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P.O.V. - Chris (Purple Tiger) - Under the bleachers - Wednesday night

息 Jake Atkinson

The fog from Dylan's breath hung briefly in the frigid air as he spoke. "You told me you had given up on that piece of sh#t Fuchswagen."

"Yeah I know." I replied. "But I kind of got to talking with this guy from auto shop class who really knows his sh#t. Hell, he knows more than the teacher! Anyway, he offered to help and tomorrow afternoon is the only time the shop will be available for personal projects."

Despite the darkness of our surroundings, it was easy to see the Hyena wasn't happy. He crossed his arms and glared, his ears folding back. "You know how hard it is for us to get together! We've got to go at off times or people will start to figure sh#t out."

I leaned against a nearby rail and flexed my claws slowly. "We can still go, just later. The shop's only open till five so I'll catch the next bus after that."

"But that's the bus I'm supposed to take." He said, kicking a paper cup across the ground. "We can't be seen on the same bus."

What's he being such a little bitch for? Isn't he horny too?! This is the first time we've been alone in days. Maybe I should just grab him, not like that hasn't worked before. Better sort this out first though or he'll just be all pissy. "Big deal, we'll just sit apart."

He exhaled sharply through his nose. "It's not that easy. Ever since Splash fell on us that night in the rec. room people have been talking. We should have known better than to be there together in the first place. Your excuse about me having to play a game of Madden NFL with you because I lost a bet was pretty lame."

"I didn't hear you coming up with anything better!" I shot back.

"Whatever. So you're just gonna ditch me so you can play with that stupid car?" he asked rhetorically. "F#ck, ever since you turned deviant you haven't been the same."

"Are you on the rag or something?!" I retorted angrily. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He stepped forward and looked up at me. "It means that, deep down, a part of you wanted it to happen and now that part of you is taking over. You could fight it you know. People turn back to normal all the time."

Ugh, not again! "Who would WANT to turn purple for f#ck's sake?! Do you really think I was just sittin' around one day and decided I wanted to be known as the grape Tiger?"

Dylan retreated to sit back against an 'I' beam and leaned forward to put his hands on his knees.

I know what that posture means! Back in Bible camp Minister Hicks would always sit like that when it was time to 'get real.' Damn, now that I look back at it... he MUST have known what Dylan and I were doing behind the utility shed every night. Those casual sermons around the campfire were way too pointed. I wonder if he watched us?! Remembering the exhilaration of our impassioned encounters muted the anger that I initially felt at Dylan's words and I found the patience to endure the lecture I knew was to come.

"Look, it's been proven that it's always from some buried mental disorder. You could take a summer recovery program and be back to normal by the beginning of next semester if you'd stop being such a p#ssy about it. You've just gotta face your fears and f#ckin' do it."

I sat beside him on the frost covered beam. "I believed that crap too. Right up until it happened to me. Remember that feeling we'd get in camp when Hicks would start going on about the sins of homosexuality? Both of us were scared sh#tless but we still managed to find our way to the back of that shed every night."

The Hyena scowled. "That's because we aren't some prancin' little f#ggots. It's not like we do it up the butt! Sometimes guys give each other blow jobs and sh#t but that doesn't mean they're f#ckin' queer! What does that have to do with it anyway?"

I stared past him into the blackness beyond his silhouette and couldn't help but notice his glowing spots once again. They first caught my attention almost a week ago and ever since then I had been fighting with myself about how to tell him, or if I even should. Their dim blue radiance was so faint they could only be detected in the darkest of settings. Besides that, his spots were mainly in his dorsal fur where he couldn't get a good look at them without a mirror. With that in mind, it seemed entirely possible that he hadn't discovered it yet. But I couldn't help probing, however indirectly. "When you always look at something from the same perspective, it doesn't change. But sometimes life pushes you around and suddenly you're forced to see it from a different angle. That's when you realize, you had it wrong the whole time. You know what I mean?"

Moments passed while Dylan looked blankly through the girders under the bleachers until he finally turned to face me and said "Have you been drinking? Seriously, the last time you sounded like this was when you got wasted on the six-pack we stole from my Dad's frig in the garage."