I began this story as a short story similar to Animal Farm. After finishing the short story, it turned into what would most accurately be described as a "novella". The characters in the story all reflect people in my school during the eighth grade. I went to a small private school. Most of the incidents mentioned in the book have happened, though some of them are made up, and others are stretched beyond what they really were, most of it remains as my life had gone by. I am the character by the name of Storm.

Chapter 1:

“Ration cutting”

            All of the animals started off together in their classroom. Today was the first day of Animal School. "Hello, animals!" the teacher said with too much cheerfulness. "Welcome to Animal School! My name is Mrs. Whaht! Today we are going to begin with math. 100 billion is 1 million!"

            I knew that Mrs. Whaht was wrong, and I suspected that some of the other animals did too, but we were all too afraid to correct her. We forgot about her error and she separated us into groups based on our abilities at math. Fire, Storm, and I were the only animals placed in pre-algebra.

            Storm was a shy, intelligent, small German shepherd puppy. Fire was a horse with a red mane and an attitude.

The majority of the animals were in the 7th grade math, including Brenda, who was a bit behind compared to the other animals her age. Brenda was a somewhat overweight cow who was very blunt.

Panda was ahead of everyone else, already doing algebra. Panda was a pig that was mysterious and somewhat manipulative. She used her intelligence to her advantage.

Our textbooks were in very poor condition compared to what a human would get for a math textbook. A few pages were torn, and the books had been urinated on, trampled on, and one book said, "Napoleon is always right!" Obviously, animals were not considered to be worthy of new textbooks.  The teacher was busy explaining the basics of the seventh grade book to the younger animals, so we older animals were forced to do our work by ourselves, bumbling or zipping along at whatever pace we chose. After a while, it was time for history class with our other teacher.           

            We then went to our other teacher's room. Her name was Mrs. Mykeys. History class was a boring subject for some animals, such as Bill. He was a pit bull who acted rather tough and bullied the smaller animals

But I enjoyed it. I could tell Storm enjoyed it too. His tail was wagging after he left math. In history, we learned about the ancient Egyptians and how they worshipped cats.

            "Why don't people worship cats NOW?" mewled Tear

            "I don't know, Tear, I'm sorry," sighed Mrs. Mykeys

            "You should know!"

            "Well, I am sorry. But I do not."

            Tear, surprisingly, was able to calm down and concentrate on the lesson about Egypt worshipping cats. Tear was a spoiled rich cat that’s whining got her a lot of teasing from some of the animals. Storm was rather interested. I could tell Storm enjoyed history more than the rest of the animals. It was then time to go to our feeding stalls for a break.

Bear ate like a pig, wolfing down his food with incredible speed. His owners had brought him with much more food than any other animal would eat. Bear happened to be a lion. Bear had the appetite of two normal animals, but only worked at the quality of a normal animal. It was showing in his lack of fitness. He claimed to be strong from training he had received in his home. 

When Storm had gone off to poop outside, Bill growled, "I don't like Storm at all." Most of the animals feared Bill, so they agreed that they did not like Storm either.

            "Storm walks funny!" mewled Tear.

            "Storm is always so damn insecure!" roared Bear.

            "Storm smells stinky!" neighed Oat.

            "I think Storm is ugly!" snorted Brenda.

            Oat was a horse with a bitter temperament.

Except for Panda, Coco, Fuzzy, Jellybean and I, everyone was insulting Storm. I personally liked Storm, so I was not going to say anything about him. But I feared to speak up against Bill and his allies.

Fuzzy was never too helpful, and believed that everyone in the world was friendly. She wanted the other animals to resolve their differences in a peaceful manner. Coco was a friendly Labrador retriever who everyone enjoyed talking to. Jellybean was an incredibly quiet chow-chow who hardly uttered a word.

            "Any animal caught being friendly to Storm shall have their rations cut in half by me. Also, after your food rations are cut in half, if anyone is caught being friendly to you will have their food rations cut in half!" barked Bill.

No one spoke out against Bill, for physically he was stronger than all of us, and he had a scary look in his eye that made us all want to cower in front of him. No one even knew exactly what Bill had meant by "friendly," so we all decided we needed to be mean to Storm or just never talk to him because we all wanted to keep our food rations.

            Storm came back, completely unaware of this new rule. No one was going to tell Storm about it, at least not until it was way too late. Bill, Squeak, and Bear were playing a game, and surprisingly, they let Storm play with them. Of course, Storm was insulted about how he didn't play properly, and he didn't have very much fun. His tail hardly wagged at all. I felt like I should have said something, but I was not much of a talker, and besides, no one would listen to the quiet little dog in the back.

            Squeak was a mouse that just agreed with what the big animals said because he didn't want to be made fun of for being small.

We then marched back to our food stalls to get back to class in time. Mrs. Whaht was now teaching us science. Our science equipment, unlike those found in human schools, was pathetic. We never got to mix any chemicals, or even light a single candle. Our labs only consisted of graphing how plants grew. Mrs. Whaht was teaching everyone about the solar system. This was going to be the most interesting topic of the entire year. Tear then began to mewl.

            "Mrs. Whaht! Mrs. Whaht! Bill looked at me all funny and stuff! I'm gonna go to the office!" Tear mewled

            Bill, with a look of innocence on his face yelped, "I didn't do anything!"

            "Alright, Tear... go to the office," grumbled Mrs. Whaht.

            Everyone knew what Tear was doing in the office. It was pretty obvious that she actually went to the bathrooms by the office and cried for ten or twenty minutes over every little thing.

            "I bet she's crying right now!" roared Bill

            "Yeah. Or maybe her owner came to take her to her fancy little house!" hissed Dane.

            Dane was a snake with a threatening hiss and a mean streak.

            "Why don't you stop being so mean to her? You were being mean to her!" yipped Storm.

            "Shut up Storm! You are a fag!" growled Bill.

            "Yeah and you smell weird!" oinked Potato.

            Potato was an overweight pig whose weight problem had given him the nickname of Potato. Everyone had forgotten his real name. He basically did whatever was considered cool.

            "LOSER!" neighed Oat.

            "Leave me alone..." whimpered Storm.

            Poor Storm. I hated to see them go after him like that. But there were many of them, and just one of me. What could I have done? Could I have stopped them? I sat there doing nothing except for feeling sorry for Storm.

            Storm then looked at Bear for support. A while ago it was believed that Bear was Storm's friend, but Bear was hiding this friendship well, or else it was non-existent.

            "Don't look at me! I don't want to go out with you!" roared Bear.

            Storm whimpered and put his head down. He and Bill had hated each other for years. That was all Storm knew. He didn't know why everyone else was joining in the teasing too. Perhaps teasing was too nice a word. It was more like torture.

            The teacher had been busy explaining to Brenda that the Earth in fact was a planet, so she had missed this whole incident. No one would have told her either. She wouldn't know until it was way too late. Perhaps it was already too late now. If only I'd said something before when Bill issued his ration-cutting threat. I liked Storm a lot, maybe even as more than a friend. But if I truly liked him, wouldn't I have stood up for him?

            Storm still went with the other animals to the stalls. I was surprised that he did not go off by himself. But perhaps it was better for him to be with anyone than be off by himself. I watched their games from my stall. It started off quite nicely, as Storm, Bear, Coco, Squeak, and Potato were playing cards. It looked as if Bill was not around. Bill had gone off of Animal School's campus with his group of "cool" friends. They went off to search the McDonald's Dumpster nearby for food. The card game was going on peacefully, and Storm actually appeared to be doing ok. None of the animals mentioned the incident in science class, but Storm must have been thinking about it a lot.

            Lunch was declared over before Bill had a chance to return. Therefore Storm actually had a pretty good time. Probably that time was not as fun as it would been if that incident in science class had never occurred, however.

            We then went to Mrs. Mykeys room. Even though she was more intelligent than Mrs. Whaht, she still was not too good at controlling some of the rowdier animals. Bill was going to take advantage of this for sure.

Today was a creative writing day. We were to write creative stories and share them with two others in our group. I was with Bill and Storm. Bill and Storm were not good together in a group, and as I later would realize, that they have had problems with each other for many years. We all read each other's stories. Bill's story was incredibly boring. It was also full of simple spelling mistakes. The story was a biography of Pit Bull Jordan, the best fighter in the pit bull fighting leagues ever. At least Pit Bull Jordan was the best according to Bill.

Storm's story was about a German shepherd who wanted to try out for the Frisbee catching team and had solid catching skills, but was not very fast. Storm's story was much more enjoyable, and had a nice cliffhanger, which left me excited and waiting for the next chapter which would come next week.

            "Storm, your character in your story reminds me of you. He can catch and can't run fast at all!" snickered Bill.

            "Bill, you need to choose a color that describes my story," Storm explained.

            "Ok, I choose black because he broke his paw when was getting close to making the Frisbee catching team," Bill said, actually being serious for a moment.

            That was all the arguing that went on that time, and we went very smoothly from then on. After this class came Spanish, and after Spanish came physical education. Bill's strength, and Storm's weakness. I knew something would probably happen then. I felt like I could have stopped this whole thing from happening if I hadn't been so damn shy about speaking out against Bill.

