Thank you guys for all the well wishes. I am feeling much better now, and I hope to never ever get this crap again. =) I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Miss Summer's marker squeaked loudly as she wrote her notes on the board. "Please get these notes down quickly as I want to devote as much time to dissection as possible."
Jake scribbled down the notes, marking beside them what color to rewrite them in later. He'd heard that the pigeon was the worse. That's what they would be dissecting. To make matters worse... it was baked chicken day in the cafeteria. He tried not to think about lunch, having learned very quickly that he didn't particularly care for smell of formaldehyde or cutting up dead animals.
"I expect each of you to effectively remove the pigeon's kidneys, heart, and liver. I will deduct points for any cuts made to the intestines or the stomach."
Jake reached into his bag for a piece of candy to rid his mouth of the foul taste before he made himself sick just thinking about the task that lay ahead. As he did, he heard the soft buzzing of his phone vibrating in the inside pocket. Covertly, Jake opened the text message from Becky. Ordinarily he would have ignored it, but this was the first she'd tried to speak to him. The message read "see you at lunch?" Jake quickly replied "sure" before stuffing it back in his bag and bracing himself for the barbaric task ahead. He would still be smelling it through Algebra and into third period.
By the time lunch rolled around, Jake felt exhausted. He reminded himself that he absolutely had to stay awake in German. That was his weak point and he needed to pay as much attention as possible if he wanted to keep up his grade up through finals.
"Hey Furlong." Fritz clapped him on the back. "A bunch of us are going to that renaissance thing in downtown tonight."
Jake couldn't help the way one of his eyebrows arched upward. "That Dickens Of A Christmas thing? Didn't think that was really your style."
Fritz rolled his eyes. "Are you going or not?"
Jake shrugged. "I dunno. If it means walking around all night..." He tapped his claws against his crutches. "I'm thinking I'd rather stay home." He cleared his throat as he looked around. "You seen Becky anywhere?"
Fritz looked around as well. "Yeah. Over there by the vending machines. Hey I thought you two weren't speaking."
"Guess she came to her senses." Jake smirked. "See you later."
"Yup." Fritz mock saluted as he hurried to get in the lunch line before it got too long.
"Hey stranger." Jake leaned up against the wall beside Becky, taking the opportunity to give his arms a break from the crutches.
"Hey." Becky twirled one of her claws through her hair. "So... how are you?"
"I'm alright." Jake shrugged. "You still mad at me?"
"You know Blake asked me if I wanted to go to a movie the next time he was in town, right?" Becky asked.
Jake made a 'huh' sound and looked down at the black and white tiled floor. "And what did you tell him?"
"That I was still seeing you." Becky replied, offering a nervous smile when he looked up in surprise.
"But a week ago you wouldn't even hear me out." Jake shook his head.
"Yeah. Well, I was mad. And then I thought that it was kind of funny how Blake sent me that picture and then asked me out." Becky exhaled loudly. "I know I'm not the smartest girl in the school, but even I could figure out what he was up to."
"Is he still trying to talk to you?"
Becky couldn't help the thrill she got from the obvious jealousy in his voice. "Not at the moment."
"Good." Jake smirked. "I'll call you tonight."
"You better." Becky smiled when he planted a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Jake..." Chance wiped his paws and leaned against the door frame leading into the office. "You alright?"
Jake had his face buried in his arms on the desk. "Ye-yeah." He cleared his throat loudly and pushed himself into a more upright position. "It was just a long day." He stretched and then shivered.
Chance frowned. The office wasn't the warmest place in the building, but Jake had been a huge help by keeping the books balanced for him. "Yeah. Maybe you should go on in and work on your homework. I've got this last car and I might actually be caught up until tomorrow." He joked.
Jake chuckled and shook his head. "Or not." He nodded his head in the direction of the open door.
Chance turned around to see a familiar green car pulling into the yard through the window. "Callie?" His ears perked up in surprise. He hadn't seen her in months... as Chance anyway.
