I can't… drown out… the noise… There's not even a whole lot of it and it's still impossible to truly relax. Hell, I'm staring at one of the most bland creations to ever bless toonkind: the ceiling of a school bus. This is really what life is going to be like for the next hour. Can't wait…

Only serving to contribute to my inability to stay still, the bus keeps rattling along for a few more seconds after turning on the main road. It stops at a house very shortly afterwards. Curiosity overcame me. I sit up and look out of the window. The figure I saw may be vaguely familiar, but I cannot get a clear image of the toon. Until he takes his last steps onto the bus and his face is revealed to me.

Loopy Snorkelsnout.

As soon as I see him, I instinctively hide my face and lie back down in the seat. It's obvious that he takes the seat in the front, though, since the bus very quickly starts moving and bumping up the road again. This doesn't make me any less angry, though.

There isn't a thing about this coral cat that doesn't anger me. His face, his eyes, his stance, his attitude… Everything about him makes my blood boil with such a fury that I'm surprised the water in my body doesn't evaporate away whenever I see him. I very rarely say I hate anyone, but this boy has all of my pure-spirited hatred.

This school really has it all: horny juniors and seniors that won't take no for an answer, liars and cheats that never feel satisfied with their dates, and so-called "tough guys" that wouldn't even hesitate to get into a fight with a faculty member if they wanted. To their credit, though, they don't consistently think about causing harm to others. That's about the only leverage I can give, but it's better than nothing.

Loopy, however, is a mixture of all three of these things. He'll cheat on any girl he ends up dating, and he'll fight anyone that gets in his way, including the staff. In addition, he is always in the mindset to hurt others. All of this leads me to the simple conclusion that he is, by far, the worst boy that currently goes to the school.

Honestly, I didn't always think he was so bad. Before I heard about what he did, I saw him as just another toon that went to the school. He didn't really stand out in any way. There wasn't any real reason to hate him, but I also didn't see a reason to talk to him. He was just… there…

That opinion was quickly challenged when it was brought to light what he had done to his girlfriend, Marigold, over summer break. On the first day of the new school year, she came to school limping, bloodied, and barely able to stand. She had several lacerations all over her face, arms, and legs. It was obvious to everyone who saw her that day that she was in severe pain. Her group of friends had to walk her to all of her classes and help her sit down. All thanks to Loopy. After that, the entire school started a vendetta against him, which I was fully behind.

Two and a half years later, nothing has changed. He still appears to be the same manipulative, womanizing bastard he always was, and he has made no effort to change his image.

Regardless, that makes two toons who the entire school just does not want to bother with: Loopy and myself. Apparently I'm just as scary as he is, which I think is completely stupid, but whatever. It allows me to be aware from everyone else, which is a win in my book. I have absolutely zero complaints about it. If things were to stay this way, I think I'd be able to survive.

I close my eyes to try to get my mind off of him. It works. Instead of thinking about Loopy and how horrible of a toon he is, my brain wanders off to the past. Memories come flooding back to me: my old school, my old neighborhood, my old house. I feel my eyes start to water as my parents and my old "friends" come to view and fill my vision. To think, after all this time, I'm still no more comfortable, content, or motivated than I was back then. I'm not any more of those things either; there's no way I could be. Tolerance is the only thing that's changed for me since I moved to this area.

The bus seems to feel like it's slowing down, so I open my eyes again. Much to my dismay, we've already arrived at the school. I bring my hands up to dry my eyes and confirm my suspicions. Everything is far too familiar: the towering brick building, the large, black, metal gate, and the toons… Oh god, the toons…

School has always been funny to me, but not because of the actual material. I never really cared for it because it was always very bland and boring to me. It's more for the fact that I'm expected to learn it while inside the building. In theory, this could work, but not with these teachers and this environment. With how the system is right now, more of my actual learning is coming from outside. Instead of the teachers doing their jobs, I have to resort to online resources to figure out what the hell is going on. It's been that way for me since around the 5th grade. Some exceptions to this rule exist, but they are very few and far between.

The bus finally comes to a stop. Reluctantly, I start to stand, but I see nobody else doing the same. That's when I looked toward the front of the bus. The devilish coral cat stands up and walks down the stairs and off the bus. Everyone on the bus, myself included, is giving him an intense glare as he walks away from the bus. We only release said glare when he walks through the steel arch.

