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Chapter 1

Where it Comes From

"Good evening!" I cheerily said to Mr. Charac as I walked into the room, ready for my morning Calc class. He paused and looked up from his work to wrinkle his brows and give me a jestingly angered stare.

"Good morning to you too, Mr. Flent," he returned sportingly.

It was a running joke between he and I where if it was day, I would greet him with a cheery "Good evening," and if it was afternoon or later, I would use an energetic "good morning" as my salutation. It was one of those stupid jokes that always made my day that teensy bit better, and while I didn't have calc every day, I still dropped by at the beginning of each day to give that greeting.

As I sat down in my standard seat, taking out my notes to review before class, I heard a commotion out in the hallway. I tensed up; fights were unpleasant to say the least. I stared intently at my notes while watching Mr. Charac leave the room out of the corner of my eye. I tried, as per normal, to discern the reason for the angered calls from listening rather than looking. When you only listened, I reasoned, it was a sure thing that what you imagined to be happening was way worse than the truth. I had often found that much less stressful than seeing it first hand; the unbound rage that burst from my fellow classmates in fights was often too much for me. When I imagined what was going on in a fight, I knew it likely wasn't as bad as I thought, but when actually seeing it, I couldn't help but feel that there was no way it could get any worse. About three minutes after the fight had began, the sounds of shouting and struggle ceased. Mr. Charac and another teacher--Mr. Helver--silently walked into the room followed by... "Brance!" I exclaimed, tremendously confused by his appearance. All three others in the room looked over in my direction, Brance giving a slight wave when he recognized me, and the teachers staring at me with a little more than an ounce of surprise. I was quick to return their gaze with a hint of confusion thrown in for good measure. They looked away promptly, and whispered quietly back and forth for about a minute and a half while I pondered Brance's odd appearance.

Technically, Brance shouldn't have been here. He was a hybrid, descended from a family with a short history, and distinctly inhuman characteristics. There was a strict rule that no humans could be in the same classes as hybrids and mixing outside of school hours was generally discouraged; though I guessed that the fight must have warranted a break in the regular rules. The fight, I realized belatedly, he must've been involved. I took a quick glance at him to determine if he was okay. He looked fine, maybe a little weaker than normal but fine. It was a pity--how we treated his kind--so quickly after their creation, masses had flocked to the labs to protest the hybrids, most coming in hopes of destroying man's accidental creation, a few more compassionate souls just wishing to stop further tests. Hybrids often got a lot of violence directed at them still, and I didn't think it was fair at all. What did those pricks do to you, Brance? I wondered, seeking the answer in Brance's posture. I could usually divine the exact nature of his feelings from that alone, but today he seemed as unreadable as ever.

"Roger," Mr. Charac interrupted me from my (very) scattered thoughts.

"What?" I queried.

"Do you know Brance?" He asked. It was funny because it seemed as though he was questioning himself in the process.

"Yes," I responded, rather confused. Where is he going with this?

"Well," Mr. Charac paused, a look of uncertainty on his face, "it seems he's going to be joining our class."

"Really?" I was incredulous. "Isn't that against the rules?"

"It was," Mr. Helver explained, "but it seems that Brance," he put his hand on the shoulder of the canine in question, "has tested into a higher math than his common peers would take," Brance himself smiled, appearing quite proud of himself, "and besides, you know this is the only Calc III class we have here."

Well, put that way, it did make some sense, I guess.

"We had to bend a few rules in order to get him in," Mr. Charac added, "but we couldn't let such a great mind go to waste, so we did it."

A bell suddenly went off, only ten minutes till the first bus arrives, I thought to myself.

"Well, that means I have to get off to my room now, see you later, Frank," Mr. Helver said to Mr. Charac, "and Brance," he said with authority, commanding the wolf's attention, "if you ever get jumped in this hallway again, be sure to call for me or Mr. Charac." With that, he left.

Mr. Charac waved me over. "Umm..." he started, "Roger, since it seems you already know Brance, would you mind taking him as your class partner?"

I looked to Brance, who now stood there awkwardly, then returned my gaze to my teacher, "Of course," I said, then looking back to Brance, who had visibly loosened up at that news.

"Good," he replied, "there's one hurdle overcome." He turned towards Brance, "you're going to need to introduce yourself to the class first, though," he said.

"No problem," Brance replied, his warm, dark voice catching the teacher off guard.

I snickered to myself, loving the look of surprise that spread over my teacher's face.

"Well, off to your seats, no use standing at the front of the room until everyone's here."

I returned to my seat quickly, actually pulling Brance along in my excitement.

