Oxnard the hamster was on his way over to an art class run by a friend of his, who had asked him to help out with a class a few days ago. The hamster owed him a couple favors, so he decided it would be best to help his friend. The art class wasn’t held that far away from where Oxnard lived, so he was able to take a short walk over to the building. Upon entering the art school, he was met with a very energetic otter waving to him in the lobby.


        “Hey, Oxnard!” he said, shaking Oxnard’s paw and moving to his side, bringing his arm around the hamster’s shoulder. He led him further down the hall, passing a few classrooms as they went. “Thanks so much for coming through! Our model was double-booked and had to go to a different gig, so you’re really helping me out here.”


        “Sure thing, Arnold,” said Oxnard, smiling to his friend. “Wait, did you say...modeling? Was I supposed to bring a costume? Or is there one here for me?”


        “Ohhh, that’s right! I forgot to tell you about what you’d be helping me with exactly,” said Arnold, pushing his glasses up and stopping outside of what Oxnard assumed to be his classroom door. “Recently, we’ve transitioned into our anatomy unit. Last week was bovines and today, we’re moving onto rodents.”


        “Anatomy?” asked Oxnard, “won’t it be hard to teach an anatomy course with my clothes sti--...on…” Oxnard’s heart rate began to increase as he realized just what costume he’d be modeling in for Arnold’s class.


        “Yeah, that’s the thing,” said Arnold, smiling nervously and scratching the back of his head. “I may have forgotten a little...important detail about the job i needed you to do. You’re gonna be modeling…*ahem* nude...for the class today.”


        “N-n-nude?!” exclaimed Oxnard, his face expressing complete shock. “Nonononono, no way! I’m sorry Arnold, I can’t do this.” Oxnard turned around and began to scurry back down the hall and away from the classroom door.


        “Oxnard!” said Arnold, chasing after him and placing his paws on Oxnard’s shoulders to stop him after catching up. “Oxnard, please. I really need this favor from you. The board is evaluating my teaching today and I need a model to remain certified.” Oxnard turned around and saw the concerned look in Arnold’s eyes, realizing that he really did need to help his friend out.


        “Fine,” said Oxnard, trying his best to act unfazed, “I’ll model for your class. Just...promise not to mention this to anyone, alright?”


        “Thank you thank you thank you!” cheered Arnold, hugging Oxnard and bouncing up and down. “Don’t worry, Oxnard. This stays between you and me...and the class…...and the board members.......heh heh.”


        “Yeah yeah, don’t mention it,” remarked Oxnard dismissively, walking with Arnold over to the classroom door. “So...how’s this gonna work? Am I just gonna--”


        “--Relax, Oxnard!” assured Arnold, “I’ll walk you through everything in there. Just go with what I say.” The river otter grabbed onto the handle for the classroom door and opened it, holding it for Oxnard to walk through. Oxnard noticed that all eyes were on him the second he walked into the room. It was quite a large classroom with a somewhat less-than-traditional setup. In the middle of the room was a riser for models to stand on. It was fairly well-lit and within the line of sight of every animal in the room. The class had about forty students of all species and sizes ready with their easels and brushes. They were situated in large concentric circles surrounding the model stand. Oxnard could immediately tell the class was co-ed after hearing both feminine and masculine sounding giggling. He walked with Arnold to the center of the room, receiving lots of stares from the art students already.


        “Wait here,” whispered Arnold, “I’ll hop up and introduce you to them.” The otter stepped quickly up the stairs and looked out to his class, noticing five board members sitting at a long table closest to the model stand along with the rest of his students who were standing beside their easels. “Hello, Class! I want to begin by welcoming the school’s board members, who will be observing this class today,” Arnold said, smiling to the mouse, fox, bunny, deer, and bear sitting at the table, all of them female except for the vulpine. “Now, I’m sure you all remember what I said we’d be doing today. Our model, however, had to cancel last minute, so let’s all thank my friend Oxnard for volunteering to fill in.” Arnold turned around and motioned for Oxnard to hop up on the model stand. The hamster reluctantly did so, waving nervously to the students and board members as he received a thankful round of applause. “While I let Oxnard undress, be sure to start considering how your going to paint the basic shape of his body.”


        Oxnard felt his muscles tense up upon hearing the word ‘undress’. “Up here?!” he whispered quite audibly to Arnold, making a lot of the class members giggle.


        “They’re gonna see everything anyway, Oxnard,” Arnold whispered back more quietly. “Just...pretend you’re ripping it off like a band-aid. Quick and painless.”


        “Okay, if you say so,” mumbled Oxnard, beginning to slip his shirt over his head. He ignored the giggles he was hearing from the students and unbuttoned his pants. The sound of his zipper going down and the garment dropping to his ankles was the loudest thing happening in the room, drawing even more attention to the hamster. Feeling the cool air brush over his nearly naked body with only his underwear to cover him reassured him that he was indeed not dreaming. “Ohhh boy…” Oxnard whispered to himself as he bent over and slipped his paws into his waistband. Taking Arnold’s advice, he tugged them down in one swift motion, revealing his round, furry cheeks to the students behind him and his below average hamster parts to the students and the board in front of him. He blushed and smiled nervously after beginning to hear snickers throughout the room. Out of embarrassment, he brought his tail to his front between his legs to try to cover up what the students were laughing at.


