Another Day of Class

By Horatio Husky

Trade with Preschool Kaiju, Luca

Chapter 1.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

    Another Tuesday… God I hate Tuesdays…

    An opossum kobold hybrid blearily opened her eyes, flicking them over to the alarm clock that sat displaying the time and blaring out its alarm. The digital interface read 7:00 A.M.

    A whole two hours of sleep after I finished coding, wow it's a personal record…

    Attempting to shrug off the sleep and exhaustion that still clung to her like morning dew to early morning grass she shoved the warm, inviting blankets off of her and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

    A large yawn escaped her, revealing to her bedroom her impressively white and sharp teeth as she fumbled around for a pair of socks to pull on.

    Time to catch the bus and get to campus…

    Lethargically, like her limbs were moving through molasses she gathered her things into her book bag, glumly going through the motions until she found herself stepping out of her door, to be met with a dull morning drizzle lighting down upon her large ears and snout.

    The gray day could not have represented her glum feelings more accurately than were it being made up.  There were puddles on the ground that she stepped around as best she could while she walked over to the bus stop, eventually caused her socks to develop a cold, damp sensation.

    Her mood souring by the minute she waited impatiently for her bus to arrive, music playing in her earbuds that she had slipped in doing little to alleviate her bitter mood.

    The bus arrived shortly, but Luca was so distracted by her piss-poor mood that she made the mistake of standing too close to the large puddle forming beneath the curb that the arrival of the bus caused her to have her legs drenched in water.

    Oh right… Maybe next time I shouldn't stand in the splash zone…  The ill humored joke she felt was the only thing that prevented her from breaking down into tears there and then as she boarded the bus.

    She sat herself down halfway down the bus in an empty seat, not bothering to even take the backpack off of her shoulders.  Propping her head up with one of her paws she stared glumly out of the window, letting herself get lost in the music before she had to once more focus at her studies in class.

    Her eyes drooped as the thrum and beat of the music occupied her mind, her thoughts drifting into a more comfortable space than her immediate situation.

    She filled her mind with soft, reassuring things.  Things that she didn't necessarily share with everyone around her.  Things that were valuable and precious to her, and made her feel safe and comfortable.

    That was why when she looked out of the bus window and actually saw what stop they had stopped at, she frowned in confusion.  This did not seem like her normal stop, even though she had taken the bus many times.

    Behind the rain soaked window was a very friendly looking preschool.  Large windows and colorful walls decorated the inside, a very inviting scene in the middle of a wet, dreary day.

    She grabbed her backpack and got out of her seat, walking down the aisle of the bus and stepping off to inspect more closely.  

    To her surprise, a series of small puppies, kittens, hatchlings, and other anthropomorphic little kids toddled around her, seemingly also to have been sitting on the bus.

    How did I not notice them? Luca thought to herself, she turned around once more to board the bus after looking around the bus station.

    Just as she was about to step forward, the doors of the bus clamped shut.  

    “Hey! This isn't my stop! Wait!"

    Her cries fell on deaf ears as with a hiss of gas, the bus drove off to its next destination, leaving her behind in the drizzling rain.

    “Ms. Maggy's calling us, come quick we don't want to be late!"

    Luca looked down to see a small calico kitten with large, excited eyes tugging at her arm, pulling her in the direction of the preschool.

    Maybe she can give me directions to the university… Luca thought to herself glumly, realizing now that she was definitely going to be late for class. Again.

    “Yeah, yeah I'm coming."  The kitten squealed with delight and Luca accompanied the rest of the gaggle of giggling children into the school house.

    Her nostrils were immediately filled with the scent of crayons and play-doh as the colorful display inside of the pre-school filled her vision.  Unconsciously she felt her senses at ease at the pretty scene before her, for a second she even forgot with what intention she had entered the school house with.

    Right! I need to ask for directions, maybe she has a bus schedule too and I could catch the next one that comes by.

    Her mind felt uncharacteristically foggy, but she shook her head as the calico kitten kept tugging her along over to a large, friendly looking kangaroo.

    Something about the female kangaroo, who was dressed in an orange dress complimenting her fur color, seemed to bring Luca a sense of security.

    Her brown eyes and warm smile met her gaze, and the rat-kobold hybrid couldn't help but find herself smiling in return, her mood brightening as the rain outside didn't seem to be so unfriendly and cold.

    As Luca was about to open her mouth and ask politely if the kangaroo could assist her, Ms. Maggy spoke up before she got the chance to speak.

