Matt woke up early in the morning when his alarm clock rang. He turned off the alarm clock and rubbed the sleep from his face from which he was just being torn.
"Another day at school..." he thought, throwing the blanket away. He straightened up and turned to the edge of the bed. His two bare paws touched the somewhat cold linoleum floor when he got up. Tired as he was, he gropes in his pajamas through his room, down the hall to the bathroom.
 
Once there, he locked the door behind him and headed straight for the toilet. His mother bought a small plastic pedestal especially for him, so that he can get to the toilet bowl by himself and she no longer has to help him go to the toilet. Matt stood on the pedestal, raised the toilet seat, and pulled the rubber band of his pajamas' pants down to give his little friend below some fresh air.
He took his uncircumcised penis in his right paw and aimed the end of it in the toilet bowl. A few short moments and two deep breaths later, Matt started peeing through his foreskin. A light "Oh yeah..." echoed through the tiled room. After a short time the pressure subsided until nothing came anymore. So Matt shook his penis briefly to get the last drops from his foreskin and then pulled his pajama pants all the way up again.
After flushing and folding down the toilet seat, Matt took his pedestal and put it next to the sink. Standing on it again, he looks in the mirror. A 10-year-old young fox looks at him there. With a beautiful red color and a white belly just like the tip of its tail. His hand and foot paws were almost completely black, as was most of his ears and a small ring on his tail that bordered the white tip with the rest of his red fur.
He held one of his paws up to his mouth as he yawned in the mirror. He stroked his head briefly before turning on the tap and washing his face first.
 
When he was done, he got off his pedestal, unlocked the door, and went back to his room. There he took off his pajamas. Since he was not wearing any underwear, he was now standing naked in his room. "Hopefully my mother won't come in now," thought Matt as he hurried to his closet and quickly looked for new things for the day.
He looked for a short, dark red T-shirt with dark blue horizontal stripes, a pair of jeans and simple gray underpants. He also took a pair of socks in his paws, but only put them on his bed. He got dressed and picked up the pair of socks and his school bag packed the day before and went downstairs to the kitchen.
 
Matt would normally expect his mother to be here, but she wasn't there at all. Instead, an already smeared bread and a note were on the table. He put his bag on one of the three chairs and put his socks over the back of the chair.
 
"Good morning my sweetie,
 
Unfortunately, I have to take over the shift from a colleague who has fallen ill.
 
I'll be home later today. School food is in the fridge. See you tonight.
 
xoxo mom"
 
Matt was used to that. His mother is the epitome of a workaholic. Whenever she could, she took on work that her boss offered her. No matter when or how.
Both were also one of the somewhat wealthy people in their city. And in a city where most people earn very little. Matt's mother earned more than some married couples earn together. That brought some prosperity to the two, but the price for it is also high: Hardly any social contacts and little time for yourself. The point with the social contacts also applies to Matt. He had no friends in school. In some schools, cubs are annoyed when they don't wear branded clothes. In Matt's case it is the other way around. While he wore expensive clothes, others often wore second-hand clothes. Or while he was wearing shoes, everyone else was always barepawed. But it was totally normal that cubs and teens up to 17 or even 18 years old were barepawed. There were no children's or youth departments in the shoe stores. You had to have shoes made for these age groups. And about ¾ of the furs do not wear shoes at all even when they are adults.
Although there was a lot of discussion between Matt and his mother about adapting to the others, his mother blocked that topic. His mother was of the opinion that the two must always be well dressed. This also included wearing shoes.
You don't bully him anymore, but they also don't talk to him. At school he was all alone. And sometimes he wished he could just be like the others. Just be normal. At least in the eyes of his classmates.
 
Matt ate his breakfast that his mother made for him. He left the plate on the table and went to the fridge to get his food and drink out and put it in his backpack. With his bag, he went into the hallway and looked at his shoes, then glanced briefly at his socks. Then he shook his head slightly "No, I would rather wear shoes" and slipped into his worst-looking shoes that his mother let made for him.
 
Matt has even tried to go to school barepawed, but he couldn't get any further than the front yard. The grass tickled him too much and the stones under his paws hurt too much. Therefore, at least it was barepawed at home when his mother was not there (which luckily was often enough).
 
He opened the door, removed the keys from the inside and locked the door with the keys. Matt went through the front yard and down from the large property of himself and his mother and walked towards the school.

After some time, Matt reached the school. But when he got there a strange picture appeared to him. All the students were outside. This is unusual 15 minutes before the start of the lesson. Two teachers stood at the entrance and prevented the students from entering the school.
Matt stood at the back of the crowd, watching the scene. Nobody seemed to know exactly what was going on. There were rumors that classes might be canceled. But nothing was confirmed.
But one thing caught Matt's eye immediately: A young fox, who appears to be about his age, who stayed a little further away from the crowd too. He also looked almost exactly like him! But he couldn't remember ever seeing this young fox here before. The fur pattern was identical to Matt itself. Only he wore a slightly washed-out T-shirt and a slightly torn shorts. He didn't wear shoes. He also looked pretty scared. Matt decided to just speak to him. He went over to him, stood at his side, and started talking.
 
