FSE

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Chapter 4.

The alarm was set to go off at 6:30am since school didn't start until 7:45am. But John was up at four in the morning, unable to sleep due to the awkwardness and nervousness that was sure to come within the next couple of hours. He'd never been to school before, but that didn't mean he was stupid. Throughout all his life, he'd been reading advanced books that contained all the lessons that would be in most middle school and high school classes. He didn't have to worry about elementary; after all, all you do is learn to read, basic science and simple mathematics. When he was in the orphanage, he taught himself all these things. The school that the orphanage tried to send him to wouldn't accept him, and the staff weren't any help either; so he had to teach himself.

When he ran away from the home, he already knew everything that an average fifth grader would know. He also knew that now he had to teach himself a more advanced curriculum. When he turned eighteen he wanted to be ready for anything. So he began to steal books from the public libraries. When he turned fourteen, he already learned all four advanced English classes, three types of history classes, geometry, algebra and calculus. He had also mastered physics, chemistry, health, and all just because it interested him...psychology. All that was left was for him to turn eighteen, but apparently, there's been a change in his plan.

Now he was pacing up and down the room for several hours; all he had on at the time was his briefs, that and the emerald necklace he'd received yesterday. He kept pacing until someone knocked on the bedroom door. "Yeah?"

"Hey John, it's me, Michael. Just wanted to make sure you were up. I've gotta go to work, so Marcus will take you to school okay? Oh...and your new backpack and stuff is downstairs?"

John chewed his lip, 'Oh believe me...I'm awake.' "Alright, just let me get dressed," he replied aloud.

He heard footsteps outside the door, "Great! I'll see tonight when I get home." Michael's voice replied, getting fainter as the steps receded.

A couple of seconds later, he heard a door shut, which he assumed was the front one. 'Marcus,' he thought to himself, he slowly lifted his hand to grip the stone, 'Why are you so God damned confusing? You're sending me mixed messages, and now I can't tell if you're a friend or foe!' John looked towards the nightstand and noticed it was 6:56 am. 'Damn it...I guess it's inevitable.'

He grabbed the new clothes he'd picked out and began to put them on. It was a white polo shirt that had black on the sides of his torso, with a thick black line going down his chest. His pants were dark blue, with white stitching on the seams. His shoes were also white, with black on the bottom and soles. He walked over to the door and left the room to go to the upstairs restroom. Michael had taken the liberty of buying him brand new toiletries, so he threw his old stuff away. He brushed his teeth, applied deodorant and threw some water on his face.

He left the restroom and proceeded down the hallway towards the living room, noting that Marcus's room door was open and dark inside. He walked down the stairs and found what he expected, a black backpack with several zippers on it. Out of curiosity, he opened the bag to look in it. Nothing...except for a small spiral notebook. Now, John was confused. "What the hell...is this all I need?"

Suddenly, he heard Marcus speak from behind, "We don't know what grade you'll be put in, so we only got you a spiral." The younger wolf was wearing a red plaid, button down collar shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the chest halfway unbuttoned to show some of his fur there. It also showed the white undershirt he had on. He was also wearing dark blue/black pants that matched perfectly with the crimson colour. As for shoes, well...most furries didn't wear them, and he didn't either.

But, something threw John off...The canine looked...well...angry. He had his brows furrowed and he wasn't smiling (not like John has ever seen him smile), he began to make John uncomfortable. He continued, "They're going to give you a test when you get to the school, it'll determine what grade you'll be put in."

John stood, "What grade are you in?"

Marcus snarled, "Does it fucking matter? It's none of your God damned business!"

John didn't say anything. Whatever he'd done to anger the wolf, he didn't want to do it again. "Okay...so when are we leaving?"

Marcus suddenly didn't make any eye contact with John, leaving him confused. Then, he began to put the pieces together. 'Wait...Marcus...teenager...high school...me, a human...' Then, it hit him, 'Oh...well I guess that makes sense.' John chuckled softly and shook his head slowly. "You don't want to be seen with me, do you?"

