Chapter 35
Fox was sitting on the bench in the mall by himself. His parents were in a store picking some things out, he was bored by it so he came and sat on the bench alone.
A lady came and sat down beside him without looking and sat her baby down beside Fox. He looked over at the mother and smiled as she looked up and returned it. The baby bear stood up as the mother dug around in her purse for something and Fox looked away. He saw out of the corner of his eye just in time.
The baby wasn't paying attention, but everyone else around him was. He took a wrong step and began to plummet towards the tiled floor. Just as fast, Fox lunged his arms out and caught the baby and sat him back down. The mother, entirely unaware of what happened, turned around and saw Fox holding the baby above the ground and was horrified.
She took the baby out of his hands and slapped him. "Don't threaten my baby! He didn't do anything wrong to you!" She puffed and quickly walked away. Fox's ears and eyes drooped as he rubbed his cheek where he had been slapped. An older bird walked over and patted him on the back as Fox looked up with his drooped ears at the bird. "The city needs more people like you and less like her." And he walked away.
Fox's expression hadn't changed any. Fox's parents came back out. "Fox honey, why are you holding your cheek like that?" His loving mother asked him. He just paused, not wanting there to be a sparked discussion. "I accidentally bit myself while I was chewing my gum." His dad just laughed a little. "Oh boy, you're definitely my son." The family of three walked away from the area and kept going.
The next night they decided to mix things up. The guys, and the girls minus one, decided to attend the homecoming football game. The guys all sat with their girlfriends, except Fox, and they were all arm in arm.
'Man, talk about awkward.' He silently thought to himself. "I think I'm gonna go get a snack real quick." He told everyone. But it seemed like nobody even noticed and they asked among each other where Fox was going. He sighed to himself as he headed for the gate. 'Man, I just feel so out of place these days.'
As he was walking out of the gate he saw Fara walking by. "Hey Fox, the game's this way you know?" Fox actually laughed a little bit. "Yeah I know, I just need to get something. Thanks for reminding me though." They both actually laughed together a little then left.
He sat in his convertible, not doing anything but thinking. He sighed and fired it up, then left for the corner café. 'Great, here's that weird out of place feeling again.'
He walked in. Couples, groups of friends, groups of couples, and then there was Fox, all by himself. 'Well this didn't help one bit.' He thought as he sat down on one of the barstools. He ordered a barstool and put it down pretty fast then left.
He got back home and when he got out of the convertible he tripped and fell again on his other cheek. 'Man, that really hurts a lot.' He rubbed it and walked inside without saying anything. "You're home early." He looked over at his dad and just mumbled a little.
"Yeah…. I guess that football just kinda isn't my thing." He walked back to his room quickly and shut the door. Vixy was concerned about her son. "I feel a little dejavu from last year right about now." Her husband stated.
She was confused at first, then she understood. "I remember now, this is how homecoming was last year. I can't believe it's really been a whole year. I'll talk to him this time." She gently knocked on his door and saw him slouched in his computer chair with a hand on his face. "Fox, honey, what's wrong? Why did you leave the game so early?"
Now Fox covered his face with both hands and let out a loud sigh. "I really don't know. I just feel out of place." "Well you said it yourself, football isn't your thing. You and the boys should just try something different next week." He sighed one more time.
"But mom, you don't understand. It feels that way everywhere. Yesterday at the mall I saved a kid from falling, his mom thought I was trying to hurt him so she slapped me. Neither the guys or girls paid attention or anything to me tonight. I even felt out of place at corner café when I went there instead of the game. I just….. I just wanna be alone, please."
Vixy's eyes watered at her son's story and yielded to his request. She shut the door as she walked out and leaned her head on James' chest sobbing. He held her there trying to comfort his wife, and looked at the door to his son's room and sighed himself.