            Our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Gray, came in the room to teach us Spanish. We were busily learning about verbs in Spanish, and how they were different when talking about each gender. We were also informed there would be a test next week on Monday.

            “A test?” yelped Bill “but I’m not READY!”

            “You’re NEVER ready, Bill,” snorted Panda

            “And you’re an annoying bitch, Panda,” growled Bill

            Panda ignored Bill, and the class ran rather smoothly. It ran smoothly if you consider Bill giving Storm mean looks the whole period smooth. However, nothing was said, and the class ended.

            The animals bolted out for their physical education period. In Animal School, physical education was only twice a week; and three times a week this period was art class. I heard that humans had physical education every single day. There was a vote, and everyone except for Storm, Bear, Coco, and I voted for Frisbee Toss. The four of us voted for kickball. There were now many older animals that joined us. They were stronger than most of us younger animals. The teams were picked. Line, an older pit bull, was a captain. Bill was the other captain. Bill was allowed to pick first.

            "I pick Spock!" barked Bill.

            "I pick Oat!" barked Line.

            This picking continued for a while, until it was a left to a choice of two people. Storm or Bear. Neither was known for being athletic.

            Bill then made the expected move "I pick Bear! Storm is gay!"

            "Why do I have to be stuck with STORM?" growled Line.

            "Why don't we just play?" yapped Storm.

            "Fine. But you'll suck," snarled Bill.

            The game began. Line had the ball. There was an opportunity for him to toss the Frisbee over to Storm, but instead he passed it to Potato, who had the Frisbee bounce off his snout and on to the ground. "I was open!" yipped Storm. Of course, Line did not respond to Storm. "Potato! Potato! He sucks!" cried out most of Bill's team.

            This game was like soccer. The goal was to toss the ball between players and then get it in a goal. The score was 2-2, and Line had the frisbee, with 30 seconds left. There was an easy chance to pass to Coco, but instead he chose to give Storm a chance at the worst possible time. Bill, Bear, and Spock surrounded Storm. So when Storm tried to grab the Frisbee with his mouth, Bill blocked it and ran all the way to the goal to toss it right in, making his team the winner.

            "Storm sucks! He can't catch the ball!" teased Bill.

            "Yeah, he totally ruined a chance to win!" growled Bear.

            "Yup. He sure sucks. I bet we would have done worse if he was on OUR team," sniffed Spock.

            "Shut up, Bill! You stole the Frisbee from me!" yelped Storm.

            I realized it was all a plot. Line could have had an easy victory by passing an easy straight pass right to Coco, but instead he chose to make Storm feel like a loser. And now, Storm could never say he wasn't given a chance to score.

             "And I even passed you the ball!" chortled Line.

            "Why didn't you pass the ball to Coco?" yelped Storm.

            Line didn't respond and the school day was over. Storm's tail sagged as he walked to his owner's pickup truck.

            "How was school today?" asked Storm's owner.

            "Fine," he said, not revealing any information.

            I walked off to my owner's truck, wishing I could have helped Storm before. It was probably too late by now. It was the end of the week of Animal School.

Chapter 2:

“Storm’s crush”

            We came back after a weekend at our farms and right away I was informed of something that affected me on a truly personal level.

            "Storm has a CRUSH on you!" oinked Potato.

            "Yeah, he does!" confirmed Coco.

            I did not say anything in return, even though I had a crush on Storm too. I could not possibly say anything. If I did, Bill would find out. I could never let Bill know my feelings for Storm. I knew also that the whole class would soon believe that Storm had a crush on me and that I did not like him at all, by the mouth of the rumor-spreading Potato.

            As expected, Potato blurted, "Storm has a crush on Furry and Furry doesn't like Storm!"

            "Hahahah! It must be because she knows he's a gay loser!" guffawed Bill.

            "And because he SMELLS!" chuckled Oat.

            "And he's UGLY!" mewed Tear.

            "And he can't play sports! She likes dogs with actual MUSCLE!" snickered Bear.

            None of these things were ever true, but I did not say anything. Neither did Storm. He whimpered at his desk quietly, his tail sagging. His spirit had been crushed, and he had no will to fight back. He probably was just counting the days until he could leave Animal School.

            Now began the math course. The teacher was teaching the younger animals about negative numbers. I was not paying attention to this lecture, and I could tell that Storm wasn't either. We both already knew this. I looked at him and saw how sad he looked. I couldn't believe that I didn't let him know I had liked him from last year. I felt that I had in some way caused this. But at this point, I could not do anything at all.

            Math ended and we went to History. Storm’s tail wagged slightly because he was free from math class, but not nearly as it had on Friday. It was obvious he was becoming more and more depressed with each insult they threw at him. History began. Today we learned about ancient China.

            “Bill, what is a name of a city in China?” asked Mrs. Mykeys.

            “Uh...um...P-p...eck...peck. king...” he stammered, looking in the back of his history textbook.

            “Very good Bill, but you should know it without looking at the book,” commented Mrs. Mykeys.

            Bill blushed, but no one laughed. Everyone knew they would be made fun of if they laughed at Bill. Of course, if Storm had made this mistake, everyone would have been laughing for days. Months, even. We were then assigned some questions to do. Bill was busy looking at Dane’s paper for all the answers. Storm finished his paper early and actually seemed to enjoy working on it. Bill, having finished copying down the work from Dane, who got the answers from the back of the book, suddenly went right by Storm, leaned his ear over and roofed “Hell no I won’t go out with you!”

            The whole class snickered, except a few of us. Storm had not said anything at all. “I didn’t say anything at all!” yelped Storm.

             “I won’t go out with you, ok gay boy?” barked Bill.

            Storm then shut up, more saddened than ever before. I wish I did something then too, but again I did nothing. History class ended and then science class began.

            In science, Mrs. Whaht had us watch one of those boring videos. This was Bill Nye the Science Guy explaining the planets. I never understood why they forced us to watch these videos. At least it was entertaining enough to keep Bill quiet. Storm also seemed to like the video somewhat, or at least he was interested in learning about the planets themselves. The video took up the whole science period, and then we were off to lunch. Bill and Spock left to go to the Dumpster behind McDonalds.

            Potato decided to try to take charge and gain Bill’s respect by making sure Storm had a miserable lunch hour.

            “Storm is gay! Storm is gay!” snorted Potato.

            “And he’s a LONER!” neighed Oat.

            Squeak then pushed Storm. Storm responded to this by pushing Squeak back. Squeak didn’t make it quite to the wall.

            “You couldn’t even push SQUEAK to the wall. YOU SUCK!” roared Bear.

            Storm gave Bear a hurt look. Bear was betraying him just to avoid the food ration cutting. Bear was Storm’s good friend, and he was betraying him. I could not believe my eyes.

            Storm then put his head down. The other animals sensed he was crying, and were quick to make fun of him. Bill also walked in at this moment.  It was perfect timing for Potato’s plan. Potato wanted more respect from Bill’s main group, and this anti-Storm plan was sure to work. Now, Bear, Squeak, Oat, Potato, and Dane, all circled around Storm, chanting “LONER! LONER! LONER!” after Storm had gotten up.

            Bill was watching, with an evil smile on his face. Lunch then ended, and it was time for English class. The animals went away from Storm and walked to Mrs. Mykeys room. Storm walked out of the lunchroom slowly, his tail sagging more than it ever had been before.

            English class began. It was a basic review of grammar today. For most animals this would be incredibly easy, except for Bill and a few of his friends. Bill was asked to read the first paragraph of the grammar worksheet everyone had been handed out.

            “U-U-use a peeriud... at the end of a sent ance,” he began.

            Storm, why don’t you read it instead?" asked Mrs. Mykeys.

            “Use a period at the end of a sentence. Nouns are people, places, or things," read Storm.

            Good job, Storm!” cheered Mrs. Mykeys.

            Storm’s tail wagged a bit and Bill looked somewhat angry, but everyone was too fearful to dare insult Bill’s lack of intelligence. Everyone was given a worksheet to do on punctuation and another on how to identify nouns. The animals were allowed to work in groups. Bill chose to work with Spock. Fuzzy worked with Jellybean. I worked with Panda because she asked me to work with her. That left just Bear and Storm, and Bear was being stubborn.

            “Mrs.Mykeys, I’d rather work alone," he complained.

            “No Bear, you will work with Storm!” she demanded

            “All right, fine,” he growled with a lot of anger.

            This argument was loud. Why was it loud? Probably just so Bear could impress Bill. Even though he had claimed he did not want to work with Storm, the two of them worked well together and were the first group to finish both of the sheets that had been assigned. At the point, Bill and Spock were only halfway done with the first sheet on punctuation and were going nowhere fast. So, Bill decided to copy off Dane. Mrs. Mykeys did not notice, and in the final 10 minutes of class, Bill and Spock finished what was left of their work. Even though I had seen them copy off of Dane, I remained silent. Actually, Dane gave Bill the answers. Dane was one of Bill’s main followers and would do whatever Bill wanted him to do. English ended, and our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Gray, came in to teach Spanish.

