ppgzxrrbz call of the wolves

Wolves, Friends, and Foes

"Oh, right. And here's the new student; Ross. Say hello, Ross. Class, please welcome him," Mr. Apocally mentioned.

"What are we? In—"

"—Gr. 1? No, but welcome him all the same." Mr. Apocally shot the speaker a glare.

The speaker shrank back.

"WELCOME TO POKEY OAKS HIGH, ROSS!"

"Uh...thanks...?" mumbled Ross.

Mr. Apocally smiled coolly. "Wonderful." He surveyed the room. "No, Flash; you can't tease him; and no, Ashleigh; you can't 'hit on him'." He did air quotations on the last few words.

"Who said I was?" Flash protested.

Mr. Apocally smirked. "I read your minds." When they gave him funny looks, he laughed. "I'm just joking; I can tell by your facial expressions."

They groaned.

Mr. Apocally simply smiled coolly. "Great. Now...Ross, go sit beside Butch and Brick, please."

Buttercup snuck a glance at the two Rowdyruff Boys. Butch's eyes were a dark glare, and Brick seemed to be studying the newcomer, who'd been confirmed as Ross.

Mr. Apocally raised an eyebrow, shooting Ross a look that said "go on!"

Ross sighed, took a deep breath, and walked up to his desk. "Uh...hi...?" he managed. It sounded more like a question than a statement.

Brick smiled a half-smile. "Hi."

Butch simply turned around, snorting. "Humph!"

Ross awkwardly sat down, pulling out his pencil case and books.

"There's no homework for today," Mr. Apocally was saying up front, "because Ross needs to catch up. Ross, you'll be doing yesterday's homework. I'm sure you don't need to catch up on everything we've been learning, seeing as you've probably learned it already. I am simply assigning yesterday's work to you so that you can figure out what we're learning."

Buttercup smirked. Mr. Apocally probably wanted to torture the new student with homework.

Walking into Mr. Evan's class, Buttercup quietly got into her seat. Butch was sitting beside her, and Mr. Evans was busy writing something on the board. The helper teacher, who only showed up once or twice a week, lingered in the back.

Finally, Mr. Evans turned around and said, "Alright, class; settle down." The students stopped chatting to stare at their teacher. "As you should all know, we have a new student joining us today."

Buttercup nodded, glancing at Butch. He shrugged, blowing black hair out of his eyes. Boomer was sitting nearby, eyes lingering silently on the door. Since Boomer wasn't in the same Math class as the greens, he hadn't met the "Ross" kid yet.

Mr. Evans turned to the door. "Please, come on in."

Buttercup held her breath as the door opened slightly. She already knew who Ross was and what he looked like, but the suspense was still hanging in the air. When the door creaked open all the way, the boy who stepped through smiled sheepishly. His green eyes glowed as he tugged at his white scarf. His brown hair fell into his face.