Marcus looked back at him, anger still present on his face, "Bingo, skin bag. I guess you aren't a fucking dumb shit, even if you've never been to school."

Okay...now it was taking all of John's strength to not yell back at the wolf. All his life, he never took shit from anyone. Sure, at the orphanage he cried, but he still didn't let anyone fuck with him. John turned away, "You'd be surprised," he said softly.

He heard Marcus move, "What did you say?"

John, still facing the front door, replied, "I said, where is the school located?"

Marcus walked past him and opened the door, "400, 23rd avenue."

The wolf locked the door behind him and walked out the door with John soon following, "And how am I supposed to get there?" He already knew the answer; he just wanted to piss the canine off even more since he was being a childish asshole.

Marcus got to his car and unlocked it. He climbed inside, "That's your problem, not mine skin bag." And with that, he started his car and reversed out of the drive way, and left John standing there.

'I'd thought you'd say that.' He smiled, 'Oh well, I need the workout anyways, at least I know where it's at.' He walked down the drive way, slinging his bag over his shoulder, 'Let's see...where's 400?...Oh! I remember.' He began jogging down the street, and he continued until he came across large buildings, a sign that he was getting close to the heart of the city.

He jogged towards the nearest building, and began to climb it. Once he got to the top, he began sprinting in the direction of his destination. The new bag he got wasn't a weight problem; in fact, it kind of gave him some sort of balance. After about ten minutes of jumping, climbing, and sprinting, he got to an area where there were no buildings. 'Hmm... Looks like I'm gonna have to run through the streets.' He jumped off the building he was on and landed on the asphalt with a roll, startling a couple of furs. He only had a little bit to go, so he began to jog.

The street he was in was clogged with traffic. As he was jogging, he looked at all the cars, and spotted one. 'No way...' He began to jog not towards it, but near enough so that he could see who the driver was. Yup.....it was Marcus, and the wolf looked royally pissed. John snickered and stopped jogging. It took the wolf about thirty seconds to look his way. Once the wolf saw him, he did a double take, and then he just stared, wide eyed. John smiled and waved playfully, and started to jog again. About ten minutes later of wiggling through people and cars, he found it. It wasn't that big, it was more about the size of a supermarket. John had expected it to be humongous, since it was a high school (then again, he never got within a hundred feet with these kinds of places).

The walls were made of red/brown bricks, and the borders of the window were white. There was a huge sign in front, "Garfield high school, home of the Bulldogs." The sign was decorated with purple and gold, a white outline of a bulldog standing proudly to the side.

There were hundreds of furs walking into the building, the majority of them carrying bags, and most of the guys were wearing purple letter jackets. John drew a deep breath, "Let's get this show on the road." He proceeded towards the building, ignoring all the surprised gasps and looks. He followed a walkway, seeing how it was the only thing showing him where to go. There was a parking lot to his right, and he stopped. He recognized a black car, with the owner leaning against the driver's side.

There were a couple of other furs standing around him, laughing and talking to him. Out of nowhere, John felt this strange feeling building up in his chest, he didn't know what it was, but he didn't like it. 'What the hell...what's going on?' Then he looked at Marcus again, and looked at all his friends. The feeling grew stronger, 'Am...Am I getting jealous? Wait....no! That's impossible; I've gone through my whole life without feeling like this.' He slapped himself mentally, but he couldn't take his eyes off the small crowd.

Marcus was smiling (for once) Arms crossed and looking happy, until he just happened to glance in John's direction. The wolf's smile disappeared, a blank expression on his face as the two stared at each other. John had to turn away because one of the furs around him, a light brown coyote, looked wherever Marcus was looking. 'I'll deal with this later; I need to find out where to go. I'll try the front of the school.'

He walked towards the entrance, and saw a sharp looking kangaroo in a black suit with a nice purple tie. "Mr Trevino," he said smiling. He opened his arms, "Welcome to Garfield high!"

