Tying up loose ends
#13 of Eric's Schooldays
Okay I'm not particularly proud of this chapter, its probably the weakest one yet but i've been pondering on how to write this for far too long. The next chapter should be a lot better. You've been very nice to put up with my writing.
With his end of year exams coming up, Eric had little time to think about anything else but studying. If he failed to do well now then he would be in deep trouble for the next year. He had been putting off talking to Carla partly because of fear that he would get distracted and also partly because he had no idea of what to say. It only dawned on him one day during recess time as to what to do about the issue with Carla... Looking at the cards he held in his left paw he sorted the thirteen cards in order by numerical value and suit. He eyed the queen of spades which sat amongst all of his low cards wearily. He had almost exhausted all of his diamonds but he had plenty of spades and hearts, not necessarily a good thing in his books. Under normal circumstances Eric was actually quite good at hearts and his current hand didn't look like a bad one, plenty of spades meant that he was unlikely to receive the queen of spade on a trick but it still paid to be cautious. As the two of clubs was played, Eric discarded his only club from his hand, the nine. If another club was played he would be able to discard the queen and add thirteen points to the unlucky soul who would pick it up. His luck didn't come out this time as the five of diamonds was played on the next trick. This forced him to play the nine, his lowest diamond. Looking around him he studied the faces of the three furs who were playing hearts with him for that game. Both Anthony and Jeremy seemed to not care about what was happening around them but Steve seemed to be quite nervous for some reason, he was probably unsure whether or not the play was a trick that might earn him the queen of spades. "Anytime now Steve," Eric mumbled as he rearranged his cards. "Oh right sorry," Steve muttered as he played a card. Looking down Eric grumbled as he picked up the trick. Discarding the ten of diamonds he smiled as he saw the two suits that made up his eleven cards. "Yes this is good" he thought to himself as he saw Anthony pick up the cards with the queen. With the start of the next trick Eric started to laugh as the four of clubs appeared. As the other two cards appeared Eric singled out the card that would mean thirteen points. "Jeremy I will make you regret the fact that you played that," Eric laughed as he put down the queen of spades, the female panther which appeared on the card posing in a rather seductive manner. "Oh you little sonofabitch! I will make you regret that play!" the equine grumbled as he took the card grumpily. "No you won't," Eric answered as he looked at the ace of hearts which sat comfortably at the far right of his cards, "Say um Anthony where on Earth did you get these cards?" "I stole them from my brother. He got them from the net... duh," Anthony responded, not looking up from his cards. The round ended with Jeremy earning a rather nice twenty two points and Eric picking up a mere four. "Hey guys I gotta go... tie up some loose ends before recess finishes," Eric told them as he got up and grabbed his bag from the floor and prepared to leave. Alex, sensing that something bad was going to happen immediately jumped up and attempted to intervene. "Woah... hold up man! If you're going to do what I think you're going to do let me tell you it's a bad idea!" Alex told him, grabbing onto Eric's arm. "Don't stop me Alex I'm doing the world a real favour here," Eric muttered as he wrenched himself free from Alex's grip and walked off. Alex would have pursued after Eric had Chris not stopped him. "No Alex, let him go. He knows what he's doing," Chris warned, gripping Alex firmly by the arm. Alex gave Chris a look of disgust. "Are you mad? Look at him... he's going to destroy himself if we don't stop him!" Alex snapped. Chris didn't take to this kindly and quickly pinned the fox to the wall, jamming an arm behind his back. "Look Alex I hate to do this to you but you have to stop being such a busybody! Eric will set things right! I'll let you go on the condition that you do nothing with Eric and Carla's relationship!" Chris bellowed. The others who were continuing their card game looked at the two, waiting to see what the result would be. "Alright! Alright you win! Just let me go!" Alex conceded as he was finally released and sat down on the ground, nursing his wrist, "Jeez man... you gotta be careful, you almost broke my wrist there! You guys dating or something?" As Eric prowled around the spots where he and Carla used to hang around he saw ghosts of their past appearing before his eyes. Shaking his head ruefully he continued on his way to where the girls usually stayed. Finding Carla amongst the girls he asked if he could speak to her. "I knew this day would come... it's nice to see you taking responsibility and doing things for yourself," Carla told him as she grabbed her bag and followed after him. Taking her to a secluded area free from prying eyes and ears, as they walked Eric tried to make sense of what Carla had said to him minutes earlier. Did he really depend on others to do things for him? "Alright... here goes. I think we should stop seeing one another. We should probably just remain friends," he told her plainly, hiding behind his arms in case she attempted to strike him. The blow never came. "I understand Eric. I knew this day would come sooner or later," Carla responded, looking at him sympathetically, "I guess I should apologize to you. I've been too harsh on you lately. It's just that I've seen so many relationships fail in the past... I wanted ours to work and not fall into the same bunch of traps," Eric gave her a puzzled look, "What sort of traps?" "Well you know... the sex without meaning, the problems caused by others around us... and I am sure that even our parents don't agree with us being together. I've been too demanding of you, that was wrong of me," Eric nodded his understanding; he had nothing more constructive to add to the conversation. "Hey just don't do anything rash alright?" Carla whispered as they shared