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I hate to just lazily skip over things, but nothing really interesting happened for most of the rest of the week. Tony started coming by and sitting with us each morning, hanging out nearer to me than Tyler - who seemed to treat him with similar... disdain wasn't quite the right word. To put it simply, Ty seemed to just not be interested in opening conversation with Tony, just as Tony didn't with him, and neither seemed particularly bothered by that. So it all worked out, kinda.

The few times that cheetah came by during lunch with Lexi also here, the vixen tried to get him and her boyfriend to talk, to everyone's annoyance. I could tell that something about Tyler just rubbed Tony the wrong way, and vice-versa for the jackal, but apparently Lexi couldn't. It actually got bad enough on Thursday - Tony's ears folding back and tail bristling - that I had to excuse the two of us under the guise of talking to Ms. Langford about our Astronomy assignment.

Which, to be totally honest, I hadn't yet started on past putting my name on the paper and looking up some of the things listed on the sheet. Tony visibly defused once we'd turned the corner down the hall, and while still walking, he just started to tell me about his day. I guess as a way to get his mind off of whatever it was that'd been bothering him. As he'd expected, his recent audition with the orchestra went well, and he'd been moved up from fourth to second orchestra... and it would've been hard to miss the excitement on his face, the bright little glimmer radiating beneath the sunlight-amber of his eyes, the perk in his whiskers, how his tail stuck out behind him.

It also would've been hard to hide my pride for him. Honestly when something like that usually happens with someone I know, unless they're areally good friend, I only react how they probably expect me to - oh, yeah, good job, half-fake smile, thumbs-up. With Tony, though, seeing that look on his face and hearing the joy in his voice, allowing his accent to come through a little more forcefully... my tail wagged of its own accord, and for some reason I found myself wanting to yank him into my arms and give him a big hug and tell him good job. I ended up having to clamp my paws firmly down into my pockets, but still, I couldn't keep myself from grinning.

"The one thing, though," he went on to say, "is that that means most days, I must stay after school for rehearsal... that's okay, though. My mother finishes work at about the same time, so..."

"Are they open rehearsals?" I asked. I don't know why; unless Dad gets off work early and can give me a ride home, I almost always just take the bus at the usual time.

"Open rehearsals?"

"Like, if someone wanted to come and listen in, could they?"

The way his lips curved up into the slightest of smiles... he looked away from me, and picked a french fry from his lunch tray between two claws. "I could ask for you."

He and I actually had another free period that afternoon; every Tuesday and Thursday for fourth period, right after lunch. This time we thankfully didn't have any homework to do, so we just sat in the library and... chilled, I guess. Tony wasn't the kind of friend that's always wanting to talk to you, always wanting to do something. He was content to just sit there and thumb through whatever book he'd grabbed on the way in (I tried to sneak a look at the cover, but all I could see was that characteristic painterly style of art you always see on high fantasy novels) while I went through my phone and checked all my social media feeds three times over, the two of us each sitting in the same chairs as we had on Tuesday.

And just like Tuesday, it felt like he was stealing glances at me throughout the period, but... I never actually caught him looking at me. The most I'd get would be a flick of those amber eyes, easily passable as him looking from one page to the other. The bell rang after a while, and I stood to leave for my bus, while he remained in his seat, not seeming to be at all bothered by my leaving.

But, then, why would he?

After getting home and spending some time slacking off, I figured I might as well sent him a text, so I did and asked how his rehearsal went. He got back to me pretty quickly, and told me that he didn't have to start until next week - with a simple little :) affixed to the end of the message. We talked a little bit more about homework and class and our astronomy assignment and such, and before I knew it, it was time for dinner and then bed soon after.

And right as I set my phone screen-down on my nightstand to sleep, it vibrated - bzzt... one new text message from Tony.

Buenas noches. :) See you tomorrow.

