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Just in case any of you are like me. I posted chapter 10 yesterday so you might want to read that if you have a habit of missing previous chapters like I do ^_^'' Anyway Hope y'all enjoy this installment in the series. As usual comments, votes and criticisms are all welcome

A lion's Tail and a Bear's Hug: Chapter 11

The weight of debt

Bjorn got back to Lejon's flat about 9 o'clock. He looked exhausted. And fell onto the couch as soon as he got in. Lejon gasped when he saw Bjorn and ran over to him.

"Bjorn, what happened?" Lejon said with deep concern in his voice as he stroked the bear's forehead.

"Nothing much. Just decided to go for a run while I was out. That's all," The bear lied. Lejon frowned, but accepted the bear's claim.

"Well if you're tired we can head to bed now." Lejon said as he kissed his bear on the forehead. Bjorn nodded and staggered towards the bedroom. Lejon followed behind. As Bjorn lay down on the bed Lejon cuddled him from behind. It was weird; Bjorn was usually the one hugging him. It felt weird the other way round but Lejon felt like it was necessary. The golden lion nuzzled the bear gently and the bear was soon snoring quietly. Please God, keep Bjorn safe. Lejon himself was soon asleep too.

The next day passed in pretty much the same way. Lejon worked until 4 spent some time with Bjorn who then left around 5. While he was out Lejon got a spare key cut for the bear. Bjorn got back again at about 9 o'clock looking exhausted and devoid of energy again. Lejon tried not to worry and kept telling himself that the bear was just trying to get fit by going for a jog but he couldn't help but feel like something was up.

The next day Lejon's alarm went off at 6AM. Lejon groaned as he realised he had to get ready for school. He woke Bjorn up long enough to detach their bodies and then left the bear to go back to sleep. Lejon quickly wrote a note and left the note and the new key on the pillow next to Bjorn's head. He kissed the bear lightly and put on his suit for school in his school, for the final two years before uni all the students had to wear a suit. His was a cheap suit from Marks and Spencers. He'd chosen it because it was the cheapest one that could be washed in a washing machine to avoid possible dry cleaning costs.

Lejon sighed; he remembered when he'd gone to buy it. When he came out of the dressing room wearing it his mother and the member of staff complimented him to the point that he' blushed and ran back into the dressing room to get into his normal clothes. Lejon chuckled at how naïve he was. He'd changed so much since then; it had only been 6 months, but so much had changed.

He looked himself in the mirror, he'd forgotten to iron the suit but it was too early in the morning for him to care about the details. He left the house and stood at the bus stop. No one else from his school lived around here. Most people went to the local school. Or at least they were supposed to go to the local school.

An hour and a half later Lejon stepped into his school a few of his mates greeted him. He mulled about chatting until the bell went for registration. After the roll call Lejon's teacher, a black Scottish wolf called Lejon over.

"Lejon, the admissions officer would like to see" He said to Lejon quietly. Lejon sighed and put his head in his paws. He knew this moment was coming.

"Alright. Thanks sir." Lejon made his way out of the room and walked down to the admissions officer's room. He knocked quietly on the door.

"Come in!" barked the light brown female German shepherd

"Hello Miss. You wanted to see me" Lejon said cringing. The admissions officer looked over her spectacles and sighed.

"Lejon, your parents have not paid the school fees. We emailed them so they could pay online but they didn't do that so we also sent them an invoice but we haven't received a cheque either. When we called they haven't picked up. I'm afraid that unless your parents pay in the next week we will not be able to let you continue attending the school." Lejon sat down in the chair opposite the admissions officer and sighed.

"I'm sorry Miss how much are the fees for this term?"

"Let me check. For you the cost is £1928.33" Lejon groaned loudly.

"Miss, um, my economic circumstances have changed. Would it be possible to get a further decrease in fees?"

"Lejon you already have a bursary and a scholarship. I don't think any further decrease in the fees will be possible. Why can't your parents pay?"

