Chapter 5: Friends, Trials, and Chaos! (1)

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

A brand new day started here at Prism Uni, yet my mind still hasn't digested what has been happening over the past couple of days. 

The first day had concluded well enough for everyone and we were quick to enjoy some study sessions together. With Hope joining us, the session managed to maintain at least some seriousness as we struggled with some of the early homework from the first subjects.

It was nice that some entertaining banter had started by the time we were close to conclude our tasks, and they were just enough to get everyone's spirits high to finally bring an end to that day without distracting us too much from the main troubles.

The pleasant first day was then followed by the second day here, which mostly followed the same pattern as the first one considering that it had relatively new subjects to deal with and that meant more 'first lectures' to face about.

Prime Literature ended up being just a study over the mix of Old-Earth/Old-Prism poetry and tales that were salvaged by the destruction of both original planets. It was quite the relief considering I had expected to find myself dreading some of the topics about the modern-contemporary style of present's literature.

That, I knew, wouldn't have worked well with how difficult it felt to try and understand on my own.

The teacher of this subject, Professor Dorion, gave a well-summarized explanation about highlighting correlations between the two different lines of thought during her first lecture, despite the fact that there were plenty of noticeable differences between the two cultures back then.

The Polar Bear Prime had shoulder-length, dark-gray hair and a pair of attentive, but relaxed blue eyes. She was still in her mid-thirties, but her personality made her seem much more mature and wiser than her real age.

The woman also stood pretty tall, always sporting a confident but humble approach with her teaching despite her celebrity status being known to anyone that had been going to high school since a few  years ago.

Having gained quite the impressive achievements with her degrees and renowned examples of literature masterworks, the bespectacled woman had respectfully accepted the offer to teach the subject here in Prism Uni just five years ago.

She had long stopped writing, mentioning right at the beginning of the lesson that she had long found the work as a teacher here in this illustrious establishment far more entertaining than her past 'gloomy career'.

Quite the sudden development considering how excellent her books were. (A sudden development counts as 5 years old? Kinda questioning the logic here, but it's your story to tell) Most of those were focused on slice-of-lives kind of comedies, drawing an authentic depiction of the difficulties of lives for young men and women while also dropping some amusing content here and there in her works.

Still, her decision seemed to have been correct as she ended up becoming my favorite teacher, with Professor Bellman coming up second place in terms of genuine interest in their careers and capacity to teach people.

What rendered this experience even better was the way Hope had helped during the notes-writing.

There was quite the synergy in that situation, the teamwork reaching a degree of intensity that just rendered the lesson quite the easy thing to understand without ending up bored.

But while Maths and Literature ended up becoming subjects that the dark-haired girl was capable of keeping  up with, the same couldn't be said for History of the Old Worlds.

Either because the unnerving nature of Professor Aken or for the complexity of his explanations, Hope had some trouble in keeping up with the notes and brought this up when the study session back on the first day had started.

Thinking back at the discussion I had with the girl and how it now saw the two of us allied for a 'common goal', I was quick to slowly push Shin to consider tutoring his childhood friend about the subject.

The results ended up being a mixed success. The blond was receptive of the idea, finding a positive reply even from Hope, but he was quick to try and rope me in too as I 'was a little more experienced with the subject' compared to how he was about it.

Oddly enough, it was a logical alteration as the young man had given no little praise over my understanding of History.

Miles turned out to be a saving grace as he quickly jumped in with the fact that I was already busy with the fact I had to tutor him until he got a better handling of the subject itself.

Which was… a lie, especially with how well the Cat Prime had understood the topics of the first lesson compared to Hope.

Shin was saddened by the fact I couldn't give him much support, but still accepted the idea that I would have offered help with the tutoring if he needed any.

Hope was elated by this development, but she was mindful enough to not try anything more out of this little victory she had gained thanks to this minor effort from my part.

She did thank me about it, yet her genuinely satisfied words left me feeling perplexed and somewhat confused. There was no real reason to feel like it, yet the unknown feeling was there.

Nothing too concerning. I quickly shrugged it off from my shoulders as I went on to deal with the second day.

Things were pretty much the same as the one before, but the lessons were new ones and… I admit I wouldn't have expected  Chemistry to be this much difficult.

Shin had to help me around more than I felt well with and, despite the good-will of the young Prime, I still felt disappointed over the fact I hadn't been careful for so many issues at once.

Noting down on my personal bucket list to do some extra homework to fix this problematic discovery, asking the teacher of this class for some assistance about the matter.

Professor Bayer, an old, bald Lizard Prime that was mostly known for his strict but incredibly helpful mannerism while teaching, was more than happy to accommodate me with a few advised parts of the textbook I needed to study from to bolster up my current situation with his subject.

