It was some time during the evening. I was watching the fields pass by me with the sunset on the horizon as the car hummed. I guess it looked nice.

The green and yellow colours stretching out for acres with the evening tint over it all was an interesting sight. The rows of cut plants that seemingly stretched on endlessly were a bit mesmerizing to see.

Maybe I'd like it more if the events of the day hadn't harmed my mood. I've just had this melancholy feeling today. Happy for some reasons, but sad and annoyed as well.

My mood was clearly noticed by Erika, the lady who recently adopted me. I could hear her ask, "Are you ok Dan? You've been staring out the window for the last... I don't even know how long."

I sighed and said, "I don't really care."

She was silent for a few seconds before saying, "I know how you feel right now with being adopted and moved to a new town."

I didn't say anything.

I just sat there listening as she continued saying, "I'll give you some space to think or do whatever you need to do. Just please open up to me later on."

After that, she just went back to focusing on driving. I silently thanked her for leaving me alone.

To be honest, I never really cared about being adopted. By the time I was around 10, I came to terms with how I would never live in a normal home, and even before that, I lacked hope. I at the very least wanted to be adopted by someone who was a human, not a wolf anthro like Erika.

It's not that I don't like anthros or things like that, I just never saw them in the town I was in before. There was the occasional one driving through town or stopping at a store, but they were at a distance and all I could do was sneak a  glance at them. Now Erika shows up, adopts me, and now I'm going to a town closer to Edmonton, which means there is going to be a higher anthro population.

I guess I should be grateful though. I'm going to have better food, better beds than the orphanage or foster homes I stayed at, and maybe even a better school. With all the fights I got into I think any school would be better at this point.

My attention diverted from the fields to the town in the distance. It looked bigger than I expected. There would probably be a variety of different stores in town which would be nice if I got any sort of money.

I wanted to know more so I asked, "What's this town like?"

"I don't really know too much about it in all honesty," Erika replied. "I do know it's quite developed so it's not stuck in the 2000s like some other towns, and the human to anthro population should be around 50-50."

I leaned my head back in disappointment.

"Do you not like anthros?" She asked

"No. I just never seen them all that much growing up."

She smiled and said, "If you're worried about anthros being different from humans, there's no need to. We're quite similar."

I looked at myself and then at her.

She sighed and replied, "You know what I mean."

We reached the town and drove until we reached the house. It was a nice-sized house. Not like a fancy big one, but still big and nice looking.

I got out of the car and walked up to the house. Erika unlocked the door and we both walked inside. There was some furniture that wasn't in place along with plenty of moving boxes. Hopefully, the house doesn't stay like this for too long.

Erika looked around and happily said, "Almost done moving. The rest of the stuff will be brought here tomorrow and then we'll be ready to make our house a home."

"Where's my room?" I asked.

"Second floor at the end of the hall. Hopefully, the movers listened and had some of your stuff put in there."

I walked up the stairs and down the hall towards my new room. I opened it up and looked inside. There was a bed, dresser, desk and chair. The other furniture wasn't anything special, but the bed I liked. It looked way better than the beds I've slept on before, either at the orphanage or foster homes I stayed at.

I checked my drawers and closet and found nothing else. There weren't even any decorations anywhere. I'll have to ask Erika for some new stuff later, right now I wanted to lay down.

30 minutes went by and I started to feel tired. The bed was so nice was going to get ready to sleep until I heard Erika shout, "Dan! Suppers here!"

I rolled out of bed and left my room. Erika was at a table with a  couple of chairs next to it. On top of the table were a couple of pizza boxes.

She and I got seated and I plated myself up a few slices. I haven't had pizza in a long time.

"What can you tell me about yourself?" She asked.

"There's not really a lot to me," I answered.

"Why is that?" She curiously asked.

"I grew up in an orphanage. The only notable thing for me was getting into fights with other kids at the orphanage and at school. And there's also my recent expulsion."

