The daylight sky was filled with light from the sun, warming the terrain of the
atmosphere. A young, 8 year old dragon named Caleb awoke to the sound of his alarm
clock going off. He gently reached over to hit the sleep button on the clock. Slowly
arising from the blankets, he stretched his body. “Aaah… what a nice night of sleep.
Welp, time for school!” The cub exclaimed in what was surprisingly excitement. Not
many other cubs he knew liked going to school but he loved it. It was his passion to
learn and become successful as he goes on in life.

       Caleb walked into his slippers as he shuffled around in his closet, trying to fin his
usual attire. He usually wore sandals, his glasses, a plain blue t-shirt and red shorts. He
carefully slipped on each pair of clothing. “Gotta go to school, mom! Be home later!”
He yelled, running out the door in a hurry. He walked to school due to only living less
than half a mile away from the school. Caleb didn’t mind though, he liked the walk in
the fresh air.

      The young dragon inhaled and exhaled the fresh air slowly. “Nothing better than a
walk on a sunny day like this.” Now arrived at the school, he entered in and headed to
fourth grade home room. Sitting down at his usual desk, he scooted in and placed his
hands upon his desk in a formal manner. The teacher, Mr. Jeremiah, was a tough German
Shepherd. A teacher, yes but get on his bad side and he can fight. He’s made students
behave in the correct manner through just staring them in the eyes. Except for Caleb. He
was the best student in the entire class. He never needed a talking to.

       “Class!” Mr. Jeremiah raised his voice, catching the students’ attention. “Today
we have a new student. Will you please introduce yourself?” The new kid was a tough
leopard punk. He wore A baseball cap backwards, a long sleeved shirt and saggy jeans.
Clearly he was a sign of trouble for all unfortunate enough to stand in his path. Spitting
into the garbage can beside the teacher’s desk, he said “Name’s Mark.” “Thank you,
Mark. You can take your seat beside Caleb over there.”

      Knowing Caleb, he liked to try and make friends with everybody, so he decided to
introduce himself. Holding out his hand paw, he smiles. “Welcome to our school, Mark!
I hope we ca--” “Shut up...” Mark grumbled, gritting his teeth with an angry expression.
“W-what?...” Caleb put his hand paw down and frowned. “Did I do something
wrong?...” The leopard was quick to yell at the poor dragon “YES! YES! YOU ARE SO
ANNOYING! YOUR FUCKING VOICE PIERCES MY EARS LIKE NAILS ON A
CHALKBOARD!” Suddenly the whole class went silent and looked behind them at
Mark.

      Noticing the room had his full attention, he went blank minded. Looking around
him as he thought to himself “Shit… I really need to hold it together here...” “Mark? Is
something wrong?” The teacher asked him. Mark was quick to recover from spacing out
and immediately answered. “Y-yes sir! Sorry about that. I just had a bad morning and
I’m a bit moody.” Caleb still put on a sad face, wondering what he might have done to
cause Mark to be so angry. Or was it even him at all? Mr. Jeremiah looked at the clock
on the wall just as the bell went off and it was time to move from homeroom to the first
subject of the day, English. Unfortunately for the little dragon, Mark was in his English
class and had to sit next to him in there as well. What are the chances? Sitting next to
each other in two different classes.

      The leopard tried his best to keep a clean mind and relax, but it was as if
everything in the world got on his bad side. Even simple things like pencils tapping
against a desk repeatedly. Being a lover of learning, Caleb of course sounded like a
teacher’s pet at every given chance possible. Constantly raising his hand immediately
when the questions were asked. “Tch… what a fuckin’ loser nerd this kid is.” Mark
mumbled under his breath as he didn’t pay attention to a single lesson but instead put his
Ipod earbuds in and kicked his feet paws up on his desk.