            Mrs. Gray had a reputation for being a very easy teacher. She would just scan the work any animal did and mark down “100%”. Except on tests, of course. The less intelligent animals, such as Bill or Brenda would commonly get 60% on their Spanish tests. Today was the day of the test. Of course, Bill was going to try to change that.

            “You told us the test was on TUESDAY!” he informed Mrs. Gray.

            “Yeah!” agreed Bear.

            “And no one is ready!” hissed Dane.

            “Don’t listen to them! You said it was on Monday!” oinked Panda.

            “Yeah, it was on Monday,” barked Storm.

            “I am sorry, Bill. It was on Monday, and not Tuesday. Don’t try to trick me. I am not stupid,” said Mrs. Gray.

            “Storm you ruined it you gay loser!” barked Bill

            “Why do you always blame ME? You’d flunk the test even if you had a year to study it!” Storm barked.

            “You suck Storm. And you walk like you’re gay,” Bill roofed.

            “And you suck at the game Personmon!” guffawed Bear.

            Storm was angry with Bill and Bear, but he did not say anything back at them. The test began. I personally found the test somewhat easy as I knew most of what would be on it. Bill would probably flunk the test and I am sure Storm was going to ace it. After everyone finished the test, the class ended and it was time to go to Mrs. Whaht’s room for art. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, we had art. Tuesdays and Fridays were physical education.

            In art class we usually drew a lot and learned about ancient art. Storm was not the drawing type. He was incredibly creative, so creative that he himself didn’t realize it. Today we were making these strange drawings outside that were supposed to be copies of anything we saw outside.  Storm chose to draw the swing set and Bill chose to draw the field which the animals played sports. Storm’s drawing was hard to decipher. After it was done, Bill was sure to insult its lack of quality.

            “Storm, I would like to tell you that your drawing is a GAY drawing!” Bill yelled, and then he took the drawing away.

            “Dumbill, give me my drawing back.” Storm growled.

            “Dumbill? What kind of insult is THAT?!” Bill snickered.

            “One that describes you. I want my drawing back,” Storm growled.

            Right then I noticed Storm had gotten a little bit more confident than he was before. Perhaps now he somehow believed that Bear was truly on his side since the two of them had worked so well together in English class.

            “Alright, I’ll give it back. But you have to fetch it!” Bill snickered.

            Bill crumbled it up and kicked it. Storm went after it, uncrumbled it, and returned, with anger in his eyes, but he did not say or do anything, and politely turned his drawing in. This marked the end of another day of Animal School.

            Again, Storm’s owner came and asked, “How was school today?”

            Again, Storm responded with one word. “Fine.”

Chapter 3:

“The Dishonesty of Bear”

                        No one had been caught being friendly to Storm yet, for they always were sure to insult his ability at playing games to keep Bill satisfied. Bear was especially good at this, for some people did suspect that Bear was secretly a friend of Storm and he was able to convince them otherwise. Panda was busy scheming something big. I could tell from the way she seemed to be snuffing an evil little snuff. She didn't like Storm or Bill, and was hoping to find a way to get them against each other even more.

            A week passed, and things stayed about the same. Bill was not getting much worse at this point, but he hadn’t gotten any better. The next Monday came and an event took place. It was in math class, when school first began.

            “Hey Bear, playing games was fun on Friday night,” Storm said.

            “You were at STORM’s house?” snorted Moogle.

            Moogle was a mysterious animal. No one knew how he got his name. He generally followed the crowd, but he wasn't especially interested in either Bill or Storm.

            Hearing a potential reason to do his ration cutting, Bill snuck over.

            “Well... yes... I was. I admit it. But I was only over to see his little brother. And you know what? Storm’s family fed him only a few mouthfuls of food! And his brother is cooler than he is!” Bear explained.

            “No wonder Storm is so thin!” roofed Bill

            “Oh, and for this information you gave me, Bear... your rations will not be cut,” said Bill.

            Storm was angry, but did not accuse Bear of being a traitor. He would just have been laughed at anyway. Some of the more intelligent animals suspected what Bear had said was a lie and that he really was Storm’s friend, but Bill was not an intelligent animal and we were all too afraid to speak up anyway.

            There was a math test today for the younger animals. Bill did not try the trick that failed on Mrs. Gray last week. The older animals quietly did their work while the younger animals stumbled through their test. The test ended, and for once I did not see Bill cheating. I wonder what kind of pathetic score he got. After the test, all the animals went to history class.

            This week we were having a test on the Roman Empire, which we started learning about on Tuesday of last week. Before the test, we were reviewing for a few minutes with Mrs. Mykeys.

            “Oat, what year did Rome fall?” asked Mrs. Mykeys.

            “Um... 5003 BC?” Oat guessed.

            “No, not even close,” she snapped.

            “Panda, what year did Rome fall?” she asked.

            “476 AD,” Panda sniffed.

            “Correct. Now we will begin our test,” she said.

            The test was only true/false and matching. So that meant that Bill and Oat would get some of the answers right. I caught Bill looking at Storm’s paper, and Storm didn’t. Neither did Mrs. Mykeys. Bill somehow always got away with his cheating. It was probably only because everyone, including me, was too afraid to report that Bill had been cheating. It wasn’t really just the ration cutting threat that scared everyone. It was really the sense of becoming the next “Storm”, and not being allowed to have people be friendly to you. Bill would probably consider acts like accusing him of cheating wrong. He would accuse people that did that of siding with Storm.

            History class ended and yet another day of science class began. We had taken tests on the planets on Thursday, and we received our scores. I received a 97 out of a possible 100. Panda got the extra credit problem and received 105. Storm received a 98. Bill got a 69. “Huhuhuhuh dude my score is so much cooler than Storm’s! 69! Huhuhuhuhhh! Huhhuuhhuhuuh! Oh yeah I like didn’t study either. I still pass without studying! Huhuhuhuhu!” Bill guffawed.

            I didn’t realize why Bill was insulting Storm when storm got a score 29 points higher than Bill’s score. And of course, the “magic number”, 69. Only Bill would laugh at something as stupid as that.

            “Bill, since when is a 69 better than a 98?” Storm asked.

            “Dude, you DON’T KNOW what 69 means?? Huhuhuhuhhuuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh! You are a GAY LOSER!” Bill guffawed.

            “Shut up Bill! I don’t know ok? Who cares? What does it mean?” Storm yapped.

            “Well you won’t find out, you faggot,” Bill growled.

            Storm quieted down after that, and I figured he would not be told by anyone what “69” meant. He was exactly the kind of animal who had the morals to avoid learning things like that.

            Mrs. Whaht totally ignored this argument, because she was arguing with Tear about her grade on her test. Tear got a 42 on her test and thought she deserved a 49.

            “Mrs. Whaht, isn’t there a galaxy called Snickers and a galaxy called Milky Way?” Tear questioned.

            “NO! It’s only Milky Way,” said Mrs. Whaht.

            “Fine, you bitch,” hissed Tear.

            “GO TO THE OFFICE!” yelled Mrs. Whaht.

            Tear sulked down to the office.

            “She’s gonna CRY in the bathroom!” squeaked Squeak

            “She’s a CRYBABY!” snickered Bear, Bill, Dane, Potato, Moogle, and Oat.

            After awhile, Tear came back, obviously angry. Mrs. Whaht said nothing about what Tear had said previously and the science period ended and the lunch period began.

            At lunch the animals were playing an electronic game called Personmon. Bear was battling with Storm with their two different electronic units. I did not understand what the male animals saw in this strange contraptions. Since Bill had gone out to search through the McDonalds dumpster with his most loyal followers, Bear was actually being somewhat friendly to Storm.

            “Good job, Storm!” he said, as Storm beat him, and it was without a sarcastic tone.

            Then, after some eating and more Personmon, Bill and his cronies walked in. Instantly, Bear changed to his other self.

            “Storm sucks at Personmon! I beat him so much!” Bear snickered.

            “But... you said...” Storm whimpered

            “SHUT UP!” yelled Bear.

            “Yeah no one cares what YOU think, Storm,” snarled Potato.

            Every time Bill was not around, the other animals, especially Bear and Coco, were actually somewhat nice to Storm. But whenever Bill came in, they turned into Storm-hating creatures just to impress Bill. Lunch ended at this point, and we were on to our English class.

             We had a test on grammar. Bill, as usual, cheated. This time he cheated off me. For a small rebellion against him, I marked some of my answers wrong to make him lose points. It was worth the dip in my grade to mess up his strategy of cheating. Storm and Bear had finished their tests far before anyone else, and were talking to each other quietly and Bill did not hear. Neither did I, but I knew they were talking to each other about something. All of the other animals finished, and by then it was time for Spanish.

            In Spanish, Mrs. Gray returned our tests. Storm, Panda, and I all got 100%. Brenda got 60%. Somehow, Bill managed 85%. It was discovered how. On Bill’s desk, there were written marks showing how to conjugate verbs.

