From Schoolwork to Homeworkings
#3 of New Kid
Ok it's been ages since I posted last but I hope to change that in the future, I'm having major writer's block and have hit a wall with how to do things but I hope that will change soon enough, but for now here's the next part in my story, I hope you all enjoy it, please leave comments on how to improve and what you think about it, and I'll try to be better with updating things in the future, thank you all now enjoy the story.
Part Three: From Schoolwork to Homeworkings
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Chapter notes : Zeke's father is introduced as well as the bully from chapter one. We see more of what Zeke is really like and also see that he's a lot more than he seems.  The songs I put in here are actually songs that slightly relate to a few ideas I'm putting into the story in the future and do have purpose. A few other details are revealed here and everything leads to a climactic cliff hanger.
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Art went by easily enough; all I did was work on the drawing assignment the teacher gave me. "A tranquil scene" was supposed to be the theme of the picture that I was to do and was now working on. I was simply going to draw a scene of a cliff overlooking a calm beach and spent most of the class planning it out. I was happy with the way it was going, but before I could really get too far into it the bell rang and the class was over and so I headed to my last class of the day.
I walked into Mr. Kole's psychology class and sat in an empty seat near the door and started looking around and taking in the room as the other furs came in. That's when I saw him, that puma that had shoved me earlier that morning was also in this class. I let out a low groan as he just strutted into the class like he owned the place. I was sitting towards the back, though, so he didn't seem to notice me, and I hoped that he wouldn't. I could easily take care of a guy his size, but really didn't want to fight him or start anything unless I had to.Â
The class talked and socialized about for a little bit before the badger who taught the class came in and the bell rang. I walked up and introduce myself to him like I'd done with my other teachers and sadly that puma saw me and recognized me right off the bat. I went back to sit down but I saw an evil sneer on his face like he was planning something, but I remained calm and unwavering never showing an ounce of emotion. I could already tell that he was going to be trouble but I'd burn that bridge when and if I came to it.
Class went by easily enough, though honestly I think that I was just about the only fur there that was actually paying attention to anything Mr. Kole was saying. I could hear snickers and talking coming from that puma's position and took a quick look at him to give him the once over. He was about 6'2" I'd guess, looked to be a football player by his build and likely some other type of sports, he was a real jock type that seemed to pay no heed to most teachers. Class went along smoothly enough though and everything was ok aside from the fact I had to hear that puma talking all the time and making jokes with his friends. When the bell rang I simply packed up and walked out the door without even looking back and headed towards Matt's locker.
I saw my new otter friend getting some books out of his locker and was walking over to him when I felt a strong grip on my shoulder that spun me around. I looked up and saw that it was the puma again.Â
"Heya freak, I guess being new here I should explain some things to you huh? First off, the names Jarrod Oswald and second if you don't want to get beaten up on a daily basis you'll do as I say, got it?" I looked at him and gently removed his paw and turned around. "
First off my name is Zeke, I will not respond to being addressed as ‘freak'. Secondly, I will do as I wish, rather you say it or not." I walked off but I heard him growl and he grabbed a hold of me and shoved me into a locker and stared daggers at me.Â
"Listen here punk! I don't like your attitude and you better start respectin' me if you want to get along well here. Got it?"Â
This time I removed his paw and though he tried resisting it I showed more strength and looked at him not showing an ounce of emotion to him. "I understand you. Now leave me alone please, I have better things to do than to talk to someone like you." He growled louder this time and looked like he was about to start something when he saw a teacher coming our way and so just straightened himself up and walked off grumbling and looked over his shoulder and gave me that ‘I'll get you later' look with his eyes. I knew that I was going to have to deal with him sooner than I had thought but just let it go and looked over to see Matt heading towards me with a look of concern on his face.