       Caleb turned to him and tried to get him to listen. “Hey. Mark? Y-yknow y-you
have to pay attention to what’s going on or you won’t understand the lesson...”
shuddering with fear as to what the leopard might do to him since he was very easy to
tick off. Mark took one of his earbuds out and looked to Caleb directly in the eyes.
“What do you want, kid? Can’t you see I’m busy doing my thing?” “Well y-yes, Mark
but--” he clenched his fist and went for a punch to Caleb’s lip, knocking him to the floor
with a busted mouth. His lip bled quite a bit as the English teacher came over to Mark
and disciplined him. Mrs. Goodheart, the teacher, gave Mark a slip to go to the
principal’s office. She pointed to the doorway. “Now you march on down to the
principal’s and tell him what you’ve done to poor Caleb!” Her voice raised as loud as it
could go.

      The punk leopard walked himself down to the office, kicking the floor with his
paws, getting angrier with each step he took. There wasn’t just anger in his eyes
anymore, he was filled with pure rage and hatred. He didn’t want to be at this school. It
was never his choice. Unfortunately, him and his father had to move due to their house
being foreclosed. All of his friends were back at his other school and he could never see
them again. Mark had a hard time making new friends when it came to moving and he
always tries to play the tough one to look cool in front of others. “This sucks. I never
wanted to be here!” Mark kicked slammed his foot into a wall with as much force
behind it as he could until he finally reached the principal’s office.

      Mark sat down in the chair placed in front of Mr. Heinrich’s desk. “Now, you do
understand what you did was wrong, correct?” the principal asked him. His curiosity
was piqued by Mark’s behavior. “Why did you hit that boy, Mark? Are you having
trouble adjusting to your new environment? I can help you, you know.” The leopard
only looked down and ignored Mr. Heinrich’s statement. Even pulling his baseball cap
over his eyes so the principal couldn’t look at him. With a deep breath and a sigh, Mr.
Heinrich explained to him. “Look, kid, we all have issues and we all have our secrets but
we can’t go around hurting each other. It doesn’t solve anything. You’ll get nowhere in
life just beating everyone you see up as you see fit.” Mark started to choke up and bite
his lip, trying to contain his tears. He suddenly recovered from choking as if there was
no emotion at all but just an act and blankly said “Yeah… I understand...”

       Mr. Heinrich wrote Mark another slip to let him back into class. Caleb had an ice
pack over his cheek, trying to help stop the pain of his throbbing lip. From that moment,
Caleb minded his own business through the rest of the class. When the bell rang once
again, it was time for lunch. This time, Mark stopped Caleb in the hallway, grabbing on
to his shoulder. The young dragon quickly jumped in fear. “Hey, we need to talk.” “A-
about what?” Caleb quivered in his tone. “About you.” “Me? What about me?” The
leopard quickly grabbed the young dragon’s throat and pinned him against the lockers,
lifting him up on to his tip toes. Caleb quickly started to make strangled noises.
“Khcck… ack….” “If I see you come around me, speak to me or so help me god, even
BREATHE on me… I’ll kill you where you stand. Do you understand me?”

       Caleb gulped deeply and shuddered. “Y-yes!” the young dragon’s toes moved
around trying to get back on to his feet. Mark finally placed him down as he stared
deeply into the dragon’s eyes with an insane expression. His grin wide and halfway
across his face. This leopard was no joke, he was the real deal. A killer. Caleb then
slowly walked to lunch and sat with his friend, Nick, who was a fox at the usual table
they take. Mark then came by and taunted Caleb. “Oh look. It’s the nerdy baby who
whines when others won’t pay attention to their work.” “Hmph..” the dragon grumbled
under his breath as he took a bit out of his sandwich. Mark then takes his milk and pours
it over the dragon’s head. Completely covering him. The leopard then laughs. “Ha!
Aww, what’s the matter? You gunna cry, baby pants?”

       Caleb had never gotten angry before. He was usually a simple mellow going kind
of student. Something about this bully drove him over the edge, causing Caleb to jump
out of his seat and on to Mark. He gave Mark a few punches to the face as he sat on top
of the leopard. “AAAHHH!! YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Mark then threw a punch to
Caleb’s stomach, knocking the young student to his knees. He tried to catch his breath,
wheezing and coughing. Just then, Mark grabbed Caleb by his shirt and threw a couple
more hooks to his face. Bruising him. They were in more than a fight now, it was a
survival match. Caleb fell to his knees again and weakly looked up at the bully leopard.

