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They grow up so fast -_-,\n\n********************\n[url=https://freekidsbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Peter-Rabbit-FKB-Kids-Stories.pdf]Peter Rabbit book being read[/url]\n\n********************\nAll URLs are Amazon\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Primary-Bucket-Balance/dp/B000296LRK/]Balance scales in school[/url]\n\n********************\nPlaysets and toys that Tamra has (Please note they may or may not be available anymore (as of the time that I uploaded, they are available.):\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Pretend-Kitchen-Dispenser/dp/B01B1V32N8]Melissa & Doug Wooden Chef’s Pretend Play Toy Kitchen With “Ice” Cube Dispenser[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Star-Diner-Restaurant/dp/B072N3Y64F]Melissa & Doug Star Diner Restaurant[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCNKR7H/]Wooden Farmers Market Stand - Kid's Playroom Furniture Grocery Stand for Pretend Play (30+ Pieces) - Includes Fruit, Chalkboard, Chalk, and Cash Register[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DDQTD78]Step2 488699 Coffee Bean Café & Kitchen Kids Playset, Gray[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Little-Tikes-Learn-Smart-Checkout/dp/B07B8HYFZK]Little Tikes Shop 'N Learn Smart Checkout[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/JaxoJoy-122-Piece-Pretend-Beautiful-Assortment/dp/B073SDKTL5/]JaxoJoy 122-Piece Deluxe Pretend Play Food Set Beautiful Toy Food Assortment[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-Tasty-Treats-Play-Pieces/dp/B00JLGGH2Y/]KidKraft Tasty Treats Play Food Set (115 Pieces)[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Play-Food-Set-Kids-Pretend/dp/B01COI9EAC/]Play Food Set for Kids & Toy Food for Pretend Play - Huge 125 Piece Play Kitchen Set with Childrens Educational Food Toys for Toddlers Inspires Imagination - Fake Plastic Foods for Cooking (Edition 1)[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-5183-Grocery-Companion/dp/B072PZKLX9/]Melissa & Doug 5183 Fresh Mart Grocery Store Play Food & Role Play Companion Set (70+ Pieces) Role Play Toy[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-22-Piece-Kitchen-Accessories/dp/B01B1UWB68/]Melissa & Doug 22-Piece Play Kitchen Accessories Set - Utensils, Pot, Pans, and More[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-Deluxe-Cookware-Set-pieces/dp/B003BAN3AU/]KidKraft, Deluxe Cookware Set, (11 pieces)[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Shopping-Sturdy-Metal/dp/B000VO3GPG/]Melissa & Doug Toy Shopping Cart With Sturdy Metal Frame[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Play-Money-Set/dp/1223080439/]Melissa & Doug Play Money Set - Educational Toy With Paper Bills and Plastic Coins (50 of each denomination) and Wooden Cash Drawer for Storage[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007EA6PKS/]Melissa & Doug Let's Play House! Grocery Cans Play Food Kitchen Accessory - 10 Stackable Cans With Removable Lids[/url]\n\n[url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQ2N5R2/]Mommy Please Play Food Set for Kids - Huge 202 Piece Pretend Food Toys is Perfect for Kitchen Sets and Play Food Kitchen Toys - Inspire Your Toddlers Imagination + 4 Bonus Water Bottles[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Awww, the littlest is in school now. They grow up so fast -_-,

********************
Peter Rabbit book being read

********************
All URLs are Amazon
Balance scales in school

********************
Playsets and toys that Tamra has (Please note they may or may not be available anymore (as of the time that I uploaded, they are available.):

Melissa & Doug Wooden Chef’s Pretend Play Toy Kitchen With “Ice” Cube Dispenser

Melissa & Doug Star Diner Restaurant

Wooden Farmers Market Stand - Kid's Playroom Furniture Grocery Stand for Pretend Play (30+ Pieces) - Includes Fruit, Chalkboard, Chalk, and Cash Register

Step2 488699 Coffee Bean Café & Kitchen Kids Playset, Gray

Little Tikes Shop 'N Learn Smart Checkout

JaxoJoy 122-Piece Deluxe Pretend Play Food Set Beautiful Toy Food Assortment

KidKraft Tasty Treats Play Food Set (115 Pieces)

Play Food Set for Kids & Toy Food for Pretend Play - Huge 125 Piece Play Kitchen Set with Childrens Educational Food Toys for Toddlers Inspires Imagination - Fake Plastic Foods for Cooking (Edition 1)

Melissa & Doug 5183 Fresh Mart Grocery Store Play Food & Role Play Companion Set (70+ Pieces) Role Play Toy

Melissa & Doug 22-Piece Play Kitchen Accessories Set - Utensils, Pot, Pans, and More

KidKraft, Deluxe Cookware Set, (11 pieces)

Melissa & Doug Toy Shopping Cart With Sturdy Metal Frame

Melissa & Doug Play Money Set - Educational Toy With Paper Bills and Plastic Coins (50 of each denomination) and Wooden Cash Drawer for Storage

Melissa & Doug Let's Play House! Grocery Cans Play Food Kitchen Accessory - 10 Stackable Cans With Removable Lids

