Abby and her friends were the first kids to be enjoying the luxury of the Animalia Resort and Nature Preserve, but they wouldn't be the only ones. Lyre High School was allowing other students to fly over to Mieni Atoll for spring break, provided they could pay for it and had their parents' permission. Since the airstrip wasn't the proper width for commercial airplanes, it did limit how many students could come at once. But Abby and her friends were looking forward to who they might be seeing.
The group of friends were relaxing with some cool drinks at the juice bar when Susan ran by calling, "Da plane! Da plane!" She had been watching a couple of old TV shows to come up with ideas for her and Tzan's webshow. Abby and her friends quickly hurried to the airstrip where the small plane was approaching. They were soon waiting with anticipation for who would be coming out.
Eventually, the door of the plane opened and a wolfess stepped out saying, "Aloha Mieni!"
"Jamie!" said Sarah and Malice with enthusiasm. They were very happy to see her. They became pretty close friends after Jamie helped settle down the competition around Simon so Malice could claim him. Jamie smiled at them and hurried down the steps. Behind her followed Trevor the wolf and Riley the Rottweiler, her potential suitors.
"Still got those guys after you?" asked Sarah.
"Oh, they're a lot more cordial with each other now," said Jamie, "It helps that there's someone who's ready to catch the loser on the rebound."
"Who's that?" asked Malice.
"Well..." started Jamie.
"Make way for the princess!" called a voice. The others looked to see a poodle Animalian heading down the steps. Her tail was wagging very enthusiastically and she was wearing a pink shirt that had the word 'Princess' written on it in cursive sparkly letters. But it was the poodle following behind her in a tube top that got Malice's attention.
"Tiffany," she growled. She didn't like her very much. She had been one of the most obnoxious of Simon's suitors, caring more about his appearance than his actual feelings.
"She's a lot better now," said Jamie, "She's had a bit of an identity crisis when she was changed. She had more insecurities than you would have thought. But it's not for me to talk about them. You should talk with her yourself."
Sarah looked at the first poodle and asked, "And that would be Princess, her former pet?"
"Yeah, they've got a relationship not unlike you two," said Jamie.
"I doubt it," grumbled Malice, "There aren't any other bitches who would be trying to steal Simon, are there?"
"Well, funny you should mention that," said Jamie.
The next one to descend from the plane was a very muscular female Doberman with cropped hair. Malice didn't let her hackles rise with this one. Beth had no interest at all in Simon anymore. In fact, she only had interest in him to keep others from suspecting her homosexuality. But not only was Beth at ease with her sexuality, she was openly showing it. The next person to come down from the plane raised a few eyebrows. Eliza made a very odd match with Beth and it wasn't just because she was a cat. The two of them seemed near opposites, Beth being blunt and tomboyish while Eliza was eloquent and prim. But the two of them had formed a deep love that became more apparent as they came out as Animalia's first cross-species, same-sex couple.
"Aren't you a little old to be in high school?" asked Sarah in a teasing voice as Beth and Eliza came near.
"Officially, I'm an extra chaperone," said Eliza, winking at Sarah.
"Hey, Simon. You still hanging on to your bitch?" asked Beth in a good-natured tone.
"He's not getting rid of me so easily," said Malice proudly. 'Bitch' wasn't a very impressive slur to her since that was simply what female dogs are. And she knew Beth didn't really mean any harm.
Beth grinned and said, "You know, we ought to go a few rounds, get any aggression out." She punched the air in front of her in rapid succession. Beth had signed up for the boxing competition of the IAC and she actually looked like a contender for the winner. Even males were leery about getting in a fight with her.
Malice flinched back and said, "Er, no, there's no bad blood here."
"She's not invincible," said Eliza, "I've been able to take her in the ring myself."
"You box?" asked Simon in surprise.
"No, I wrestle," said Eliza, "Been watching those fights on television for so long and now I've got the body to use those moves."
"Who would have thought?" said Sarah with wonder.
There were a couple of other students. The Green Glacier Adventuring Clan had also arrive along with the turtle sisters. The turtles seemed eager to meet Topanga and see if she was as tough as she looked. There was Mike and Mary. The otters had been rather lovey-dovey since they officially became mates. "Are Dean and Nzinga not coming?" asked Abby.
"That plane can only carry so much weight," said Peter, "Besides, Nzinga doesn't care for sand. Says it gets in every crevice."
"Besides, there's more than enough of us to really have a party," said Mara.
Abby had to agree with that. With so many double-dosed Animalians here, it looked more like a spring break for college kids than high schoolers. Though with considerably less beer. But there may be others coming on another plane.