Walking in Paws ch. 2

Chapter 2: The Dog Days of School

The next day I awoke to hearing the birds chirping. I uncurled myself and stretched like a dog and scratched me ear with my leg. Realizing what I was doing, I decided to get some breakfast. I didn't hear Mom so I assumed she already left and went to get some breakfast, and that was a pain in the ass. I had to figure out how to eat with a three-inch muzzle, which took about an hour! At first I tried eating cereal like normal, but my first bite fell out of my muzzle, falling through my lips. I tried smaller bites, but that wasn't working either, then I had to try eating like a dog, which was working but not preferred. After some trial and error, I found that I could eat solid food regularly, but soups and drinks required a dog method… that I still hate.

After finishing my mourning routine with a shower, and a hour of hair drying, I decided to do some artwork for my account Deviant Art which was slightly depressing since most of my sketches were of my furso- I mean me. Not wanting to remind myself of my current state, I played some Star Fox, which also proved depressing as well. Curious of my Facebook page, I came on only to see numerous posts on my wall like "Is it true that you have a tail?" and "Where'd you get the costume to look like a dog?" and "No way you're half dog!" It was like the reporters at the hospital, so out of anger I posted a picture of me with the caption" Yeah, I really look like this! Just SHUT THE F*** UP!" with those exact words. I threw the laptop closed and steamed for thirty minutes with my tail shaking angrily. I reopened it to even more comments on my new look, all were "wow" and "that sucks… if it were real" and "how long it took to Photoshop that?" They had no idea on how it felt, and would never know

I saw that Tyler was on FB and I decided to chat with him for a while. "Hey Tyler!"
"What's up dog?"
"Ha-ha, funny… not."
"How is your new life going?"
"Well, if you haven't noticed… people think I'm lying about being a furry."
"Um, did you think REAL furries actually existed before your dog bit you?"
"Not really, but my face is plastered on every newspaper, News station, even science magazines! Heck I'm even a hot topic on the radio for god sake!"
"What did I once say about news? That they only want to make money off of anything they can."
"Your right on that one."
"So really, how is it going?"
"Well, I had to cut holes in all of my pants, and ear holes in my hats, other than that normal."
"Okay I want you to do something, stand up."
"Why?"
"Just do it."
"Now raise your hand"
"Alright."
"Now slap yourself as hard as possible."
"I get it, you think I'm depressed."
"Not hard to tell, I gotta go, my little sister is bugging me for the computer again, see ya!"
"Alright, bye."

After finishing an English paper and two art sketches of myself, I looked at the clock, already 5:38 pm. For some reason I knew Mom was coming home right then, sure enough her car was in the driveway. She came in and freaked out a bit but remembered what happened and calmed down. We had dinner, which was awkward since I had to learn how to eat with a muzzle, watched TV, and curled up in bed like how a dog does, with my blankets in a nest. The rest of the week was pretty much the same, except I fell asleep on Friday in Yeager's dog bed. I actually slept quite comfortably but I still preferred a mattress.

I got used to being a furry, but when Tuesday came, I felt like it was my very first day of school. "Are you sure you want to do this?" My mom questioned just as I was leaving the house dressed in my usual outfit of a hoodie with a zipper, T-shirt and jeans with holes at the knees.
"I cannot hide forever so I might try to go on with my life." I replied. I was filled with fear of what people will think when they see me. I did not want to think about that so I put my hood up, got in my car, and drove to school. Just to let you know Rachel went to a different school than me, I was at a private where she was public.