"Well, I have to pay the fees now because...." Lejon took a deep breath and wiped a tear from his eye, "Because my mum passed away in December and my father is currently in a comatose state. I'm afraid that I don't currently have the money to pay for the school fees."

The admissions officer took off her spectacles and gave Lejon a concerned look.

"Lejon, if that is the case have you been taken into government care?"

"NO! I can support myself. I pay my rent, pay for my food and bills. But when my mum passed away I lost a lot of money paying for her debts. I just need more time."

"Lejon I'm afraid that isn't possible. Nor would a further reduction in fees. I'm so sorry. The most I can do is arrange for a free transfer to your local state school for next week"

"Umm what's special about it being a free transfer?"

"Oh, if you leave the school without giving at least a terms notice then you normally have to pay the equivalent of two terms worth of full fees, which would be about £9,000."

"Oh well Thank you. I appreciate that you're doing this. I'm just sorry that it came to this. Can I at least attend for today and tomorrow? And do I still have to pay for the term?"

"Yes, I'm afraid you will. Not right now at least, and yes you can attend today and tomorrow but starting from Monday you'll be starting at your local state school."

Lejon sighed and felt a few tears flowing from his eyes. He wiped them away and composed himself.

Lejon gave the admissions officer his new address and left her office. Rather than making his way to the first lesson Lejon went to one of the rooms with a piano. Fortunately no music lesson was taking place right now. Lejon looked about the room; he'd spent a lot of time in his room. Good old room Mu1. He'd first discovered it while he was doing his GCSEs. He's talked with his friends and played the piano. Everything was so much easier back then. Since then half his friends had left the school for various reasons. Lejon sighed and made his way over to the piano. He sat down on the stool and started to play his favourite piece, a slow saw piece from a French film, Amelie. The name of the piece "Comptine d'un autre été: l'après midi" was a bit of a tongue twister when people asked him what he was playing. He grinned at the thought, his first smile of the day. He sat and played the piano, he went through every piece he knew and then freestyled for a bit. He'd stopped lessons at the start of last year but at least know he could play whatever he wanted. Eventually his artistic flow ran dry and he sat there in silence.

"Yo Lejon you ok?" His best friend Mitchell, a tall black dragon came into the room. He sat on top of a desk near to Lejon. He had a concerned look on his face. Lejon was taken aback; Mitchell never looked concerned; he always had a cheerful look on his face. Lejon frowned. "You know its break time; I haven't seen you in chemistry or maths. Have you been bunking here for the last two hours?" Lejon looked at the clock and realised that what the dragon said was true, he had spent the last two hours by himself in this room.

"Huh. I guess you can lose track of time when life throws you a curveball." The Lejon said to no one in particular. Mitchell nodded.

"So what's up? You never bunk. You're like Mr. genius who attends every lesson and does every homework."

Lejon sighed.

"Don't worry dude."

"Come on, tell me. You listen to me when I feel like shit. It's only fair you let me do the same for you."

"Mitchell, I'm leaving the school." Lejon said in a matter of fact tone without looking at his best friend. He thought that maybe, just maybe, if he said things with as little emotion as possible, then he perhaps wouldn't get emotional himself. He hated crying in front of others. Bjorn was the only person that he didn't care about seeing him cry.

"What the fuck? Why are you leaving? I mean you're on the sports teams, you get the best exam results in the year, and nobody has anything bad to say about you. I mean sure you're gay but apart from that no one can actually say anything genuinely bad about you. You're not leaving by choice are you?"

"No, I can't pay the fees. Tomorrow is my last day. Then come Monday I'll be stuck in the shitty state school near where I live. Now I generally have nothing against state schools. A lot of them are good and a lot of my good friends go to or used to go to state schools. But when you look up this school on Google, its website is the ninth result. The eight results above it are all newspaper articles about stuff like murders, gang violence, drug crime and all that other crap that people in the school are involved in. Mitchell, I'm scared. I used to think I was invincible, or at least that I would be able to overcome any fight." Lejon took his tail out of his trousers. Mitchell stared in shock as he saw how Lejon's tail had been cut but he remained silent, leaving Lejon to tell him everything that was on his mind.

