Raised by Lions

Chapter 16: A Real School

Louis hugged his dad before nervously getting out of the car. Ibuki offered him a smile, "Have fun, kiddo. One of us will come pick you up this afternoon, okay?" Louis nodded, pulling his backpack over his shoulder. He shut the door and walked towards the gates, listening to the car drive off into the distance.

This was it. He was starting his first day at an actual school. A middle school, but an actual school. He walked inside to go find his first class, seeing students of all species and sizes walking around. It felt so odd to see Herbivores his size, after spending the last 7 years among large Carnivores. He found his class easily enough and took a seat. The steady sounds of voices murmering in the background and all over wasn't so unlike the voices of animals in the streets of the BAM, however, these were all his peers and not adults.

Earlier in the week, Ibuki and Dolph had taken every opportunity they got to remind him that they were technically a criminal organisation and that there were certain things he wasn't allowed to share with other kids. He had to be careful how much he told others and what he told. For instance, he was allowed to say he was adopted, and that it was by carnivores, but not say their names or mention the Gumi. He also wasn't supposed to say anything about his family's meat diet or even his own. Apparently people outside of the market didn't like that notion.

The teacher, a Cheetah with a kind face, told them her name and took roll-call before she explained some things to them about how their first day of middle school was going to go. Louis was as excited as he was nervous.

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The lunch bell rang and Louis followed the horde of other kids. Some went to the cafeteria, others went outside. Dope had made him lunch, so he followed the group that was running for outside.

Stopping just outside the door, Louis looked around the grounds to see if anyone looked approachable. Agata hadn't stopped talking about him making friends with other kids, so he thought he might give it a try. It wasn't as easy as the young lion had made it seem though.

He frowned when he saw a familiar face in the distance, accompanied by a not so familiar face. He quickly made his way over, careful not to run into anyone, especially the smaller kids like the rabbits or rats.

"You could come join me and my friends. The more the merrier!" The Golden Labrador stated, his tail wagging as he held a ball in his hands. Louis couldn't help but notice how much different the golden paws looked from the familiar grey ones. They were smaller, chubbier and somehow fluffier. "No, it's okay. Thanks for the offer though," the wolf pup stated, waving off the labrador with a fake smile.

"Who's that?" Louis asked, causing Legosi to jump and spin around on his heel. "Oh hey, Louis. That was just some kid in my class. Jack, I think his name was." Louis nodded, glancing in the direction the dog had gone. He was just a little ways away from them, talking to a group of other canines and happily wagging his tail. Occasionally they would glance over at Legosi and subsequently Louis before going back to whatever they were talking about before.

"Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you were younger than me," Louis asked as he and Legosi sat down on the grass and started on their lunches. Both of them had packed lunches, supposedly a precaution from their parents.

"I mean, I am, but I'm a year ahead on my studies and the school said I could join early, as long as I can keep up with the work." His tail wagged idly as he spoke. Louis felt a familiar sense of comfort wash over him from being in the wolf's presence.

They talked all through lunch and were a little disappointed when the bell rung and they had to return to their classes. After a promise to meet up in the same place the next day, they left in their respective directions.

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Two weeks have passed and Louis met up with Legosi at their usual spot in the schoolyard. It had become their little thing to meet up and enjoy lunch together. The golden labrador, Jack, had tried multiple times more to get Legosi to play with him and his friends, but no one else approached the wolf, presumably afraid of him for some reason or another. Some other deer have approached Louis, but they turned their backs on him soon after because he wouldn't take part in their trash talking of carnivores. He did try befriending other herbivores, but whenever he wanted to introduce them to Legosi, they would run off and call him crazy.

This did lead, however, to some students bullying the two for being friends. Louis didn't really understand what was so inherently wrong about being friends with carnivores and Legosi seemed to just ignore them for the most part, especially since the majority of the bullies were herbivores. Louis would forever lament Legosi for his patience with these ignorant assholes.

As they sat and ate, a certain tiger cub came up to them. Legosi rolled his eyes and focused on his lunch. Louis shifted closer to Legosi. "Sup freaks. I see you two are still hanging out." "Fuck off, Bill." Louis grumbled, but this just seemed to anger the tiger and two of his friends were approaching fast from the sides.

"What did you say?!" Bill reached over and grabbed Louis by the arm, pulling the small deer to his feet. Legosi reacted almost immediately, jumping to his feet and grabbing Bill's wrist. "Bill, don't cause a scene," Legosi said in a quiet tone, glancing at the already forming group of onlookers. "Shut up, mutt!" Louis glared at the tiger and without thinking much of it, punched the tiger straight in his jaw.

Bill let go of Louis and stumbled back a bit. His lip was split and bleeding, but he seemed more surprised that Louis could hit that hard. His two friends circled in on them and Legosi and Louis turned back to back. The other two tigers threw the first punches and then all hell broke loose.

Legosi tackled the one that had tried to hit him, easily pinning the tiger to the ground in a chokehold. He'd get a lecture later for fighting on school grounds, but right now it was about not getting beaten up by some high strung cats.

Louis was faring similarly. A couple punches and strategic blocks and he'd knocked the other tiger cub out. Free would be impressed, he mentally noted. Bill was about to storm the two when a teacher finally arrived and picked him up by the scruff. He struggled in her hold.

The teacher started lecturing the three about fighting and Legosi finally let the other cub up. Another teacher took the unconscious tiger to the infirmary, while the other four followed after the first one, well three, seeing as she was still holding Bill by the scruff.

It turned out that the three tigers were all cousins and their parents had come to pick them up, scolding the cubs loudly all the way to the cars. Legosi had just gotten a warning, since it was the first altercation he'd been part of and just had to have his guardian sign a note. Louis had been given a note to sign as well and a lecture about getting into fights with carnivores.

They walked side by side afterwards, laughing softly. "They didn't know what hit them!" Louis exclaimed, making Legosi laugh. "Evidently, you did." They laughed some more. "And that teacher, if only she knew the truth, she'd be lecturing them to not fight me, not the other way around." Legosi smiled, "Yeah, no shit. They can be glad we aren't allowed weapons to school." Louis nodded in agreement. They kept happily talking as they made their way to their next classes.

Louis would have a bruised shoulder from where Bill had grabbed him initially and Legosi had a couple cuts, but other than that, the two were no worse for wear. Those tigers though, they'd be feeling it for a couple days.

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Two days passed and what happened, along with some other rumours spread across the school fast and soon the other kids were either too afraid to approach the two, or too weary to try and bully them. Evidently they were not to be messed with. This didn't bother the two all that much.

Despite the news and rumours though, Jack still tried, at least once a week, to get Legosi to be his friend, even going so far as to offering that Louis could join the group as well. Legosi still shot the idea down and he and Louis remained in their own little world.

Louis had decided, with much finality, that the herbivores were too full of crap to befriend and carnivores now avoided him after the Bill incident. Legosi had decided he didn't want friends outside of the Market, seeing as they could dig too deep and discover the truth. A truth that he was not willing to share. So the two of them stuck together instead.