Just as I sat down and Brance pulled out his notebook, the first other student walked in. I checked the clock on the wall, I wasn't wrong. He was actually early, and came in a full two minutes before the buses arrived. How odd since I had seriously believed I might be the only student who would come in early for the first three classes. Not only was I wrong, but I was joined by two others; one of them an old friend.

The student, Brandon was still relatively new at the school, and he seemed a bit uncomfortable upon sighting my new partner. He looked questioningly to the teacher, but seeing him working, didn't pursue his obvious question.

I easily turned my attention away from Brandon and back to Brance. "Hello," I said.

"How's it going?" he responded, not one for small talk.

"Well, my summer was great, I went on a vacation in Cairo," although it hadn't turned out to be all that much of a vacation. "What did you do?"

"The same old thing," he responded.

I nodded in understanding. Brance worked at what I considered one of the most boring jobs available around here, carrying around loads of rocks at the local quarry. His family needed the extra income, but the hours were brutal during the summer, he had regular twelve-hour shifts, and he got paid minimum for it, not because it was easy, but because his kind were "undesirable" for employers.

"So," I questioned him, "it looks like you're going to be in my class for the year, but how did you do it?"

"That was sort of because of you," he said, a tone of thankfulness in his already gentle voice. "Do you remember that one guy you directed me to for tutoring?"

"Kyle? Yeah, of course I do."

"Well, I called him up on a whim a few weeks ago. At first, he wasn't too keen on helping a hybrid, thought it would soil his business' name, all of the regular hateful stuff, but when he asked where I got his number and I told him you gave it to me, he changed his mind. Just like that. I had to stay up a lot later, to fit the study sessions into my schedule, but he not only helped me with my math, he basically got me up in math by about four years. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for that, man."

"That's awesome!" I said, a little too loudly and excitedly. A few more people had trickled into the room by now, and the day was about to begin, but everyone turned to me, and I shrank down a little bit in my seat, wishing I could hide behind something.

Luckily, the day_really_ was about to begin, the bell rang only a few seconds after my unexpected outburst and everyone rapidly repositioned themselves to have a good view of the board.

Mr. Charac hopped up and ran over to the front of the room, having his usual vigor about him. "Good morning everyone!" he exclaimed.

"What's with the hybrid?" Jerry interrupted him snottily. Many of the other kids joined in after that, giving rise to a cacophony of voices.

"Silence!" Mr. Charac yelled. "I was just about to explain that. As all of you have made rather clear," he said, rubbing his ears, "you've noticed our new classmate. His name is Brance, and he's been moved into this class due to..."

I sort of spaced out as my teacher went through the introduction, settling down the somewhat angry students. I was thinking a bit too much about Brance for my own good. The feeling of having him so near, literally in the chair next to me, nearly had my hair standing on end. As I sat there, immersed in a world of feelings, Brance walked up to the front of the class, did the usual introduction, and came back, and the lesson for the day began.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself out of my fantasies and brought my focus to the board, where the teacher had scrawled a very interesting example. I felt eyes drilling into the side of my neck, though, and looked over to see Brance giving me a fairly unfair glare. At least, I felt like it was unfair.

I frowned back at him, genuinely hurt, trying to use my eyes to ask why he was angry. His blue eyes softened, and his expression melted into a weak smile. Feeling a bit better, I went back to my note-taking, but found that he would still sometimes glance at me during the lulls in note-taking. I put off mentioning it again until class was over, hoping he wouldn't be as angry then, but when I turned to ask him then, he just got up and ran out the door. I spent the rest of the first half of my day wondering what I had done. I'd certainly offended him before, being that his culture was actually different, but this time was different. He'd never tried to avoid me on purpose, and it hurt me to know that he would.

Then came lunch.

Lunch was the one time of the school day when hybrids and humans alike were allowed in the same room (barring the new exception in my calc class), and while hanging out with hybrids wasn't exactly encouraged, it was allowed. Nonetheless, I generally avoided sitting with Brance at lunch--most of my friends thought it unusual that I hung out with him at all--but today I had to make an exception. There was no way I could wait until the end of the day to see him. I had to know why he was angry with me.

It didn't take long to find him. His fur was a pretty unusual color, and he therefore stuck out in a crowd. I walked over quietly to the section where most of the hybrids sat, earning some surprised looks from my friends. As I sat down next to Brance at the table, I wasn't too surprised to notice a few others nearby shy away. Normally, the only reason a human would get anywhere near them would be to start trouble. They were just as nervous as I was about me joining them; however that didn't stop a few of them from whispering amongst each other. I frowned at their behavior, mildly offended, but chalked it down to a natural reaction. Rude as it was, anyone-- human or hybrid (does the order I list them in matter, or is this fine?)--would react the same way to one of the other's arrival.

