“Martin! It’s time for school!” Andais called from downstairs as she stepped out from under the upper landing, holding a basket of laundry. Aquamarine eyes looked up to the second floor while her waist length blond hair fell in a curtain around her face, and then down her back, curling and rippling in the light. Dressed in a low cut white blouse that showed her upper chest area, yet flowed over her body to stop at the top of her black skirt, showing of that plush hourglass figure while her pure white tail twitched in annoyance behind her. ‘He does this every Monday. Perhaps I should limit his playtime on those stupid computer games.’ she thought silently.
Sitting at the table, two young female skunks sat, eating their bowls of cereal. When the young man didn’t immediately come to the door of his room, the one wearing a blue t-shirt with a golden butterfly on her chest, and a pair of jeans on her lower body stood up from her seat, giving an exasperated sigh. That preteen body was slim with a pure black tail on the underside, while two stripes went up the top, converging into a white heart on the tip of her tail. Her short white hair barely grazed her neck, while her teal blue eyes rolled in obvious annoyance. “I’ll get him up, mom.” she remarked as she started for the stairs. Poking her head in the doorway, she gave a small smile. “It’s time to wake up sleepy head.”
A pure white mink with black hair snuggled against his pillow, pulling his blankets up over his slender shoulder a little more with a yawn. “Just…” he groaned, “five more minutes please…” Rolling over, a single cerulean blue eye opened briefly, just long enough to see the red numbers on his clock. Closing his eye, he lay there for about ten seconds before the young mink sat bolt upright in bed. “Oh crap!” he cried out, “I’m going to be late for the bus!”
Leaping up wearing nothing so that his slender physique, his younger sister watched as he stepped on the floor slipping on the pile of clothes beside his bed. Blushing as she watched him land on his bed, her eyes noting the large black shape that stood up as he lay on his back. “Crap! I don’t have time for this!” he groused as he kicked the clothes out of the way, before hearing the giggle from his doorway. Looking over, he blinked as he noted who was watching him. “Yvonne! Get out of here!” he shouted picking up a balled up shirt and throwing it at her.
Twisting back to get out of the way, she watched as the shirt fell onto the floor of the hallway. Looking back inside, she pulled down the bottom of her eye with her middle finger. “You missed, slowpoke!” she called out before sticking her tongue out at him, still blushing as her eyes focused on that black member.
“MOM!!!” he shouted, causing the young girl to bolt away from his room as he reached for another article of clothing to throw at her.
“Get a shower and some clean clothes on!” she ordered from downstairs as the small female came running past, and back over to the table. Once she was sitting again, the young girl put her head down, hoping that her twin across the table wouldn’t notice the added color to her cheeks.
“But! Mom! I’m going to be late for the bus!” he complained.
“You are not wearing the same pants you’ve worn for the past three days in a row!” the female mink shouted back at him. “Now pull out some clean clothes, take your dirty clothes into the bathroom, and put them into the hamper.”
“I don’t have any clean clothes up here!” she heard a moment later.
“None?!”
“Well… I have clean boxers, socks, and t-shirts…”
“Oh, for the love of all that’s holy!” she grumbled as she sifted through the collection of clothes in the basket, finding a set of black jeans, she tossed them over the railing of the upper landing, listening to the sound of the fabric hitting the floor. “There! Now get a shower!”
“Thank you.” was all she heard as the young mink picked up the pants, and zipped into the second door on the right. Dropping his clothes on the floor, he turned on the water, and stepped into the shower. ‘Ah man! I can’t believe this!’ he thought silently to himself, ‘How could she let me sleep for so long? God! Now I’m going to be late, all because of her!’ 
Water sprayed over his lithe body as he scrubbed, the soap suds dropping down into the drain with every passing second. Using a pump to send shampoo into his hand, the young mink scrubbed his hair with the sweet smell of tea tree and mint, the coolness of it against his scalp actually helping to wake him fully. Amazingly, the shower only took five minutes, but when he turned off the water, the young man felt instantly revitalized. Opening the door to the shower, he pulled down a towel and wrapped it around himself, drying off his body as best he could, but knowing that there was no help for his inordinately fluffy tail.
