FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Part Ten: The Start of Something Else

In this chapter, as you can tell, something new happens in the life of our hero. This part will be leading to some critical moments in the future. What will happen between Zeke, Matt, and Jarrod is finally laid out in this chapter and things are going to start that will lead to a lot of yelling and soul baring. This chapter is the start of the end, so read it, enjoy it, and I'll see you in the next chapter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of Saturday was uneventful for me. I woke up after a few hours and then started my training again; a few rounds with the punching bag working on some moves, then doing some curls, push-ups, and crunches. Then I did some stretches and practiced some more moves outside and by the time I was finally done it was already close to dark.

I washed up and made myself a simple sandwich for dinner and dad had made himself a burger. After I ate, I went upstairs, showered and sat back in my room only in my boxers and read more in a novel I'd been reading.

I did a few minor things that evening before I fell asleep for the night, and the next day was much of the same. I woke up, ate, got some work done around the house, unpacked, trained some more, and surfed the web. I explored around the neighborhood a bit when I became bored, talked to my mom, and then worked on some old projects. Matt called to say hello and for help on a math problem which I helped him with easily enough and that was basically the highlight of my day.

Sadly, though, Sunday became Monday and I had to go back to school. I had nothing really interesting really happen most of the day, Matt talked to me, I took notes, talked to some other kids when they would talk to me, and all that. It wasn't until lunch, though, when Matt and I were sitting in our spot did something of interest happen.

I was lying on my stomach on the ground reading our English assignment and Matt was munching on a fish sandwich when I felt something on my back. I looked back and saw that handsome otter of mine had sat down next to me and was rubbing my back with his paw.

A light sigh came from my body as I felt that firm caress on my back and I looked up at him with a sly smirk, "Matt... What are you doing?" I wagged my tail slowly to show my enjoyment of this and he just kept on.

"I just felt like doing something nice for you, and since I can't reach your stomach for a rub like you seemed to like, I thought I'd give you a back rub instead." He shot back a coy smile of his own and rubbed around my shoulders and back, and I put my book away to enjoy the moment.

Sadly though, the moment came to an abrupt halt when our ears perked up at the sound of a door closing and someone walking our way muttering a bit angrily about something. Matt got off of me and scooted away quickly and I got up on all fours and stretched before I stood and looked for the angry voice. When I discovered the source I tilted my head curiously as it was Jarrod who was skulking towards us and muttering something that I couldn't really understand.

When he finally got close enough to the gazebo I caught a few words that sounded like, "Stupid... damned... principal. Wouldn't... in the shins..." I blinked and held up a paw to show I was there but when he didn't seem to see me and kept walking I decided to speak out.

"Hey, Jarrod... What's got your tail in a twist? You sound like something bad happened. You get in trouble or what?"

Jarrod perked his head up and looked over and started walking over to where we were sitting. Matt however gave a paranoid look at him and then looked at me like I was crazy or something, but with a smile and a nod to him I signaled that it was ok and that we were cool and he went back to eating the last bits of his sandwich.

"Hey... Sorry about that, I was just angry, 'cause that idiot of a principal won't let me start a self defense club here at school because he doesn't think it'd be a good idea, and it's not in the budget to get an instructor, and a lot of other bull crap."

He walked in and sat on the other side of the wooden structure and kept a scowl on his face. It was obvious he was mad about this but I saw the principal's point.

"Well he has a point, Jarrod. You need room for the club, some kind of adult around to watch over things, and then there are also issues with who would run it and take care of things. He must think that even if you were in charge that you wouldn't be able to handle it or something and then there's also the supervisor you would need."

The puma though just snorted and waved his hand at me as if to dismiss what I had just said. "That old war horse just doesn't want there to be issues with kids fighting on school grounds. He's afraid he'd have parents complain to him if their kid gets hurt and then want to make issues for the school. Old fart doesn't know how important it can be to defend yourself," I chuckled at that thinking of how true it was and at the irony considering that if it weren't for my self defense capabilities he could have seriously hurt me. I just kept a smirk on my face though and he just went on giving reasons that he thought the club was a good idea.