"Weren't you supposed to call her?" Jake asked with a hint of mischief in his voice.
"What did you do?" Chance rounded on the teen.
"I didn't do anything." Jake feigned innocence as he got up and grabbed his crutches. "Incidentally, you might want to put that last car off until tomorrow so you can take a shower or something."
"For what?" Chance slammed his arm out to block the doorway.
"I hear that holiday thing they do downtown is pretty romantic. You know.. carriage rides and all that." Jake smirked.
"Why you sneaky little twerp." Chance hissed without any real heat. "And just what were you planning on doing tonight?"
"You mean besides the mountain and a half of homework I have?" Jake glared. "Is it cool if I order a pizza?"
Chance shook his head as the bell on the front door jingled. "I oughta let you starve."
"Careful," Jake teased. "I have a witness to your threats." He pushed Chance's arm out of his way and poked his head out. "Hey Miss Briggs!"
"I'm really sorry about Jake setting you up like this." Chance apologized to the Deputy Mayor as he purchased a cup of old fashioned hot apple cider for her.
"Thanks," Callie purred. "And I'd say you were the one that got set up. However, he did tell me it would be both of you going."
"Yeah well..." Chance looked up as a light shower of flurries began to fall. "I... I've been meaning to give you a call and see how you've been."
"You know.. .busy as always." Callie took a small sip of the warm drink. "Are you still seeing someone?"
"I dunno." Chance cringed.
"You don't know?" Callie looked up at him over the top of her glasses.
"It's complicated." Chance cleared his throat.
"Either you're dating or you aren't." Callie looked amused. "Which is it?"
"Well, we haven't exactly broken up, but we aren't speaking either." Chance scratched the back of his head. He let out a nervous laugh. "I like her but she really crossed a line. I mean you don't tell me what to do when it comes to Jake."
Callie's eyes widened. "She didn't."
"Jake and her boy got into it over a girl." Chance sighed. "And when he let her boy have it, she got mad when I didn't jump down his throat about it."
"I'm sure Jake wouldn't have done it if he didn't feel like it was deserved." Callie had always liked Jake.
"It could have had better timing." Chance grimaced. "But you're right. And he did deserve it. I didn't exactly applaud the behavior but she acted like I was supposed to jerk him up and whip his tail over it. And that might be how she disciplines Blake, but if she knew anything about me and Jake, she'd know not to even insinuate that I'd ever..." He trailed off, looking away as anger threatened to take over.
"Chance, I'm sorry." Callie offered.
"For what?" Chance looked surprised.
"That things aren't working out." Callie explained.
"Aren't you supposed to be secretly glad?" Chance joked.
Callie offered a small laugh in return. "I'll admit I was a little disappointed that you'd found someone else." She shook her head. "But I really do care about you, and I want you to be happy."
Chance stood still to look her in the eye, a little surprised. "You really mean that?"
"Of course I do." Callie smiled brightly. "Look I know I get kind of busy and I'm always somehow tied up in whatever the catastrophe of the week is, but I count you and Jake as real friends." She bit her lip.
Chance couldn't resist the urge to wipe a snow flake off her cheek. "It's getting late. Do you want a carriage ride or not?"
Callie laughed loudly. "Straight to the point as always. As a matter of fact, I'd love a carriage ride."
It was late when Chance unlocked the door, and it seemed like every single light in the small home was on. Before he could shout for Jake, a whimper caught his attention. Chance looked down to find Charlie nudging her empty water bowl and sighed. "If it wasn't for me you'd probably either starve to death or die from dehydration," he grumbled as he picked up the bowl and took it to the sink. After he filled it and set it down, he went into the living room and glared at the boy sprawled out on the couch. He swept his eyes from Jake, who was passed out with his German book open in his lap, to the coffee table where a pizza box was still open and littered with uneaten crust, to the television. Chance gaped at the intensely erotic scene playing on the screen. There was no way this was on the movie channels. "Jake!" Chance growled, popping Jake heavily on his right knee.
