Chapter 9
Nick heard the farmer's protests behind him as he followed Bonnie up the stairs.
When the voices from downstairs were too far away to be heard, she asked, "Honestly, Nick, what did happen?"
He shook his head. "All I want to say now is that it really was a stupid misunderstanding. I made a careless joke that pushed a few buttons I didn't even know existed. But before I tell you more I'd like to make sure she doesn't mind you knowing."
Bonnie stopped in the middle of two long rows of doors. "She isn't doing anything bad, is she?"
"Oh, no, absolutely not. I can say that much."
"All right," Bonnie said and pointed at the door next to them. "Here it is. Good luck."
Nick grinned. "To quote a friend: Luck is for those who lack the skills."
With these words he knocked.
"No!" was the immediate answer from inside.
Nick raised his voice, "Usually I'd respect that from a lady, but I'm afraid, this time I can't. We need to talk."
"You need to go away."
"Not before I get a chance to apologize to you."
"I don't care for that," Caroline cried through the door. "It won't change what you've done."
"No, but staying in there and hating me for it won't either. But if you open this door-"
"Not happening."
"Come on, Caroline. It will at least make yelling at me more fun, when you can do it straight in my face."
"All you want to is tricking me into talking with you."
"No, I already did that. Now I'm trying to trick you into letting me inside, so I can finally say sorry to you in person."
A moment of silence. Then the lock clicked. Slowly, the door opened. It revealed a bunny girl with blood-shot eyes. She said: "You won't stop until I let you do this, am I right?"
Nick smiled. "One hundred percent."
"Oh, honey." Bonnie stepped forward. "You look horrible."
"Thanks, mom. And I feel even worse."
"Okay, Bonnie," Nick said. "I think it would be best if you let us get this done one on one. If I'm not back in five minutes, please keep your husband away from any sharp objects you keep around."
At first, Bonnie looked like she wanted to protest this idea. But then, she nodded and said, "Oh, um, yes, Nick. I'll have an eye on him."
As her mother hurried off, Caroline asked, "Did you and mom just call each other by your first names? That felt weird."
"I think you'll get used to it. So, may I come in?"
She just shrugged and went inside, leaving the door open. Nick closed it behind him.
Her room was about the same size as Judy's, yet the interior couldn't have been more different.
Nick laughed silently at the posters plastering the walls. He couldn't help but imagine Finnick's reaction to such a display of most common pop-stars. The desk was cluttered in more or less school related stuff. The only thing that looked like it had an allocated space there was a set of photos. Most of them were of her family. Some others most likely of friends of hers. At least the sheeps were definitely not related to her. The centerpiece was a picture of a group of young mammals. As far as Nick could tell, that must have been Caroline's class. It was the only one including her. When he turned towards her, Caroline had settled on the bed, which looked like she already had it since a younger age.
He reached for the desk chair. "May I?"
"Will this take that long?"
"I'll take that as a yes." He sat down and took a deep breath. Hands folded and elbows resting on his knees, he said, "Okay, to get the most important part out of the way: I am terribly sorry my little joke this morning got so out of control. I'd never thought this had such an impact for you and would carry this far. I hope you'll accept my apology for all that has happened."
She hugged her legs, keeping her eyes on her blanket. "And if I don't?"
"Then I'll keep on trying. Or your dad will rip my head off. It'll definitely be one of these."
"So, you're doing this to save your own tail." Her chin sank onto her knees.
"No. See, your dad wanted to give me the boot right away. I could have just left all this behind. But that would not have sat well with me."
"Because Judy would've been mad at you."
"Yeah, that too," Nick admitted. "But more importantly, because I didn't want what happened to be left to itself. I'm here to help you."
She glanced up at him. "How? Can you time travel?"
"I can show you that one bad moment is nothing to lose your head over. We're here, talking like civilized mammals, trying to work this out. The world hasn't ended."
"Easy for you to say. You don't have to go back to school tomorrow."
"I could if that helped."
Her head shot beack up. "Are you insane? They'd make even more fun of me!"
"Well then, please tell me something," Nick said, leaning back. "Why were they even making fun of you in the first place?"
"Are you kidding me?"
He held up his paws. "No, I really want to know. I mean, I get what I did was embarrassing to you. That's why I did it. But I didn't think anybody would take it to these lengths. So, could it be that there is something else to it?"
"Besides them being stupid?"
"Come on, I already have my suspicions, but I want to give you the chance to say it yourself."