"And if the club really got off the ground there'd be competitions we could do and that would mean more fame for the school and scholarships too for some kids."

I shook my head and looked at him smiling and he just jerked his head back and raised an eyebrow, "What are you looking so smug about?"

I let out a chuckle and looked him in the eyes, "You ever think that maybe he doesn't want you to start a fight club because that would give you reason to pick on the younger kids here?"

He shot me a glance and then mumbled out a 'yeah' as I saw Matt from the corner of my eye smirk. Truth was I could see where Jarrod was going with this though and he made a valid point. Only problem was the guy had a mean streak because he was self-conscious about his bloodline and that made him short-tempered and a bit ill mannered at times from what I'd seen. He longed to show that he was strong and hated being shown that he was weak. In an ironic sense those were also traits I shared, but with me I was more laid back and dark and I felt I didn't have to prove anything to anybody. Heck I just wanted to be left alone as much as possible.

"Still though, I'm not that big a trouble maker. I just have an attitude, so what, that doesn't mean he can't actually give my idea an actual thought! Soon as I handed the papers and junk to him he just flipped through it and then said 'No' like he could actually read it all that fast..." He grunted and let out a breath in discouragement.

"Well why don't you let me look it over? Maybe I can get my paw-paw to vouch for it if I think it's something good. He's a retired navy officer and had a pretty high rank before he left the life for other pursuits."

Both Matt and Jarrod looked at me with curiosity and Jarrod cocked his head, "You mean to tell me that crap about your grandfather and uncle being in the navy was true? You weren't just trying to bluff us?"

I gave him a stern look and snorted at him in annoyance, "After kicking your tails all around you think that, that was a bluff? Lord have mercy... look just give me the papers, and I can go talk to the Principal...," I looked up for a moment trying to remember if I knew the guy's name, but didn't seem to, "What's his name by the way?"

"His name is Greg Potts. Everyone thinks he's a bit of a stick in the mud though. I don't know if you'll get anywhere with talking to him, Zeke." Matt shrugged at me as Jarrod got out the forms and handed them to me.

"Here's the forms man, uh... Thanks I guess for all this... Why are you doing all this?" Jarrod handed me the forms for the club and I started to look them over.

"Hmm... it all looks good and in order I guess. And I don't know... I guess the idea of a self-defense club wouldn't be a bad idea... I think this would help give you a sense of purpose; maybe help your aggression, help other people in school, I can see a lot of good that can come from all this, and I don't think there would be any harm in giving it a try for awhile. I don't think it would hurt to at least try either, an with some funding and some work I think based on what you've got here, is the start of something pretty good." I finished looking over the forms and looked up at him in a business like manner.

"I'll fax these forms over to my maw-maw and paw-paw, later and after he reads them over I'll let them know to call the Principal and I guess we'll see what happens." I shrugged and put the papers into my book bag before looking back at him.

"Heh, well thanks, man, hopefully with your help this will work out for me and all. Listen, I've got baseball practice this afternoon, but after all that mind if I come over and talk some more about this? I mean if I'm going to be in charge of this I should be a part of the discussion and all that, right?"

I nodded my head saying it was ok and then the bell rang signaling for us to get to class, "Well, Z. Matt... I'll see ya later I guess, thanks again for your help."

At that he started to walk off to his next class and Matt looked over at me in shock, "Are you nuts? That guy tried to beat us up just last week or did you forget that?"

"I didn't forget, but that's just how things somehow work out with me..." He gave me a questioning look at that. "I will make an enemy first and then we'll get to be somewhat like friends after awhile. I don't know how to explain it really but that's how my life works at times."

Matt cocked his head at me and rolled his eyes, "Dude... that's just too weird. Interesting but weird. Anyway I got to get to class, I'll talk to you later, Zeke."

And with that Matt started walking off towards his next class, and I got my stuff together to get to mine. This day had just gotten stranger but it really wasn't going to affect me that much over all, so for the rest of the day I didn't really think much about it all. What Jarrod had said about this was just something I was going to help out with, nothing else, so why should I have thought more about it?