Pulling a pair of dark blue boxers up around his waist, the young man then slipped on the pants his mother had tossed to him. The denim formed to his thighs, pressing against his rump and hips like a second skin. Sitting down on the toilet, he pulled on a pair of socks and his shoes. Getting up, he grabbed his shirt getting it around his body, the dark blue t-shirt with a twenty sided dice on the front fitting his slender physique while the words “This is how I roll” were in text underneath. Bolting down the stairs, he started for his satchel bag that was left by the front door last night, before he heard his mother again.
“I don’t think so, young man!” his mother called out, “There’s no way you’re leaving without something to eat first.”
“Mom! I’m late as it is…”
“Breakfast, young man.” his mother ordered. “Now.”
Looking at his mother, he questioned the intelligence of fighting her on whether he needed to eat or not. Fortunately, his stomach made his mind up for him as it growled in protest. “Fine! But if I’m late then you get to explain why to my teachers.” he grumbled.
“Gladly.” she countered. “Now, does World of Warhammer have three words or four?”
“Come on! This isn’t funny.” he complained. “I’m going to be…”
“Late. I know.” she then shook her head, “Not my fault. I told you to go to bed at nine.”
“But… we were doing a raid and I can’t just bail on my friends.” 
“What happened after the raid was over?” she asked.
“I… we…” he shook his head, “We were challenged to a duel by a rival faction.”
Andais just looked at him, her eyes telling him the obvious as she shook her head and sighed in frustration. “There’s more to life than video games, honey.”
“Oh, I forgot. You don’t care about my achievements.”
“If they’re not academic, then you’re right.” she answered, “How are you going to get into a good college…” 
“Mom,” she heard one of her twin daughter’s say, “we’re going to catch the bus now.”
“Okay, honey. You both be careful, and have fun at school while I “educate” your older brother.” she remarked, narrowing her eyes at Martin.
Both girls laid their ears back as they went for the door, the ominous, “Oooh! He’s gonna get it…” reaching both their ears.
“No I’m not!” the mink exclaimed turning to look as the door closed behind his sisters.
“Yes, you are.” she warned as she pointed to the table. “Sit!”
Martin stomped over to the table, his tail thrashing side-to-side as he walked over and sat down. Following her son, the older mink picked up the bowls and spoons from the table, taking them into the kitchen, and pouring water into both. She would have to wash them later. Taking a third bowl from the cabinet, she then brought out a spoon, as well as one of the boxes of cereal. Setting all three in front of him, she then went back for the milk.
“Listen… mom… I know what you’re going to say… and…”
“No. You do not know what I’m going to say.” Andais commented as she set the jug of milk down on the table. “Honey, we’re all worried for you. For the past five years, ever since we first moved here, you’ve been walking around with a chip on your shoulder, and a surly attitude.” Sitting down across from him, she leaned back. “Talk to me. Please.”
Sighing, he leaned back. “What do you want me to say?” he asked.
“How about the truth?” she asked back. “Was leaving really so hard for you?”
“Yes! Okay! Yes it was hard for me!” he shouted, “I had to leave all my friends, my role-play buddies, and everything I’ve ever known to fly over a thousand miles out of the way!”
Andais sat there, watching her son as he poured cereal into his bowl, before adding milk. “Do you hate me?” she asked.
“Come on, mom! What kind of question is that?” he asked.
“How about an honest one.” she shook her head slowly. “You can’t go around for five years acting like someone kicked your puppy and not have people worry if you hate them, Martin. It just doesn’t work that way.”
“I don’t hate you, mom.” Martin said softly, almost too softly for her to hear. “I just… I resented the fact that we left when everything was going so good.”
