Cousins? Brothers?

It's the first day of high school at Corneria City High School for Fox and his cousin, who is about to start public school. Can Fox help him get through high school?

Chapter I

Sitting in the backseat of a sleek black hoverlimo, a 15-year-old anthro arctic vulpine with snowy-white hair in a short, thick feather-cut hairstyle sat back and sighed. Today was the first day of high school at Corneria City High School in downtown Corneria City for both him and other kids his age, and he looked out the window. He was tall and slim for his age, and was handsome as well. He wore a dark-blue shirt, a pair of blue denim jeans, and tennis shoes. He was quite tall for his age, had a slim, yet athletic body, and a good heart with a kind soul. In fact, he hated spoiled children. His name was Jack McCloud, Fox McCloud's cousin who spent his previous school years at Cornerian Mountain Private School.

"Are you all right, Jack?" The family limo driver (an anthro grey-furred husky) asked him while glancing at him through the rearview mirror.

"I'm ok, Jerry." Jack replied

Dennis smiled and continued driving. The truth was that Jack was scared. Really scared. For he and his family had moved to Corneria City from a small town in the Cornerian Mountains during the past summer season to escape the mountain life on the other side of the planet, and his mom wanted to be closer to her workplace. This was his first day as a high school freshman. Luckily, Fox was also going to Corneria City High School as a freshman as well, so it wouldn't be too bad for him. Especially since he and Fox didn't always get a chance to see each other due to each other living in separate parts of planet corneria except on occasions. His mom named Stacy Willard was a highly-respected talk show host and business women, owning a successful women's clothing line all throughout the Lylat system, and his anthro grey-wolf father named Wolf O'Donnell was a highly-respected professional wrestler and bodybuilder, who also owned a chain of sporting goods stores across the Lylat system as well. He began to wonder how today was going to be. His parents wanted him to go to a public school simply because Fox was going and he wasn't making friends at the Cornerian Mountains Private School he was attending during his elementary and middle school years. He longed to attend a public school.

The limo pulled up behind the buses and Jack got out of the limo.

"Here we are, Mr. McCloud." He said as he opened the rear door

"Thank you, Jerry." Jack replied as he got out of the limo with his backpack he got from a local Magic Mart department store a few days ago.

Jack got back into the limo and drove away, leaving Jack to start looking for Fox. He didn't have to look because a famaliar figure walked up to him from behind.

"Hey, Jack." Fox greeted him with an arm around his shoulders. "Glad to see you."

"Glad to see you too, Fox." Jack replied, a little uneased, "It's been a while."

"Sure is." Fox said, nudging him, "Are you all right?"

"Just nervous about all of this happening this year, Fox." Jack replied as they entered the high school building. "I'm glad mom and dad finally let me go to a private school for my high school years."

"Don't worry." Fox said to him, "You and I are gonna stick together. Come on, I want you to meet a few friends of mine."

The two boys walked down the first floor corridor and entered the cafeteria. They each grabbed a breakfast tray, and Jack followed Fox to a long cafeteria table. A small group of Fox's friends were already sitting and talking to each other. Falco Lombardi was laughing at a joke Katt Munroe had just told him, while Bill Grey and Slippy were just talking to each other. Fara and Miyu were doing the same thing as well.

"This does look like a fun group." Jack thought as he and Fox began to approach the group.

"Yo, Fox." Falco greeted him, "Who's your friend here?"

"Guys, this is Jack McCloud," Fox said as he and Jack sat down and faced them with their trays on the table, "My cousin who had just moved here from the Cornerian Mountains. Jack, this is my girlfriend Fara Phoenix, and my best friends, Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad, Katt Monroe, and Bill Grey."

All of them looked up at them and exchanged handshakes with him.

"Welcome to Corneria City, Jack!" Falco said, exchanging handshakes with him, "Just for your info, any cousin of Fox his age is a friend of mine."

"Well, thanks." Jack replied, feeling a little awkward

Fox found this a little awkward as well, but scoffed it off. He knew Falco had a badboy attitude, but also knew Jack wasn't use to people greeting him like that. Plus, this was Falco's way of greeting someone new.

"What brings you here to Corneria City?" Falco asked

"My mother's job." Jack replied, trying not to reveal her family secret "She works at a tv studio in town."