        “Now, we’re going to have Oxnard here assume two different poses for this class. The first pose is going to be in a natural standing position. Your job is to accurately depict his image in your painting. Do we all understand?”


        “Yes,” the class droned in unison, beginning to move their brushes. Arnold looked over to Oxnard and noticed he was looking a little nervous.


        “Hey, Oxnard,” whispered Arnold, “just relax, this’ll be over before you know it. Also, I’m gonna need you to stop covering your, uh...stuff with your tail. Just assume a normal standing position.”


        “If you promise it’ll be over fast,” said Oxnard, letting go of his tail and exposing his privates to the room of onlooking art students. Oxnard felt like he was living his worst nightmare: everyone in the room was staring closely at his naked body, observing his every detail and painting it on a canvas. He needed to keep his head still, and because of this was in embarrassed agony when he heard female voices giggling behind him. He also couldn’t help but notice the mouse lady at the board’s table try to hold back a few snickers.


        “Alright class, I want a few of you to begin by telling me what you notice is different about a rodent’s body as opposed to the bovines we studied last week,” said Arnold. He looked out and saw a female feline raise her hand. “Yes, you.”


        “Smaller...parts,” she said, holding back some giggles and in the process making many members of the class laugh.


        “Haha, yes,” laughed Arnold nervously, “I suppose you’re right about that. That’s to be expected as rodents are much smaller creatures than bovines, though. Any different observations, maybe from our reading?”


        “The hindquarters are more pronounced,” blurted out a weasel guy from behind Oxnard, garnering more snickers from the other students around him.


        “Very good, Bradley,” said Arnold, turning toward him. “Especially on Oxnard here, the rear is a lot harder to miss, heh heh. I’ll let you all take another few minutes to continue painting Oxnard.” The students continued to paint until a knock on the door was heard. Arnold quickly made his way over to the door, opening it to a group of avian students with cameras.


        “Hey there Mr. Otter sir, we’re all in the photography club, and we were wondering if we could take some pics of your class!” said one of the birds, making Oxnard’s stomach drop.


        “Well, you see…” said Arnold, “now isn’t really the best tim--”


        “GREAT, thanks!” the bird exclaimed, pushing into the room with his friends. They immediately noticed the naked rodent standing in the middle of the room. “Wow, you’ve gotta model in here and everything!” said one of the other birds, snapping a quick picture of the exposed hamster. It was all happening so fast, and Oxnard didn’t know if he was allowed to cover up for this. He closed his eyes and prayed that they wouldn’t be in there for too long. He heard a snap from behind him. *CLICK* “Wow, this hamster’s got quite the tushy on ‘im,” Oxnard heard from behind. He then heard another click from in front. *SNAP* “He certainly isn’t anywhere near the size the bull was last week, hehe.”


        “Alright, Photography club,” said Arnold, sounding stern and upset, “thanks for coming in, you can leave now!” The otter pushed the birds out of the room, closing the door behind them as they left. “Phew, alright class, if you’re finished painting this pose, I’m going to ask Oxnard to do one more for us.” Arnold stepped onto the model stand next to Oxnard and looked out to the class. “Okay, for this last pose, we’re going to incorporate what we’ve been learning in our Japanese art unit and have Oxnard get into a sumo pose.”


        Oxnard blushed an even deeper red than he already was after hearing this request. ‘Why did it have to be a sumo pose?’ he asked himself, shifting his legs a bit. He noticed Arnold leaning over to him. “I’m sorry, Oxnard. This pose was on the list requested by the board.” Oxnard looked over to the board members after this, and he almost let out an audible gasp after seeing the female mouse give him a little wink. Arnold hopped back off the model stand and everything was up to Oxnard now. He spread his hamster feet a bit and leaned back into the pose, feeling cool air breeze between his cheeks and over his now dangling bits. He kept his tail down to cover his rear but this was soon noticed by Arnold. He whispered to Oxnard on the riser, albeit somewhat audibly. “Could you lift your tail? Sorry, I just need my students to paint the whole picture here and learn as much about anatomy as they can.” Oxnard sighed quietly and sheepishly lifted his tail upward, hearing a couple of the females situated behind him gasp. ‘Oh no,’ he thought, ‘that’s not good.’


        The students were painting him for a bit before he heard one of the girls behind him call Arnold over for a question. “What color paint would you recommend using for the, uh...the...tailhole?” she asked without even taking the consideration to whisper, making the class laugh and Oxnard’s legs shake a bit out of embarrassment. Arnold waited for the laughter to die down a bit.


        “Oh, that,” he said, unable to help himself from laughing nervously again, “I’d probably go with Palace Rose there.”


        The painting continued on for what seemed like forever, but it all eventually ended, and Arnold stepped back onto the model stand. “Alright class, let’s give a big thank you to Oxnard for being our model for today!” said the otter, allowing the class to begin applauding. The male fox sitting at the board table leaned back in his seat and reached behind him to click a device of some sort.


“Thanks Arnold,” said the Fox, “we’ll be sure to get the video of this class for the National Art Education Board to review.”


“Thank you very much, Fred,” said Arnold, grinning nervously to Oxnard, who gave him a glare and hopped off the stand, slipping his clothes back on.


“Thanks again Oxnard,” said Arnold, walking Oxnard out the door of the class and sending him off.


“Don’t mention it,” the hamster said blankly, returning home and hoping that he would never hear about what happened that day again.