With this first subject dealt with, we quickly moved to the next one.

Miles was quite eager about this one in particular, bringing up more words of wisdom over the importance of learning… Spanish.

Having grown up in California, I was pretty much adept in speaking the language proficiently and soon the entire class turned out to be a breeze for me.

This first lesson was a brief summary of the simple rules of grammar, and I was careful to help out Miles as the Cat Prime seemed to be surprisingly focused by the 'words' leaving Professor de Diego's lips.

The teacher was a Leopard Prime with a voluptuous form, her long red hair reached down by her lower waist and chocolate-brown eyes.

She was stunning and fairly capable with her job, there was nothing wrong to say about the way the young woman was conducting her lecture… except the dress she was currently wearing did an amazing job by not hiding her cleavage.

I was careful to ignore glancing down for as long as I could manage, due to the fact that I still had to pay attention to  her lectures, but this thought wasn't shared much by the rest of the male students in the classroom.

Miles himself was mesmerized by the sight, but much to my surprise, the Cat Prime managed to still understand everything that the Spanish teacher was saying, and his notes proved to be substantial compared to previous predicaments of the same kind.

The lecture itself was decent and, once we were done with this too, we ended up meeting up with the rest of the group.

Shin and Hope seemed to have been fine with Chemistry, and once we were all together at the usual meeting spot, we proceeded to check on the final subject for the day.

This one was quite special compared to the others since it was one of the optional ones that students  had to decide before the beginning of the school year.

“I got… 'Photography'," Miles announced happily.

“Same," Hope hummed quietly, her eyes briefly flashing curiosity while glancing at Shin.

“...I have 'Old Earth Literature'," The blond admitted, deflating a little as he glanced at his schedule. “I found it like an interesting subject to expand with Prime Literature."

I gave him a nod, my hand patting at his shoulder. “That's good-thinking," I commented calmly, a small smile on my face. “I actually picked-"

“Something about sports?" The Cat Prime jumped in with an amused tone, to which I frowned.

“Actually… it's something of a little hobby of mine," I hummed with a hint of embarrassment at their collective staring. “I picked 'Cooking'."

…

“Wait, really?" Miles pressed on with a surprised tone. “I thought you would have-"

“Picked something a little more practical?" I interjected with a sigh. “I just found 'Cooking' a little more interesting considering that I have some experience about it, and a certification to attest my current level wouldn't be bad to have in case of any Plan Bs about working."

“So it's more to cover your bases rather than expanding what knowledge you currently have, right?" Shin inquired with some fascination and I nodded back at him.

“That, and I might  actually get to learn some more recipes out of the lectures," I quietly replied . “I've heard that the teacher for the course is actually some good chef that had retired, so hoping to get some extra knowledge about cooking wouldn't be that impossible."

Ultimately, we had to split up to reach our respective classrooms before the end of the half-day break, and I ended up reaching the room quite early on considering how close it was to the section of the building I had started to walk from.

Some students had already arrived and put on the standard aprons available by the entrance, so I quickly took one and began putting it on myself.

It was a simple white apron with Prism Uni's logo on it, nothing truly special about it that I could see other than that detail.

I took my stand by one of the free counters, waiting patiently as the rest of the students started to pour in and… finally the teacher arrived.

Professor Cracco was something of an oddity among the various teachers at Prism Uni, as the man had been one of the few ones to make a reputation as a good instructor despite the fairly limited number of students frequenting his class.

The gray-furred Wolf Prime entered with a small smile on his face, his stature being the first thing that caught my attention as I was surprised by his relative shortness compared to other Primes.

With charcoal eyes glinting at any chances of spotting any potential among his students, the man gave a glance around by his desk before beginning his first lesson.

“Good morning to everyone, and welcome to your first lecture about the sublime art of cousine, cucina, or like everyone knows it best, 'Cooking'," The man started to talk, his voice displaying a hint of fascination over the presence of quite a large amount of people in the room. “And I see that this year we have a big batch of new people joining us in these lessons."

There was a brief pause, then the Wolf Prime sighed and continued to speak.

“Before we actually begin, I have to give you all a fair warning about this class," Professor Cracco explained with a serious tone. “While many of you have joined this course with the hopes of getting an easy grade, then I'm sorry to say this, but this will not be the case. This is a serious class and I will administer proper retaliations for any of those that defy the main rules for this classroom. You've been warned."

Another pause, this time the room got quieter than before as the man looked around and… then eased down with his small smile.

“Good, then I guess we can start to form groups and-"

Before the short Prime could have concluded his sentence, loud footsteps interrupted him as someone entered the room in a hurry.

