FSE

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Ket anxiously waited downstairs. He sat at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of raspberry kool-aid, glancing out the window over and over again. Every car that passed by could be the one; any color, any size, any shape, any make. Truck, car, SUV, van, heck maybe even a motorcycle. He sipped again.

"So...when is he gonna be here?" His mom asked, entering the scene. "I can't wait to meet your new friend!"

"I don't know, mom," he said agitatedly. "Please don't make a big deal out of it. He's just coming over to work on the book report for tomorrow. The last thing I need is you being all over us."

"Arkethius Cicero Rachaun, you don't talk to your mother like that."

"Please mom, just promise."

Abruptly there came a knock at the door. Both tigers looked toward it.

"Is that him?" His mom asked. "I didn't see a car pull up..." The knock came again. "Well...aren't you gonna answer it?"

Ket slid out of the chair, causing it to scrape a little, and went over to the door. His thumb toggled the latch to unlock it, and his palm turned the handle, all in one swift motion. On the other side of the door, standing with a bike leaning against his side and a helmet in his other arm, Panda sighed with relief. "Oh good. I got the right house."

"Good afternoon!" Ms. Rachaun said excitedly, appearing at the threshold. "I'm Ket's mom. Nice to meet you!" She leaned over with her hands on her knees. "Can I take that helmet for you?"

"Uh...thank you," the bear said, letting his arm loosen so she could take it. "I don't really see anywhere I can put my bike..."

"Oh don't worry Panda--it is Panda right? That's such an adorable name--"

"Mom!" Ket muttered sotto vocé

"I'll take care of your bike. You just come in and make yourself at home. Would you like some fresh kool-aid?"

"Sure!"

"Great! Ket pour him a glass."

Ket swiveled on his right foot with great agitation, pulling a cup from out of the low cabinet.

Panda walked in, pulling off his jacket. "Man, I rode around for like ten minutes. Your house is kinda hard to find, it looks like all the others on the whole block."

"That's how it was built," Ket replied, setting the glass on the table and pouring the kool-aid in.

"Hey wait," Panda said, "where's my ice?"

"Huh?" Ket questioned, looking at the bear like he was crazy for a second.

"Whoa, dude, watch it--" Panda caught the pitcher just as the red liquid reached the brim of the cup. "Jeez, you almost overfilled it."

Ket backed away, setting the pitcher on the counter. "Sorry...um...ice is in the fridge...if you still want some."

"S'too late now," Panda said, "S'okay though I'm cold enough as it is anyway." He took the glass and drank--and drank--and drank. Over the course of five seconds he managed to gulp down the whole glass. "Ah..." he said, wiping his lips with his sleeve, "that hit the spot."

Just then Ms. Rachaun came back through the front door. "Okay. Bike is taken care of. I put it behind the little fence in back so no one will see it." She sat at the table with a rush of air. "So, you boys have a book report tomorrow, huh?"

"Yeah," Ket replied, eager to get upstairs and start working on the thing already.

"Oh shoot!" Panda muttered with a facepalm.

"What is it sweetie?" Ket's mom asked.

"I totally forgot to bring all of my stuff. I was almost here and was like 'where's my backpack?' and then remembered I left it at home cuz my grandpa moved it. I had it all by the front door and everything."

"Oh no," Ms. Rachaun said with worry, "Do you need me to drive back to your house so you can get it?"

The bear shook his head. "Nah, Ket has a copy of the book and the papers. I can just borrow his right?"

Ket's eyes glanced away for a moment. "...Sure," he replied.

"Of course he will," his mom said, gently leaning forward to punch him; "He's a nice kid. You two run along and do your little report. I was thinking of making fried bologna for early supper today, would you like some Panda?"

The bear gave a quizzical look. "I've never had that before..."

"Would you like something else, maybe?"

Ket's whiskers wilted. "But I like fried bologna..." He whimpered.

"Oh quit whining, kid." His mom said, "We can have it tomorrow. What would you like, Panda?"

"Um...do you guys have lettuce? I love a good salad."

"Of course!" She clapped. "That's an excellent idea."

"Aw man..." Ket muttered, "I hate salad."

"You are being so rude," his mom scolded; "Salad is good for you. Deal with it." She smacked his rear. "Now go upstairs and write a good report."

With a sigh, Ket flung his arm once as a gesture for Panda to follow. The bear did, and as he walked up the stairs Ket could hear him huffing. He glanced back to see his report partner still halfway up the first flight whereas he was already almost up the second flight, staring over the rail.

"Man, you gotta slow down," his partner muttered, "Some of us can't go that fast."

"I'll get set up," the tiger replied, disappearing behind the divide.

"Psh," the panda muttered to himself, stepping up to the first landing, "rude." He began his trek up the second flight, and at long last he was almost at the top. He hated houses that weren't one-story. He would have to convince his partner to come over to his house next time. As he approached the top of the stairs, his partner was pulling his copy of the book out and also the three sheets of papers with questions on it. Panda sighed. He didn't want to spend his day doing this. Why did the report have to be due tomorrow?