Mommy Please Play Food Set for Kids - Huge 202 Piece Pretend Food Toys is Perfect for Kitchen Sets and Play Food Kitchen Toys - Inspire Your Toddlers Imagination + 4 Bonus Water Bottles", "writing": "Monday August 28, 2023 \n\n\t“Are you excited for your first day of school?” Vapor asked looking into the backseat of the car.\n\t“I ‘ont know,” Laika replied.\n\t“It’s a lot of fun,” Fang said slowing down for a stop sign.\n\t“What I do at school?” She asked.\n\t“Well, even though we already told you multiple times, you’ll learn stuff like numbers and your ABC’s and more. Get to play and take naps and make friends,” Vapor explained\n\t“But I know numbers already. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7-”\n\t“We know that sweetie, but you’ll learn even more numbers, how to add numbers and much more,” Vapor replied.\n\t“Okay,” Laika replied.\n\t“It’s fun Laika. We made lots of friends our first day,” Onai said and smiled.\n\t“Yeah lots of fun,” Luna replied a little less enthusiastic.\n\n\tAbout ten minutes later all five of them got out of the car. Laika walked in between her parents with Onai and Luna behind them. Laika looked up at the brightly color walls with large, thin, cardboard letters along it. They all walked down the main hallway then turned a corner to the right. They came to a stop at a door with “108” on it in colored letters. \n\n\tLaika stepped into the room and looked around. There was eleven other students in the classroom. Each wall was painted a different color; red, blue, green and yellow, the four primary colors. The floor was carpet tiles of many different colors, with a single letter or number in each tile. A female badger walked up to them and first greeted Fang and Vapor before squatting down in front of Laika. With a smile the badger reached her paw out and Laika shook the teachers paw for only a couple of seconds.\n\t“I’m Ms. Hinton, your teacher,” the teacher said. Laika smiled faintly but said nothing.\n\t“You’re an adorable and very cute little wolf,” Hinton said, garnering a large smile from Laika.\n\t“T-thank,” Laika said quietly.\n\t“You want to come in and meet your new friends?” Hinton asked her. Laika shrugged while still looking over the classroom.\n\t“Laika,” Vapor said then squatted down. Laika turned around and looked at her parents. They talked to her for a couple of minutes before they hugged and kissed her. Onai and Luna did the same then stepped out into the hallway. Fang and Vapor told Laika that they would see her after school and gave her a hug and kiss once again then left the classroom. Laika sighed and turned around to see all the students. The teacher looked down at Laika and held her paw out, Laika took it and was led to a desk with an empty chair.\n\t“Here’s where you’ll sit Laika. Say hello everyone,” Hinton said then left as another family walked through the door.\n\t“I’m Winston,” a male ferret stated.\n\t“I’m Harley,” a female boar said.\n\t“I’m Tamra. Nice to meet you Laika,” a horse said. Laika looked at the three of them and smiled but said nothing.\n\t“You okay?” Tamra asked.\n\t“Y-yes,” Laika replied with a faint smile.\n\t“Okay,” Tamra replied back with a smile.\n\t“Your mommy and daddy seems nice,” Tamra said, garnering only a nod from Laika.\n\n\tA few hours later everyone in Laika’s class and two other classrooms was out on the playground for recess. Laika plopped down in the corner of one of the six sandboxes. She looked out over the playground watching dozens of cubs, kits, kittens, foals and many other species running around, climbing, swinging, digging and making new friends. While watching them her mind went blank and fuzzy, misty. Her thoughts was that she wanted her mommy and daddy and to be back home. She understood why she needed to be here but still didn’t make it any better. She could hear a voice every few seconds while she continued thinking about her parents and brother and sister. “Laika,” the voice said once again. She continued staring at the sand in front of her. “Laika,” the voice said again as her body was softly shook. After another shout out of her name and shaking, Laika shook her head and looked over at the foal next to her, she was smiling at Laika.\n\t“T-Tamra. W-what?” Laika asked.\n\t“You okay?” Tamra asked.\n\t“Yes,” Laika replied then looked at the sand again.\n\t“You are quiet,” Tamra said.\n\t“Oh,” Laika said. Tamra giggled then moved in front of Laika. The two of them sat there playing in the sand while Tamra did the majority of the talking. Near the end of recess Tamra looked up at Laika just staring at the sand between them, she looked sad which made Tamra sad for her.\n\t“Laika whats wrong you’re sad,” Tamra said.\n\t“I want to be home. It not fun here,” she explained.\n\t“It is only the first day. Give it time,” Tamra said then smiled. Laika smiled back but still wanted to go home.\n\n\tAbout two hours after recess, they were in lunch line. Laika took a tray, a fork and spoon and followed the other students in line, as they slowly moved. She looked through the glass at all the different food, then looked up at one of the lunch ladies.\n\t“What you want sweetie?” The doe, a deer, asked.\n\t“Potatoes, mac and cheese and meat, I guess,” Laika replied.\n\t“Okay, you need a vegetable too,” the lunch lady said as she placed the food onto the tray.\n\t“Peas, I guess. What food is that?” Laika replied then pointed at some bread.\n\t“It’s garlic bread. It’s really tasty,” she replied.\n\t“Can I get that too?” Laika asked.\n\t“Sure thing sweetie,” she replied. Laika thanked her and moved down the line towards the end, where they paid. Laika made it through the line and followed Tamra back to a table where their teacher was standing by. Once seated, Laika began to eat. She was surprised at how tasty it all was, especially the garlic bread. She sat there eating as everyone else was. A bit later, she looked up and noticed that most everyone else in her class had finished eating already, she had barely eaten half of the food. Tamra sat next to her, talking about random things. Laika wasn’t fully paying attention to her, not to be rude, but due to her thinking about her mom and dad. Tamra didn’t mind though, she knew she’d get through Laika’s muteness at some point and they would be best friends forever. She stopped talking and giggled upon seeing Laika stare at her food intensely. All of the classroom teachers were walking around their respective tables, making sure their students weren’t causing issues or making messes. Mrs. Hinton stopped and looked at Laika, on the opposite side of the table. She was now stirring her potatoes slowly, mixing in the remaining peas. After walking around the table, she squatted down in between but behind Laika and Tamra.\n\t“You okay Laika? You haven’t eaten much,” Hinton asked.\n\t“Yes. Just miss mommy and daddy,” she replied.\n\t“Aww, you love them a lot don’t you?” Hinton asked. Laika smiled and nodded her head.\n\t“You’ll see them in a few hours,” Hinton said.\n\t“Okay,” she replied.\n\t“How are you doing Tamra?” Hinton asked turning towards the horse foal.\n\t“I’m doing good Mrs. Hinton,” she replied.\n\t“Good to hear. Laika, don’t take too much longer to eat, there’s only ten minutes left of lunch,” Hinton said, standing up and looking down the table at her other students. “Tommy, no! Don’t do that,” she said and rushed off to a lamb about to overturn his tray of food onto the table.\n\n\tLater in the day all students were sitting in front of and listening to Mrs. Hinton read a book.\n\n\tA bit later, after story time, Laika somehow left the classroom without being noticed. She had wandered down the hallway and entered into the bathroom. After using it she headed back into the hallway. She wandered around for almost five minutes until she was spotted.\n\t“Hey you. Why are you out in the hallways?” A voice asked. Laika jumped and spun around. She turned her head up and looked up at the tall giraffe. Her muzzle opened but nothing came out.\n\t“What’s your name?” The teacher asked. Laika continued staring at her silently.\n\t“Are you mute or deaf?” The teacher asked and signed with her hands.\n\t“No?” Laika finally spoke up.\n\t“What are you doing out here and what’s your name?” She asked again. Laika looked up at the teacher and remained silent.\n\t“Laika. I want to go home. I don’t like it here,” she finally said.\n\t“Why don’t you like it here? It’s fun in school,” she said.\n\t“I’m scared. I want my bubba or sissy. I want them,” Laika said and started crying.\n\t“Oh Laika. Come here,” the teacher said and squatted down. She sat down and pulled Laika into a hug. They sat there while Laika cried and cried. Around five minutes later a frantic Mrs. Hinton rushed into the hallway after noticing that Laika was missing. She rounded the corner of the hallway after hearing the crying. She looked at the two halfway down the corridor. She stopped and listened to the teacher console the crying cub.\n\t“It’s okay Laika. School is different but it’s not scary or bad. It does take some time to get used to. It took me awhile to like it too. I hated it for a few years, but now I teach.” She said.\n\t“Y-you do?” Laika asked, sniffling.\n\t“I do. I teach second grade,” she replied.\n\t“W-will I h-have you for teacher?” Laika asked wiping tears from her eyes.\n\t“I don’t know. But if you promise to stick with school, maybe you will have me for your second grade teacher,” she said.\n\t“Okay. I try to,” Laika replied still sobbing and gasping for air from crying.\n\t“Good girl. First things first, lets get you back to the safety of your classroom? Who is your teacher?” She asked standing up.\n\t“Mrs. Hi… Hinton,” she replied.\n\t“Ah Mrs. Hinton. She’s a really nice teacher. She loves all of her students,” she said as they slowly walked back to the class.\n\t“By the way, I’m Mrs. Karena,” she said.\n\t“I’m Laika Wolfe,” she replied.\n\t“Wolfe huh? I know an Onai and Luna Wolfe-”\n\t“You know my bubba and sissy?” Laika asked energetically.\n\t“Not really but yes. They weren’t my students. But they were in the classroom next to mine. I remember them from last year. Their class and mine did recess and PE together,” Karena explained.\n\t“Oh okay,” Laika replied.\n\t“It’s a small world,” Karena said as they stopped at a door.\n\t“Okay Laika, here’s your classroom. I’ll take you back in,” she said and opened the door.\n\n\tAs soon as they stepped into the room Laika looked up to see her teacher looking down at her, her arms crossed.\n\n\t“Hello Nora, I found Laika out in the hallways. She was scared and was trying to find her brother and sister,” Karena said.\n\t“Is that so?” Mrs. Hinton asked.\n\t“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again,” Laika said quietly.\n\t“Go to your seat Laika,” Hinton said. Laika looked up at her for a few seconds then walked to her desk. Her tail tucked between her legs and her ears flattened. Before she could sit down Tamra ambushed her with a hug.\n\t“I worried about you Laika,” Tamra said.\n\n\tHinton and Karena talked to each other for a couple of minutes before Karena said goodbye to Laika then left the room. Hinton sat at her desk and called Laika over.\n\n\t“Laika Wolfe, what you did was unacceptable. You put your safety at risk by leaving without having permission,” Hinton said.\n\t“I’m sorry,” Laika replied.\n\t“Why did you leave the classroom?” Hinton asked.\n\t“I got scared. Too many here,” she replied.\n\t“Too many what?” Hinton asked.\n\t“Furs. I want to find bubba and sissy. They make me feel better ‘round others,” she explained.\n\t“You cannot be leaving the classroom like that Laika. It puts you at risk and all of your classmates,”\n\t“I’m sorry,” she said and looked up at her teacher, “am I in trouble?”\n\t“Yes Laika you are. Follow me,” Hinton said standing up. Hinton walked over to a stool and had Laika sit down.\n\t“You stay on this stool for five minutes and think about what you’ve done. I’ll call you when it’s time for you to get up. Okay?” Hinton said. Laika only nodded in reply. Hinton walked back up to the front of class and called out it was free time play then explained what it was and what students could do. Laika sat there silently for a minute before she turned around and faced the wall. She felt a little more comfortable now. Her fear was fading away. She sat there even though it was boring for her but it felt better than being surrounded by all those others that overwhelmed her. Laika continued sitting there, in her own little world. She had started making up a world, with her imagination, just months before, after her mom read her a book called “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” She was smiling with her eyes closed when she was jarred from her thoughts. She shook her head and looked up. It was her teacher.\n\t“You’re done with timeout now. I hope you learned your lesson. You can join your friends in free time,” Hinton said. Laika nodded and left the corner. She sat down in an area without anyone around. Near her was a storage cabinet with open cube shelves. On one shelf was a bucket balance scale and containers of colored rice. She grabbed the three objects and sat them down. She pressed one side of the scale down and saw that the other side lifted up. She put the container of red rice on one side and pressed down on the other. Then it hit her, put both containers onto the scale. She groaned after she let go and the blue rice side dropped to the floor. She picked the container back up and looked at it then sat it back down. She pulled on the lid and it popped off. She smiled as the blue rice flowed through her fingers and off the side of her paw. She picked up another pawful and dumped them into the bucket on the scale. After a few seconds she picked up the entire container and poured out all of the rice with the bit in the bucket. She watched as that side slowly moved down closer to the floor. After all of the rice was in, she groaned again, as the bucket sat on the floor.\n\t“This is stupid!” Laika scowled loudly and pouted. A few students looked over at her, including her teacher. Before the teacher could do anything Tamra leapt up and skipped over to the young wolf and dropped down in front of Laika and the scale.\n\t“What is going on?” Tamra asked.\n\t“Thing broke. It won’t move right,” she replied. Tamra looked down and assessed the situation for a moment.\n\t“Try this,” Tamra said and took the red rice off the scale and poured it into the scale.\n\t“See it broke,” she replied.\n\t“No. You have to, uh, ba-bal, make weight same on both sides,” Tamra explained. Laika watched Tamra pull out some of the blue rice and watched as the scale slowly moved off the ground just slightly.\n\t“Try it too,” Tamra said putting the rice into a container. Laika pulled out a pawful of rice and smiled as she watched the scale move up closer to the balance point. The two of them took turns until the scale was balanced and the two buckets were even. Tamra smiled brightly at Laika, who was kind of frowning and staring at the scale.\n\t“That was boring,” Laika said, after looking up.\n\t“Yeah it was. Lets pick up and do something else,” Tamra said picking up the red rice bucket.\n\n\tA few hours later Laika walked out of the front doors and saw her dad. She rushed up and lunged at Fang, who caught her. They were hugging when Mrs. Hinton walked up to them. Hinton had finished talking to another parent.\n\t“Hello again,” Fang said.\n\t“Good day Mr. Wolfe. How are you?” Hinton asked.\n\t“I’m good. How are you doing? But that look on your face says not so good,” he replied.\n\t“No, I’m good. But I do need to talk to you about Laika. She decided earlier today to just up and leave the classroom. I hadn’t noticed due to me helping another student. She was found by another teacher and was brought back,” Hinton explained.\n\t“Laika! Don’t ever do that young lady,” Fang said scolding her, although quietly not to draw attention. Laika looked up at him and stopped wagging her tail.\n\t“She’s already had timeout today for that. I had her sit in the corner for five minutes. But for some reason she decided to say there for ten minutes instead. I had to go and softly shake her to get her attention,” she explained.\n\t“I’m sorry about that. She’s never done that before. But it is her first day here and away from family,” he replied.\n\t“I understand. I only wanted to let you know that she had done that and was punished for it,” Hinton replied.\n\t“Was she good the rest of the day?” Fang asked, while Laika sat on his lap.\n\t“She was good cub throughout the day, other than that little escape attempt. She said that she was scared and went looking for her brother and sister,” she replied.