"Hey man, what was that about? Was Jarrod pushing you around or something?" I shook my head and yawned softly.Â
"Nah... Nothing I can not handle myself. He's just an insecure punk who picks on others to make himself feel better, feed his ego, and inflate his own ideas of himself. To put it short he's just a bully who is just a scared little kitten on the inside." He nodded and motioned for me to follow him.Â
"Yeah, but he's the Q.B. and the B.M.O.C. and has a lot of muscle around him so you better be careful. He's beaten up kids before for a lot of reasons so you should be careful." I smiled and nodded as we got to the parking lot and he started heading out to his car.
"Trust me, I can handle him..."
End of school:
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Matt just left it at that and we reached a fairly nice new convertible, blue colored and looked liked it cost a good amount of money. "Hmm, nice car." He grinned at me, unlocked the doors, and I got into the passenger seat before he put the keys in, started it up, and lowered the top.Â
"Yeah I like it. It's a good car and a great ride and gets pretty decent mileage, but now where do ya live? I wanna check out your place and get this poem out of the way as soon as I can." I told him where I lived and he drove us the short distance there. It wasn't a really big place, but it was still a nice two story house with a basement. It was your standard middle class home, 3 beds, 2 ½ baths, full kitchen and laundry room capability. Nice green yard with a few big trees growing around with a few flowers sprouting from years passed and was kind of out away from the rest of the houses nearby. He pulled in the driveway and I got out my stuff and unlocked the front door and let him in following in behind.Â
"Hmm, not a bad place you've got here. Looks like you're settling down easily enough."Â
I smiled, "Make yourself at home, I'll be right back." He put his stuff down, took off his shoes, and sat down on the couch as I went upstairs to get my stuff out and take off my shoes and socks. I took off my jacket and realized my stripes might show from the t-shirt I was wearing so I took it off and put a larger shirt on that covered most of my arms and stripes before putting on my jacket again. I grabbed my iPod that was sitting on my desk, and then headed back down stairs with my notebook and a few of my school-books.
When I came back downstairs Matt had gotten out some paper and was holding his head writing down and erasing some things. I looked over his shoulder and saw that he was trying to write down his poem.Â
"You should relax," he turned around and looked at me, "Poetry is an art form and it has to come from the heart. Think about something that you like and that means something to you and write down ideas as they come to you, then take those ideas and think of words to string them together. Like a story, just think of things to say, then you can make it into a poem." Matt looked at me blankly for a few moments and I just turned my head mentally kicking myself for sounding like an idiot, "I'm sorry if I'm not being too helpful. That's just how I think about poetry when I write."
Matt just gave me a sweet smile and shook his head, "No, that was helpful. Thanks." He stared at his paper again and started writing down some random ideas as I set my books down.  Just then our home phone rang and I went over to answer it.Â
"Hello?"Â
"Hey there kiddo!"Â It was my dad, "How was your first day at school?"
"Not to bad dad, I just got home and am helping a new friend out with some English assignment he asked me for some help on."
"Ohhh..." he was snickering so I could tell he was about to say something I'd get him for later, "First day at school and already looking for a guy to bed? I knew you had to have gotten more from me than just your good looks hahaha."
"DAD! It's not like that!" I whispered softly into the phone so Matt couldn't hear me, "I just met the guy and I doubt he's like that. Plus there's no way he'd go for someone of... my status... even if he was," I sighed heavily. I had come out to my parents years ago. They weren't mad about it or even upset; they knew it was unlikely that they'd ever have grandcubs anyway so they figured that if I was gay, then as long as I was happy and healthy with the guy I choose as my mate then they wouldn't care or meddle in my love life. That was a long time ago though and now I just listened to my dad as he went on.
"I know pup. I know people don't care for hybrids but you'll find a guy someday." I smiled to myself. Even if my dad was an idiot at times he did always manage to make me smile when I needed to. "You never know though, he might at least accept part of you or maybe both. This town seems pretty mellow so maybe this place could be for us." I thought about that for a moment and told him that it was still too early to tell for me and he just said he understood, "But anyway I'm gonna be home around 6 or so, so think you can do dinner for tonight or should I pick something up?"