The school smelled of deodorant, sweat, cheap perfume, food, and other things I had no idea what they were. I had to tape my nose shut to at least ignore the smells. I pulled my hood down as far as it go to cover my face, but the muzzle prevented that, not to forget the tail. I went to my locker and before I knew it, some random student pulled my tail to see if it was real probably. It caused me to instantly punch him in the stomach, hard, drilling him to the ground. I realized a little later that I had faster reflexes, which were used in self-defense.
"Cough- what the heck wa-" the guy said getting up from the ground, then staring at me.
"Sorry, don't know why I did-" I realized my hood fell down showing my furry dogface. I froze, with everything around me, the students and two of my teachers all staring at me stunned. A word echoed in my mind; exposed. Soon voices broke the silence.
"What the hell?"
"He really is furry!"
"Freaky…"
I didn't know what to do but run, so I ran through the hallways into the bathroom, I couldn't believe it. I sat there in a corner hiding, like a frightened puppy. I heard the door open and I quickly put the hood back on, trying to hide my face again. I couldn't see anything, but I hoped the guy would ignore me.
"You can't go ten minutes without hiding in the bathroom can you?" I looked up to see Tyler standing in front of me with a sly grin. "I thought you were an anthro fox-dog, not a chicken."
"Fuck off." I put my head on my knees, and started crying.
"Oh for the love of- ugh, Jon, look. Why did you even come today?"
"I didn't feel like hiding my whole life." I mumbled quietly to myself.
"WHAT WAS THAT?"
"I said I didn't feel like hiding my whole life!"
"And what are you doing now hypocrite?"
"You don't get it do you!" I sprang up pulling the hood off. "I AM A FREA-" Tyler punched me, knocking me down.
"I KNOW I WHAT YOU ARE! BUT WHO ARE YOU?" I got back up and stared at him confused.
"What? You know who-"
"No, I meant who are you? You now look different, but are you going to be different? Are you going to be the thing they think you are, or are you going to by yourself? You can be Jonathan or a animal, take your pick!"
"I- I-" I looked down, that was definitely a different Tyler, and he was never like that until that day.
"You're a what?" I picked my head up and smirked. He started laughing like he won a small fight. "That's what I thought."
"Where did that speech come from?"
"Eh, movies and such."
"Thanks for that."
"Yeah, but I would still keep a low profile though."
"You think I'm an idiot?"
"No, just making sure you don't look like one."  Tyler looked at his watch. "Time to head to history, coming?"
"Sure, *sniff* you wearing calone or something?"
"No, but I would say a lot of people out there are." he said pointing his thump to the door. Tyler left bathroom, he went out first to try to break up any crowds around the door. I left after I didn't hear him yelling anymore. The rest of the day people moved around me as much as possible, which was suspected. Tyler and me had a whole table to us. My teachers were not as bad, probably because I kept my hood up the rest of the day. After a couple days people started to accept me as a furry, but it still felt weird. I was constantly distracted by the smells of school; it took me a week before I was able to think clearly.

Next week on Wednesday, I was putting my books away to head to lunch. I closed my locker, and nearly on cue I was smashed into it. I slid down the lockers to the floor. I looked up to see the blurry shape of a jock/bully named British (literally, that is his name, and he isn't British ironically) standing over me. I was seeing stars and my forehead was bleeding. British looked down on me and laughed.
"What is this dog doing here?" He bellowed, being all high and mighty. "Somebody get animal control!" I didn't reply from me being dazed.
"WHAT THE HELL BRITISH?" Tyler's voice broke British's laughing. I was too out of it to tell what was going on, Tyler told me what happened afterward.
"Here comes the owner! You know no pets at school? Get rid of the mutt."
"HE IS NOT A DOG ASSHOLE!" British rushed at Tyler pushing him through the crowd around us into more lockers. Two other jocks that were following British held Tyler to the lockers. British pulled back a punch.
"Call me that one more time fucker, I dare you."
"ASSH-" British drilled his fist right into Tyler's nose, breaking it. Blood started flowing.
"You are no better than that dog over there!" British pointed to me.
"I am not a dog." I grunted scraping myself off the floor. British looked at me and left Tyler with his lackeys
"You have ears on top of your head, a tail, a black nose, a muzzle, a coat of fur, and you say you aren't a dog? Look in the mirror sometime and then tell me you aren't a dog!"
"I am not a dog!" Now I was fully on my feet, still a little dazed, but my building rage made me forget about that, I even started growling.
"Psh! You even growl like a dog! Put that to the mix and you know what that means? You. Are. A. DOG!" Now he started laughing, and that sent me over the edge.
"I AM NOT A DOG!" shouting while driving my fist into his face. I was infuriated, focused beating British. I drove another punch into his stomach, and then I hammered him down to the ground. Now he was angry, and that made things a lot worse. Tyler broke free from British's lackeys and backed me up, and British whistled calling forth the ones that were holding Tyler and two more. Five against two, not good odds… if I was human, but even being part canine the fight was still going to be difficult. Tyler and me were not going to win with pure brute force, so I decided to just go for British, and hope for the best.

