Chapter 5: School Shopping
After long hours of sleep, Juno was fresh and ready to follow Arabelle to shop for her school supplies and uniform. The store was of course, at the school itself and Juno gasped at the sight of how grand the institution was. Cherryton was a big campus of course but this, it looked like something out of a fairytale.
A grand white palace with different steps for students to climb while in the middle, a magnificent fountain with the statue of a pretty seal holding a four-leaf clover pointing her nose upwards. Aside from the pretty architecture, Juno was surprised to see marine animals swimming upstream with their own version of the uniform.
Speaking of uniforms, the Selkie School's main uniform were knee-length skirts that were maroon just like the ties and blazers. Most of their blouses were white with the symbol of a curved mythical seal emblemed on the right.
"Feels a bit different than our uniforms back home," the young she-wolf murmured, tugging her tie. The school had carnivores and herbivores, but never marine animals. It weirded Juno out to see animals that appeared in her marine language textbook to be seen in broad daylight, let alone in clothes.
Her nose picked up a few scents of those animals and these were her descriptions: salty, briny, and a hint of wetness to them. All Canidaes could distinguish the scent of water, where tap water had a metallic tinge compared to spring water. Since she was a member of Cherryton's drama club, she knew how to act in the situation.
Arabelle guided her up the stairs, a few students stopped to stare at her. Does she smell funny? Was her fur too matted? It made her feel like she was back in her first school that had a lot of bullying before Cherryton. She's a wolf, for god's sake!
At the school shop, there were a few smells she could detect like newly print exercise books, some old musty second-hand textbooks donated by seniors and a few inks from pens. While Arabelle was talking with the pangolin shopkeeper, Juno began to browse at the textbooks.
She couldn't believe how simple they were compared to Cherryton!
"Found something you like?" the shopkeeper inquire from the counter. "Second-hand textbooks are about 2 quid if the quality is good."
Juno lowered her fluffy ears. "Um...no, just browsing. I'm just surprised they're second-handed since they looked brand new. Arabelle, are any of these books going to be in my new semester?"
The black swan craned her neck to read the book titles. "Oh yes, but we have the books ready for you back home. One of our previous seniors donated them for you. So all you need now are stationaries, uniforms and your laptop."
The grey wolf's ears perked up. Who was the senior and why go through all the trouble to give away books to someone she barely knew?
Deciding to think about those later, Juno began to follow the pangolin shopkeeper to the fitting room to test out her uniform. Staring back at her reflection, she marvelled at the bold colours of the uniform.
Who knew her fur could blend so well with maroon!
When she emerged out of the room, Arabelle nodded with approval. "Your fur compliments the uniform, Juno. Now, once we're done, shall we go get some coffee?"
"Oh, yes please!" Juno's tail wagged excitedly before heading back into the fitting room to change back into her normal attire. A part of her was nervous, but now that transformed into excitement.
"I wonder how Pina's faring?" she asked out loud. If the Selkie School for Gifted Girls' uniforms have a dazzling design, she wondered how the Gryphon Cross uniforms would be like?
...
Pina had to double-take on the fact that Gryphon Cross' school was in fact a castle. From the stoned walls that looked like they were built during medieval times to the spread out lawn that some of the students were playing at. Back at Cherryton, there was a certain time in the morning where both carnivores and herbivores play together before school starts.
But here, in the lazy afternoon, a few were doing sports, some hanging out, while a handful were snoozing in the sun.
"Do we need to dress up like royalty?" Pina asked jokingly, causing Sameer to chuckle. "No, unless you are part of the drama club. But I think you got that part down, yes?"
The Dall sheep flick his wool dramatically. "Why, yes. Then again, I'm surprised you're not in a drama club, since you look like you could play a prince."
He swore that Sameer just became warm-blooded by that compliment. Inwardly, he thought the Egyptian cobra's flustered expression was cute and there was a sudden urge to tap his snout with a finger. However, Sameer cleared his throat and nodded at the direction of one of the school's towers.
"That's the observation deck, where we would go when we learn about physics and astronomy," he explained. "There's a lot of interesting stories among the stars and how the scientists found them. I'm sure you will like it too."
"Hmm, maybe I'll be interested if you could teach me?" he winked, causing Sameer's hood to flare up slightly. Both of the boys were heading to the school store, where the shopkeeper was a palm civet with round glasses. There were rows of stationaries in every shelf, glossy textbooks and a few uniforms that ranged from white shirts, pants, shorts, blazers and cardigan sweaters.
The blazers and cardigans were emerald green with the golden emblem of the gryphon on the left side of the chest. What surprised him was that they were tailor-made for limbless animals like snakes, stretchable fabric for animals like him with horns, and some hydrophilic for amphibians.
"Don't worry about the books," said Sameer, gesturing to the shelves. "Mama and I already got them from one of the seniors that just graduated. He's still around, but we'll see if we could catch a glimpse of him."
This peaked Pina's interest. He was friends with the older members of the drama club like Bill, Aoba, Tao, and even that bloodthirsty killer named Riz. So who could this mysterious senior be? Was he as handsome as the golden scaled cobra?
When Pina showed off his uniform, Sameer gave him a warm smile. It made the herbivore blushed when he checked him up and down. "You look wonderful in green, Pina. I think anyone in school would think that you're one of us."
"If you two are done, I am about to go on a lunch break," the shopkeeper grumbled, sipping his flask of coffee. Both Pina and Sameer exchanged embarrassed glances before paying for their purchases. Now, they were heading to the cafeteria to have a quick bite and catch up.
Just as Pina was about to queue up for something, he almost lets out a yelp at the animal standing before them:
It was a grey hammerhead shark!
Sorry for the long wait. I was in hospital yesterday and I blacked out pretty badly but I'm okay now
The Gryphon Cross school was based off Windsor's Castle in the UK, while the Selkie School for Gift Girls was based on Peterhof Palace in Russia