She looked a bit worried but it faded into something more hopeful. She smiled and said, "I'm sure I can do something that will get you to do something different."

"Like what?"

"I'll figure it out. I know you'll benefit from something remarkable happening."

We went back to eating for a little bit before I remembered the thing I needed to ask about my room.

"Is there any chance I can I can get more stuff for my room?" I asked.

"Of course. I actually have a box for you that hasn't been brought over yet."

I was curious and asked, "What did you get?"

"It's a surprise."

I sighed which made Erika's ears droop a little. I felt a little bit regretful since she did get me something, and I can't blame her for not having the box with us.

She seemed to be thinking before her ears perked up again. She asked, "Is there anything you want to know about me?"

I needed to think. I never really wanted to get to know her so I had nothing to really ask. There was one thing I never got an answer to when I first met her, so I asked, "Why did you adopt me specifically? I'm 16 and I assume you know my track record for fights."

"It's a bit of a long story, but I'm going to give you the short version since you don't seem to care all that much."

I felt a little bit more guilty since she's trying her best to be nice and I've done nothing but disregard it.

She continued speaking, "When I was your age, I was an orphan as well."

This caught my interest since dI didn't expect her to grow up in an orphanage as well.

I listened to her as she said, "I had gotten into a few fights, and despite that a family, and a human one at that, adopted me. Like you, I was uncaring at first, but over time I opened up to them."

I was speechless. Of all the reasons why she could have adopted me, it's that.

"So you adopted me as a way of paying things forward?" I questioned.

"Yes, I did." She clarified. "I'm also quite lonely since my adoptive family are in other places. I was hoping having you around would make me feel better. Adopting you is a new chapter in my life, and it's the same for you as well."

I couldn't help but silently agree with her on that. We continued eating and I plated myself seconds. She did the same as well and got up to get something to drink. She brought me back something to drink as well and I thought up another question to ask her.

I asked, "What do you do for a living?"

She seemed happy I was talking to her and cheerfully replied, "I'm in real estate."

"You sell houses?"

"Yes, and I'm really good at it. I also made a few really good investments into companies that made it big."

"What company got you the most money?"

"That one pharmaceutical company, Boreal Pharmaceuticals."

"What's that?"

"They made the anti-heat pills to help keep female anthros like myself normal. Their pills were the most effective, and kind of revolutionary in a way so I made some sound money from that."

"So you're rich?"

"I guess you could say that."

I was down to my last slice of pizza and would probably go to sleep after I was done eating. Monday was a couple of days from now, so I asked, "Am I going to the high school in town?"

"Of course you are. I had things organized for a while."

"Where's the school?"

"I'm not sure. You can go exploring tomorrow, find the school, learn the layout of the town, and have some fun."

"I guess."

I finished my food and put my dishes away. As I was walking to my room Erika said, "Good night."

"You too."

I entered my room and laid down.

I opened my eyes and looked around at my room which was now illuminated with daylight. I'm surprised by how well I slept last night, usually, it would take a while for me to fall asleep and I would wake up prematurely.

After lingering in bed for a few minutes I got up and left. I went downstairs and saw Erika talking with a couple of guys who were supposed to haul the rest of her stuff into the house.

Once she was done talking to them she turned her attention toward me and suggested, "You should go out and check out the town while everything else is brought into the house."

"I was planning on doing that," I replied while walking towards the front door.

I opened it up and stepped outside as Erika said, "Stay safe and be back in a couple of hours."

I walked past the moving truck and down the sidewalk. The part of the town I was in right now was just rows of houses. After walking down a few blocks I reached streets with stores and businesses. I checked out where things were as I walked.

There were few cars and trucks that would pass by me on occasion, and there was also the occasional person to pass by me. Those people were either humans like me or different species of anthros. I saw many different species of anthros that I couldn't help but stare at for a few seconds.