John was slightly taken aback by the roo's enthusiasm. "Well," he said, "You look really happy to have the only human left on this planet to be going to your school."

The roo took a step towards John and stuck his paw out, "Well, I don't know about the other schools, but I am honoured to have the last human to be attending mine. I'm Dex, Dex Mathew's."

John grabbed the roo's paw and shook it, "Well I would introduce myself, but it seems you already know me Mr Mathew's."

The roo shook his head, "Please, just call me Dex. Mr Mathew's makes me feel old." He let go of John's hand, "Now, follow me please; we've got to get you tested! I'm curious to see how much you know."

John raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Dex suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, "Um...well, Michael already told me about you...you know...how you've been living."

John smiled softly, "Yeah...but you'll be surprised at how much I know."

Dex smiled, "Well, what're we waiting for then? Let's get started!" He put an arm around John's shoulder, and they walked inside the building.

~~~~

Okay...Now John was pissed off like a motherfucker. First of all, the test he took...his results said he had a high enough score to graduate. But when they called Michael (which was the person John told was his guardian), he said he wanted him to be at least a junior. Second, they put him in nothing but core classes. He requested to be put in advanced, but they declined, saying that they couldn't since the school year already started, and the deadline for schedule changes have passed. And third, it was fourth period, and so far all of his teachers hated him.

In every class he sat in, people cleared the desks around him. And he had to literally manoeuvre through the hallways to avoid being hit, tripped or pushed, and he didn't know how much more he could take. His schedule was the following classes, English three, calculus, world history, physics, and now...he was finally going to a class that he couldn't get enough of, 5th period...psychology. Then after that was health and ROTC. 'd203...d203...ah, here we are.'

He turned into the class. Standing at the white board was a black and white husky wearing dark jeans and a red polo shirt. There was no one else in the classroom, which looked no different from the other ones. It had its desks all lined up next to each other, two white boards, some corny posters, and the carpet tiles which had so many colours that it made them look like vomit. As soon as he made the first footstep, the husky's ears twitched, and he turned around. As soon as the canine saw who he was, his eyes widened behind his glasses, and he dropped the black expo marker in his hand. John sighed, 'Aw geez...and cue the crude comments...'

The husky stepped towards him, "Are...are you in THIS psychology class?"

John took out his schedule to look at it, and nodded, "Yup...d203. So- are going to be a complete asshole like all my other teachers?"

John didn't mean to use vulgar language; he was just tired of everyone acting so ornery towards him.

The husky bent over to pick up the marker, and when he was standing back up he lifted up his hands to his chest and shook them. "No, no! You've got me all wrong. I'm completely thrilled that you're in my class! When I heard a human was in the school, I was enamoured. I hoped that you'd take this class and end up in my room...and here you are!" The husky held out his paw, "I'm Professor Myles, Alex Myles."

John shook the husky's paw, "Johnny Trevino, but you can call me John. It's nice to meet someone today besides the principle that doesn't hate me."

Myles smiled, "Well, there are people in this world that don't judge someone because of what they are, they're just really hard to find."

John returned the smile, "Well, let's just hope I keep on running into them."

Myles chuckled, "Well, go ahead and have a seat anywhere you like, soon everyone will arrive and class will begin."

John nodded and walked towards the back of the class. He spotted a desk at the far right corner and sat down. Sure enough, students began to enter in handfuls, most of them stopping to stare at John and mutter insults. Of course, he ignored them. Thank God he was a patient person, or else he would've gotten up and kicked all their asses... He could if he'd wanted to, but he wasn't that kind of person. Pretty soon, the whole class was full of a variety of furs, mostly males with a couple of females. Just as he expected, no one sat next to him, someone sat in front of him, but they scooted their desk so far up, it was like there wasn't a desk there to begin with.