She now looked past him at her desk. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Okay, so this has absolutely nothing to do with a certain young jaguar who by some peculiar twist of fate happened to talk to me earlier? What was his name again? Martin?"
"Matthew," Caroline did not hesitate to answer.
He nodded. "Right. He is not at all in any way part of this?"
"What would give you that idea?"
He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "Hm, maybe that photo of him you keep in your desk?"
Red spreading on her cheeks, she stared at him in shock. "How did you know that?"
Nick shrugged. "Wild guess."
Her own hand hit her forehead hard. "Oh, why you... Okay, fine. I confess. I think he's cute. Happy now?"
"I'd be happy if you'd stop treating me as your opponent. I told you, I'm trying to help you here."
She groaned, "Fine. But how is this helping me?"
Nick moved the chair closer to the bed. "Okay, let me put it this way: I see a few possible reasons why those girls wouldn't leave you alone. What I did may warrant stupid jokes and a few quibs, but this was more than that. So, lets sort this out. First, did this happen before?"
She shook her head. "Not in this way. They're not the most popular, if you know what I mean. But usually, it's just, what did you call it? Quibs?"
"I see. Did you do anything to them recently that might have provoked them?"
"Nothing I could think of."
"Well, then I see two possibilities. Well, aside from them just being jerks. First, they're jealous of you because none of their sisters have a boyfriend like your sister does."
She finally let go of her knees and settled for sitting cross-legged. "Okay, then it got to be the second one."
"Which would be that they're in some way offended by you liking Matt. Of course, that could be just plain old intolerance. But I didn't hear them saying anything that sounded like they rejected your sister and me being a couple. So, my guts tell me this is all coming from a sense of rivalry."
"And if your guts are right?"
"Things are simple. Take them head-on and confess to Matt."
At first, her mouth just hung open. Then she scoffed, "Now you really are making fun of me."
Yet Nick's expression remaind unchanged. "Absolutely not."
"I'll just embarrass myself even more!"
"Why?"
Blushing, she stammered, "Because... Because... It's not like I could just walk up to him and ask him to go out with me."
"Of course you could," Nick laughed. "At least that would be just as embarrassing for him as for you. Or you could simply pick a better time and place. And when you're alone, nobody will make fun of you."
She stared at him for a moment, doubt lingering in her eyes. Then she glanced down at her blanket once more. "But, what if he does?"
Nick tilted his head. "Come on, you really think he'd do that?"
"I don't want to think that, but.."
She didn't finish that semtemce. Nick moved even closer to the bed until his knees bumped against it. He leaned forward. "Okay, Caroline, look at me. If he should really do that, you'll know he's nothing but a scumbag who doesn't even deserve your attention. If anything, he should be the one embarrassed about that. But, be honest, has he ever given you any reason to expect such a thing of him?"
For a moment, a smile flickered across her face. "No."
"Well, there you go."
"And if he still says no?"
"Then nothing changed."
"No, everything would change." Her eyes started to glisten. "If he doesn't like me-"
"Things would still be as they are now. Except that you don't have to wonder about the what-if anymore."
She just looked at him wide-eyed.
"Okay, sorry, that was not well put. See, I know from experience that it would hurt. But I can also tell you from experience, it is not worse than that constant uncertainty. Not in the long run. It will take time to deal with that, but how is just not knowing his answer any different from having a definite no?"
She still didn't answer him, yet studied her own feet instead.
"Besides," Nick continued. "This is moving into the completely wrong direction. You shouldn't expect him to say no. Don't assume the worst before you tried. You are a smart girl and got your wits together. And even if we collided a bit over it you have a good sense of humor."
"You only know me since breakfast," she murmured.
"And that's been more than enough time for me to see that. So why shouldn't he?"
Another smile crossed her face. "Okay, so let's say he says yes. How is that going to help me with those dumbos?"
"Oh, it'll shut them up. You'll see."
"And if they get even worse?"
"Then get back to me. We'll figure something out. And anyways, should that stop you from being with Matt?"
She sighed "Okay, I guess what you say isn't complete nonesense."
Nick grinned. "So, can I take it you do forgive me?"
She returned the grin. "I know I have to if I ever want you out of my room again."
"Good enough for me. As long as you let your dad know about it."
"Yeah, yeah, let's go. And don't worry, I know how to handle him"
Moments later, they stepped into kitchen.
A/N:
Got to admit, this was the hardest chapter for me to write. Even took the longest to get the final details right. Well, that might have been du to doing it in the middle of the night, since my night shifts are coming up...
So, more than ever, I am looking forward to feedback of any kind, be it faves or critiques :)