The collective attention was directed at the newcomer, my eyes narrowing blankly at the tall young woman that had emerged from the door.

She was a Tiger Prime with dark-purple hair. Her eyes were a bright green and her face seemed to be showing a mix of embarrassment at the lateness and some tiredness at the little run she had to make to get there in time.

The girl bowed her head a little. “Sorry for being late, Professor."

Blinking at the state the newly-arrived student was, the teacher couldn't help but sigh and shake his head at the circumstances.

“I suppose you were late because of the cheerleaders' practice, Ms. Biggs," The short Prime pointed out and then nodded. “Since you managed to reach the classroom in time, I will not admonish you more than just warning you that I will give you detention  if you end up being late for the next lessons."

The Tiger Prime nodded with a hint of relief at his words, quickly picking one of the available aprons before wandering to the side of the room in the attempt to find any free seat to take.

It took her a couple of seconds, but finally she ended up stopping right by the counter I was occupying alone and… she paused.

Her eyes were now displaying a curious flurry of inner emotions from surprise at seeing that I, the only human at school, had a free seat beside mine that she could take, to hesitation about actually doing that.

I stared back, feeling a little uneasy about having to eventually address the fact she looked fairly tall.

Not that it was a bad thing, just that I was surprised to meet a fellow student taller than any I had met until now.

She blinked, possibly waiting for me to say anything, and I was sure that if I had kept quiet the girl would have taken it as a sign of negation and… I sighed inwardly.

I merely glanced at her and gave her a solid nod. No verbal input, no awkward interactions as first contact.

Only a mere gesture of acceptance.

Her posture finally eased up at my 'reply', and she eagerly took a seat beside mine. From there the difference of heights was more pronounced, but I was still mindful enough to keep my mouth shut about it.

It wasn't just… proper. Or better, respectful towards the normal individual sitting right near to where I was.

I distracted myself by looking back at Professor Cracco, my eyes picking up quickly how the man was keeping himself busy by helping some of the students over the divisions in various 2-people teams working for each counter and… I realized that we were going to be ignored considering how we were already two individuals by a single counter.

I was swiftly brought back to the close reality of the situation and I thought how to best introduce myself to the young woman without messing things up.

To be fair, I was slightly nervous of blurting out anything bad with a lengthy presentation, thus I settled for a curt and informal one.

My lips parted and… I spoke.

“I'm Frankie-" “I'm Traci-"

Stopping  at the same time, we stare  at each other with mutual surprise at the shared introduction.

“Jinx-" “Jinx-"

More surprise at the repetition of the same word at the same time, our eyes widening in a mirthful display of shock at the scene unfolding.

Finally… we both cracked in smiles, giggles, chuckles. Her arms reached down to her sides at the odd predicament but soon enough we both started to calm down before attracting too much attention.

“N-Nice to meet you, Traci," I hummed happily as I got a grasp over myself.

“S-Same, Frankie," The Tiger Prime replied with the same degree of amusement as mine.

There was a moment of pause, just some time to get through the last bits of entertainment we had displayed to one another.

“Still, I hope that it's not much of a problem if I sit here," The girl continued, her tone deflating into a hint of sadness. “I know that I might seem a little..."

I blinked at that sudden swift of mood and I shrugged. “Fun?"

She frowned. “No, I mean that I'm-"

“Nice?"

A huff leaving her lips, Traci stared me down with a mix of annoyance and renewed amusement.

“I mean that I'm big."

“And?" I poked quietly back, getting a surprised glint off from her green orbs.

“You're kidding, right?" She asked, seemingly caught off-guard by my disinterest over her point. “I mean, I understand being funny and all but-"

“I don't have any trouble with that, Traci," I interjected calmly and politely, making her pause with her words. “I understand the concern, I'm glad for it, but I'm really fine with it."

Another round of silence, the Prime shuffled on her seat a little bit before letting out a nod.

“Understood, Frankie," She said quietly, but devoid of that deflated voice she had up until now. “By the way, how good are you with… this?"

Traci gestured over the counter, pointing generally at the instruments left there that were meant to be used during the lessons.

“I did cook a lot back home," I admitted with a nod. “I think I know how to use pretty much everything here."

The positive response got her to lighten up with some more hopes… for some reasons.

“Really? Is something about your parents maybe owning some restaurant or you decided to make it a hobby?"

Her queries were met with a wider smile.

“I guess it's a hobby," I answered, thinking that it did start like one. “It's something that I've picked up after a period of being forced to stay back at home for a while after I got a little negligible injury-"

“If it was 'negligible', you wouldn't have been 'forced to stay at home'," The Prime chided mirthfully, getting me to let out a faux-annoyed groan.