“Martin. This was the…”
Shaking his head, he sighed, “I know, mom!” he exclaimed, “I know how this was the biggest opportunity of your life, and how you couldn’t let all of it just go down the tubes… I know. I’ve heard it all before… it… it just doesn’t make it any easier to take.”
“No. I guess it doesn’t.” Andais said before giving a sigh and watching her son scarf down his breakfast. When he grabbed his bowl and spoon, his mother shook her head, “I’ll get that. You just head off to school.”
Getting up fully, the young mink headed for the door, stopping as he picked up his satchel bag that sat by the front door. Opening the door, he turned and looked at his mother. “Mom… I don’t…”
“You’re going to be late.” she said, setting his dish into the sink, “I’ll call and inform the school.”
Once he was outside, Martin hopped onto his mountain bike. Pedaling down the hill, the young mink passed where he would normally catch the bus, and kept going, lowering himself down to decrease drag. ‘Why do my pants have to be so tight?’ he thought silently as he pedaled faster, his tail flitting and dripping in the wind. Wincing, he reached down adjusting himself, before shrugging his bag behind his back once more as it slid more toward the front.
After a mile, he turned to head up a hill, never slowing as he continued to pedal. Only a few minutes later, he could feel sweat starting to trickle down his back, his legs burning as they pumped faster until he saw a paved trail to his right with a chain going across the main part. A sign saying “No motor vehicles beyond this point” hanging in the center. ‘The bike path!’ Turning onto the path, he lowered himself over the handlebars, the wind blowing his hair and the fur on his tail around as he pedaled over the small hills, going down the gullies, and then turning to see the school at the end.
“Yes! I made it!” he thought aloud in just enough time to hear the school bell ring. “CRAP!” Pedaling faster, he went up the slight incline up to the front of the school, taking at least five minutes before he was able to hop off of his bicycle and lock it up at the bike rack. 
When he was sure that the lock read 0000, the young mink ran into the school. The hallways were empty as his feet pounded down them, the sounds echoing off the walls and lockers to reverberate back to his ears as he finally made it to the door of his classroom.
Opening the door, he saw that the teacher had just finished taking role, and was even now writing on the whiteboard. “You’re late, Mr. Thomas.” the male wolf announced without even turning around when he heard the door open then close.
Reaching up, the young mink scratched the backside of his head, “Yeah, I didn’t wake up in enough…”
“That’s the fifth tardy you’ve had, so go to the office.”
“No. It’s alright, my mom called and…”
“I said “go to the office”, Mr. Thomas. Now.”
With a sharp exhale, he left the room slamming the door behind him. 
Martin arrived in the office only a few minutes after he’d left his history class. Standing at the counter with the fox secretary sitting behind the desk with her back to him. Giving a sigh the mink brought his hand out to ring the bell, but the sound of the secretary’s voice stopped him. “Hi, Martin. Back again I see.”
“Mr. Crawford is being unreasonable!” he blurted out, “I told him that my mom should have called, and he told me to come to the office anyway.”
“This is the fifth time that you’ve been late to his class.” the fox remarked with a smile.
He shook his head, “It couldn’t be helped, my mom couldn’t take me to school since she has an important meeting, and her work is in the opposite direction.” he remarked with a shake of his head.
“Why don’t you just sit down and wait for Mr. Crawford?” she suggested.
It took twenty minutes for the aged wolf to finish his history lecture and walk down the hallway to the office, obviously still upset by the way his shoulders seemed to be set. Martin just sat in the chair across from the secretary, using a brush he carried in his satchel bag to get the tangles out of his tail. When the office door opened with a loud bang, the wolf glared at the secretary. “Has the counselor been made aware that I want to talk with her?!” he asked in an unfriendly tone of voice.
“Yes.” the fox said curtly
“Good.” 
Without much formality, he stormed into the counselor’s office without even knocking. After a few minutes of heated words, all said by the wolf, the counselor poked her head out of the open door with a placid face. “Mister Thomas, can you please come in here?” she asked before ducking back into her office.