      “You… won’t… ack… be bullying anyone… anymore soon. I’ll make you eat
your words!” The young dragon was confident that he could get the bully kicked out of
the school. Just as Caleb went to go for a kick, Mark grabbed his leg and knocked him
on his back. His spine hitting the floor hard. “AAAHHHH!!!” Caleb exclaimed in
agony. Mark only laughed as he then proceeded to take a tie out of his lunch box and use
it to strangle the young dragon in front of his friend. Unfortunately for Caleb, his buddy
was a wimp and ran away. The leopard wrapped the tie around Caleb’s throat and began
tugging on the ends, constricting the poor dragon’s breathing. “Aaaaackk...hicck….
Ggguhh...” were all the noises Caleb could make as he tried his best to stick his fingers
underneath the tie. Not even the claws on his fingers could cut through it. He felt trapped
and completely pathetic. Caleb began twisting and turning his torso as he lifted himself
up into the air only to fall back down again as his hips thrust about. “St...p… let….g--”

       He couldn’t talk or swallow, causing his tongue to get fat. “Mark watched in
excitement as Caleb went down how he expected. The rush Mark got from strangling the
dragon was outmatched by his excitement for simply bullying. Caleb kicked and
dragged his feet along the ground. His sandals slipping and sliding, giving him no
traction to escape at all. As the young dragon continued to struggle, he pushed at Mark’s
face, trying to shove him off. There was nothing Caleb could do. He was stuck fighting
for his life. Once again, he dragged his feet along the ground but this time, knocked off
his left sandal, exposing his bare sole. Caleb could feel the cold ground underneath his
now bare foot.

       Feeling absolutely agonized and humiliated, the young dragon tried picking up his
feet and kicking Mark in the crotch, but to no avail, it had no effect on him. He was too
invested in strangling the poor student. As he kicked against Mark’s chest, his other foot
slid down the leopard’s shirt, causing his other sandal to fall off, exposing his other bare
sole. His toes clenched tight to portray agony as the bully continued his assault.
Unfortunately for Caleb, there was nobody else around. Lunch was over at least 20
minutes before their fight started. The only hope he had was if the school bell went off
within the next minute. Which it did. This didn’t stop Mark from strangling the student
though.

      Caleb’s toes splayed out in fear and agony as he tried to lift himself away from
Mark. The dragon’s head now against the cafeteria table. He was halfway there. He then
began to drool from his maw. His fat tongue forming a puddle. He was close to death, he
could feel it. Caleb held on to life though, slapping at Mark’s arms. Finally, Mr.
Jeremiah had arrived and broke up the fight. “HEY! YOU! MARK, STOP IT!” He ran
over to the punk leopard and pulled on Mark’s arm tightly, causing him to release Caleb.
Now having a chance to catch his breath, he coughed violently “AHACK! UHCCKK!
Aagh...” Mr. Jeremiah walked up to Caleb. “Are you all right, little guy? He didn’t hurt
you too bad, did he?”

       Caleb nodded. He wouldn’t deny it. Strangling was the worst feeling he had ever
felt. Mr. Jeremiah escorted Mark to the principal’s office and they had told Mr. Heinrich
about everything that went down in the cafeteria. “Mark! You are hereby expelled from
this school. Good luck finding another one because they won’t put up with such
behavior as we did today.” Mark then walked out of the school and Caleb was successful
in getting rid of a psychopathic bully.

       After the day was over, Caleb walked back home with a smile on his face,
knowing everything was going to be okay the next day. “How was your day, son?” His
mother asked. “It was pretty chaotic, I’ll tell you all about it later though. I’m tired.
Need a nap.” She giggles as he runs upstairs. “All right, little one.” Caleb scurried into
his pajamas and slippers and tucked himself under the covers. “Aaah.. it will be a better
day tomorrow.”