    “Well well well! What have we here!  It seems like you've brought us a new playmate today Annie!  Now tell me sweetie, what's your name?"

    Luca was caught off guard by how the kangaroo addressed her, as if she were just another one of the five year olds toddling around her, giggling and playing games with each other.

    To her slight surprise, she quite enjoyed being addressed so, and beside herself she was only able to respond with a soft, "Luca…"

    The kangaroo beamed, a wide smile that spread up to her eyes and caused them to sparkle with warmth, “Oh what a pretty name! Your Mommy and Daddy picked out such a lovely name for such a pretty thing.  I'm going to be your new preschool teacher, you can call me Ms. Maggy!"

    Luca was utterly confused. Does… does she actually think… that I'm a preschooler?

    She looked around, none of the other children were behaving as if anything was out of the ordinary.  Neither they nor Ms. Maggy seemed to understand that she was not a new classmate, but an exhausted college student that was now very late for class.

    She looked back at Ms. Maggy, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  She spoke up, a quiver in her voice, “I'm sorry Ms. Maggy, I don't think you understand.  I'm supposed to be in a college class right now."

    The kangaroo burst out laughing, a few kids stopped playing to look over at the scene as they watched their teacher express what seemed to be a humorous reaction to something that Luca said.

    Between gasping breaths and after wiping at her eyes, Ms. Maggy spoke up the quiver of mirth still in her voice, “A college class huh?  Wow in all my years of teaching, I don't think I've ever heard something as funny as that come out of one of my little one's mouths! You've really got a great imagination there Luca!"

    Luca was now completely red in the face, blushing profusely as she realized that the teacher actually did see her as a five year old.  She looked down at herself, still unable to grasp what was happening as she said half to herself, “But… I'm too big to be here, I don't belong with all the other kids here. I'm a grown up!"

    A kind, sympathetic expression now crossed over into the kangaroo's face, as without warning she moved forward a step and brought Luca close to her bosom into a warm, gentle hug.

    Luca tensed, surprised by what the kangaroo had done and unable to react other than to slowly also return the embrace, her eyes feeling wet with emotion.

    Ms. Maggy spoke gently and softly into her ear, “Now now, dearie, I know the first day of preschool can be a bit scary.  But we all want you to be here! Little Annie here was so excited when she saw that she had a new friend to play with she brought you right over to me!  Don't worry sweetie, you do belong here and you're very welcome!"

    Suddenly Luca felt something impact the two hugging furs from the side, Ms. Maggy let out an exaggerated, “OOMF!" and the two looked down to see the beaming, starry eyed face of Annie who had joined them in their embrace. 

    “I wanna hug too! Luca is going to be my new best friend!"

    The smile and adoration in her face made it almost impossible for anyone to refuse, and after Ms. Maggy had patted Luca on the back gently she found herself once more being dragged over by the little kitten over to a bunch of plastic tables and chairs.

    “Let's color each other pictures!  I'll try extra hard on mine for you! I'll make it soooo pretty!"

    Luca found herself unable to do much but to allow Annie to sit her down in one of the chairs, which just barely managed to support her behind and weight as the energetic kitten clambered into the one opposite the possbold.

    Grabbing paper and crayons the kitty set to work drawing as painstakingly as she could, her little pink tongue sticking out of her muzzle as she concentrated hard on drawing the best drawing for her new friend.

    Luca sat for a minute, still trying to process what was happening.  She picked up a purple crayon and a piece of paper, and began doodling absentmindedly.  Whatever was going on, she decided she was going to at least indulge this little girl by spending time with her and giving her attention.

    After all, the little thing was so welcoming and nice to me I can't say no to being her friend.

    Her class now almost forgotten, she allowed her mind to clear itself as she drew on the large sheet of white paper, exchanging crayons and giggles with Annie as the two pooled their coloring resources to great their masterpieces. 

    At one point a skunk boy and a lynx girl joined them, they exchanged giggles and smiles with Luca and Annie.  Luca had now almost forgotten how she had gotten there as she reveled in the company of the preschoolers, who treated her as if she were no different than they.

    At last the four artists had finished their masterpieces, and right as they were finishing up comparing what they had drawn, Luca going for the classic house, garden, and sun in the corner technique, the kangaroo called out her voice loud and clear in the entire preschool house.

    “Alright sweeties, come and get your snacks! We've got animal crackers and apple juice boxes!"

    There was a general scramble, and Luca found herself eagerly walking over to Ms. Maggy along with her new friends, her stomach rumbling softly as she realized that she too was beginning to feel like a snack.