Suffice it to say, Martin liked the counselor, Mrs. Tsakumy. She was a lovely twenty- something tanuki from Japan, with her reddish brown fur mixing well with the darker brown. Dressed in a smart business skirt, a white shirt that only added to her slender frame, and a pair of round glasses that enhanced her eyesight, she sat down behind her desk to wait for the mink. Although her tail was nowhere near as thickly furred as the young mink’s, it was indeed longer, and as such he could see the tip of her tail twitching in obvious annoyance as he entered the office and closed the door behind him. “Mrs. Tsakumy…” she held up a hand, silencing him.
“I am sorely disappointed in you, Martin.” she started with, “As you well remember the last time this happened, I said that you weren’t going to be getting off with a simple slap on the wrist, and this time you were…”
“I was only a few minutes late.” he interrupted, “Mr. Crawford didn’t need to…”
“Regardless,” she said, stopping him instantly, “you were told to not be late again, and I see that you didn’t take this warning to heart.” He glanced over with his peripheral vision to see the aged wolf smirking in just such a way as to make it so that the counselor couldn’t see his lip movement. “Which makes me wonder if, perhaps this particular history class is a good fit for your emotional and mental development.” She then looked at the wolf, “You have mentioned several times that Martin seems to be lazy, disinterested, refuses to work, and is constantly disruptive in class.”
“That’s correct.” the wolf sneered.
Mrs. Tsakumy reached up, rubbing at her chin, “Then I can see only one explanation, the class isn’t a challenge for him.”
“What?!” Mr. Crawford asked. “I’m doing the exact same job I have been doing for the past twenty years!”
“Yes, but perhaps this particular student is tired of the same lessons being repeated?” Mrs. Tsakumy commented. “It’s not your teaching style that’s in question, but more about his learning style.”
For several seconds, the older wolf blinked, wondering if he should be this upset about the apparent information. If he could get the mink out of his class, then he would be much happier, but why did it seem like this was a bad idea to him? “Okay, so what do you have in mind?” he asked.
Reaching out, she pressed the button for the intercom, “Melanie, can you please ask Mrs. Shearer to come into my office?”
‘Mrs. Shearer?’ Martin thought silently, ‘Why would the teacher in charge of the World History class be coming in here?’
“I already took the liberty of calling her once Martin went into your office.”
“Thank you, Melanie.” Mrs. Tsakumy said with a smile, before turning off the intercom.
“You can’t seriously believe that Mrs. Shearer is going to do anything more for the boy than I can.” Mr. Crawford groused, “This child is nothing more than a distracted slacker, with no respect for authority and no desire to see himself succeed.”
Mrs. Tsakumy waved her hand dismissively “Yes, yes. Mr. Crawford, you’ve made your point quite clear in multiple volumes of voice. Where you see wasted potential, I see something different.”
A moment later there came a knock on the door, “Mrs. Shearer to see you.” Melanie announced, as a ewe stepped into the office. Her naturally white hair curled cutely around her ears, and down the side of her head, while one collection of curls dipped down in front of her horn-rimmed glasses. Draped over her full figure was a lavender sweater with a loose collar that dropped over the swells of her breasts, while the bottom hem fell over a pair of jeans that looked too slender for her upper body’s frame. Once she was fully in the office, the ewe walked over to the other side of the young mink with a smile on her face.
“Thank you, Mrs. Shearer for coming to this meeting.” Mrs. Tsakumy said softly while the wolf glanced from one woman to the other with only his eyes. “As you have been told, Mr. Crawford is having problems with a student. He finding Martin unresponsive to his teaching methods, and I was wondering if your methods wouldn’t be better in this case.”
Looking over at the young mink, the ewe rubbed at her chin, “Tell me, young man, what you know about the American Revolution.” she ordered.