"Wha...?" Jake jerked upright. "Jeez!" He breathed, glaring at Chance. "You scared the hell out of me."
"What the hell is this?" Chance pointed at the tv.
Jake turned to look, ears perking forward at the site of a very hot she-kat with her head between another she-kat's legs.
"Hey!" Chance flicked him on the ear. "We aren't supposed to get these channels." He grabbed the remote and turned the channel, pressing the recall button and getting a blank screen with a 'call for subscription' message. He glared at Jake.
"What?" Jake flinched. "Free trial?"
"Yeah I bet." Chance huffed. "You get your homework done?"
"Uh..." Jake looked around for the notebook he was supposed to have been writing in.
Chance rolled his eyes and started to walk away. "It's almost midnight."
"I know." Jake replied, struggling to get his school work in order. He'd meant to finish but then Becky called. And then... he felt the tips of ears burn as he hopped on one foot to get his crutches that were leaning against the recliner. Jake cleared his throat as he made an effort to clean up the pizza box and any other trash he left before falling asleep. "So how was your date with Callie?"
"It's not a date if you're tricked into going!" Chance shouted from somewhere on the other side of the small home.
"I'll take that as a good sign." Jake smirked when Chance returned to the living room.
"Finish your homework and go to bed." Chance said, not willing to give into the teen's attempts to pry.
"I got it." Jake replied with a lengthy sigh. "Jeez." He dropped back down onto the couch, sucking in a sharp breath when he knocked his broken leg against the coffee table.
Chance couldn't help but smirk. "That's what you get for watching porn."
Jake glared at the tabby as he pulled his German homework back into his lap.
"You're gonna pass that this year, right?" Chance asked, a hint of humor in his tone as he flipped through the channels.
"I passed it last year." Jake replied.
"Barely." Chance teased.
"You saw my midterm grades." Jake gave his own little smirk.
"That was a month ago." Chance said as he settled on the news, curious to see if the light snow would turn into anything to be concerned over.
"You can stop trying to make me nervous." Jake shook his head. He was silent for a few moments. "Speaking of finals..." He looked up from his work with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
Chance countered with an expectant look. "Yeah?"
"Could I go over Becky's house on Saturday?"
Chance narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What's that got to do with school?"
"She asked if I'd help her study." Jake broke away from Chance's steely gaze.
"Help her study what?"
"Math." Jake didn't look up.
"Why can't she come over here?" Chance fought the urge to grin when Jake's head snapped up.
"Because she... er.." Jake struggled for a good reason.
Chance shook his head, looking away as he started to laugh. "Is her grandmother going to be there?"
"Yeah." Jake fought the urge to cross his fingers.
Chance looked back at him, studying him for a few long moments. In his gut, he knew it was a bad idea, but Jake hadn't done anything to show he wasn't mature enough to be left alone with the girl... yet. "Yeah I guess so."
Becky waved goodbye to her grandmother and closed the door. She turned around and smiled mischievously at Jake. It was Bingo night, and shortly after Chance had dropped Jake off, one of Becky's grandmother's friends picked the elderly she-kat up for their weekly game, leaving the two teenagers alone.
"So..." Jake's tail twitched anxiously behind him. "Now what?"
Becky shrugged innocently. "You wanna watch a movie?"
"Okay." Jake followed her into the dimly lit and floral decorated living room. He sat on the couch after leaning his crutches against the recliner. "What are we going to watch?"
"Something boring." Becky winked. "You weren't really planning on paying a lot of attention, were you?"
"Ah... heh..." Jake smiled dumbly as she put on an older movie and sat down on the couch beside him. It was on the tip of his tongue to repeat his earlier "now what" when she kissed him. "So what am I supposed to say I helped you with?" He asked when she gave him time to breathe.
"Anatomy." Becky giggled.
Jake felt his heart race as she straddled him and then thrust her tongue into his mouth. His paws hovered behind her for a moment before safely resting them on her hips.
"You can touch me." Becky whispered in his ear.
"Wh... what?" Jake asked, shivering a little as her breath tickled him.
