Changes - Part 2.5
Changes
Part 2.5
by Dego
Author's Note: This is a series about a fox. Please begin with this section and worry about earlier or later sections in the future. You should be able to pick up the story from right here, as the characters are very relatable. If you want to read more, just follow the links or search Part 1 from my profile. I welcome your view.
The story is split into 10 sections and numbered 2.0, 2.1, 2.2... and so on. Generally, I will post a new section every other day. Please enjoy.
*****
Study hall ended and the pair was forced to separate. They waved to each other and promised one last time to meet up at each passing period, but Charlie was still really worried about getting beat up or otherwise accosted. He didn't feel safe without having a real plan of action to deal with Ethan. But he wasn't a little kit anymore and he knew it was about time to step up and face his problems. He would cross whatever bridge he needed to when he came to it; it didn't make sense to fret over it now.
Charlie headed to his 5th period, history. He wasn't attacked in the hall, so the foxboy breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived at his classroom door. He went in and went to his seat nearly at the butt end of the room. As he put his backpack down and took a seat Charlie desperately hoped he would get a chance to move closer to the front for two reasons: he could barely hear the teacher's lectures and it was the damn black panther's fault. Maybe today he would get up the courage to tell her to shut up, but then again wouldn't that just make him the jerk? Maybe the teacher would deal with it.
When class began, the bloody panther was as distracting as always, carrying on conversations with three different boys all over the room. Charlie held his head with his paw and tried to focus on the professor's lecture about prehistoric Britain and Stonehenge, but it wasn't made any easier by the annoying panther.
Finally the teacher said something. He stopped mid-sentence, pointed directly at the girl, and said "Megan! Enough! You have been disruptive since day one and I'm tired of it!" The class went completely silent and suddenly everyone was paying rapt attention. "You have absolutely no reason to be talking during my lectures. Pick up your desk and move up here, right in front of me!" The cheetah indicated a spot in front of the class, near the teacher's desk. Megan looked appalled, but did as she was told and slowly slid her desk all the way up front. Some furs, including Charlie, stared at the void left by her desk. "Now keep quiet and pay attention!" The teacher locked eyes with the panther, who was forced to reply "Yes sir." Charlie heard some very quiet 'oooh's from around him. "Good. Now, in about 3000 BC..." Charlie heard some rushed whispered conversations about Megan from around him, but after those faded he was able to pay closer attention to the lecture. The fox still wanted a slightly closer seat, just so he could see the projector a little more clearly.
Charlie left class with the same feeling of dread as he had been feeling all day. Knowing he had to hurry, the fox rushed to the middle of school, hoping Jack would already be waiting for him. He tried to look ahead and down at the floor as he nearly jogged to his destination, not wanting to make eye contact with Ethan, any of his friends, or anyone else whom the news had spread to. Charlie didn't want any conflict.
He was able to make it to the center of Northledge, the main hall from which the staircases led upstairs, without trouble. It was wide and open and always busy with foot traffic. Jack had chosen a good place to meet, but unfortunately he hadn't shown up yet. Charlie whimpered a little, then looked around and elected to sit at one of the benches skirting a small square structure that housed a nice floral arrangement-decoration for the main hall. He took a seat, placed his backpack beside him, and began to scan the room for his boyfriend. "Hmm, boyfriend..." Charlie thought.
Jack showed up moments later, much to Charlie's relief, and greeted the foxboy with a friendly wave as he made his way to the bench. Charlie immediately scanned his body for signs of a struggle, but the akita appeared to be unscathed. Charlie smiled as Jack sat down next to him and said "Well I guess we're ok."
"Yep."
They stared at each other in awkward silence. Finally Jack tapped his paws on his knees, saying "That's all I've got. I guess we should get to class. You be safe." Charlie could tell Jack truly meant for him to be safe.
Charlie sighed now that the pair had to separate. "Ok I will." He leaned in, wanting a kiss, but thought better of it. He leaned back out and sheepishly said "Bye."