\n\t“Okay. We’ll talk to her tonight and make sure she doesn’t do that again,” Fang said.\n\t“Thank you. You both take care. I’ll see you tomorrow Laika,” Hinton said then left, heading to another parent.\n\n\tLaika smiled as Fang picked her up from the booster seat then sat her on the ground. She took her backpack from the car floor and headed towards the door to the house. Fang was right behind her. As soon as they stepped in Laika went to rush off but stopped quickly upon hearing her dad call her name out.\n\n\t“Laika!” Not so fast, living room, now,” he said. She turned around and looked at him. “Now,” he said and pointed. Her tail lowered between her legs as she walked down the three steps to the living room. She sat her backpack on the coffee table and sat on the couch. She waited for minutes on end, her dad hadn’t showed up yet, but she wouldn’t have to wait much longer. Both of her parents walked in and took a seat.\n\n\t“Laika, sweetie, why did you leave the classroom without permission?” Fang asked.\n\t“I got scared. Wanted bubba or sissy,”\n\t“You can’t be doing that sweetie. It puts you at risk of injury, getting lost, it puts your classmates at risk. And even worse, someone could possibly cubnap you, take you away from the school and do bad things to you or worse,” Vapor explained.\n\t“I was scared dough,”\n\t“Laika. Do not leave the classroom like that again. If you do, you will be punished. We’ll spank your butt, ground you, which means no playing outside, no toys and no TV, also no deserts for two months,” Vapor said. Laika stared at them for a few seconds with her muzzle open.\n\t“We mean it Laika. If you leave like you did, the principal will be able to punish you as well, by paddling your butt,” Fang said.\n\t“Your teacher has a lot of students, other cubs, to deal with. She doesn’t need to stop teaching to look for a cub that left the room. It’s not fair to her or your classmates,” Vapor explained.\n\t“Do you understand, Laika?” Fang asked.\n\t“Yes daddy,” she replied then looked at her hindpaws.\n\t“Laika, if you were to have left the building. Someone, anyone, could grab you and take you away. If that happens, there would be a good chance of you never seeing us again, or us seeing you again, or your brother or sister. You would most likely be put through scary and painful situations if you were to be cubnapped sweetie. We don’t want to happen,” Fang said.\n\t“What do you mean? What would happen?” She asked.\n\t“I think your a bit too young for us to speak about that kind of stuff Laika, but I guess we should now. But it’s horrible things that they could do to you. But listen, and make sure you remember this, not everyone is bad, most will want to help you find your way back, but there’s some that are bad and would do horrible things. Remember us teaching you about not letting others touch your privates?” Vapor said.\n\t“Yes. No one should touch them other than you, daddy, grandma or doctor,” she replied.\n\t“That’s right. The really bad furs would touch you down there and do really bad things to you. So you need to listen to us and not leave the classroom like that again. You need to be careful around strangers, furs that you don’t know. Okay?” Fang said.\n\t“Okay,” she replied.\n\t“Good girl. Go on and go. We’ll call you for dinner later. Go study your ABC’s and numbers okay?” Vapor said.\n\t“Okay mommy,” she replied and slid off the couch. She grabbed her backpack and headed out of the living room.\n\n***\n\nWednesday, October 18, 2023\n\n\t“Hello Mrs. Wolfe,” Mrs. Hinton said after opening the door to the classroom.\n\t“Hello Ms. Hinton,” she replied.\n\t“Thanks for coming to school on such short notice,” Hinton said.\n\t“No problem. I had the day off from work, so I was at home,” she replied.\n\t“Come sit please,” Hinton said. After they were seated Vapor asked why she was here and if Laika was in trouble.\n\t“No, she’s a wonderful student, but she’s quiet. She rarely talks to her friends and even more rare for her to speak up after being called on to answer questions,” Hinton explained.\n\t“She’s always been our quiet cub. Even as a pup she rarely cried or anything,” she explained.\n\t“I see. How is she at home when she talks?” Hinton asked.\n\t“Short sentences and cut’s words. Like with “don’t” she’ll say “on’t.” We’ve been working on it for awhile now,” she explained.\n\t“Okay. I’m just worried about her. I don’t want any of my students falling behind, which is what Laika is on the verge of doing,” Hinton said pulling out some papers. She handed them over to Vapor who looked over them.\n\t“I can’t read her paw-writing, so I’m not able to grade them properly,” Hinton explained.\n\t“We’ll step up on her paw-writing at home and get her on a more legible path,” she replied.\n\t“Thank you Mrs. Wolfe. Do you want me to work with her more here? I could do it during recess but that’s not really fair to her though,” Hinton replied.\n\t“No, not yet. Let’s see how she’s doing at the end of November or December,” Vapor replied.\n\t“That works for me,” Hinton replied.\n\t“How is Laika doing with everything else?” Vapor asked.\n\t“She’s a wonderful student. She loves story time but not when we read aloud to each other, she’ll stand up to read but then won’t. After a moment she’ll sit back down. She also loves computer time too,” Hinton replied.\n\t“Good to hear, mostly. I’ll explain to her that she needs to start reading stories out loud to others,” Vapor replied.\n\n\tAfter another fifteen minutes a bell rung and a few minutes later students started filling the empty chairs. Near the end of the line of students was Laika. She walked through the door and smiled upon seeing her mom. Laika broke line rank and ran up and leapt into Vapor’s arms. Vapor hugged then kissed her muzzle before sitting her down.\n\t“We’ll be right back Ms. Hinton,” Vapor said then walked into the hallway with Laika. After about five minutes Laika walked back in with her head lowered then took her seat. Vapor nodded at Ms. Hinton then shut the door and left. Tamra looked across the table at Laika. She was staring down at the table, breathing kind of rapidly but short breaths. Her eyes were puffy as if they wanted to cry. “You okay Laika?” Tamra asked. Laika looked up at her friend and stared at her. She exhaled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay,” she replied quieter than normal.\n\n\tLater that day, Laika walked into the house following behind her father. He turned left into the living room where Vapor and Elli were sitting. Laika followed suit. She walked down the steps and about ten feet in she dropped her backpack to the floor then sat down a few feet away. She stared at the floor deep in thought. After a while her ears perked up from her mom’s voice. “Laika,” Vapor said. She looked up and stared at her mom.\n\t“You okay?” Vapor asked.\n\t“Yes,” she replied.\n\t“You sound sad. What’s wrong?” Vapor asked scooting off the couch and up to Laika. She sat down in front of Laika and smiled.\n\t“I’m okay mommy,” she replied.\n\t“Laika, I know when you’re upset about something,” Vapor said crossing her arms.\n\t“You got mad at me at school,” she replied.\n\t“What? No sweetie. I only said that you need to participate more while reading. When it’s your turn to read, you need to read out loud to your friends. Trust me sweetie, you don’t want to be in Kindergarten again next year,” she explained.\n\t“But you said I was in trouble,” she said.\n\t“Well, yes and no. You just need to do more stuff at school. It’s not hard or scary. I promise you that. Onai and Luna did it, so did your dad and I. Grandma and everyone else here did too. We all had to read out loud,” Vapor said and went into more details of other activities in school. Laika looked up at her after a while and nodded.\n\t“Okay mommy. I’ll read out loud,” she said.\n\t“Thank you sweetie. There’s some more stuff we need to talk about. Come on, let’s go to the dinner table and we’ll work on some homework together,” Vapor said standing up. Laika sighed but did as told. They sat down at the table and Vapor explained to Laika what her teacher had told her. From this day Vapor would help her more often with her speech, punctuation of words and some other stuff.\n\n***\n\nFriday, December 8, 2023\n\n\t“Laika, can you come here please?” Her teacher asked, while all other students lined up for recess. She lowered her head after hearing a few students chuckle. After all the students left Mrs. Hinton sat down in front of Laika.\n\t“Am I in trouble?” Laika asked.\n\t“No Laika. I just wanted to let you know that you’ve been doing much better recently. You’re participating more and you seem to be getting better at reading out loud now, even if it’s just a few words before you sit down,” she explained.\n\t“Mommy said that I should do more. I don’t like it, but I will,” she replied.\n\t“You’re one of the quietest cubs I’ve ever had. It’s not a bad thing though. I’m just glad to see you talking to your friends more often now,” she said. Laika smiled then looked towards the door.\n\t“Go on, go to recess,” her teacher said.\n\t“Thank you Mrs. Hinton,” Laika said then rushed out of the door.\n\n***\n\nThursday, February 22, 2024\n\n\tLaika stood up and looked around, all eyes were on her. She exhaled and looked at the book in her paws. She stared at the words for a moment then looked back up at her classmates. All fifteen of them, plus her teacher. She remembered what her mom told her just this morning, for the possibly thousandth time this school year.\n\n\t“P-Peter…” she said, stopping due to being embarrassed and out of her comfort zone. She heard whispering and looked at the source, her friend Tamra, “come on Laika, you can do it. You’re awesome!” Laika smiled faintly, only for a second. Her heart was pounding hard, as if she had just ran around the track four times, like on P.E. day.\n\n\t“P-Peter… was most… dre-dread… fully fr-frightened; he… he rushed all over the-the garden, for he had for… …gotten the way back to the gate.” She read from the book. Her breathing was labored and her voice cracking. She herself was frightened, just like Peter Rabbit. She’s been read this story by her mom, she knew how it ended. She remembered that Peter was scared, just like her, and he was able to overcome his fear and make it back home. But in Laika’s case, she would find the end of her story was to finish reading out loud. She looked up, her friends and classmates were patiently waiting for her. She looked over at Mrs. Hinton, who smiled and nodded her head. Laika looked back down at the page, page 12 was printed on the bottom right. She was the twelfth student to read. One page per student, if there were more than sixteen pages, it would go back around again.\n\n\t“He… He lost o-one of his shoes am-on-among the cabbages and the other shoe am-on-amon-gust the potatoes.” She said finishing her page. She quickly handed it to the boy next to her and sat back down. She was breathing fast, her face crimson, and her eyes widened. She looked up when a few started clapping. Tamra being one of them. “You did good Laika,” Tamra said. Laika smiled then looked back down at the table, too embarrassed to look back up.\n\n\tThe end of school bell rung. All the students stood up and gathered their backpacks and other things they brought with them, stuffed animals, favorite non-noise making toys, blanket, etc. Laika walked up to her storage bin and pulled out her backpack. As soon as she left the room to the hallway, the teacher called out her name. She walked up to her teacher and looked up at her.\n\n\t“You did really good today Laika. I’m happy that you finally joined in on reading out loud with everyone. If you keep it up, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more and more,” Mrs. Hinton said then smiled. Laika nodded and smiled.\n\t“I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night Laika,” Mrs. Hinton said. Laika smiled again then walked down the hallway.\n\n***\n\nFriday April 14, 2023\n\n\tThe bell rung indicating the end of the school day for all the cubs. Over the next ten minutes students left the building, being escorted to school buses and to the few waiting parents. Vapor was sitting on a bench talking to another mother while they waited. It took a few minutes but Laika finally ran up to her mom and hugged her.\n\t“Hey Laika, how are you doing?” Vapor asked.\n\t“I’m okay,” she replied and watched a student hug the mother next to Vapor.\n\t“Mommy, can I have friend over for tonight?” Laika asked.\n\t“Who is your friend?” Vapor asked.\n\t“Uh, Tamra,” she said and pointed to the horse next to them, still hugging her mom.\n\t“Mom, this is Laika. She’s my friend I talk to you about,” Tamra said.\n\t“I don’t know Laika, your brother and sister already have some of their friends coming over. Luna will have three and Onai has two,” Vapor said.\n\t“Oh … okay mommy,” Laika said and looked sadly over at Tamra\n\t“Can Laika come to our house, mommy?” Tamra asked.\n\t“I don’t mind, but that’s up to her mom,” she replied.\n\t“Can I please?” Laika asked.\n\t“You sure you want to? You know it’s out of your comfy zone,” Vapor said. Laika looked over at Tamra for a moment, deep in thought. Tamra smiled at her.\n\t“I. I want to,” Laika replied.\n\t“Okay. I’ve been talking to Ruby for a couple of weeks now while we waited for you two.” Vapor said. Tamra cheered while Laika just smiled, until Tamra grabbed hold of her and pulled her into a hug.\n\t“We’ll have to go home and get you some clothes and supplies,” Vapor said.\n\t“Here’s our address and phone number, feel free to drop her off at anytime,” Ruby said. A few minutes later Ruby stood up and took her daughters paw.\n\t“Bye bye Laika. See you soon,” Tamra said then walked away with her mom. Laika waved silently then looked at her mom.\n\t“What I do at a friends house?” Laika asked. Vapor stood up and walked to the car with Laika right next to her. On the way home Vapor explained sleepovers and how fun they are.\n\n\tAn hour later Vapor and Laika stood at the door to a modest house. She knocked on the door and waited until the door was answered. They were invited in. Laika held on to her moms arm as they stepped into the house. Tamra came running down the hallway and quickly came to a stop at her friend.\n\t“LAIKA! You came!” She said and hugged the young wolf.\n\t“Tamra, let them come in,” Ruby said.\n\t“You doofus!” A male voice said. Seconds later, a teen horse walked out of the kitchen and then up to them.\n\t“Erwin! Don’t call your sister a doofus,” Ruby said then turned her attention back to the Wolfe family.\n\t“Sorry about him, he’s a little air headed,” Ruby said, causing Tamra to giggle. Erwin left seconds later heading down the hallway.\n\t“Come on Laika, I’ll show you my bedroom,” Tamra said taking her paw. Laika looked up at her mom unsure about all of this.\n\t“Go on Laika, you’ll be fine,” Vapor said then smiled.\n\t“You want to come in for a bit for some tea?” Ruby asked.\n\t“That sounds good, thank you,” Vapor said handing Laika her suitcase.\n\n\tTamra said they would be in her bedroom then led Laika down the hallway. Laika walked in and looked at the small bedroom, compared to her bedroom anyway. There was a twin sized bed, a small cheap desk and chair, a dresser with an old, very small, LCD TV on it. The TV wasn’t larger than 24 inches. Next to the TV was a DVD player and a small stack of DVD cartoons. There was a single window in the bedroom. There was a few play sets against one wall. The room was lit up by a single ceiling fan light. It was much darker than Laika’s bedroom. On the bed sat a few teddy bears and other stuffed animals, about a dozen of them. The largest was the size of Laika, it was the teddy bear. Laika was just under 3 feet tall, she was one of the shortest students in her classroom and the school. The walls were light blue and the carpet was brown. Tamra hopped up on her bed and turned around, sitting her legs off the edge.\n\t“This is my bedroom,” she said.\n\t“It’s, uh, nice,” Laika replied.\n\t“Put your thing over there,” Tamra said, talking about the suitcase. Laika moved it over to the wall then stood around. She wasn’t sure what to do at all. She stood there and stared at her friend for a moment. Tamra slid off the bed and walked over to her closet and opened it. She pulled out her toy chest and pushed it against the wall. Laika walked over as Tamra opened it. It was half full of various dolls, play sets and other toys. She picked up a box and looked inside, it had a few plates, spoons and forks inside. She looked up at Tamra confused.\n\t“They go with the kitchen set right there,” she explained and pointed to a toy kitchen play set.