“It was the war between the British and the colonists of the new world over their refusal to have taxation without representation, determining that this new continent should be their own independent nation with its own laws, rights, and privileges.”
Nodding, the ewe smiled, “Describe the Manifest Destiny.”
“It was the belief that whatever land attached to what we already knew about was ours to traverse, and do with as we pleased, causing hundreds of thousands of needless deaths.” Martin sighed, “Everything about Manifest Destiny was one of the greatest lies perpetrated by the government at that time.”
Mrs. Shearer rubbed at her chin. “Quite opinionated, aren’t you?” she asked before giving a smile, “Okay, how about the industrial revolution?”
“Happened between the early 1900’s and 1930’s in which people started to move away from coal as a heating source, turned more toward hydro-electric power, and created numerous innovations, like the automobile, refrigerators, and radios for entertainment purposes.”
“World War one.”
“Is this really necessary?” he asked, “I could recite a summarized version of the entire history book, and it doesn’t do anything more than bore me to tears.”
“Just like I’ve been telling you.” the wolf snarled, “This boy doesn’t respect authority, and is disruptive.”
Looking into the young mink’s eyes, the ewe shook her head with a smile, “No. I don’t think so, Reginald.” she remarked, “Tell me what does he get on all of his tests?”
Blinking, the Mr. Crawford looked from one woman to the other. “I… well… what you have to understand is that he does each one with such speed that I figure he’s cheating, so I give him zeroes on all of his tests.”
This bit of information didn’t seem to surprise either woman. Glancing over at Mrs. Tsakumy the ewe let out a breath she was holding. “It could be that, or he could already know the American History book front to back, and is so bored relearning what he already knows that it has colored your perceptions of him.” Turning to look at the young mink, she gave him a smile. “How would you like to join my class? World History?” she asked. “It’s more involved, with us taking a full week to learn the entire history of one nation, going from as far back as history books allow all the way up to current events.”
“That sounds wonderful, to be honest.” Martin answered.
“Good. Then it’s settled. You’ll come with me, and we’ll introduce you to the class.” She then looked at the time. “Unfortunately, class will be over in about fifteen minutes, so I’ll assign someone to catch you up on what nation we’ve started with.”
“Are there any arguments from you, Mr. Crawford?” the tanuki asked.
Giving his shoulders a shrug, the older wolf shook his head. “As long as it gets a disruptive influence out of my classroom, I’m all for it.”
Mrs. Tsakumy stood and nodded, “In that case, I would advise you all to go back to your individual classes, and I can get back to work.”
The wolf nodded, opening the door and leaving first, while the ewe strolled out after him, her black casual shoes walking across the carpet, until she came to the hallway. Looking back, she watched as Martin thanked the school counselor, and then followed after. Strolling casually down the hallway, she would glance back every once in a while as she spoke. “We learn about countries in alphabetical order, learning everything we need to know over the course of a week about that nation’s history. Mostly we focus on the ways it affects their culture, religious beliefs, geography, and languages spoken within that nation’s borders.” Mrs. Shearer announced, “Currently, the class is working on the nation of Mongolia, and as such, the students break off into groups of four. Each team tackles one portion, which will be presented by having the captain of the group standing in front of the class to highlight the details of their assignment. There is one team that only has three members, so your timing couldn’t be more perfect.”

“Wow.” Martin thought aloud. “That’s a lot different than how I’ve been taught in the past.”
She smiled, nodding, “I like getting the students involved in their own teaching,” she commented as she started for the stairs, heading up toward the second floor, “because it’s shown that the students learn a lot better if they’re not just getting a lecture from someone who likes to listen to themselves talk.”
A smile quirked up either side of Martin’s lips, “Sounds like a better way to learn. But why doesn’t everyone teach that way?”
“Some people are just too set in their ways I’m afraid.” she remarked as she stopped by a door.
