And this is where I started to get carried away and lost direction of where this little tale was going. This is the rough draft full of mistakes, errors, and marks. Anywho, give me your opinons of what you see (both the good and bad), it would really help me out.

*PLEASE tell me what you think, whether it's boring, too long/short, not enough action/drama, or if there is something you dislike or whatever. You can do it anonymously at http://iwontbyte.tumblr.com/ask so be as honest and brutal as you want :D

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It's not that being different from most is a bad thing it's just I'm generally a shy and soft spoken person that doesn't like to bother other people so all the unwanted attention can be a little overwhelming at times. One time when I was eight the family went to a mall and a group started to form around us because they had never seen a white tiger before, let alone one with two different eye colors. Sure many thought I was a cute kid but I was lost in all the questions, pointing, and staring. Someone even plucked my fur to see if it was dyed. At that point the mall cops had to come and usher everyone along because it was causing a scene. It hasn't ever gotten that bad again, that was when we were living in Ashton in the "boonies" as my father put it. Here on the east coast in Largo it seems hardly anyone cares, especially in this day and age were you see people walking around in crazy fashion, lots of piercings, or some over the top dye jobs. I hardly standout but I still get the occasional stares and pointing, especially from the tiger community. My parents think I am overreacting but I don't think they will ever quiet understand what it is like to be stared and pointed at. They still don't like the way I dress, opting to wear long baggy pants and shirts or jackets to cover up as much of my appearance as I can. I don't even let my tail show choosing instead to wrap it around my waist like a belt. I try not to wear all black to avoid the "emo" look which my mom really hates and I don't much like since I'm not really emo at all. They still make me take off my fingerless gloves and hats with the no ear holes and always scold me to keep my handouts out of my pockets, my head and ears up, and tail out because they say it is embarrassing to look like that whenever we go out.

Although, I might not have met my best friend if it weren't for the fact that I was different, or I guess in his case somewhat similar. His name is Dustin, a tall, kind of chubby husky with sapphire blue eyes and a black and white fur pattern. It was nice to see another black and white fur even if he was a canine and his coat was mostly black except for his underside, inner ears and muzzle area that had a lone black spot between his eyes. We met in the high school cafeteria one afternoon. The administration had restricted students from leaving the school grounds during lunch because the surrounding neighborhoods complained about vandalism so I couldn't go to the park I like to spend my lunch at alone. My table must have been the only one that wasn't crowded. He sat down the opposite end until he called out my nickname Nate that my family likes to use questioningly. Even though I like to keep my ears played out flat or against my head they couldn't help but perk up at the call of my nickname in such an unfamiliar place. I looked up from my folded arms where I was pretending to be asleep and saw a big canine grin slapped across his face. He scooted over and sat right across from me and started talking. He actually remembered me from a youth soccer team we once played on when I was in middle school (I wasn't always fat and lazy and neither was he though he told me he still like to play when he can). He told me he was a freshman and about the classes he was taking, I guess that's why I hadn't seen him around the high school before now since I am a sophomore this year. Next before I know I'm introduced to a boar named Mike and a cheetah named Lee, apparently they were on the same team as Dustin and I and are in the same grade as him. They talked more about classes and then the conversation moved to some recent movies they saw and videogames they played or were looking forward to. I soon found myself engrossed in the conversation and having fun.

I don't get bullied so much beyond some names and being made fun of and the worst thing to happen to me my freshman year at high school was being splashed with orange paint by a group of upperclassmen tigers. Aside from those small incidents I was a ghost at school and I didn't really mind it. Not being very social made me kind of a loner. I mean I was nice and helpful to anyone that I was forced to encounter but I didn't really fit into any of the cliques at school or know too many people since I moved off the military installation and the new neighborhood I live belongs to a different school district. So when I went to the cafeteria the next day I didn't expect to sit with Dustin or any of his friends. I had convinced myself that they were just being nice by talking to me since mine was the only available table and resigned myself to sitting alone again during lunch. I guess I couldn't help myself when my ears perked up and my heart started racing when I heard someone yell my name when I entered the cafeteria. There at the same table was Dustin sitting with his lunch, his curled tail wagging slightly behind him, ears flicking my direction, and grin on his face.

As I sat down he asked if there was anything wrong, looking a little concerned. I told him everything was fine and then he said, "Hey, don't be so nervous buddy. Us monochrome blue-eyed guys have got to stick together." I hadn't realized how nervous I was until he started laughing and I felt my tail loosen from around my waist.

"Well blue eye in my case" I said pointing to my one blue eye. That got another laugh out of him and a huge grin out of me. He must have been examining my eyes, his head was tilted slightly to one side with one ear perked up and the other splayed out to the side, it was cute and I couldn't help but snicker.

"What's so funny?" he says and straightens up.

I can't tell him I thought he was cute the way he was looking into my eyes. "Nothing, I just think you canines with your tail wagging are funny. It is so easy to tell when you are happy." It is not a complete lie and his tail is still wagging.

"I might be able to say the same about you if you had a tail." He tells me as he leans to one side trying to look behind me to see my tail. "What'd you do, chop it off?"

"Oh, um. No I just have it wrapped around my waist like a belt." My voice was starting to get a nervous edge. I didn't know why I was so shy about exposing my tail around him.

"Come on, there's nothing wrong with showing it off." He brought his tail around to the front and the tip was wagging back and forth in front of him over the table.

Soon Lee and Mike joined us and we began chatting and joking as if we were friends for years.

It continued like this for the rest of the year. Some of their other friends would join us too, a Meerkat named Sarah, a grey wolf named Richard, a lab named Sasha, and a couple others. This time when they asked about being a white tiger with complete heterochromia iridis, I didn't mind the stares. They thought it was pretty cool, especially the two different eye colors. It wasn't long before I found out that we all lived in the same neighborhood and that Dustin actually lived really close, I could ride their bus if I woke up a little earlier and took the path through the woods to their side.