Jack smiled at the failed attempt and put his paw on Charlie's leg. "We'll talk later, at your house."
"Ok." Before Charlie could say anything more, Jack rose, grabbed his pack, and walked quickly off in the direction Charlie had come from, towards his class. Charlie sighed deeply, then noticed the crowd thinning-an indicator that class was starting soon. He picked up his things and started briskly off to math.
Math, though usually uninteresting, was made interesting by a story. The class was learning about basic algebraic functions, and the teacher told a narrative about Mr. X and his friends, the coefficients. It was even augmented by a slideshow depicting colorful letters and numbers crossing a river to solve an equation. Of course it was childish, but that exact quality kept the students engaged and the show actually succeeded in teaching basic algebra. It even succeeded in distracting Charlie from his problem, and he was grateful for the reprieve since it felt like momentarily lifting the weight of the world off his shoulders.
After class, Charlie was hit with a dilemma. Of course he was supposed to go to the school's main hall to check up on Jack, but his next class, biology, was just down the hall in the opposite direction. He could risk himself to go to the main hall to check on Jack, or he could just play it safe and go directly to biology. It didn't take too much time to decide; Charlie was immediately on his way to the main hall. Of course it would be easier to just go straight to class, but he cared for Jack and he would want the akita to do the same for him.
Since he had a long walk, Charlie was happy to see Jack already waiting for him on the bench the pair stopped by earlier. He almost had to suppress a laugh when Jack started wagging his tail as soon as he saw the fox. Charlie sat down next to Jack, leaned in, and fearlessly gave him a peck on the cheek. A few "Ah!"s of surprise were raised by nearby furs, but thankfully none of them were Ethan's cronies or other seriously anti-gay furs. Jack put his paw on his cheek and expressed surprise to Charlie, to which he smiled confidently.
"I'm not afraid, Jack. Not when you're with me. I made the choice to come see you when I could've just as easily gone to class."
Jack sat in a stunned silence, staring at the overly-courageous fox.
"I'm glad to see you're ok. See you later!"
Charlie left Jack in that same stunned silence as he trotted off to his last class of the day. He was proud to have shown Jack his own bravery and strength of character. Perhaps that public display was a little foolish, but Charlie just knew that with Jack's help, they could overcome any obstacle.
He walked down the hall with that same sense of happiness until it was crushed when he ran into one of Ethan's friends. He looked up at the strong, tall, athletic, menacing coyote and felt his heart drop and his legs go numb. Oh shit. He was distracted by this feeling of being on top of the world and hadn't been paying attention, so he crashed right into the coyote who was stopped at his locker.
"Heeey, it's you!" the coyote realized.
Charlie was too numb to turn and run, so he just stood in place, trying really hard not to tremble in terror.
"Well?" the coyote asked of Charlie's pale face and pinned-down ears.
"I.... sorry." Charlie said, for bumping in to him.
"Piss off." The coyote turned back to his locker.
Charlie had feeling rush back into his legs, which he quickly put to use in putting as much distance between him and the coyote as fast as he could.
When he had rounded a number of corners and realized that no one was in pursuit, Charlie finally exhaled his pent-up breath and relaxed his extremely tense muscles. It was over, and Charlie was unhurt. It appeared that the coyote, while big and strong, didn't share Ethan's same intense feelings. "Thank God for that." Charlie thought to himself.
Biology was less of a class and more of a cool-down period for Charlie. They were just going over lab safety procedures, since the class was meant to begin their first lab the next day. All Charlie had to do was demonstrate how to properly wear an apron and safety glasses and sit through a boring explanation of some of the lab equipment and how it was to be used. He spent most of the time discretely trying to massage the tension out of his muscles, which he had tightened far too much upon bumping into the coyote, and relaxing the adrenaline high that had earlier washed over him.
