~Jack~

Our school is absolutely Zootopia's finest. It must be due to how expensive it is to get into here. The tuition's over $40,000, I don't know the exact amount but that's none of my business, it's my parents'. They're the ones paying for it, not me.

I have to say, I'm lucky. Not just me, but everyone going to this school. You can probably tell this isn't a high school for everyday middle-class folks. If you wanna be here, you gotta have the money. If you don't, well that's your problem.

My parents are both stinking rich. My dad's a businessmammal, working hard 24/7. He's the CEO of a food company, one that I don't care too much about to know the name. My mom is also a CEO, except she's in the fashion industry and owns her garment factory. Both of them are millionaires, living great lives, just not together.

They're divorced.

Apparently, it was a love marriage that lost its spark. They had married when they were young and in love and had started focusing on their careers at the same time. That's what drew them apart. They never had enough time for each other and grew distant.

Eventually, arguments began. I was only six when it started so I don't remember much of what happened. I just know from my parents that they had gotten tired of the fact that neither can just sit down and relax. Both had busy schedules and whenever they had some free time, it'd be spent sleeping instead of catching up with each other. Nothing was working.

They decided to split when I was nine years old. The day it happened, I never even knew that was the last time I'd see my family together, even if they hadn't been that close before.

My mom is now a single female still working on her career. She loves it when I visit her and I'll admit, I feel much more welcomed there, but she can't be the one to take care of me since her day was full enough. It made me feel slightly neglected at first, but eventually, I stopped caring.

My dad has a girlfriend. They started dating when I was eleven. He's able to spend much more time with her since she works as his assistant in his job. I would've been fine with it but his girlfriend absolutely hates me. Probably since I'm the kid of his ex-wife. Things haven't worked out for me since she started living with us, too. She always acts like she controls the house when my dad isn't around and constantly blames things on me. Even though my dad says he loves me, he always takes her side.

I found out two years later she was cheating on him. She only wanted him for his wealth, she didn't really love him. I caught her in the middle of the act with her secret boyfriend. That was probably what ruined the little innocence I had left.

Like the idiot I was, I told her I was telling my dad about her affair. That gave her the perfect chance to manipulate me, as well. She told me of how my dad would never believe me, how he doesn't love me enough to trust me over her. She convinced me that he'd kick me out if I ever accused something so hideous of her to do. She managed to shut me up.

As much as I hate to admit it, she was right. My dad would never believe me over her. He just wouldn't.

I don't trust love. It's fake.

My parents stopped liking each other. They say they love me yet they don't have time for me. My dad's new girlfriend is cheating on him and my dad loves her more than me. 

If love was this strange, I'd rather not get involved in it. 

But anyway, I don't have to care about this whatnot. I'm sixteen and old enough to take care of myself. Although I still have to live with my dad and that stupid girl he likes, I don't have to deal with them. I barely even have to see him! He's always busy and his girl doesn't want anything to do with me so she avoids me. Either way, I get money from both my parents and can do whatever I want with them. I don't even have to worry about the future since I'll either just take over my mom or my dad's jobs.  

I have everything I could possibly want. Even in school, I'm doing great.

I'm a good student, not the best but good nonetheless. As if that'll even matter. Socially is what really matters and I'm rocking that aspect.

I'm pretty good-looking if I do say so myself. I'm not interested in getting into a relationship at the moment since I think love is absolute bullsh*t, but it's good to know girls are falling for me left and right anyway. It boosts up my reputation. Being friends with the most popular guys helps it, too. I don't really have to worry about anything going bad or being picked on. Everyone else are the ones who are afraid of getting picked on by my pals and I. 

I will admit, I've never made fun of mammals in front of them. I don't want to. I do gossip with my friends, though, but if they don't find out, no one gets hurt. I'm never the one making up things in the conversation, just talking about what others brought up. I know some of them could be rumors but who cares? It's just one little statement. It can't do too much harm. 

There is a catch to my amazing life, however. I have to act. I always have to act. I have to have this tough persona. I gotta be rock hard, nothing's supposed to affect me. I can't tell anyone anything I'm dealing with. That's fine, though, it's not like they're gonna help.

That's basically how this school goes. Everyone fits into some sort of category. If you don't, you have to act as you do. Everyone's the same.

Except for one.