"Hi," Matt said kindly.
 
The other fox cub looked at him with a slight shock. "He- Hello..."
 
"I've never seen you here before."
 
"I'm new here. My name is Fred. I was supposed to be in my new class, but somehow there seems to be something here. So far nobody has been able to enter the school building, "he said shyly.
 
"Oh really!? Well, welcome to our school! Which class should you go to?" Matt asked.
 
"Into 3c."
 
"Really, that's the same class I'm in! Cool!"
 
The two changed a few sentences when suddenly a happy cheering came from the front rows. When the foremost students struggled through the crowd, things like "school free", "broken water pipe" and "long weekend" fell. The students also held a small piece of paper in their hands.
Matt and Fred looked at each other questioningly, but decided to wait for the majority of the students before they go to the entrance and pick up their notes.
 
A few minutes later, almost the entire entrance was free and the two approached there teacher, who coincidentally distributed the notes.
 
"Good morning. Hey Fred, his is our teacher!" said Matt.
 
"Who is the fox next to you?" asked his teacher.
 
"I am Fred. I was supposed to be in your class as a new student today." said Fred.
 
"Oh, nice to see you. Unfortunately, your first day of class will not be until Monday. We have a broken water pipe here. A complete floor cannot be used. We have decided to close the school for today, so the craftsmen have time over the weekend to fix the problem so that classes can continue on Monday. "
 
"Too bad." said Matt.
 
"Yes, unfortunately." said Fred.
 
"I can understand. Here, take these notes with you and present them to your parents. Not that they think you're skipping lessons. We'll see each other in old freshness on Monday" said there teacher and she went back into the school building.
Both looked briefly at the notes that there teacher handed to them. It was only a briefly explanation of why the school is canceled today. Both put their notes in their respective pockets and then headed to the street.
 
"Well, school is canceled today ... are you up to something?" Asked Matt to his new classmates.
 
"No, my schedule is empty for today" Fred replied in a sarcastic tone.
 
"Cool! There is a park nearby, we are happy to chill out there if you like."
 
"I don't know if my father would like it so much if he knew that I was wandering alone in an environment that was still strange to me" Fred said.
 
"Your father who thinks you're at school and instead got to know a classmate who knows the area well" Matt replied.
 
"I don’t know".
 
"Oh come on, your father won't notice."
 
"Okay, if you mean so."
 
The two made their way to the park that Matt had named. Meanwhile, both spoke to each other and got to know each other better.
 
"Tell me, how long have you been living here?" Matt asked.
 
"Not very long. We recently moved here. From the country to the city, so to speak ".
 
"Really? And only with your parents, or with more in tow ...? "
 
"No, I have an older brother and a younger sister. Of course they came with me ".
 
"Ah…"
 
"And how about you?"
 
"Oh ... uh ... I live alone with my mother."
 
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that."
 
"You don't have to. My father didn't die or anything. He just doesn't care about me. My mother takes good care of me for that instead."
 
"Yes, I've already seen. Your clothes are already very fancy. Shirt, pants and..." Fred pauses for a moment when he looks at Matt's shoes "Well… yes, you can see it."
 
"Yes, my mother always makes sure that I am properly dressed."
 
"It would be nice if my parents made a little more money. My clothes aren't really the best now. But my mother always says, 'As long as you don't walk naked on the street, everything is fine'. I think she is right."
 
"Yes, she is right. I would also like to exchange all this expensive stuff for something else. I feel very uncomfortable in my current clothes."
 
XZ looked at Matt at this sentence, but left it at that to say nothing more.
 
The two continued to walk along the asphalt paths and a little later turned into the park.
 
"This is it! Our beautiful park! I've spent a lot of time here" said Matt.
 
Fred looked around briefly. The park is relatively large. The path once led across the park. Trees were planted at the edge of the path at regular intervals. There are also occasional trees on the large meadows that provide cooling shade on sunny days. Otherwise there was little going on in the park in the early morning. Both entered the park. Matt walked directly on the path, Fred on the grass next to the path.
 
After two minutes, Matt asks "Why don’t you walk on the path?"
 
"I find it more pleasant to walk here on the grass than on the hard pavement."
 
"Ah, I understand."
 
A little later, the two passed a small river that flowed through the park and on the bank of which the path passed a few hundred meters.
At one point was a jetty that jutted a few meters into the river.
 
"Could we sit on the edge of the jetty?" asked Fred.
 
