School of Younge Part 1.5

Hey everyone,

I know I have other stories I'm supposed to being working on but I just had to write this one.

I've been writing a long time but this is my very first story actually featuring The Sleeping Fox. I didn't write it from my character's point of view because I don't like using I and me in stories. Anywho, Tell me what you think of it.

P.S. 10 Points to the first person who knows what the motto means.


School of Younge

Chapter One: Frustrations



Rain beat down against the windshield, blanketing the car with a rhythmic tapping. Last decade’s greatest hits softly lulled on the car radio; Chris struggled to keep his eyes open as he read the pamphlet on the school he would be attending. Alfred Younge’s Private School, the picture on the front of it made the school look almost like a small French stonework castle. After looking through it a few times he put the pamphlet down and switched his attention to what was passing outside.

From what Chris could see under the dim light of cast iron street lamps, the town was actually nice, beautiful even. He remembered the first time his mother told him they were moving to Havenport. He begged and pleaded but his mother would always reply “it is for your education.” The boy’s mother was always trying to do what she thought was best for everyone, no matter their feelings. Motherhood was all she had; from what he could remember, since the passing of his father, it had always been that way.

The boy looked over at his younger brother who was completely engrossed with his new FS portable game station, which was good, because it meant that he wasn’t continuously talking to him.

“Chris,” asked the boy’s mother, “are you still awake?”
“Kind of,”
“We’re here.”
“Where?” Chris said tired and groggy.
“Our new home.”


* * *
Chris sighed loudly. It wasn’t about the school, although he was a little irked that he had to leave all his friends behind to attend it; in his senior year none the less. He was exasperated from boredom. Chris sighed again. His mother had been in the principal’s office for over an hour; going through his registration while he waited outside sitting across from a middle-aged iguana secretary. Running his fingers through his short white head fur, he sighed one more time. Looking over towards the secretary she looked up from her work and flashes a toothsome smile.

“What beautiful blue eyes you have,” she proclaimed.
“Oh,” he replied uneasily, “that’s nice.”

He turned his head to look out the window. The weather was gray and sullen. “Does it ever stop raining here”, he muttered. Chris shifted in his chair, his skinny form twisting and contorting as a familiar uncomfortable pressure came upon his abdomen, his cub like face showing signs of his painful situation.

“If my mom comes out, can you tell her I went to use the washroom,”
“I sure can,” she replied in an overly cheerful tone.

Chris picked up his backpack and left the office in search for the bathroom. Seeing a pen on the floor he kicked it in a miserable manner. He turned right leaving the battered pen behind. He was quick to find the bathroom and quicker to leave without washing his hands.

He was about the go back to the office but he decided to explore the school. As he walked toward the older wing of the school, he found the hallways were becoming long and more archaic in style. As he approached the centre of the hallway he was walking down, he found it was lined with busts and portraits of previous teachers and principals.

In the middle of all the stern faces, Chris came across an elaborate crest. Interested, he began to study it. The first thing he noticed was the high detail they went into making the grand object. In the middle, a wheat sheaf ornamented the centre of an ornate tawny shield dyed with dark blue wavy lines. A wolf climbed the left side, and a stag the right. The festooned holly leaves encircling it draped down from a majestic helm crowned with a swan. Beneath the crest, a motto was inscribed,

“Ut Omitto Erratum Ab Adolescentia,” he read aloud, “what is with schools like this, can’t they write anything in English?”

As Chris turned away the world around him began to spin. Thrown off balance he held himself steady against the wall. He felt as if he were falling, his vision became blurred and dark as if he were walking towards a light at the end of a tunnel. Then suddenly, everything stopped.

“Wow, what a head rush,” he thought as he regained his balance.

Turning back towards the crest, he felt something was off.

“Wow, the crest was bigger than I thought?” he questioned more than he stated

His eyes still blurred he squeezed them shut in an attempt to fix his vision. Opening his eyes, everything still seemed bigger. In fact everything past the crest was considerably larger than he first believed.

“Maybe I should just head back to the office,”

As he continued down the hallway, he passed many doors, most of them closed; yet there was a moderation of sounds coming from behind them. A woman reading Shakespeare, the tapping of chalk against a blackboard, a teacher reprehending a student for some sort of tomfoolery, but the most pronounced sound was the clicking of heels against the marble floor. It almost seemed to be coming from behind him.

