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Harry Middleton, best friend of Cain Carson sat on the floor of his bedroom, intently focused on the video game he was playing. It had been another mind numbing day of school, but at least it was Friday, so the meerkat had the evening plus two more days of no school to enjoy. Like most weekends, his best friend Cain Carson was over, but the coyote seemed to be in another world at the moment.

"Cain," said Harry, hearing his best friend happily humming. The meerkat turned his head around, not bothering to pay attention to his video game. He saw Cain lying on his bed, his arms above his head and a goofy smile on his muzzle. The coyote paid him no attention.

"Cain!" shouted the meerkat, causing Cain to snap out of his daydream.

"What?" asked Cain, unaware of what he had been doing.

"You mind not humming? You're fucking up my game," growled Harry.

"Whatever," said Cain dismissively. "Maybe you just suck at the game."

"And maybe you need to pull your head out of your ass and stop wishing for things you can't get," countered Harry.

"What are you talking about?" asked Cain.

"I'm talking about you thinking that you're going to wind up getting Caitlin as a girlfriend. That's what I'm talking about," explained the meerkat.

"You don't know that," snapped Cain, insulted by his friend's remark.

Sighing, Harry decided to shut off the console and television. He knew it would eventually come to this, but had avoided it for as long as possible. It was time for him to have "the talk" with Cain and straighten him out. Cain sat up on the bed as Harry sat down next to him.

"Look, guys like you and me, we're never gonna end up with girls like Caitlin. It's just not in the cards, Cain. As pretty as she is, as smart as she is, she's gonna stay with Bruno Marshall whether you like it or not. That's just the way the pretty ones are. They're fucked up in the head, always dating assholes. Don't ask me why, they just do. Usually takes 'em until they're about forty before they realize they need a decent, civilized guy like us. Trust me, I know all about this."

"Where did you get all this?" asked Cain, half annoyed, while the other half was sincerely curious as to where Harry had acquired such information.

"Duh," said Harry, giving Cain a moronic look. "My dad is a relationship counselor. He deals with this crap all the time. Always the same old song and dance with females, wondering why they were so stupid when they were younger. They like the bad boys when they're teenagers and young adults, but as time passes they finally realize 'oh, this guy cheats on me with my sister, uses me as a punching bag, takes my money and doesn't really love me'. But by then, they're looks are gone, and they realize they've wasted half their life with some dickhead. I'm sure Caitlin's no exception."

"She might not be like that," protested Cain.

Harry did a facepalm, shaking his head as he spoke into his paws. "Cain, Cain, Cain," he muttered before taking his paws away from his face and looking directly at the coyote. "They're all like that. Besides, not only is Caitlin going with an asshole, she's going with a violent, damn near sociopathic asshole. You really want to get your head beat in over some female?"

"No," said Cain, now depressed by what he was being told.

"Then stay away from her whenever possible," warned Harry. "I can fight, but there's no way in heaven or hell that I can take a guy like Bruno. I'm fast, but he's a steroidal monster and I don't feel like getting my ass kicked because you keep thinking with your dick, okay?"

"Okay," said Cain, looking at the bedroom floor.

"I know it's hard, but it's for the best, believe me. You'll get over it sooner or later," said Harry, patting his friend on the back.

Harry, who had left his bedroom door opened looked over to see his father Ken walking by before the older meerkat stopped at the doorway and looked into his son's room. "Hey, you two getting ready to give each other blow jobs or something?" asked Ken, grinning at the two teenage boys.

"I was about ready to get sucked off until you interrupted us," joked Harry. As downtrodden as he felt, Cain couldn't resist laughing at the meerkats. Harry's dad was always making jokes like that, and Cain never failed to find the humor in any of it. The coyote loved that Harry's family was so open and caring that they could be so care free with each other.

"Actually, Mr. Middleton, I was hoping that Harry would bend over for me. He's been begging to have me top him for months now," said Cain. His remark was met with a punch to the shoulder from his best friend. Cain countered with the same punch Harry had thrown at him. The two friends eventually ended up on the floor wrestling. Ken watched the spectacle, highly amused at what he was witnessing.