Mrs. Gray said only this: “Your conscience will never be clear.”

            Bill snickered about this, and I knew that quote would be used sarcastically all the time. Spanish class ended without any further events, and I was sure Mrs. Gray’s words had no effect on Bill. Bill did not care about what his teachers told him. He also refused to work hard, or even to think for himself. He just copied off his semi-intelligent friends, such as Dane, and got through his life that way. He was a leader by fear, not because of any talent of his. He did not rule because the class had chosen him as leader. Everyone feared him because he was the biggest and meanest animal, and if they went against him, he would turn everyone else against whoever was against him.

            Why did Bill pick on Storm then? Why not Squeak? I was sure that Bill and Storm had always hated each other, as I remembered Bill bothering Storm during the lunch break when Bill was in a lower grade than Storm. Of course, I never was a bully like Bill, so I could not think like him.

            Art class began, and we were making origami. I always knew how to do origami, because my owners were both Korean. Most of the other animals except Jellybean, the other animal with Asian owners, were struggling with their origami cranes. Storm did not fold his correctly, and it came out looking, well, like a penis.

            "Huhuhuhuhuuh! That looks like a PENIS!" guffawed Bill.

            "Shut up Bill..." whimpered Storm.

            "Huhuhuaahahaha! Are you gonna suck it? Huhuhuhuhuuhuh! I know you're gay!!" guffawed Bill

            "Yeah and you can't make a crane!" snickered Bear.

            "Well how did YOUR crane come out Bill?" snapped Storm.

            "You can't see it. You're too gay," snickered Bill

            "Yeah it probably is as retarded as you, Bill," growled Storm.

            "You calling ME retarded? At least I don't walk like a TOTAL MORON!" snapped Bill.

            "And at least I don't cheat on every test!" said Storm.

            "Bill! Storm! Stop!" said Mrs. Whaht. It was her best attempt ever to stop anyone at doing anything.

            "OK, Mrs. Whaht... I'll stop," said Bill, smirking at Storm.

            "I...I'm sorry, Mrs. Whaht. I'll stop..." said Storm.

            For the rest of the period, Bill did not say anything to Storm, but Bill was sure to give Storm many mean looks until class ended. Like before, I watched Storm go into his owner's pickup truck. "How was school today?" asked Storm's owner.

            "Fine," he said.

Chapter 4:

“The Stage Is Set”

            Christmas vacation came and went, and the animals all relaxed and had plenty of fun with presents and just being with their owners. Nothing happened the first few days after Christmas vacation but on Tuesday, the third week after the penis origami and Bear's dishonesty, Panda was acting strangely. She was being friendly to Storm. Not that Bill could hear her from this part of the room, but it still was a strange act for anyone to do.

            "So... Storm, what's your farm address?" asked Panda during history class.

            "4242 Radinsky Lane," he responded.

            "Ok, cool," she said.

            I wondered what Panda was planning to do. I knew Panda was up to something, but I couldn't figure out just what yet.

            Nothing of interest happened in science class. We were switching from the planets all the way to biology about human babies. I could see Storm's tail sag a lot at this announcement. He had loved the study of the planets, and just as it was warming up, the subject had changed.

            During lunch, Panda brought me into Mrs. Mykeys room to let me know about her plan. "I'm betting that Storm has kept a journal of what he's gone through. I want to show the journals I hope I find and show them to everyone, and lay the blame on Bill. I hate both Storm and Bill, and this will make them hate each other even more."

            I was sick to my stomach when I heard that plan. It was so evil, and so disgusting. I did not say anything at all, though. I knew Panda would turn the class against me, but in a different way than Bill would. If I told Storm about her plans, Panda would start some rumors about me and ruin my life. Even though I thought that, I still wish that I told Storm what Panda told me, but I never had the courage to. If only I had been brave. Then this would never have happened.

            Brenda and Fire were also there.

            "So, Furry! What do you think of the plan?" mooed Brenda.

            "I...I'm... not sure yet," I stammered.

            "All right. Well we will do it even if you beg us not to!" Brenda, Fire, and Panda giggled.

            I did not respond to that, and awhile later, the other animals came into English class. We were assigned a book report on any book we would like, as long as it was of at least the 6th grade reading level and had no pictures in it. I knew that Bill would have a hard time choosing a book like that that he could read and understand. Reading was the worst of Bill's many poor subjects.

            "But... but... I can't read those kinds of books," whimpered Bill.

            "Then you can fail the assignment," said Mrs. Mykeys. She was not tolerant of whiners.

            We all then chose books for our book reports. I chose Joy Luck Club, since I felt I could connect to the writer because my owners were Korean, and even though I was just a dog, there was still a culture clash between my parents and I. Storm chose a Star Wars book. Bear had chosen a book about heroes slaying dragons. Bear probably was deluding himself into thinking that he was a great hero of the world when he read those types of books. Bill did pick a book, but all it was the biography of Pit bull Jordan.

            After picking the books, there was nothing else to do. Some of the animals talked. Then Mrs. Mykeys left the room to go to the bathroom. Bill had found what he'd call a cool, or "sick" treasure in the McDonalds dumpster at lunch today. A laser pointer.  He began to use it to shine it's light right into Storm's eyes. Storm could have been blinded, but Bill didn't care. To Bill, every toy was a way to mess with Storm. Storm then yelped "Stop it!" and looked at the wall and picked up a book and began to read it. Whenever he'd turn around, he'd have Bill armed with a laser pointer trying to aim it at him, so Storm looked at the wall instead and read the book he had picked up. The book was a boring book, some book that none of the animals would normally read, but I am sure it was better than looking at Bill's laser pointer.

            Mrs. Mykeys then returned from the bathroom. Bill hid his laser pointer, and Mrs. Mykeys didn’t suspect a thing. Storm didn’t say anything either, as it was obvious that Mrs. Mykeys had no idea of what had happened and Bill would have denied everything if Storm had accused him.

            English class ended, and it was time for Spanish. There would be no test. There would be many boring worksheets. This meant that most animals would do half-donkeyed work and still get a big fat 100% from Mrs. Gray. Only a few of the animals were truly trying their best to do their work. Most of the animals had decided that since they were getting 100% for half-donkeyed work that they didn't need to try hard. This philosophy lead to poor test scores. A few of the animals, such as Storm and I, still worked hard even though we knew we could be doing the work a lot worse and a lot faster. The result was that the few hard working animals had A's in the class. There were also a few animals with philosophies in the middle, between the extremes. This resulted in average test scores. The class had the C students, with F tests and A homework, the B students with C tests and A homework, and the A students with A tests and A homework.

            The class ran smoothly for a class at Animal School. I was sure that what happened on the quietest day in Animal School was like the wildest day in any real school. Bill gave Storm some mean looks, and Mrs. Gray told us the next test would be on Friday. "It should be Monday!" Bill yelped.

            "Why? You have plenty of time. Study," said Mrs. Gray.

            "But I need more time!" Bill yipped.

            "You do, but no one else does," muttered Storm.

            "What's that now? You're a homo?" Bill guffawed.

            "Leave me alone, Bill!" cried Storm, his face showing anger.

            Bill gave Storm a few more nasty looks, but Spanish class had no more incidents.

            Then came PE Physical education. Pee Eee. However it was spelled, it spelled trouble for Storm. This day was no exception to the rule. The animals were playing kickball. Storm was actually pretty good at kickball. It was his best sport. Of course, Bill would make sure he tossed balls so fast to Storm that even he could not possibly hit them.

            Then came time to pick teams. The captains today were to be Bill, and a surprise choice, Coco.

            The picking began. Bill picked Panda. Coco picked Line. The picking continued, until the only animals left were: Storm, Bear, Jellybean, Fuzzy, Brenda, Panda, and Fire.

            Coco then made a surprising choice "I pick Storm!"

            The crowd was silent. But unlike in sports movies, things did not turn into slow motion. Bill said "You pick STORM? He sucks!"

            "Well, yeah I picked him..." stammered Coco.

            Bill did not say anything, as he did not want all the adult animals watching over everyone to be aware why picking Storm was such as crime. Coco had made the right choice. Storm was the best and most motivated to play out of all the choices left. Coco had gone for what was best for his team. I was on his team and I was proud of him for being able to make that choice. I would not have had the will to make that choice.

            After the remaining players had been picked, the game began. Bill's team lead off. Bill was the first kicker. Bill could not resist the urge to start it all off. Coco was rolling the ball. He rolled it down and Bill blasted it far into the outfield where Panda was. Panda literally walked to the ball, not caring for a second about the game. Bill ran all the way to home, scoring a home run.

            That was how the slaughter started. I was on Coco's team. They did not stop scoring until they were told to stop hitting because the score was already 10-0 and Coco's team had not even batted yet.

            Coco's team was doing pretty well. Coco led off with a double and then Panda hit a ball and Fire missed it badly so in the end Panda was on second and Coco had scored. That made it 10-1. Then Storm came up. Instead of rolling the ball softly, like he had the other before, Bill rolled the ball as fast as he possibly could, so fast that not even the most athletic animal could hit it well. Storm hit a weak roller right to Bill, and Bill threw Storm out. Then Bear came up. Bear hit the ball to third base, but Panda was going so slowly that she was tagged out at the plate.

