Okay readers, here is the second chapter of this story!
Now, this story is going to take longer to get chapters out from my previous stories, since I need time to come up with stuff for each chapter. I hope you all understand that.
Anyway, for this chapter, a brief insight into how Adam feels about his 'friendship' with Jake is explored a bit, the rest of the pack interacts with Adam at one point in the chapter, and a few other things will occur too. How will this go? Find out now!
MR. HORNBILL'S CLASS AT CDMS - 7:58
The first-period class had gotten underway as the bell rang. And in one of the classrooms, Mr. Cyrus Q. Hornbill had gotten today's lesson underway. Despite his last name, he was 'actually' a rhino; an Indian rhino to be precise.
On the chalkboard right behind him, it said 'CATCHING PREY' written in white chalk. Seeing how everyone was present, including Adam who still smelled awful, Mr. Hornbill decided to start with today's lesson.
"Okay class, settle down. Settle down," Mr. Hornbill got their attention and began the class. "Ahem, today's lesson is going to be about catching prey. Now, to catch your prey outright, and successfully, one must learn about their prey. One must observe your prey. And one must be your prey to know how to catch 'em. Therefore..."
As Mr. Hornbill continued his explanation, everyone else had to pay attention to him. Some of them were writing down notes, while others were snoozing. Jake, in particular, was picking his nose with his pencil.
Adam, meanwhile, was jotting down some notes on his paper, as he began thinking about how things have gone for him since he's been in this animal school. As if being stuck in an all-animal school was bad enough, he began to recall all the times that Jake proved to be a not-so-good best friend of his.
There was that time when he told Jake about how Bull Sharkowski went ape on him after he beat him up. Jake overreacted and went to find a new best friend, and Adam went through all the trouble to get him to accept his apology. Only for it to be revealed that going ape wasn't an insult, but the ultimate monkey compliment.
And it turns out Jake was merely jealous that he didn't say that to him. Adam was furious about this, and to this day, he still wonders why he even became friends with Jake again, especially how he continued to screw him over.
There was also the time when Jake stole every antique door knob from Adam's house and used them to put all of the students into a trance. Granted, Adam didn't know at first, and Jake didn't become a tyrant of the school until he found out why shiny things were forbidden from school, but he was still upset about it when it was too late. Especially after Jake converted the school into the Jake Spidermonkey Center for the Study of Monkeybutts. Not to mention they all got destroyed anyway, so it was all for naught.
Then there was the time that Jake ruined Adam's science project for the science fair, which was a baking soda volcano sculpture of the world's largest Arctic volcano that Jake kept referring to as an exploding toilet. It happened when Jake took a leak in the volcano, which caused it to erupt and it got blown to pieces afterwards.
Yes, Jake then had a robot arm placed on his head to make up for destroying Adam's volcano sculpture, but it doesn't change the fact that he still ruined it in the first place. Not to mention the robot arm went berserk and nearly ruined the science fair for everyone. And on top of that, Phineas Porpoise still won the science fair.
And I could've probably had a better chance at winning if Jake didn't ruin my science project. Adam thought with a deep frown. But that's nothing compared to the time he kept me up all night when he, Slips, and Windsor slept over at my house, making me miss my date with Kerry. Even after I told them I wanted to turn in early. Or the time that I wanted to bring Kerry to the school dance when he lied to me about how only human students who attend Charles Darwin can attend the dance. I had to convince Kerry to dress like a giraffe just so she could even attend the dance at all. And then he had to drag Ingrid into it on top of that...
Adam then thought back to the time when he got a Saturday detention when Jake dropped a bucket of chum onto Principal Pixiefrog's head and Adam got the full blame for it. And then it turned out that Jake did that to Adam to get him onto his 'own' cable show called Basic Jake. And if that wasn't enough, after Adam started to enjoy the cable show, Jake went completely nuts over the fact that Adam was out-staging him on his 'own' show.