Becky straightened and put her paws on his, pushing them slowly down and then pulling at her skirt until he was touching the backs of her thighs, just below the hem of her panties. "I have a confession," she purred into his ear again as she lowered herself so that she was sitting on him once more.
"Uh huh?" Jake was torn between exploring how far she would let him go or bolting before he creamed his shorts.
"I'm not as innocent as I said I was," Becky said before turning her head so that she could nibble on his neck.
"You aren't?" Jake's eyes were closed and he was fighting the urge to grind against her.
"I might have fooled around a little more than I let on at first." Becky admitted.
"So you're not a virgin?" Jake had the sudden urge to lie and say that he wasn't either.
"Well technically I've never had sex." Becky replied with a wiggle that sent an obvious wave of pleasure through her boyfriend. "But I've done some other things."
"L-like what?" He felt instantly relieved. She leaned close again and whispered something in his ear that drew an excited purr out of his throat. Becky giggled again.
"So do you want me to?" She asked in a sultry voice, her paw already on his zipper.
Chance was halfway up the walk when Jake came out of the house, shutting the door as soon as he was outside. "Hey, what's the rush? I was gonna talk to her gran for a second."
"Uh..." Jake had that deer-in-the-headlights look. "She was upstairs doing something. Becky said she'd tell her I left."
"Well I don't want to be rude." Chance stood still as Jake hobbled past him. He seemed jittery and nervous. "What's the rush?"
"What?" Jake froze. "I..." He floundered for a second. "I'm starving, Chance. I haven't eaten since breakfast."
"Okay. We're going to eat soon." Chance turned to followed Jake to the car, giving him a suspicious look. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah." Jake said a little too quickly. 'Better than alright,' he thought as he pictured the ring of lipstick he was having serious doubts about washing off.
"Okay." Chance gave him another doubtful glare before starting the car. "We're heading over to Mom's for dinner tonight."
"Okay." Jake peered into the backseat. "Are we gonna get Charlie first?"
"She'll be fine. She's walking a lot better and you know she hasn't gotten into the trash in weeks." Chance replied.
Jake didn't say anything. He shifted uncomfortably in the seat, watching Chance out of the corner of his eye every time his guardian shot him his own looks. "What?" He finally asked, his voice thick with annoyance.
"How did studying go?"
Jake rolled his eyes. "It was fine."
"What subject did you say she needed help with?" Chance couldn't put a claw on it, but he was determined to figure out what really happened.
"Math." Jake replied, digging his paw into his pocket as his phone went off. He had a text from Becky.
"Who's that?" Chance asked.
"Jeez Chance." Jake glared at him, holding the phone so that he couldn't see the screen. "Why are you asking me all these questions?"
"I just want to know how your day was." Chance smirked. "Why are you being so defensive about it?"
"I'm not being defensive." Jake mumbled as he hastily replied to the message he'd been sent and shoved the phone into his pocket. "Why are you being annoying?"
"Isn't that my job?" Chance fought the urge to laugh at how obviously riled he was making the teen.
"I'm pretty sure sticking your nose into my business wasn't listed in the legal guardian guidelines." Jake grumbled.
This time Chance did laugh, earning a glare from the teen. "Last time I checked, your 'business' is what I'm responsible for." He was rewarded with a loud sigh and silence from the teenager until they got to Rita's house.
"Shoes!" Rita scolded Jake as he started to walk through her living room.
"Sorry Mom." Jake said as he pulled his one sneaker off and backtracked to set it next to Chance's. Rita brightened at the name. It was just a recent development that he started calling her that, and she wondered if he was simply experimenting with it or if it would be a permanent moniker.
"What are you making?" Chance asked, his stomach growling as he moved towards the kitchen. "It smells so good!"
"They had whole fryers on sale. I figured I would roast one." Rita beamed at the compliment. "Everything is ready. If y'all wanna go wash your paws, we can say grace and dig in."