Charlie was grateful that the last class of the day was now over and he could leave the place where he was in the most danger. He proceeded, very aware of his surroundings this time, to the main hall where he was supposed to meet Jack. At the mouth of the hall, he paused for a moment to look around for anyone that could threaten him. He was on the ground floor, but he scanned the balcony of the second floor across the main hall for anyone who had left their classroom and was headed to the stairs, because the bottom of that staircase was adjacent to Charlie and Jack's bench. And it was fortunate he did that because he caught sight of Ethan the otter, headed right for those stairs. Charlie quickly took up position next to the wall of the hall he was in, where he was hidden from Ethan's view. The otter hadn't seen him yet, but he appeared to be looking around. Charlie looked at their bench and felt relief that Jack wasn't there yet. He wanted Ethan to pass before he left the hall, but he worried that Jack would enter the main hall before Ethan left. He started scanning, from his safe position at the mouth of the hall that led to the math/science wing, for Jack. As Ethan was headed down the stairs, Jack came into the hall on the same side that Charlie was, but further up. He started walking directly to the bench and Charlie gauged that Ethan and Jack would be passing within eyesight of each other, but he held his position and clenched his fist hoping that he was wrong. Because of the massive amount of traffic across the main hall, he wouldn't be able to stop Jack in time, before he reached the bench. He resolved to stay in place and not to leave until either Jack got into a fight, or Ethan passed safely. Charlie tensed more and more as Ethan and Jack neared each other. He tried to project a telepathic message to Jack for him to wake the hell up, since he was clearly not paying attention. At the last, critical moment Ethan turned and was facing away from the bench as Jack rounded the mosh pit of furs that obstructed Ethan's view of his approach. Jack proceeded casually to the bench where he took a seat, completely unaware of the danger he narrowly avoided. Charlie exhaled again and released his tension. He wasn't sure whether he should slap Jack or give him a hug, the clueless puppy.
Charlie walked over to the bench, keeping his head low so Ethan couldn't see him as he walked down the main hall in the opposite direction. When he came within earshot of Jack and the akita noticed him, Charlie put his paws to the side and exclaimed "Do you have any idea what you just avoided!?"
"No, what?"
"Ethan was right there!" Charlie pointed to the nearby staircase as he dropped his backpack on the bench next to Jack. "You just missed him!"
"Whoa, I did?"
"Yes! Didn't you see him!?"
"Naw, I just... wow."
"Yeah, pay attention next time."
"Oooook, well luckily we missed each other. Can I ride the bus with you?"
"Of course you silly pup."
Charlie and Jack walked together to their lockers. Holding paws was actually rendered impossible since they were headed in the opposite direction of traffic, which was headed to the main hall's exit. It wasn't a good idea anyway. They got their things and were part of the last few to get on the bus.
Entering the bus was becoming a routine hassle. Charlie got on first, then Jack, and a female deer followed soon after. As usual, Lucas caught eyes with Charlie.
Charlie tried to ignore him, having bigger problems to deal with, but was stopped by Lucas' paw placed annoyingly in the aisle so Charlie couldn't pass.
"What?" Charlie asked rudely.
"Can we please talk?" Lucas seemed exasperated.
"No...I..." Charlie tried to shove past, but to no avail. He looked Lucas in the eye and said "I have a lot of shit going on in my life right now. We'll have to talk later."
Lucas kept his paw in the aisle as he stared at Charlie, then sighed and dropped it. "Fine."
Charlie and Jack were late in getting on, so the only available seats were single aisle seats. Lucas was actually in an aisle seat next to someone, though they didn't appear to be friends, so Charlie took one near the back of the bus, next to a raccoon, and Jack sat in the aisle seat two rows ahead.
The bus pulled away and Charlie became absorbed in his own thoughts. He had a lot on his mind, like Ethan, Lucas, Jack, his own sexuality... He hadn't even been in high school that long but he was already dealing with all manner of teenage problems, drama, and angst. "Why me?" He thought.