Many other instances made Adam question his friendship with Jake. The time when they were in the polar section of the school where Jake left Adam to spend time with the cool kids.
There was that time when Jake kept writing lies about how Adam was madly in love with every female teacher in the school in the school's newspaper. The time when he had to stop him from exploiting Henry Armadillo's mediocre talent on live TV, only to get treated the same way Henry did.
The whole egg assignment where Jake became a bad influence on their parrot Apple, causing more stress on him from that kind of responsibility. The time when Jake made clones of himself and Adam.
Not to mention the fact that he sold the Princess Ballerina snowglobe that he wanted to win at the school carnival to an online auction, keeping him from getting it. And many other bad instances where Jake treated Adam horribly.
But all of those instances had something in common. Every time Jake does something that goes 'horribly' wrong, he throws Adam under the bus and leaves him to fix the mess that he made himself. Just thinking of all of those moments 'really' got Adam frustrated, on top of the predicament he was in currently.
He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice that he was clenching his teeth in irritation, nor did he notice his hands were curled into fists until he felt it.
Wow. I didn't think all of Jake's antics that got me in trouble got me this angry. Adam thought. Then again, it shouldn't be too surprising considering all that I've been through in this school...
Adam could only sigh as he continued looking on with that same expression on his face. Meanwhile, Mr. Hornbill was wrapping up his explanation to the class.
"And in conclusion, class, that's why you must always be on-" Mr. Hornbill stopped short when he noticed the expression on Adam's face. "Ahem, Mr. Lyon? Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"
This caught the attention of the only human student at CDMS, as he was unsure about what he could give for an answer. He had to scratch his head for a second or so before he reluctantly answered.
"Uhh...well sir, I think it would be best to observe our prey and learn about them," he said slowly. "Then we could be able to catch them when the right opportunity strikes."
"Oh. Well, it seems you've been paying attention to my lesson after all, Mr. Lyon," Mr. Hornbill said. "Good work."
"Yeah," Adam smiled sheepishly as he then let out a sigh of relief.
After that, Hornbill resumed his class. Adam then focused on his notes and decided to pay more attention to the topic. He put his troubled friendship with Jake to the back of his head for now. He had to get through another painful school day first. He just hoped that it could end soon...
The day had pressed on, and Adam went about his usual day. Drama class with Ms. Chameleon was nothing unusual or special, and the Hibernation class was the same as always. For the most part, up until lunch, today had been a straightforward day for Adam, aside from the occasional taunts from some of the students.
In the cafeteria, Jake was sitting with the rest of the pack where they usually sit. Aside from Jake, the pack consisted of Windsor, Slips, Lupe, and Ingrid.
Windsor was depicted as a big muscular lowland gorilla, who, despite having gray fur, has dark brown hair on his head. He wears a green beanie cap with a white stripe. We wear a white shirt with a yellow buttoned overshirt, blue pants, a brown belt, and black shoes.
Next to him was Slips, who was identified as being a lime green snake with shaggy, neck-length, blond hair. He wears a white T-shirt with a blue collar and blue sleeves, though his sleeves hang loose, given that he has no arms. He has darker green spots that run down his back and a lighter green, scaly belly.
Lupe was shown to be a keel-billed toucan, with mainly black feathers which are aqua at the tips of her wings and tail, and yellow feathers on her belly. She has a large, protruding orange beak with a yellow and red stripe on the end. She has orange feet in the same color as the orange on her beak. She has three eyelashes on top of each of her eyes. She is very short in stature and is the smallest member of the pack.
Lastly, Ingrid was an extremely tall, yellow giraffe with orange spots and orange hair. 'In fact', she was so tall, that she had to bend over to speak to the others of the pack face-to-face. Her head has orange ossicones, with one slightly taller than the other. She has pink lipstick and two sets of three long, pretty eyelashes on top of both of her eyes. She wears a pink sweater and blue jean shorts. She carries around a brown duffel bag and wears sandals of the same shade of brown.