My dreams that night involved bright orange eyes and a long, curling tail, but the details escaped my memory as soon as my alarm jarred me awake the following morning. Friday, something just felt off on the way to school; once I'd clambered onto the bus and flopped into one of the few remaining empty seats, I rested my bag next to me, braced my elbow against it, touched the side of my head to the cool glass of the window, closed my eyes - and then suddenly heard the loud hiss of the bus's brakes, and looked out the other window to see the school right there.

Like usual Tyler was there first, with Lexi gone at one of her club meetings or something (both of us had asked "are you serious?" when she'd mentioned that, yes, she did have some meetings in the early mornings before classes started) and him nose-deep in what looked like his history textbook. All he gave me when I dropped my stuff against the wall and slid down next to him was a quick upward nod of greeting followed by a tense "goddamn test today".

That would sum Ty up pretty well, putting off all the work he can and not realizing that he'll still have to shoulder it at one point... and stuff like that is always a lot easier to handle spread-out, rather than bearing down all at once. There was a reason why I tried to finish all my homework soon after the original assignment.

Except astronomy, apparently. Part of me was wondering if I had to wait on Tony to start on it, and then another part of me wondered if he was waiting on me... well, maybe this weekend we'd just have to sit down and work through a good half of it or so. Or at least, do what we could: the main point of the assignment was to track how the constellations and stars moved and changed over the course of the month, while the smaller second half was just definitions and such. We'd done most of that part in the period it'd been assigned.

And speaking of Tony - he didn't show up before classes start. In the couple of days since he'd been here I'd already gotten used to his presence, to his gentle scent on the air and the occasional brushing of his tail against my back or my leg - enough so that the ringing bell startled me, since it just couldn't be time for class to start yet. But, whatever, I guess; he'd show up. We wouldn't have any classes together until fourth period, unless he comes by during lunch.

Which he did, but only for a minute or two. This time Tyler was the one who was absent, leaving just me and Lexi talking quietly about our plans for the month... until all of a sudden, I felt a cool breeze of air wafting up across my back, that kind of remnant motion from someone striding up behind you. In front of me, Lexi's eyes lit up - and I tilted my head back to see Tony standing above me, tray held in his paws.

"Hi, Matt," he said, teeth looking even sharper from down here. I returned his smile. "I am sorry - I am busy today - but I was wondering, um..."

While he tried to find the words, I looked over at Lexi. She'd stopped, spoonful of mashed potatoes halfway to her mouth, and gave me a thumbs-up.

"Would you like to - hang out, this weekend? We can, ah... we can start on our... Astronomy assignment, and..."

Again I tilted my head back to look up at him. "Yeah, sure! I don't think I have anything else planned. It'll be fun."

His whiskers perked up as his smile widened. "Oh! Great! Okay, um - I will text you... I have to go now, another rehearsal... see you in class..."

"Yeah. See ya."

When I next looked down, Lexi's expression had changed slightly to something I couldn't quite read, something like... amusement crossed with disappointment. When I asked "What?" she just shook her head and half-raised a paw, and muttered "oh, nothing, don't worry about it".

So I thought nothing more of it, all through the rest of lunch and fourth period, most of which Ms. Langford had devoted to watching a clip about comets from some old science TV show. Every time I looked over at Tony beside me, he had his chin resting on his arms, eyes half-lidded while he watched the screen and a sleepy smile on his lips... and at one point he noticed me looking, and suddenly those amber eyes stared straight into mine - and my first reaction was to smile right back at him. He had an odd way of doing that to me. Afterwards, I walked him to his bus and then had to pick up my pace to get to mine before it left, and this time managed to get the last empty seat... and when I bumped my head against the window to watch the scenery go by, it actually didn't result in me falling right the fuck back asleep, as it had this morning.

Sleeping was the first thing on my mind as soon as my front door closed behind me, though. I kicked my shoes off by the door, trudged up the stairs to my bedroom, and once there, shuffled off my backpack, shirt, and pants, and flopped down onto my bed in just my boxers. Tony said he'd text me, so I figured I'd wait on that.

