The car door shut behind me as I looked on at the unfamiliar structures known as Austin High School. My family and I recently moved to Australia from the United States and this was going to be my first day at a new school, you could see the nervousness in my chocolate brown eyes. I fixed my jacket hood and held the dog tags my grandpa gave me from back when he was in Vietnam; they were always like a source of confidence for me. The new kid in school feeling wasn't really the cause of my anxiety; the fact that I would be the only human going to this school is the real culprit.

The school is pre-dominantly furry so I would be the first human to ever be enrolled here. Now I don't fear or hate furries, I was actually really good friends with a wolf back in South Georgia, I just hate it when people look at me as different. I pushed my worries to the back of my mind, released the dog tags, settled my bag back onto my shoulders, and began walking towards my new school.

I swiftly passed through the courtyard and made my way the main entrance. I opened up one of the double doors and made my way to, what looked to be, the main offices. The glass doors swung open as I entered a small carpeted room with a counter that dominated the other side of the office with a female lion typing away on one of the computers.

“Howdy" I greeted her as I approached the counter.

“Hello, can I help you?" She asked surprise evident in her voice.

“Yes, I was wondering if this is where I could get my class schedule."

“Oh, you're the new student? I wasn't expecting a human." She said while she opened a filing cabinet. “Can I get your name"?

“Eli Jones"

“Eli…Eli…E-here it is" She lifted up a small folder and pulled a slip of paper out. “Here you are" she handed me the paper and put the folder away.

“Good luck Mr. Jones"

“Much appreciated, have a nice day ma'am" I waved goodbye as I left the office and looked at my schedule.  'First off, Advanced Algebra, room D-106' I nodded and made my way to my first class.

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'Finally, thought I'd never find it' I thought as I approached a door with D-106 attached to it. I peeked inside through the window on the door and I saw everyone just sitting in their desks doing nothing. Some were on their phones and others were talking to their friends while a male otter, who I presumed was the teacher, was sitting behind his desk focused on his computer. My nervousness was getting the best of me as I felt my body start tensing up. I steeled my nerves and grasped my dog tags, finding comfort in the old metal. I released them then raised my hand and knocked on the door as I turned the knob and slowly opened the door. The whole class stopped what they were doing and stared directly at me.

“Can I help you?" The otter asked.

“Y-yeah, I'm your new student" I prayed that they didn't notice my little stutter right there.

“Ah yes, hello Mr. Jones, welcome to my classroom, I'm Mr. Smith." He welcomed me with a smile. “Just take any empty seat you find."

“Yes, sir" I spotted an empty desk near the back corner and made my way over to it. I slid into the chair and pulled my hood up farther to try and block out the peering eyes of the others. I hated this kind of attention.

“Alright class" Mr. Smith stood up and drew the attention away from me “we have a new student joining us, so today will be a free day, Mr. Jones could you please come up to the front of the class?"

'Fuck' I thought as I reluctantly got out of my desk and slowly approached the front while fixing my hood over my eyes. Why did he even tell me to sit if he was just gonna make me get back up. 'Please don't say what I think your gonna say.'

“Please, tell us a little about yourself."

My teeth clenched involuntarily as my heartbeat quickened. I just wanted to crawl into a corner and escape the attention. I could feel their gazes like sharpened blades coming down and piercing my very soul.

'Alright calm down Eli, the fear is all in your head,' I reminded myself while taking deep breaths and moving to the middle of the whiteboard that took up half the wall in the front.The hood, which was once my only form of protection, now felt like it was slowly suffocating me.

I grabbed the hood and slowly pulled back until it finally fell off. My hand came up and smoothed down my dark brown hair as I lifted my head and faced the class.

“Howdy...my names Eli Jones, but everyone just calls me Buck.  My family and I just moved here from the U.S…that's it. " I finished the little introduction and was going to sit back down until Smith spoke again.

“Are there any questions that anyone wishes to ask?"

Really Teach, Really.

'Dammit Smith, will you shut the hell up,' I eyed him angrily; 'doesn't he not know how hard this is for me.

“I have a question" I heard someone holler. I turned to whoever shouted and spotted a male cheetah sitting on a desk near one of the windows. “I wanted to know what part of America you're from." A smile formed as I heard the question.

“I'm from the southern part of the state of Georgia. I lived in Ivy for most of my life until I moved to Valdosta when I was nine." I loved talking about home and just thinking of it was enough to make my anxiety disappear.

“Why did you move to Australia," asked a female squirrel.

“Dad's military and they moved him here to work with the ADF."

There were other questions thrown at me for about 25 minutes and I answered them to the best of my ability.

“Alright, that's enough questions; you may go back to your seat Mr. Jones" Mr. Smith said as he motioned towards my seat.

“Yes sir".

I walked back to the desk and sat back, all my earlier stress had faded as everyone still treated me like they would anyone else. My smile remained as I watched everyone go back to their earlier conversations and generally acting like all was normal.

'Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought.'

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I planned on this to be a multi-chapter story and chapter one is just the decider chapter. If y'all leave good comments I'll keep writing the story. If not, then I'll quit it.