"Hey, Mom!"
"What is it, Nick, honey? You certainly seem excited. Come, sit, sit. What's going on?"
"Well, today just got a whole lot cooler! Mister Lionheart gave us all a project, and hoo hoo hoo, it's gonna be a ball! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…!"
"Nick, seriously, calm down, what's got you so revved up?"
"Well," I said, "I had an idea in class today, and Mister Lionheart decided to roll with it. I, Nicholas Hopps, will be, just for tomorrow, no longer 'brave, loyal, helpful, and trustworthy 'cause I won't be a fox!'"
"Um, Nick…?"
"Yeah, Mom?" I asked. Then I saw the look of worry on her face. "Oh, now I get it. Don't worry, it's all in good fun, I promise. Goodbye, stereotypes! Or for me, hello, stereotypes! Here's the plan- you know how damaging stereotypes are?"
"Perfectly. Dumb bunny, remember? Yes, I do, but what does that have anything to do with a school project?"
"Everything. Tomorrow, we're actors. Some of us are going to break every stereotype there is for their species and play another species' instead, the other half is going to ham it up as much as they can."
"So what are you going to be, Nick? Fox or bunny? I can only imagine what school is like for you, a fox with a rabbit mother."
"Yeah, it's different, all right. Sly bunny, dumb fox. Take that as you will."
"Mmm. Go on…"
"Okay, fine, you got me, I don't know what I'm going to do. You win…again."
"I always do, now don't you start."
"Your point is...what, though?"
"Have you actually put any forethought into this?"
"Not one bit. That's what makes it so fun. Oh, and speaking of no planning, care to help me with this?"
"You've got me intrigued here. Oh, what the heck, sure."
"Today is going to be a good day. Today is going to be a good day. Today is going to be-"
"What's the matter, sweetheart? Something's got you wound up, I can tell."
"Yeah, Mom," I sighed. "Something does."
"Would you care to share?"
"Yes, no, ugh, I don't know, Mom," I groaned. "Mister Lionheart is crazy. I mean, he expects us to be ready tomorrow for this crazy idea. It doesn't help that it was my idea, I mean, I wasn't expecting him to decide to actually use it, let alone say that we we actually going to put it into play the next day. The next day meaning tomorrow, that is. Yeesh."
"Well," Mom sighed, "I really don't see what's so hard about it, I mean, I take it you're playing the break-the-stereotype part?"
"Well, see, that's kinda the hard part. I don't know, so I thought I'd ask you for a little help."
"What kind of help, Nick?" she asked. Based on the perked ears and eyebrows, I could tell that I had her attention. I don't know if that's so much a good thing yet, but I'll know soon enough.
"Well, here's the thing, Mom- and I presume you're okay with all of this- I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how I should go."
"Well," she said, "why not go as both? I mean, in a way, Nick, you are."
"A valid point, mother dear, but we don't have any costumes here…"
"And since when has that ever been a problem, young man? I've been sewing all of your clothes since you were born, it's not like I don't know how to. Just one thing- what do you want?"
"How about a pair of of rabbit ears that'll slip on over my own? How's that sound?"
"Hmm, interesting. I'll see what I can do, Nick."
"Oh, and if you can make them by tonight, I mean, this is supposed to be for tomorrow…"
"Oh," she said, sighing. "Yeah, I'll try."
"Thanks, Mom! Love you!"
The Next Day...
Okay, so today's the day we go for it, and this is going to be interesting. I don't exactly know what you'd call my situation, but it's something, all right, something rather interesting. Three steps on how to fit in (or not):
Call yourself a rabbit (I mean, this is Bunnyburrow).
Act like one. In other words, start eating lots and lots of carrots.
Dress like one. (Are green contacts enough? Though I don't suppose these dental implants are helping any.)
Oh, what else? Nothing I can think of, except for an absolutely crazy homeroom teacher.
Well, now what? No clue here. Oh, look, there's Nick, and those ears are so cute! Oh, geez, did I just say that out loud, 'cause everybody's staring…
"What did you say, Judy?"
Oh, dear...
I picked my eyes up off of the floor and my ears up from my back, where they had managed to slap themselves down. Stupid bunny tendencies… "Sorry, what?" I said, trying to save face.
"What do you mean, 'what'? I distinctly heard you call Nick's ears 'cute.' Don't you know that's considered to be incredibly offensive by most rabbits to call another rabbit cute? Huh, did you, Foxbun?"
At that point, Mister Lionheart decided to step in. (Thank Karma for that!) "Okay, Angie, that's enough. She's new here, and from what I've learned about her, she has no idea that calling bunnies cute is offensive, now did you?"
"No, sir, I didn't. I won't do it again, I promise!"
"Very well. But that was an excellent opener, Miss Wilde. Who's come prepared today? You'd better have, this will count quite a bit. Twenty-five percent 'a bit,' so who'd like to start?"
No paws (or hooves) went up. "No one? Very well, I'll call on people."
"You know what," Nick said, "I'll go." At that, I heard a few (pardon the expression) catcalls from my classmates. "Oh, look. First we have a foxbun, now we have a bunfox, ooh, this'll be interesting!"
"You want me to come up there with you, Nick?"
"You know what, Judy, that's a great idea. Are you sure you don't mind?"
"Not at all, Nick. Let's show these mammals what we're made of."
"Okay, I think everyone here knows who we are, right? Nick Hopps and Judy Wilde, and I think you know what we're going to say. Stereotypes suck- just throwing that out there. But trust us-"
"Trust?" I cut in. "But I'm a sly fox. What would a dumb bunny like you know about being able to trust someone, little scared-of-everything ball of fluff?"
"And there you go. Why should I? The real question is why shouldn't I? There's no reason not to. Who's with me?"
Again, surprisingly, all paws. "Exactly. Why not? So here's a question for everybody- what are you here as? Sharla? Gideon?"
"Another s-switch. He's a sheep, I-I'm a fox."
"I notice you're stuttering. Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, just excited, and it l-looks like my brain can't tell the difference between between scared and excited, so y-yeah, I'm stuttering."
"And Ah'm here as a sheep. Before y'all ask why, it's 'cause Sharla here inspired me. Ah needed a friend, and Ah found one in her."
"An excellent explanation, Gideon. Who else? Ah, Travis. You'd like to go?"
"Yes, Mister Lionheart, I would. I bet everyone here can guess what I'm taking on. The whole 'weasels are sneaky and nothing more' deal. Not true, well, a little. I can be sneaky, but it's onlt when I'm playing hide-and-seek with my sister. Other than that, no, and I'm fed up with being treated as such."
"Who else?" Mister Lionheart enquired. "Oh, who's the new face in the back? Don't worry, I won't bite."
"That's good to hear, Mister-?"
"Lionheart. Who are you?"
"James Wolford, I'm new here, but I have a few comments for this project."
"I'd love it if you'd tell us, Mister Wolford."
"Jimmy, if you don't mind."
"Not at all. What did you want to tell us?"
"Well, I hear this about wolves all the time, that we're just dumb night howlers. Those are flowers, and don't ever eat them. But I digress, sorry. What I was trying to say was that we're more than that. One thing that we're good at, though, is smelling when someone's lying. That's why I want to become a police officer, but since I'm supposed to be a dumb-dumb, even at sixteen, no one will give me a chance. It drives me crazy, and I'm trying as hard as I can to fight it."
"I'm glad to hear it. Now, who's up for taking this on the road? As was said yesterday, let's bring the house down!"