Myles walked towards the door and was about to shut it, when a white and black paw stopped it, and a wolf entered. John looked towards the door, and his jaw dropped. He groaned, 'You've gotta be shitting me! What the hell is he doing here?'

Myles looked at Marcus with a small frown, "Mr Don Carlo... Please learn to get here quicker, after all, your class is just down the hallway."

Marcus nodded, "Sorry sir, it's just that I lost track of time."

Myles smiled and nodded, "You're lucky I'm not a stuck up teacher kid, go and have a seat."

Marcus nodded, and looked around the classroom, until his eyes met John's...and he froze. After about ten seconds, John broke the form of communication and looked around the classroom for another seat besides the one next to him. Marcus was doing the same, but...the universe hated John at the time; for the only seat available was the one to his left. 'Oh for the love of fuck,' he sighed, and put his chin on the desk.

Marcus hesitantly sat next to John, and faced forward. John wasn't looking at him, but he could tell the wolf was nervous, he could feel it. Mr Myles spoke up, "Alright class! Before we begin, let's have a quick Q and A. John...would you mind answering this? I would love to see how much you know."

John nodded, "Of course, professor."

Myles smiled, "Right! Well...answer this for me. Which memory is linked to an emotion processing system that functions at an unconscious level?"

Before John could answer, someone raised their hand. It was a bull terrier, who was wearing one of the school's letter jackets with blue jeans and a shirt underneath the jacket. "Excuse me sir, but we haven't gone over that subject yet. And from what I've heard, this furless freak hasn't even been in a school."

That pushed one of John's buttons. He fucking HATED it when people thought he was stupid, just because he never went to school before. John noticed that Marcus was glancing at him, as if waiting to hear what he had to say. John put both hands on his desk, and stood, "The answer would be, 'working memory' professor."

Myles smiled, "Well done Mr Trevino! How about this...Damage to this would be expected to render a wild animal tame and placid. Is it the Cerebellum, limbic system, blood brain barrier, temporal lobe, or parasympathetic system?"

John answered without hesitation, "The temporal lobe."

Myles grinned this time, doing a small applause with his hand, "Excellent, I guess you've proven most of the people here that you aren't a...hmm...What is it you young folk say these days?...Ah!, A 'dumbass.'

John smiled and sat back down; looking to his left slightly to catch Marcus staring at him, eyes wide with what he guessed was shock. The rest of the class went by smoothly save for the quick looks the two gave each other. When the bell rang, Marcus stood and went out the door. Even though he was in the back, he was the first one out.

John snickered and when everyone else was gone, he collected his things and stood. "Well Professor Myles, it was great meeting you. I think this will be the period I'm gonna look forward to every day."

Myles grinned, "That makes two of us John. I look forward to seeing more of your abilities."

It was now lunchtime, so John headed for the cafeteria. The place was huge, with round tables and every seat covered by a fur. There was multiple lines, each containing different varieties of food. John weaved through the crowd, trying to get a glimpse of what they were serving. But whatever it was, it smelt horrible...so he decided to just go sit at an empty table in the corner. Everyone was staring at him, or at least it felt like it. But every time he turned around, there was no one looking at him. He knew it though, he could feel their glares and gazes burning through his clothes and scorching his skin. Trying to ignore them, he put his chin on the table, and watched everyone else eat the awful smelling food and socialize.

Finding nothing else to do, he reached for his chest and grabbed his necklace, the brilliant, beautiful, emerald stone glimmering in the provided light of the cafeteria. 'Marcus...you're so fucking confusing, and so God damned hard to read.' His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a tray setting down next to him.

He looked towards the empty seat next to him, and well...it wasn't empty anymore. Taking the space for his own was an otter. At first, John didn't recognize him, but as soon as he saw the electric blue eyes, he remembered. "Kujo?!?...What're you doing here?"

Kujo laughed, "I should be asking YOU that, my friend."

John smiled and looked at Kujo's tray, and made a mock disgusted face, "Dude, how can you eat that stuff? It smells horrible!"