"Okay, so, if we do this quick," Ket said, "then we don't have to worry about it. I already did chapter one, so I can do chapter two and you do chapter three, okay?"

Panda shook his head. "I uh...I didn't read chapter three."

Ket flattened his ears. "Okay...well. I guess I'll do chapter three and you do chapter two."

"I uh...I didn't finish chapter two..."

Somehow Ket's ears managed to flatten more. "You mean you haven't read it?"

"Well I read chapter one and that was like...twenty pages. I read ...some of two."

"What about class-time reading?"

The bear shrugged. "Like I said man, I read chapter one."

Ket rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine," he picked up the book and displayed it, "You read chapter three and then write the report while I do the one for chapter two."

He took the book and set it down. "Man, I don't wanna read right now. I'm not in the mood."

Ket growled subvocally. "You've got to. We have to present tomorrow."

"C'mon dude," he whined. "It's still kinda early, we need to spend some time having fun. We can do that work later." He looked around. "Is this entire upstairs yours?"

Ket shrugged. "Mom doesn't ever come u--"

"Oh cool!" Panda shuffled over to Tutty. "Wow this thing's as big as me!"

"Please don't touch--"

"I'll be careful," he said, feeling the Sphinx's nose. The fur had the most curious sheen on it that made it appear like gold. He looked to his right. "Is that your room?" He asked rhetorically, pushing open the door. "Holy cow!"

Before Ket could stop him, the bear barged in.

"Are you guys from Egypt or something?"

Ket slipped into his room to see Panda fiddling with Aanpu. He froze for just a moment before he snapped to and went over to the bear. "Hey, let go of it," he said, tearing it out of the bear's hands.

"Whoa, dude, calm down..."

"I don't like people in my room," he stated fiercely.

"All right, all right," the bear huffed, walking out. "I just thought it was cool stuff."

Ket followed the bear closely to guard him from turning around and sneaking a peek back into his room. He shut the door behind him very carefully.

But the bear had no intent on looking back. "Wait a minute...is that--" Panda rushed over to the TV. "Ha! It is! You got an NES! What games do you have?" Without waiting for an answer he flipped the door to the cartridge deck up. "Mega Man 2? Awesome!" He set it back down and pushed the button to turn the system on.

"What are you doing?" Ket muttered wearily.

"I have to play this. I've heard about these old games but I've never seen them before." He raised up on his knees to the buttons on the TV. "How do you turn this thing on?"

"We can play all we want later, right now let's just get this report done."

"Just a little bit. I just want to try it." He said, finding the button to turn the TV on. The opening sequence was already playing, text saying some backstory but Panda didn't really read it. He just wanted to play. "Hmm...Normal," he said, hitting A. "...I guess have to pick one...let's do...Wind Man."

The level started and Panda controlled the sprite, jumping up and down and figuring out the controls as he went. Shooting enemies, jumping on floating heads with drills spinning up. He was mesmerized by the stunning graphics of the late eighties.

Ket sighed as he watched Panda play his game. There was just no use trying to get this guy to do work, apparently. He grabbed the book in case he needed it, but he knew he wouldn't really. He walked to the desk in the corner and turned the little dial for the light. It blinked a few times before it finally stabilized to an ethereal white.

For the next twenty minutes Ket listened to Panda's comments as the bear played his Nintendo while he worked on the paper for chapter two, answering the very general questions. There weren't many, but they required a bit of writing, and he had to spend a few minutes of time figuring out how exactly he should word everything. At last he was done.

"Okay." Ket said, setting his pencil down. "Finished."

"Really? That was quick." The bear said, his eyes glued to the TV and his face illuminated in red.

"Are you ready to read, yet?"

"No way dude," he said with a sneer, "I beat two guys. I'm on a roll, here." His hands jumped up and down, thumbs clicking the buttons.

Ket sighed.

"Calm down. I'll get it done later," Panda assured, and then cussed when his character died.

"Watch your language," Ket scolded.

"Okay, mom."

The tiger made his way to the couch and sat on it, staring at the game but not watching it. He had only played one level while Emeral watched and he wondered how she could stand just sitting there. It was like watching baseball or something--it just wasn't as fun as playing. And Panda was really loud, talking to the game as he played, insulting the little pixels when he was doing well or fussing and griping at them when he was doing badly.

Panda battled through Fire Man's level and defeated the boss with a little bit of frustration.

Ket was beyond trying to get him to do any work by now and just sagged deeper and deeper into the couch, thinking about how he'd much rather spend the day with Emeral, even if she was shopping with her mom. He hated having work over his head, and he hated group work especially. He remembered how last year he managed to get away with doing the book report on his own because it was a harder book than the others. Why did he let Emeral talk him into this?

"Boys!" His mom's voice came from downstairs, "Supper's ready!"

Ket snapped back to reality. "Okay mom!" He turned to the bear, "C'mon, let's go."

"H-hang on, I gotta get to this boss it'll only take a minute."

"Just put it on pause," he suggested, "It'll be here when we get back."

"Hang on I'm in the zone," Panda said with electricity, "If I leave now and come back I'll lose it."

"Our food's gonna get cold."