\n\n\tLaika was amazed at the toy sets. She never seen them before, or at least didn’t think she had. She saw them when she walked in but didn’t really pay them any attention. Next to the kitchen was a table, like you see at restaurants. It was just big enough for two cubs to sit at. Next to the table was a wooden booth food stand. It has plastic fruits and vegetables sitting in bins. The fruit was banana’s, apples, tomatoes, corn, carrots, pears, egg plants, strawberries, and bottles of jam. Sitting on top of the stand was a toy cash register. The next play set was a coffee shop. The last one was a store and checkout play set.\n\n\t“You want to see something else?” Tamra asked. Laika nodded in reply. Tamra pushed the toy box back into the closet and asked Laika to stay. She left the bedroom and over to her brothers bedroom. Laika could hear them talking.\n\t“Bubba,” she said.\n\t“What you want pipsqueak?” He asked.\n\t“I’m not a pipsqueak, meanie. Can you get my toy boxes from up there please?” She asked.\n\t“What you going to do for me to get them?” He asked.\n\t“I won’t tell daddy that you didn’t help me get my toys. He’ll punish you again,” she said.\n\t“Fine,” he replied. A few seconds later they walked out into the short hallway. Erwin, her brother, grabbed hold of the attic access string and pulled down the ladder to the attic. He disappeared for a few seconds then came back down carrying a box. He sat it down and went back up. He did this four more times before closing the attic back up.\n\t“There you go Tamra,” he said.\n\t“Thank you bubba,” she said and started carrying them into her bedroom. Vapor and Ruby walked to the bedroom while Tamra carried the box in.\n\t“Laika. I’m going home now. You be nice and listen to Ruby, okay?” Vapor said\n\t“Okay mommy,” Laika said. Vapor squatted down and pulled her into a hug. Laika placed her arms around her mom and squeezed.\n\t“You have everything in your pack. Don’t forget to put on you know what before going to bed,” Vapor said quietly.\n\t“Okay mommy,” she replied.\n\t“I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.\n\t“Love you too mommy,” Laika replied and pulled out of the hug.\n\t“Bye sweetie. See you tomorrow Tamra,” Vapor said and walked out of the room behind Ruby. A moment later the front door opened and then shut. Laika and Tamra stood in the living room, looking out the window as Vapor backed out of the driveway and then drove down the road. The two headed back to the bedroom, Tamra continued moving the boxes into her bedroom.\n\n\tA few minutes later Tamra stood up after pushing the last box in and looked up at her friend and smiled. She opened one of the boxes and looked inside, Laika looked in as well.\n\t“Some of the food I have to play with,” she said. They both opened the other boxes. Three had fruits, vegetables, boxed food, canned food, milk, soda, butter and other food items. Another box had pots, pans, bowls and plates. The last box had more utensils, forks, spoons, knifes, cups, a cash register and another small box. Tamra pulled out the small box and opened it. It was filled with play money, ones, fives, tens, twenties, fifties and hundreds, and lots of coins. Laika was still confused, looking at her friend.\n\t“What’s this for?” She asked.\n\t“To play with. Play house or play shopping and stuff like that,” she replied.\n\t“Oh okay,” Laika replied.\n\t“I show you,” she said and smiled. After a few minutes she had stocked the shelves in the shopping center, the coffee stand and the fruits and vegetable stand, the kitchen and sat plates and cups on the table. Laika stood next to her and watched as she put money into the register, then handed her a some money.\n\t“Go buy stuff,” she urged her friend. Laika looked over at the toy food and stared at it for a few seconds before walking up to the store. She picked up an apple, cereal and milk. She stood there with the items in her arms and looked at her friend. She really didn’t know what to do with all these play sets. She’s played with her brother and sister but never like this. Tamra waved her over to the checkout. As she started to move she tripped over her own paws and landed against the store, knocking most things off of the small shelves. She breathed in and looked at her friend, who stood there silently.\n\t“I. I. I’m sorry,” she said and started to cry. Tamra ran up to her and quickly pulled her into a hug.\n\t“Laika are you okhay?” Tamra said. A moment later, Ruby, Tamra’s mom walked in to see what Laika was crying about. She saw everything was knocked off and glared at Tamra.\n\t“Did you push her Tamra?” She asked.\n\t“No mommy, she trip and fell,” she replied, as her mom got closer.\n\t“Okay. Are you okay Laika?” Ruby asked. Laika shook her head.\n\t“Tamra be mad I broke things,” she cried out.\n\t“I not mad Laika. They are toys. You not break anything,” she said. Laika sat there sniffling and wiping tears from her face.\n\t“You not?” She asked.\n\t“No,” she replied.\n\t“Laika, are you hurt?” Ruby asked.\n\t“No,” she replied shaking her head.\n\t“Okay. You two be careful playing okay?” Ruby said standing up. She turned around to leave the room, at the door she stopped and looked back to see Tamra helping Laika stand up.\n\t“I’m going to make a pizza tonight, you two want to help me?” She asked.\n\t“Yes mommy,” Tamra replied, while Laika stood there staring at the floor, but then nodded her head a few seconds after Tamra answered.\n\n\tTamra turned and looked at Laika still staring at the ground. She pulled Laika into a hug and patted her back. Tamra stood five inches taller than Laika. After Tamra pulled away from the hug Laika smiled, feeling comfortable with her friend.\n\n\tTwenty minutes later the two cubs was in the kitchen listening to Ruby explain what to do to mix the pizza dough. After the lengthy discussion Tamra and Laika sat on their knees on stools, mixing water into the dough and then kneading it for a bit. After awhile Ruby took the dough and finished it up, ensuring that everything was mixed thoroughly. After letting it cool down for a bit Ruby spread the dough out on the flat round pan. Tamra spread out the pizza sauce, then Laika took some cheese and spread it around. Ruby helped the two put on a thick layer of pepperoni and ham slices. Tamra sprinkled the onions on, while Laika did the green bell peppers. After spreading out the sausage and beef chunks, Ruby used a slicer on black olives and let Laika spread them around. Finally the mushrooms and a lot of mozzarella cheese on top. The three of them looked at the large sixteen inch pizza, it looked like a small hill that was flat on top. Ruby smiled at the two.\n\t“Well done, it looks amazing. I’ll just get it into the oven and dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes,” she said, causing both cubs to smile wide.\n\n\tEveryone was sitting around the table and started eating. Tamra’s dad moaned after his first bite. After taking a few second to chew and swallow, he looked up, “I have to say this is one of the best you’ve made darling.”\n\t“It was all Tamra and Laika, I only supervised and ran the oven,” Ruby replied.\n\t“Well then, great job you two. I might have to keep you around for more lovely pizza, Laika,” he said. Laika was about to take her first bite but stopped and started at him, unsure if he was joking or being real.\n\t“He’s only joking Laika, he loves food and anything that tastes great,” Ruby said.\n\t“Haha, yeah. I don’t think your mom or dad would like if I tried keeping you. Anyway, I’m going eat now,” he replied. Laika took a nibble of the pizza, never having this combination of toppings. Her eyes lit up then she took another bite. The slices were large for the young wolf but she managed to eat two full slices. Erwin ate three slices. Tamra’s dad and mom ate three each. Tamra could barely manage one slice. The entire pizza was eaten, all twelve slices.\n\n\tShortly after dinner Ruby called out for the two to go take a bath. Tamra walked into the bathroom with Laika following. Both of them carrying a change of clothes. Tamra started the water and plugged the tub. Tamra stripped down and looked up at Laika. She stood there motionless, clutching her clean clothes. She was nervous about removing her clothes in front of others. After all, her parents did tell her many times over the school year that she shouldn’t let anyone touch her in bad places, nor that she should show anyone her privates and to never undress for others outside of family or at the doctors. But this was her friend, her best friend for the school year. Could she trust Tamra? She looked up at her friend who stretched her arms out over her head and then yawned. Her legs here slightly apart. Laika looked down and saw Tamra’s furless crotch, her privates. Her skin was light pink around her, what did her mom call it? Vulva, she thought, correctly. Tamra wasn’t embarrassed or hiding herself from her. Maybe it was okay for her to take her clothes off here. Tamra’s family seemed to be nice just like her family was. Tamra turned the water off and looked back at Laika.\n\t“Come on Laika, let’s take a bath, but you haffta take clothes off,” she said. Laika nodded and finally accepted that it was safe and okay to be naked here. She sat her cleans clothes down on the counter next to Tamra’s and started stripping down. First her shirt, then she wiggled out of her pants then put her thumbs into her panties. She stopped and looked at Tamra, she was already in the tub. Tamra urged her to come on. She pushed her pink panties down and let them drop to the floor. She covered her front up with her paws, and looked at the open door behind her. Just across the small hallway was Erwin’s bedroom, he was laying on his bed reading a thin paper book. He wasn’t paying any attention to her. She shook her head and headed to the bathtub and climbed in. She had to use the small step stool, Tamra had to as well. The tub was oversized but nowhere as big as her bathtub. Laika sat down and felt the water raise on her body and quickly soak through her fur to her skin. Tamra handed her a rag and a bar of soap. Laika dipped her body under the water then stood up just like Tamra had done. They both washed their bodies off. Laika was taking her time. She worked on her arms, her neck, her chest and then her crotch. She moved the rag between her vulva folds and shivered. She finished her legs and paws. She saw that Tamra was staring at her, staring at her around her stomach or privets. Tamra had finished washing a few minutes before her. She sat down and stared at her friend. Tamra smiled, she knew that her friend was uncomfortable at the moment. That smile eased Laika a bit. She knew her friend was nice and wouldn’t do anything, so she moved her paws and uncovered herself. Tamra handed her a large red crayon, in her paw was a blue one. She placed the crayon on the tub and started drawing. Laika remembered the time last year when she drew on a wall and got spanked for it. It took her dad a few hours to clean it up. \n\t“We shouldn’t draw on this. We get in trouble and spanked,” Laika said.\n\t“No you won’t. These are for bath. They come off, see?” Tamra said and ran her wet hand across what she had scribbled on the tub. The blue disappeared from the white tub. Laika smiled but was still unsure about it all, however she moved her crayon up to the tub and made a mark. She did what Tamra did and wiped it away. She looked at her paw and saw the red on it. She quickly dunked it into the water where it quickly disappeared.\n\t“It’s okay really,” Tamra said and went back to drawing a cat face. Laika exhaled then started drawing with her friend. A bit later Ruby walked in to see the tub scribbled on with multiple colors.\n\t“Alright you two,” she said, causing Laika to jump and splash the water around. Ruby chuckled and apologized for scaring her.\n\t“It’s time to get out. Once you get dried off, clean up the bedroom and it’s right to bed,” she said.\n\t“Okay mommy,” Tamra said.\n\n\tThat night as they laid in bed, both were staring up at the ceiling in the darkened room, just the moonlight provided light.\n\t“I like you Laika,” she said.\n\t“Okay,” she replied.\n\t“You’re a funny girl,” she said.\n\t“I am?” Laika asked.\n\t“Yes,” Tamra replied.\n\t“We are friends?” Laika asked.\n\t“Of course silly!” she replied and giggled, “and we’ll be friends forever,” she replied.\n\t“I like you too Tamra. You are nice to me,” she replied with a smile.\n\t“Thanks Laika,” she replied then rolled over onto her side and faced Laika.\n\t“Laika, can I ask you something?” She asked quietly.\n\t“Yes,” she replied.\n\t“I don’t want to be mean,” she said.\n\t“Okay,” Laika replied and turned her head towards Tamra.\n\t“Umm, why do you still wear, you know, diapers?” She asked.\n\t“Oh. I don’t hold my pee at night. Daddy said he was the same, my sissy Luna too,” she explained.\n\t“Oh okay. What’s it like wearing them?” Tamra asked.\n\t“I don’t know. Just wearing them,” she replied.\n\t“Do you wear them at school?” Tamra asked.\n\t“No. I can potty at school” she replied.\n\t“Oh okay,” Tamra replied.\n\t“I had fun today Laika,” she said.\n\t“Me too,” Laika said and smiled.\n\t“Goodnight,” Tamra said and rolled over onto her back.\n\t“Night night,” Laika replied.\n\n***\n\nSaturday April 15, 2023\n\n\tLaika ran up and hugged her dad’s legs after he was invited into the house. He greeted Ruby for the first time, then had let him in.\n\t“Sorry that Vapor couldn’t make it, she’s dealing with five cubs that spent the night at our house last night,” he explained.\n\t“It’s alright, she text me and let me know you were coming instead,” she replied. Fang looked down at Laika who finally released her grip from his leg. Behind her a few feet was a little horse girl.\n\t“Hi,” he said with a warm voice and smile, “I’m Laika’s daddy.”\n\t“Hello. I’m her friend. I’m Tamra,” she replied and smiled.\n\t“It’s nice to meet you,” he replied.\n\t“Thank you,” she replied.\n\t“Would you like something to drink? Tea, water, milk?” Ruby asked.\n\t“No. I don’t have much time to visit. I have to go get some food for everyone back at home,” he explained.\n\t“Aww, well okay then,” she replied.\n\t“Was Laika good?” He asked then looked down at the young wolf.\n\t“She was an angel. Well mannered and behaved,” she replied.\n\t“Good to hear,” Fang replied then ruffled Laika’s hair.\n\t“Daddy!” She replied in slight frustration.\n\t“You ready to go sweetie?” He asked. She looked back at her friend and frowned for a few seconds.\n\t“I guess daddy,” she replied, “I need to get my stuff.”\n\t“Okay. Go get it and go potty if you need to,” he replied.\n\n\tThe two girls ran off to the bedroom for a few minutes before returning. Laika stood next to her dad with her little suitcase sitting beside her.\n\t“I had fun Tamra,” she said.\n\t“Me too Laika. Maybe next time I can sleep at your house,” she replied.\n\t“Can she daddy?” Laika asked.\n\t“That’s up to her parents, but we’re fine with it. Maybe during the summer,” He replied.\n\t“YAY!” Both cubs cheered. A moment later Fang looked down at Laika and told her it was time to go.\n\t“See you later Laika,” Tamra said then hugged her friend.\n\t“Bye bye Tamra,” Laika replied and hugged back.\n\n\tTamra and her mom watched while Fang held Laika’s paw as they walked down the concrete pathway to the road where his car was parked. Fang had her suitcase in his paw, carrying it. Once at the car Laika turned back around and waved enthusiastically at her friend before climbing into the car. Fang pulled the seat belt down and strapped her into the booster seat that sat in the backseat. He leaned down and kissed her muzzle before shutting the door. A few moments later he pulled away and headed into town.\n\n***\n\nTuesday May 23, 2024\n\n\tLaika stood in between her friends at their graduation ceremony. They were individually called to receive their Kindergarten diplomas. Having her last name start with a W, she was near the end of the ceremony. She stared out in the crowd of parents and siblings. Her eyes were fixated on her mom. Her older brother and sister sat next to their mom and her Grandma to the right of them. Onai waved at her but she stood still, too scared to do much, due to being in front of so many strangers. It took only an hour for the ceremony to finish. Many of the graduating cubs felt like it was longer than an hour. After being dismissed, by small sections at a time, they all found their parents. They were all hugged and kissed and congratulated. Soon the school was empty and parents and children headed home, out to eat, to celebrate. A happy time for all.\n\nTuesday May 23, 2024", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Monday August 28, 2023

