"Goosey! Pay attention," the teacher shouted. Jumping at the sudden loud voice, his pencil flew from his hand and clattered loudly on the floor. Well, it sounded like it had been loud, although it really wasn't in reality. Goosey had been drawing a design for a dress he had been dreaming about lately, and had blushed scarlet when his teacher had caught him in class. "S- S- Sorry Miss Johnson.." he mumbled quietly, his ears flat back in embarrassment. His peers laughed at him, as they were immature, even though they were all in high school.
Miss Johnson scoffed and stalked over to him quickly. Taking the piece of paper in her teeth, she brought it back to her desk before looking at it a few moments. Her eyes widened momentarily before she cleared her throat. "See me after class Goosey." she said, her voice strangely even. Terrified, he hoped he wouldn't be in too much trouble. He definitely didn't need another thing for his Mom to yell at him about. It was like handing her the ammunition to a gun. Nodding his head slowly, he looked down to his desk and hoped the attention would come off of him.
Sighing, the teacher continued on with the lesson, talking about fallacies and how important they were to understand. Even though Goosey had just been told to pay attention, he tuned out the lesson, and thought more about his dress. "A dash of pink at the ends might look good." he thought, his eyes seeming faraway as he looked at the board. Then he heard people snicker, and that broke him out of it. Sneaking a peek to his left, he saw people growling at him with a smirk. "Such a feminine hobby, designing clothes." they taunted.
Goosey's ears flicking in shame, he grit his fangs. Trying his best to ignore them, he actually tried to pay attention to the lesson. As he hadn't been paying attention from the start, he had no idea what was going on. Sighing, he decided to simply look out the window until class ended. After all, he was already behind. It'd be best not to disrupt the lesson by asking clarifying questions.
The bell ringing, Goosey gathered his things and was about to leave the classroom before he felt a tail whack his face. Blinking in mild confusion, he looked behind him to see his teacher. "You thought you were going to get away, didn't you?" she cooed, a smirk on her face. "I- I forgot.." he said quietly. Rolling her eyes, Miss Johnson walked over to her desk, motioning him to follow.
Reluctantly dragging his paws to the front of the room, Goosey sat down beside her. The teacher stayed silent for a few moments before nosing the drawing to Goosey. "This is an amazing design." she said honestly. Goosey's gaze snapped up to her in shock - no one had said such a nice thing about his work before. "I think you have real talent." she said, nodding thoughtfully. His tail wagging in excitement, he looked to her in glee. "R- Really?" he asked happily. "Yes." she replied, smiling at him encouragingly. "There's a college I think you'd be interested in." she said.
Cocking his head to the side, Goosey's heart pounded. He had never thought about going to a college, as he had never thought he was good enough. "It's called Kaori Design." she explained. "Please look it up when you get home. Study hard, and you'll achieve great things." Smiling gently, she suddenly growled. "But DON'T skimp out on my lessons ever again." she said fiercely.
Nodding quickly, Goosey remembered he WAS in trouble, and shouldn't think of this as a reward. "Yes ma'am." he said, a little louder than usual. With that, Miss Johnson nudged him towards the door. "Alright, now have a good day, and don't do something dumb." she warned.
Running out the door, Goosey smiled and headed out of the school. He couldn't wait to research this college his teacher had spoken of. His spirits high, Goosey sprinted home.
~~~ Four years later ~~~
Taking a deep breath, Goosey fixed his appearance the best he could, although it didn't do much good anyway. His fur was still messy, and his feathers looked much too poofy. A nervous wreck, he heard his name finally be called. "And now, Goosey!" the announcer said. And at the moment, Goosey was sent into a pit of eerie calmness, and excitement,
Calmly walking out onto the stage, hundreds of cameras flashed, and he saw multiple TV cameramen. Getting to the middle of the stage, he sat down and cleared his throat. "Hello, I am Goosey, and I am a designer." he said, his voice strong.
At that point, it seemed like a million flashes went off at once. "I came a long way. I've overcome many obstacles." he said. "Bullies, anxiety, bills, designer's block.. Everything a designer goes through." His ears folding back for a few moments as he heard excited whispers, he felt his fur become hot with satisfaction. "I went to Kaori college, and barely graduated. I was turned down by what seemed like hundreds of companies. My dreams were broken over and over again, and were rebuilt each day."
Smiling a little, he looked down at the stage floor, it's shine reassuring him. "But I pulled through." he said, looking back up. Gazing directly into one of the cameras, he smiled softly. "I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for my sophmore year English teacher. I would still be in my room, cooped up, hoping for something to happen." he said.
"Now that wasn't much of a speech.. As I have never been good with words.." he said, feeling a little choked up. "But I hope this will do for people who struggle with their ambitions. You can do it." he said, standing up. Bowing, he walked off the stage followed by cheers and claps. That's when tears pricked his vision, and started to fall on the mahogany floor. "I did it." he said quietly.