The school gate stretched wide and loud under the morning sun. Pip gripped the straps of his oversized backpack until his knuckles turned white. He wished he could curl into a tight ball and roll all the way back to his burrow. But the bell rang—sharp and echoing off the brick walls. Pip shuffled forward, eyes fixed on the scuffed toes of his tiny shoes.
Pip squeezed through the doorway and made his way to the back row. The classroom was bright and buzzing with the rustle of notebooks and the squeak of chairs. He found an empty seat by the window and sat down small and still. His oversized backpack slipped to the floor beside him and thumped softly against the leg of his desk.
The friendly classmate dropped into the seat beside him with a happy thump. They held out a crinkly paper bag, and inside sat a golden honey cake. The sweet scent drifted through the air and tickled Pip's nose. The classmate broke off a piece and held it toward him again.
Pip reached for the cake, but his quills snagged the paper bag and sent it skittering across the floor. The honey cake rolled free and disappeared under the nearest desk. The classmate gasped and stood up. Pip's quills bristled straight out all around his back. He froze, certain everything had gone terribly wrong.
The classmate smiled and pointed under the desk. Pip crawled forward on his belly and peered into the dark space beneath the wooden legs. The honey cake rested there, still perfect and sweet-smelling. He reached out carefully and picked it up.
Pip crawled back out and held the cake up with both paws. The classmate took it, laughed, and broke it cleanly in two. They pressed half into Pip's paw. The warmth of the cake seeped into his fingers.
"We can be friends," the classmate said, and Pip's quills settled back down one by one. He took a small bite of the cake, and the sweetness made his eyes narrow with surprise and something else—a feeling he had not felt before.
Pip chewed slowly and swallowed. Across the room, another child was waving at him from a nearby desk. Pip looked down at his cake, then up at the waving hand, and for the first time all morning, he smiled back.