Fridays I always reserved for napping. Two things kind of half-stirred me out of my nap before I finally pulled myself back out of my bed a couple of hours later: first was my phone buzzing on my nightstand, and then second was the sound of the garage door closing behind Dad, followed by his shouted "hey, I'm home!", which usually served as a cue for me to get my lazy ass up.

Sleepy, groggy, draggy, the whole deal... waking up from a nap felt almost as bad as waking up in the mornings for school, except with the extra little motivation that there was nothing I really had to do afterwards. So it took me maybe four minutes to get my mind revved back up for business again and my pants on, and I looked through my phone on the way down the hall and stairs - and sure enough:

I am home! :) How was your day?

He'd already asked me that today, after we'd both sat down in our seats for Astronomy. Still, though, I was happy to give my answer. "Good, I think. Started off kinda bleh, but I'm doing alright now! You said you wanted to hang out?"

Once Dad heard my footsteps along the carpeted floor, he asked me the exact same question; with him, however, I just gave the usual "Good" followed by the also-usual "What've we got planned for dinner?"

"I don't know!" He sat at the kitchen table lounged back in his usual chair, one leg crossed over the other and the novel he'd been reading opened in his lap. The older dingo gave me a pleasant smile, which I of course returned, and then looked back down to turn the page. Dad had remained almost exactly the same in appearance, behavior, and personality for as long as I could remember, with a few differences that stuck out only if I tried to see them: the slightly-saggy cheeks, the voice and laugh slightly more hoarse, the groaning and straining when he tried to stand up, the more washed-out color of his fur, like something bleaching in the sun. "I was hoping you and I could cook something together."

He wore his age well, though. Went to the gym once a week (or claimed he did, at least, and left the house for a suitable amount of time), still had a better memory than me, and could go on for a surprising amount of time playing football with my brother's kid.

"Yeah?" Right as I lowered my arm to slip my phone into my pocket, it vibrated in my paw again. "Like what?"

Yes! We are almost done moving in here, but I do not think my mother wants people over yet... we could go somewhere, if you have any ideas?

Dad shrugged. Another thing about him was that his eyes, smooth cool brown, hadn't lost any of their shine over the years. "We could always do soup or something. Easy enough, and I think we have the stuff."

"Sounds good." Then, to Tony:"There's the mall nearby. Kind of busy on weekends, but I don't think it's too bad. Tomorrow work for you?"

I have nothing planned!

My ears flicked upright towards the sounds of that chair creaking beneath my dad's weight and of him standing up, soon to brush past me into the kitchen to get things started. When I was younger and wrapped up in my phone, sometimes he'd-

-flick me in the back of the head between my ears to get a reaction out of me, and to bring me back into the present. I rubbed the spot where he'd just done it, and shot him a glare; he looked at me for just long enough so I could see his self-satisfied smirk.

"Hey, Dad?"

The opened refrigerator door obscured him from view for a moment. He had to close it with his foot, paws and arms occupied with all sorts of vegetables. "What's up?"

"Could I go hang out with a friend tomorrow? We're thinkin' the mall."

He dumped everything out from his arms onto the kitchen counter, and had to stumble to catch a bell pepper trying to break for freedom. "Tyler again?"

That made something in the back of my mind tweak, but nothing else came of it. "Oh, nah. New friend of mine. New guy at school, cheetah. He's - in orchestra." As I spoke: "Alright! :D I can probably drive us. What time would work for you?"

"Sure. You need spending money or something?"

"Dad, I can handle myself."

"How? You don't have a job." He underhanded that bell pepper at me across the kitchen, with another two to follow. I caught the first two but dropped the third. "Can you chop those up, please? Strips, I think. Unless you think rings would go well?"

"Rings might be too much. And - yeah, but I had one before." He liked to bug me to get one again. Which, honestly, I should.

"What about your friend? You know if he's employed?"

"I don't think so. He just moved in recently."

"Hmm."

