Welcome to chapter two of Thirty Days, a new therian and otherpaw story I've been writing! I would really appreciate if you read this chapter, heart and star, and if you like it, check out the rest! First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1351083197/ Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1353079938/ Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1351083197/ To read, please scroll down :) Ｔｈｉｒｔｙ Ｄａｙｓ ~ ᴀɴ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀᴘᴀᴡ ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ ~ ᵂʰᵉⁿ ᵖʳᵉᵗᵉⁿᵈⁱⁿᵍ... ˢᵗᵒᵖˢ ᵇᵉⁱⁿᵍ ᵖʳᵉᵗᵉⁿᵈ Chapter Two: Leigh Leigh did, in fact, notice that Fern was now sitting beside her, but she wouldn’t dare look her way. Leigh kept her gaze focused on her new teacher, Ms. Este, who she wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about yet. Once Ms. Este had finished her lectures, they had around five minutes until homeroom was over. Leigh pulled out her sketchbook and started to doodle. She drew little sketches of her characters, along with some symbols and theta-deltas. It helped her relax and distracted her from the bristling bundle of tension sitting next to her. She didn’t want to take up too many pages of the sketchbook on just her first day of school, so she put it away and sat, thinking. She would be going to the craft store on August 31st, with her friend, Jay, for animal mask-making supplies. He was a therian. Although she supported them, she was an otherpaw, which meant she enjoyed activities related to animals and animal roleplay, without it meaning anything towards her internal identity. She was often judged for this, especially when she first became an otherpaw. But eventually, most people got bored, and moved on. She still got plenty of nasty looks, though. Leigh didn’t care; she was happy to be herself, even with the consequences. One of the people who used to bully her was Fern. On the bus, she would target Leigh and pull her tail. She’d get all her friends to call her a furry and bark at her. How original, she thought. Fern stopped after a few months when the bus driver told them to quit the disruption. Leigh often wished she had told an adult, although she wasn’t sure if they would even defend her. BRRING! BRRING! The bell that signaled for them to change classes went off, and Leigh grabbed her binder. She pulled the schedule out and checked for her next class, which was advanced math. She glanced over at Fern’s, and she had science. Leigh let out a short sigh of relief. The next three periods went by fast, and Leigh found herself falling into her old groove with school. She had history class with Jay, which was fun, and a few of her other friends were in her advanced math class. She didn’t have any friends in ELA class, but that was okay. It would just give her more opportunities to make more! After the bell rang at the end of ELA class, the kids sprinted out the door for lunchtime. Leigh walked to lunch with Jay. “Are you excited for the lunch table chaos?” Jay asked her. “Can’t wait,” Leigh giggled. “Hope we’ll at least get a table near the windows this time.” Her Pokemon lunch box swung as she walked, occasionally bumping into kids scrambling down the hallway.
When they finally reached the cafeteria, Leigh scanned the crowd to find her friend group. She dashed over to the table on the opposite side of the room. “Yes, a window table!” Leigh pumped a fist into the air. Jay took a seat beside her with a grin. Once everyone had taken their seat in the lunch room–which took quite a long time, since it was the first day–there were seven kids at their table: Leigh, Jay, and Adair, who were best friends, as well as Stace, Knox, Marlin, and Hasina. “So, I heard you and Jay are going to Michael’s together next week. How cute!” Stace said to Leigh. “Have any specific plans for that?” “Stace, quit it.” Leigh rolled her eyes. “We’re just getting like, felt and stuff, for mask making.” “Come on, Stace. They’re just friends.” Adair came to Leigh’s defense. “Alright, if you say soo~” Stace responded. Leigh scoffed and turned to Adair. “So, Adair, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in forever because of your vacation! How was it?” Adair smiled. “I’ve been great! Seeing Rome was amazing. I actually got you something, you’ll have to come over sometime so I can show you.” “Yesss, I have to!” She was distracted by a snort coming from her right, and she saw Knox pouring his chocolate milk into his strawberries, and dipping his carrots into the mixture. “What are you doing?!” Leigh asked, startled. “This is a normal day with him,” Marlin said, sighing. He stared blankly into the milk carton. “I really have missed you guys.” Leigh took a sip of her CapriSun. “Even the chaotic parts?” Knox asked. “Especially the chaotic parts.” Leigh responded. “So… the important question. Who’s your partner for homeroom?” Jay asked the table. “I have Marlin!” Hasina cheered. “I have this guy that goes by Chip. He’s kind of zesty.” “I have Sophia, the one who’s had like fifty boyfriends.” “I have the girl that used to eat her toenails.” “I have Guy.” Everyone looked at Jay with confusion. “The one on the football team?” “Oh yeah. Heh. Funny name.” Stace said. “Don’t be rude,” Leigh nudged her, and Stace apologized quickly. “I have.. Fern.” Adair recoiled. “I am so sorry.” “It’s not that bad. I’m not looking forward to group projects, like, at all… but maybe she’s better now? Maybe?” Leigh shrugged. “Let’s hope so!” Jay smiled. Just then, one of the lunch supervisors came by and sent the table to the lunch line. Leigh couldn’t help but grin. This year wasn’t going to be so bad after all. End of chapter. Thanks for checking this out! I said this last time, but the next chapter is even better! It introduces the main conflict... so stay tuned! ;D The story is written by me, @Zacian32! I made the cover on Sketchpad with various png images.