The rest of the day was uneventful, and I walked home by myself. Matt had to go home for some family stuff and Jarrod had that practice like he said before. It didn't bother me any being a loner and all, going home and being alone was actually something I looked forward to as it gave me time to relax and not worry about anything.

As soon as I got inside I sat down on the couch, took off my shoes and shirt, and laid down there. I didn't sleep well the night before so taking a nap seemed like a fairly good idea to me. That however wasn't such a great idea as I slept longer than I had intended and was woken up by a knocking at my door.

"Huh? Yeah, yeah I'm comin'... hold on." I got up groggily and opened the door to find Jarrod standing on my doorstep wearing his practice gear and a bag.

"Huh... Hey Zeke, mind if I come in, I was kinda hoping we could talk about that club I was wanting to start up at school... Are you ok you look a bit tired?"

I motioned him into my home and nodded scratching myself and shaking my head to wake up fully before I put my t-shirt back on, "Yeah... I'm cool, dude, I was just takin' a nap..."

"This early in the afternoon?" Jarrod took a seat and I sat back down and sniffed the air.

"Yeah I sleep a lot... being part cat, it's part of my makeup, but what's the deal with you, you smell musky, don't shower?" I looked him over and adjusted myself a bit, I don't know what I had been dreaming, but with an attractive guy in my living room and me half awake, my more carnal instincts where coming to surface.

"Uh... no I don't shower with other guys... I'm sure you know how it is, trying to hide something like that," he sighed. I knew exactly what it was like, having even more visible tells of my heritage I never went without a shirt unless I trusted the people around me. One too many hateful people yelling at me and throwing things at me made me wise up pretty early in life.

"Yeah... But about that club thing now... You got the basic paper work and forms figured out, ya can use the wrestling room since they don't have practice this time of year, and all that is good. Ya just need someone to vouch for ya, and be able to handle being in charge of a bunch of teenagers tryin' to teach 'em how to fight and all that junk. Think you can handle it?"

He gave me one of those cocky smiles of his and chuckled, "Damn straight I can handle it, I've been planning this and I'm sure I can handle this stuff on my own."

I just shrugged and got up and motioned for him to follow me as I walked down to my father's work area where he paid bills, typed up his budget reports and did all those boring things all adults have to do at times. I just went over to the fax/phone/whatever the hell else this thing did and picked up the phone and dialed my grandparents' number.

"Hello? This is Ginger Loray." I couldn't help but smirk; my grandmother was a kind elderly tigress and was always the epitome of good etiquette.

"Hey, maw-maw, it's Zeke. Listen I got-"

"ZEKE!" My maw-maw may have been a well mannered lady, but that never stopped her from being excited when she heard from any of her grandkids, and since I was her first I guess that made me kind of special to her or something, because for the next 5 minutes she decided that I should hear everything about what was going on back at our old home how the rest of the family was doing and even a few things about how they missed me and hoped I was doing well in my new location.

After so long though I finally found a place that I could interrupt her and explained the situation to her. "And that's the story, maw-maw, you think I can fax these forms over to you and have paw-paw look at 'em?"

She said that she could have him look at the forms and after a light discussion on how I was doing which I gave vague answers to, I hung up and started to dial the fax number and sent the forms.

"Well... there ya go, Jar. He'll get the forms and after he reads 'em and signs off on 'em he'll send 'em to the principal and hopefully you'll get your club up and off the ground."

Jarrod smiled and nodded, "Thanks man, I owe ya one, you ever need any help just ask and I'll try my best, pal."

"I don't need help with anything, Jar, I just need to be left alone, now is there anything else you need?" I wasn't really trying to be rude or anything but I did enjoy my time alone.

He said he didn't have any more official business with me, but he did want to run some ideas by me with training regimens for the club and how to go about doing that. I told him some stuff and shared some ideas with things on how to go about training people from beginning levels to the more advanced.

By the time he was done it was nearly 6 so with a friendly goodbye from him and a wave off from me, he got into his truck and headed off. As for me I headed back inside and started to work on some homework. Math homework, studying for classes, no matter where I went in my life one thing was always the same. No matter what, school sucked and homework was more of a chore than anything.

