The professor droned on and on; letting the classroom smolder with a smokey cloud of empty words and phrases. It was all so vividly, perfectly pointless, it almost made Chaos Coyote laugh out loud. Here he was, sitting in the midst of a packed class of students whom all looked the same, listening to a dull, drool inducing lecture about toon physics. How did his life come to this? What was he doing in here, with the bottom of the scum barrel filth? How did he fit in? Everyday Chaos went to school, but never learned what he wanted to know. Normally, his ears would be perked, twitching to catch every bit of knowledge they could absorb from the boring professor, but as of late, they lay slack and emotionless against his skull. He just, did, not, care. And how could he be expected to?

There were too many thoughts swirling about his head, tumbling over and over one and other, fighting for space. How was he supposed to change an entire school? How was he to be freed of the dreadful misery that was attending this school; where every footstep was a calculated decent into the dredges of Hell? Did Juliette even HAVE a plan? Was there no salvation? No light at the end of the tunnel, or silver lining to this agonizing cloud? The school was a place of wisdom where no wisdom could be obtained. For Chaos, an up and coming scientist that yearned for the sweet, succulent sin of knowledge; the cold masquerade of wisdom the school paraded was a cruelty no torture could hope to match. Like everyone else who braved the threshold of the academy, Chaos himself was lost to the school’s spell. He had fake friends- those who announced themselves with cheerful waves and polite smiles. They praised his worth, filling his head with as much hot air they could cram in, until they needed a favor. A small favor, of course. A token of gratitude for being such a good friend. The answer to a test here, or a paper written there. And Chaos nodded, and complied. It was easier, he justified, to be miserable and overworked, instead of beaten and bruised and forced to do it anyway.

When the bell finally rang for class to be over and done with, Chaos oozed from his seat, and puttered towards the hallway, where Juliette was already waiting for him. He was seeing more and more these days, and he had to admit- her genuine smile, and flicker of her tail flashing back and forth felt like a ray of sunshine- but of course, she wanted something from him, too. Though, to be fair- it was different, with her.

“See, I think it’s like a mob mentality, sort of thing. It’s the trend setters, and the style drivers, and the popular kids. Everyone else just follows their lead here. I think if we just get rid of them, or change, them, we have a shot! We really do!” Juliette was saying as the two of them marched along the plush carpets of the hallways towards her locker. “We can fix this place! We can SAVE this place! We can! Really we can!” The wolf squeaked in a hushed whisper, but her wagging tail betrayed her excitement at the proposal. Chaos, however, flashed her a disbelieving look and puffed out a forlorn sigh.

“Should we? Should we even waste the time to save these jerks? This school is afraid of us. I have seen it’s true face. The hallways are extended gutters and the gutters are full of spit, and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin in this school will drown. The accumulated filth of all their cheating and bullying will foam up about their waists and the jocks and the preps, and the valley girls and the princesses and every, single tosser here without a shred of dignity will look up and shout “Save us!” …and I’ll look down and whisper “No.” They had a choice, all of th-“ Chaos monologued before he realized Juliette had long since put in the headphones of her CD player to drown him out.

“Rude!” He whined. The wolf girl rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, turning to face the pouting pup with an exaggerated sigh.

“First of all, I hate Alan Moore. Secondly, this is NOT going to be all that difficult. We just find the key players, change their minds about a few things, and that, will be that!” Juliette explained. It was Chaos’ turn to roll his eyes, and the boy gave a snarl.

“And while I DO hate to rain on your perfecto Parade, just HOW are we supposed to find those leading the crowd? It could be anybody in this school, and we don’t even have a place to start! The boy protested. They’re trek through the academy had led them to Juliette’s locker, which she opened up, and produced something that sent a chill down Chaos’ spine, despite the spring climate. A flyer for the party at Sara Dash’s place.

“You’ve got more whine in you than my parent’s Vineyard. This, is going to be cake. “ She grinned slyly.

“You and I have very different definitions of cake. In the circles I run in, we have a word for plans like this: Horrible.” Chaos said, perching his weight against a slew of lockers. Juliette said nothing for a long few seconds- an eternity in thought that she seemed to hold for as long as she could, before swapping her books and closing the door.

“I hate this school, Chaos. “She said with a chilling shudder. “I hate the snobs. I hate the bullies. I hate the teachers, the professors and the staff. I hate the air here. I can smell the stench of corruption, and it’s suffocating. I hate the way it feels sitting in class, knowing something dirty, and seedy and terrible is happening somewhere in the building, any everyone is ok with it. I hate the fact that this building, this school, this horrible place, is killing students, Chaos. It changes people. It warps them. It kills something inside of you, and it’s something you don’t even know is missing until you wake up one morning and you realize you can’t look at yourself in the mirror anymore. After you realize all your progress in life was made learning how to use other people as stepping stones. Burying people alive and crushing anyone who dares disagree with you. That’s what this school does to people Chaos! You want this place to churn out cops? Or Politians? Or government officials? I have to do this. I have to fix this. I don’t want to wake up one morning and wonder where my soul went, and Chaos I need your help. Please. “ Juliette bit her lower lip, waiting tersely for the boy’s response, while he peered aimlessly into space. After a moment, he shook his head.

“I can’t help you with this. I wouldn’t be enough. We need the Savage Seven.”