All of them were enjoying their lunches with Jake talking to them while enjoying some wormy joes. A few minutes later, Adam finally showed up. Although he still smelled bad, he was beaten and bruised up and even had some tears on his shirt and pants. It's as if he had gotten out of a nasty fight. And on top of that, he lost his lunch that he had brought from home today.
Needless to say, Adam was not impressed by what had happened to him. He then walked over to the table the others were sitting at and got their attention.
"Hey guys," he said in a defeated tone.
This got Jake's attention and he turned around and responded. "Oh, hey-"
As soon as he saw how beat up Adam looked, he screeched like a monkey and jumped. "HOLY MOLY ADAM! You look like you got into a fight!"
"Yes, Jake. That's exactly what happened," Adam had a mildly annoyed tone in his voice. "And I lost my lunch too."
"Again? That's like, the uh...24th time this semester," Jake then asked him. "Who pummeled ya this time?"
"Who do you think," Adam rolled his eyes. "That jerk Bull Sharkowski. He pounded me for what happened this weekend. And then he stole my lunch again."
"Really? Whew. Well, it's a good thing you didn't go ape on him," Jake told him.
"Yes. Cause I wouldn't have that happen again," Adam had a forced smile on his face, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Never mind the fact that I have to eat Wormy Joes."
"Well, don't knock it till you try it," Jake told him. "Hey, you do know that you still smell, right?"
"Ay caramba!" Lupe yelled with that Spanish accent. "You smell like rancid basura!"
"Don't I already know it," Adam started to raise his voice. "This day has been horrible! My entire stay at this school has been terrible! SO JUST DROP IT ALREADY!?"
"Whoa," Slips was a little taken aback by Adam's outburst, while still speaking in a chill manner. "What's with the anger issues, dude?"
"Perhaps it's highly likely that he is still feeling indignant due to what our simian friend has gotten him into again," Windsor made his assumption with his usual deadpan tone. "Because our homosapien friend has the scent of animal...droppings, his agitation is consistent with what he's experiencing."
"Yes. But that's the least of my problems," Adam sighed.
"Ummm...Adam? Maybe it might be a good idea for you to...oh you know, get yourself clean," Ingrid suggested meekly. "A nice shower could do you some wonders."
"Sí," Lupe agreed. "You have to be loco not to shower in your state, smelly friend."
"Okay. I do stink," Adam admitted. "But I do feel like everyone in the school hates me for what happened on Saturday."
"Oh come on Adam. Don't be a sourpuss," Jake told him. "They're only angry now. But they'll forget all about it come tomorrow morning."
"That's what you said about the Animas scenario," Adam reminded him. "And everyone hated me for not having animal instincts. They even wrote a song about how I ruined every animal's favorite holiday."
"Well, you're the guy they love to hate," Jake assured him.
"That's beside the point Jake," Adam frowned. "I've been at this school for who knows how long. And I still don't fit in here."
"That's not true Adam," Ingrid spoke up. "And you know it."
"Oh really?" Adam raised an eyebrow. "What about the Magic Fish episode, where everyone in this school went crazy and acted selfish in hopes that I'd give them my wish?"
The rest of the pack frowned upon remembering that, although Jake was frowning for a completely different reason.
"Well, suffice to say that Adam here has got us on a technicality," Windsor admitted.
"Never mind the fact that I still wanted that wish Adam," Jake proclaimed. "I'm supposed to be your best friend!"
I'm not so sure about that anymore. Adam thought as he rolled his eyes. "Right."
"But who could forget the time Adam pulled those lines of pranks," Slips commented. "He became the Prank Master General because of it. Best pranks ever, dude."
"Well, those pranks were by accident," Adam admitted sheepishly. "I didn't plan on taking Jake's title as the Prank Master General. I swear."
"Sure seemed like you were," Jake muttered. "Especially considering that you shared the title with me just so I could help with rebuilding the school."