Besides the people in town, the buildings I passed by were pretty basic. Stores, restaurants, small businesses, and other things that were to be expected. I turned a corner and walked down a street that was more empty. There weren't any vehicles or people passing making things quiet and peaceful.

Things were so quiet, that when I was nearing an alley between a couple of stores I could hear voices coming from it.

I slowly walked over and peaked down it to see a couple of humans my age being accosted by 2 anthros, a male and female coyote.

"Just fuck off already, we don't have shit to give you." The human wearing a T-shirt and khaki pants said in an annoyed tone.

"I don't think we will. Me and my girl both know you have money on you. I know for sure you have a phone at the very least." The male coyote remarked.

"Sorry, we don't like donating to the poor." The other human wearing jeans and a black hoodie joked.

The fur on the back of both coyote's necks raised.

"Now we have to beat the fuck out of you." The female coyote spotted an angry voice.

I don't think the two humans could defend themselves from the two anthros. The anthros were around 6'4", so they would need some sort of weapon to have any sort of chance of holding them off. Even I would need a weapon if I were to help them, and it seems the world wanted me to do something because there was a wood pallet leaning against a nearby dumpster.

One of the planks was broken off and had nails sticking out of it. I grabbed it along with a small jagged piece of concrete laying on the ground. The coyotes had their backs to me so I wound up and threw the piece of concrete at the male one.

It didn't hit him square in the head, but it did scrape the side of it. The concrete broke skin because I could see a bit of red as they both turned around to look at me. They went from pissed to worried after realizing that I was armed with a nailed plank.

I felt like I needed to say something since I was the one who was in control.

"Get the fuck outta here!" I demanded.

They both cautiously walked by me as the male one annoyingly muttered, "You're lucky you had a weapon."

After I was sure they were gone I threw the plank off to the side and walked over to the humans.

"Thank you so much." The one wearing the T-shirt thanked.

"It's nothing," I replied. "who even were they?"

"They're a couple who have been in trouble with the police a few times before." He answered.

"Do they get punished?"

"Yeah, they've been to juvie a couple of times, they're too stupid to change. Who are you?"

"I'm Daniel, but I prefer Dan," I answered.

"I'm Everett." He answered.

"I'm Ollie." The one with the hoodie added.

After introducing themselves I asked, "Am I going to get in trouble for throwing that rock at them?"

"Probably not. They would get in trouble for trying to rob us and you would probably be fine anyways." Everett assured me.

"I usually career a knife on me in case this happens, but this dumbass forces me not to bring it when we hang out," Ollie explained with a disappointed tone.

"Shut up, I just don't want you to stab someone for a stupid reason and ruin your life."

"Who do you think I am? That wolverine bitch in school?" Ollie remarked.

"There's a wolverine anthro ins school that stabbed someone?" I said in surprise.

"She didn't stab anyone, she just fought a few kids out of school grounds and apparently she clawed them." Everett clarified.

"Ah, ok, she sounds psychotic. Anyways, can you tell me where the school is?" I asked.

"Are you new in town?"

"Yeah, I moved in with my adoptive mom yesterday."

"Alright. I guess we can show you where the school is."

I followed the two of them as they led me around town. I was starting to understand the layout of this place, which I needed.

As we were walking, Everett asked, "Why did you move here?"

"I don't know. I was adopted by a wolf anthro and brought to this town. I don't know why she chose this town specifically." I answered.

"An anthro adopted you?" Ollie questioned.

"Yeah."

"That's quite uncommon. Usually, anthros stick with other anthros. She must be a really nice person."

"Maybe, I don't really care though," I replied.

As we were walking we passed this statue of a female fox anthro posing. It was quite big and was made out of some sort of rock. The statue was in the middle of the street with a ring of well-trimmed grass around it.

"What's this statue for?" I asked.

"It's the statue of our current mayor," Everett answered.

"Is she a good mayor?"

