The School Of Oddities

Chapter 1: The Students

A girl in a jumpsuit ran across the dandelion fields. Dandelion seeds flew off as she ran. Another girl chased after her, giggling.

"Slow down Claire!" One of the girls shouted. She dropped on all fours and continued running. Claire, the girl with bunny ears, turned back and when she saw what her friend is doing, gasped.

"You can't do that! Kitty that's cheating!" She shouted. Kitty didn't mind, she sprang as soon as she got near Claire and pinned her to the ground.

"Well you're the one who decided to jump over the river to the fields," Kitty growled. Tail swishing here and there. "Meaning you're the one who cheated first."

Claire abruptly raised her feet from under Kitty and kicked her off of her. Kitty stumbled on the dandelion flowers and a wave of dandelion umbrellas flew around her. Giggling, Kitty got up and wiped the dandelion umbrellas off her shirt. She stretched out a hand for Claire to get hold of. Claire took it and pulled herself up.

"Promise to be friends forever?" Claire asks, holding up her pinky finger. Kitty raised hers and intertwined it with Claire's.

"Promise," she says and gives Claire a toothy grin. Claire grins too, revealing two huge front teeth.

Claire Bunny and Kitty Stallion had always been friends since birth. Kitty is a bit older than Claire but this didn't stop them from being best friends. Even their origins are different but this didn't faze them. Anyone can be friends with anyone after all.

While Claire has the features of a human but with the ears of a rabbit, hind legs of a hare and tail of a bunny, Kitty is like a mixture of a tiger and a stallion. Claire can jump long distances, she's curious and loves all things orange. Kitty on the other hand is fast, agile, a hunter and as long as its from the outside world, she'll like it.

They are just two of the students of the schoolhouse where they stay in. The rest are left at the schoolhouse. While there are others out hunting and hanging out, others minding their own businesses. Still others who are keeping an eye, or eight eyes at the thief of the school.

"Hey," Claire breaks the silence between them.

"Hey," Kitty replies. "Hey what?"

"These dandelions are lovely," Claire admits.

Kitty nods to this. They had decided on laying down on the dandelion fields and blowing on some flowers. "They are lovely. I could eat one right now," she says with a soft neigh.

"You always eat anything!" Claire exclaims. Its true, Kitty would nibble on anything she finds eatable. "You're like Pecker."

"Uh-uh. I'm not nothing like Pecker. And I have no wings," Kitty denies.

"Whatever Kitty. But you know sometimes I think you two are related."

"Me and Pecker?"

"Yes. You and Pecker," Claire says and looks at her friend who has her eyes closed. Her tail waving around, something she would do whenever she's tired or when she senses danger nearby. Also when she's out hunting with Foxie or maybe Neil.

"What do you say we race back to the schoolhouse?" Kitty challenges. Claire gets up first and pins Kitty down with her huge hind legs.

"Oh you're on!" She accepts and jumps off. Kitty scrambles up to her feet and runs after her all the while shouting,

"Hey! Its not fair! You're cheating! That's cheating!"

"I guess you just can't accept that I'm faster than you!". Claire laughs.

In the schoolhouse past the dandelions fields, past the green forest and past the river, a boy in a police uniform and baggy six pocket jeans ran after another boy wearing a striped black and white shirt. Not for fun. But anger and annoyance. A pair of ladies in dresses sat atop a huge oak tree gazing down. They would giggle then whisper something to each other then giggle again. On top of the schoolhouse's roof, three young kids were laying down. One of them shelters herself under the shade of the other. Suddenly her living shade moved aside and the rays of the sun hit her skin.

"Ow! Gustav don't move!" She screamed and pulls her shade back in place. "It burns! It burns!" She screams as she frantically fans herself with her hands. "I told you not to move!"

"I'm sorry Dracy," Gustav apologizes. "I forgot."

"Well next time don't forget," Dracy snaps and at the blink of an eye she turns to a puff of purple smoke that traveled in a matter of milliseconds from the roof to the open window below. In a low whisper almost like a growl she says, "or I'll drain you of your blood."

Dracy Blood, like her vampiric ancestors are allergic to the sun. The rays gives them blisters to the point that it would burn them alive. They also have a strict diet of animal blood and just animal blood. She broke the rule on being nocturnal after seeing the sunrise with the help of Gustav and Pecker. Her two close friends. Dracy is friendly. But unfortunately for almost everyone she knows, she has temper issues.

Dracy plopped down on her coffin bed and signed. Her burns slowly healing. She was about to drift off to sleep when the bell from the main hall rang, an indication that its dinnertime. Dracy turned to a purple smoke and quickly traveled down to the dining hall.

The dining hall is filled with other teenagers. Strange teenagers. There's a rabbit, a stallion — or a cat, maybe a tiger — a vulture, a woodpecker, a vampire, a coyote, and many more. The outside world calls them abominations, they call the outside world paradise. A complete difference. The outside world alienates them while they love the outside world. They all wonder what is out there. And how it feels like to be out there.

Little did they know, the outside world is a complete war. A chaos. Man waging war against each other in order to make their land and territories bigger. Everyone breaks the rules. Its a crime filled place, corrupt government and no unity. Its no paradise at all.

But these are all unknown to the students of the schoolhouse. They wish to be out there regardless of the consequences when they leave. Their headmistress wouldn't allow it, but every now and then, one or two would sneak out. One of them is Rufus.

He would sneak out at night, prowling in the shadows and creeping along alleys. Because he's small, Rufus is often mistaken as a common raccoon. But there are times when he would accidentally be mistaken as a person who just came from a costume party. Humans would often think that his 'costume' is very realistic and would take pictures with him. He had brought home lots of stuff from the outside world. Mostly are trash, but he cherished them all. He's a raccoon after all.

Dinner isn't quiet. There is a table for the four legged, one for the winged, and one for the insects. The headmistress sits at the head of the dining hall. Her shell bumps against the mahogany chair as she eats and moves.

"Mastiff pass me that one," Rufus croaks. After accidentally ingesting a weird smelling liquid from a bottle with the label 'Jack Daniels' from one of his trips to the outside world, his voice became rough and he would cough every now and then.

"Its Siberian and here. Your"— Siberian pauses as he stares at the steaming heap of Rufus's meal —" food," he says and passes it to Rufus. Rufus grabs it with a grin and spoons almost everything from the serving plate to his plate. All the contents disappeared as soon as it touched the raccoon's plate.

These two, like Claire and Kitty are really close. There are times when Rufus will cross the line, causing Siberian to get really mad at him. And nobody wants to see the wolf angry.

"You know how we are just a bunch of weirdos that hang out right?" The eight legged thirteen year old from the last table asks her friends.

"Arachne, we might be weirdos but at least we're real bruh," her slithering friend replies. "We all are!" She shouts and extends her body and arms.

Everyone in the room even the headmistress raised their cups filled with their drinks of choice and agreed.