*Sorry for the reupload. There were a few oversights in this chapter that started bugging me*
A/N: Hey, reader! Let me start off by thanking you for reading my story and if you have left a review I thank you even more! I didn't think that Nick's "reveal" of him being a fox would be so well received. That part was the lowest on my list in my author's notebook, but i guess everything worked out in the long haul.
Nick and Olivia followed their classmates out of the auditorium in a loosely organized mob. There were a lot of different mammals in Nick's class mostly around his size. Nick and Olivia were the second tallest species in the class just barely edged out by the three coyotes who were currently at the back of the line talking to one another. All mammals in the class began to idly chat with one another. Interestingly, Nick noted that his classmates tended to talk within their species.
Along the way to their homeroom, Nick was chatting with Olivia and at one point looked past her and spotted another line of students walking behind an adult. All these students were all rabbits and had no diverse species in them. Nick thought about Henry again and started to worry until he saw Henry a few lines over. Nick waved to try and get his attention, but the two lines took separate paths, Henry's going through double doors at the end of the hall and Nick's line entering the stairwell.
"Who were you waving to?" Olivia asked.
"My brother Henry. He was super scared to come to school today and I told him I'd be with him the entire time. He probably thinks I left him," Nick worriedly said.
Olivia had a puzzled look for a few seconds then clarity, "Almost forgot you're a rabbit fox," she laughed.
"I'll have to tell you everything later. This whole fox thing is going to confuse a lot of my family. How is Abigale going to react!?" Nick exclaimed.
"Well if your reaction to being a fox is anything to go off of, you might want to hold off on telling them," Olivia suggested, "Also who's Abigale?"
"Abigale is my mom," Nick stated, "but I guess not my real mom since she's a rabbit…"
As Nick said this the line came to a stop as the leading adult opened another door, this time holding it open for the whole line. Entering the room, Nick took note of his surroundings. The door was in the corner of the room and on the opposite wall of the door are windows that had a view of the back of the school. The center of the room had five rows by five columns of seats all facing away from the door toward a whiteboard that was decorated with expo marker ink and a variety of encouraging posters. The wall on the opposite side of the whiteboard was also decorated with posters but also had a small indentation that looked like it served as a coat room.
After taking in the sites of the room, the students walked into the room and placed their bags in seats. Mammals that were already talking with one another chose their seats so that they could sit near one another. With how spaced apart everyone was there was bound to be assigned seating. As all the students either explored the room of took their seats to continue their conversations, the teacher came in, grabbed a marker from the board and immediately started writing her name.
The teacher finished writing and turned around to greet the class, "Good morning, students! I am Mrs. Trelpha and I will be your home room teacher!"
Mrs. Trelpha is a young lioness with short freshly groomed fur. Currently wearing a freshly cleaned white button-down blouse and black dress pants. Looking professional for her first day as to make a good impression on the students.
Turning around to walk to her desk she sat down and grabbed a stack of papers and tapped them on the desk as to straighten them. She then lifted her head and asked, "who's ready for a test?" She lifted up the stack of papers. The class loudly complained and groaned which brought a smile to Mrs. Trelpha's face.
"Don't worry, it's an easy test because it is about you," she exclaimed passing out the papers, "this is for you to fill out so I can have something to get to know you guys more."
After all the students got the test which was quickly followed by a wave of relief washing over them as the "test" only asked the students name, species, favorite color, food and a fun fact about their species. Nick had no problem answering these questions and apparently neither did any of the other students. As soon as Nick answered all the questions he caught himself at the last question. Nicks paper read "What is one fun fact about your species? Answer: Rabbits can't eat carrots all the time because they contain too much sugar and will make them sick." Nick took his pencil and started erasing the answer remembering that he isn't a rabbit anymore.
Leaning over to Olivia, Nick asked, "what's a fun fact about foxes?"
Olivia put a claw to her chin, "well I already said we can see in the dark. Maybe something about the tail, like how its the softest thing in existence."
"That's an interesting opinion," Nick pointed out subconsciously petting his tail.
Olivia thought again, this time making an audible hum, "how about dog fox and vixen? Both are names for foxes except one is a boy and one is a girl."
"That seems fun enough," Nick stated as he started writing it down.
"Alright, ready to turn it in?" she asked getting up.