\t“Are you excited for your first day of school?” Vapor asked looking into the backseat of the car.
\t“I ‘ont know,” Laika replied.
\t“It’s a lot of fun,” Fang said slowing down for a stop sign.
\t“What I do at school?” She asked.
\t“Well, even though we already told you multiple times, you’ll learn stuff like numbers and your ABC’s and more. Get to play and take naps and make friends,” Vapor explained
\t“But I know numbers already. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7-”
\t“We know that sweetie, but you’ll learn even more numbers, how to add numbers and much more,” Vapor replied.
\t“Okay,” Laika replied.
\t“It’s fun Laika. We made lots of friends our first day,” Onai said and smiled.
\t“Yeah lots of fun,” Luna replied a little less enthusiastic.

\tAbout ten minutes later all five of them got out of the car. Laika walked in between her parents with Onai and Luna behind them. Laika looked up at the brightly color walls with large, thin, cardboard letters along it. They all walked down the main hallway then turned a corner to the right. They came to a stop at a door with “108” on it in colored letters.

\tLaika stepped into the room and looked around. There was eleven other students in the classroom. Each wall was painted a different color; red, blue, green and yellow, the four primary colors. The floor was carpet tiles of many different colors, with a single letter or number in each tile. A female badger walked up to them and first greeted Fang and Vapor before squatting down in front of Laika. With a smile the badger reached her paw out and Laika shook the teachers paw for only a couple of seconds.
\t“I’m Ms. Hinton, your teacher,” the teacher said. Laika smiled faintly but said nothing.
\t“You’re an adorable and very cute little wolf,” Hinton said, garnering a large smile from Laika.
\t“T-thank,” Laika said quietly.
\t“You want to come in and meet your new friends?” Hinton asked her. Laika shrugged while still looking over the classroom.
\t“Laika,” Vapor said then squatted down. Laika turned around and looked at her parents. They talked to her for a couple of minutes before they hugged and kissed her. Onai and Luna did the same then stepped out into the hallway. Fang and Vapor told Laika that they would see her after school and gave her a hug and kiss once again then left the classroom. Laika sighed and turned around to see all the students. The teacher looked down at Laika and held her paw out, Laika took it and was led to a desk with an empty chair.
\t“Here’s where you’ll sit Laika. Say hello everyone,” Hinton said then left as another family walked through the door.
\t“I’m Winston,” a male ferret stated.
\t“I’m Harley,” a female boar said.
\t“I’m Tamra. Nice to meet you Laika,” a horse said. Laika looked at the three of them and smiled but said nothing.
\t“You okay?” Tamra asked.
\t“Y-yes,” Laika replied with a faint smile.
\t“Okay,” Tamra replied back with a smile.
\t“Your mommy and daddy seems nice,” Tamra said, garnering only a nod from Laika.

\tA few hours later everyone in Laika’s class and two other classrooms was out on the playground for recess. Laika plopped down in the corner of one of the six sandboxes. She looked out over the playground watching dozens of cubs, kits, kittens, foals and many other species running around, climbing, swinging, digging and making new friends. While watching them her mind went blank and fuzzy, misty. Her thoughts was that she wanted her mommy and daddy and to be back home. She understood why she needed to be here but still didn’t make it any better. She could hear a voice every few seconds while she continued thinking about her parents and brother and sister. “Laika,” the voice said once again. She continued staring at the sand in front of her. “Laika,” the voice said again as her body was softly shook. After another shout out of her name and shaking, Laika shook her head and looked over at the foal next to her, she was smiling at Laika.
\t“T-Tamra. W-what?” Laika asked.
\t“You okay?” Tamra asked.
\t“Yes,” Laika replied then looked at the sand again.
\t“You are quiet,” Tamra said.
\t“Oh,” Laika said. Tamra giggled then moved in front of Laika. The two of them sat there playing in the sand while Tamra did the majority of the talking. Near the end of recess Tamra looked up at Laika just staring at the sand between them, she looked sad which made Tamra sad for her.
\t“Laika whats wrong you’re sad,” Tamra said.
\t“I want to be home. It not fun here,” she explained.
\t“It is only the first day. Give it time,” Tamra said then smiled. Laika smiled back but still wanted to go home.

\tAbout two hours after recess, they were in lunch line. Laika took a tray, a fork and spoon and followed the other students in line, as they slowly moved. She looked through the glass at all the different food, then looked up at one of the lunch ladies.
\t“What you want sweetie?” The doe, a deer, asked.
\t“Potatoes, mac and cheese and meat, I guess,” Laika replied.
\t“Okay, you need a vegetable too,” the lunch lady said as she placed the food onto the tray.
\t“Peas, I guess. What food is that?” Laika replied then pointed at some bread.
\t“It’s garlic bread. It’s really tasty,” she replied.
\t“Can I get that too?” Laika asked.
\t“Sure thing sweetie,” she replied. Laika thanked her and moved down the line towards the end, where they paid. Laika made it through the line and followed Tamra back to a table where their teacher was standing by. Once seated, Laika began to eat. She was surprised at how tasty it all was, especially the garlic bread. She sat there eating as everyone else was. A bit later, she looked up and noticed that most everyone else in her class had finished eating already, she had barely eaten half of the food. Tamra sat next to her, talking about random things. Laika wasn’t fully paying attention to her, not to be rude, but due to her thinking about her mom and dad. Tamra didn’t mind though, she knew she’d get through Laika’s muteness at some point and they would be best friends forever. She stopped talking and giggled upon seeing Laika stare at her food intensely. All of the classroom teachers were walking around their respective tables, making sure their students weren’t causing issues or making messes. Mrs. Hinton stopped and looked at Laika, on the opposite side of the table. She was now stirring her potatoes slowly, mixing in the remaining peas. After walking around the table, she squatted down in between but behind Laika and Tamra.
\t“You okay Laika? You haven’t eaten much,” Hinton asked.
\t“Yes. Just miss mommy and daddy,” she replied.
\t“Aww, you love them a lot don’t you?” Hinton asked. Laika smiled and nodded her head.
\t“You’ll see them in a few hours,” Hinton said.
\t“Okay,” she replied.
\t“How are you doing Tamra?” Hinton asked turning towards the horse foal.
\t“I’m doing good Mrs. Hinton,” she replied.
\t“Good to hear. Laika, don’t take too much longer to eat, there’s only ten minutes left of lunch,” Hinton said, standing up and looking down the table at her other students. “Tommy, no! Don’t do that,” she said and rushed off to a lamb about to overturn his tray of food onto the table.

\tLater in the day all students were sitting in front of and listening to Mrs. Hinton read a book.

\tA bit later, after story time, Laika somehow left the classroom without being noticed. She had wandered down the hallway and entered into the bathroom. After using it she headed back into the hallway. She wandered around for almost five minutes until she was spotted.
\t“Hey you. Why are you out in the hallways?” A voice asked. Laika jumped and spun around. She turned her head up and looked up at the tall giraffe. Her muzzle opened but nothing came out.
\t“What’s your name?” The teacher asked. Laika continued staring at her silently.
\t“Are you mute or deaf?” The teacher asked and signed with her hands.
\t“No?” Laika finally spoke up.
\t“What are you doing out here and what’s your name?” She asked again. Laika looked up at the teacher and remained silent.
\t“Laika. I want to go home. I don’t like it here,” she finally said.
\t“Why don’t you like it here? It’s fun in school,” she said.
\t“I’m scared. I want my bubba or sissy. I want them,” Laika said and started crying.
\t“Oh Laika. Come here,” the teacher said and squatted down. She sat down and pulled Laika into a hug. They sat there while Laika cried and cried. Around five minutes later a frantic Mrs. Hinton rushed into the hallway after noticing that Laika was missing. She rounded the corner of the hallway after hearing the crying. She looked at the two halfway down the corridor. She stopped and listened to the teacher console the crying cub.
\t“It’s okay Laika. School is different but it’s not scary or bad. It does take some time to get used to. It took me awhile to like it too. I hated it for a few years, but now I teach.” She said.
\t“Y-you do?” Laika asked, sniffling.
\t“I do. I teach second grade,” she replied.
\t“W-will I h-have you for teacher?” Laika asked wiping tears from her eyes.
\t“I don’t know. But if you promise to stick with school, maybe you will have me for your second grade teacher,” she said.
\t“Okay. I try to,” Laika replied still sobbing and gasping for air from crying.
\t“Good girl. First things first, lets get you back to the safety of your classroom? Who is your teacher?” She asked standing up.
\t“Mrs. Hi… Hinton,” she replied.
\t“Ah Mrs. Hinton. She’s a really nice teacher. She loves all of her students,” she said as they slowly walked back to the class.
\t“By the way, I’m Mrs. Karena,” she said.
\t“I’m Laika Wolfe,” she replied.
\t“Wolfe huh? I know an Onai and Luna Wolfe-”
\t“You know my bubba and sissy?” Laika asked energetically.
\t“Not really but yes. They weren’t my students. But they were in the classroom next to mine. I remember them from last year. Their class and mine did recess and PE together,” Karena explained.
\t“Oh okay,” Laika replied.
\t“It’s a small world,” Karena said as they stopped at a door.
\t“Okay Laika, here’s your classroom. I’ll take you back in,” she said and opened the door.