The rest of the bus now starts to stand, but I am advised to remain seated until the entire rest of the bus is cleared. I almost become remarkably vocal about my disagreement, but I just hold my tongue as everyone continued talking, polluting the bus with their obnoxious noise.

After a minute or so, the last toon was finally off the bus. Took long enough. I make sure I have everything I need and start walking off the bus. Luckily, there's not much of a crowd on this side of the arch. This bus arrives quite a bit later than the rest of the buses, which I suppose isn't all too bad. Once I make my way to the steel gate, the bus drives away, and I'm left to look at the long dirt walkway again.

Let's get this over with, I think to myself as the breeze lightly blows in my face. I walk through the gate and toward the front entrance. It's a pretty long walk compared to a lot of schools, but it could be worse.

Of course, just like any high school, there's couples leaning up against the walls sweet talking each other. Some are just talking, others are also leaned up against each other, hugging and kissing each other. Likely just wrapping up conversations, but high school is unpredictable. I just keep my gaze down to avoid looking at everyone and attempt to drown out the noise.

Relatively soon, I'm stepping up the small set of stairs that leads to the front door. I put my hand on the door handle and take a deep breath. First day of the semester. It's all downhill from here.

I push my hand down and walk inside the building. Surprisingly, it feels colder in here than it does outside. Maybe the heat just hasn't gotten to this part of the building yet. Nevertheless, I end up shivering as I look up at the clock. I don't quite care enough to get an exact time, but it's pretty close to 7:40. I've got about ten minutes to try to clear my mind before hell truly begins. Contrary to what I normally do in the mornings, I decide to turn right and head to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Immediately, my presence is felt by everyone in the room. The nearest table is completely cleared out as quickly as possible while I walk to grab a waffle, which is one of the few food items I trust from the school. Since there's already syrup on it, I just walk back to the now empty table and sat down.

Now I'm paranoid. I glance around the room and see if I can see Loopy at all. He's pretty easy to spot, seeing as he's the only toon in the entire school with coral fur. At least, the only tall one. A few mice happen to have coral fur, but they aren't particularly noteworthy for anything. Not a problem, but not really anything special, either. I know it sounds awful to say it that way, but that's the shortest way to say it that's honest to how I feel.

Once I confirm that Loopy is not in the cafeteria, I start eating my food and ignore the constant auditory assault. Since there isn't a whole lot of time before the bell, I finish up quickly. I stand up and start bringing the tray to the stack where the rest of them are. A few toons are whispering about me to their group of friends but I just ignore them. I don't really know what they're saying, after all.

As soon as I try to sit back down, the bell rings. Of course. I grab my things and start to walk toward the staircase. There's two of them, and I'm closer to the one that doesn't take me to my class. Lovely.

I walk through the massive herd of people crowding the entrance to the front office and get to the stairs, where several toons are already pushing each other up. Instead of trying to join this madness, I decide to just let everyone else go in front of me and wait until it's comfortable to start walking up.

This takes much longer than I would have liked, but it's fine, I guess. The walk up is still far from relaxing, but it's still a far cry better from being pushed, shoved, and crushed under the weight of a bunch of other toons. As if that's hard to do.

When I finally get to the third floor, I enter the first door on the right, which is where my class is. Most of the faces I see are familiar, but there's a few that are new. This school has the stupid idea of shifting some toons' classes at the start of the semester, and it's completely random. At least it doesn't affect everyone's progress. That's about the only good thing about it, though. Every class teaching the same subject does have to be at the same point in the curriculum at the end of each semester, after all. It's still a surprise this hasn't gotten changed, though. Next to nobody has anything good to say about it.

I took my seat in the very back corner, farthest from the teacher's desk. The board is completely blank, which is characteristic of the start of the semester. The teacher is at her desk, making sure all of her lesson plans and packets are in order.

However, one thing in particular catches my eye, and it seems like it caught everyone else's attention, as well. There's a particularly recognizable figure sitting in the opposite corner to me: a tall, coral cat who seems to be lost in his own little world.

The day hasn't even started and I already no that there's no way it could get any worse. Somebody please kill me…