He was finally rousted from his own mind by none other than the raccoon he had chosen to sit next to. "Hey," the raccoon said, "Aren't you Ch... Yeah, you are! I've heard the news about you."
"Wha, erm, what news?" Charlie played dumb.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm Aiden." Aiden smiled genuinely and extended his paw.
Charlie shook it a bit weakly, then said "Sooo, it's ok with you then? You're not bothered or anything?"
"No, I mean, I'm straight," Aiden emphasized that bit, "but I don't have any problem with gays."
Charlie relaxed.
The raccoon continued: "I heard you had a scuffle with Ethan, the otter on the football team."
"That's not the half of it."
"Well what's the whole story, then, because I don't want to be ignorant."
"I'm not sure I should be telling you this."
"What am I gonna do? I don't have a problem with gays; I just want to hear the whole story."
"Why, so you can gossip? Why would you want to hear the whole story?"
"Because furs keep throwing around all these rumors and slander and it kind of bothers me. I don't see any reason to make up shit just because someone is gay, so I want to bring them the true story and make 'em shut up. Gossip gets nowhere."
"Wow, that's pretty mature." Charlie remarked, surprised. "Well the whole story is that Jack" Charlie pointed to indicate the akita sitting two rows ahead "and I... kind of... got together..." Aiden nodded knowingly. "and we were walking to our lockers together. We just decided to hold paws and... I'm sure you know the rest." Aiden motioned for Charlie to continue. "Well Ethan, whom I know from my theater class, saw us and ran over and started shouting in our faces. Jack almost got into a fight but a teacher ran out and caused us to scatter and that was the end of it. We've been checking up on each other ever since and we're trying to come up with a plan to deal with Ethan."
"Hmm, I thought that story would explain the bruise on your brow."
Charlie quickly reached up to cover his bruise and cut from earlier. "Oh yeah, I totally forgot about this since it stopped hurting. Is it obvious?"
"No, not really. I just noticed it as you were talking."
"Oh. Fantastic." Charlie dropped his paw and sighed deeply.
Aiden leaned forward, waiting. Charlie was silent so Aiden prodded him: "So how'd you get that cut?"
"It... It came from theater class. I couldn't just skip out on class, so I went to theater where Ethan was lying in wait. He asked me 'Do you think it's ok to be gay,' I said 'yes,' and got backhanded across the face. Thankfully these wolves and one hare were helpful enough to protect me and they pulled Ethan back. I avoided him the rest of the day."
"And Jack?" Aiden asked.
"Jack avoided him too. We're going to my house to plan what to do."
"Ah, I see."
Charlie waited a few moments, letting that all soak in, until he asked: "So what's your story? Where are you from? And why are you so accepting?" Charlie asked the last question almost threateningly.
"Accepting of what?" Aiden replied calmly.
"Of us... of... of... gays!" Charlie had to force himself to associate 'us' with 'gays,' since he was still struggling with the concept of himself actually being gay.
"Well, my story is that I'm riding the bus since my mom couldn't pick me up, I'm from New Jersey, and I'm accepting because I'm more mature than the assholes around here and I have a mind of my own."
Charlie was a bit irritated by Aiden's short answer. He turned away and said nothing further. Aiden did the same.
After a short bus ride, Aiden's stop came and, with a friendly goodbye, he squeezed past Charlie to exit the bus. Jack looked backwards and saw that Charlie was sitting alone, so he left his seat to go sit next to the fox. Charlie scooted over to let Jack in, and as soon as he was seated Charlie felt the now-familiar tap. He took hold of Jack's paw and smiled all the way home, trusting that he and his boyfriend would come up with some solution to their otter problem.
The pair got off once again at Charlie's stop, and Charlie starting heading off to his house. He walked a few paces until Jack ran up and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to stop. "What? What's the holdup?" he asked, irritated.
"Um... remember how I stayed over? Well I haven't been home since yesterday."