"Because you were the one who took out the nails in the first place," Adam pointed out. "Oh, and let's not forget how everyone here thought that I was a professional love doctor, where I paired couples up at random."
"Yeah. Orlando sure was a pretty bird," Jake commented.
"Pretty loco if ya ask me," Lupe muttered, rolling her eyes upon remembering that.
"Alright. But what's the point of bringing all this up?" Adam asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Our point is that while you may have caused a ton of conundrums throughout our school with your human involvement," Windsor explained. "You are still a student at our school, accidental as it may be."
"And we would never think any less of you, Adam," Ingrid added.
"Right," Adam had a smile for a brief second before he frowned again. "I can't say the same for everyone else though..."
For a brief second, Adam shot a look toward Jake; a sign that he was questioning their friendship. Jake was oblivious to this though, as he sat there absentmindedly before changing the subject.
"Well anywho Adam," Jake started. "You should have a Wormy Joe and be somebody."
Adam sighed at that. "I still think wormy joes are gross."
"And I told you that you shouldn't knock it till you try it," Jake ate another wormy joe.
Adam groaned at that, but then sucked it up and had one or two wormy joes for lunch, as he sat down with the rest of the pack as they finished their lunches. Despite what the members of the pack just told him, the only human student was still feeling doubts about being at CDMS. He hoped that the day would be done and over with...
Fortunately for Adam, when it came to gym class, Coach Tiffany Gills; the goldfish gym coach, was being merciful by issuing Adam to take a shower before partaking in gym class. If only because Adam needed to shower since he smelled awful and she wouldn't have that be a distraction to everyone else in gym class.
Aside from that, the rest of the school day went by as well as he would imagine it, what with all the taunts and such from the other students. Of course, Adam tried his best to mind his 'own' business and not focus on the other students. Throughout the rest of the day, Adam thought some more about his friendship with Jake, and some more instances made him question how sincere it was.
There was the time when Jake intentionally forced the shutdown of the United Species Organization that Adam started up to keep Lupe from filing a lawsuit against the school, due to how Kiki Von Beaky gave toucans a bad name. It was clear Jake did that out of spite, with help from Pixiefrog, all because he got kicked out of the United Species twice; the second time he disguised himself as a bunny.
And then there was the time when the documentary filmmaker Zira Cornelius visited CDMS to shoot a documentary. It was bad enough that Adam had a bad start to the day, but then Zira focused her attention on interviewing Adam instead of everyone else, unaware that he was a human.
And if that wasn't enough, Jake decided to throw Adam under the bus by taking 5 bucks from Zira and film Adam for her, with his shiny teeth providing light for him to see. And to top it off, the film did get a lot of attention, and Adam was humiliated by everyone who saw it, including Kerry. That truly was the worst day of his life, all thanks to Jake filming him in the boy's locker room.
Those two instances stood out in his mind, along with several others. But he decided not to focus on his internal problems at the moment, as he got through the rest of the school day, along with his last day of detention. Fortunately, he made it to detention once the school day was done, and he refused to talk to Jake during detention. He just wanted to get this last day of detention done and over and then head straight home.
It was now past 4:30 p.m., and detention had finally ended for Adam, which was such a relief for him. Now he could go back home and put all of this madness behind him, or what there is of it. Riding on his scooter in front of the cafeteria exit was Principal Pixiefrog himself. He was identified as a pixie frog with circular glasses, a suit with a red bow, a brown jacket, and black shoes. Also through his glasses, you can see yellow all around his lens.
Standing right next to him was his assistant and secretary; Mrs. Geraldine Shannon Warthog, or Mrs. Warthog. She was shown as a big, disgusting, brown, old warthog, with moles and age spots all over her face and snout.
Aside from dark gray hair on her head, she also has black strands of hair coming out of her ears. She has stereotypical "old librarian" spectacles, held up by a curly glasses chain. She has red lipstick and a thick, black unibrow. She wears a yellow shirt, a plaid green kilt, a light yellow scarf, and black high heels.