Kujo laughed and grabbed his fork put some whatever the hell it was on it, "Don't knock it till you try it. Open up."

John just sat there, perplexed by what the otter said. Kujo sighed, and pointed to his muzzle. John, still confused, spoke, "What does tha...umph!" But as soon as he opened his mouth, the otter shoved the mystery food into his gullet.

John was about to spit it out, but...this weird looking shit tasted fantastic! He was completely baffled that it smelled so horrible. He chewed, and then swallowed, "Okay" he smiled, "I gotta admit, it tastes great."

Kujo grinned, "I used to bring my own food, but then one day I forgot it at home, so I had to eat this." He pointed his fork towards his food, then stuck it in and grabbed a bite. John noticed that the fork had been in HIS mouth, but if the otter did, it looked as if he didn't care. "So- this must be your first day huh?"

John shifted, "Yeah, it's that obvious isn't it?"

Kujo grinned, "Well, that...and last time I checked, there weren't any humans in this school."

John laughed, "Heh...I should've seen that coming."

Kujo joined his laughter, and for once, John felt like he found a friend, something that he thought he'd never find. But their aura of friendliness was completely obliterated by a rude comment, "Hey fag!"

John turned to see where the crude words came from. It was the terrier from earlier, the one that John proved wrong. "So- now that I scared off your last faggy boyfriend, you're trying to score with this sack of skin?" He smirked and laughed, "You must be pretty desperate."

The friendly Kujo John knew was now gone, the warm-hearted aura now replaced with anger and irritation, "What the hell do you want Jack?"

Jack sat down across from them, his heavy, muscular build shaking the table. "I just wanted to see what the news with the two biggest freaks in the cafeteria is at the moment."

Kujo snarled, something John would've never expected to have seen from such an amiable person, "We're not freaks."

Jack grinned, but it quickly turned into a threatening look, "Sure you are. You're a gay little queer bait," he pointed at John," And you're a fucking human."

John didn't know exactly what was going on, but he felt the need to protect his newfound friend, "Hey, what the hell's you're problem? We didn't do shit to you."

Jack stood, slightly more pissed that John spoke up, "You'd better learn to keep your mouth shut runt, or else I'll kick your ass."

John smirked, "And what makes you think I can't take you?"

That blew the terriers fuse, he grabbed Kujo's tray -which was still full of food- and hit John directly in the face, which caused him to fly off the table from the sudden force.

Kujo was up on his feet as soon as John hit the ground, "John!" The fuming otter glared at Jack, "You fucking ass!" He ran towards jack, but the terrier stopped him halfway there by grabbing him, and shoving him aside.

He stalked towards John, cracking his knuckles in an ominous manner. John was still lying on the floor when he got there. He lifted the human who was completely covered in the awful smelling food, and looked him in the eyes...To find him smiling.

John was grinning, "My turn," he whispered. He grabbed the canines arm and used it as support to get both of his legs around the terriers head, then he grunted and twisted his body to force the bulky dog to flip sideways and land face first into the tile floor. John landed on his feet, only to find the terrier charging at him again, even more enraged than before. 'Oh shit!' He rolled out of the way to avoid a bone crushing tackle.

The brute laughed, "That was pathetic runt! I'm the best wrestler in the whole school, it's gonna take a lot more than that to bring me down!"

John stood back up, _'Well...that explains how he got up so fast.' _ Jack began walking towards him, fists up in a boxing pose. "Alright..." John said, lifting his hands to mirror Jack's, "I see how it is."

By now, plenty of furs had gathered around them, eagerly waiting to see what this human, this RUNT, was capable of. Jack surged forward, sending fists of fury (literally) through the air. John had mere milliseconds to dodge them. The canine may be a brute, but this motherfucker was fast! There was one problem though, his shots were too wide, and John found an opening.

Jack went for a right hook, and John saw his chance. He threw his first punch, which hit Jack before his own attack could make contact with John. Then, after the first hit, John sent a barrage of fists at the canine's chest. He aimed mainly for the solar plexus, and the diaphragm. The sudden burst of blows caused Jack to get the wind knocked out of him, and as soon as John saw this, he decided to finish him. He took a step forward, and delivered a critical elbow uppercut to the canine's skull. Jack's whole body twitched, and then he slowly fell to the ground, unconscious.

