The Gryphon's Goal: Chapter 2, Part 2
#6 of The Gryphon's Goal
Larry really does have a bully problem.
"Probably. Sampson and me studied all Sunday afternoon," Larry said as he and Osaze made their way down the hallway. It was starting to get crowded with the student milling about, so they had to carefully maneuver their way to class.
"I bet you enjoyed the quality time with him."
Larry felt a sudden heat rise inside his ears. "We were studying, Osaze."
"How much studying did you actually do? As opposed to the fantasizing you actually did?"
Larry kept his beak firmly shut, and refused to look up at the taller jackal.
Osaze ruffled Larry's head feathers with a chuckle. "I'm just kidding, Larry. You know that."
"Yeah, but sometimes I regret telling you stuff."
"As if," Osaze said. "You'd burst wide open if you didn't have me around to listen to your secret crushes."
Larry remained silent as they entered the classroom for first period English, but he knew Osaze was right, having been Larry's friend since the seventh grade. The jackal was definitely someone he trusted, even if Osaze enjoyed teasing him a bit too much.
*
Mister Walker, Larry's English teacher, was a tough but fair educator. If you studied, you would pass his tests without any problem. If you didn't study, you flunked.
Larry had a problem, but it had nothing to do with the test. It had everything to do with who was sitting behind him.
Courtland Millikan had sat behind Larry after the gryphon had chosen his seat, and had starting thumping the back of Larry chair in an erratic rhythm. Not hard enough to attract the teacher's attention, but constant enough to disrupt Larry's focus on the more difficult essay questions.
Courtland had started his self-employment as Larry's personal bully since the ninth grade. His flexible schedule allowed him to torment Larry every day at school for three weeks in a row once, then for no reason at all he gave himself and Larry a month's vacation.
Knocking books out of Larry's claws and snapping a rubber band on the tip of the gryphon's ear were but a few tricks of Courtland's trade, and he had the skills and enough cleverness to never perform his aptitude of bullying where he might get caught.
Worse, Larry would never fight back. The gryphon didn't want his spotless record to be tarnished over fighting. While it might convince Courtland to leave him alone, it would go against his father's belief that violence only caused more problems than they solved.
As Courtland thumped Larry's chair once again, the gryphon felt a brief wave of shame as a result of doubting his father's belief.
*
"So how'd you do on the test?" Osaze asked as he put away his English book into the depths of his locker.
"I think I passed," Larry said as he did the same. "No thanks to that jerk Courtland."
"What'd he do?" Osaze had never witnessed Courtland's bullying, despite being on the lookout for it.
"He kept on bumping the back of my chair."
"You should let me slam dunk him."
Larry shook his head. "He's a foo dog. I doubt you could, and besides, he'd just spin it around by saying I can't fight my own battles."
Osaze snorted in derision. "I'm stronger than I look, and yeah, he probably would."
Larry had decided to not remind his best friend that he looks like a telephone pole with long ears and longer arms.
"And thanks for not reminding me that I look like a telephone pole. I'd hate to slam dunk you."
Larry gaped up at Osaze. "I didn't say anything!"
"I bet you thought it, though." That said, Osaze moved down the hall to his next class.
As Larry hurried to follow him, he wondered when Osaze learned how to read minds.