The night followed a normal rutine for me mostly sticking to myself before I went to bed. That night I had another dream about Matt, but this one was him hating me because of my blood, which was a common occurrence in my dreams since I was a kid. That caused me to wake up in the middle of the night, but I didn't dwell on it, I just rolled onto my side and gave some more thoughts to what I felt for Matt and for what I felt for myself.

The fact was that I liked Matt but I wasn't sure if I could think very much of him. I mean I knew the guy for less than a week, for all I knew he could secretly enjoy decapitating feral animals, although I knew that was not a possibility. The fact was I felt like I was getting to close to him and it was all happening too fast. I was going to have to push away for a bit if I wanted to make sure that nothing happened to me again.

At school the next day, the air smelled alive with the fresh scents of spring blooms and the ocean breeze. I went through the day like normal, but I kept a bit of a distance from that great guy that I'd known for so short a time. He kept on trying to ask me if something was wrong and I just kept quiet and said we'd talk later.

Around lunchtime I made my way to the spot outside my art class and climbed up a nearby tree that wasn't too high and sat in the branches looking over the tan rooftops of the various school buildings. I really didn't want to hurt Matt but I really felt like I was going to fast with him, and really what good would a relationship do me anyway. I hated being around people and being in public places both scared me out of my mind and pissed me off to no extent.

As I pondered all the problems that were wrong with me I most have dazed off cause I suddenly heard my name being called. After a moment of blinking and coming back to the world of the living I looked down and saw that otter that seemed to have taken such a shine to me.

I thought for a second about what I was about to do, but deep down I knew it was for the best. I was going to have to push him away from me so that he wouldn't end up hurting me, or him getting hurt worse by me. I climbed down the tree as soon as I reached my conclusion and looked at him in his deep blue eyes.

"So what's wrong with you, Zeke? You've been acting funny all day today? Did something happen?"

I just shook my head and let out a sigh, "I need you to back off, Matt." I hoped that this wouldn't require more of an explanation but I could tell by his shocked and confused expression that it wasn't going to be so easy.

"What do you mean, 'back off'? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry if I did something, but..."

"It's not you...," I sighed and rubbed my head a bit. "I just don't... I just need some space, Matt, I'm a loner and I don't like where things are headed as is."

"What do you mean 'where things are headed'? We went out on like one date and we've just been hanging out a lot. I don't understand, Zeke, what's going on with you? Did I do something wrong?"

Matt looked at me hurt, and I hated that kind of look. I was a softie deep down and everyone who actually knew me knew that. This though wasn't going to affect me, I was going to cut things off and stop things before they got serious.

"Listen... I know you like me and all, but I don't want anything serious to develop. I move around a lot, you don't think I won't likely move again before too long? I stick to myself cause it's pointless to try, cause every time I get close I just have to end up hurtin' them again by leaving, so just back off and leave me alone. Besides I don't even like you that much and I really don't like how you're tryin' to see me as much as ya can..." I clenched my teeth as he looked at me shocked and I just turned around. "Just leave me alone, Matt. I don't like you that much so go find someone who's not a jerk."

It was quiet for a few moments and I just started to walk off towards the art room. I only managed to take 4 steps before Matt started to talk.

"I don't believe any of what you just said, Zeke... I may not know you that well but I know you well enough to know that this 'Jerk Act' is just a self defense mechanism... You can try and act all cool and tough, but you and I both know that you're a sensitive guy... I'll give you some space for now, and leave you alone, but I want you to be my friend and maybe one day be something more. Ok?"

He stuck out his paw for a shake and I just looked him straight in the eyes for a moment before I smiled and grabbed hold of his paw. After I had a strong grip on it, though, I twisted my body around and tossed him over my shoulder and onto the ground in front of me.

"I don't give a damn what you think about me, Matt... I don't care if ya think I'm a great guy or what, but I ain't and you should stay the hell away from me if ya know what's good for ya. I'm not good, nor kind. Now leave me alone before you get hurt..."

This time I started to really walk off, but before I went inside I heard Matt say that he wasn't giving up just yet. I didn't look back though and just went in and sat down at my spot and did my work.

