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Pain, confusion, disorientation. All of the above?

I wasn't sure what I was feeling at that precise moment.

One thing I did feel was that I wanted to roll over and fall asleep again to get rid of the horrible feeling in my head. This was worse than the hangover I had experienced with Hudson, and I knew it wasn't down to the alcohol.

The image Adam having sex with Charlie was still burnt in my mind like a brand.

I felt the same sense of disappointment I had felt when I'd seen Lachlan talking to the grey vixen, but also anger.

Had he cheated on me?

I wasn't sure, I mean technically we were not officially boyfriends, but we had been on a date.

I tried sitting up and my head swam. My fur felt matted from the rain water last night and I realised I could have caught a chill. Thankfully, the heating was on in my room and had kept me warm.

I glanced out of the window and saw rain was still lightly falling.

Wait, what time is it?

I was 11.53am according to the clock beside my bed. I knew I didn't have class until 2pm, which gave me time to get ready, but as I gently sat back up something else began weighing on my mind.

My eyes widened as I realised what it was.

The meeting with Lachlan Ross.

If it started in seven minutes there was no way I was going to get there on time. I glanced down at my matted, naked body and sighed. I had been to a hellish party, and now I was probably going to disappoint Lachlan.

I pictured the fox starting his meeting while glancing around the room and wondering where I was before shaking the image from my head.

My phone buzzed and I glanced around the room, trying to locate it. Could it be Lachlan trying to ask where I was?

I got off the bed and almost fell over again, before I remembered that my phone was still in my jeans pocket. I fished it out and felt a momentary rush of relief as I saw it was not water damaged.

The message was not from Lachlan, but Hudson.

Heya, so how did the party with Adam go last night ;) tell me about it on campus

My fist gripped around the phone and I put it down to avoid crushing it.

The hot flush of anger returned as the image of the jaguar breeding Charlie flashed back into my memory.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to remain calm. Hudson had done nothing wrong, he was my friend and knew nothing of what happened last night.

I sat on the bed for a minute before forcing myself up. I grabbed a clean pair of briefs from the drawer and stepped over my wet clothes from last night (they could go in the wash later). I knew Aunt Ruth and Thomas would be out, but I sniffed into the hallway to make sure the coast was clear before I sprinted to the bathroom.

Once I felt clean I sprayed myself with deodorant, slipped into my underwear and sprinted back to my room to get dressed and gather my things.

The compulsory class was called How to think like a Historian.

"But I already know how to think like a historian," Hudson had sighed when we had first seen the title. "History; it's just one frickin' thing after another."

My level of enthusiasm for the class was not particularly high to begin with, and the idea of sitting through it in a stuffy lecture room after the party made me want to crawl back into bed.

I weighed up the idea of skiving it off, but I wondered if seeing Hudson would take my mind off things. Spilling my guts to him usually helped. I sighed to myself as I pulled on a black hoodie over my shirt.

I hoped I wasn't going to feel any after effects of the brownies or alcohol, but the drive to campus was slow owing to the afternoon traffic. I drove with the window slightly down for the cool breeze to wake me up. Rain pattered against the windshield, but it was not as powerful as it had been as I'd run from the party.

My stomach gave an uneasy lurch as I passed the turning into Adam's street, but I tried to focus on the road ahead and soon I reached campus.

The rain was easing off as I climbed out of the car, but I pulled my hood up and hurried across the carpark.

The lecture wasn't due to start for almost forty minutes, so I headed towards the library, figuring I'd either do some reading or sit on my laptop for a bit.

There was a small café next to the entrance and I suddenly felt like drinking a coffee to perk me up. My stomach rumbled and I remembered how hungry I had been. I joined the line and eyed up the various pastries and cakes on offer.

Part of my mind thought I should still be freaking out over Adam, but I forced myself to not think about it.

Just keep going like a zombie.

"Hello stranger."

The unmistakable scent of vixen filled my nostrils and I turned to see Charlotte standing behind me in the queue.

"Oh, hey there," I croaked. "I was miles away."

"As always," Charlotte chuckled, but her face soon turned to an expression of concern. "Are you all right Malc?"

"Um, yeah," I replied, trying to put on a casual tone, but my voice still sounded scratchy. I glanced at myself in the reflection of a nearby window I saw how puffy my eyes looked and that the black fur on my muzzle had lost some of its gloss.

"You look and sound ill," Charlotte continued. "Here, you sit down. I'll get us a drink."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Positive, what do you want?"

"A cappuccino, and a blueberry muffin, unless that's too much?" I said.

Charlotte smiled and shook her head.

"There's a free table over there, you grab it and I'll get our drinks," she instructed.

I sat down and watched Charlotte move along the line until she reached the barista. I suddenly wondered what I would do if I saw Adam.

Keep your head down, for now.

Charlotte returned and sat opposite me. She gently pushed my coffee in a takeout cup and muffin across the table. I noticed she had gotten herself some earl grey tea.