a brief kiss and hug. Being rash was something which Eric happened to do very well however. Many a time he had done things on impulse alone only to think later, ‘What the Hell was I thinking?' When he got home later that day he spent most of his time in his room, pacing up and down as he tried to think about what to do about Laura. He would be taking a big risk here if he chose to confront her. Not only did he risk getting beaten up by some of the jocks she had managed to charm but he risked making a massive fool of himself. Not that it made much of a difference. He was the laughing stock of his classmates a few years ago and it had led to homicidal thoughts in the past. It wasn't a healthy thought to dwell on but he couldn't help but think about it from time to time. He kept rather silent at dinner time, trying to avoid raising any problems at school and avoiding mentioning his Introductory Calculus. His maths wasn't his best subject, which was indeed strange given how good his maths was in primary school. It didn't help one bit to know how much better everyone was doing compared to him. "You haven't said a word since you came back. Are you alright?" his mother asked him, looking at him intently from her seat. Eric shrank back in his seat and swallowed. He made no effort to answer the question put forward to him just in case he said something he shouldn't have. His mother always had this ability to be able to pick out big issues from even the subtlest of clues. It annoyed him to no end but there was little he could do about it. Eric's ears flattened against his head as he got up to retrieve a glass of water, his heart jumping into his throat. His lack of an answer was enough for his mother to form her own opinions about his well being and although she kept quiet about it she knew something was wrong. Spending the night cooped up in his room his plan of action for the next day. He was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid to take on Laura and her cronies single-handedly but he just had to get even with her. He would make his move after second session just as recess started. If he was lucky he would be able to corner and confront her before she had anyone else around to help her. If that failed... well it was best not to think about it. "Eric! Why are you still up? It's 10:30 already!" Taking a quick glance at the clock on the wall, Eric was stunned to find out that his mother was indeed correct. He had never been good at keeping track of time and this had caused him to nearly be late for an assessment on more than one occasion. Rubbing his temples he switched off his light and went off to clean his teeth. The next morning a somewhat restless Eric spent the first two hours of school in a state of stupor. He was so caught up in making sure that his plan wouldn't backfire on him that he barely spent any time in class doing any work or even paying attention in class. Once second session had ended he dashed out of class, intent on carrying out his plan. "Hey have you guys seen Eric? He forgot to collect his English homework for the weekend," Alex, Chris and a few others turned to Carla. "No I haven't seen him," Alex replied. Carla gave some thought to the situation. "Crap... Alex, Chris, come with me. I'm going to need some muscle," Carla ordered as she went off to find Eric, the two foxes close behind her. "See Chris at least someone thinks I have some muscle," Alex growled "Well... that makes two of you," Chris responded in a quiet voice. Carla did seem to have a legitimate reason to be concerned as Eric soon found and cornered Laura without much trouble. The fact that he didn't have to deal with her cronies made his job a lot easier... or so he thought. "Well, well if it isn't my little fuck toy. How are you holding up? Or do you want a second round?" Laura taunted. "Shut up you stuck up bitch! I've got a score to settle with you!" Eric growled, his fingers curling in anticipation. It was now or never, time to strike while the iron is hot. "Such tough language from such a puny little boy, are you sure you can stand up to me little boy? Or more correctly little girl?" Laura smirked. Eric gave the kitsune a look of contempt. "I'll show you who's a little girl!" Eric snarled, cracking his knuckles loudly as he approached. "So the little girl has grown a pair of balls has she? What are you going to do? Scream until my ears bleed?" While not normally one to hit another person unnecessarily, Eric did have his limits. Despite being less likely to hit a female than a male it hadn't prevented him from lashing out in the past. Deciding against punching her face in, he quickly slapped her across the face, holding back a little just in case he drew too much attention to himself. "Huh... you even hit like a girl!" Laura taunted. In retaliation for that comment Eric slammed his fist into Laura's face with as much strength he could muster. While not forceful enough to break any bones, the fact that he managed to draw blood made him somewhat proud of himself. As Laura recovered from the attack, blood staring to ooze from the corner of her mouth, Eric was about to launch another attack, intent on finishing her off. That was until he was grabbed rather violently by Alex and Chris. "Woah easy man... don't do anything stupid!" Alex muttered. "What the? How the hell did you find me?" Eric asked, clearly surprised at his friends' sudden appearance. "Oh we didn't find you... she did," Chris responded, pointing at Carla. "We'll deal with you later," Carla hissed at Laura before gesturing for Alex and Chris to drag Eric after her, the wolf protesting all the way. "Why'd you do that?" Eric asked, his eyes burning with anger. "Because you were making a mistake, I want to beat her up myself but you were taking a big risk there. Oh and uh, nice shot, I have to say you got a nice hit," Chris told him. Eric gave him a doubtful look. "Alright, alright but what you did was risky. You have to think carefully about what you do from now on. I mean think of the exams," Eric's jaw dropped... he had forgotten all about the exams that were going to happen later that term. How he could have forgotten something so important? "Oh shit..." Eric muttered, "I'll get you back someday Laura... someday!"