After that and my last class, I grabbed my gear and headed for home. There wasn't much I had to do and so I just did it and went on with my life being alone and the like.

The days progressed without much going on from that point. I would go to school, Matt would chat with me and I'd respond in kind, but I kept my distance as best as I could and started to spend my lunch time napping in a tree while he did whatever it was he did before I came along. The days were boring and nothing really happened, but that all changed on Friday morning when our English class was interrupted by some woman on the intercom system.

"Ms. Rosela, would you please send Jarrod Oswald and Zeke Thomson to the principal's office please? He needs to discuss something with them."

I raised my head up sleepily and looked up at the speaker and then over to Jarrod who just shrugged at me. I yawned though and started to get my stuff together and we both headed out to the office.

"So what did you do this time, Dog-wood?" I looked at him from the corner of my eye and tried to shake this tired feeling I'd had since I woke up.

"Me?! I haven't done anything, I figured you had gone and done something like beaten up someone who looked at you funny."

I grunted at that and my hackles rose up a bit, "I'm not a bully, Cane, shut it! I stay outta the lime light and I ain't done nothin' to get in trouble so it can't be my fault!"

I was getting more and more upset about this and I was not a person that dealt well with nervousness and being put on the spot so I was getting edgy. We kept arguing though as we walked to the principal's office and as soon as we go there the secretary said we could go in. We both shut up and walked in with our tails down and feeling insecure about things as we watched the older stallion who was the principal sitting at his desk and reading through some papers.

"Please be seated, gentlemen, we have a lot to discuss."

We both sat down in two of the provided chairs and faced the horse in charge of this miserable school. I crossed my arms and kept still as possible while I waited for what we had been summoned for and Jarrod just sat there lazily swaying his tail about.

"I must say that I am not to happy with you, Mr. Oswald, going behind my back to petition a former Navy Seal for support of your fight club. Nor am I particularly fond of what you did, Mr. Thomson, getting your grandfather's approval of it and the signatures of several other ranked officers."

I perked up an ear to that last statement. As far as I knew my paw-paw was just going to look at the forms and then get back to me, but it seems like he had gone ahead with the forms and even gotten the approval of several of his other associates whom I could only guess where old buddies of his.

"You two have put me in an awkward position." He stood up and looked over at a window that overlooked the parking lot. "On the one hand this could be a good thing, worth the time and investments and bring about some pride to our school, if it went on to win several place trophies and such, it would bring a lot of good sights to our school. On the other hand, though, I've over looker your records and I know of some of those incedints you've been involved in Mr. Thomson."

"Hey! That incedent with the raven was supposed to be expunged from my record since he was carrying a knife and was going to kill that one guy. Besides I only broke his wrist it's not like the time I snapped that guy's arms out of his sockets when he was beating up a kid."

Mr. Potts and Jarrod both looked at me in surprise, "I was referring to an incident involving you punching a teacher when he woke you up and he surprised you, but I didn't read about that... Anything else you care to share, Mr. Thomson?"

I grumbled a bit and looked away, "The guy startled me and I apologized to the teacher and I only got two week's worth of detention because of it. The other things are nothing to tell about and are none of your business, so let's get on with this already." This wasn't turning out well for me and I already didn't like where this was going.

"Anyway... I have decided to let this idea of a martial arts club and team start here on a trial basis. If all goes well then I may consider making it a permanent part of the school extra curricular program. If there is trouble, though, I won't hesitate to close it down. Do you understand, Mr. Oswald?"

Jarrod nodded and I looked at the old man to get a read off of him, I didn't really know why I was called here. This should have been something that I wasn't needed for so I knew something else was about to come.

"However..." We both looked up at the horse; I knew this was coming and this was going to be a deal breaker I was willing to wager. "Because of what Mister... Loy's stipulated in his letter I will require that Mr. Thomson not only be a part of the club but be your co-captain in it as well."

"WHAT?!" Both Jarrod and I looked at him shocked. I didn't want to be a part of some club and by the sounds of things, Jarrod didn't want me to be a part of it either.