Casey Wilde. I think that's her name. She's a red fox, brown tips on her ears, paws, and tail and white patches around her eyes. Her eyes are like mine, blue. But while mine are a turquoise color, hers are a pure light blue. Honestly, they are very pretty.

Casey herself isn't that bad to look at. Not bad at all, actually. But none of ever talk to her, especially the guys I hang out with. Mostly because unlike the rest of us, she's poor.

And I don't mean by a little bit. 

She's completely broke. 

How did she get into this school? Simple, her aunt's the principle. I don't know how she and her parents are poor while her aunt's here living the high life but I never cared enough to figure it out. Plus, I guess it's enough for her aunt to let her study in a school like ours for free. She got the easy way out just because her aunt takes care of this school. The rest of us have to pay. That only adds to our hate for her.

She isn't mean, though. She's super sweet to everyone which isn't common in our school. Whenever she sees someone pass by, it's always a friendly "Hello!". She always says "Please" and "Thank you" which you also don't see often in our school. She's nice to even to the janitors and lesser mammals like them. Maybe because she is one of them. But if she really was only nice to ones like her, she wouldn't be this kind towards us. It's strange.

She's a really good student, the topper in fact. The teachers absolutely adore her. At least, the ones who actually care about teaching and not just the money they gain. Even if everyone else is a little salty, my real opinion is that if she's taking advantage of that opportunity and doing the best she can, what's the harm? But it's not like anyone would listen, so I don't even try. 

If I have to be real with myself, I do want to talk to her. She does seem fun, different from the rest. She just gives off this vibe. Whenever you look at her, it's hard not to smile. At least for me, it is. I can still hide it, but it hurts as if I'm being stabbed with a knife. I don't know how everyone else manages to scowl and scoff at her so easily. 

I feel kinda bad for her. She gets picked on by everyone. I want to help, but it's not my place. I'm not supposed to even look at her. Every inch of sympathy I have for her needs to be hidden. 

I avoid her. Only because I know that's the only way to not hurt her. If I go anywhere near her, somehow the guys would find me. They'd start to pick on her and if I wanted to stay with them, I'd have to do the same. I don't want to hurt her. It's like a contagious disease seeing her frown. So I stay away from her.

It's fine, though. I'm fine. I've gotten used to this anyway.

The bell rang. It was time for class. I entered the room and sat somewhere in the back of the room. I noticed Casey in the front. It wasn't hard for her to stand out since the entire row she was in was empty...

She didn't seem to mind. She just kept on smiling, pen out, book open, ready for class.

The teacher came in and started announcing what we had to do today. Turns out, there was a group project. A huge one. There were only three months left in school. Those three months would be spent doing this project with our partner.

Unfortunately, they were assigned. I listened to the names being called.

"Elizabeth Cottontail, Lisa Vermont."

"Marcus Fang, Nora Springtail."

The names were being called alphabetically by the last names of the first students. 

After a while, I heard mine. My heart dropped when I heard who it was with.

"Jackson Savage, Cassandra Wilde."

I looked over at her. She was smiling right at me.

This was not good...

Author: YEET YEET So I have another one-shot out. Now, you're all probably wondering wTf HaPpEnEd WiTh ThE lAsT oNe? Well, need not worry mah dudes, it's still here xddd I DID say these stories are gonna be going on at the same time. I just got this idea for the one-shot so I thought of using it. The vampire one is still coming out and hopefully, I'll have another chapter out soon but I really wanted to get this one done. 

It kinda felt like how I used to write before. I didn't just choose a story and try my best to write a new chapter for it. I just had an idea and sat down to start writing. Heck, I didn't even bother going to Google Docs for this one. It just felt better to be back to the Wattpad format. It felt like Summer when I first started again. My books really have improved since I first started xdd Y'all remember how in the author's notes I'd misspell every word I could on purpose? Yeah even I started getting a headache from that xD 

I'm really liking this one-shot idea. I've got it planned out in my head pretty far and I can't wait for it to start getting more fleshed out. I really miss updating and that's why I'm trying to get back to it. The only reason there isn't another ZMU chapter out is that I'm stuck on how to write this ONE part. I've got everything figured out after it. 

But yee, hope you guys liked this chapter and will enjoy the rest of my stories. And if you think my maturity's gonna get rid of my old outro THINK AGAIN :D Cya peeps. Author Out! *dabs*