"Nah, I'll fix up that chicken that needs to be eaten. I'll fry it up and we'll eat that. Hold on..." I took the phone away from my muzzle and turned around to talk to Matt, "Hey are you going to stay for dinner, Matt?"Â
He turned towards he a little confused from not really paying attention to what I was saying, "Huh... Oh sure, if it's ok with your folks and mine," I nodded and turned back to the phone.Â
"Yeah Matt's staying possibly, he's the otter guy I met today. I'll just make us some fried chicken and green beans and eat some grapes or something. Nothing fancy, we'll see ya when you get home though. See ya dad." With that we hung up and I went over to check on Matt and start on our homework.
We finished our homework quickly enough, though Matt was still working on his poem from time to time. So we just decided to just watch some T.V. for awhile and before we knew it, it was 5 o'clock.Â
"Well..." I got up from my seat on our sofa and stretched out my back as I looked over at Matt who was sitting in an easy chair as he watched something on T.V. "I guess I should start fixing some supper, you don't mind some fried chicken strips and green beans do ya? I could always pop in a pizza or something else if you prefer."Â
He smiled and shook his head politely and stood up, "Nope, I don't mind that at all, do you need some help with anything?"
I shook my head and told him to sit down and take it easy, "This is my home and you're the guest so you don't have to do anything but sit back and watch T.V. So you just relax and I'll call ya when things are ready. My dad should be home soon so if you hear anyone come in that'll be him." I left him sitting there before looking over at our front door to make sure that it was unlocked and moved into the kitchen to get things ready for our supper.
I went into the kitchen, got out my iPod from my pocket, put it into our Bowman's speakers, selected my favorites list to play, situated the volume, and went to work on preparing dinner. I got out the deep fryer, flour, a bowl, and went to get the chicken out of the fridge that had been soaking in buttermilk since last night. "Well this should have soaked for long enough, once the oil heats up; I can fry this up and make some good dinner." I hummed along with "If Everyone Cared" by Nickleback as it played in the background and I went about getting the ingredients for dinner. I got out butter, hot sauce, soy sauce, Tabasco, and other ingredients and made a nice sauce for dipping and by the time that was all mixed together and ready the oil had reached the proper temperature. I'd taken my watch off upstairs and now took off the brown hair-band that I kept around my wrist and drew back my hair into a pony tail getting ready to cook.
Washing my paws I wondered what all I should make. I figured chicken, beans, some rolls, and some home-made ice-cream for dessert would make a good dinner for tonight so I started getting out everything else I'd need. I poured some flour into a bowel and got out a strip of chicken that had been soaking in buttermilk for the last 18 hours and rolled it around in the flour before putting it into the fryer and repeating this with enough chicken to feed the three of us. After I had the chicken in the fryer I washed my paws again to keep from contaminating the rest of the food and moved about while singing along to "Move Along" by The All-American Rejects.
"And even when your hope is gone, move along, move along, just to make it through." I hummed along and sang what I could of the song while it played before I heard a soft clapping come from behind me as the song slowed and I stopped singing. I turned around quickly and was embarrassed to see Matt sitting in a chair watching me.Â
"You have a very nice singing voice, ya know." He smiled at me but I just grew flustered and aggravated, I hated it when people caught me singing out loud and it was one of the few things that actually got me to be speechless. I guess he saw how freaked I was though because of what he said next.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to freak you out or scare you, I just thought I'd see how dinner was going and heard you singing and didn't want to interrupt."Â I just stood there and fidgeted some more before talking again to him.Â
"It's ok I guess. I just don't like to get caught singing to myself, I have a horrible voice and would prefer to keep quite most of the time."
 "You don't have a bad voice, you can sing pretty well, it's something I've admired about you wolves, you always seem able to have a natural talent for singing tunes in a way that touches you inside, unlike some of these singers these days." I was still fidgeting and nodding while he talked still embarrassed he'd heard me singing when he then surprised me again, "Oh, and that's pretty cool the way you wag your tail to the rhythm of the song like a metronome when you sing." I was stunned by this and blushed under my fur which was something I never did, I didn't even know I did that and was rather shocked that someone I had just met less than 10 hours ago had already learned something about me that I doubt anyone else did.