Adam saw the both of them and realized that detention was over, so he decided to head over towards them. He didn't know where Jake ran off to, and right now, he didn't care. He needed a bit of a break from that crazy butt-obsessed monkey friend of his. Pixiefrog was the first to speak.
"Ah, Mr. Lyon," Pixiefrog started. "It would appear that you made it through the school day with no problem-o. And detention too, so it seems."
"Uh, right," Adam said slowly. "Am I all set with detention now, Principal Pixiefrog?"
"Hmm? Oh yes. Sure," Pixiefrog said abruptly. "Detention's just about over for you. And for Mr. Spidermonkey too. Where is he?"
"Beats me," Adam said in an exhausted tone. "I'm just glad today's finally over."
"And I'm glad to hear you say that Mr. Lyon," the principal told him. "Because I hope you've learned your lesson, and you'll never put this school at the threat of lawsuits again."
"Yes, Principal Pixiefrog," Adam said with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Oh, that reminds me," Pixiefrog decided to bring up with him. "I got word that some of the students here have been throwing something...horrible earlier."
"What do you mean?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What I mean is that students have been throwing their various messes," Pixiefrog exclaimed. "And that you were pelted by animal droppings."
"Uh...I'd rather not talk about it," Adam said, sounding flustered and disgusted by how he was hit by animal droppings earlier today.
"I see," the principal rubbed his chin. "Well, this is a problem. Having one of our students hit by animal droppings could result in lawsuits. We could get sued!"
The only human student didn't say anything as Pixiefrog turned his attention to Mrs. Warthog. "Mrs. Warthog?!"
"What is it, PF," Mrs. Warthog wondered with her usual indifferent tone.
"I'd like to issue a mandate in the student's code of conduct, effective immediately," Pixiefrog issued. "That all students at Charles Darwin Middle School are forbidden from throwing animal droppings of any kind at any of our students. Especially those that lack fur and scales and fins and such. With your filing skills, this new mandate will get out to everyone in this school. Understood?"
"Yes Pixiefrog," Mrs. Warthog sounded like she didn't care in the slightest.
"Good. Because I don't want Mr. Lyon here to file lawsuits against the school all because some anonymous students decided to throw animal droppings at him."
Mrs. Warthog just let out a huff and a snort, a sign that she didn't object to this in the slightest. Adam, meanwhile, was unsure about what to say. It took a few moments for him to find his voice.
"Uhhh...sir," he started. "Is it alright for me to go home now?"
"Oh, sure. Yes, Mr. Lyon," Principal Pixiefrog waved his hand towards the door. "You may run along back to your home, or whatever. I think we're done here."
"Okay. Well, see you PF," Adam said rather awkwardly.
"Right. So long," Pixiefrog said as Adam headed out the door of the cafeteria, with his backpack of stuff in tow.
And with that, Adam eventually made it to the school entrance, where he promptly exited the school, letting out a sigh of relief. He was glad that today was all over. He saw no sign of Jake anywhere, meaning he must've gone back to the zoo.
With Jake having gone home for the day, this meant that Adam could have some relaxation time to himself, and not have to deal with his antics for the remainder of the day. He just wanted all of this to be over. At least he could get some relief from anything that reminds him of Jake and CDMS at his home. That was for certain...
END OF CHAPTER 2...
Yeah, that's it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, even though it took longer than usual for me to write.
Honestly, I'm not too sure what direction this story will go in, so I'm just coming up with whatever comes to mind with this story. Just want to let you all know.
Anyway, for the next chapter, we'll focus solely on Adam at home, as he wonders more about if his experience at CDMS is worth the sacrifice of his dignity, he also gets a visitor who overhears him, and a few other things will take place. What will be in store for Adam? Find out next time, readers.
Now, if you'd like to leave a review, please feel free to do so. I'll continue working on this as soon as I can.
Otherwise, I got nothing else to say. So until next time, tune in again, and thanks for reading everyone!