\tAs soon as they stepped into the room Laika looked up to see her teacher looking down at her, her arms crossed.

\t“Hello Nora, I found Laika out in the hallways. She was scared and was trying to find her brother and sister,” Karena said.
\t“Is that so?” Mrs. Hinton asked.
\t“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again,” Laika said quietly.
\t“Go to your seat Laika,” Hinton said. Laika looked up at her for a few seconds then walked to her desk. Her tail tucked between her legs and her ears flattened. Before she could sit down Tamra ambushed her with a hug.
\t“I worried about you Laika,” Tamra said.

\tHinton and Karena talked to each other for a couple of minutes before Karena said goodbye to Laika then left the room. Hinton sat at her desk and called Laika over.

\t“Laika Wolfe, what you did was unacceptable. You put your safety at risk by leaving without having permission,” Hinton said.
\t“I’m sorry,” Laika replied.
\t“Why did you leave the classroom?” Hinton asked.
\t“I got scared. Too many here,” she replied.
\t“Too many what?” Hinton asked.
\t“Furs. I want to find bubba and sissy. They make me feel better ‘round others,” she explained.
\t“You cannot be leaving the classroom like that Laika. It puts you at risk and all of your classmates,”
\t“I’m sorry,” she said and looked up at her teacher, “am I in trouble?”
\t“Yes Laika you are. Follow me,” Hinton said standing up. Hinton walked over to a stool and had Laika sit down.
\t“You stay on this stool for five minutes and think about what you’ve done. I’ll call you when it’s time for you to get up. Okay?” Hinton said. Laika only nodded in reply. Hinton walked back up to the front of class and called out it was free time play then explained what it was and what students could do. Laika sat there silently for a minute before she turned around and faced the wall. She felt a little more comfortable now. Her fear was fading away. She sat there even though it was boring for her but it felt better than being surrounded by all those others that overwhelmed her. Laika continued sitting there, in her own little world. She had started making up a world, with her imagination, just months before, after her mom read her a book called “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” She was smiling with her eyes closed when she was jarred from her thoughts. She shook her head and looked up. It was her teacher.
\t“You’re done with timeout now. I hope you learned your lesson. You can join your friends in free time,” Hinton said. Laika nodded and left the corner. She sat down in an area without anyone around. Near her was a storage cabinet with open cube shelves. On one shelf was a bucket balance scale and containers of colored rice. She grabbed the three objects and sat them down. She pressed one side of the scale down and saw that the other side lifted up. She put the container of red rice on one side and pressed down on the other. Then it hit her, put both containers onto the scale. She groaned after she let go and the blue rice side dropped to the floor. She picked the container back up and looked at it then sat it back down. She pulled on the lid and it popped off. She smiled as the blue rice flowed through her fingers and off the side of her paw. She picked up another pawful and dumped them into the bucket on the scale. After a few seconds she picked up the entire container and poured out all of the rice with the bit in the bucket. She watched as that side slowly moved down closer to the floor. After all of the rice was in, she groaned again, as the bucket sat on the floor.
\t“This is stupid!” Laika scowled loudly and pouted. A few students looked over at her, including her teacher. Before the teacher could do anything Tamra leapt up and skipped over to the young wolf and dropped down in front of Laika and the scale.
\t“What is going on?” Tamra asked.
\t“Thing broke. It won’t move right,” she replied. Tamra looked down and assessed the situation for a moment.
\t“Try this,” Tamra said and took the red rice off the scale and poured it into the scale.
\t“See it broke,” she replied.
\t“No. You have to, uh, ba-bal, make weight same on both sides,” Tamra explained. Laika watched Tamra pull out some of the blue rice and watched as the scale slowly moved off the ground just slightly.
\t“Try it too,” Tamra said putting the rice into a container. Laika pulled out a pawful of rice and smiled as she watched the scale move up closer to the balance point. The two of them took turns until the scale was balanced and the two buckets were even. Tamra smiled brightly at Laika, who was kind of frowning and staring at the scale.
\t“That was boring,” Laika said, after looking up.
\t“Yeah it was. Lets pick up and do something else,” Tamra said picking up the red rice bucket.

\tA few hours later Laika walked out of the front doors and saw her dad. She rushed up and lunged at Fang, who caught her. They were hugging when Mrs. Hinton walked up to them. Hinton had finished talking to another parent.
\t“Hello again,” Fang said.
\t“Good day Mr. Wolfe. How are you?” Hinton asked.
\t“I’m good. How are you doing? But that look on your face says not so good,” he replied.
\t“No, I’m good. But I do need to talk to you about Laika. She decided earlier today to just up and leave the classroom. I hadn’t noticed due to me helping another student. She was found by another teacher and was brought back,” Hinton explained.
\t“Laika! Don’t ever do that young lady,” Fang said scolding her, although quietly not to draw attention. Laika looked up at him and stopped wagging her tail.
\t“She’s already had timeout today for that. I had her sit in the corner for five minutes. But for some reason she decided to say there for ten minutes instead. I had to go and softly shake her to get her attention,” she explained.
\t“I’m sorry about that. She’s never done that before. But it is her first day here and away from family,” he replied.
\t“I understand. I only wanted to let you know that she had done that and was punished for it,” Hinton replied.
\t“Was she good the rest of the day?” Fang asked, while Laika sat on his lap.
\t“She was good cub throughout the day, other than that little escape attempt. She said that she was scared and went looking for her brother and sister,” she replied.
\t“Okay. We’ll talk to her tonight and make sure she doesn’t do that again,” Fang said.
\t“Thank you. You both take care. I’ll see you tomorrow Laika,” Hinton said then left, heading to another parent.

\tLaika smiled as Fang picked her up from the booster seat then sat her on the ground. She took her backpack from the car floor and headed towards the door to the house. Fang was right behind her. As soon as they stepped in Laika went to rush off but stopped quickly upon hearing her dad call her name out.

\t“Laika!” Not so fast, living room, now,” he said. She turned around and looked at him. “Now,” he said and pointed. Her tail lowered between her legs as she walked down the three steps to the living room. She sat her backpack on the coffee table and sat on the couch. She waited for minutes on end, her dad hadn’t showed up yet, but she wouldn’t have to wait much longer. Both of her parents walked in and took a seat.

\t“Laika, sweetie, why did you leave the classroom without permission?” Fang asked.
\t“I got scared. Wanted bubba or sissy,”
\t“You can’t be doing that sweetie. It puts you at risk of injury,  getting lost, it puts your classmates at risk. And even worse, someone could possibly cubnap you, take you away from the school and do bad things to you or worse,” Vapor explained.
\t“I was scared dough,”
\t“Laika. Do not leave the classroom like that again. If you do, you will be punished. We’ll spank your butt, ground you, which means no playing outside, no toys and no TV, also no deserts for two months,” Vapor said. Laika stared at them for a few seconds with her muzzle open.
\t“We mean it Laika. If you leave like you did, the principal will be able to punish you as well, by paddling your butt,” Fang said.
\t“Your teacher has a lot of students, other cubs, to deal with. She doesn’t need to stop teaching to look for a cub that left the room. It’s not fair to her or your classmates,” Vapor explained.
\t“Do you understand, Laika?” Fang asked.
\t“Yes daddy,” she replied then looked at her hindpaws.
\t“Laika, if you were to have left the building. Someone, anyone, could grab you and take you away. If that happens, there would be a good chance of you never seeing us again, or us seeing you again, or your brother or sister. You would most likely be put through scary and painful situations if you were to be cubnapped sweetie. We don’t want to happen,” Fang said.
\t“What do you mean? What would happen?” She asked.
\t“I think your a bit too young for us to speak about that kind of stuff Laika, but I guess we should now. But it’s horrible things that they could do to you. But listen, and make sure you remember this, not everyone is bad, most will want to help you find your way back, but there’s some that are bad and would do horrible things. Remember us teaching you about not letting others touch your privates?” Vapor said.
\t“Yes. No one should touch them other than you, daddy, grandma or doctor,” she replied.
\t“That’s right. The really bad furs would touch you down there and do really bad things to you. So you need to listen to us and not leave the classroom like that again. You need to be careful around strangers, furs that you don’t know. Okay?” Fang said.
\t“Okay,” she replied.
\t“Good girl. Go on and go. We’ll call you for dinner later. Go study your ABC’s and numbers okay?” Vapor said.
\t“Okay mommy,” she replied and slid off the couch. She grabbed her backpack and headed out of the living room.

***

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

\t“Hello Mrs. Wolfe,” Mrs. Hinton said after opening the door to the classroom.
\t“Hello Ms. Hinton,” she replied.
\t“Thanks for coming to school on such short notice,” Hinton said.
\t“No problem. I had the day off from work, so I was at home,” she replied.
\t“Come sit please,” Hinton said. After they were seated Vapor asked why she was here and if Laika was in trouble.
\t“No, she’s a wonderful student, but she’s quiet. She rarely talks to her friends and even more rare for her to speak up after being called on to answer questions,” Hinton explained.
\t“She’s always been our quiet cub. Even as a pup she rarely cried or anything,” she explained.
\t“I see. How is she at home when she talks?” Hinton asked.
\t“Short sentences and cut’s words. Like with “don’t” she’ll say “on’t.” We’ve been working on it for awhile now,” she explained.
\t“Okay. I’m just worried about her. I don’t want any of my students falling behind, which is what Laika is on the verge of doing,” Hinton said pulling out some papers. She handed them over to Vapor who looked over them.
\t“I can’t read her paw-writing, so I’m not able to grade them properly,” Hinton explained.
\t“We’ll step up on her paw-writing at home and get her on a more legible path,” she replied.
\t“Thank you Mrs. Wolfe. Do you want me to work with her more here? I could do it during recess but that’s not really fair to her though,” Hinton replied.
\t“No, not yet. Let’s see how she’s doing at the end of November or December,” Vapor replied.
\t“That works for me,” Hinton replied.
\t“How is Laika doing with everything else?” Vapor asked.
\t“She’s a wonderful student. She loves story time but not when we read aloud to each other, she’ll stand up to read but then won’t. After a moment she’ll sit back down. She also loves computer time too,” Hinton replied.
\t“Good to hear, mostly. I’ll explain to her that she needs to start reading stories out loud to others,” Vapor replied.

\tAfter another fifteen minutes a bell rung and a few minutes later students started filling the empty chairs. Near the end of the line of students was Laika. She walked through the door and smiled upon seeing her mom. Laika broke line rank and ran up and leapt into Vapor’s arms. Vapor hugged then kissed her muzzle before sitting her down.
\t“We’ll be right back Ms. Hinton,” Vapor said then walked into the hallway with Laika. After about five minutes Laika walked back in with her head lowered then took her seat. Vapor nodded at Ms. Hinton then shut the door and left. Tamra looked across the table at Laika. She was staring down at the table, breathing kind of rapidly but short breaths. Her eyes were puffy as if they wanted to cry. “You okay Laika?” Tamra asked. Laika looked up at her friend and stared at her. She exhaled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay,” she replied quieter than normal.