Nick and Olivia both started heading up to the front to hand in their tests. After placing them in they walked back to their seats and sat down. Mrs. Trelpha, who was standing with her hands folded, asked if everyone has turned their in their tests to which the class responded with nods or variations of yes. She then brought out a small stack of folded flash cards and placed them on the desk next to where the tests were turned in.
"Alright everyone, come grab one of these cards, but don't open it until I tell you to," Mrs. Trelpha said.
Everyone followed her request and got up to grab a card. After receiving their cards they all went back to their seats and awaited further instruction. Nick sat patiently, quietly discussing what could be written in the folded flash card with Olivia. Olivia guessed it would be more questions while Nick thought it was a pass of some sort.
"You may now open your flashcards," Mrs. Trelpha said after the quiet talking settled down, "Now there are twenty four of you in this class and I put a number from one to three splitting the class into groups of three. I want group one to meet right here," she pointed at a group of seats close to the window, "group two to meet over there by the door and group three will meet by the coat room. Try to make space for everyone and I will be coming around asking questions to make sure you guys are getting to know one another."
Nick opened his flash card but barely had enough time to read it before Olivia snatched it to compare with hers.
"You know, you really gotta stop doing that," Nick suggested.
"You were taking too long. I'm probably better at math anyway," Olivia replied in a jokingly snotty matter.
Nick threw on a confused look, "there wasn't even any math. Are we in the same group or not?"
"Yeah we are, we're both in group two," she replied already getting up, "c'mon let's go."
Both of the foxes got up and started toward the group forming at the door. Before getting there, Nick could tell the group was waiting on them, but some have already started having light conversation.
"Hey, guys!" Olivia exclaimed as she took a seat next to Nick. "My name is Olivia Marks and this is Ni… Well I'll let him introduce himself," she laughed.
"Gee thanks," Nick said sarcastically. "I'm Nick Hopps."
One of the coyotes' ears perked, "Nick Hopps? Like the rabbit family? You don't look like a rabbit."
"And you are?" Nick asked expectantly.
"Oh sorry. My name's Jaden Warn, but my friends call me J.D."
"Nice to meet you J.D. and yes I am part of the Hopps family, probably adopted," Nick answered the previous question.
"Guess I'll go next," the other coyote started. "I'm Gustav Warn, we're brothers."
"Is that coyote over there related as well?" a raccoon asked.
"What's your name first," Gustav quickly replied.
"Oh, I'm Sally Verindicto," she sheepishly said.
"Hi, Sally and no, he isn't related," J.D. stepped in.
The pleasantries and ice breaker games went on throughout the time they had in class. Every ten or so minutes Mrs. Trelpha would ring a small bell on her desk to assign different numbers so that everyone had the chance to meet everyone all while she was surveying her students and how they interacted with one another. Half an hour into home room and everyone was somewhat familiar with one another to the point where the seating arrangement was much more compact than it previously was.
The students chatted for about five minutes as the teacher typed away at her desk while looking over the test the students took earlier. "Students, I'm going to try to put names to faces before you go to the next teacher, so I'll start calling out names and just raise your hand or say you're here." After calling off each name and receiving a gesture of acknowledgement she stood up and passed out a marker and a name tag sticker. The students all wrote their names and placed their name tags somewhere on their shirts, avoiding contact between fur and adhesive. "Everyone ready to go?" Mrs. Trelpha asked as she held open the door. All the students nodded their heads and started walking out the door.
"I wonder what our classroom teacher is gonna be like," Olivia thought out loud.
"Well, if Mrs. Trelpha is anything to go by, I'd guess he's pretty cool," stated Nick.
The group of students was led down the hallway about 7 doors down to a new class room that had a lot more space than the home room. This room was also less decorated than the last, no colorful banners or posters to be seen anywhere. There is no whiteboard, instead there is a blackboard with a blank face other than the teacher's name, who is currently sitting at his desk looking over something on his desk. Mrs. Trelpha pulls out a chair and takes a seat in the corner of the room as the other teacher bagan to get up out of his seat.