I pulled my tail down between my legs and went about preparing the fruits for the dessert in silence. I was feeling far too embarrassed to say anything else so I just moved about and felt as he watched me in silence as another random song played in the background.Â
I finally couldn't take the silence anymore and spoke up finally, "S-so you are staying for dinner, right?" I turned around and got out a knife and cutting board and started to slice up some strawberries. I was still a bit embarrassed from Matt hearing me sing and seeing my tail wag and I just couldn't bring myself to look at him in the eye yet after that.
"Yeah, my folks said it was ok. You sure there's nothing I can do to help out? I feel kind of bad just watching you do all the work." His voice was soft like he was afraid he'd said something wrong, which in a way he had, but hadn't meant to. Â
I sighed and nodded going over to get out the milk, rock salts, sugar, and some other ingredients and started putting them together into the ice cream maker. "Well you can get out the rolls over there," I motioned with my head to where they were, "and spray some Pam on a pan and set out 3 or 4 rolls for us." I motioned for where the other things were and he did what he was asked happily as he started to whistle and hum "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie.
I finished with the ice cream preparations and now set the machine to do its job before making my way to wash off some green beans and getting out a pot to fill with water and boil them in. Matt had already done as I'd asked and was sitting back down waiting for dinner to get ready and I could feel him watching me again. I put the pot on and turned on the stove as the oven baked the rolls and then went around getting the last few things ready. I set the hot sauce down on the table and got out the last few pieces of chicken from the fryer. I then placed it all on a clean plate and set that down on the table next to the hot sauce.Â
"So what does your dad do exactly?"Â I walked around the kitchen as Matt watched me getting things ready when I answered him.Â
"He's an electrical engineer and if I'm not mistaken he works for your dad."Â I set down some ranch dressing, celery sticks, and ketchup and went to check on the rolls as I left Matt to think that piece of information over.
"Huh?! How would you know that? Though considering all you've managed to figure out about me already I guess this shouldn't come to surprise me any." I leaned back against a counter after I had put the beans on the stove waiting for them to cook, looked at him from across the room, and crossed my arms to explain.Â
"Your last name is Jordan and you're an otter, my dad works for an otter named Mr. Jordan. Now even that might not have been enough to go on, but I also know that because you live close to the ocean you're fairly well off and as such your family must be pretty important. So I figured that the owner and boss of my dad's workplace is likely your father."Â
He chuckled and nodded smiling, "How did you get so intuitive, Zeke? I've never known anyone like you before."
"I follow my instincts more than most furs do these days. It's also why I'm a bit more cold and intense than others. I've yet to let out the deepest of my instincts yet though, those I keep for the day I have to protect something precious to me. Like I said before, ‘I won't let those I care for be harmed ever again,' and I that's something I intend to do for as long as I am able." The room got quiet for a few seconds after that and Matt just looked around at the boxes that were almost unpacked and I just admired his handsome face thinking of doing another sketch for my "personal" sketchbook when I heard the front door open and the sounds of footsteps coming in and shutting the door causing me to snap out of these feelings I was starting to have.
"HEY, PUP; I'M HOME, WHERE ARE YOU?"Â It was the voice of my father coming in and being his normal loud self.Â
I sighed and rubbed my temples before I responded to him, "I'M IN THE KITCHEN DAD."Â
I heard some walking around and in less than a minute my father was standing in the doorway smiling wide like he always did, which was another difference between us as I rarely smiled. He was also a full blooded Timber Wolf with gray-green eyes as I was only half wolf and had really blue eyes that people always seemed to notice about me. He was also taller than me, about 6'5" whereas I was 5'10", and was also bulkier than me. He played football when he was younger and so was about 225 lbs. of muscle and I was long and lithe and weighed around 150 lbs. as I didn't really play any sports and was not really interested in them anyway. Other than that I looked a lot like my dad; gray fur, long fluffy tail, same build and shape, and people would always say how similar we looked, which was always ironic to me as I was almost nothing like him.