"Why does he have to be a co-captain, I can handle this by myself, I don't need him!" I looked over at Jarrod at his remark and snorted, I wasn't going against what he said mind you, I just thought he was saying I wasn't good enough to be his co-captain. Hopefully he still remembered that I kicked his tail not that long ago.

"Well for starters this was his grandfather's suggestion," I should have know that my grandfather had something to do with this, my mother's side of the family never could keep their noses out of other people's business after all. "And for another, this way it balances out a bit, you both are fairly strong and I think if this succeeds then it will be important that two people are there to teach. If you don't like this term I can simply cancel the whole thing..."

"No! No..." Jarrod sighed and rubbed his head, "Its ok I'll share the position with Zeke here."

"Oh hold your horses there," I tensed up and started to get angsty. "I didn't say I'd do this, I don't even want to be part of any kind of club while I'm here; I've got better things to do than to be a co-captain on some stupid school club. I'm not going to do this so you can just let him have the club and all cause I don't want any more part of it."

"Well if that's the way you feel then I will just have to withdraw my proposal about this team. After all like it or not you've already helped get this off the ground so you are responsible for all this as well as Mr. Oswald."

I glared at Mr. Potts and let out a growling sigh, "Fine! I'll think about it and talk to this guy about things. Geeze ya do a guy a favor... Can we leave now?"

Mr. Potts just looked at me a bit annoyed and nodded, "I'll be keeping an eye on you two if this club gets off the ground too, just so you know, so it would be best for all involved if you watched that temper of yours, Mr. Thomson. You're dismissed."

We got up and walked out the door, well it would have been more accurate to say that Jarrod walked I just tensly moved out of the door trying not to break down the wooden doors we came across. I was angry to say the least, I'd just been dragged down into something I didn't want to be involved in and now I had no real choice in the matter. I'd either do this and make do, or Jarrod would likely hate my guts for quitting, and sense we both shared a common problem I felt like I had to at least stick by him a little to help him out. After all he might return the favor some day for me.

Still though I was plenty mad and raging inside. I hated when things got out of my control. Even if it was something that wasn't bad I didn't like it, and I couldn't keep it in well as we walked along back to our next classes.

"I don't know why I have to be involved in this stupid thing, it's not like I know how to lead or instruct or anything anyway, I won't be of any use to it other that to fight at things and I don't really care to do that. Why do I even need to be there, and do this, doesn't he think you can handle it yourself or does he seriously underestimate you that much?"

"Dude I don't know just calm the hell down, I've worked way to hard for this to just give up on it and if I have to swallow this than I will. You don't have to do anything more than just show up and maybe help out every once in awhile when I need it. Can you please do this for me?" He got up close to me and looked around to make sure no one was around to hear, "You know, from one hybrid to another...?"

I groaned and rubbed my temples feeling some of the anger drain out from me at that, "You just had to go and say that, didn't ya?" I thought for a moment weighing in my decision and finally sighed, "Fine... I'll do it, just so long as you handle things and I don't have to do much with my remaining time here."

That last comment threw him for a loop, and to be honest I don't even know why I said it like that, because as soon as I did he asked the exact question I knew he was going to ask.

"Your remaining time here...? Are you sick or something?"

I groaned and palmed the front of my head for saying something so morbid out loud.

"No I'm not dying, far as I know. I just move around a lot so it's unlikely that I'll be here after a few months. I probably won't be here in the fall far as I know, but my dad always is hopeful that we'll be able to finally settle down here, but I'm not holding my breath for that day to come."

"Huh, that sucks, hiding in secret and always being the new kid must suck huh?" Jarrod looked at me and it was almost like he could relate to my plight. It was an awkward moment for me because I rarely ever met people who could even partially relate to how I felt.

"You have no idea... I honestly barely even try to make actual friends anymore, much to my brother's dismay. Good news is that everywhere I go I meet a few people who I help and then I make contacts and favors from people. I've got a good network of people who can help me with certain things now and at least that's something, I wouldn't call 'em my friends but we're on good terms at least. But enough about this, we need to head to class. I'll see ya in 7th."