"Good morning students and welcome to your classroom. I am your teacher, Mr. Scratcher," the bobcat stated in a serious tone. "Because this is the first day I want to address how confusing it might seem to have two classes. Home room is the start and end of the day where you can work on assignments. The class is the main portion of the day where you will spend most of your time learning. Does anyone have any questions about scheduling?" He waited for a hand or for someone to speak up, but none of the students did. "Good, now onto what you will be learning in here." He started placing papers onto the empty tables, "Everyone take a seat and hold onto these papers, they are important for the year. It includes the full schedule of the year and what we will learn about in those days, for example on Mondays we will go over handwriting and spelling. Now turn to the last page of the handout and tear it off." The students did so and carefully looked it over. "Did Mrs. Trelpha give you guys a test to get to know you?" the students nodded their heads. "Good, now that page you just tore off is a handwriting worksheet. Fill it out to the best of your ability." The bobcat sat back at his desk and started looking at whatever he was examining earlier.
"Well he isn't very nice, at least I don't think he's very nice," Olivia whispered to Nick.
"It did seem like something was bothering him. Maybe it's his face. I wouldn't be very happy if I always looked grumpy," quietly Nick responded.
"At least this isn't a tough assignment. It's pretty close to the one Mrs. Trelpha gave except there are lines provided for the answers."
"Ughh I hate doing these! My paw always cramps!" Nick complained waving his paw around.
"Quit complaining you big baby and hurry up. I just finished mine," Olivia stated impatiently as she unblinkingly watched Nick finish his.
"Okay, I'm done," Nick lifted his head. "Jeez, feel free to blink, Olivia."
Olivia blinked a few times and looked toward the front of the room. No one has turned their in so she doesn't know where to turn it in. "Yeah, sorry. Do you know where to turn these in?" she eventually asked.
"Let's just put them on that empty desk. That's what Mrs. Trelpha had us do."
Both agreeing on that and getting up from their seats they started toward the empty desk near the front of the class. The teacher lifted his head, "Yes? Do you have a question?"
"Well we were just going to turn these in on the table, but we don't have a question," Nick nervously stated.
"What's your name, student?" He asked suddenly.
"Uh umm my name is Nick… Nick Hopps," Nick replied in a even more nervous tone.
"Well, Nick Hopps, you don't look much like a bunny, but maybe it's just a coincidence," he started mumbling toward the end. "Well it look like that table is a perfect spot for turning those in. Don't be nervous when making a proactive decision next time. And you, what is your name?" he aimed at Olivia.
"My name is Olivia, Olivia Marks!" she beamed in response.
"Could take a few notes from your friend here on initiative, Nick. In any case it's nice to meet you Ms. Marks. Now please return to your seats and we'll start more of the class after everyone has turned theirs in, okay?" Mr. Scratcher urged them.
The two foxes only nodded their heads at his request and they quickly placed their papers onto the table as well as made their way back to the table. The two sat and started quietly talking to one another as they waited for the next section of class to start.
"I'm better than you at presentation! Mr. Scratcher says so," Olivia teased.
Nick huffed, "Well I went into it thinking he was gonna yell at me. Also he kinda came out of nowhere when he started asking me questions. You had time to prepare for his questions. Plus he asked me more questions."
"You don't need preparation for something when you are a natural at it. Since I am obviously better, I could teach you my craft of confidence," she sat up straight in a proud fashion.
"Oh yeah, that sounds great," Nick sarcastically responded.
"Sass me all you want, but you'll wish you took it seriously." Olivia smiled at Nick.
The rest of class went by like a breeze considering it was a half day and the classes were in the last 15 minutes of the home room waiting for the bell to dismiss them to go home. Nick's class, since there wasn't anymore assigned work from Mr. Scratcher, just talked for the rest of the time while Mrs. Trelpha sat at her desk looking over the tests she gave out earlier. Nick sat at his desk just listening to the white noise around him as he thought about how he was going to deliver the news to Abigale and how Henry would react to Nick abandoning him on the first day of school. "I've got so much explaining to do for Henry…" Nick worried himself in his head again. "How is Abigale going to react to me being a fox?" Many questions assaulted Nick's head as the time till the end of the day ticked down.
Olivia turned around back to Nick after talking with one of the coyotes that sat near her, "what's up, Nick. Why the long face? I was only talking to that coyote for about 5 minutes," Olivia flattered herself.
"I guess I'm just worried about how I'm going to explain everything to my family," Nick huffed as he rested his head on his folded arms.
"Well they've dealt with you for this long, I don't think that you being a fox would change anything. And if it did well you've always got me!" Olivia excitedly exclaimed.