"Sure!" said Matt.
 
Both walked onto the jetty, put their backpacks behind them and sat at the front of the jetty, dangling their feet down. The water a few centimeters under their paws.
 
"Somehow that reminds me of how I sometimes enjoyed sitting on the jetty at the village pond. In the summer it was always nice to have your paws in the cold water to cool off, "said Fred as he lifted his right paw and spread his toes. Then he looked at Matt's paws. Or at least he tried.
 
"But it would be better for you if the water weren't so high right now" said Fred somewhat cynically.
 
Matt just smiled a little sheepishly. Should he react, and if so, how? But Fred added another question.
 
"Why aren't you barepawed?"
 
This question made Matt blush a little. Especially how Fred asked the question was interesting. He didn't ask him why he was wearing shoes, he explicitly asked why he wasn't barepawed.
 
"Well, you know... uh, it's like..."
 
Fred looked at Matt questioningly. He didn't understand what was so difficult about answering the question.
 
"It's like my mother has something against it. She said that it wasn’t okay and that we should both take care of our looks."
 
"So is it your mother's fault?" Fred asked, pointing to his shoes.
 
"Yes. Because of her I wear all these fancy clothes."
 
And Fred added "And these... urgh... shoes" and stuck out his tongue at the end of the sentence.
 
Matt replies with a soft "Yes" and looks down into the water. A small tear forms in his eye. "It's not just that it annoys me, but that my classmates ignore me because of it. I do not know what to do."
 
"They ignore you?"
 
"Yes, because I wear expensive clothes. And because I wear shoes. Especially because I wear shoes. After I told my mother that I was being bullied at school because of it, she spoke to the teachers. They then talked to the students. After that, they only bullied me even more. When my mother saw that I was going to have injuries to my body afterwards, she spoke to the teachers again. Then my classmates let go of me."
 
"That sounds really bad."
 
"It is! I am so glad that you speak to me at all! Those in the class always managed to get the newcomers to them and tell them they should not talk to me."
 
"Didn't you even try to be like the others? For example, walking out of the house with shoes and taking them off at the next corner and walking barepawed to school."
 
"I actually tried it! Multiple times! But..." Matt muttered to himself "I'm not used being barepawed outside, so I always left the house with shoes. But I don't wear shoes at home! At least when my mother isn't around."
 
"Hm, I understand. If you want I can help you get used to it."
 
Matt looked at Fred with wide eyes "Really? How?"
 
Fred smiled at the fox and said "Take off your shoes!"
 
Matt looked at Fred briefly and pulled his legs up onto the jetty to take off his shoes and socks. He put his shoes behind his backpack. Then he let his legs dangle down towards the river again.
 
"Much better now?" Fred asked curiously.
 
"Yes, absolutely! I'm also glad that I no longer have my shoes on." Matt said a little relieved.
 
"Alright then, come! Show me more of the park!" Fred said with a slightly evil grin on his face and was already standing on the jetty and reaching for his backpack.
 
"I... uh... yeah, okay" was the only thing Matt got a little puzzled out from his mouth. He also got up, took his backpack, shoes and socks when Fred suddenly said:
 
"It's best to pack your shoes and socks in your backpack. You don't need that now anyway."
 
Matt retracted his ears to his skull at the statement. Several thoughts went through his head. What if his mother saw him? What if he suddenly doesn't like the idea anymore? But he followed XZ's instructions and put its shoes and socks in the backpack.
 
Both of them then went off the jetty and back onto the sidewalk. For Matt, the whole thing was a completely new experience. The feeling of the hard sidewalk slabs under his paws was quite unusual for him. Matt was just used to the linoleum floor at home or the tiles in the bathroom. And otherwise he never dared to go outside without shoes. So Matt looked at the ground all the time to see where he was stepping on. His feet first had to get used to the uneven ground and these new feelings. Of course, Fred noticed the uncertainty of Matt.
 
"Everything okay?" Fred asked Matt again.
 
"Yeah, everything is okay." Matt pointed in one direction "Um… we can go there."
 
They both started and continued walking along the sidewalk. Fred ahead and Matt behind. Matt had to do with what he now feels under his paws without his shoes. Sand, earth, pebbles. Everything. And Matt didn't know if it should be pleasant or annoying. However, Matt was a little slow for Fred's taste.
 
"If it helps you, we can also walk on the grass. It is much more pleasant than here on the hard pavement slabs."
 
And so both continued on the grass next to the path. It was much more pleasant for Matt! The soft, damp grass under his paws reminded him a little of a wet carpet. The grass between his toes also felt very comfortable. It was much more comfortable for Matt to walk on the soft grass than on the hard sidewalk. However, Matt was still looking at the ground all the time to see where he was going so as not to step on something pointy or nasty. Fred noticed this.
 