\tLater that day, Laika walked into the house following behind her father. He turned left into the living room where Vapor and Elli were sitting. Laika followed suit. She walked down the steps and about ten feet in she dropped her backpack to the floor then sat down a few feet away. She stared at the floor deep in thought. After a while her ears perked up from her mom’s voice. “Laika,” Vapor said. She looked up and stared at her mom.
\t“You okay?” Vapor asked.
\t“Yes,” she replied.
\t“You sound sad. What’s wrong?” Vapor asked scooting off the couch and up to Laika. She sat down in front of Laika and smiled.
\t“I’m okay mommy,” she replied.
\t“Laika, I know when you’re upset about something,” Vapor said crossing her arms.
\t“You got mad at me at school,” she replied.
\t“What? No sweetie. I only said that you need to participate more while reading. When it’s your turn to read, you need to read out loud to your friends. Trust me sweetie, you don’t want to be in Kindergarten again next year,” she explained.
\t“But you said I was in trouble,” she said.
\t“Well, yes and no. You just need to do more stuff at school. It’s not hard or scary. I promise you that. Onai and Luna did it, so did your dad and I. Grandma and everyone else here did too. We all had to read out loud,” Vapor said and went into more details of other activities in school. Laika looked up at her after a while and nodded.
\t“Okay mommy. I’ll read out loud,” she said.
\t“Thank you sweetie. There’s some more stuff we need to talk about. Come on, let’s go to the dinner table and we’ll work on some homework together,” Vapor said standing up. Laika sighed but did as told. They sat down at the table and Vapor explained to Laika what her teacher had told her. From this day Vapor would help her more often with her speech, punctuation of words and some other stuff.

***

Friday, December 8, 2023

\t“Laika, can you come here please?” Her teacher asked, while all other students lined up for recess. She lowered her head after hearing a few students chuckle. After all the students left Mrs. Hinton sat down in front of Laika.
\t“Am I in trouble?” Laika asked.
\t“No Laika. I just wanted to let you know that you’ve been doing much better recently. You’re participating more and you seem to be getting better at reading out loud now, even if it’s just a few words before you sit down,” she explained.
\t“Mommy said that I should do more. I don’t like it, but I will,” she replied.
\t“You’re one of the quietest cubs I’ve ever had. It’s not a bad thing though. I’m just glad to see you talking to your friends more often now,” she said. Laika smiled then looked towards the door.
\t“Go on, go to recess,” her teacher said.
\t“Thank you Mrs. Hinton,” Laika said then rushed out of the door.

***

Thursday, February 22, 2024

\tLaika stood up and looked around, all eyes were on her. She exhaled and looked at the book in her paws. She stared at the words for a moment then looked back up at her classmates. All fifteen of them, plus her teacher. She remembered what her mom told her just this morning, for the possibly thousandth time this school year.

\t“P-Peter…” she said, stopping due to being embarrassed and out of her comfort zone. She heard whispering and looked at the source, her friend Tamra, “come on Laika, you can do it. You’re awesome!” Laika smiled faintly, only for a second. Her heart was pounding hard, as if she had just ran around the track four times, like on P.E. day.

\t“P-Peter… was most… dre-dread… fully fr-frightened; he… he rushed all over the-the garden, for he had for… …gotten the way back to the gate.” She read from the book. Her breathing was labored and her voice cracking. She herself was frightened, just like Peter Rabbit. She’s been read this story by her mom, she knew how it ended. She remembered that Peter was scared, just like her, and he was able to overcome his fear and make it back home. But in Laika’s case, she would find the end of her story was to finish reading out loud. She looked up, her friends and classmates were patiently waiting for her. She looked over at Mrs. Hinton, who smiled and nodded her head. Laika looked back down at the page, page 12 was printed on the bottom right. She was the twelfth student to read. One page per student, if there were more than sixteen pages, it would go back around again.

\t“He… He lost o-one of his shoes am-on-among the cabbages and the other shoe am-on-amon-gust the potatoes.” She said finishing her page. She quickly handed it to the boy next to her and sat back down. She was breathing fast, her face crimson, and her eyes widened. She looked up when a few started clapping. Tamra being one of them. “You did good Laika,” Tamra said. Laika smiled then looked back down at the table, too embarrassed to look back up.

\tThe end of school bell rung. All the students stood up and gathered their backpacks and other things they brought with them, stuffed animals, favorite non-noise making toys, blanket, etc. Laika walked up to her storage bin and pulled out her backpack. As soon as she left the room to the hallway, the teacher called out her name. She walked up to her teacher and looked up at her.

\t“You did really good today Laika. I’m happy that you finally joined in on reading out loud with everyone. If you keep it up, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more and more,” Mrs. Hinton said then smiled. Laika nodded and smiled.
\t“I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night Laika,” Mrs. Hinton said. Laika smiled again then walked down the hallway.

***

Friday April 14, 2023

\tThe bell rung indicating the end of the school day for all the cubs. Over the next ten minutes students left the building, being escorted to school buses and to the few waiting parents. Vapor was sitting on a bench talking to another mother while they waited. It took a few minutes but Laika finally ran up to her mom and hugged her.
\t“Hey Laika, how are you doing?” Vapor asked.
\t“I’m okay,” she replied and watched a student hug the mother next to Vapor.
\t“Mommy, can I have friend over for tonight?” Laika asked.
\t“Who is your friend?” Vapor asked.
\t“Uh, Tamra,” she said and pointed to the horse next to them, still hugging her mom.
\t“Mom, this is Laika. She’s my friend I talk to you about,” Tamra said.
\t“I don’t know Laika, your brother and sister already have some of their friends coming over. Luna will have three and Onai has two,” Vapor said.
\t“Oh … okay mommy,” Laika said and looked sadly over at Tamra
\t“Can Laika come to our house, mommy?” Tamra asked.
\t“I don’t mind, but that’s up to her mom,” she replied.
\t“Can I please?” Laika asked.
\t“You sure you want to? You know it’s out of your comfy zone,” Vapor said. Laika looked over at Tamra for a moment, deep in thought. Tamra smiled at her.
\t“I. I want to,” Laika replied.
\t“Okay. I’ve been talking to Ruby for a couple of weeks now while we waited for you two.” Vapor said. Tamra cheered while Laika just smiled, until Tamra grabbed hold of her and pulled her into a hug.
\t“We’ll have to go home and get you some clothes and supplies,” Vapor said.
\t“Here’s our address and phone number, feel free to drop her off at anytime,” Ruby said. A few minutes later Ruby stood up and took her daughters paw.
\t“Bye bye Laika. See you soon,” Tamra said then walked away with her mom. Laika waved silently then looked at her mom.
\t“What I do at a friends house?” Laika asked. Vapor stood up and walked to the car with Laika right next to her. On the way home Vapor explained sleepovers and how fun they are.

\tAn hour later Vapor and Laika stood at the door to a modest house. She knocked on the door and waited until the door was answered. They were invited in. Laika held on to her moms arm as they stepped into the house. Tamra came running down the hallway and quickly came to a stop at her friend.
\t“LAIKA! You came!” She said and hugged the young wolf.
\t“Tamra, let them come in,” Ruby said.
\t“You doofus!” A male voice said. Seconds later, a teen horse walked out of the kitchen and then up to them.
\t“Erwin! Don’t call your sister a doofus,” Ruby said then turned her attention back to the Wolfe family.
\t“Sorry about him, he’s a little air headed,” Ruby said, causing Tamra to giggle. Erwin left seconds later heading down the hallway.
\t“Come on Laika, I’ll show you my bedroom,” Tamra said taking her paw. Laika looked up at her mom unsure about all of this.
\t“Go on Laika, you’ll be fine,” Vapor said then smiled.
\t“You want to come in for a bit for some tea?” Ruby asked.
\t“That sounds good, thank you,” Vapor said handing Laika her suitcase.

\tTamra said they would be in her bedroom then led Laika down the hallway. Laika walked in and looked at the small bedroom, compared to her bedroom anyway. There was a twin sized bed, a small cheap desk and chair, a dresser with an old, very small, LCD TV on it. The TV wasn’t larger than 24 inches. Next to the TV was a DVD player and a small stack of DVD cartoons. There was a single window in the bedroom. There was a few play sets against one wall. The room was lit up by a single ceiling fan light. It was much darker than Laika’s bedroom. On the bed sat a few teddy bears and other stuffed animals, about a dozen of them. The largest was the size of Laika, it was the teddy bear. Laika was just under 3 feet tall, she was one of the shortest students in her classroom and the school. The walls were light blue and the carpet was brown. Tamra hopped up on her bed and turned around, sitting her legs off the edge.
\t“This is my bedroom,” she said.
\t“It’s, uh, nice,” Laika replied.
\t“Put your thing over there,” Tamra said, talking about the suitcase. Laika moved it over to the wall then stood around. She wasn’t sure what to do at all. She stood there and stared at her friend for a moment. Tamra slid off the bed and walked over to her closet and opened it. She pulled out her toy chest and pushed it against the wall. Laika walked over as Tamra opened it. It was half full of various dolls, play sets and other toys. She picked up a box and looked inside, it had a few plates, spoons and forks inside. She looked up at Tamra confused.
\t“They go with the kitchen set right there,” she explained and pointed to a toy kitchen play set.

\tLaika was amazed at the toy sets. She never seen them before, or at least didn’t think she had. She saw them when she walked in but didn’t really pay them any attention. Next to the kitchen was a table, like you see at restaurants. It was just big enough for two cubs to sit at. Next to the table was a wooden booth food stand. It has plastic fruits and vegetables sitting in bins. The fruit was banana’s, apples, tomatoes, corn, carrots, pears, egg plants, strawberries, and bottles of jam. Sitting on top of the stand was a toy cash register. The next play set was a coffee shop. The last one was a store and checkout play set.

\t“You want to see something else?” Tamra asked. Laika nodded in reply. Tamra pushed the toy box back into the closet and asked Laika to stay. She left the bedroom and over to her brothers bedroom. Laika could hear them talking.
\t“Bubba,” she said.
\t“What you want pipsqueak?” He asked.
\t“I’m not a pipsqueak, meanie. Can you get my toy boxes from up there please?” She asked.
\t“What you going to do for me to get them?” He asked.
\t“I won’t tell daddy that you didn’t help me get my toys. He’ll punish you again,” she said.
\t“Fine,” he replied. A few seconds later they walked out into the short hallway.  Erwin, her brother, grabbed hold of the attic access string and pulled down the ladder to the attic. He disappeared for a few seconds then came back down carrying a box. He sat it down and went back up. He did this four more times before closing the attic back up.
\t“There you go Tamra,” he said.
\t“Thank you bubba,” she said and started carrying them into her bedroom. Vapor and Ruby walked to the bedroom while Tamra carried the box in.
\t“Laika. I’m going home now. You be nice and listen to Ruby, okay?” Vapor said
\t“Okay mommy,” Laika said. Vapor squatted down and pulled her into a hug. Laika placed her arms around her mom and squeezed.
\t“You have everything in your pack. Don’t forget to put on you know what before going to bed,” Vapor said quietly.
\t“Okay mommy,” she replied.
\t“I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.
\t“Love you too mommy,” Laika replied and pulled out of the hug.
\t“Bye sweetie. See you tomorrow Tamra,” Vapor said and walked out of the room behind Ruby. A moment later the front door opened and then shut. Laika and Tamra stood in the living room, looking out the window as Vapor backed out of the driveway and then drove down the road. The two headed back to the bedroom, Tamra continued moving the boxes into her bedroom.