Right as I'd dug the stem and seeds out of the first pepper, my phone vibrated in my pocket. If I kept on checking and responding, I'd never get anything done, so I finished chopping this one up first before wiping my paws on my pants to look.

Any time. And I thought you rode the bus?

"Yeah, I do. Have you SEEN the parking situation out there in the mornings? And besides, I ain't paying $40 each grading period for a parking spot."

That is expensive.

"You should hear what Lexi has to say about it..."

Another flick to the back of my head, followed by Dad clamping his paw lightly on my shoulder.

"Focus, Matthew. You can talk later."

~ ~ ~

My nap messed with my sleep schedule a bit, but nothing too bad. Saturdays the mall remained open from a little bit before noon to a little bit after ten at night, so we'd have plenty of time to get there and get out, no matter how much I sleep in - and when I sent Tony a quick good morning text to gauge his level of consciousness, he got back to me with only about twelve minutes of delay.

On my way down the stairs I could hear Dad roaring with laughter at the TV, probably watching that one weird cartoon he likes... and I pointed out towards the garage once I came within eyesight of him. He had his legs stretched out across the coffee table with his phone pressed to one ear and eyes glued to the TV, and gave me a quick wave goodbye. As I passed through the kitchen to swipe my keys from their usual spot on the counter, though, I had to stop and do a double-take: sitting there beneath them was a twenty-dollar bill, folded in half.

Tony sent me his address, so I put it into my phone and had it draw me a route, and then sent him a "ok, be there soon!" message. Most of the route was already familiar to me, be it from store runs or back-and-forth from my last job at a local fast food place, or just visiting other friends, but at one point it made me do a turn that I didn't even know was legal, and threw me into an entirely different neighborhood that I'd never seen before.

I mean, it was a nice place. Road was wide enough that you could have people park on either side of the street and still have enough space for two-way traffic between, and with tall trees in all the yards making a sort of closing V of branches in the distance above the road... and yet most of what I could think of would be what hell it must be to rake leaves in the fall. You know, that was actually part of why my parents decided to move where me and Dad currently lived, where the largest tree was this embarrassment of a bush at the bus stop down the street.

The moving van tipped me off to which house was Tony's, and a quick glance down at my phone verified it. Right as I pulled up and then reached down to let him know I'd arrived, out of the corner of my eye I could already see him, sliding out of the front door, stopping to say goodbye to whoever was in there, and then coming down the sidewalk towards me. His fur looked an even brighter tint of gold in the midday sunlight.

The first thing to hit my nose when he opened the passenger side door and hopped in was that characteristic smell of outside, with the cool twinge of fresh-cut grass, the drier aroma of new leaves, the fruity tang of flowers, the bite of asphalt and car exhaust and steel... and then, right after, that same damn scent that always hovered around this cheetah, and that I'd found myself actually trying to pick out from all the other smells, every time he came close to me.

Weird.

"Morning," he said, and buckled himself in - and then stretched his arms over his head for a wide yawn. The funny thing about feline species was how damn sharp their little teeth always looked in reference to their shorter muzzles; Tony presented no exception. "Did you sleep okay, Matt?"

"I did. Hey - how do you say 'good morning' in Spanish?"

"Buenos días."

"Oh. Damn. I knew that. You have everything?"

"Yes! Let's go. Do we have a plan?"

I shrugged, looking up in the rearview to pull out of his driveway. "Just... wander around, I guess."

"Mm..." The cheetah adjusted his posture a little bit and then settled into place, paws folded in his lap. The shorts he wore today were a bit... too much so for my tastes, showing spotted legs a brief ways up above his knees where the golden fur faded to a smoother, creamier white. Unlike me, though, he could actually rock the look. "That sounds good."

Even though I'd gotten my license early into last year, I still generally tried to avoid driving if I could, especially with a friend in the car - and when going to a busy place like the mall... but for some reason, right now I felt relaxed. I lounged a little more comfortably back in my seat and turned the music up, still on the classical station that I usually kept it on, and tapped on my phone screen to bring up the route from here to the mall.