Dystopian Prep

-Hiya. I've written most of this story (I think) so that I'll be hopefully posting every day. Sorry for my embarrassing typos. ;-; -

-WARNING: This story contains strong themes such as suicide and self harm. Consider yourself warned.-

"Are you sure?" I ask timidly.

"Yeah," Grandma smiles. "Go for it."

We're standing in front of the mirror. I wasn't born traditionally, my not-Dad created me in a lab, sort of. He took a sample of the male and female zygote and then modified the genes with wolf dna. He let them combine together and grew my foetus out in an incubator. As a result, I have white wolf ears with black in the middle and a white tail with a black tip. I have to hide them, everywhere. My not-Dad was arrested and eventually shot by the police when he refused to put down his weapons. I hate him. I hate him with every inch of me, from my freak ears to my bushy tail, I hate him. My Mum raised me for years, she's Japanese, moved to London to be with my not-Dad and embraced the culture. My life is a mixture of roast beef and sushi, hoodies and kimonos, fairies and kappas, idiots and bakas, but most of all: anime. My Mum had me drawing in the art style before school could have any influence. Japanese was my first language, I can sort of remember back in that awful lab place, at least enough to remember that my Mum was left alone with me to influence me while my not-Dad went out and had all the fun. An ookami no shoujo, that's what I am. Not a neko, not a kitsune, but an ookami no shoujo. She told me I'd fit in with all the anime characters she showed me, that I'm just in the wrong world. Grandma took me in when she died of sepsis. Grandma supported me when Mum died, she wept with me at her own daughter's funeral and kept up the Japanese culture to the best of her abilities. She knows a certain extent of Japanese, she's Scottish and married into a Japanese family where she grew old in the unique little country and had a child with her husband, hence my Mum. She moved to London when she heard about my Mum's illness, it started with fever, then she wouldn't stop vomiting. Soon the doctors gave her the diagnosis and my world stopped turning. 'Be brave,' she used to tell me, 'be strong and fearless.' I can't disappoint her today.

"O-okay," I swallow.

The other day, monsters broke out of the underground. No one even remembered their existence, but there's enough evidence to put together what happened. Today marks the day that they roam freely through the world, and undoubtedly my dodgy public school. I always pinned my tail up to my back and wore a hood over my ears, but today Grandma wants me to reveal myself to everyone. After all, today is the day freaks like me are accepted, right? I'm going into my fifth year at the school, that means... uh...

so my school isn't exactly ordinary. It's located in a mansion in the middle of nowhere, you spend your first four years doing normal subjects and then you can choose to continue some in your spare time. Lessons are dedicated to training. You see, when my Grandma signed me up for a school, she picked the most anime one she could find. So she picked Dystopian Prep. Apparently, the fifth year onwards is full of training to battle, hide and survive. That's like the school motto: we strive to survive. It's pretty corny so it's coined the term stay alive or sometimes just don't die. Part of me just wishes to be normal- a normal human girl in a normal human school. I suppose the ears are a conversation starter.

"Good," she runs a calm hand through my hair. "Don't listen to what negative junk those bakas have to say," she begins to sing something softly. "I'm tired of trying to be normal, I'm always overthinking, I'm driving myself crazy-"

"Uh Gran?" I ask, remembering the vast number of swear words in that song. "Since when did you listen to Bebe Rexha?"

She puts a mischievous finger to her lips and I'm reminded again what a cool Grandma I have. I smile and pick up a black suitcase. I'm wearing a black and white striped shirt underneath a grey hoodie and just some blue jeans. I have some hiking boots on with the laces pulled tight. My hair sits in a black plait on my shoulder.

"Knock 'em dead!" She calls out to me as I leave the house.

"Hai sensei," I smile painfully and give her a keirei bow.

The door shuts and I begin the journey to school. I walk around to the hidden bridge over a stream in the greenery next to the shop by our house and walk over it. The long, thin pathway is occupied only by a woman walking her little dog. She looks at me like she's seen a ghost but forces a smile. That's odd, why- oh, right. My ears. I keep going and step across the road onto the bike path. I walk down it, reaching the park behind the school. I come in through the back gate and enter the school courtyard. The six or so hours that follow are going to be hell to endure. I perch on the edge of a bench and stare at my shoes to avoid the gazed of whispering teens. My cheeks burn.

"Uh, hey," a girl approaches me from her group of gossiping friends. "Are those real? How come you have ears now?"

I pause, not used to being spoken to, and speak in a quiet voice.

"Everyone has secrets, not everyone is good at keeping them hidden."

"Riiiiiight," she goes back to her group of friends.

I've always been an outcast, the smart and shy one in a world of inappropriate teens. I do well in most subjects, but I'm really passionate about English. It's so fascinating, there are so many words. My English teacher is nice I suppose, she's always kind to me. I find myself accidentally using the odd Japanese word in replace of something with no English translation. She puts up with it. I'm naturally quick and athletic due to the nature of my genes, but I get so stressed in PE trying to conceal myself and limit my abilities that I always end up screwing everything up. A breeze tickles my face, it's nice in the summer heat.

"I know!" I hear a passing conversation. "And did you see that yellow one with the tail? Like, the hell are you?"

There's laughter. I suppose they're talking about the monsters joining the school.

"And that girl, you know, the shy one-"

"I know!" The other voice giggles. "I think I'd kill myself if I had ears and a tail, like get lost freak!"

I stare at the concrete, my cheeks burning.

"They're only jealous," a voice from somewhere behind me says dreamily.

"Oh-" I jump slightly. "Hi."

"Hello."

Wynn sits down on the bench next to me. I wouldn't say he's my friend, but he'll sit with me at lunch or partner with me in science when the time comes. He's alright.

"I think they're cool," he shrugs, nodding towards my ears. "Suits your culture, kind of anime, you know?"

"Y-yeah," I nod.

"Have you been hiding them for your entire life?" He asks.

I blush and he looks up at the clouds.

"I didn't know that."

"I didn't tell you," I shrug.

We sit in silence until the bell rings. I don't bother looking at my schedule; we have the first day to set up. I walk quickly to beat the rush and walk into the ancient school. It's less of a school and more of a manor, I approach the grand hall and scale the large spiral staircase leading upwards. I drag my suitcase up with me and squint through the sunlight coming in from the stained glass ceiling. I don't stop at the first year floor, nor the second, I keep climbing until I get to the fifth year hall. I've never seen it before. It's pretty cool, not that different from the forth year floor but still easy to get lost in. A teacher hands me a sheet of paper nervously. That'll be the ears. I inspect it, it's a map of the floor with the dorm rooms already decided. I hold my breath at the sight of the ten girl room, there's only about seventeen girls in the year and the other six are always in a room together. I've been in both rooms before. Luckily, my name isn't on the list of popular girls in their massive dorm. I spot my name amongst some girls I've never heard of before.