“I suppose it was a little serious… but I still recovered- and the main topic is that I just ended up picking up the interest of cooking from helping around mom with the kitchen," I huffed at the poking, causing the girl to giggle at my reaction.

“Oh, I did start by helping around my mom too," The young woman muttered with a hint of giddiness. “In fact, it was mom that pushed me into the hobby and… I just love it."

I nodded back at her, my smile still up, but before I could have continued, Professor Cracco's voice disrupted the discussion as he began speaking back to his desk.

“Now that the groups have been made, I guess it's time to move on to the real lesson of today," The teacher announced with a solid nod. “And our first lesson will be focused on… your best dish."

…

What?

Chaos rose from that unexpected development, but the Professor was quick to bring silence back to the room.

“Since for many this will be the first lesson at Prism Uni, I wish to know more about the personality of each of you by your favorite recipes," The man continued to explain. “I know that many are somewhat adept in preparing food, and for those that aren't much versed in preparing without their own recipes, I can offer some cooking books for the lecture so that you may prepare your favorite dish ever. This is just a 'presentation test', so I will not grade anyone on this occasion."

That sounded odd… but still fair considering that there was not going to be any grading for those that weren't much capable of cooking so early on.

I was sure, at least from the nervous looks coming from other students, that some just didn't seem to be prepared to do anything without having some written instructions to follow.

I glanced at Traci with a quizzical look. “So, any plans with what we could make?"

She seemed to ponder about it for a while, shaking her head with some doubts.

“I would like to do pancakes," The girl admitted bluntly, before shaking her head. “But next we have lunch, and that would mess up our chances of eating the delicious things offered by the cafeteria."

I nodded at her logic, understanding that it was up to me to find the proper kind of dish that we could prepare… without ruining our appetites.

There were a couple of interesting ideas that hovered within my head over what we could do now and… I blinked in realization.

Why not settle for something as simple as pancakes… that are not just regular pancakes?

“But perhaps we can do pancakes," I hummed with a devious smile, getting a frown from the girl about my suggestion.

“I just said it wouldn't be good if-"

“I wasn't talking about sweet pancakes," I interjected with an amused tone, making Traci's confusion increase until I finally told her what I was planning to do.

Her eyes widened in a mix of surprise and realization, but then she gave a quick nod at the plan I had prepared and soon we were allowed to pick all the ingredients needed for this lesson from the large fridge attached to the room.

I was the one going to pick the stuff we needed, the Tiger Prime pointing out how many times she had gotten stuck by the entrance because of her size. Quite tragic to hear, but I was still determined to make quite the good impression with a simple dish.

I picked a couple of eggs, a carton of milk, some cheese, and a small cup filled with yeast before returning to the counter and starting the process of preparing the food we were planning to serve.

Despite her noticeable clumsiness while moving around for the various tasks, I was surprised when I found in Traci someone that could quickly and perfectly complete any activity she would have to do in our split work.

Much to my surprise, the entire preparation turned out to finish faster than I had initially planned it to be as we finished about thirty minutes later.

Still, I couldn't help but stare in minor awe at the little tower of salty pancakes that we were able to create with what the limited ingredients allowed us to make.

We took a couple of seconds to sit back to our chairs and admire our results as we knew that we did make quite the perfect dish for the current period of time.

“Do you think it is delicious?" Traci asked distractedly as she continued to stare at the tower. “It looks and smells good, but what if the taste is off?"

I shrugged. “I'm sure it's fine," I admitted with conviction. “And if not, then we tried our best at it. In the end, that's what truly matters."

She nodded, smiling a little at my words. “You know, I never had a stable partner in this class."

“Really?" I inquired curtly, partly surprised by this discovery.

“Since I have cheerleaders' practices keeping me busy most of my free time, I generally can't connect well with other guys and girls," The Tiger Prime explained with a nod. “That and I look fairly intimidating."

I blinked. “Is that about your height?" I asked carefully. “I mean, I can see that being a bit of an issue, but after talking with you, I know you are a nice girl."

Her lips twitched at that, a snort soon following after at my praise.

“Flatterer much, Frankie?" The young woman retorted with a mirthful voice. “I bet you had girls swooning at you back at high school."

I flinched a little at that eager retaliation, feeling a little uneasy at thinking back at the attention I had back at that stage of my life.

I had some girls trying to get my interest but… it never worked out well. Always trying to aim at the sport-guy and-

And that's why I just decided to stop trying my chances at surfing.

Not only did I have the pressure to keep up the pace with some of my former instructors, but I was also irritated by the spotlight I would end up being put on by some of the girls.

