The school year had begun in earnest in Eastburrow High. As was to be expected from a Bunnyburrow school, the bunnies were the vast majority of the population and they formed into all sorts of cliques and sub-cliques. There were the popular bunnies that seemed to be popular for no particular reason except their looks. There were the sports-bunnies. There were even the nerdy bunnies, each content to cluster up by themselves. As far as other prey, sheep tended to huddle together no matter what their interests were. Any predators around seemed like the odd ones out, or hung out with an appropriate clique by essentially intimidating their way in.
Terra had neither the stature nor the personality to muscle her way into any sort of group. One day at lunch she meekly approached a table of what were clearly nerdy bunnies. Four males and two females, all fussing over papers and dice. One of the female bunnies nodded toward her as she approached, and Terra tried to hold a small smile steady as uncertainty welled up inside her.
"Hey, check it out. Is that one of those dwarf-foxes?"
"I thought those were fennecs."
"Fennecs are more like gnome-foxes, heh!"
"You're all stupid. She's a kit fox."
"Uh, she's clearly a teenager."
"That's what they're called, genius. Kit fox. Not a fox kit."
"Um, hi there!" Terra said, looking over the various colors of bunnies. There was one seat open at the table, and she felt her heart rate accelerating as she eyed it.
"Hey," a white rabbit girl with dark blue eyes greeted, wiggling a pen. "We're doing character sheets."
"I'm Terra Brownfurred," she greeted politely.
"Huh. Terra? That's a cool name," a black bunny male with brown eyes tilted up his glasses. "What are you, like a warrior? Esper? Half-esper?"
"No dude," a grayish bunny male held his hands up. "Terra is clearly the name of an earth mage. I mean, come on."
"Oh, I- that's just my name name," Terra said bashfully. She was beginning to feel a little more uncomfortable.
"Do you like role-playing games at all?" a hazel-eyed, brown bunny girl asked her, looking the kit fox over. Terra felt as if the bunny's eyes had x-ray vision.
Terra wrestled with the urge to bluff her way through this encounter, but she shook her head. "I like... um, I like graphic novels?"
The bunnies all gave each other various looks.
"Could I maybe... s-sit here?" Terra asked shyly, her smile barely exposing her braces.
"Uh, sure...?" the white rabbit had a look of skepticism to her face, trying to move some papers out of the way of the free space. "Just... try not to spill anything on the character sheets, okay?"
Terra felt like her stomach had dropped. "Never mind..." she said quietly, turning away. She could almost feel the glares on her back as she walked away. Sighing, she found the empty table she normally frequented and sat down there. She felt slightly upset, though she tried to focus on the din of the bunnies around her so she didn't get too teary-eyed.
Terra couldn't believe she wasn't even the right type of nerd to hang out with those other bunnies.
The kit fox was thrown from her melancholy thoughts when she noticed a white sheep sit down at Terra's table opposite her. He was a hornless ram, sort of scrawny, the effect exaggerated by his recently being shorn. He had light brown eyes and a somewhat assured demeanor.
"Hey, okay if I sit here?" the sheep asked.
"I mean, you're already sitting there," Terra chuckled lightly.
"All right, all right, all right," the sheep placed his thumbs and forefingers together. "Is it okay if I continue to sit here?"
"Sure," Terra half-smiled. "My name is Terra Brownfurred."
"Charles North," the sheep said. His voice had a lot of confidence that contrasted its unsteady, almost hoarse tone. "But call me Charlie. Not Chaz, though. Don't like that one. Not too fond of Chuck? Dunno. Charlie will do."
"All right, Charlie it is," Terra giggled into her paw. "Did they run out of room at the sheep tabl- uhl... um, wow, that was rude."
"Naw, it's okay," Charlie held his hands up in conciliation. "Sheep, right? They do like to stick together, but I don't like the herd mentality, personally. Prefer to be a free thinker, know what I mean?" He tapped at his temple twice.
"I kinda feel like we're in the wrong school for that," Terra grumbled.
"Oh, totally, totally, totally!" Charlie laughed, drumming his fingers on the table. "There's bunnies everywhere. I think you're maybe the second pred I've seen today."
"Yeah," Terra nodded.
"But!" Charlie held up a finger. "Here's what I'm gonna do to beat the system. I'm gonna get into the school paper."
"By doing what?" Terra was curious and confused.