            There were 2 outs, and things began to heat up. Line hit the ball way out into the outfield, over everyone’s heads. Bear scored, and Line was on third. It was now 10-2. It became 10-7, with Storm up. The bases were loaded. Bill rolled out another incredibly fast ball, and Storm only got a little of it and the ball rolled just about 5 feet in front of home plate. Bill tagged Storm out before he was even halfway to first. The rally had ended. I watched from 1st base with disgust and anger. Why didn’t anyone tell Bill that he should throw to Storm like he threw to everyone else? If that was the case I’d still be on base. But instead, we are all back in the field.

            The typical inning went around again. Bill’s team scored another 10 runs, and time was running out. PE was almost over. I led off, and as usual, most people got on base. There were 2 outs, and a 20-12 score, when Storm came up. Storm had requested to the teacher that Bill throw the ball slowly. Bill rolled it slowly, and Storm whacked the ball to left field, but it was an inch foul. Then Bill went back to throwing it fast, and Storm hit a line drive right to Bill, to end the inning. PE then ended.

            “Storm can’t hit!” snickered Bear.

            “Everyone else got on base at least once, but Storm didn’t get on in THREE TRIES!” guffawed Potato.

            “Even I got on more than him!” squeaked Squeak, the tiny mouse.

            “Y-y-yeah.... w-well, it’s because you threw it fast!” stuttered Storm.

            “Ohhhhh it was too fast for you.... Are you a little gay baby? Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!” snickered Bill.

            All the animals were walking out to the parking lot and when they got there, before the owners got there, Bill told people about how Storm did.

            “I pitched it all nice to him and Storm popped up right to ME!” bragged Bill.

            “I’ll pop YOU!” Storm said, in a sudden fit of anger.

            “Hahahhhahaha... did you hear what Storm said? Ahahahahahahhaha!” snickered Bill

            Storm remained silent until his owner came.

            “How was school?” his owner asked.

            “Fine,” he replied.

Chapter 5:

“Unleashing the secrets”

            The next day, I saw Panda with a lot of papers. They were Storm’s journals that she got. He had told her his address and she snuck in his room when he was asleep and copied his journals down and brought them in here. She told Fire, Brenda, and I that she had them, and would show them to everyone in English class.

            The day began the majority of the class being unaware of what would happen. Math went as usual, Mrs. Whaht explaining only to the younger animals. The day wasn’t going too badly for Storm. At least not yet. I wish I stopped Panda from doing what she did, but it was too late by now. Storm’s tail was even wagging a bit today. Bill had not been bothering him today.

            History class then came. Today we were beginning to talk about what happened after Rome fell, with the world falling into barbarism. Bill and Bear would both have been leaders in a land like that. Bill said “Anarchy! So, like, no teachers?”

            “No, there were no teachers," sighed Mrs. Mykeys.

            Bill said “I wanna live there!”

            Mrs. Mykeys was annoyed, but ignored Bill. Bill spent the rest of the history period mouthing obscene words that rhymed with “duck shoe” to Storm. Storm was angry but could not prove anything so he remained quiet. History class ended. Things were going fast in my mind, since I knew the big event would come soon.

            Science class also went by quickly, at least to me. That day we suddenly jumped topic to the human reproductive system. Bill was probably busy integrating his “69” score in to this new field of study. He had a strange smile on his face as he looked at the wall.

            Storm did not see this connection, nor did it even cross his mind.

             “I bet Storm won’t know about reproductive organs. He’ll never get any except from guys,” said Bill.

             “How would you know who I had sex with? Do you watch me all the time?” yapped Storm.

            “Huhuuhh, well dude, it’s obvious. YOU ARE GAY,” laughed Bill.

            “Well if I’m so gay, then stop watching me!” barked Storm.

“I’m not watching you except because you’re talking to me!” said Bill.

            Storm’s face turned red... and he didn’t say anything.

            “Awwww...... are you mad at me?” crooned Bill.

             “Look! Storm is mad!” chirped Potato.

            That was all that happened though. Until lunch.

None of the other animals were playing with Storm. Why? Today, Bill decided not to eat his typical McDonalds dumpster meal. He was on patrol, watching over his troops. He did not say anything, nor did he have to. He had complete power all the time.

            The animals, as usual, were playing Personmon. Bill was playing Storm. Bill had never played Personmon before but was actually doing quite well for a beginner.

            “Look I’m beating Storm and I’ve never played before!” laughed Bill

            “That’s because Storm’s personmon SUCK!” cried Bear.

             “And Storm sucks too!” commented Oat

             “Huhuuhuh yeah...” said Bill.

            But that was all that really got said right then. Personmon was an addicting game to those animals. Even Storm. They all loved it, even Bill seemed to enjoy it. Storm was enjoying the game even though he was losing. Storm pulled through at the end though, and his final Personmon was the one left standing. Lunch was over, and the beast was about to be unleashed.

            The beast then came, leaping out of a binder onto a desk. The beast was in the form of Storm's journal entries. Panda began to show the journals to all the other animals, while Storm stood, his tail sagging, and his eyes filled with sadness and anger and fear at the same time. He did not know what to say. He never had any idea that this would happen. What was left of his world began to fall apart right there.

            "Look what Storm said in THIS journal! He called Bill a moron!" giggled Fire.

            "Look here! He insulted Line!" chortled Bill.

            The whole class continued to laugh at Storm's journals. Storm had a tear fall down his face. He had trusted Panda before. He suspected she and Brenda had done it. He did not say anything, but he was greatly angered. I wish I had chosen to do something about it earlier. But now it was too late. The beast was unleashed. The beast was out.

            This was all during the beginning of English class. Storm could not concentrate on the assignment. He was paranoid, and he had good reason to be.

            Moogle, with a sneer, tried to mess with Storm's mind. "I'm gonna go to Storm's owners house before he does and get more copies of his newer journals!"

             "I'll lock it before you do that!" barked Storm

            "Just you try..." said Moogle.

             "I WILL LOCK THEM!" yapped Storm.

            Mrs. Mykeys was not listening to what was going on, but she would find out eventually. In general the entries were all harmless. Panda grabbed hold of all the embarrassment she could, but there wasn't that much. Mostly the fact that they were Storm's entries made it worthwhile for most animals to read.

            English class was soon over, and then came Spanish. Mrs. Gray was not was of these journal entries either. They were now being passed around less. They were not being spoken about. Though only Coco, Bear, Storm, and I were paying attention to the lesson. Bear was not in his typical mode of insulting Storm to get on Bill's good side. Bear really did not like Panda and did not want to side with her on anything.

             "Attention everyone!" shouted Mrs. Gray.

            The class actually paid attention to the teacher, which was surprising for them. The beast slipped back into the binder to be seen at a later date. Spanish ended in a quick blur, and then came art class.

            The journals made another go in the loosely organized room of Mrs. Whaht. This time Bill spent the whole period filing through them. I saw this look on Panda's face. Her mission was not done. It was successful so far but not sucessful enough for her. Bill was getting angrier at Storm with these journals, and Panda hated both Bill and Storm. She would remain out of trouble as well.

            Everyone continued their art. Everybody was drawing pictures of whatever they wanted. Obviously, Mrs. Whaht had no plan and was hiding this from the animals. Storm was drawing furiously. Furiously as in quickly and as in angrily. His drawing was very crude, even for an animal, but I could tell it was a picture of Bill making fun of everyone. His drawing of Bill was actually somewhat accurate, though perhaps a little demeaning. Bill was drawing a picture of Storm, a picture of a tiny little puppy whose hair was messed and with tears pouring out of his eyes. That picture of Storm was very demeaning. Class ended that day. It was a sad day in the history of Animal School.

            "How was school today?" asked Storm's owner.

            "Fine," said Storm, this time it was not even close to true, but the answer was exactly the same, in the exact same tone of voice.

            A few days passed, those few days including a weekend. Most of the animals did not do much over the weekend, mostly just laying down in the sun or sitting by a nice fire, depending on if it was night or day. Storm though, was rumored to have spent Friday night over at Bear's house. Again, Bear was betraying Storm to avoid punishment. No true friend would ever do that.

            "Well yeah, ok, he spent the night at my house, but I only did it because he was begging me to!!" whined Bear.

            "Well, I understand this. One time a few years ago he invited all the animals to a sleepover at his barn. I came because, like, you know, there really was nothing else to do.” Bill explained.

            “Hah! Oh yeah, that one. I went to the one before that one. Video games, that was about it.” chortled Bear.

            “Yeah, and when I was there, his little brother, who’s like an even smaller dog, beat him up in a fight.” snickered Bill.

            “Hey! That never happened! He jumped on me, and I pushed him off me! That’s what really happened!” yapped Storm.

            “Oh sure, that’s what YOUUUUUU say!” snickered Bill.