I lost a couple of friends just because of that stupid attention.

Still, it wasn't a reason to create issues to Traci's excited inquiries, at least not with her just trying to be friendly with her.

“You could say that..." I replied tensely and, instead of being pressed on with the matter, the girl actually ended up letting out a sigh.

“Was it really that horrible?" The girl asked with a calm voice. “I mean, I get quite the attention from guys all the time I'm cheerleading, and I can see being quite annoying sometimes."

I blinked, my eyes showing some brief worry. “I hope nothing bad-"

“Oh no, it's all positive and-" Her happy trail briefly interrupted as she noticed my look. “Wait, you thought that… they were bullying me?"

I tensed up a little. “Kinda?"

…

Her lips twitched happily at my honest reply. “That's nice to know. You know- having someone else worried about me and-" The Prime stopped once again, this time to sigh. “You know, you should call me 'Tiggs' from now on."

...That was quite sudden and… odd? I was confused by this last request, enough to show some legitimate surprise at that detail on my face.

“Why?"

Her smile widened. “You know, friends call me that."

I blinked, and my brain took a little while to connect the dots about that nickname.

“Well… then it's nice to be your friend, Tiggs."

She giggled, but before she could reply to this, we stopped as Professor Cracco was finally inspecting our table.

“I see that you two have made quite the team," The man commented jovially before he settled his stare upon the tower of pancakes, taking a brief sniff before nodding to himself. “And you have also prepared something light by taking under consideration the fact that lunch is going to start quite soon after the lesson."

He took one of the untouched forks by our counter and took a quick bite from the pancake on top, munching at it for a while.

“The salt is just enough to bring out the main element of this plate and… I think there is just a little issue with adding too much cheese to the pancakes," The teacher commented with a happy smile. “Truly a fascinating idea. Continue like this and you will receive top marks for this class in no time."

…

“T-Thank you for the kind words, Profe-"

“It's the truth, Mr. Parker," The Wolf Prime interrupted calmly. “You did a good job. Bask a little in this achievement and… actually, I think I will take these with myself," The teacher hummed as he carefully took the plate up from the table. “I just got a good idea and… you will see very soon."

While the last words left me confused about what he was referring to, I was still too excited by this positive praise that I failed to compute any follow-up question about it.

The short Prime walked away from the table with the Pancakes after nodding happily at the two of us, my surprise reaching its zenith when I saw Tiggs giddily vibrating in her seat.

“W-We did it!" She commented eagerly, her smile shining quite brightly while some giggles were being barely contained behind her lips, causing me to snort at the adorable sight.

“Yep, we did it," I said before letting out a chuckle at the happy display from the Tiger Prime.

To think that I would end up making quite the amusing friend out of that first lecture about Cooking, and one as unique as Tiggs.

When the lesson came to an end, we eventually had to split up to regroup with our respective friends, but not before leaving each other some contacts in case we needed to talk with each other over this subject.

I thought it would take a couple of days to see her again, or perhaps it would have happened by chance if I ended up wandering around where the cheerleaders were practicing… but surprisingly enough I was proven wrong when we both had to go to the cafeteria.

In that sea of students that should've rendered the possibilities to find ourselves in that humongous place close to zero, we actually ended up finding each other because of a unique event unfolding right by the area where food was displayed for students to pick to eat.

Among the various, different plates, there was one that stood out to the others for two small pieces of papers set right in front of it.

There was no doubt about it, the tower of salty pancakes was there and… the teacher had indeed gotten the good idea as he had left written in those papers the names of those that had prepared them.

Mr. Frankie Parker – 1st Year

Ms. Traci Biggs – 2nd Year

Primes of all kinds were flocking at the tower, almost demolishing it with their intrigued attention at picking moderate pieces out of it and soon… it was gone.

From this sudden development that saw me approach the zone together with Miles, Shin, and Hope, I soon found myself tackled up and pulled in a hug by a certain giddy Tiger Prime… followed by a confused Fox Prime with red-and-yellow hair.

But the only thing I could think about is… God, Tiggs is madly strong with her hugs!

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AN

Second Sections begin with quite the fluffy chapter!

But I wonder if it will be as fluffy as Hope's and Vixy's tails.

Perhaps and-

I would also like to know how long will it take for little Tiggs to turn our lovely protagonist in a Cuddle Buddy-

Wait-

And that is ignoring the fact that Vixy will surely-

C-Can you not drown me in-

But I suppose we will learn more in the next episode~!

...Are you angry at me?

Perhaps~!

...Why?

You will learn more quite soon~!

...I think I'm in danger.