A couple of females screamed, but John didn't care. The friendly mood he'd acquired earlier from Kujo, was now gone. He was pissed, he was tired, covered in food, smelt horrible, and had the motherfucker of all headaches. He turned around, to see Kujo staring at him, completely shocked. John sighed_, 'Damn it, there goes my only friend.'_ But then, he heard running footsteps, and they both looked to the right, to see two SRO officers running towards him.

Kujo looked back at John, "John...Run!"

The SROs were getting closer, "Hold it human! Don't you dare move!"

Of course, John wasn't just going to stand there like a dumbass, so he turned and began to cut through the crowd. He ran up the stairs that connected the cafeteria to the main hallway and began sprinting. The two SROs were right on his trail, with another one heading straight towards him, 'Shit!' He didn't want to attack an officer, (which he'd done before...didn't end well) so he ran up the stairs and turned into a hallway. 'Exit strategy...exit strategy...exit strategy...ah!'

He already knew what to do, but first he had to get out of the cops sight. He made a couple of turns and loops and eventually he lost them. He ran towards one of the windows and unlocked the hatch and climbed through. The frame outside of the window was in a rib cage design, so he shut the window and held on to the edge until the SROs ran by. It took him all his physical strength to not let go, he was quickly losing stamina. As soon as the coast was clear, he quickly climbed up towards the roof. The minute he was safe, he collapsed on the sun scorched building. He was completely exhausted, because of the fighting, running, climbing, and panic. He slowly sat up, and scooted over towards the edge of the schools roof, dangling his feet. He deeply sighed_, 'Damn...everything is just getting more complicated, when is it going to stop? Seriously! I don't know how much more I can take.'_

John groaned and gripped his forehead. Sometimes, he wondered if there was a magnet implanted in his body that attracted complicated problems. He was pretty pissed now, he smelt like shit, he had the horrible taste of iron in his mouth (probably from the blood spilt by the blow to the head he received earlier) he was frustrated, angry, hot...and just not in the happiest mood right now. He picked up his head to face the sky, it was barely noon, so the sun still had a little bit of its morning colour, lighting the sky a bright orange.

"Not the greatest day huh?" John turned, to see Dex leaning against one the a/c units. The roo walked over and took a seat next to the human, letting his feet dangle off the edge as well.

John faced the sky again, "That's about right."

Neither of them spoke for about ten minutes, both of them just sat there, enjoying the cool breeze of the early afternoon. "I know what it feels like...in a way," Dex said.

John turned, completely perplexed for the second time that day, "What? What're you talking about?"

Dex had his eyes closed, still facing the heavens, "I know what it feels like for society to despise you...To hate you for who and what you are."

John was still confused, "Can you please elaborate?"

The marsupial sighed, "You see John...I'm gay."

Now this...this surprised John. He'd really didn't know what to do, so he responded with something intelligent, "Uh...heh...oh...*cough*...um." For some reason, he found this a little embarrassing. He tried to cover his face by turning away because he felt a small blush building up, but it was no use.

Dex chuckled, "You've never met a gay fur before, have you?"

John shifted his body so he could get more comfortable, "Well, if you haven't noticed," John gestured his hands towards himself, "Most people won't come near me because of what I am. So I'm not that socially active, as if I had time for it anyways."

Dex chuckled, "Well, I should've seen that coming." The roo spread his legs to stretch, groaning as his bones snapped. "Well, can you believe that it took me until I was 22 to come out of the closet?"

John looked at Dex, slightly surprised. He'd heard that usually, gay people came out of the closet during their teenage years. The fact that this guy took him until he was a full grown adult left him even more confused. "Confusing right?" Dex said, as if reading John's mind, "I can tell by your expression, anyways, let me tell you why it took so long."

Dex leaned back, and used his paws to prop him up, and John sat up straight, facing the roo, "I'm all ears."