And with that we went our separate ways, me to my anatomy class and him to where ever he went for second period. I had a lot on my mind though and when I go there I just gave the teacher the pass the office had written up for us before I sat down in the back. Today seemed to be a day when we actually studied though so I just sat there idly taking notes as I thought more and more about this fight club thing and being a co-captain in it. I really didn't want to do it, but in all honesty I had no real reason to refuse other than just not wanting to do it.

The class was busy all through the period and Matt didn't try to talk to me, and the rest of the day passed by without him being able to say much to me at all. During lunch I walked around the school aimlessly to avoid seeing Matt again and kept on thinking things over. I guess I was just going to have to make do with this and hope for the best; maybe my bro would be of some help on the subject, but I hated bothering him unless I had a really good reason.

All through my last two classes I couldn't concentrate and I just day dreamed about this fight club and how I was going to have to be involved in it. I guess if worse came to worse I'd just sit back and observe to make sure that things were going ok. It wasn't like I was going to be around much longer anyway, chances were I'd be moving in the fall again anyway. While dad was always hopeful that he'd find a permanent position in his work, they just had kept moving him around and after awhile I figured they never would.

"Zeke?"

"Huh?" I looked up and saw Jarrod looking at me, with his head tilted slightly in curiosity.

"Something wrong with you? Class is dismissed and we can go home. Are you still thinking about what you're going to do with this club of mine... well ours I guess?"

I sighed and nodded as I stood up and we headed out. I explained all my thoughts to him as he walked to his car and he drove me to my place. We talked more and more on things as I went about making dinner for the night, I just fixed up some burgers and started to make some fries.

"So you'll do it huh? Well then you just have to sit back and let me do the talking. I've already figured out most of the stuff so you being here might be helpful and all but it's not like I needed a second person for this or anything."

"Yeah I know all that, just hope that this doesn't blow up in my face when I help you with this. I guess teaching and helping instructing this club wouldn't be such a bad idea, but I honestly have never had to instruct anyone before so it's going to be new for me."

I sighed and sat down on the counter looking over at him, I had finally come to a decision with this. I was going to try, my big brother had told me I couldn't keep hiding from everyone and that I had to keep putting myself out there or I'd die, and so I guessed that this would be as good a time as any.

"So you'll do it? You'll actually help with everything?" Jarrod was pretty excited about this it seemed. At least his quickly wagging tail seemed to signify that.

"Yeah... I guess I've got nothing better to do for the next few weeks while I'm here. My dad'll likely take me with him on his trip this summer again so I won't be available then but after I get back home we can train together, figure out a style to teach, and when I head off you'll have a great idea of what to do for the next year of school."

Jarrod gave me a smirk and shrugged, "Hey, ya don't know you're going to move yet, so why not just not look that far ahead. No sense planning for things that may never come, ya know?"

"Maybe you're right, but still I don't like to be optimistic about things. Normally leads to heartache. But if you're a pessimist and always thinking about bad things you'll sometimes be surprised when good things happen."

He smirked as we continued talking for a while longer. I continued cooking and we discussed various things about not only the club but also some of the things in our classes. He talked about how we were studying the lobes and sections of the brain and I discussed our upcoming test on the sonnets of Shakespeare.

After awhile though, Dogwood had to go and after that I just settled in for the night. I ate the dinner I made, watched some TV, did some writing, and when I was bored after all that I got on the net and surfed around for a bit. I couldn't think and this whole idea for a club was getting to me.

I looked up at the search box in the window at stared at it for a few moments. If I was serious about this, I might as well do my research. I typed in 'high school fight clubs' and after scrolling through a few links I started to read and learn of what I was going to need come Monday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ta-da! Can you see what is going to happen? I doubt it as I'm not going to reveal things that easily. Jarrod's role is critical in this story now and if you can recall in my last chapter there was a mention of a certain "fish" like thing that will make sense soon. What's that? You don't understand what I'm talking about? Well sucks to be you then cause when I explain it all later you'll be kicking yourself for not seeing it sooner hahaha! We're almost at the end here people, keep the comments coming and it will only spur me on to post more.