            “Stop lying about me!” yelped Storm.

            “You’re the one who’s lying,” growled Bill.

            The animals stopped talking in time to start math class. The journals were not being passed around, at least for today. Math was a breeze of numbers. Mrs. Whaht, as she often did, only paid attention to the animals doing what humans call 7^th grade math. The animals in 8^th grade math bumbled along on their own.

            History and science were the same, nothing too bad, except a few dirty looks from Bill to Storm. Even lunch was calm, at least by Animal School standards. English had action though.

            “I saved all the entries!” oinked Moogle, proudly.

            “Yeah, but you can’t get in them anymore! They’re locked!” claimed Storm.

            “Yeah, for now,” snorted Moogle.

            That was about all that happened that was directly to Storm. But Panda whispered something to me that really was frightening.

            “There is a way to get his journals. Just watch. I’ll get into those journals. I’ll get into them. The new ones are juicy I’m sure. Now that he has them locked up, he will have even more emotional entries that will be great to show the class.”

            I did not respond to that. Nothing of interest happened that week. In fact, it seemed as if for now, things were not quite as bad for Storm. The calm before the storm. The calm before the explosion of the new wave. The new wave of journals to be shown to everyone. That’s what Panda thought.

            The day ended. It was an okay day for Storm.

            “How was school today?” asked Storm’s owner.

            “Fine,” he responded, showing no sign that today was any different than other day.

Chapter 6:

“Trickery and Deceit”

            After a weekend, the animals were back in school. Storm came back with his tail wagging a bit. Rumor has it that he was spending time over at Berkeley farms with his good friend Settin, the Irish Setter, who had left for an animal school in Berkeley sometime last year.

            “Oh my god, wasn’t Settin’s owner totally weird?” giggled Fire.

            “Oh yeah! She was scary!” mooed Brenda.

            “Don’t make fun of her. She’s a nice woman!” barked Storm.

            “Yeah! She’s weird like you!” oinked Potato.

            “And Settin is weird too!” guffawed Bill.

            “Shut up! You didn’t know Settin! He’s not a jerk like you guys!” yelped Storm.

            “Stop yelping, Storm!” snapped Mrs. Whaht.

            All the animals became quiet at that point, and the math lesson began. The math lessons suddenly without warning were switching over to probability for the 8^th grade animals. Storm’s tail wagged when he saw this. I noticed that Storm was completing his work at an amazing rate. He seemed to actually enjoy probability.

            The 7^th grade animals had suddenly jumped over to geometry. The subject wasn’t that hard for them except that the book really didn’t explain it at all, and neither did Mrs. Whaht.

            Math went by, and then came history. We were now up to the stories of medieval times. We were talking about how the feudal system worked. We learned that there were many rankings, and each owned 1/4^th of the land of the ranking above it. It was an unfair system to the peasants.

            Storm was clearly interested in this, as was Bear. They both enjoyed medieval times and fantasy books. Bear though, seeing that Storm was enjoying this lesson as well, made sure he did not appear interested in it at all.

            History was over, and it was time for science class. We were going to now learn about evolution. Storm’s tail was wagging about this. The way the subjects were going, they were all ones that Storm loved.

            We learned about how it was believed that all life began with one cell and how every generation would have small mutations that gave it an advantage and over millions and millions of years. One giraffe would have a slightly longer neck than the other and that would get it to get more of the high leaves. It would reproduce more, therefore the children would be more likely to have high necks, and these children would survive more, until all giraffes had longer necks.

            I was interested in this lesson and I understood it. It was more interesting than most of the other science. The book did not teach our class very well, but we still did understand. We also had to watch more of those lame Bill Nye the science guy videos, which had ten seconds of real information surrounded by half an hour of lame jokes.

            Lunch came and all the animals decided to play basketball. Even Storm was playing. I noticed that Storm was getting bigger. He was still a puppy, but not quite as small. Though he still was not an athletic dog, especially for a German Shepherd  Bill the pit bull had also grown a bit, but he had probably reached his maximum height and weight for a pit bull. He still was somewhat athletic and overly aggressive.

            The game began. Even the animals that rarely played were playing. Even Squeak the mouse was playing. Though all the girl animals were just watching on the sidelines. “Let’s pick teams! I’ll be captain and Dane will be captain. I’ll pick first!” barked Bill.

            “I pick Spock!” barked Bill.

            “I pick Oat!” hissed Dane.

            “I pick Coco!” barked Bill.

            “I pick Moogle!” hissed Dane.

            “I pick Potato!” barked Bill.

            “Aw, man. We got crap now. I’ll pick Bear.” whined Dane.

            “I’m gonna be stuck with Squeak,” growled Bill.

            “NO! YOU CAN HAVE STORM!” hissed Dane.

            “NO FUCKING WAY! You’re taking him!” snapped Bill.

            “Flip a coin. Loser gets Storm.” Hissed Dane.

            “I call tails!” barked Bill.

            The coin landed. Tails.

            “Yes! You’re stuck with Storm!!” snickered Bill.

            “Yeah… well, next time you have to take Storm.” hissed Dane.

            “The coin will decide next time too.” explained Bill

            Storm’s tail was sagging as he began to play. He did not enjoy being treated like some kind of disease. Though he did not put effort into playing. He and Bear walked around slowly, actually talking to each other quietly, though no one heard what they were talking about.

            Then Bear did something mean to Storm.

            “I don’t know what fag means. Bear, what does it mean?” Storm asked quietly.

            “Hey Potato! Storm doesn’t know what FAG means!” Bear roared loudly.

            “Ha ha ha! That’s because he is a fag!” snorted Potato.

            Downtrodden, Storm looked at Bear with a hurt look on his eyes. Then Dane kicked the ball to him, and it bounced off his nose and went out of bounds.

            “Storm sucks! Storm sucks!” chanted Bill’s whole team.

            Storm, angry and saddened, walked off the field. He sat down at the wall and began to cry. The other animals continued playing basketball. The final score was 30-10. Bill’s team was the winner.

            English class began and the rough draft to the book report we were assigned was due.

            “I didn’t do it! You should add another day!” yelped Bill.

            “No,” snapped Mrs. Mykeys.

            No one laughed or snickered at Bill over this, but if this had been Storm in this situation, everyone would have been laughing. Storm had already done a very neat rough draft on the computer, and it was certain to get a good grade. I had done one very nicely too. Most of the animals had done something, but Bill had done nothing at all. He hadn’t even opened his book. He looked at it and decided it would be too hard.

            English ended and then came Spanish class. Spanish began and we had our tests that we took on Friday returned to us. I got 100%. Storm got 100%. Bill got 50%. Most animals got pretty high scores on this test. We than began a new lesson learning new words.

            We were now learning more basic vocabulary that we hadn’t learned before. Like that backpack is mochilla. I thought that real Spanish classes learned more than this. Spanish class ended, and then it was art time.

            Art today was one of those history of art lessons. We were looking at the invention ideas of Leonardo and comparing them to modern machines. It was interesting that 500 years ago Leonardo had the ideas for the helicopter. After art, the day was over.

            “How was school today?” asked Storm’s owner.

            “Fine,” said Storm.

            Panda was snuffing a lot, meaning that she had a plan. I knew she had a plan! She was very pleased with herself for making whatever plan this was. Then on Monday of the next week, Panda revealed what she had done.

            On Monday, Panda showed Fire, Brenda, and I her shiny key into his journals. "I pretended to be someone else. I put on a mask, ran a lot faster, talked totally differently, and he was totally fooled!"

            On Thursday, there was a field trip. The field trip was to the tech museum in San Jose. We took a bus to get there. We had to switch buses once. The way there was rather uneventful, and the museum was quite enjoyable, but the way back was not so smooth.

            It happened when we stopped for a while to wait for the next bus. Storm was just walking around. His walk was strange, even though he had grown recently.

            “Look! Look! Storm’s walking weirdly!” snorted Potato.

            “Oh yeah! That’s one weird walk!” hissed Dane.

            “A loser walk!” guffawed Bill.

            Storm was getting angrier, and his walk got stranger.

            “LEAVE ME ALONE! STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!” he yelped.

            “You’re so weird, Storm. You’re walking and talking weirdly,” sniffed Panda.

            “Walk normally!” neighed Fire.

            “Yeah, nerd,” mooed Brenda.

            “STOP IT!” yelped Storm.

            Luckily the bus came then, and Storm sat alone and the animals did not talk on the bus. They were not allowed to talk on the bus because it would distract the bus driver.

            The day was over, and Panda now had access to Storm’s journals. She tricked and deceived Storm.

            “How was school today?” asked Storm’s owner.

            “Fine,” he said.

Chapter 7:

“Panda admits to the trick”

            On Friday, Panda came in with many new documents. She saved them to show in English class. Storm was not aware that these were his secret documents. Storm had some very angry things to day, such as that Panda was a fat sow, and that Bear was his friend who pretended to be mean to him to impress Bill. Finally, his anger targeted her for printing out his old journals. Panda was snuffing again.