Dex smiled, "Well, it all started when I was in high school, just like you, except I was a sophomore. It's funny too, because if you would've asked any of my friends, they would've told you I was the straightest guy they've ever met."

John nodded, completely sucked into the story, "And? What happened?"

Dex sighed, "Then...I met him. His name was Dominic, but I called him Dom. He was a cougar; he was my best friend, and my first love. We started out as strangers, just as anyone else would. Then, we got signed up as lab partners. During the assignment, he made some ridiculously hilarious joke about how stupid the lab was, and I laughed my head off. After that, we started hanging out more often, and each time we went out, we got closer and closer. One day, he invited me to his house, said he needed to tell me something important. And...well, I guess you can figure out what went on from there."

John didn't know what Dex was talking about...until he caught on. John's face turned red for the second time that day, "*cough* Heh heh...so...what happened?" He prompted, thinking it was just a little absurd that his new headmaster was telling him this.

Dex's face turned grim, which made John flinch a little. Just like Kujo, this happy man looked frightening when the joyfulness was gone. "Oh," he said grimly, "That's easy..." Dex looked up towards the sky, "He turned abusive. At first, it was just yelling. Then, he would hit me once in a while. Later...it turned into a daily basis. So one day, I couldn't take it anymore...he had me on the ground, and I kicked him off. He wanted to have sex, but I wasn't in the mood, so he basically tried to rape me. As soon as I got the chance, I grabbed whatever was near me, which was a golf club, and I hit his legs. He fell to the ground, holding both his limbs. Somehow, I'd managed to hit both of them. I called the police after that, and later, I found out that I was responsible for turning him into a cripple." Dex turned his attention ahead of him, not really focusing on anything. "He was s....*sigh*, I just can't believe he got so violent. Anyways, the thing me and Dom had was a secret from everyone. After him, to this day, I've never had the guts to actually have a relationship with someone else. I always get scared that the same thing will happen to me again. When I graduated high school, I was still in the closet. Two years after I finished college, I got tired of living a lie...and I came out to the world. Now, I was a teacher at this school at the time...and you can bet your ass that most of the parents didn't want their kids to be taught by a 'Flaming homo.' or 'queer.' Most of them tried to pull their kids out of my class, and some few, just didn't care. They weren't afraid of change." Dex chuckled lightly, "And you can imagine their faces when I got the job as principle a couple of years ago."

John was amazed. Amazed by this fur's strength, he'd imagine that you'd have to be pretty strong to stick all the way through something with so many problems. Dex looked at John and put his paw on his shoulder, "I know what it feels like John, except for me, it only stayed for about a year. Now though, it barely lingers anywhere. But that year, was by far the toughest of my life. Everyone, including my family, turned their backs on me. I only had a few friends to lean on, and I was grateful I wasn't alone." Dex's grip slightly tightened, "But you John, I envy you."

This stunned the human, "Me?! Why would you ever envy me?" Anger began to rise in John, but self-pity soon replaced it, "Look at me Dex, I've got no family, few friends..." he looked at the roo with misery filled eyes, "And I'm the last human on this God damned planet."

John turned his attention back to the front, only to have a paw bring his head back to facing the marsupial. Dex sighed, "You didn't let me finish, I envy you because you have far much more courage, strength and hope than any person I've ever met in my life. I envy you John, because if it had been me in your situation, I would've given up. I had some people to lean on, you didn't. You had to go through it on your own, and that isn't something that an ordinary person can do. You're unique John; you're one of a kind, THAT'S why I envy you."

John stared at Dex, completely surprised by the many reasons. Dex shook his shoulder lightly to knock him out of his astonished state, "Do you understand now?"

John slowly nodded, and smiled, "Yeah Dex, I get it now. Thanks."