"I got into a fight with a gang of furs in my area and this was the end result. I almost died from blood loss. If people like them are in my school, then I'll have nowhere to run. Nowhere I can be safe. I feel safe in this room. It feels like if I stay in this room then time will stand still, and I'll never have to face the future. With the piano I can just lose myself in the moment y'know. Ever since I told my parents I was gay, my life just got shitter and shitter. Sometimes I wish I wasn't gay cos then none of this would've happened. My mum and dad would still be fine. I could continue going here. I wouldn't have to work at McDonalds just to pay my rent..." Lejon's eyes started welling up with tears and he covered his face with his jacket in a feeble attempt to prevent Mitchell from seeing him like this.

"Lejon I'm sorry. I wish I could do anything to make life better for you. Umm, sorry to ask but why can't your parents pay I mean they're still responsible for you aren't they?"

"I put my dad in a coma. I didn't mean to. It was a mistake, an accident. And my mum's passed away and it's all my fault." Lejon found himself getting frantic. He was hyperventilating. "Everything is my fault..." Lejon's world spun before him. He was getting tunnel vision and everything was blurring together. Eventually all the colours merged together and faded into darkness and he felt himself falling and falling into the depths of unconsciousness.

The dragon gasped and caught Lejon before his head hit the floor. Shit Shit Shit I gotta get him to the nurse. Mitchell picked up Lejon in a fireman's lift Fuck he's light. He ran out of the door and sprinted in the direction of the nurse's room. The bell rang to signal the end of break. And children started crowding in the corridors as they made their way to their lessons.

"Get out of the fucking way damnit!" Mitchell barged through the crowd, knocking over a group of younger furs. The headmaster stepped out of his office right in front of the black dragon but Mitchell wasn't going to stop slow or try dodge the headmaster. The headmaster fell to the ground and was about to shout after the badly behaved student when he saw the unconscious golden lion on the dragon's shoulders. Mitchell got to the nurse's room only to find that she wasn't there which meant she was in the reception two doors down. Mitchell would usually have to push a button and wait for the door to open, but he wasn't in the mood. He kicked the door down and called out for the nurse. The cat had an angry look on her face but when she saw Lejon, got to work immediately. Mitchell watched from the other side of the room as the nurse tended to his friend.

A few minutes later the headmaster walked in. He turned to the dragon and gave him a stern look.

"Mitchell,your behaviour was unacceptable just now. I will let you off but you better get to your lesson."

"I'm sorry sir, but I think you'll find that my friend means more to me than a single lesson. But he obviously means fuck all to you."

"I will not have boys speaking to any member of staff in this manner. Mitchell, come with me to my office right now."

"I might consider when you consider letting Lejon stay in the school"

"I'm sorry Mitchell but that frankly isn't pos-"

"Bullshit! Lejon got the best results in his GCSEs in the whole year, there are people who don't work half as hard as him, aren't half as nice as him and don't do half as well as him in exams and they still pay less than him even though their family earns more than him. This school is supposed to be fair and is supposed to care for all of its students. Go research the school that you're transferring Lejon to and then tell me that this school gives a damn about its students. Either way, until you let Lejon stay at this school, you better get the hell out of my sight and go fuck yourself with your own hypocrisy." The headmaster growled at Mitchell and stormed out of the room. Mitchell sighed and folded his arms while waiting for Lejon to come around.

Lejon's phone started vibrating in his pocket and started playing the tune that Mitchell knew was his message tone. Mitchell smiled to himself; it was a tune from an anime that Lejon, him and the rest of their friends used to watch. Mitchell took the phone out of the lion's pocket and stopped the tune. Mitchell looked at the wallpaper and quickly looked away Eugh gross. That was Lejon kissing another guy wasn't it? The dragon looked back at the phone again and quickly put it back in Lejon's pocket. I may not like that sort of thing but they look happy together and that's good enough for me.