            “I’m planning to show the fat sow entry to Mrs. Weasel, our principal,” giggled Panda.

            Storm looked at the people viewing his entries as if they were stupid. He probably still believed that they were the old entries.

            “Storm, you’re messed up,” barked Coco.

            That day was over. Panda told me something on Monday morning before class.

            “I’ve shown the teachers those entries! He thought they were the old entries! In his latest entry he was laughing at us for looking at his old entries so much!” snickered Panda.

            “I have heard about journal entries being shown about students in this classroom. If the names are not changed, it is considered slander,” Mrs. Whaht said, not directly to Storm. She was wrong. Written lies were libel, and Storm was reporting the truth, so it was not even that. Math class ended, and then came history.

            “Storm, Bill, Oat, I have an idea. Pretend that you can’t see each other. Storm, you can’t see Bill and Oat. Bill and Oat, you can’t see Storm,” suggested Mrs. Mykeys

            The three of them agreed to try that, but it would undoubtedly fail. The entries were sent to Mrs. Weasel, but Mrs. Weasel had not taken any action yet. Nothing happened until English class, where our book reports were due.

            “Hello, everyone. Turn in your book reports, please.” said Mrs. Mykeys.

            Everyone had done their assignment. Even Bill had done his. Though Bill’s was clearly a last-minute work, while Storm’s was obviously well done. Most people did a pretty good job. Bill’s was clearly the worst.

            “I did mine, Mrs. Mykeys,” bragged Bill.

            “Last minute?” grumbled Mrs. Mykeys.

            “Good job, Storm!” chirped Mrs. Mykeys.

            “Thank you,” said Storm, proudly.

            “Good job, Furry!” chirped Mrs. Mykeys.

            “Thank you,” I said, proudly.

            The day went on and nothing really happened. Though the threat of the journals loomed.

            Things were changing. Panda was clearly up to something. In English class on the following day, she was being nice to him.

            “Hi Storm,” said Panda cheerfully.

            “Hi Panda,” he grumbled, clearly not falling for her act quite yet.

            “How are you?” she asked.

            “Fine,” he said curtly.

            Days went by, and each day Panda’s act worked a little more. Then she decided to admit to what she did on the following Monday.

            “You know that pig with a strange accent who you gave a key to your journal? That pig was me. But if you let me keep reading your journal, then I’ll be nice to you,” She stated in English class.

            “Y-you… insulted yourself in the mails you sent me,” he stuttered.

            “Yeah, well you know, that was an act,” she snorted.

            “Well… I guess I’ll agree,” he muttered.

            I knew he should not have agreed, but perhaps it did not make any difference. The entry that called Panda a fat sow was already in the hands of Mrs. Weasel. Panda was snuffing again, which meant she was up to something. On the surface though, things were looking up for Storm.

            Panda was showing the entries in private still. They were different now. They were focused on some things outside of school, and all the names for people were different than they were in the older entries. He avoided accusations of libel that way.

            The entries could have been proof to cut Bear’s rations in half. There were definite mentions of him being over at Storm’s house. Even though the names were changed, the description sounded a lot like Bear. Panda did not use this information to help Bill though. She did not like Bill at all. She hated both Bill and Storm. She did not want to help Bill at all.

            That day ended.

            “How was school today?” asked Storm’s owner.

            “Fine,” said Storm.

Chapter 8:

“The Fight”

            A few weeks passed uneventfully, until one Friday. Everything in that day hinted that something would happen. Math class began. At this point us few 8^th graders had gone to a geometry course while the 7^th graders were now doing probability. Storm obviously did not like geometry. I could see his tail sag just at the mention of the word. He had gotten 95 on the probability chapter test. Math was probably the only subject that Storm had any real trouble in.

            Math class passed, and then came history. Storm’s tail used to wag a lot when history came, but it wasn’t wagging as hard as it once did. In history we were learning about the renaissance. Bill enjoyed this section because it mentioned that there were statues of naked women.

            After history came science. We had now taken another random turn into a new subject of science. We were now studying pollution and how it affected the Earth. Storm enjoyed this topic we had a class discussion on pollution.

            “I think that pollution should be stopped even at a sacrifice of business,” explained Storm.

            “Yeah, well. That’s because you could never make any money,” snickered Bill.

            “I think that the world can be perfect. We all need to stop fighting and polluting,” suggested Fuzzy.

            “Yeah, Fuzzy, but no one else lives in a world created by Disney movies like you do,” roared Bear.

            “Hey, don’t be mean,” Fuzzy whined.

            “This is a discussion about pollution,” sniffed Panda.

            “Yeah, so let’s stop arguing,” suggested Storm.

            “You’re the one who started it!” growled Bill.

            “What did I start?” growled Storm.

            “Everything! The Titanic sinking. The bubonic plague,” grumbled Bear sarcastically.

            “Stop this at once, animals. We’ll watch Bill Nye instead since you can’t behave yourselves,” snapped Mrs. Whaht.

            We then watched another lame Bill Nye the science guy video. It was boring and taught us little but we trudged through it. Then came lunch. Bill, Oat, Dane, and Spock were going to search the McDonalds dumpster. That meant that the other animals were going to act more naturally to Storm.

            The animals had stopped playing their Personmon games. They were just talking about random topics.

            “I think the Giants are going to do well this year,” stated Storm.

            “Yeah, Barry Bonds is really good,” agreed Coco.

            “I don’t like baseball. It’s too boring,” complained Bear.

            “Have you ever been to a Giants game?” asked Storm.

            “Yeah, once when I was a cub,” said Bear.

            The three of them talked for awhile, though a few times Squeak and Potato were running around making noise and they had to stop until the Squeak and Potato finally shut up.

            Then Bill walked in.

            “Storm, the Giants are gay!” snickered Bear.

            “Yeah! Go Dodgers!” roofed Bill.

            “The Dodgers are the enemy,” yapped Storm.

            “They’re the best team!” growled Bill.

            “They waste too much money on overrated players,” growled Storm.

            “Well just you wait and see this year. The Dodgers will rip off the Giants tail,” guffawed Bill.

            English class began. Panda was not showing entries today. The class was going to read an old mystery novel from the early 1900’s. The class read the first chapter today.

            The book said the word gay in it. Bill was sure to tell everyone. “Huhhuhuuhh! It says that the guy was gay!” guffawed Bill.

            “No, Bill. In the earlier 1900’s, gay meant happy,” snapped Mrs. Mykeys.

            “Oh,” muttered Bill.

            No one laughed at all. After English came Spanish. Mrs. Gray had a test for the class today. “I think it should be on Monday!” barked Bill.

            “No, it is today,” explained Mrs. Gray

            “Ok… but no one studied,” whimpered Bill.

            “I studied,” snorted Panda.

            “I studied too,” sniffed Jellybean.

            “As did I,” sniffed Storm.

            “You’re nerds! You guys don’t count!” yelped Bill.

            “Test. Today,” demanded Mrs. Gray.

            There were no more arguments, and the test took the whole period. Then came PE. Bill’s strength. Storm’s weakness.

            Today the animals were playing football. Which is especially bad for Storm, and especially good for Bill.

 “Let’s let STORM be captain” snickered Bill.

            Storm accepted this challenge. The game was kickball.

            “I pick Bear!” yapped Storm.

            “I pick Spock!” barked Bill.

            “I pick Coco!”

            “I pick Dane!”

            “I pick Furry!”

            “I pick Oat!”

            “I pick Jellybean!”

            “I pick Potato!”

            The picking went on, and Storm’s picks were based on him not hating them, not based on athletic ability.

            Our team batted first. I decided for the first time, I’d be up first. Storm would be next. Bill rolled it very slowly for me and I hit one down third base and made it to first. Next up was Storm. Bill threw the ball way too fast and Storm kicked it only a few feet.

            Storm was out, but I made it to second base. Bear then hit a double and our team was up 1-0. But that was all we got off Bill. He shut Moogle, Jellybean, and Fuzzy down.    

            Bill’s team came up, and Storm was pitching. Storm was nice about rolling to everyone, including Bill. Bad defense helped give Bill’s team a 10-1 lead, and then it was time for the next inning.

            Tear was up at bat. Bill let Spock pitch. Spock rolled it to Tear slowly. Tear missed the first ball. “Hey! Throw it slower!” she hissed.

            Spock rolled the ball so slow that it stopped in front of Tear. Tear kicked it and it went flying over the Dane and into left field. She walked to second base.

            Bill took over the pitching job. Next up would be Bear. Bear kicked it a mile, or more like over the head of Panda who was strolling the outfield aimlessly. Everyone scored. It was then 10-3, with no one out. Suddenly, Fire got a fluke single. Then Brenda got a fluke single. Storm decided to wait until later to bat. He suspected he would cause a triple play. I got a single. Then Coco and Jellybean got out.

            Storm was up with the bases loaded and 2 outs. Bill rolled the ball slowly to Storm this time. Storm hit a hard line drive to second base. He ran as fast as he could. He then made it. Suddenly Bill pushed Storm off the bag and called Storm out by tagging him with the ball.

