting up - Look, James, you want to come over to my place? Maybe study for next week's Danish exam? -

- Well, since classes are cancelled this afternoon, I don't see why not. -

- James...you're not Danish, are you? -

- Well, i'm half Danish, half Lithuanian. -

- I can sense that in your accent. -

- Oh, shush! - James said, laughing as they left the museum, heading for the Fisker household.