I cautiously reached out to tap Brance's shoulder, wanting to get his attention, but not wanting to offend him again. He turned slowly to me in response, but said nothing, instead wearing the same frown he had in class (Should I explain that his frown is a little different because of his features?). "Hey," I began, "I know I did someth-"

"Rodge," he cut me off, "don't worry about it. I'm not pissed at you, it's just..." he hesitated--looking down and away--then continued, "I-I was thinking about something that... that happened at home."

"That's a lie," I stated flatly.

"Well...yeah. I guess so, but could you just not press the matter?"

"Sure," I said hesitantly. "Do you mind if I join you for lunch, though?"

"I wouldn't be angry at all, but are you sure you want to? I understand if you don't want to drive away your friends by associating with me."

"It's not a problem, I've barely ever seen you so pissed, and I'd like to help if at all possible."

"Well, thank you, then."

I quietly walked to the lunch line after that, eager to use whatever time I had left to stuff my face. What can I say? I liked to eat. Luckily, the few in line who had seen me go over to Brance didn't seem to care much, and my passage through the line went without incident. In fact, I got through the line quicker than normal, if possible, and promptly returned to sit by Brance's side.

"No, I, don't!" Brance snarled under his breath, directing it towards a black-furred feline hybrid across the table. It seemed his friends had gotten closer to him while I was gone.

"And what might you be talking about?" I asked jokingly, taking back my spot and noting that unlike last time, none of the students at the table shied away from me.

Brance reacted quickly, shooting a look that could kill to some of his nearby friends, and then setting his gaze on me. "Nothing!" he said, forcing a grin. "Nothing at all," but when I glanced over to the feline across the table, I could detect a smirk on the girl's face.

"You actually sound nervous," I said seriously, "What was it you were talking about? It can't have been that bad," but Brance got up right after I finished speaking and just left. It didn't take me very long to deduce why, though; while I was talking, I saw the girl across the table lean towards a fox next to her and whisper something into her ear. Although Brance wasn't completely a dog, I knew he had great hearing (exceptional by my standards), and it was likely that he had overheard them. I had no doubt that I had something to do with his random escape, but those girls had also played a role in it.

"What did you say?" I interrogated the pair.

"Nothing you need to know about, silly human," the cat replied, giggling.

"Au contraire, I happen to know him well, and consider him a good friend. To be honest, I'd rather not lose that friendship, so what did you say?"

The fox looked like she was about to tell me, but was cut off by a voice to my left. "It isn't really their place to tell you," the grey wolf said, a hint of malice in his voice.

"But..." the fox began, only to be stopped by a look from the canine.

I paused for a moment, a little unsure of what I should do. Should I go after him, I wondered. Or, should I press them for some info. I went with the latter. "I you can't tell me anything about that, then could you at least tell me why he he's angry at me?"

"Well, not really," the cat began, "the reasons are sort of one and the same."

I looked at her, perplexed. "Ummmmm," I began.

"We think he likes you!" the fox blurted, quickly looking away.

"Mimi..." the wolf whined, rolling his eyes.

I did nothing but stare at her, my mouth agape. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. "Is that true?" I asked after a few moments had gone by.

"Well, Mrs. Loud Mouth here is correct. Brance seems to like you," the wolf explained, hesitating, but sure of his statement. I took a moment to process this, and came to a conclusion, only to be shot down before I could speak.

"No," the feline said, reading my expression perfectly, "it's not just that type of like. He like likes you."

Yet another moment for processing, then "how do you know?" I questioned.

Both of the girls turned to Wolfy expectantly. It seemed he would have to explain the matter to me, so I looked to him too.

"You know how we," he gestured to himself and the others around him, "are different, right?"

"Yes."

"How much so?"

"Well," I took a moment to think, it was seriously a hard question to answer, "I know you can hear a lot better than me, normally see better in the dark, and generally get a lot more crap than people like me."

"Anything else?" he asked.

I thought again. "Nope."

"Okay then," he said, "listen well." He then went on to explain how there was something I had overlooked. Most hybrids had a great sense of smell. Because of that heightened sense, they were able to scent out some pheromones which I was unaware of, and tell a little bit more about people's moods than they otherwise let on. Finally, though, there was the bombshell. It turned out that Brance had been pretty okay until I showed up, but apparently, as soon as I showed up, "he started to secrete a pheromone that basically means..." he paused, looking around as if wanting to make sure no one overheard (like that was possible surrounded by those with such good hearing), then continued, "he wants you."