"Oh, I'm gonna be the editor, that's what I'll do," Charlie pointed both thumbs at himself. "That way, I'll have my ear to the ground and know whats goin' on in this school. That way, I can keep afloat!"
"That's... an interesting idea?" Terra tilted her head, gently eating from a sandwich. "Does anyone actually read school newspapers?"
"I mean... yeah!" Charlie huffed unconvincingly. "They're online now and in print. Yuh- you can't miss it. No no no. Can't miss 'em."
"Hmm..." Terra mumbled.
"Anyway, you'll see, you'll see," Charlie chuckled. "I got this. You'll see. I'll be the main sheep to go to for the gossip and what's goin' on in this place. I'll be my own self-made sheep."
"That's pretty ambitious," Terra said. "I just want to get through high school with no major disasters..."
"Ha! I'll be sure to let you know if I scout any major problems that would affect a..." Charlie leaned in. "Sorry, what kind of fox are you?"
"Kit fox," Terra replied.
"Kit fox," Charlie nodded. "Huh, hadn't heard of that one." He slammed his hand on the table. "But! You've taught me something new, and knowledge is power. Since you've made me more powerful- yeah! I think we can be friends. Yeah. If you'd like that. Yeah." He nodded rapidly.
Terra winced out a smile at the strange, manic sheep, but she nodded. "Yeah, a friend would be nice..."
"Gotcha," Charlie scribbled in a notepad. "Friendos with kit fox, Terra. Super."
Terra laughed lightly. She was pretty sure she had no idea what she was getting into.
All told, it was a pretty amicable friendship. Though Terra's hearing didn't quite approach bunny level, her meek, wallflower personality let her eavesdrop on clusters of bunnies without a second look, and she would often report on this gossip to Charlie. The sheep would then corroborate it and report on it in the school newspaper. Terra refused to comment on or deliver harmful, mean gossip, but she reported things that she felt might be of benefit to others or might protect someone from getting hurt.
She dared to feel like an unsung, behind-the-scenes hero at some points, but didn't really know how much her meddling was helping. Charlie always thanked her for her information, but Terra told him to never credit her. She didn't want anything to come back to her and get her in trouble, or worse yet, make her enemies.
Terra's feelings about her role became ambivalent over time. She felt like she was perpetuating that "sneaky" fox stereotype, even if the only mammal judging her for it her was herself. Eventually, just into the senior year, she stopped, and was surprised when she remained friends with Charlie anyway, despite telling him she didn't want to be his informant anymore. The ram just liked to talk, she figured.
It was still usually just Charlie that joined her at the table at lunch. Some bunnies had come and gone over the years; a female sheep that didn't quite work out with Charlie. But, for some reason, he stayed. Maybe he just knew Terra was so desperate for companionship that she'd never really want to break from her best high-school friend.
"Okay, so..." Terra took a deep breath, placing her paws on the table one day at lunch. "I'm thinking of maybe... asking Andrea Bumpercrop to the senior prom."
Charlie's face cycled through several emotions. Disbelief, shock, disgust, back to disbelief. He finally sputtered and shook his head firmly, waving his arms.
"No, no, no!" Charlie said wildly. "You can't do that!"
"Wh-why not?" Terra looked defensive. She defiantly smiled, running her tongue over her clean, bare, shiny teeth. "Look, I just got my braces off."
"Th-that's not the point!" Charlie shook his head. "I know it's been awhile since you were in the gossip loop, but... c'mon, babe! Sharp, pretty little teeth aren't gonna turn Bumpercrop's head!"
"Hey, I happen to know that Andrea likes girls," Terra frowned.
"Yeah, but, Terr, c'mon," Charlie held a hand horizontally way up high. "She's up here in the whole social totem pole, and you, no offense, you're all the way down here." He placed his other hand flat on the table. "She's set to become one of the prom queens. She's probably going to ask someone."
"Th-that shouldn't matter," Terra said firmly. "Social standing shouldn't matter when it comes to things like love."
"Terr, Terr, Terr!" Charlie waved his hands. "I dunno what dream world you've gotten into, but snap out of it! It'd be nice to pretend all that stuff like speciesism and social standing doesn't exist, but it does! It's like all I report on!"
Terra grumbled in response, looking away.
"Okay, one," Charlie pointed one of his hoofed fingers up. "She's a bunny."
"I like bunnies," Terra replied, nodding.
"Two," Charlie added his other finger on that hand. "She's captain of the track team."
"I like fit bunnies," Terra continued, her ears pinking a little.
