Has this been done before? I don't think this has been done before.

Ch. 1: January

The alarm buzzed awake and Dawn Bellwether was already out of bed. The young sheep hurried to the bathroom, performed the morning rituals, and rushed back out to put on the school uniform that waited for her.

Today was a very big day, the first day of her last year at high school. After this she would be going out to Zootopia and making it a better place. And she knew just how she'd do it. She would become mayor.

She skipped downstairs to the kitchen where her father sat at the table, his laptop already out and his eyes on the screen.

"Good morning, sweetheart," he greeted his daughter as Dawn grabbed a bag of grass stems from the fridge.

"Morning, Dad."

"Nervous?"

"Excited," she corrected, placing her quick breakfast in her school bag before flinging it across her shoulders. "I'm going to get an early start."

He nodded, his eyes never leaving his computer, "You do good out there my future valedictorian."

Dawn gave her dad a quick kiss on the cheek before walking out the door and heading to Albert Howlstein Academy.

.

The academy was for the rich and the extremely intelligent. Dawn prided herself on being the latter. She'd rather be in these wide great halls because she was smart, not because of how big her father's wallet was.

However she knew she was only a few who thought that. Plenty of her classmates were proud that their only accomplishment was having wealthy parents.

One such student she spotted down the hall.

Leodore Lionheart, a jock and incredibly egoistical lion was leaning against the wall, reading a text book. Dawn frowned, she had known Leodore since she was a lamb playing with building blocks and he never read text books, especially when he wasn't in class. The sheep internally shrugged, it was none of her business, and started to pass the lion as she continued down the hall.

But a large paw grabbed her shoulder and she let out a small squeak before jumping away and turning around. Leodore pulled his paw back and smiled awkwardly; his mane had just started to grow in last year and now framed his face but still wasn't fully grown.

"Smellwether," he greeted like it was a surprise to see her at school.

Dawn frowned with annoyance, they had spent twelve years together and he still couldn't remember her name, "Its Bellwether."

The lion nodded quickly, "Right, right. Anyway how was your summer?"

"Okay?" the words came out as a question, they had never been on talking terms before.

Leodore looked around, running his tongue over his teeth; he looked like he was going to say something and the sheep found herself curious.

But then a loud voice interrupted the would-be conversation.

"Dawn, Dawn!"

A rabbit with snowy white fur dashed to the two and tackled Dawn into a hug who quickly returned it with a smile on her face.

"Hello, Weiss," Dawn pulled back to look her friend up and down, "You look great!"

The bunny beamed, "You too! I've missed you so much!"

Dawn glanced at Leodore who still looked like he wanted to say something. But then the bell rung and mammals stormed into the hallway, the lion's friends immediately calling him forth. Leodore disappeared into the crowd and Dawn shrugged again, not worried about what the lion had to say. She linked her arm with her best friend, "Tell me about your summer camp," she insisted as the two continued down the hall.

.

The first day went off swimmingly; Dawn was pleased that Weiss was in a majority of classes, including gym. That was one class she never excelled at while her athletic friend aced it with ease. Through the day she passed Leodore once or twice in the hallways and he kept giving her significant looks and she wondered if she was supposed to understand them. She didn't believe she had done anything wrong. And even though she could make the time to talk with him she hesitated, she had never been fully comfortable around predators and Leodore was just so big and loud. It was better to ignore him.

She was sitting in her final class, waiting with the rest for the bell to ring and to go home, when the intercom crackled to life: "Dawn Bellwether please report to the Counselor's office."

Frowning and confused Dawn obeyed the disembodied voice and found the counselor, Mrs. Huger, a lively hippo, waiting for her.

"Dawn, darling!" she greeted happily, "How was my favorite genius's first day?"

Dawn smiled sweetly, "It was good ma'am. Did you need me?"

"Yes, actually," the hippo urged Dawn into a large chair, the small sheep having to climb onto it. "I know you just got back and are still on a summer high but I was wondering if you'd be interested about gaining some extra credit this year."

"Of course," Dawn replied immediately, she was always up for gaining as much credit as possible.

"Fantastic," Mrs. Huger smiled. "Would you be up for tutoring? You've been requested."

Requested? Dawn was flattered. "I can do that."

"Great, you can start tomorrow if it's not too much trouble, after class."

Dawn nodded, "You got it, ma'am."

.

Dawn returned home to find her father still on the computer but he was now on the living room couch which meant he had moved around and eaten today.

Dawn cooked them dinner and sat next to her father who listened with one ear as she told him about her day and her new job as a tutor.

"That's sounds great, honey," he congratulated her. "You might just make another mammal as smart as you."

Dawn smiled proudly before taking their now empty dishes to the sink. She wished her father a good night (told him not to stay up too late) and headed upstairs to prepare for tomorrow's tutoring.

.

Weiss whistled appreciatively after Dawn told her about her new job.

"That's great, Dawn. It'll get you some experience with talking to people for when you're mayor. Plus, it might finally give you the respect you deserve from the rest of these rich snobs."

"You're rich too," Dawn reminded her as they settled down for their first class.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Yeah but I'm nice."

Dawn smiled before opening her textbook. Weiss was nice and Dawn was grateful to have met her, her only friend in the academy. The rabbit was also going to be successful once she got out of the school; she was going to join the Olympics, standing for Zootopia and going up against much larger mammals. And Dawn believed she could win, because Weiss was a tryer who never gave up.

Suddenly the rabbit leaned forward to whisper in the sheep's ear, "Don't look now but someone's watching you."

Dawn looked up just as Leodore turned around in his seat to face the board again.

She glanced at Weiss who grinned cheekily. Dawn shook her head; she had more important things to worry about other than Leodore's strange behavior.

Hours later Dawn sat in the empty library, textbooks from all the class subjects open in front of her. She was told her student was in the same grade and she was trying to memorize as much as possible while she waited.

She couldn't help feeling excited, not only would she be getting credit but she'd be helping another mammal and that just felt good.

Someone then loudly cleared their throat and Dawn looked over her shoulder to see Leodore of all mammals hiding behind a book shelf, looking at her.

Dawn had had enough. "Are you spying on me?" she demanded.

"Of course not," Leodore's voice was a loud whisper.

"Then what are you doing?"

"Checking to make sure the library's empty."

"Why?"

Leodore glanced at the floor, "It's embarrassing… I'm almost out of school and I need a tutor."

Dawn's jaw dropped, she was going to tutor Leodore Lionheart?! She remembered him staring at her all the time and Mrs. Huger's words: "You've been requested."

"No one's here," Dawn assured him a little gruffly. "Now come sit down so we can start."

The lion finally nodded after glancing around and sat across from her, looking at the textbooks with expectation as if the books would pour their knowledge directly into his brain.

"Okay," Dawn began, pushing a literary text book toward him. "Let's start with this week's reading material."