"I guess Harry likes it rough, doesn't he?" quipped the older meerkat.

Harry had quickly managed to pin his friend to the floor, with Cain lying on his stomach, struggling to get free. "Ha, who's gonna top who, bitch?" cackled the younger meerkat.

"Up yours," growled Cain.

"Okay, you two lovers need to settle down," said Ken, trying to stop laughing. "Dinner's almost ready, so why don't you get washed up?"

At his father's request, Harry released his friend from his grip. Standing on his feet, Cain glared at the meerkat, walking out of the room to go wash up. Ken couldn't help but notice that the coyote truly looked hurt. Not physically, but emotionally.

"What's wrong with Cain?" asked Ken.

"Oh, I had to have the 'hot girls always date assholes' talk with him," explained Harry. "I don't think it did any good."

Ken sighed, shaking his head. "It never does, son. It never does."

Luckily for Cain, he was able to spend the entire weekend over at Harry's house. This had become a standard operating procedure for the coyote, who tried to spend as much time as possible away from his abusive, alcoholic mother. At least at the Middleton household Cain felt like he had an actual family. He wished more than anything that he could ask Harry's parents if he could live with them, but knew that such a request would be a huge responsibility for them. They already had Harry and his four year old brother Kevin to take care of, and a third mouth to feed was asking a lot.

Unlike most of the kids that were in high school, Cain actually enjoyed going to class. Not just because he was an excellent student, but because other than staying at Harry's house, it was the only salvation from his mother. He even wished he could live at school rather than his own home, but just like living at Harry's, that was out of the question. Cain kept soldiering on, hoping that he could get through the next four years of his life before he could go off to college. He hoped to go far, far away from his hometown when he graduated, and hopefully Harry would come along with him, but for now it was another Monday morning at school.

In English class, Harry sat down at his assigned seat. Turning around, he saw Caitlin Smith smiling at him. She had done that everyday since Mr. Marquez had assigned them "Slaughterhouse Five" to read. Cain tried to remember Harry's advice, that Caitlin was going to keep dating Bruno or some other asshole, that he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of landing a nice piece of tail like her, but he couldn't help himself. He smiled back at her, causing the female coyote to smile even wider back at him before he turned around to see Mr. Marquez walking up to the front of the class.

"Morning, everybody," said the jaguar, straightening his necktie. "Wow, you'd think this thing was a noose the way my wife put it on," he said, making everyone laugh.

"Maybe she's trying to tell you something, Mr. Marquez," joked one of the students.

"Maybe," said the jaguar. "I'll have to tell her that's it's much easier and cheaper to just get a divorce lawyer than it would be to have me knocked off."

Again, everyone laughed at their teacher's playful dialogue. Cain thoroughly enjoyed having Mr. Marquez as a teacher. The jaguar was younger than most of the other faculty members, so he could more easily relate to the kids of today than the old, cynical teachers who were just counting down the days to retirement. Mr Marquez was genuine fun.

"So, has everybody finished the book yet?" asked the jaguar, looking around the room. Less than half the paws were raised. "Geesh," said Mr. Marquez, laughing. "You guys need put down the cell phones and stop taking selfies to get this book read."

Again, laughter filled the room. Mr. Marquez kept addressing them. "Well, since you guys are so lazy, I guess I'll assign you partners so you can help each other out. Sound good?"

The jaguar's question was met with approval. "Okay, Perkins and Martinez, you guys are together. Allen and Gambino, Walker and King . . ."

The jaguar kept reading off the names of partners. Cain listened to see who he would be partnered with, wondering if he would have to do all the work.

"Carson and Smith," said the jaguar. Cain felt his heart almost stop at those words. He turned around to see Caitlin's reaction. Already he was sweating as he looked at her.

"I . . . I guess we're gonna be working together, huh?" said the male coyote, almost unable to speak he was so nervous.

"That's good," said Caitlin, her voice soft and kind. "I've heard you're a really good student. I'm sure you'll be great to work with."

"Thanks," said Cain, trying to regain his confidence. He babbled out a few more words before Mr. Marquez looked over in his direction.