“Excuse me young Kit,” a voice boomed, “where do you think you are going?”

Chris turned to see what he thought, by the sheer size, was an Amazonian Panther woman in a very proper purple skirt and jacket. Taken back, he stared wide eyed at the Amazon.

“Well?” she questioned, her accent was a soft form of African.
“I don’t know,” he squeaked.

She gave him a disapproving look.

“You’re an awful long way from your classroom,”
“I’m new,” was all he could manage to say.

The Amazon started walking closer towards him. She was even taller than Chris had first thought. She knelt down so that they were at eye level. Reaching over him she checked something on his back pack, and then she smiled. It was sweet and calming but it gave Chris an uneasy feeling.

“I think I can help you find where you need to be,” she explained. “I have no idea how you found your way to the high school wing,”
“Oh…but,” he said trying to explain he was a senior.
“No buts about it young man, come along”

He stood in place, his confusion growing. He knew he looked young, but not “that” young. Seeing his hesitation the Amazon grabbed the boy by the hand pulled him along with incredible strength. He pulled back to no avail. She ignored the boy’s efforts and continued to lead him back towards the office.

“My Mom-,” he said trying to pull the panther in the direction of the office. He knew his mother could sort out this misunderstanding.
“Your mommy will pick you up at the end of the day,” she interrupted.
“My mommy,” he thought to himself, “this is getting weird.”

As they continued past the office and down another corridor the walls started to transform into a colourful collection of juvenile artwork. Soon they stopped in front of a pair of large light blue double doors. Chris looked up at the Amazon with an inquisitive expression.

“Let’s go,” she ordered as she opened the door.

Chris stepped through the door quickly followed by the large Panther. What he saw next stopped him in his tracks.

There were toddlers and young cubs everywhere. They were all in small groups doing various activities throughout the room. Some of the cubs had acknowledged the arrival of Chris and the woman in purple, but most of the cubs were too engrossed in their activities to care.

“Is this a joke?” Chris wondered.

He looked up at the Amazon who gave him a push forward.

“Miss Abernathy,” the Panther called to a young plump Badger amongst the sea of cubs, “We have a new student for you.”

The Badger finished what she was doing and walked towards the double doors, her eyes focused on Chris the entire time. When she reached the boy and the Amazon, she knelt down in the same fashion that the other woman had.

“You must be Chris,” She Stated.

Taken back Chris couldn’t bring himself to form intelligible words. “How did she know my name?” he thought to himself as the young woman reached out and took hold of his backpack. Chris pulled away.

“Don’t be shy,” Miss Abernathy took the boys hand and thanked the Panther. Apparently her name was Miss Conteh. Miss Abernathy then led Chris into a coat room and set down his backpack.
“What a nice rain slicker you have,” she complemented him as she started to unbutton his coat.
“Rain slicker?” Chris thought out loud. His eyes were met with a light blue glossy material. He wasn’t wearing a rain slicker when he came here; in fact he never wore a rain slicker. It was always his favourite leather jacket.
“Now let’s get those boots off you,” she placed his jacket on a hook below a cubby and then sat him on the ground.

It was when Chris looked himself over that he started to process what was happening. He saw that he was wearing khaki overalls and a white long sleeved shirt with cutesy little cartoon ducks on it.

“For the love of god, I’m a toddler,” he mouthed in disbelief.
“Did you say something Chris?” Miss Abernathy asked him as she removed his rubber boots.

Chris only shook his head. “How did this happen,” he thought to himself but his thought process was again interrupted by Miss Abernathy.

“You got here just in time,” she explained to him as she brought him back onto his feet, “because it’s raining, instead of going outside to play we’re going to read a story,”

She led him over to where the other cubs were seated and told him to pick a spot to sit. Chris looked around at the other cubs and began to feel a sickly concoction of worry, confusion and nervousness. He hadn’t felt this way since his first day of junior high school. Why was this happening now? Everything had been going great for him.

He had one last year of school left and he was already filling out college applications. He had felt a twinge guilt knowing he was going to leave his twelve year old brother behind with his overbearing mother, but he quickly got over that fact knowing that he himself would be away from her. Now, his goals had never been so far away.