Looking in the window, he saw a collection of five tables with chairs situated around them, while a map of Mongolia was projected onto the pull-down screen, while a desk was situated by the white board. Although the first couple of rows of fluorescent lamps were off, there was plenty of light for him to see several other students talking amongst themselves in quiet voices, books, folders, and lined paper strewn across the surface of the tables. ‘Whoa.’ he thought silently.
“Never saw a classroom set up like this, have you?” the ewe asked, causing the mink to look over at her. “Come on inside, I’ll introduce you to your new classmates.”
Opening the door, she stepped into the slightly darkened room, causing a couple of the young men and women to look up from what they were doing at their individual tables. A female doberman flanked by a male german shepherd, a coyote, and a fox immediately looked at him, a smile spreading her muzzle. All over the room he watched as students nudged their classmates, in order for them to stop what they were doing, and look up at the front. “Hello, class.” Mrs. Shearer announced, giving them a smile as Martin walked up to stand beside her.
“Good morning, Mrs. Shearer.” he heard the class reply enthusiastically, while more than one person took a long look of the young mink beside her.
“We have a new student for our classroom, and I would like for you all to make him feel welcome.”
“Hello, everyone. My name is Martin Thomas. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” he remarked.
The entire class, almost as one, responded with a “Hello, Martin.”
“Now, I know that class is almost over, but I want him to be brought up to speed as soon as possible, so who would like the opportunity?” Mrs. Shearer asked.
“We’d be happy to take him.” the female doberman announced, raising her hand.
Giving a shake of her head, the teacher smiled. “As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, you already have four people at your table, Miss Hargrove.”
“Oh poo.” the canine pouted, dropping her hand while the trio of males she sat with smirked at the young mink. It was obvious to Martin that at least three of the quartet weren’t very friendly, considering the looks that they gave him. The female, however, looked at him in a manner that made him feel decidedly uncomfortable. 
Looking around at the various tables, he saw that there was only one with only three people, and it appeared to him that none of them were all that encouraged to raise their hands. Exhaling slowly, a female rabbit from that table tentatively raised her hand. “I... I guess… we could take him…” she said softly, so that if there had been even a modicum of noise in the room, nobody would’ve heard her.
A smile played across the ewe’s lips, “Excellent idea, Miss Underhill.” Mrs. Shearer commented as she turned her attention to the trio of females. “I’ll let the three of you bring him up to speed on what subject of Mongolia you’re learning about.” She then motioned for Martin to head for the table.
Walking over, he sat down at the only empty chair at the table. Setting down his satchel bag, he pulled out a binder, color coded for each subject, and pulled out a pen. Flipping over to a free page, he looked at the trio of girls. “Okay, I guess we should introduce ourselves to each other…” he started to say, but was interrupted.
“First off, “Fluffy”, I’m the one in charge of this group.” the porcupine sitting between the other two announced.
Cocking an eyebrow at the young woman, he noted how the other two seemed to differ to the third member of the group. The dark brown of the porcupine’s fur seemed to only be enhanced by her hazel eyes, black cornrows of quills, and the dark blue zip up hooded sweatshirt she wore open so that he could see the black shirt underneath. A cartoon gray squirrel with green eyes glared at him over a sign saying ‘May contain violence and strong language...’ Giving a shrug, he nodded at the trio of girls. “Anything you say.”
“My name is Andrea, but you can call me your lord and master.” announced the porcupine, narrowing her eyes at him as the feline and rabbit looked at her in shock.
“Um, yeah. No.” Martin corrected, “Oh, and Foamy be with you.”
“What?!” she groused “You think that just because you know who’s on my shirt I’m going to cut you some slack?”
“Nope, but it does give me a hint about what to expect from you.”
“My... name’s Tanya,” the rabbit announced, motioning to herself and then pointed to the last female at the table, “and this is Chani.” The young rabbit was already starting to fill out, with a growing upper body that she apparently tried to hide with her jacket. He didn’t blame her, it was somewhat chilled in the room, and yet the light caught the golden mane of her hair, the amber eyes looking at him timidly. Her light gray fur shimmered lightly at the slightest of movements as she brought her book up in front of her face.