British made the first move by barreling towards us. Tyler and me sidestepped in opposite directions making British miss us and hit the locker wall. The lackeys started going for us as well. I stepped out of the way of them but Tyler wasn't so lucky. He was nailed by one of them and was back against the lockers again. They started punching him like mad. I tried to help him but British grabbed my tail and yanked me to the ground. He grabbed my face and rubbed it like mad causing the fur on my face to go red from bleeding on my forehead. After the rug rash from hell, British kicked me over onto my back and started stomping on me. The lackeys that weren't doing anything thought it was going too far and ran, even the guys that were killing Tyler stopped punching Tyler, and followed his friends. The onlookers of the fight decided to follow the lackeys as well. Tyler on the floor, back on the lockers, blood splotching his shirt, barely conscious but unable to fight. British didn't notice his lackeys were gone and kept stomping on me. I closed my eyes, coughing and grunting with each stomp, I tried to say mercy but the pain of each hit kept me mute.

He just kept crushing me with each step… pain… so much pain… I felt some hidden power kick in, begging to stop holding back. "Stop trying not to kill him… show who is stronger… the better… he should pay for his mistake." I resisted the urge to kill him, but the crushing pain was too much… slam… crunch… pain… I realized it was either he or I. I gave into the rush… the rush for…blood.

Somehow, the next thing I knew I was standing, looking at British who was holding his arm, blood started to ooze through his fingers, I looked at my hands and saw my claws that somehow grew an two inches were tainted red. Subconsciously I went into an animal-hunting pose, slightly crouched bearing teeth growling, trying to intimidate my foe as much as possible. British backed up with fear of death plastered all over his face, but fear wasn't enough for me… a cut wasn't enough… more blood. I lunged at him with claws outward. I went at him clawing him, pushing back to the wall, till there was nowhere to go. He cut all around his face, arms, and blood started slowly staining his shirt. British was vulnerable, he would pay… "kill him… show his mistake… finish him… now!" the power was so good, but I it let up for a moment. I realized what I was doing, that it wasn't right, and let him go. He fell down staring at me with fear, paralyzed with fear.

I stared at him and said, "I am not a dog. Remember that." British slinked away to the empty hallways while I went to see Tyler, he was barely conscious. I picked him up to drag him to the nurse, we were both bruised and bloody, and the metallic liquid smell of blood enveloped my nose. I reached to the nurse office where there were five beds, and simple medical supplies in the drawers. The nurse saw us and immediately took Tyler to a bed and me to another. Soon British came to the nurse as well, and froze when he saw me. The nurse led him to the bed furthest away from us, and British came to his senses and tried to ignore me. Soon the principle came in, he look pissed off.
"What the hell happened here?" the Principle asked.
"Well he-" I started but British interrupted.
"I was going to my locker when Tyler started punching me for no reason! I asked why he was hurting me but his friend joined the beating and almost killed me! I fought in self defense!" British tried to look like the victim but he had no skills in lying.
"Really?" the principal asked intrigued, looking at me since I was not really the violent type.
"Why would I punch you in the chest? I think a lot of people saw you smash my face into my locker!" I snapped, pointing to my face. "You also got your lackeys to beat up Tyler!"
British went to the Principle and got on his knees and hugged his legs. "I nearly died back there, I nearly died!"
"British, stop the act and get off me. I will ask some people to what happened." the principle replied in a normal voice, shacking British off. "Until then, the nurse will take care of you all. I don't want this to EVER happen again!"

