“Okay class,” and the twenty-something vixen finished writing on the blackboard, “who can answer this sum?”
Chris loved maths. He didn’t know exactly why, but there was just something about all the problem solving, and the fact that it seemed to be something he was very good at, that kept his attention rapt to the board at the front of class, where Ms. Robins had just written the next question. Thirty seven take-away nineteen. She was trying to get them to learn simpler ways of solving the problems, like breaking it up into parts, instead of just trying to solve it all in one go. Noticing that none of the other kids had raised their arm, he tentatively put his forepaw in the air, and was called to the front of class.
The little skunk felt a certain sense of unease as he stood in front of the others. Not because he didn’t know the answer, but because he simply felt shy. However, he was able to quickly answer the question, and earned himself a sticker on the sparkly chart on the wall that Ms. Robins had made; Chris and his friends had the majority of the little stars and crescents that adorned the board. As he walked back, he saw a few perplexed faces, wondering how he had been able to work it out so quickly, but most were thoroughly bored. Though Chris could understand why; lunch began in ten minutes, and it was pizza day, his favourite.
As he neared the beige wall at the rear of the classroom, where his seat was, Chris saw a familiar face smiling at him, belonging to a rather pudgy otter covered in downy brown fur despite being a few months older than him. The skunk sent a grin back at Mark, his best friend. Though the two of them had only met at the beginning of junior school, about two and a half months ago, they had become the best of friends almost immediately. It was as though they had known each other their whole lives; they liked the same games, books, TV shows, even the same school subjects. On the first day of school, they were allowed to sit next to whoever they liked, so Mark and Chris chose the same table near the back of the room. Since then, the pair had made other friends, but because the seating plan, as Ms. Robins called it, was fixed, they were too far away to talk to them in class, though they didn’t mind as they still had lots of fun together.
As Chris sat back down on the little plastic chair, he felt something shift on the fur around his midriff, and he glanced down momentarily, eyes widening. His red tee shirt had been caught on the back of his chair, exposing his white, soft-furred tummy from the waist of his black trousers to his belly-button. Before anyone around noticed, he pulled the shirt back down, but something crossed his mind as he did so. This seemed to be happening more and more in the last few weeks, as winter rolled in on the village, but dismissed it as him getting taller. Mummy said he was a growing boy, after all.
“So did you get to level ten last night?” asked Mark in a low whisper. Before Chris has gone up to the board, they had been talking about the latest online game they’d found a few days ago.
“I got there, but I didn’t get past the boss right at the end,” he mumbled in reply, a sheepish smile spreading. “He gets real quick when he’s low on health.”
The two continued their quiet conversation as some of their classmates were called up to answer questions at the front. Not many of them got them right. Before long, Ms. Robins took a look at the basic clock on the wall, and told them all it was time to pack away and head for lunch. Chris and Mark were still chatting as they went into the cloakroom to find their coats. Though the classroom was warm enough to not need jumpers, it was bitterly cold outside, and the wind teased at the skunk’s ears and damp nose, as he and the class trotted off to the cafeteria, which was in a separate building to their classroom.
As he entered the warmth that enveloped the building, Chris was also greeted with all manner of wondrous smells that his keen nose could pick up. The skunk sniffed deeply at the air, and found the scents of pepperoni, tangy vinegar and sweet butterscotch, which grew stronger and stronger as the queue for lunch moved towards the serving area. It also sent the skunk’s tummy, which had previously been virtually silent in class, into a rumbling overdrive.
“Someone’s hungry today,” mumbled Mark with a chuckle, and Chris smirked.
“Yeah, but can you blame me on pizza day?” and it was the otter’s turn to grin.
After the pair had gotten their meals, they made their way over to one of the tables in the dining hall, picking their way though the noisy maze. Just before they dug into their meals, they were joined by Sally, a skinny tigress and another one of their friends.
“Hey guys,” her fluty voice broke through the din, and she smiled at the two boys as she sat down, her impressively large fangs glinting slightly under the fluorescent lights. “At least dinner’s not too bad today,” she continued, looking down at her tray of food. Its contents were the same as theirs; a paw-ful of chips, two slices of pizza, and a piece of delectable butterscotch pudding for desert.
“Yeah,” agreed Chris, quite quickly. He didn’t know why, but he felt compelled to talk to Sally a little more lately; she looks very pretty today… “it’s better than the mush we’ll get tomorrow.” Chris saw the feline give a shudder, though her smile didn’t diminish. The cafeteria menu was set at the beginning of each term, and so far every pizza day was followed directly by shepherd’s pie day. Lukewarm mashed potatoes, stringy meat and vegetables the none of them could identify, it wasn’t a particularly appetising thing: Chris sometimes asked his mum to make him a packed lunch on those days. But then again…
“Hey, I like that mush,” said Mark with feigned indignation, and the trio began to eat as their conversation shifted to what they did last night, and if the two boys wanted to play at Sally’s that evening, something that Chris agreed to without question. They had a little fun convincing Mark to do so, as he had a mock-argument over whether going to their house would be worth missing out on the online game for a night. Before any of them knew it, their trays were clean.
The three of them walked together to the cleaning racks, where they were asked to put their dirty trays and cutlery, but Chris didn’t really want to. He had heard the call for seconds a few minutes ago, and he still felt hungry. He didn’t know why he did, maybe it’s because it’s so cold, he pondered.
“You coming, Chris?” Sally’s voice interrupted his reverie, and his face was pulled to look at her warm amber eyes, that gave him a slightly concerned look.
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