“Chris,” he heard Miss Abernathy call to him, “you look a bit lost buddy, why don’t you take a seat by Henrietta”.

She motioned him towards brown fruit bat wearing a soft pink dress; tugging on her pigtails. He slowly made his way over to where he was told to sit. He finally sat down and pulled his knees to his chest while at the same time trying to ignore the young bat staring at him.

“You look funny,” she told him adjusting her glasses.

Chris brought his hand up to the brown spot on his face and then frowned at her. He knew exactly what she was talking about. While most Arctic fox are born pure white he had a rare genetic abnormality in which the birthmarks under his fur changed the pigment of the fur that covered them causing him to be covered in brown splotches.

“I don’t look funny,” he mumbled with a cubbish reassurance.

Chris decided to ignore the girl and she finally lost interest when Miss Abernathy started to read a story called “Good morning Sun”. He rested his head on his knees and slowly Miss Abernathy’s words became unintelligible droning. His confusion seemed to drive his worry, and his worry soon turned to fear.

“Good Morning Sun, today’s going to be a wonderful day,” Miss Abernathy finished the story and placed down the book, “Okay cubs let’s go to the discovery room,”

All the cubs jumped to their feet and started to move into the other room single file. Chris finally stood up as Miss Abernathy ushered the last of the other cubs into the “Discovery room”. When she saw Chris wasn’t making any effort to follow she returned to where he was standing.

“Hey Chris don’t you want to join the other cubs in the discovery room?”

He looked up and the older woman lip trembling and started to bawl. Miss Abernathy was taken back for a second but then knelt down and placed a hand on the sobbing cub’s shoulder

“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want t-to be here,” he choked out, “It’s w-wrong,”
“Oh,” she exclaimed, “Do you miss your mommy?”
“NO!” he almost yelled, “I-I’m not supposed to b-be here,”

Miss Abernathy pulled the small boy into a hug. Inadvertently Chris hugged her back. “It’s okay to be nervous Chris,” she explained to him, “this is all new to you isn’t it?” She started to rub his back and let him cry out whatever was bothering him.

“Oh to be a cub again,” She thought to herself, “To be that free with your emotions.”

Another caretaker entered from the Discovery room door. Informing them that they were about to start the activities. Miss Abernathy told her they would be there soon. After a short while she released Chris from the hug.

“Are you ready to go join the other kids?” She asked him.

Chris shook his head no. “Come on,” she assured him taking him by the hand and walked him to the next room.

“It’ll be fun,”

Tried finding the meaning. Something about an error and age was about all I could gather and I think working around it or something? Either way, I knew it was latin and very sneaky. I love it!

Great start to a story, TSF! I can't wait to see more! ^.^

"When the error of maturing is left out" comes close to the translation, I guess. At least, it has something to do with restoring or eradicating the 'mistake' of growing up/becoming an adult.

Did I win?

P.S.: Now why was Latin nothing for me again? There's a reason why I prefer Genitoan

Hey guys,

Haha the motto means "To ommit errors in youth," but anyways I am working on the next installment right now,

so there's more to come,

-The Sleeping Fox

Hraka, I thought that was too literally translated...

Figured it was something along those lines. Glad I still got enough latin to get the general idea. I'm happily awaiting the next one. I still vote Hector wins at least partial points for coming closest.

Hey everyone,

Now for the second piece (more like part 1.5) of the story, I promise the deeper aspects of the plot will emerge soon but for now I'm still setting up the neccesary characters.

Enjoy



-The Sleeping fox


Time to think...

The “Discovery room” was alive with the sounds of eager giggles and the chatter of high pitched voices. The lights were dimmed but Chris could still see the pictures, drawings and other poorly put together crafts hung on the walls. The other cubs had already spread themselves out around the fourlarge water tables placed evenly throughout the room, each with its own individual bright plastic cover. A young male Dalmatian watched over the cubs their faces aglow with excitement.

“Just like before Chris,” Miss Abernathy told the small kit, “Pick where you want to be,”

Chris looked up at the badger he was hoping that this was some sort of strange dream.

“Yeah,” he thought, “this is all a dream, I’m probably still at home in my bed”.

It was then Miss Abernathy gave him a nudge forward. This definitely didn’t feel like a dream to him. The sickly feeling of worry grew as he made his way further into the room. At first he decided to go stand by the table closest to the back wall but noticed Henrietta was there so decided to go to the water table opposite of her.