The feline with chestnut brown hair sat between him and the porcupine, her lavender eyes roaming over the mink as if trying to figure out something. ‘Probably wonders if I’m a threat or not.’ he thought silently with a sigh. What made him focus on her wasn’t her haunting eyes or her smaller stature, it was the light lavender that covered over her right eye and ear. He even saw some of that coloring going down her neck, and disappearing into her shirt. Dressed in a white collared shirt with a sweater over it, he didn’t see much more, but he figured that he didn’t need to see much more either. “Nice to meet you all.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Andrea remarked with a sneer. “We’re working on the geography part. Know anything about it fluff-ball?”
Martin shrugged with his tail flicking left and right behind him in annoyance. “Only what I learned online.” He then looked at the trio of girls, with Andrea crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Their borders are mostly situated between Russia and China, although the ones between them and their southern neighbor were larger centuries ago.”
“Why is that?” Chani asked, genuinely curious.
Looking at the feline he nodded, “China, tired of being constantly besieged by Mongol hordes invaded Outer Mongolia and took much of their land. In fact, the Gobi Desert was once surrounded by Mongolia, but now it stands as the nation’s southern border.”
“Great,” Andrea grumbled, “we got the know-it-all.”
Turning to regard the porcupine, he looked her right in the eyes. “What is your deal?!” he asked sharply.
“You’re a jerk.” she answered.
“Okay. What about me makes you say that?” he asked.
“It’s simple. Do you have a penis?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s all the proof I need.”
He just sat there, rubbing his chin. “Well, I can’t beat your logic.”
Blinking at the exchange, Tanya and Chani tried their hardest not to snigger, but were failing badly while Andrea’s eyebrow twitched. “Do you think this is a joke?” she asked. 
Martin shook his head, his mind saying ‘No. But you are.’ and yet he never voiced that opinion.
“Every guy we’ve met in this class has turned out to be jerks who think of only one part of their anatomy, and automatically fall for that prissy little…” He watched the porcupine turn her head, giving a look to kill at the doberman female that had spoken up earlier. Turning her attention back to the mink, she sighed, “Besides, guys are only interested in one thing.”
“Food?” he asked.
She blinked a couple of times, looking at the mink, “What? No!” she then thought about it, “Okay, well, two things.”
“Good grades?” Martin asked, cocking his head to the side.
“Three things…”
“Getting to school on time? Sleep?”
“Okay, shut up!” Andrea suddenly shouted.
“Is there a problem girls?” they heard from the front of the class, indicating that Mrs. Shearer had become aware of the conversation that, amazingly, had nothing to do with the current subject. Looking around, all three girls started to blush, discovering that all the other students were staring straight at them.
Martin closed his folder, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Shearer, it’s my fault.”
Everyone looked at him with the teacher actually pulling her glasses down. “Not even the first day and already you’re being disruptive to the entire class?” she asked.
“All I can do is apologize. I’m trying to get a feel for this team, and I guess we just got a little too loud.” He slid his binder back into his satchel bag. “I’ll head back to the office.”
“Do you know what will happen if you return to the office Mr. Thomas?” the ewe asked.
“No, ma’am, but it would be worse for me to stay here, and just continue to disrupt the class.” he answered.
Barely a second later the bell rang indicating the end of that period. While everyone else packed up all of their paperwork and books, the teacher stood up in front of the class. “Everyone make sure that by this Friday you have all of the information to present to the class, but I would like to see you four,” she motioned to the entire table that Martin was sitting at, “after school.”
Andrea, Chani, and Tanya blinked, opening their eyes wide, while Martin just nodded, as if this thing happened to him all the time. “I’ll be here.” he remarked as he started for the door. The other three just looked at each other for a few seconds before continuing to gather up their stuff.
Today was starting to be interesting.