"Thanks," I smiled. "I suppose I should also ask you what's been up?"

"How do you mean?" Charlotte asked.

"Hudson said you'd been quiet lately, and when I saw you last you didn't quite seem yourself," I explained, taking a sip of my coffee. The warm liquid felt pleasantly soothing against my throat. "If you don't mind me asking if you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Charlotte said, putting on a smile.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but I can tell you're not actually fine," I replied.

"Oh, well I admit that party at his flat made me a little nervous," Charlotte admitted. "It was making me question if I really fitted in here, if I had to join in the whole party thing, and I was worried I'd lose you and Hudson as friends if you went off in that direction, and then I felt bad for being selfish and thinking I could control you both like that."

"Ah," I said. "After last night I don't feel like drinking anything for a long time, plus I never got any sense you were trying to control us, if anything I was worried you were avoiding us."

"I'm sorry," Charlotte sighed. "I guess I'm like you, I started at a different university, dropped out and then came here as my family lives nearby. I worried if I'd also have a bad experience here."

"I wondered if you had dropped out of somewhere else," I said. "I never thought to ask though, which makes me feel like I'm not being a good enough friend."

"It's fine," Charlotte said with a more genuine smile.

"Were did you go first?" I asked, taking another sip of coffee.

"Edinburgh," the vixen explained. "I was almost to the end of my first year when..."

She paused and looked uncomfortable.

"You don't have to say," I said, trying to muster a reassuring tone, although I was still aware of how croaky I sounded. "If it's any consolation I dropped out thanks to meningitis and a car crash," I sighed.

"Oh dear," Charlotte said, fixing me a sympathetic look.

I admit, all the emotional strains of the past twenty four hours were catching up with me and I let out another, more deep and dramatic sigh.

"I hope you're not upset?" Charlotte asked.

"No, it's," I paused. "I was at a horrible party last night and have what feels like a monster hangover."

"I figured," Charlotte said with a wry smile. "Although to me it looks like something more is on your mind."

"Well, I was sort of went on a date with this guy, and before you ask it wasn't Lachlan Ross. Anyway, I don't know if this counts as cheating, but he invited me to a house party last night and I caught him, um, doing _stuff_with his housemate," I admitted.

It felt strange opening up about this sort of thing to Charlotte rather than Hudson, but it felt good to be talking to someone.

Charlotte gasped.

"My goodness, that's awful," she said, putting her paws to her mouth. "I would be furious and not want to talk to anyone right now if I was in that situation."

"Is that how I should react?" I asked curiously. "I don't know whether to feel angry or if I'm too tired or in shock. I suspect both, maybe I'll feel angrier as the day goes on and it sinks in."

"I would want to hide away," Charlotte said.

"I did think about skipping lectures today," I admitted, picking the top off my muffin and popping it in my mouth.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did," Charlotte sighed.

"I can't imagine you ever skipping lectures," I managed to chuckle.

Charlotte glanced at her watch.

"I suppose we'd better head over there in a minute, if you're up for going that is?"

"I really don't feel like it, but I'll walk with you to the room" I offered.

Charlotte nodded and picked up her tea. I put my muffin in my rucksack and grabbed my coffee before following her.

The rain had stopped falling outside and we made our way across the green to Hamilton building where the lecture was to be held.

"I also feel guilty as I was supposed to go to a meeting with Lachlan Ross today, but the events from last night got in the way," I said.

"I'm sure he won't hold it against you," Charlotte replied. "You're on an emotional rollercoaster right now."

"I know," I huffed.

"Well, if you wish to make amends to your fox he's over there," Charlotte said, pointing across the green.

"He's not my fox," I replied as I followed the direction of her paw.

Lachlan was indeed walking ahead of us. He was dressed in a pair of cream coloured chinos and his leather jacket. I watched the white tip of his tail twitch slightly as he walked. However, the warm rush I got in my stomach whenever I saw him felt milder and the sight of him didn't hold the same excitement as it had done before.

"You don't seem as enthused this time," Charlotte observed, picking up on my thoughts.

"I'm not really in the mood right now," I replied.

"That's understandable," Charlotte nodded. "It looks like he's heading to Hamilton too."

I watched as Lachlan walked through the doors ahead of us and we followed him inside.

A group of our classmates were already standing by the door to the lecture room and I noticed Hudson. He was wearing another loud t-shirt; black with a yellow and orange spiral pattern on the front.

"It's not like you to be early to lectures," Charlotte chuckled.

"Oh, hey guys," Hudson said, although his tone sounded flat.

"Hey," I croaked. I wondered if Hudson was going to ask if I was all right, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Looks like Foxybutt is teaching today," he said, pointing to Lachlan who was unlocking the lecture room door. I noticed Hudson's voice was lacking its usual jovial tone as he said Foxybutt as if he was using the term as an insult rather than a joke to dig at me with. I felt confused as he had seemed fine when he had texted me earlier.