Dex pulled him in for a hug, which was something John still wasn't used to. So while Dex's arms were wrapped around him, John's just lay there motionless. Then he felt like a dumbass because he wasn't returning the friendly gesture. Hesitantly, he brought up his arms and wrapped them around the large roo's back. The feeling was...astounding. He could feel Dex's warmth transferring to his body through the embrace. It made him wanna squeeze the living daylights out of him! Before things got too weird though, John pulled back, even if he was a little reluctant that he did. Then...it hit him. For the first time ever, John had returned a hug.

Dex stood and held out his paw, he smiled, "Well, I guess you've been through enough shit for today, why don't you go ahead and just go on home."

John grabbed the paw and pulled himself up, "Thanks...wait, I can't just leave! I'll get in trouble, and the SRO's are already after me."

Dex chuckled, "Oh don't worry about that, Jack may tell everyone a totally different story about how it started, but I bet the cafeterias security camera begs to differ."

John smiled, "Heh heh...thanks. But wait, won't they ask you what you were doing up here? Plus, we just had a long conversation."

Dex crossed his arms and smirked, "Oh, me? I was just sitting up here, enjoying the fresh, cool air."

John raised an eyebrow, "Yeah...and what about me?"

Dex turned his attention to the left, "Well, good sir, I certainly don't know who you're talking about. Don't mind me, I'm just going to turn around for about thirty seconds, then go inside." And with that, the roo turned around with his arms behind his back, but John could still see the huge smile on his face.

John grinned, turned around and grabbed onto the edge of the building, and began to descend towards the ground two stories below. On the last window frame, he jumped and landed on the soft, green grass with a roll. Well...now he was out of school early, and Marcus was the only one with a house key. School didn't end for another three hours, "Screw it, I could use a walk and some fresh air."

He began strolling down the road, and everything would've been fine...if he didn't smell like shit due to the spilled food all over his body. 'Damn, I could really use a shower right now.' His thoughts were interrupted by a black car that drove up next to him and stopped so that the passenger's door was facing him. The vehicle didn't even fully come to a halt, and he already recognized it,'Oh fuck...I REALLY don't need this right now' The door's window lowered down to reveal who was driving, but John already knew who it was.

Marcus was sitting there, one hand on the wheel, and looking at John, "Hey...you want a ride?"

John scoffed, 'Oh great...here he is being nice again. I swear to God, he's really going to piss me off.' "I don't want anything from you pinché hipócrita."

Marcus sighed, "Look, why don't you just get in the...wait, what did you say?"

John crossed his arms, anger quickly ruining the good mood that Dex had created for him, "I said, 'pinché hipócrita.' "

Marcus was perplexed, "What the hell does that mean?"

John took a step closer to the wolf's car, "It's Spanish, it means 'fucking hypocrite.' "

Marcus's brows furrowed, quickly figuring out what John meant, "Why am I a..." he shook his head, "Never mind. Look, I have the house key. Why don't you just accept the ride? I know you want a shower."

John grunted. First of all, because of the wolf's constant changing from being a total ass, into a Good Samaritan. And secondly...he was right. Reluctantly, he opened the door and sat in the car, "How'd you know I was leaving?"

Marcus switched the gear and put the car in drive, "I saw the fight in the cafeteria. When you ran from the SRO's, I started looking for you. Next thing I know, I'm looking at the hallway window, and see you climbing down it like it was so simple and easy. So I ran towards it, and saw you walking down the street."

John nodded, "So- what made you decide to give me a ride?"

They approached a stoplight, and Marcus turned to face him, concern in his luminous eyes, "Well, I wanted to make sure you were safe." With that being said, the wolf turned around and focused back on the road.

John turned also and faced the window, completely frustrated. 'God damn it man! There he goes being nice again. This shit is driving me crazy!' He reached into his collared shirt and pulled out the necklace. He began to rub the stone, which was smooth and beautiful, reflecting light from all angles making it shine and glimmer. John began to think real hard. Michael wasn't coming home for another couple of hours, so he and Marcus are going to be alone in the house. He closed his fist real tight around the stone; he needed to figure out why Marcus was acting so weird towards him. It's about time he got some God damn answers...

~~~~

Edit performed on 24/12/2011 as a gift by RuthofPern, at Madfire's request.