"Mr. Carson?" said the jaguar, half annoyed at Cain's babbling.

Cain quickly turned around. "Yes?"

"I can't hear myself think with you talking right now," said Mr. Marquez.

Several students giggled at Cain's being called out for speaking out of turn. The male coyote slipped down in his chair, feeling about three inches tall at the moment. For the remainder of class, Cain kept his nose in his copy of "Slaughterhouse Five" even though he had already finished it and most of his report. Try as he might, he couldn't get his mind off the reality that he was actually going to work with Caitlin Smith.

As soon as English class was over, Cain wasted no time in hunting down harry Middleton. The meerkat didn't know what to think of his best friend as the coyote was almost incoherent as he spoke. The meerkat finally had to put his paws on Cain's shoulders to get him to calm down.

"Whoa, whoa, what the hell is wrong with you?" asked Harry, giving the coyote a light smack on the cheek. "You on something?"

"No," said Cain, still excited. "Guess what?"

"I don't know," grumbled Harry, who never enjoyed guessing games. "What?"

"Mr. Marquez partnered me with Caitlin Smith for the book report," said Cain ecstatically.

Harry's looked like he had seen a ghost after hearing those words. "You serious?"

"Yeah," said Cain. "I'm going over to her house after school so we can work together."

Harry pointed in the direction of Mr. Marquez's classroom. "You need to go back there right now and tell him to give you a different partner."

"What?" said Cain, not believing what he was hearing.

"I'm not joking, man," said Harry as several students walked past him and Cain. "You're gonna get your ass in serious trouble if you go over to her house, Cain."

"No I won't," protested the coyote. "You worry too much."

"Yeah," said the meerkat, now glaring at his best friend. "I'm worried you're gonna end up in the hospital when Bruno Marshall finds out about you going over to his girlfriend's house."

"Nothing's gonna happen," said Cain, growing irritated with the meerkat's paranoia.

"You're an idiot," said Harry, walking off. Cain ran up to his friend, grabbing his arm.

"Lemme go," snarled Harry.

"Come on, Harry," said Cain, throwing his backpack over his shoulders. "I promise nothing bad is gonna happen. You'll see."

"I'm gonna see you get beat to a pulp if you go over to her house. I'm telling you, go ask Mr. Marquez for another partner," said Harry, still angry at his friend.

"No," said Cain. "I'm going over to her house after school, so just deal with it, okay?"

Still walking at a frantic pace, Harry looked over at Cain. "You're thinking with your dick, and you're gonna pay a price for it."

Cain stopped in his tracks, watching the meerkat walk off to his next class. He thought about Harry's words, wondering if his best friend was right. They'd been tight for so long, and Harry had never steered him wrong before. Together, they had gotten out of some pretty bad situations, and Harry had even gotten suspended for a week for fighting when another student tried to pick a fight with Cain. The coyote couldn't have asked for a better friend, but on the other hand, Caitlin was just so beautiful, so sweet.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Cain asked himself, feeling like he was on a lucky streak at the moment. He didn't even notice that another student had walked up to Bruno Marshall, who was busy getting books out of his locker.

"Hey, Bruno, man," said the student, a wolf.

"Yeah?" said Bruno, not even bothering to look at the guy.

"You know that dorky kid, Cain Carson?"

"What about him?" asked the muscular coyote.

"I was just in English class, and Mr. Marquez partnered him with Caitlin. Heard he's going over to her house after school!"

Bruno slowly turned around, glaring at the wolf. "What?"

"Yeah, he's going over to Caitlin's house," repeated the wolf.

Bruno slammed his locker shut, causing the wolf to jump up into the air at such a sudden, violent action. "You better not be shittin' me, man," warned the coyote.

The wolf raised his paws up, trying to diffuse the situation. "I'd never shit you, Bruno. You know that."

Bruno clenched his paws into fists, his teeth grinding against each other as he realized that the wolf wasn't making up some story. This was actually going to happen.

"This ain't happenin'," growled Bruno. "You go get the other guys. We're gonna have a talk with Cain Carson real soon."