Charlie looked down and saw that Jack was still wearing Charlie's clothes. "Oh yeah..."
"I need to stop by my house for some things." Charlie looked dismayed. "But I'll come right to your house in like 15 minutes, ok?"
"Ok, you know the way?"
"Yeah, of course." Jack started down the sidewalk in the opposite direction with a friendly goodbye wave.
"Hey, wait!" Charlie called out. "Don't you have homework or something? I do."
"I'll just bring it; we can do it together!" Jack called back.
Charlie watched until Jack passed out of sight, then he sighed and went home.
Charlie was greeted by his parents as he took his backpack upstairs to his room. He had a nice desk arrangement with a light where he liked to do his homework, but the fox just dropped his pack at the door and flopped down on the couch in front of his bed. He looked at the wall clock; 4:06. That meant that Jack was supposed to be here at 4:21. Charlie rested his paws on his stomach and stretched out on the couch, taking a big yawn. He relaxed for a moment, letting his mind drift, until he turned his head to look at the clock again. 4:07. Fuck. Charlie sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes, then leaned forward and clasped his paws between his legs. He looked around his room. There was just nothing going on. He scanned from the ceiling to the floor and from the door to the window on the opposite wall. Then he looked down, at the couch. Charlie was hit with a flood of memories of what happened just last night, and all that had happened since then. He had... he... had sex... with a male! Charlie's heart started pounding and his breathing got shallow. Only just now did it really hit him. He was filled with guilt and terror and a warm fuzzy feeling and love and horror and happiness all in exactly the same moment. He felt like exploding with so many things flooding his head; what had he done? He sat back on the couch and replayed the events of last night. He asked himself how he felt about every single moment, the kiss, the sex, the afterglow. He thought about what it meant to be gay, and the benefits of being straight. Charlie grasped his head and forced himself to stop breathing so shallow, then cleared his mind until his heart stopped pounding. When he was finally relaxed, Charlie untensed his muscles and rested his head on the back of the couch. "I'm gay." He thought to himself, then he said quietly to the room, "I'm gay." But... it just didn't sound right. Charlie didn't feel like a weight had lifted off his shoulders, or like anything was any better. It didn't fit. He became inundated with a myriad of feelings again, the chief among them being terror.
He didn't even notice the door opening or the bustle as the visitor greeted his parents or the noise he made as he came up the stairs. He only noticed him when he opened the door to Charlie's room and stood there wearing new clothes and with a duffel draped on his shoulder. Jack smiled and waved, but Charlie turned to him with fear in his eyes and immediately burst out "Am I gay?"
Jack dropped the duffel bag in the doorway and went to Charlie's side, comforting him by wrapping his arm around the fox's back. Charlie started tearing up, but he rested his head against Jack's warm collarbone as the akita stroked his headfur and whispered "Shhh."
Charlie calmed down after being in the arms of someone so close to him, and he put his arm around Jack to squeeze him closer. He looked up at the akita's soothing face and smiled. Jack smiled too and gave Charlie a gentle kiss on the lips. All foreboding feelings left Charlie as Jack's warm lips whisked them away. He felt truly happy when he was with Jack, but that only served to confuse him more. Jack pulled back and Charlie looked him in the eye and said "so am I gay?"
"Do you want to be?"
Charlie almost broke out crying. "I don't know..."
"Then why are you so worried about it?"
"Because I want to know."
"Then decide."
"I can't!"
"Then forget."
"I can't..."
Jack sighed. "I've been looking at myself for years, asking the same question. I know exactly what you're going through, but I didn't have someone to cry on."
Charlie felt embarrassed and buried his face in Jack's shoulder.
"It... It seems to me like you really love me. Do you?" Jack said.
Charlie kept perfectly still, thinking it over, then nodded into Jack's shoulder.
"Thennnnn you may be gay."
Charlie finally lost it, crying into Jack's shoulder as the akita stroked his head.
*****
To all who have been following up 'til now: FINALLY