            “That’s no fair! I was safe!” yapped Storm.

            “You are out! You are out!” chanted Bill’s entire team.

            “You know what? I don’t give a shit about your fucking game because you’re going to spend your life eating out of McDonald’s dumpsters and sleeping in them too!” yapped Storm.

            “Grrrrrrr………FAGGOT!” growled Bill

            Suddenly, Bill lunged at Storm. Storm yelped in surprise and responded by grabbing Bill and the two animals fell to the ground, and rolled around, fighting rapidly. All the animals watched, most of them cheering Bill on to win. Though many of them in their hearts hoped Storm would win. Panda sat there and laughed on the inside, because she had set her two enemies against each other by getting those journals, and she had gotten away with it. Even though Storm was growing stronger and larger, Bill was much stronger and much more aggressive Bill suddenly cheated, biting Storm way too hard in the leg, and Storm yelped and scratched Bill in the face. Mrs. Weasel, the principal, came out and saw the fight. She blamed Storm.

            “Storm! How could you? You’re going to the office!” yelled Mrs. Weasel

            After Mrs. Weasel and Storm left, some signs of rebellion began. “How could you do that to Storm?” barked Coco.

            “You didn’t need to bite him that hard!” complained Panda.

            “Yeah, you’ve always been so mean to him!” complained Jellybean.

            “Yeah….. he’s not that bad, you know. I know he can get annoying, but you didn’t need to attack him,” roared Bear.

            “Shut up! All of you! Or else you will have no rations at all!” exploded Bill.

            “Yes… I’m sorry,” said the four of them.

The next day, the school heard some shocking news. Storm was to be leaving us. After that fight, which Mrs. Weasel had believe was totally Storm’s fault, Storm’s owner pulled him out of the school.

Chapter 9:

“The Leaving and Returning”

During that weekend, I received a surprise mail from Storm. I was amazed that he remembered my address when I had mentioned it only once. I responded, finally admitting that I had liked him but that I had to hide it in front of Bill.

The animals now had two factions. There were the ones who wanted Storm back, or at least claimed they did. Most of us were the older animals. The older animals were Panda, Brenda, Fire, and I. Coco and Bear also wanted Storm back but did not admit it near Bill. Fuzzy just wished that they all could have gotten along. Jellybean also was in our faction, though she was very quiet and never said much. The other faction was of the animals that hated Storm or at least feared Bill a lot.

            Our faction had secret meetings during lunch when Bill and his friends went out to eat. We talked where Potato and Squeak could not hear what we were saying.

            “I’ve been talking with Storm and telling him that we want him back.” reported Panda.

            “But why do you want him back? Didn’t you print out all the journals?” questioned Coco.

            “Yes, but now I realize through mail correspondence that he is a great dog, and I feel sorry for what I did,” explained Panda.

            “I’ve been talking to Storm as well,” said Coco.

            “I have also been talking to Storm,” I explained.

            “As have I,” Said Bear.

            “Also, the reports of me spending nights at Storm’s farm… those are true,” explained Bear.

            “I suspected as much,” snorted Panda.

            “We’ve all said things we shouldn’t have or not said things we should have because of the fear of Bill. But now we must forget our mistakes and work for the future,” said Fuzzy.

            “It won’t work out like that. We have to be quiet and just hope we can even encourage Storm to come back,” growled Bear.

            “We must end this meeting quickly. Bill will be returning soon.” I warned.

            The meeting ended quickly, and we all split up. As predicted, Bill, Oat, Dane, and Spock came in. Moogle was also around somewhere, but he’d always been somewhat quiet, spending time with some of his younger animal friends instead of the animals in our grade.

            Nothing really happened that day, except that Mrs. Mykeys announced she was sending Storm all of his creative writings since she thought one day that he would become an author. Bill snickered at that.

            The next day we had another lunch meeting.

            “I don’t think Storm seems to want to come back,” said Coco.

            “I don’t think he trusts me fully,” said Panda.

            “I don’t know how we can get him to come back!” I complained.

            “There has to be some way!” cried Fuzzy.

            “I don’t know, but I think we should be more active against Bill," suggested Jellybean

            “You really think we can? He’s stronger than us. Faster than us,” complained Bear.

            “Let’s just concentrate on getting Storm back,” I suggested.

            The meeting, like the previous meeting, was stopped by Bill coming in. Bill still did not realize that there was any talk of wanting Storm back at all.

            Nothing happened for about a week. Then the meeting became exciting.

            “Storm’s coming back!” Panda, Coco, Bear, and I all cheered.

            “His mom is having him come back!” shouted Coco.

            “Good!” exclaimed Brenda and Fire.

            The meeting for once was a happy meeting, of rejoicing, not of fear. No arguments took place between any of us. The meeting ended early, since we had nothing else to worry about, or so it seemed.

            The rest of the week seemed to go slowly as we awaited the Monday that Storm would return to us. Of course, Bill was totally unaware of this. He was proud that he had driven Storm out. He believed Storm would never come back.

            Storm came back on Monday as expected. Bill greeted him with his trademark overconfident smirk. Storm’s owner looked annoyed at this smirk and whispered something to Storm and left.

            Things seemed to be going quite well for Storm at first glance. Lunch went well as Storm talked to the faction that was supporting him.

            “Hey Storm!” said Bear, Coco, Panda, and I.

            “H-hello,” said Storm, somewhat nervously.

            The animals talked for a while, but when Bill returned, the animals still were too fearful to be nice to Storm in front of Bill.

            “Storm, you smell funny!” snickered Bear.

            “Yeah, you smell gay!” snickered Bill.

            Coco did not say anything. Coco would rather say nothing at all than be on Bill’s side. Bear was always willing to switch his opinions to impress Bill and his cronies.

            The day went without events, but something did happen. Tuesday night, I received a mail from Storm, showing me many nasty notes that Dane had sent him and also sent me his responses to Dane’s nasty notes, and he asked me to show it to Mrs. Mykeys. On Wednesday, I did as I was told. The result was shocking. Mrs. Mykeys showed the mails to Mrs. Weasel, and Mrs. Weasel blamed it on Storm, and not on Dane. Mrs. Weasel had also received the journal entry where Storm had called Panda a fat sow. Storm’s owner pulled him out of Animal School.

Chapter 10:

“The Aftermath”

            On Thursday, Storm did not return. Storm was never expected to return back to Animal School again. There were very few signs of a new target being picked to replace Storm. Bill did not feel any moral issues even though he had been the one to drive Storm out.

            Bear felt a little sad, but I was beginning to suspect that he didn’t really even like Storm, and that his act of rudeness to Storm was not even really an act. Coco was saddened by what happened. Coco and I kept regular communication with Storm by mail still, and we both knew that Storm was doing quite well and being tutored.

            Panda also did not get away with her evil acts. When Storm's owner told Panda's owner of the journal incident, Panda's owner stopped letting Panda send letters out and kept an eye on her a lot. I told Storm about this, but he did not want to have Panda's punishment removed. I can't really blame him either. What she did was wrong.

             “You know, I never really liked Storm. It was totally an act. I was hoping I could get more information to send to Mrs. Weasel to go with the fat sow journal entry,” said Panda to me one day.

             “I thought you felt sorry for what you did…” I growled.

             “You thought wrong,” Panda snorted.

            A couple of weeks after Storm left, Dane was forced to go to Storm’s farm to apologize for the nasty letters that he had sent Storm. Bill began to grill Dane for info on Storm’s farm. Bill had not been to this farm as Storm’s owner had recently moved.

            “How are their crops doing?” Bill inquired.

            “Fine,” said Dane.

            “What kind of truck do they have?” Bill demanded

            “A new one,” Dane hissed.

            “How’s his brother doing?” inquired Bill.

            “Don’t know, didn’t see him, ” hissed Dane.

            Luckily, those were all of the questions that Bill asked Dane. Dane did not seem to want to reveal much out to Bill, and Bill realized this but also realized that these were stupid questions. Perhaps Dane didn’t really pay attention and just wanted to get the apologizing over with. Whatever the case was, Bill learned very little about Storm’s farm.

            I continued to send mails back and forth with Storm, as did Coco. It is rumored that Bear and Storm began meeting at each other’s farms on some weekends. Bear had one incident where he became somewhat of the next Storm.

            He and Brenda got into a fight. Brenda head-butted him and he bit her, but she was the obvious winner.

            “Bear got beat by a fat cow!” snickered Bill.

            “I’m the champion!” mooed Brenda.

            “SHUT UP!” roared Bear.

            That was an isolated incident though, and it never happened again. The school was not as good for me without Storm. I missed seeing him every day. The mails couldn’t replace seeing him every day but we never did meet again.

            The mails that Coco and I both exchanged with him have all but died out over time. I moved and changed addresses, so perhaps he had lost my mail about changing addresses. Whatever it was, our mails had died out.

            I wondered what would have happened if Bill was not there. Would Storm have been with us for longer? Would I have admitted that I liked him? That was the only question I had now. What could have been? I'd never know, but I could always imagine what it would have been like.