Jake eyed the whole roasted chicken on the plate in the center of the table. It smelled good, but ever since that pigeon in biology, he had trouble looking at poultry. He'd skipped eating lunch that day and had been fortunate enough not to see it on the dinner plate... until now.
"Chance, honey, would you mind...?" Rita gestured to the chicken.
"Not at all." Chance was practically salivating. The aroma was intoxicating and the crispy looking skin gleamed under the dining room light.
Jake felt his stomach lurch at the sick sound it made when Chance detached the wings and legs. The tabby looked across the table at him expectantly. Jake normally went for one of the legs.
"You want one of these or do you want some of the breast meat?" Chance asked.
"I... uh..." Jake shook it off and picked up his plate. "Sure." He held it out so that Chance could put one of the legs on it. "Thanks."
Chance sliced some of the breast meat off for his mother as well as himself and then piled on a huge mound of potatoes. He passed them to Jake. "Hey," Chance snapped his claws by Jake's ear. "You enjoying the view from the clouds?"
"Sorry." Jake took the potatoes and scooped them onto his plate. He busied himself putting some of the other items on his plate but couldn't seem to distract himself from the leg. The exposed bone gleamed at him and the skin was pulled back, showing the juicy dark meat. "Don't be such a baby!" He scolded himself as he picked up the leg and started to pull a piece off. As it tore and shredded, his mind flashed back to the way the meat on the pigeon shredded as he pulled the bird apart to pull out its insides. Jake made a 'hurk!' sound, dropping the food and clamping a paw over his mouth.
"Jake!" Rita gasped, looking across the table the moment she'd heard the sound. There was a look of panic across his face. "Go!"
Jake nodded, heaving again behind his paw and half ran, half hopped on one foot out of the room. Rita set down her fork and knife and stood. "I'm just going to make sure he's okay."
Chance stood as well and started to follow her when he heard the buzzing of Jake's phone. He'd had it in the chair so that no one would see him texting at the dinner table. "Okay." He picked up the device and opened the message, eyes going wide at the picture the boy had been sent. Chance pocketed the phone and went to find Jake in the downstairs bathroom. Rita was hovering around him, trying to offer him a washrag.
"I've got this," Chance took the rag and ushered her out of the small bathroom. "What the heck just happened?"
Jake took the damp cloth and wiped his face. "You think Rita's feelings would be hurt if I skipped dinner?" He gave Chance a somewhat disgusted look before admitting that he was suddenly feeling very squeamish about eating animals.
"She'll be fine, but you're gonna need to eat something later." Chance sighed. "You can go watch tv or something."
Jake nodded and left the bathroom. As he walked towards the living room, he tried to force himself not to associate the smell of dinner with dead animals soaked in chemicals.
"Is he sick?" Rita asked in a near whisper as if it was a secret or something when Chance came back in the dining room.
"What?" Chance looked at her and then shook his head. "Nah. You remember when I was in school and we had to dissect a worm and you thought it would be funny to have spaghetti for dinner?"
"Yes I do." Rita chuckled. "I didn't expect you to think it was funny too."
"Yeah well..." Chance made a face. "He had a pigeon."
Rita frowned. "They made us dissect one in college for medical science." She shook her head. "I didn't know they were doing that on a high school level now. The worst part was pulling out all the feathers."
Chance grimaced. "I don't need the play by play."
"Oh I'm sorry son." Rita apologized. "I'll make him a plate... without the chicken of course."
The best part about Saturday nights was staying up late and watching movies on the science fiction channel. Except when the movies were so campy you couldn't even pretend to be interested. Chance was more disturbed by the terrible computer graphics and soap opera quality acting than the kat-eating aliens taking over the world. He turned to look at Jake, who was taking up two thirds of the couch. "Please tell me you aren't enjoying this one."
"I thought it was going to be so much better." Jake pouted. He'd been looking forward to this made-for-tv movie for two weeks. He tiredly pushed himself up, his flannel pajama pants making a swishing noise as the fabric rubbed against the cast on his leg.