"You don't have to look at the ground all the time. The sensitivity of the soles of your paws will decrease over time as you continue to walk barepawed. And there is very rarely anything in the grass that could hurt you. I speak from experience."
 
Matt just nodded to Fred. Both went on and talked about all sorts of topics that came to mind. At first, Matt sometimes looked down to see where he was going, but later it was as if Matt had forgotten that he was not wearing shoes. Apparently that was just a trick to make Matt forget to keep looking at the ground.
 
At some point the two reached the other end of the park. They went through the gate of the park and were now at a crossroad.
 
"Hey, I know this crossroads! My home is in this direction!" said Fred and point down the street he thinks he lives in.
 
Matt looked in the direction XZ was pointing and said "Oh, this street? I live in this street." and pointed in the direction in which he lived.
 
"Oh, too bad, then we probably can't go home together any further."
 
"Seems so." Matt said a little sadly, retract his ears to his skull. He wasn't concerned with saying goodbye to Fred. Rather, it was about not knowing what will be on Monday. Will his classmates at school try to convince Fred to stop talking to him? And will Fred be convinced?
 
XZ definitely noticed that Matt was sad for whatever reason. So he made a suggestion. "If you want, you can come to me tomorrow! Then I can show you my room if you want!"
Matt looked happy at that statement. "Really!? Oh yes, I'd love to!" he said and smiled again.
 
"Sure, of course! Wait." Fred said cheerfully. He took his backpack from his back, opened it and looked for a pen and a piece of paper. It quickly wrote his address on a slip of paper and gave it this Matt. While he was packing everything up again, he asked "What time you want to come tomorrow?"
 
Matt thought briefly, "Is 13 o'clock okay for you?"
 
"Yup, that's fine."
 
"Well, then I will see you tomorrow at 13 o'clock" said Fred with anticipation. "And don't forget to keep walking without shoes."
 
Matt just nodded and the two said goodbye to each other with a handshake. Matt was still waiting with Matt at the traffic lights because he had to cross the street to be able to walk into his street. When the traffic light turned green, the two waved goodbye and Matt also went into his street.
With a big smile, Matt walked down the street where he lived. At last he had found a friend with whom he could get along well and without his classmates being able to make him uneasy. But on the contrary! His new friend wants to help him be liked by the others by showing him how to walk barepawed.
 
He walked down the street for a few more minutes until it was in front of his house. He went through the front yard and in the meantime looked for the keys in his pocket. In front of the door he put the key in the lock and meanwhile wiped his paws on the doormat. However, he raised one of his paws and saw that the sole of his paw are totally dirty. "Great, I can't enter the house like this. My mother is killing me!" Matt thought. "I have to ask Fred how he handles this problem" Matt thought and made a mental note. He took the key out of the lock and went back to the garden. There he sat on a chair on the terrace and took the garden hose and turned on the tap for it. He washed his paws clean, turned off the tap, and then went into the house through the back entrance.
 
Matt slowly tiptoed into his room to dry his paws with a towel without slipping on the smooth linoleum. When he did this and was able to dry his feet, it wiped his pawprints, which he left from the back door to his room. After cleaning everything up he spent the rest of the day playing games, eating lunch and reading comics.
 
His mother came home from work late in the evening. At that time, Matt was sitting in his room playing with some people on the game console in an online game. When Matt heard that a mother was home, he immediately wanted to tell her that he had met a new friend. He also wanted to give her the note because of the accident at school. He jumped up immediately and ran to his room door, but he braked before. He was barepawed all day and at least had to put on socks so as not to upset his mother. So he quickly ran to his bag and put on the socks he had been wearing earlier this morning. Then he ran down the stairs and greeted his mother with a big hug.
 
"Hello mum!" Matt said happily.
 
"Hello Darling! That's a great greeting. Is something going on? Did I miss something?"
 
"No, you didn't. I'm just happy to see you! I met a new friend at school today! Matt said proudly.
 
"Really? That pleases me! Who then?"
 
"His name is Fred. He is also a fox like us and about the same age as me. I don't really know how old he is, but I think he is as old as I am. He recently moved here with his family. We got on really well! We were in the park together and have everything..."
 
"Wait! You should go to school! Why didn't you go there!?" Matt's mother asked angrily.
 
"There was a broken water pipe at school" said Matt, handing his mother the note he received from his teacher. "The school dropped out today because of that."
 
His mother took the note, read through it and put it in her pocket. The two of them spent a little time together. Matt told his mother about his new friend a little more.
 
Later that evening, Matt went to the toilet, brushed her teeth, and got ready for bed. In his room he turned off his console and television, which he forgot to turn off. He undressed himself and put on his pajamas and went to bed. He covered himself up and tried to sleep despite the excitement he still had. He couldn't wait to meet his new friend again...