"I guess you're right. Who am I to complain with what I've got now?" Nick's attitude started to pick up.
"That's the spirit!" Olivia encouraged as the bell rang for the end of school. "Want to wait for our cars together?"
"Sure, but if I see my brother I have to make sure things are okay between us."
"Alright let's go!"
The two foxes made their way to the front of the school. In the mix of all the grade-schoolers it took quite a while to get to the entrance, but the crowd dispersed as they go to the commons. Nick and Olivia waited outside in the warm afternoon sun. Henry never made an appearance while Nick and Olivia waited for their vehicles to come pick them up. Olivia's ride got their first as Olivia dragged Nick along with her to introduce him.
"Hey mom!" Olivia hugged what seemed to be a taller version of herself.
"Hey, Livy! How was your first day?" Ms. Marks embraced her daughter.
"It was great! I meet my new class and met Nick! He's my best friend!" Olivia happily responded.
Nick was a little embarrassed when Olivia introduced him as her best friend, but couldn't help but feel warm about it. "Umm, hello Ms. Marks," Nick greeted.
Ms. Marks pulled Nick into a warm hug worthy of being called motherly. "It's so nice to see my little Livy has made such a fast friend! Foxxes aren't very common at this school, you can't be that Grey fox, can you?"
"No ma'am, I'm Nick Hopps." Nick corrected.
"Hopps? Well it's still nice to see another fox in her grade," she said with a smile.
"Yeah, Nick is adopted into the Hopps' family and today I just told him that he's a fox!" Olivia said proudly.
"Really? That must've been very hard on you Nicky," she said in a consoling fashion.
"It surprised me, but I can't imagine how my family will react."
Ms. Marks had to stifle her laugh. "Oh ignorance is bliss," she thought to herself. "Well it was great meeting you Nicky. If you and Livy ever want to hang out outside of school ask your parents to give me a call." She wrote her number on a piece of paper and handed it to Nick.
"Bye, Nick!" Olivia waved as she got in her car.
"Bye, Livy!" Nick said back in a teasing manner.
After saying goodbye to Olivia and returning to the front of the school the Hopps HCTV pulled in front and opened its doors. Nick was too far away to get to the front of the entering line, but he expected Henry to save him a seat again. Upon getting into the vehicle he looked for Henry immediately. Disappointed, Nick found Henry with another rabbit sitting next to him and Nick attempted to explain himself for earlier that day.
"Hey, Henry… Sorry that I couldn't stay with you the whole day. Apparently I-" Nick got cut off.
"Don't worry about it Nick. Harrison was in my class throughout the day," he gestured to his sibling next to him. "I'll catch you later though."
Nick had thoughts of disbelief going through his mind as he looked for a seat he could take. The only seats that were ever consistently open were the one's toward the front on the top floor because those are the least clean as well as furthest away from the exit. Nick slowly made his way for those seats looking at all of his siblings and how they were all sitting with one another chatting away about their first day. Nick sat alone at the front seat just thinking and tracing the dust on the floor with his hind paw. For the first time in his life, Nick felt left out.
The ride back home seemed never ending for Nick as he sat in silence. The lights eventually came on dismissing Nick's thoughts. Nick waited in his seat to be dismissed looking forward as nothing else around was worth looking at. He realised he was waiting for a long while then decided to look back. Everyone had been dismissed and he didn't notice. He made his way off the vehicle and into the house through the front door.
Nick made a B-line for his room knowing that Abigale would come looking for him if he wasn't at lunch. He thought this to be the best method of finding her as well as giving him some time to think. Nick sat on his chair with his head on his desk when Abigale came in.
"Hey Nicky! How was your first day of grade school?" She started
"Hey mo… Abigale. Can I ask you a question?"
Hey, reader! Sorry this one took so long to come out. I'm currently battling a cold and just couldn't find the motivation to write while looking to a suitable vitamin C source. And the character dialogue between Olivia and Nick seems a bit mature for their age, but I couldn't dumb down my vocabulary, sorry. Anyway as you might be able to tell the next chapter will be Nick's true discovery of his "Hopps origin" and I intend to make it as good as I can, emotion and all, so it might take a bit longer than anticipated. Thanks again for reading and please leave a comment/criticism as they help me so much! See you next time!