"Henley!" I snap my gaze up towards the teacher and drop the pen I had been using to doodle. The entire class and my teacher are staring at me, her agitation showing by the way her cougar ears are twitching. "Pay attention."

Nodding my head, I try to keep my gaze fixed on the board in the front of the classroom. Ms. Steinbeck, my history teacher, is droning on about the extinction of humans and how we hybrids were able to survive the virus that had wiped out the entire human race.

"Okay, class, I think we have covered everything I had planned for today." I perk up at her words, excited to be done with this class. "So, it is time for that quiz I was telling you about at the beginning of class." And there goes my happiness.

Ms. Steinbeck walks around the class, handing out papers to everyone. As soon as I get mine and read the first question, I begin clicking my pen in frustration.

When was the first documented case of Morbum Humans, the virus that wiped out the humans?

I know when the World Health Organization warned us about the virus, but the date of the first documented case? I am stumped. I peek over at Quinn, my best friend, who is sitting next to me. He doesn't seem to be doing much better and is doodling on his quiz instead of writing down the answers.

"Henley, eyes on your own paper," Ms. Steinbeck says from her desk. My eyes flick over to her and she raises her eyebrow at me as if daring me to object. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I look back down at my quiz.

Scribbling a random date down for the first question, I move onto the next one.

Where did the virus originate?

Oh, I know this one! Quickly, I scribble down the answer: The woodlands of Zambia.

The rest of the questions are fairly easy and I write down the answers a minute before the bell rings, signaling the end of class.

"Please hand me your quizzes on the way out," Mrs. Steinbeck says, watching us leave from her desk. Standing up, I grab my backpack and my quiz, walking up to the front of the classroom and handing it over to the teacher.

"How'd you do?" I ask Quinn, walking next to him as we head over to our lockers.

"I only knew the last one, all the other ones stumped me," he responds. We stop in front of our lockers, trying to open them while being pushed and shoved by the hybrids trying to walk through the tiny hallway.

"Well, at least there is only one more class until we can go home." Pulling out my books for my next class, I put them into my backpack while looking over at Quinn.

"Yeah, Calculus," Quinn says with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey, I would rather have math than Health," I say with a cringe.

For the past few weeks, we have been talking about mating, and that is the most awkward thing to learn about from an eighty-five-year-old coyote hybrid. Mr. Kearns always shows those awkward videos about the mating process.

"Well, at least I get to stare at Link. He'll be a good distraction," Quinn says with a grin, closing his locker and putting his backpack on. I roll my eyes while giving him a small smile. Quinn has a massive crush on Link, despite the fact that he is a wolf hybrid, while we are both fox hybrids. Usually, foxes and wolves do not interact very well, but Quinn seems to forget about that.

"I'll see you after class," I say to Quinn, rubbing my hand through his black hair and pinching one of his dark gray fox ears.

"Ow, you asshole," Quinn says, shoving me away. Laughing, I walk away from him and towards my next class.

"See you after school?" Quinn shouts after me.

"Of course, Quinnley, meet you at my car." I smile when I say his full name, knowing he hates when people use it.

"I swear to God, Henley, I'm going to ki-"

"Bye, Quinn!" I shout with a cheery voice, turning and walking into my health classroom. Everyone is already seated, and I seem to be one of the last ones to come in. There is only one seat left, right next to Braeden and his girlfriend, Sophia. He is hot, I've got to admit, despite the fact that he is a wolf hybrid. His light gray ears are easily distinguishable from his sandy blonde hair, and his tail is hanging behind his seat.

"Nice of you to join us, Henley," Mr. Kearns says. I walk over to the only seat left and sit down, making sure I don't sit on my tail.

"Today we are going to be watching a video on male and female pregnancies. We all know how it is possible for male and female hybrids to become pregnant, but this video will explain the intricacies of our unique bodies. Take notes and pay attention, you will have to write an essay on this video, and it will be in place of your final. If you write a well developed and knowledgeable essay, you won't have to take the final. If you don't, expect to take the two-hour test." With that, Mr. Kearns waddles over to the television and pushes in a CD, turning the volume up too high.

Knowing that he will try to fail us with the final, I pay close attention to the video and take detailed notes. I do not test well and do not want to chance getting a bad grade on this essay.

Fifty minutes later, I am packing up my bag and walking to my locker, dodging the large bodies all around me. That is the problem with being a fox hybrid, I am about five inches shorter than most of the males at this school.

Making it to my locker, I see Braeden talking to Sophia while leaning against the metal contraptions. Of course, they happen to be leaning against mine.

"Braeden, can you please move. I would like to get out of here," I tell him. Sophia looks over at me, curling her lip in disgust. Well, bitch, I don't really care for you either. Braeden looks me up and down but doesn't say anything before grabbing Sophia's hand and walking away.

Well, that went easier than expected, I think to myself. Shuffling over to my locker, I grab the things I need and walk towards the parking lot.

Quinn and Lena are sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for me to make it to the car. Lena is looking at Quinn, watching him while he talks, and Quinn seems to be very excited about whatever he is talking about.

"And then he looked over at me, and I smiled, but he just turned back around. But he looked at me, Lena! I'm thinking I might even have a chance with him," Quinn says, bouncing up and down.

"Is he talking about Link again?" I question, looking over at Lena. Breaking her gaze from Quinn, she looks up at me with a small smile on her face and her gray eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Isn't he always?" she says, grabbing her bag before standing up and climbing into the passenger seat.

"Hey!" Quinn says with mock indignation, grabbing his own backpack and climbing into the backseat. "He's hot and single, I have a chance."

"Quinn, the Partnering Ceremony is tomorrow. How do you expect to date him while having a different mate, hmm?" I ask, looking at him through the rearview mirror.

"Well, who knows, maybe he'll be my mate," Quinn says, crossing his arms and leaning back in the seat.

Dropping the subject, I glance at the clock: three-thirty. "Do you want me to drop you off at the children's center?" I say to Lena. "I have about a half an hour before I have to be at the clinic."

Lena nods her head. Thankfully, I see it from my peripheral vision.

We all have after school jobs, preparing us for when we graduate high school and are mated. We are in training right now, working with people who we hope to be some day. Lena has a fascination with children, and that's why she works at the children center. I work at the medical clinic, hoping to get a job as a medical assistant, then one day a doctor. Quinn is still in the process of trying to figure out what he wants to be after graduating high school.

"Where do you want to go, Quinn?" I ask him, driving in the direction of the children's center.

"Can you just drop me off at my apartment? I need to start packing my stuff for when we are moved into our new home."

"Sure," I say, keeping my eyes on the road. We are all silent for a few minutes before Lena breaks it with a question.

"Why do we have to move in with our mates right away? Can't we just keep our apartments until we are ready?" she questions, staring out the window.

"I don't know. I think they want us to start the whole 'mating process' as soon as possible," Quinn says from the back. Lena scrunches her nose, not breaking her gaze from the world outside the car. Her fingers find their way into her auburn curls, twirling her hair as she thinks. Her bright red fox tail is sitting on her lap, twitching with every twirl she makes with her finger.

Five minutes later, I pull into the children's center. Lena grabs her stuff and climbs out of the car, leaning down and waving at us before closing the door and walking away.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" I ask Quinn, who climbed up into the passenger seat as soon as Lena closed the door.

"Yeah. You?" I can feel his gaze on me but don't look over at him.

I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I drive towards Quinn's apartment. "Maybe."

*****

Thank you, everyone, for starting this book! Regular updates will be on Wednesdays 5pm PT. Make sure to comment, vote and share, I appreciate all of it so much!

The picture at the top is of Henley.