"Well hey there, pup. Ain't ya gonna introduce me to this fine young fur?"Â
I raised an eye to him knowing he was insinuating something, but just straightened up and stretched out before I motioned my paw towards the otter that was sitting at our dinner table, "Matthew Jordan this is my father, Terence Gene Thomson. Dad this is Matthew Jordan."Â
My dad laughed and stuck out his paw to Matt who took hold of it politely and shook it. "Well I'll be... My boss's son here in my own house, I guess my son's more lucky than I thought."Â
I sighed and shook my head as I went about getting the last bit of things ready for dinner while my dad asked the standard, what do you like, how's school, etc. By the time I had the plates all set out and everything prepared they were starting to talk about some baseball team that was set to play sometime soon.
I sat down at the table across from my dad and we all started making our plates. My dad was still going on and talking as I put a roll, some chicken, and some beans on my plate and started eating the meal I'd made. As my dad was talking to Matt I learned that he was not only on the swim team, like I'd figured, but was also on both the wrestling and football teams. After we all had made our plates and started eating it became pretty silent for several minutes before my dad spoke up again.
"Pup, you sure do know how to make one HELL of a meal! Â Guess you really did take after your mother a lot more than me huh?" he chuckled and I shot him a cold look as I ate on silently.Â
This comment, however, piqued Matt's interest as he looked over at me and raised his eyebrow, "Speaking of, where is your mom, and you said something about having a younger brother too, right?" I mentally kicked myself for saying that earlier and for my dad bringing up my mom. My dad was chewing on some meat and was about to answer, but before he could open his maw and say something stupid I thought it'd be best for me to talk.
"My mom lives with my brother down south in Georgia.  He goes to a special private school that works well with him so we decided it would be best if my mom stayed there with him when my dad got this job up here and moved here.  They may or may not come up here depending on how things go for us here; I've been to a lot of schools all around so who knows. We could end up staying here or we could just end up moving again in a few months. Until we settle down though, my brother will stay down there for the time being with my mom." I dipped some chicken into my hot sauce and took a bite of it as I let the conversation drop. My dad gave me a look that said I was being too serious again but I ignored him and went on eating.
Matt however just nodded as he listened and tried to stir up the conversation again. "So you've been to a lot of schools I take it then, Zeke, may I ask how many?"Â
I looked over at him to see that he was eating his chicken with a fork. I found this to be funny, in a cute way, but kept straight faced as I answered him. "This will be the 11th school I've been to since I was 6."Â
I picked up my roll and took a bite out of it as he looked at me with a very surprised look on his face. "Wow... Um... Why have you been to so many schools?"Â
I put down my roll and held my shoulder again for the third time that day and turned away before saying in a cold voice, "Social Reasons."Â I suddenly wasn't feeling up to eating anything so I just placed the last of my small meal down and sighed softly.
"What he means is that when he was younger..."Â
I looked up at my dad quickly with a fierce glare in my eye before he could go on, "SHUT UP, DAD, HE DOESN'T NEED TO HEAR THAT!"Â I yelled angrily at him and could feel the tears coming to my eyes as images of my past flooded my mind.Â
"Zeke... it's ok. Â You don't have to be like that, not everyone is going to..." my father's voice was being calm and gentle, but I just couldn't take it right now; I just had to get out of there now. Â
"JUST SHUT UP, DAD!" I yelled, and before anything else could be said, I stood up and ran out through the back kitchen door to our back yard. Â Slamming the door behind me I started running off from there in tears just wanting to get away from it all and not look back.
End Notes:
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A lot of tension at the end makes for a good cliffhanger I think. Much more information is revealed about Zeke to show just how complex a character he can be and the ending leaves an open range of ideas of what's to come in the next part.