\tA few minutes later Tamra stood up after pushing the last box in and looked up at her friend and smiled. She opened one of the boxes and looked inside, Laika looked in as well.
\t“Some of the food I have to play with,” she said. They both opened the other boxes. Three had fruits, vegetables, boxed food, canned food, milk, soda, butter and other food items. Another box had pots, pans, bowls and plates. The last box had more utensils, forks, spoons, knifes, cups, a cash register and another small box. Tamra pulled out the small box and opened it. It was filled with play money, ones, fives, tens, twenties, fifties and hundreds, and lots of coins. Laika was still confused, looking at her friend.
\t“What’s this for?” She asked.
\t“To play with. Play house or play shopping and stuff like that,” she replied.
\t“Oh okay,” Laika replied.
\t“I show you,” she said and smiled. After a few minutes she had stocked the shelves in the shopping center, the coffee stand and the fruits and vegetable stand, the kitchen and sat plates and cups on the table. Laika stood next to her and watched as she put money into the register, then handed her a some money.
\t“Go buy stuff,” she urged her friend. Laika looked over at the toy food and stared at it for a few seconds before walking up to the store. She picked up an apple, cereal and milk. She stood there with the items in her arms and looked at her friend. She really didn’t know what to do with all these play sets. She’s played with her brother and sister but never like this. Tamra waved her over to the checkout. As she started to move she tripped over her own paws and landed against the store, knocking most things off of the small shelves. She breathed in and looked at her friend, who stood there silently.
\t“I. I. I’m sorry,” she said and started to cry. Tamra ran up to her and quickly pulled her into a hug.
\t“Laika are you okhay?” Tamra said. A moment later, Ruby, Tamra’s mom walked in to see what Laika was crying about. She saw everything was knocked off and glared at Tamra.
\t“Did you push her Tamra?” She asked.
\t“No mommy, she trip and fell,” she replied, as her mom got closer.
\t“Okay. Are you okay Laika?” Ruby asked. Laika shook her head.
\t“Tamra be mad I broke things,” she cried out.
\t“I not mad Laika. They are toys. You not break anything,” she said. Laika sat there sniffling and wiping tears from her face.
\t“You not?” She asked.
\t“No,” she replied.
\t“Laika, are you hurt?” Ruby asked.
\t“No,” she replied shaking her head.
\t“Okay. You two be careful playing okay?” Ruby said standing up. She turned around to leave the room, at the door she stopped and looked back to see Tamra helping Laika stand up.
\t“I’m going to make a pizza tonight, you two want to help me?” She asked.
\t“Yes mommy,” Tamra replied, while Laika stood there staring at the floor, but then nodded her head a few seconds after Tamra answered.

\tTamra turned and looked at Laika still staring at the ground. She pulled Laika into a hug and patted her back. Tamra stood five inches taller than Laika. After Tamra pulled away from the hug Laika smiled, feeling comfortable with her friend.

\tTwenty minutes later the two cubs was in the kitchen listening to Ruby explain what to do to mix the pizza dough. After the lengthy discussion Tamra and Laika sat on their knees on stools, mixing water into the dough and then kneading it for a bit. After awhile Ruby took the dough and finished it up, ensuring that everything was mixed thoroughly. After letting it cool down for a bit Ruby spread the dough out on the flat round pan. Tamra spread out the pizza sauce, then Laika took some cheese and spread it around. Ruby helped the two put on a thick layer of pepperoni and ham slices. Tamra sprinkled the onions on, while Laika did the green bell peppers. After spreading out the sausage and beef chunks, Ruby used a slicer on black olives and let Laika spread them around. Finally the mushrooms and a lot of mozzarella cheese on top. The three of them looked at the large sixteen inch pizza, it looked like a small hill that was flat on top. Ruby smiled at the two.
\t“Well done, it looks amazing. I’ll just get it into the oven and dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes,” she said, causing both cubs to smile wide.

\tEveryone was sitting around the table and started eating. Tamra’s dad moaned after his first bite. After taking a few second to chew and swallow, he looked up, “I have to say this is one of the best you’ve made darling.”
\t“It was all Tamra and Laika, I only supervised and ran the oven,” Ruby replied.
\t“Well then, great job you two. I might have to keep you around for more lovely pizza, Laika,” he said. Laika was about to take her first bite but stopped and started at him, unsure if he was joking or being real.
\t“He’s only joking Laika, he loves food and anything that tastes great,” Ruby said.
\t“Haha, yeah. I don’t think your mom or dad would like if I tried keeping you. Anyway, I’m going eat now,” he replied. Laika took a nibble of the pizza, never having this combination of toppings. Her eyes lit up then she took another bite. The slices were large for the young wolf but she managed to eat two full slices. Erwin ate three slices. Tamra’s dad and mom ate three each. Tamra could barely manage one slice. The entire pizza was eaten, all twelve slices.

\tShortly after dinner Ruby called out for the two to go take a bath. Tamra walked into the bathroom with Laika following. Both of them carrying a change of clothes. Tamra started the water and plugged the tub. Tamra stripped down and looked up at Laika. She stood there motionless, clutching her clean clothes. She was nervous about removing her clothes in front of others. After all, her parents did tell her many times over the school year that she shouldn’t let anyone touch her in bad places, nor that she should show anyone her privates and to never undress for others outside of family or at the doctors. But this was her friend, her best friend for the school year. Could she trust Tamra? She looked up at her friend who stretched her arms out over her head and then yawned. Her legs here slightly apart. Laika looked down and saw Tamra’s furless crotch, her privates. Her skin was light pink around her, what did her mom call it? Vulva, she thought, correctly. Tamra wasn’t embarrassed or hiding herself from her. Maybe it was okay for her to take her clothes off here. Tamra’s family seemed to be nice just like her family was. Tamra turned the water off and looked back at Laika.
\t“Come on Laika, let’s take a bath, but you haffta take clothes off,” she said. Laika nodded and finally accepted that it was safe and okay to be naked here. She sat her cleans clothes down on the counter next to Tamra’s and started stripping down. First her shirt, then she wiggled out of her pants then put her thumbs into her panties. She stopped and looked at Tamra, she was already in the tub. Tamra urged her to come on. She pushed her pink panties down and let them drop to the floor. She covered her front up with her paws, and looked at the open door behind her. Just across the small hallway was Erwin’s bedroom, he was laying on his bed reading a thin paper book. He wasn’t paying any attention to her. She shook her head and headed to the bathtub and climbed in. She had to use the small step stool, Tamra had to as well. The tub was oversized but nowhere as big as her bathtub. Laika sat down and felt the water raise on her body and quickly soak through her fur to her skin. Tamra handed her a rag and a bar of soap. Laika dipped her body under the water then stood up just like Tamra had done. They both washed their bodies off. Laika was taking her time. She worked on her arms, her neck, her chest and then her crotch. She moved the rag between her vulva folds and shivered. She finished her legs and paws. She saw that Tamra was staring at her, staring at her around her stomach or privets. Tamra had finished washing a few minutes before her. She sat down and stared at her friend. Tamra smiled, she knew that her friend was uncomfortable at the moment. That smile eased Laika a bit. She knew her friend was nice and wouldn’t do anything, so she moved her paws and uncovered herself. Tamra handed her a large red crayon, in her paw was a blue one. She placed the crayon on the tub and started drawing. Laika remembered the time last year when she drew on a wall and got spanked for it. It took her dad a few hours to clean it up.
\t“We shouldn’t draw on this. We get in trouble and spanked,” Laika said.
\t“No you won’t. These are for bath. They come off, see?” Tamra said and ran her wet hand across what she had scribbled on the tub. The blue disappeared from the white tub. Laika smiled but was still unsure about it all, however she moved her crayon up to the tub and made a mark. She did what Tamra did and wiped it away. She looked at her paw and saw the red on it. She quickly dunked it into the water where it quickly disappeared.
\t“It’s okay really,” Tamra said and went back to drawing a cat face. Laika exhaled then started drawing with her friend. A bit later Ruby walked in to see the tub scribbled on with multiple colors.
\t“Alright you two,” she said, causing Laika to jump and splash the water around. Ruby chuckled and apologized for scaring her.
\t“It’s time to get out. Once you get dried off, clean up the bedroom and it’s right to bed,” she said.
\t“Okay mommy,” Tamra said.

\tThat night as they laid in bed, both were staring up at the ceiling in the darkened room, just the moonlight provided light.
\t“I like you Laika,” she said.
\t“Okay,” she replied.
\t“You’re a funny girl,” she said.
\t“I am?” Laika asked.
\t“Yes,” Tamra replied.
\t“We are friends?” Laika asked.
\t“Of course silly!” she replied and giggled, “and we’ll be friends forever,” she replied.
\t“I like you too Tamra. You are nice to me,” she replied with a smile.
\t“Thanks Laika,” she replied then rolled over onto her side and faced Laika.
\t“Laika, can I ask you something?” She asked quietly.
\t“Yes,” she replied.
\t“I don’t want to be mean,” she said.
\t“Okay,” Laika replied and turned her head towards Tamra.
\t“Umm, why do you still wear, you know, diapers?” She asked.
\t“Oh. I don’t hold my pee at night. Daddy said he was the same, my sissy Luna too,” she explained.
\t“Oh okay. What’s it like wearing them?” Tamra asked.
\t“I don’t know. Just wearing them,” she replied.
\t“Do you wear them at school?” Tamra asked.
\t“No. I can potty at school” she replied.
\t“Oh okay,” Tamra replied.
\t“I had fun today Laika,” she said.
\t“Me too,” Laika said and smiled.
\t“Goodnight,” Tamra said and rolled over onto her back.
\t“Night night,” Laika replied.

***

Saturday April 15, 2023

\tLaika ran up and hugged her dad’s legs after he was invited into the house. He greeted Ruby for the first time, then had let him in.
\t“Sorry that Vapor couldn’t make it, she’s dealing with five cubs that spent the night at our house last night,” he explained.
\t“It’s alright, she text me and let me know you were coming instead,” she replied. Fang looked down at Laika who finally released her grip from his leg. Behind her a few feet was a little horse girl.
\t“Hi,” he said with a warm voice and smile, “I’m Laika’s daddy.”
\t“Hello. I’m her friend. I’m Tamra,” she replied and smiled.
\t“It’s nice to meet you,” he replied.
\t“Thank you,” she replied.
\t“Would you like something to drink? Tea, water, milk?” Ruby asked.
\t“No. I don’t have much time to visit. I have to go get some food for everyone back at home,” he explained.
\t“Aww, well okay then,” she replied.
\t“Was Laika good?” He asked then looked down at the young wolf.
\t“She was an angel. Well mannered and behaved,” she replied.
\t“Good to hear,” Fang replied then ruffled Laika’s hair.
\t“Daddy!” She replied in slight frustration.
\t“You ready to go sweetie?” He asked. She looked back at her friend and frowned for a few seconds.
\t“I guess daddy,” she replied, “I need to get my stuff.”
\t“Okay. Go get it and go potty if you need to,” he replied.

\tThe two girls ran off to the bedroom for a few minutes before returning. Laika stood next to her dad with her little suitcase sitting beside her.
\t“I had fun Tamra,” she said.
\t“Me too Laika. Maybe next time I can sleep at your house,” she replied.
\t“Can she daddy?” Laika asked.
\t“That’s up to her parents, but we’re fine with it. Maybe during the summer,” He replied.
\t“YAY!” Both cubs cheered. A moment later Fang looked down at Laika and told her it was time to go.
\t“See you later Laika,” Tamra said then hugged her friend.
\t“Bye bye Tamra,” Laika replied and hugged back.

\tTamra and her mom watched while Fang held Laika’s paw as they walked down the concrete pathway to the road where his car was parked. Fang had her suitcase in his paw, carrying it. Once at the car Laika turned back around and waved enthusiastically at her friend before climbing into the car. Fang pulled the seat belt down and strapped her into the booster seat that sat in the backseat. He leaned down and kissed her muzzle before shutting the door. A few moments later he pulled away and headed into town.

***

Tuesday May 23, 2024

\tLaika stood in between her friends at their graduation ceremony. They were individually called to receive their Kindergarten diplomas. Having her last name start with a W, she was near the end of the ceremony. She stared out in the crowd of parents and siblings. Her eyes were fixated on her mom. Her older brother and sister sat next to their mom and her Grandma to the right of them. Onai waved at her but she stood still, too scared to do much, due to being in front of so many strangers. It took only an hour for the ceremony to finish. Many of the graduating cubs felt like it was longer than an hour. After being dismissed, by small sections at a time, they all found their parents. They were all hugged and kissed and congratulated. Soon the school was empty and parents and children headed home, out to eat, to celebrate. A happy time for all.

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