Miles had heard the alarm but he stayed under the blankets, hoping he would wake up, and find out this was just a dream. But when he heard his mother calling him to get up for school, there didn't seem to be any hope left. The fox barely budged. The first day of school had always been the worst for him, especially when he was transferring to a new school. He couldn't bear having to walk the halls and get teased and mocked for his tails yet again.
"Miles! Time for school!" his mother called impatiently yet again.
"Coming," Miles said, forcing himself out of the bed.
He stalled while getting dressed.
Miles hated new or unfamiliar places. It always took him long to adapt to most changes, and after walking through his old school almost hundreds of times already, he couldn't think of having to walk a different hall, around different people, in a different state.
He dragged himself down the stairs, taking his seat at the dining table. He didn't usually eat breakfast, but he had enough time.
His mother must have noticed his grim expression; "Miles, school's going to be fine. You don't have anything to worry about," she tried to reassure him, but it wasn't much help. Miles gave her an apologetic smile anyways, "You're right. I'm just kinda nervous."
His mom smiled sweetly, "Of course, dear. Everyone's nervous on their first day. Did you pack the notebooks I gave you?"
Miles nodded slightly, continuing to eat.
After some time, Miles was standing at the bus stop, intermittently looking to the left and right of the street. He wondered when it would come.
The second part he hated about school was getting on the bus. He knew whoever was sitting in an empty seat would probably move their things to let him sit down if he asked, but he just knew that they didn't want to sit by him as much as he didn't want to. No one talked to him on the bus, and he was glad that no one did.
He saw a black figure out of the corner of his eye and turned to look. There stood a black hedgehog, stripes along the top of his quills, and with a white tuft of fur on his chest. Miles didn't stare for long. He looked intense, or on edge. He could tell he didn't want to be talked to. Miles continued to look back and forth for the bus.
"New?" he heard a voice.
Miles turned towards the hedgehog and fumbled out his words, "Uh... Y-yeah. Just moved."
"From where?"
"Angel. In Fellport."
The hedgehog had only nodded.
Miles felt surprised he didn't comment on his two tails; almost everyone did, whether they are complimenting, or just awing at it. He gave a half-hearted smile, continuing to wait for the bus.
The bus finally came after about 5 more minutes of waiting.
Miles let the hedgehog get on the bus first, wanting to prepare himself to see all the new faces that he would have to see from now on. He took in a breath. As he walked in, he saw a few eyes follow him down the aisle. They didn't say anything, but Miles knew they wanted to. They'd say a lot more once he was at school. He sighed to himself, taking the nearest seat he could find.
He kept his head down for the entire time, keeping his tails as hidden as he could. But that didn't stop a few people from staring anyways. They were always bound to stare, anyways.
The bus ride had been very noisy; the ones in the back were causing the most ruckus, while lots of others were having their own sub-conversations. Miles had thought the bus driver would tell them off a few times, but it never seemed to happen.
The bus finally pulled in front of the school, waiting in a line of other buses. Miles looked up.
He stared at the unfamiliar school, which was a lot more bigger compared to his old one. There were students standing on the sidewalk, talking, or just scattered about doing their own thing. This only reminded Miles about how different he was but tried to hope that the students here would be more forgiving than the ones in his old school.
He could see the stereotypical groups of people hanging about; the jocks, the preps, the populars, the loners… It was as if he was starring in a teen drama film, and he was the main character.
Miles took a deep breath, think of the positive side of things. New friends are always good, and you may like this school, after all, he promised himself. The doors of the bus opened, and everyone started to get up and walk out.
New school, new me.
Here we go again.