More drama with friends? Great.

I instinctively followed everyone into the lecture room and Hudson made straight for the front row. I wondered if this was a joke or not, but I sat next to him with Charlotte on the other side.

Lachlan was removing his leather jacket. Underneath he was wearing a long-sleeved dark blue shirt, but I could still his muscular build through the material. His firm jaw broke into a smile as he watched everyone sit down and those dimples appeared in his muzzle. I felt the warm rush again, but it was quickly dulled.

"Good afternoon everyone," Lachlan said. "I believe everyone is here, and on time too which is a first, so we shall begin. I know doing a compulsory lecture on a Friday afternoon isn't everyone's idea of fun, so we'll make this as painless as possible."

There was some chuckling, but I didn't feel like joining in.

"Let's start with some with true facts from history; did you all know that it's illegal to wear a suit of armour in House of Commons, and that law remains in place today? Or, that under the reign of Edward II it was designated that the head of a whale belongs to the King while the tail belongs to the Queen?"

This was met with more chuckling.

"So, what do you all think of these laws?" Lachlan asked. His amber eyes gazed over everyone in the room. "Go on, let's hear want you think, and I know enough basic psychology to know the I'm looking at the floor so he doesn't ask me tactic_._"

Everyone laughed but I was worried Lachlan would ask me if no one spoke. Thankfully, students at the back began piping up.

"Silly!" I heard Alex Pryce call.

"Ridiculous," someone else said.

"Well, I suppose the armour rule makes sense for its time," Charlotte countered. "Depending on what year the law was created."

"Excellent point Charlotte," Lachlan said. "Want to hazard a guess of when that law was put in place?"

"The middle ages?"

"Yup, it was enacted in 1313," Lachlan nodded. "Edward II, our friend who created the fish law, decreed that every man shall come without all Force and Armour. Now, this class is called how to think like a historian. It may sound pretentious yes, but it's also necessary for when you approach facts and sources for your essays. Sources and facts are useful, every source has a story to tell. We're going to junk the whole is it reliable or not approach you were taught at secondary school, but proper research is important."

"Do you still want to feel Lachlan's junk?" Hudson whispered to me.

The joke suggested that the jindo had at least lightened up, but I still wasn't in the mood for sexual jokes and I only managed something resembling a smile in response. Hudson looked confused at the lack of reaction and went back to facing the front in a stony silence.

"This is what you'll be doing as historians, taking a fact, debating it, saying that yes it may seem silly on the surface, but scratch deeper, as Charlotte here demonstrated, and you can find that actually there is a reason behind why that particular fact, or law in this case, came to be. Now, how can be we sure that these laws are real and I'm not making this up?"

"Research them, like by finding a book in the library?" someone asked.

"Indeed," Lachlan replied. "The historian Cedric Geddes has written a good book on medieval law which covers that, or I believe covers that as it's not my area of interest, so therefore it's not interesting to me. No offense to those of you who are."

The class laughed again, which added to my feeling of depression.

"Let's try something else. Funny laws are not restricted to King Edward, or England for that matter, so here's another law, you all know what sorority is?"

"A society in US universities," Alex said.

"In a manner of speaking yes, you may have seen them in movies, usually unfunny comedies. Now, what is your collective opinion if I told all of you that in certain US states sorority houses are illegal as a certain number of females living in one house constitutes the place as a brothel."

This was met with more laughter.

"I can believe that," a white husky called Ian behind me said.

"How would you know Ian?" Lachlan asked.

"Well, it sounds silly, but I guess back in those days they might have had a law like that in place as the status of women was lower in society," Ian replied.

"Very good reasoning," Lachlan nodded. "Very good indeed," the muscular fox smiled and those dimples appeared in his muzzle again. "However, what if I were to tell you that law is in fact nonsense_._ There is no concrete proof to it."

Everyone began murmuring amongst themselves, but I didn't feel like joining in.

"Ian gave a very interesting assessment as to why that law might be true, but other than some rumours on the internet, there is no proof of such a law."

I sat in a lethargic state as I listened to the rest of the lecture. I kept sipping at my coffee until the cup was empty.

Lachlan showed us through examples of where Wikipedia pages had been edited with false and rude information, which also got laughs from everyone, but I idly doodled on my notepad as he spoke.

"Well, I make it close to the end of class, so you can all go off to the pub or whatever you have planned," Lachlan said. "Have a good weekend everyone and I'll see those of you in my military class next week."

I was about to stand when I notice Lachlan look at me. The fox opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but he remain quiet, but I thought I could see a hint of concern in his amber eyes. He fixed me what looked like a reassuring smile before he turned to put his jacket on.

Hudson was zipping up his rucksack next to me.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"I was gonna ask the same about you," the jindo replied. "Shall we walk and talk?"

I cast one last glance at Lachlan who was now chatting to Ian and nodded.