"Office secretary girl?" Slippy asked jokingly

"SLIPPY!" Everyone exclaimed except for Jack

"What?" Slippy said with a shrug. "I was just being curious."

"That's kinda wrong to ask!" Bill said angerly, "Think!"

"My mom is a daytime talk show host." Jack insisted, "We also love the beaches, and Corneria City has the best beaches and boardwalks here in the Lylat system."

Fox was about to say something when he spotted three people he and his friends knew and hated walk up to them. The rest of them looked up at them as well.

"Oh, great." Katt said with a groan. "It's porkbreath and his friends."

The three of them named Pigma Dengar, Leon Powanski, and Andrew Oikanny walked up to Fox and the group.

"Well, well, well." Leon said to them, "Looks like Fox and his little friends have a newbie here."

"Who you calling 'little', scale head?" Falco shot back, standing up from his seat and fists curling up.

"Who's your friend, McCloud?" Pigma asked with a grin, referring to Jack, "He looks like he wants to join us rather than you guys."

"Forget it." Jack shot back, "I don't know you three, but you guys don't look like the kind of group I'd join."

Andrew was getting angry. He stood and faced Jack, who stood his ground

"Listen, newbie." Andrew said with fire in his eyes. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with here."

Jack looked at him from head to toe.

"Not much it looks like." He said hotly

Fox and everyone else gasped at what they had just heard. Falco was impressed.

"THAT DOES IT! NOBODY TALKS TO ME THAT WAY!" Andrew spat just as the bell rang, signaling the end of breakfast.

"We'll finish this later, newbie." Pigma said, tapping him hard on his shoulder.

The three of them left. Slippy walked up to him.

"Jack, that was incredible." He commented him

"Yea." Bill added as they placed their breakfast trays and began to head for their classrooms, "You got guts. Nobody has ever done anything like that to Andrew and his gang."

"Except for yours truely." Falco boasted with an arm around him, "Last year, during P.E., I kicked the soccerball straight into his face. Did you ever deal with bullies before, Jack?"

"Yes, back when I was in private school." Jack said, looking at his course schedule

He stuffed his course schedule back into his front pocket, while Fox glanced at his watch

"Shall we go to our classes, guys?" He said to the group.

The rest of the day went very well for Jack. He got to know what he will be going over in each class. He discovered that he and Fox were even singing in the bass section of the school choir. Yet during gym, he discovered that he, Fox, and the rest of the guys had gym class with Andrew and his gang. But the best class he felt he was going to have was theatre since he loved acting ever since his days at private school.

At the end of the day, Jack and the rest of the guys walked out of the building and joined their fellow students out in front of the building.

"Hey, thanks for introducing me to your friends." Jack said to Fox with his backpack on his back.

"No problem." Fox replied with a smirk, "You're gonna love being at a public school. See you tomorrow."

Jack waved 'goodbye', then approached the family limo with the husky limo driver standing beside it. They got in and began to head home, which was a luxury, rooftop, beachfont penthouse condo. They lived there since the summer season, and the penthouse condo overlooked both the Corneria City beach and boardwalk. He got out of the limo and headed up to the penthouse. Mary (the family's slim but young and incredibly beautiful housekeeper) collected his backpack and told him Stacy was doing her show at the tv studio while Wolf was doing his daily workout in his and Stacy's bedroom. That was where Jack decided to go. Despite knowing that Wolf had a rivalry with his Uncle James during their days as students at the Cornerian Flight Academy (which was where James was currently working for as a flight instructor), Wolf had been like a father to Jack since he met him a year after his father walked out on him when he was five. Wolf was in his mid-30's, but was 30 when he started persuing his dream of being a bodybuilder and wrestler. He married Stacy five years earlier. He spotted Wolf, doing some weightlifting with two 50lb dumbells and wearing a white cotton tanktop, a pair of red gym shorts, and tennis shoes. He waited for Wolf to finish, then walked up to him. He had a well-defined muscular body.

"Hey, pal," Wolf greeted him with his fur damped with sweat "How was your first day."

"It went great." Jack replied as he entered the room and faced him, "I met Fox's friends, and a few bullies."

Wolf growled slowly at the name 'Fox' since he knew Fox was James's son.

"You didn't beat any of them up," He said, "did you?"

"No," Jack replied, "but I did stand up for myself."

Wolf patted him on his back, then continued on while Jack got up and left the room to play some video games in his room.

End of Chapter I

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