"Really?" I asked, maybe a bit too excitedly judging by the looks the three gave me. I blushed, quickly attempting to hide it by eating, but it was clear that I couldn't fool them. Anyway, it seemed that I had no appetite anymore, so I gave up on the tactic.

"You like him back?" the question was fired off right as I looked up from my food.

I turned to the source who, it turned out, was Mimi. "Yes," I said sheepishly, feeling like I was shrinking in on myself as I spoke the single word.

There was utter silence from all three of Brance's friends. I took that silence as an opportunity to think. Should I tell him then? No, it would be too weird. We couldn't ever make it work. Wait, maybe he knows. But how? Then, it hit me. "Do human's also have that pheromone thingy?" I asked, curious of what his answer might be.

"Of course!" Kitty explained. "You guys freakin' reek of them."

"So, hypothetically, if I'd been thinking about--let's just say an arousing topic--during class today, and he was sitting right next to me, would he have known?"

"Oh..." Kitty said, sitting back a little farther, her look a mixture of surprise, disgust, and understanding. "Yes, he would."

Well, that explains this morning, I mentally concluded. _ It must have been easy for Brance to connect the dots if he could figure that much out._ "What do you think he's going to do now?"

"He doesn't know you like him back for sure," Mimi said, "so telling him might help. He probably thought you were thinking about someone else, not him."

That, I thought in response, makes sense to.

"Ummm..." Wolfy began looking to me awkwardly, "are you going to eat that?" he asked, pointing to my tray.

I silently pushed it to him, figuring I had better things to think about than filling my stomach.

The rest of the day went by without even one sighting of Brance, which, while not unusual, put me on edge. That night, I went to bed, actually thinking about telling him the next day, but when the next day came, I didn't have calc, so I couldn't see him there, and I didn't see him at lunch either, so I had to wait... and worry. How much had I hurt him? Might he never want to be friends again? I truly hoped not, but was beginning to doubt it as the day moved on. I went to sleep that night plagued with uncertainty, and fearing I had lost a friend.

The next morning, though, brought Calc. Luckily for me, it also brought Brance. "Hi," I said quietly as Brance sat down next to me, looking rather down-trodden.

"Hello, Rodge" he replied sadly.

I glanced at the clock: Good, it was 6:30, so we had plenty of time. That was quintessential for what I planned. I was lucky that Brance had bothered to show up so early. "Brance," I said, to him, feeling kind of shy, and trying not to let it show on my face; I might not have been able to hide my feelings from him, but I definitely didn't intend to let Mr. Charac notice them.

"Yes," he said, with a bit more enthusiasm in his voice.

Great, he's noticing that. "Could I talk to you in the hall for a minute?"

"Sure," he answered, seeming for all the world like he was anything but sure of his answer.

Quietly, so that I Mr. Charac's attention wouldn't be drawn away from his grading (or whatever it was that he was doing), I got up and walked out of the room. Brance followed close behind.

Looking around the hall to make sure we were alone (a gesture that Brance noticed), I took a leap, putting his paw in my hand. "Brance," I began, suddenly very scared to say anything, "do you like me?"

Suddenly, a look I could only describe as bashful took over his body. If he could have blushed, I believed he would've been doing it. "Umm... d-did I mishear you?"

"No," I said, a little disappointed, letting my hand drop from his.

"Yes," he said, taking my hand back, "I like you. Why? Do you like me?"

Here was the moment. I couldn't wimp out now. "Y- yes," I replied shakily, looking away in shame.

He touched my chin turning my gaze back to him. I saw nothing but love in his eyes. "How long?" he asked.

"For a while, I guess. Maybe since about last year, but I only came to terms with it about a week ago. What about you?"

"To be honest, always. I'd just been really good at suppressing my desires until... recently."

That made me pause. He'd always liked me in that way? It was nice, I suppose, but did he really have to hide it? If only I'd known. I looked deep into his dazzlingly blue eyes. "Do you want to try having a relationship, or do you think it would be too hard?"

"Well, it might be hard, but I'd like to try."

"How-?"

He put a finger to my lips, shushing me, "maybe we should talk about this at lunch?"

This brought me back to reality. I broke my hand away from his and looked around to make sure no one had witnessed the conversation. Satisfied that our secret was safe, I returned my eyes to him, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

A grin broke out on his face then, and he leaned in to give me his own soft peck.

Then we walked quietly back into the classroom.