British was suspended for three days while his lackeys just one, everyone was sent together to the psychologist, which was really stupid and useless. British still didn't like me but he kept his fists to himself, probably out fear of dying, I don't blame him. Tyler even looked at me funny for a week thinking about me.

Two weeks after the fight, my life was back to normal, or as normal as it could be. Though over those two weeks Tyler and me found out about my new "abilities," like I could catch Frisbees in my mouth, I could tell what people were thinking generally, and I could tell who's who just by smell. But the power rush I had, it was strange, I mean my reflexes were quick and such, but this was different, it felt… evil.

Skipping to finals week, the next to last week of school. Finally, I could get some sleep that night, I was stressed beyond belief, and it showed. My fur was on end, my tail was stiff and frizzy, my ears twitched nervously, this day was the English final. But when I finished, I realized I just over reacted, it was easy and my friends and me decided to head to a movie for celebration of the end of finals. We brought dates, and mine was obviously Rachel, she was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans but she was still beautiful-ahh, it pai-that's a little too far in the story. Tyler brought some random girl from school. Well, when I got to the theater, the employee giving out tickets pointed to a sign saying no pets.
"Yeah, so?"
"That means you!"
"I am no pet! I am a person."
"Rules are rules, so no ticket for yous."
"He is no pet!" Rachel protested.
"He's half dog, and that's enough for me to say no bitch."
"Can I see your manager?" I asked, trying to keep my hands from going through the glass and punching the guy.
"Yes." The manager came to the booth within a few minutes.
"What's the- holy!"
"Your employee refused me a ticket because of my condition."
"Really, why?"
"The no pets rule." the employee pointed to the sign again.
"Plus he called me a bitch."
"I am sorry about this, Rick, please give them their tickets, and you will pay for the young lady's." The Manager started walking away.
"WHAT! YOU CAN'T-"
"Yes I can, please enjoy the film."
"Thank you, and for you." Rachel flipped the employee off.

We got our tickets, and we all watched the movie. But when I came out the manager was changing the signs to no non-humans. The manager looked at us and said, "I'm sorry, but you are bad for business. Please leave or I will have you arrested for trespassing." I couldn't believe it, I ran to the manager and nailed him in the face and ran to my car, and put my head on the car. Another discrimination ruining my life, I was getting sick of it by that time. Rachel followed me to my car.
"It's not fair *sob* I didn't want this! *Sob*" My head on the roof on the car, a pool of tears slowly forming.
"It's okay, it's okay." Rachel tried to calm me down petting my head, which helped a little but it wasn't enough.
"NO IT'S NOT!" I yelled in her face, still kicking myself for that "YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE THIS!" I put my head back on my car. Rachel stayed next to me, even though I just barked in her face.
"I know I won't, but just because you look different on the outside doesn't mean you're different on the inside. To me you're still Jonathan." She melted the cold. It provided the comfort to put me at ease. I wiped the pool of tears off my car, dried my face, and hugged Rachel. I wagged my tail; she gave me purpose once again.
"Thank you" I whispered in her ear. Then we kissed, it was only a couple seconds, but just like they say, it seemed like a lifetime.

"Aw, isn't that cute. The mutt has a girlfriend." Me and Rachel broke away and froze when es saw we were surrounded by a gang of 12 jocks in gang clothes, all armed with bats, kitchen knives, chains, and one had a board of wood with nails sticking out. The leader stepped forward and who else but British. "But I'm going to have to end this happy moment." He said with a twisted smile.

To be continued
chapter 3: Gangs, Assassins, Kidnappers, oh crap!