“Now that everyone is here, let’s get started,” Miss Abernathy exclaimed, “We have our special helper here today so I want you all to listen to him,”

“For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Eric,” the Dalmatian stated. He couldn’t have been any older than sixteen. His head fur like the rest of his fur was short, clean, black and white. For some reason he looked almost familiar to Chris but he couldn’t remember where he had seen him before.

“I think what you find in these water tables will be very interesting,” he said as he and Miss Abernathy went around removing the covers from the tables. Inside was what looked to be miniature blue glow sticks, until one of the cubs squealed in surprise. “Dey Movin,” a little mouse boy cried out. From that moment all of the cubs were intrigued with the “magical” blue shimmers, except for Chris who was very uncertain whether to join in the activities or not.

“Believe it or not,” Eric told them in a matter of fact tone, “but these my little friends are glow fish,”

Eric continued to rattle off some facts about the fish in a patronizing manner, as he and Miss Abernathy went around and helped the cubs handle the radiant creatures. Chris stood away from the water table afraid that if he were to join the cubs in their activity he might be stuck like this forever.

“Hey Chris,” the little cub became startled as Eric loomed over him, “Don’t you want to join the activities?”

Chris was confused, who was this person and how did he know his name? He shook his head no, and tried to turn away from the Dalmatian but was stopped when Eric placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders. Kneeling down he looked Chris in the eyes.

“Come on buddy what’s wrong?” he asked as if they were old friends, “you know once you start playing you’ll have a lot more fun.”

“No...” was all Chris could manage to say.

“If you just come over here,” Eric insisted trying to turn him towards the water table.

“NO!” he yelled pulling away from the Dalmatian.

Eric frowned down at Chris and wagged his finger in the boy’s face, “we use our indoor voices Christopher”. By this point Chris’ white fur was starting to tinge pink. Blushing furiously he slapped Eric’s hand out of the way.

“Stop treating me like a child,” he continued with frustration in his voice.

“We do not hit people,” Eric said deepening his tone and emphasizing every word.

Chris’ ears dropped and his eyes got big. An unexplained sense of dread from the knowledge that he was in trouble came over him. Shoulders slumping he tried to make himself as small as he could. His embarrassment only furthered by the knowledge that everyone in the room was staring at him. Miss Abernathy came from across the room looking very stern.

“Time out,” she said, these words making the boy whine. Motioning him to the door he turned slowly, his head hung low. At that moment he felt as if he wasn’t in control of his body, an emotion only partial to child coursed through him as Miss Abernathy brought him to a stool in a barren corner separated from everything else.

“Sit,” He did as he was told; “now I know this is your first day of school, and you probably miss your mommy-

Chris burst into tears, exasperated from the knowledge that no matter what he did everyone was going to see and treat him as a child.

“You can cry all you want,” Miss Abernathy said, “It’s your fault you’re here,”

Chris choked back his tears, nodding and trying to wipe away the wetness from his fur.

“Now you get three minutes on the stool, one minute for every year you are old,” She wound up an old egg timer and placed in on a shelf above the stool. It was then when he was looking up at Miss Abernathy walking away that he noticed something about her; it was that even when she was trying to be stern, her voice still sounded sweet. In a small way this made him feel better.

“And no getting up or your time starts over,”

Chris scowled, “I hate this,” he mumbled while folding his arms across his chest. It wasn’t until he realised that he was the only one in the room that he decided now would be a good time to try to make a break for it. He kept his eye on the door to the discovery room as he cautiously slipped off the stool, but when his feet touched the ground his ears were met with a loud beeping sound coming from where he had been sitting. Chris panicked and ran for the blue doors. He pulled on the doors struggling to open them.

“Christopher!” he heard Eric call,

Chris continued to tug on the door handle to no avail only to release when he felt his feet leave the ground.

“You’re not the first cub to get off the stool when others aren’t looking,” Eric explained as he carried the now frowning toddler back to the time-out stool, “that’s why we put the alarm on the stool,”

“I don’t wanna be here,” Chris said, his frustration turning to anger.

“What’s wrong Chris? You never acted like this before,” Eric set him back on the stool and rewound the egg timer, “whenever I babysit you you’re always eager to play with other kids,”

“Babysit?” Chris mumbled.