"Then I'm changing it." Chance started flipping through the channels. He felt a vibration in his pocket and paused on a sappy romance. "That reminds me!"
Jake made a disgusted face at the corny film and glared at Chance. "What could this remind you of?"
Chance pulled Jake's phone from his pocket and waved it at Jake. "You left this in the dining room at Mom's."
"Thanks." Jake reached for it only to have it snatched back.
"Let me ask you something." Chance moved the phone to his other paw. "Are you and Becky...?"
Jake met Chance's eyes. "Are we... what?"
Chance sighed. He knew Jake knew what he was asking. "Look Jake, I saw the pictures she sent you. That's how I knew you left your phone, because she sent you one and it went off. So just be honest with me, okay?"
"Okay." Jake felt his throat tighten.
"So are you?"
"No." Jake shook his head.
Chance bit the inside of his cheek, his eyes fixed on Jake's while he tried to determine if he was telling the truth. "Here's the thing... I can't tell you not to do it. I mean... if you are... then, you know, just be careful."
Jake's eyes widened a little and the blush was clear even through his fur. "Well I'm not so..." He trailed off, looking away and hoping that was the end of it.
"Okay." Chance was visibly relieved. "Just make sure you think it through before you do, okay? Because Becky's nice and all but I'm sure she's not someone you really care about."
Jake ran his tongue along the metal ring on one of his molars and kept his gaze firmly on the coffee table. "Okay so... if you can't tell me not to then why are we even discussing it?" He just wanted to end this discussion, get his phone back, and tell Becky not to send any more incredibly hot pictures to his phone.
Chance took a deep breath and turned the television off. "Just hear me out, okay?"
"Aw come on, Chance." Jake pleaded. "Can we not talk about this now?"
"No. We are and I promise I won't say another word about it if you just listen to what I have to say."
Jake rubbed his eyes with one of his paws but didn't look up. "Go ahead."
Chance stood up and walked across the room to lean against the wall while he talked. "Right now, I can guarantee there's three things on your mind. School, which I wish was the first thing but I know it's probably last. The Swat Kats, which probably takes second place by a long shot. And Becky. Well, not really Becky but how far you'll get with her. And, to be perfectly honest, when I was fifteen that was the only thing on my brain no matter what I was doing. Not, you know, Becky, but... I can't even remember her name. And you know girls, they remember everything. And one day some girl is gonna ask you if you remember and when you say you don't, she's gonna lose some respect for you."
"Speaking from experience?" It came off loaded down with sarcasm.
"Yeah. I am." Chance replied in a softer tone. "I can tell you that I was fifteen, and that it was in the backseat of my first car."
Jake cringed at the details.
"But," Chance shoved his paws into his pockets. "You ask me what color her hair was or short fur or long fur? I couldn't tell ya. And you know what that says?"
"That your long term memory sucks?" Jake couldn't help it. He needed to say something to distract from the seriousness.
"No." Chance's tone darkened. "It says that I didn't have enough respect for myself and whatever her name was to make it mean something. And it shouldn't be like that."
"Wait a minute." There was a hint of nervous laughter in his voice. "See, you're here saying all this stuff, but, Chance, seriously since I've know you, you've slept with a lot of girls. And I know for a fact that it didn't mean anything."
Chance nodded his head. "First of all, it's not quite as many as you think. And second, you're right. There were a few that didn't mean anything. But you aren't like that. You aren't as boneheaded as I am. Which means that you should be capable of making better decisions than me. I mean, I kind of hold you at a higher standard than I hold myself, Jake."
"Okay." Jake felt a tight ball of guilt in the pit of his stomach. "I got it. Are we done?"
"Yeah." Chance sighed. "That's it. I'll get off my soapbox now and leave you alone."
"Thanks." Jake replied almost flippantly, taking his phone back.
"In the mean time, can ya tell her not to send stuff like that to your phone? If you get caught with those pictures at school..."
"Already planning on it." Jake stood up. "If it's all the same to you," he grabbed his crutches. "I'm going to bed."
awkward... lol.