And now the moment you've all been waiting for! The finished chapter one! Enjoy, y'all!

"Alright, class, settle down."

          Max relaxed in his chair, sighing. First period had officially begun. Another boring beginning to another boring day of boring fucking high school.

          "Okay, before we start today, we have a transfer student. He will be joining our class for the rest of the school year." Ms. Scettle furrowed her eyebrows, glaring at a few choice students as she spoke again. "I warn you to all be polite. This boy is a bit...different, for lack of a better word. Keep an open mind." She straightened, brushing off her emerald green blouse before smiling at the door. "Come on in, dear. You'll be fine."

          The door opened, and the red-head's jaw dropped at the sight, as well as the majority of half the class.

          The boy who entered was about average height, had sparkling blue eyes behind a pair of glasses, and a mop of curly brown hair atop his head. He was wearing a light gray sweatshirt even though it was the hottest week of September {My school starts in the beginning of August. Dat what I'm basing this on.} and jeans.

          But that wasn't the interesting part.

          A huge, fluffy, gray tail, only a shade darker than his sweatshirt, twitched nervously behind the boy, curled up along his back in a position that reminded Max of a squirrel. And to top it all off, barely poking above the sea of brunette curls were two legit squirrel ears, same shade as the tail.

          The boy shifted on his feet, just standing in the doorway. His face was a bright red as he stared at the floor, clearly uncomfortable with the attention. He fiddled with a pencil that was hanging out of the end of his stack of books.

          Ms. Scettle cleared her throat, the noise echoing in the dead silent class room. "Go on, dear. Tell us your name."

          "Um..." The boy's face flushed even further. "M'name's Ross Washington...I...I transferred here to Seattle from New York City..."

          "Dude!" The class jock and stupidest kid alive, Jason Reinwood laughed and pointed at Ross. "You're a fucking squirrel!"

            Ross's tail visibly drooped and ears laid flat against his head as the class cracked up, except for Max. As Ms. Scettle tried to regain control, the red-head studied the boy. He was definitely cute, but he could worry about that later. Max was openly bisexual and usually harassed by the school homophobic asshats. He knew what it felt like to be on that end of the teasing and name calling. He was not going to stand by and watch it happened to this poor kid.

          Ross still hadn't moved from the doorway, staring at the ground and shifting his feet constantly. Since Max sat at the back of the class, he could see his face perfectly. The brunette looked to be on the verge of tears.

          "Enough!" Ms. Scettle's voice rang out in the classroom before the red-head worked up the courage to call Ross over. "Jason, a month's detention for bad language and bullying a student who hasn't been in the building an hour. Ross, dear, there is an open desk next to Max if you'd like to take a seat. Max, raise your hand."

          The red-head did as he was told, smiling warmly at Ross when the boy looked his way. After the brunette had settled in Max stuck out his hand. "Hey, name's Max LaPlume. Nice to meet you."

          Ross eyed him before tentatively grasping his hand in a small handshake. "H-hi...S-s-so, um..." He dropped Max's hand and squeezed his eyes shut. "J-just g-get it o-over with..."

          Max raised an eyebrow, thoroughly confused. "Uh, what?"

          Ross cracked an eye open. "Y'you're n-not gonna m-make f-fun of m-me?"

          The red-head grinned. "Of course not! I think it's really cool that you got ears and a tail! Certainly will make life more interesting! Also, I'm openly bisexual. I know what it's like to get bullied. No way would I willingly put another living soul through some of the shit I've gone through." He winked. "I'm a friend."

          Ross visibly relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. "Th-thank you so m-much. Th-this is the third sc-sc-school I've b-been transferred into th-this m-month alone. I-I-I always g-get thrown out, either b-by the teachers o-or the st-students. I...I..."

          Seeing the new boy close to tears again, Max rubbed his arm soothingly. Man, I thought some of the stuff I go through being a homosexual was bad. I can't imagine what Ross has had to deal with.

          "Alright, class, now we can finally get started after our...interruption." Ms. Scettle punctuated the last word with a pointed glare in Jason's direction. "Who can tell me what to answer to this problem is." As if reciting from a script, she said, "The sum of the digits in a four-digit number is 15. All the digits are different and they are in decreasing order. Each digit is a power of two. What is the sum of the first two digits?"

Everyone gave the teacher blank looks. After Max pulled out of piece of notebook paper to work it out, he glanced at Ross. The brunette was deep in thought. Suddenly his hand shot up, startling the red-head.

          "Yes, Ross? Do you have the answer?"

          Ross nodded firmly, dropping his hand. "The number is 8421, so the sum of the first two digits would be twelve."

          Ms. Scettle beamed at him. "Very good, Ross! You are correct. Copy this down into your notebooks..." She turned around and began to write on the white board in black marker. In the silence, where the only thing that could be heard was the sound of pencils against paper and the occasional squeak from the marker, Jason had the nerve to whisper, though it was still loud enough for everyone to hear, "Look at that, Squirrel Boy's got a brain! Now he's a nerd and a freak!"

          Max glance at Ross. His face had flushed again and he ducked his head down so no one could see, his tail twitching behind him. Ms. Scettle immediately whirled around and began to chew Jason out, but Max, sitting directly next to him, could see the tears rolling down Ross's cheeks as the boy cried silently.

          His heart tore in two and, on complete impulse, he began to pet the fluffy tail, the fur feeling like silk running through his fingers. Ross seemed to stiffen at first, the tail becoming rigid under his hand, but soon relaxed as Max's calming touches soothed him and he sat up straight. The red-head removed his hand and Ross flashed him a smile before going back to work.

          Today will be interesting.

          Ross's whole body locked up when he felt a light touch on his body, namely, his oversensitive tail. A flash of a fist connecting with his head appeared in his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. Realizing that his fur was being petted by none other than Max, he easily relaxed. This red-headed boy was the first kind person Ross has met in a very long time. Perhaps he could stick around this time. Perhaps the inevitable bullying would be slightly more bearable if he knew he had a friend that cared about him.

          After a while the hybrid sat up straight, ready to focus again. He could not let that ass of a boy–Jason, did the teacher call him?–see him cry. He was emotionally sensitive, yes, but he wanted to hide that for as long as possible. He'd quickly become an even bigger target if people found out.

          He felt Max's warm, comforting hand leave his tail. Ross almost asked the red-head to keep going, but decided against it. One, that would be weird, and two, he didn't want to come off as completely dependent on him. He could already feel the bond growing between the two, even if they only met ten minutes ago.

          Today, first day in a new school and new people, was going to be interesting.

I know it's not much passed the teaser, but hey! Cheer up! That means this story will finally start updating! Ayyyyyyyy! Anyway, I'll see y'all in the next chapter!