"Three," Charlie added his thumb. "And this should be the big one. She's an enormous species supremacist! She chewed out a wolf twice her size the other day."
"That, I mean..." Terra fidgeted. "I... I might as well be a bunny anyway."
Charlie sighed. "Even if you feel that way, you're not. You got the pointy teeth, waggin' tail, and-"
"C'mon!" Terra balled her fists, laying them on the table. "I'm small! I'm cute! I'm meek and shy! I'm practically a textbook bunny!"
"But you're not a bunny!" Charlie shook his head, holding his hands up by his face in futility. "And you're only lookin' at Andrea's outward appearance, and that's exactly what she's going to do to you!"
"Gh..." Terra flinched. "Yh-you can't say that she would turn me down. You can't guarantee me."
"Babe, babe!" Charlie waved his hands. "Babe, c'mon. You know what I also don't need to do? Is put my hand on a hot stove to know it'd burn me!"
"Charlie..." Terra winced. "I've gone my whole- my whole high-school existence in the background, unimportant and with very few friends. I just..."
"Lemme guess," Charlie grumbled. "'Meek girl asks popular boy to prom' is the plot of one of those graphic novels you've read recently, huh?" Charlie shrugged. "Life doesn't work like that, Terr. Listen, I... I'll let this go, okay? Okay. I won't say anything else if it's what you really wanna try. But I don't want you to get crushed, babe."
"Rgh..." Terra frowned. She briefly imagined how she'd feel if she asked and was turned down, or worse, made a laughingstock of. She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh, feeling both tension and desire flee from her. "I guess you're right; I shouldn't ask her..."
"Hey, Terr, if I thought you'd have a chance, I'd be the first to push you up to her, believe me," Charlie shook his head. "Now uh... you bring any of those marshmallows today?"
"Yeah, sure," Terra tried to smile, handing over a few pieces of her favorite sweet snack to Charlie.
"Read it and weep!" Charlie said, slamming a newspaper down on the lunch table. "Except, uh, don't actually cry or anything. That'd be kinda weird. Yeah. Yeah yeah, that'd be odd. Sorry, I've always just wanted to do that, like they do in the movies. Throw the paper down and all."
Terra chuckled. "What's going on?" She looked over the newspaper. It had been just a week since prom, and the title of the newspaper read "THE QUEENS SEPARATE".
"Andrea already, already broke up with Josie," Charlie shook his head. "Y'see? She dumped that bunny and broke her heart. Y'seen Josie around lately? She's probably at home cryin' her eyes out."
Terra frowned. "Josie...? She's like one of the most popular, prettiest bunnies in school, too. And Andrea broke up with her? I thought it'd be the other way around if anything..."
"Y'let your infatuation blind you, Terr," Charlie looked sympathetic. "This is gonna sound mean, but I'm glad it was Josie and not you, huh? I mean lookit that, you only get one senior prom, right? And now it's retroactively ruined for that bun."
"I didn't even go, though," Terra sighed. "I mean, it'd be weird to go alone, but still, I didn't get to see how fun it was or anything..."
"Okay, okay, okay," Charlie waved his hands. "Let me sound like a total sheep here. Sometimes it's best not to take giant risks, okay?"
"But, but isn't the expression 'better to have loved and lost'?" Terra looked slightly upset.
"Yeah, but that implies that there was 'love' in the first place!" Charlie shrugged. "Not trying to hook up with a total stuck-up- ah, hey, Andrea!"
Andrea's tall, fit white bunny form walked by the table with a small pack of followers and she sneered at Charlie. "Don't you have some gossip to write, brown-wool?"
Charlie held his eyes wide and indicated Andrea with both hands as she turned her back to Charlie. "Seeee...?"
"Okay, so maybe she's not the nicest doe..." Terra exhaled in a grumbling voice. The fox did still think she was attractive, physically.
"And you, you deserve someone nice," Charlie nodded, pointing at Terra.
"Deserve...?" Terra repeated.
"Yeah! You should be happy," Charlie nodded again, harder.
"Happy..." Terra echoed.
"You should also stop repeating everything I'm saying," Charlie droned in monotone, keeping his head still this time.
"Everything you're saying... huh..." Terra broke out into a large grin.
Charlie rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the bunny broad was right, I do have some gossip to write." He got up from the table. "Take care of yourself, Terr."
"See you tomorrow, Charlie," Terra grinned.