Kat and Danielle made sure to grab a seat right up front by the bus driver, so they only got stares and snickers instead of any real trouble. Once the bus arrived at the school, they dashed inside, intent on getting to class before anybody could give them trouble. They found their classroom without anybody catching up to them, thanks to their newfound speed. Danielle grabbed a seat near the back of the room; Kat did too, but made a point of sitting on the opposite side of the room, for which Danielle was glad; she knew that Kat was going to be probably the only person who could really relate to her predicament, but right now she was still plenty mad at Kat for getting her into this mess in the first place. Both mad at each other, they settled into their seats and waited for the start of class.
Most of the other students had arrived by the time class was supposed to start, and there was a lot of pointing, staring, and whispering going on, but nothing worse than that; this being the first day of school, they were on their better behavior. Finally, about five minutes after class was supposed to start, the teacher, an older, gray-haired man, walked in. He made his way up to the front of the class and turned to face the students.
"Good morning, class!" he beamed. "I trust you all had a good summer?"
The affirmations ranged from genial to half-hearted to sullen, but he smiled and kept going. "Well," he said, "you look like a pleasant bunch, so I hope we're going to have a good school year. Since this is the first day of class, we're only going to..." He trailed off as he noticed the two girls with white-furred rabbit ears.
He walked over to Danielle. "Hello," he smiled. "You are...?"
"I'm Dan...ielle," she replied, almost giving him her male name by mistake. "I'm Kat's sister," she finished, pointing across the room at Kat, who scowled back at her.
The teacher nodded. "You can call me Mr. Johannesen," he said. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to remove those ears."
This was what Danielle had been afraid of. "Um, I'd really rather not," she said, stalling. Mr. Johannesen shook his head. "Well, I'm sorry," he said, "but school policy forbids accessories that distract other students. And as you can see," he continued, indocating all the students staring at her, "those are very distracting. No matter how attached you are to them, they have to go."
Danielle really didn't want to tell the truth, but maybe a half-truth would sufffice. "I can't take them off," she muttered, looking at the floor. Mr. Johannesen sighed. "And why not?" he asked.
Well, Danielle thought, this is it. None of her arguments had worked; it was time for the truth. She motioned for Mr. Johannesen to come closer, and he placed his head down by her mouth. "I can't take them off because they're my real ears," she said.
He stood straight back up. "They are not!" he scoffed. Danielle nodded earnestly. "Yes, they are," she said quietly. Mr. Johannesen rolled his eyes and brushed her hair aside where her ears should have been. He was visibly shocked to find nothing there. He felt around the base of her bunny ears, searching for a headband, but found none.
"My God," he said in wonder, "they are real, aren't they?"
Wincing, Danielle nodded. If anyone hadn't been paying attention before, they were now. Mr. Johannesen looked around back of Danielle. "Then I suppose the tail is real as well?" he asked. With a heavy sigh, Danielle answered, "Yes."
"Well," he said, "I have to say, I'm sorry for the hassle. Looks like you were right after all. Now, class," he continued, raising his voice back up to lecture level, "as I was saying, on the first day I prefer to simply run over what we'll be studying this semester."
Danielle was groaning inside. Although her teacher was clearly well-meaning, he'd just blown her cover completely. Her whole class knew the truth now, and they would doubtless inform the rest of the school.
She was not looking forward to lunch.