“I know it was a while back but you didn’t forget did you?”

Chris nodded slowly, “but...I’m not a kid,” he replied which made the older boy laugh.

“I knew you were eager to grow up, but not that eager,”

“I’m not a kid,” he repeated in a whisper this time trying to convince himself.

“If you want to prove that you’re a big boy don’t get off the stool again,” Eric told him in a condescending tone, “I’m going to go back to the discovery room, I’m counting on you,”

Chris Sighed. His emotions were starting to level off but the feeling that everything was surreal stayed with him. Any thoughts of escape were gradually drifting away; at least not while there were other furs around. So like a good little cub he stayed on the stool for three gruelling minutes. The egg timer rang and Miss Abernathy came and got him from his time out.

“Did you think about what you did?”

Chris rolled his eyes, “Yeah,”

“Good, now I think you owe someone an apology,”

Taking the cub by the hand she brought him to where Eric was finishing cleaning up. The discovery room was empty. “Where are all the kids?” Chris thought to himself. After putting away some papers into a black laptop bag Eric looked up at the two and smiled.

“I’m glad you stayed on your stool buddy,” Eric told him.

Miss Abernathy stepped away from the Kit, “I think you have something to say,” she stated.

“I’m sorry,” he said half-heartedly.

“Sorry for what?” Miss Abernathy added.

“Sorry I yelled, and sorry I hit you,” It took all Chris’ strength not to scoff at his own words.

“Thank you,” Eric replied ruffling Chris’ head fur, “I hope it won’t happen again.”

“Now you can join the other cubs for a nap,” Miss Abernathy Stated making Chris whine.

“Do I have to?”

“Come on,” she picked up the small kit.

Startled he wrapped his arms around the badger and clung onto her. Chris definitely didn’t like being picked up. Miss Abernathy walked to a door on the other side of the discovery room. Opening it slowly she crept into the dark room and found a mat to lay Chris on. He looked up pleadingly at the Badger but all she said was “try to get some sleep.”

Chris rolled onto his side; his exhaustion quickly crept up on him. He hadn’t been this emotional in a long time and it was paying its toll on his body. He closed his eyes and took this chance to get some sleep.

“Pssst, Chris” he heard a voice.

He opened his eyes and saw Henrietta lying across from him.

“What?” he asked in a snarky manner.

“Even in the dark you look funny,” this statement was followed by a compilation of girls giggling.

Chris Frowned, “Girls are stupid,”

*whimper* It sounds like Chris is living in a jail of a abody... Not even I want to be in that situation... and believe me, I like some pretty strange situations. I can feel for Chris, something that is important in stories, as if you can't feel the charecter, then it is simply another story. I can also tell Chris is not liking this at all. Will love to read further, after you bring about the plot. Now if you excuse me... *curls up in corner, and mutters over and over"please never let that happen to me, please never let that happen to me")

*hugs my Laguna* Dun worry. If I or Ninetales were to regress ya, we'd keep track of ya and know who you really are. Poor Chris doesn't have a single person aware of who he really is mentally. I'd probably lose it pretty quickly or I'd be fighting tooth and claw. Still a very interesting story. It's a cute sort of dark.

It this would be ME instead of Chris, either the dalmatian or the other caretaker would have ran off to take care of some real serious scratches.
Some people don't come with a manual, but some people just got the words "Don't unleash Fenrir in me" all over them.

Now some serious comment. I agree with Laguna somehow. Even I don't like the situation of this story, and knowing some rather... unfair scenes I've already wrote for other works (I'm sure Laguna shockingly knows what I'm talking about) I'm starting to think of a 'writer' from FTT...
Nah, that's a bit overkill. You're not as unfair as Long_Rifle, and your work is not rated 'Mature'.
Anyhow, I'll keep an eye on this story, be warned... *evil laugh* (now was I kidding?)

Nope, not nearly as Dark (Long Rifle's not bad, just really dark) as him. This is still pretty cute and leaves me wondering how things'll turn out in the end.

Hey Everyone,



Sorry about the delay in the story's next chapter, It is coming, slowly...but I should be able to post it by the end of the weekend.



-The Sleeping Fox

That's cool. We'll wait then.

I officially love this story! Can't wait to read more ^ ^