Panda laughed. "What? Salads don't get cold. You're weird."

The tiger's brow dipped down over his eyes. Silently he moved on the other side of the couch, stepped off, and turned the system off. "Supper." He said curtly, briskly walking to the stairs.

"Hey! What the fuck man."

"Stop cussing."

Angrily the children thundered down the stairs, but when he reached the bottom Ket dropped it immediately. Panda, however, would not.

"Hey kiddos. Workin' hard?"

"Yup," Ket said, "Right Robby?"

Panda's teeth clenched. "Sure." He looked to the table and saw their salads prepared for them, sans dressing but there was a bottle of Ranch on the table between the bowls. "Looks good Ms. R," he said.

"Why thank you, Panda," she said with a smile. "Nice to see somebody show some appreciation for once."

Ket flattened his ears. "What's that supposta mean?"

"Oh nothing..." she said, her eyes looking up. "Well, while you boys eat I'll be just out front. Gonna see about getting rid of the dead wisteria."

The boys took their seats as Ket's mom went out the door. Silence took the room over. For a while they sat still, until finally Panda reached for the dressing. He shook it and dribbled a nice amount over the lettuce, carrots, grape-quarters and shredded cheese.

Ket stared at his salad, and all he could see was something akin to vomit. He retrieved the dressing as well, and started pouring gobs of it, covering most of the greenery.

"Jeez," Panda muttered, stabbing into the lettuce. "You want some salad with that dressing?"

Ket didn't oblige a reply. He stabbed his salad a few times, working the dressing over everything he could, and lifted a small forkful of mush-leaf up to his mouth, hesitated, and then rolled his tongue out to accept the morsel. He consumed it quickly, swallowing it almost as soon as it disappeared into his mouth.

"It's just a salad," Panda commented, seeing Ket's dramatic reaction.

"I hate salad," the tiger muttered. "It's tasteless."

"How can you taste it? You put enough dressing on it to turn it into a soup."

"When we go back upstairs," Ket said flatly, pointing with his fork, "You're gonna read chapter three and do the paper. I'll help but--"

"You can't tell me what to do." Panda snapped, slamming the butt of his fork on the table. "Besides," he checked his watch, "I didn't realize it was four already. I've actually gotta go soon."

Ket blinked. His yellow eyes were tarnishing to red. "Yeah," he said, desperately trying to quell the frustration in his voice; "You played Megan Man 2 for over an hour."

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "Time flies when you're havin' fun."

"We could have had it done already, y'know."

The bear swallowed his leafy gulp. "Dude, you are so uptight. Chill out." He took another bite and chewed it. "Um..." He swallowed. "You think you could write the paper on chapter three?"

"No," the tiger replied, as a parent would to a child.

"Why not? You already read it, it'll take like...a few minutes for you. I'll do more work on the next one, I promise."

"You have to do one paper at least, this is a group grade." He stabbed the salad.

"You could do it and put my name on it," Panda suggested.

"That's cheating. Besides, I won't have time. I still have other homework and stuff to do, then I have to eat dinner, and then I have to take a shower and go to bed early so I can wake up and walk E--"

He cut his voice like a call being dropped. His stomach churned with nervousness. He almost let it slip. Panda was staring at him.

"You have to walk what?" The bear asked, folding his arms like he was entitled to that bit of information.

"I have to walk early to school," Ket finished without missing a beat.

"Well whoop-dee-doo," Panda threw his arms into the air, "I got stuff I gotta do too, ya know."

In reality, Ket did not have any homework to do. He always did his homework as soon as he got home before he played, unlike his lazy-oaf partner. But this was just the first of several book reports that they would have to do together and he wasn't about to end up doing all the work for any one of them; the bear was gonna have to pull his own weight, for lack of better phrase. He didn't budge his statement.

The door creaked open. "I'm baaaaack," Ket's mom stated.

"Thanks for the grub, Ms. R," Panda said, using the moment to slide out of his chair. "Sorry but I better go, it's gettin' dark."

"You're welcome Panda. I see Ket hasn't even touched his salad; that's very nice dear you can have it for later."

Ket pursed his lips.

"Be a nice host and walk Panda around the back to get his bike."

The tiger got out of his chair and opened the door. Panda passed through, getting his jacket on with a huff, and when Ket walked out he slammed the door behind him fairly hard. They walked around the house in silence, spotting the bear's bike in the fencing that was supposed to be a flower patch. Begrudgingly the tiger helped get the bike out, and walked with Panda down to the sidewalk.

"You're going to be ready to present over chapter three tomorrow, right?"

Panda got on his bike, kicking the stand up and, even as he was pedaling away, muttered; "Sure whatever."

But Ket didn't even hear the response, because he was also distancing himself as far away as possible, and back into the warm house. It was cold and he was shivering. The sky was bruising purple with night and he didn't want to be outside any longer to see it.

He was only a little curt with his mom, hiding it behind quietness and saying he was tired. He hid upstairs after finishing that dreaded salad, turning down ice cream. He was eager to take his shower and do whatever he wanted

The worksheet for chapter three remained on his desk, left to rot for all her cared.