"Fuck no. Well, kinda. Since she has more money now, she had a statue made for her selfish ass."

"Why?"

"She has been erected a few times because she does good things, and now she recently had this statue put up in front of where she works." "

"I don't blame her for putting up the statue. All she could look at out her office window was that pharmacy across from her office. " Ollie joked.

We continued walking and passed by a police station that was a couple of blocks away from the mayor's office. I thought about the couple from earlier who were trying to rob these two.

"How many people in town are like the couple from the alley?" I asked.

Everett thought for a second before saying, "There's enough crime to get a fair amount of officers in town. Druggies, thieves, shoplifters, vandals are scattered around town."

"That's why I like to stay strapped, but Everett doesn't like that," Ollie said with disappointment.

"I don't need to be armed," I stated. "I can handle myself."

"Why do you say that?" Everett asked.

"I used to get into a bunch of fights before I moved here. I fought so much I got expelled."

"You were expelled? And you used to fight anthros" Everett questioned.

"I never fought anthros. The place I used to live there were no anthros. Erika, my adoptive mom, was the first one I ever saw up close or even talked to."

"Little tip, don't fight anthros. They're bigger, stronger, and have claws." Ollie advised.

Although I didn't say anything, I agreed with him. From the few anthros I've seen so far, I don't think I can fight them, at least unarmed, alone or without some sort of surprise attack. It's probably for the best that I don't fight though, I have a new life here, and although I don't really like Erika, I don't want to disappoint her.

We passed by a bar which Ollie stared at for a few seconds.

"Wanna know something we tried to do to get beers from there?" Ollie asked.

"Go ahead."

"Everett and I managed to print off a couple fake ids to try and sneak in here once. Before we actually used them, Everett decided we shouldn't because the people there would probably realize we were too young."

"How did you get fake ids?" I asked.

"My girlfriend's mom works at the high school. We managed to get a hold of that machine for printing our school ids, and we put in our own design to make a fake id." Everett explained.

"What's your girlfriend like?" I asked.

"She's amazing. I've been dating her for almost two years."

"Anthro or human?"

"Human obviously."

After talking we continued until we reached the high school. It looked like your typical high school. It was empty at the moment because it was the weekend, but things will be more lively tomorrow.

There were fields behind the school for sports which I expected. They seemed a bit more well-kept than others, so this high school probably has a better sports team than most places.

Once I had my time to check out the school, Everett asked, "Wanna see this hidden spot we have in town?"

I had nothing else to do, and since these two were the closest things I had to friends here I replied, "Yeah, let's go."

We walked through the part of town that had stores and eventually reached an area that just had rows of houses. As we were walking by we passed a few anthros that I stared at. I couldn't get over how different they were.

Ollie must've caught on because he jokingly said, "You looking for a girl already?"

"No," I replied with annoyance.

He quietly laughed as we reached this little pond in town. There was a concrete walkway around it and some patches of trees nearby. I followed them down the walkway, and a couple of people walked past us.

One was a human and the other was a cheetah anthro, and they were talking to each other. At least anthros and humans don't seem to have anything against each other. I don't think I could deal with human-anthro racism.

We reached this act of trees that was the furthest away from the houses and walked down this little path that was somewhat discreet. After a short walk into the trees, we came across a little clearing with a fire pit, a couple of log seats, and a wood chopping block with a  pile of chopped logs next to it.

"This is where we hang out from time to time," Everett explained.

"What do you two do here?" I asked.

"Drink alcohol we bring, play cards, make fires, get away from everything for a while, just basic stuff."

"How did you guys get alcohol?"

"My mom makes homemade wine from time to time, and whenever we get a bunch of bottles I sneak a couple away," Ollie answered.

I looked around this little spot for a little bit before I started to feel a bit hungry. I didn't have anything for breakfast, and I would have to head home soon anyways so Erika doesn't get worried.

"I gotta get home, I didn't have anything to eat today, and Erika