Chapter 46
Fox took it easy for the rest of the week, he wore his normal plaid button up shirts over a T shirt, he wore jeans since it was becoming the winter months now, December had started now. He walked up to the group Friday morning and greeted them as he put his shades on top of his head. "Hey guys and girls, been a good week huh?" They all nodded in approval of his question, it had been a good week for everyone. "Feels like it's been a bit of a long week." Lucy said in response. Everyone nodded to her as well. "Yeah, feels like it's been a bit of an empty week too." Katt added to the comments. The bell rang and everyone headed off to their first class.
Gym came rather fast, and the guys were looking forward to a game of basketball. The guys usually played 2 on 2 against each other, or occasionally Wolf's group would "challenge" them to a game. "Alright looks like it's just us four today guys, so how about me and Bill against Fox and Slip?" They didn't usually do those teams, but today they decided to mix it up.
They'd changed out of their regular clothes into regular gym shirts and shorts and were ready for a game. The girls also changed into basketball shorts and T shirts, even though they normally just watched the guys instead of play basketball.
"So, have you guys seen Krystal any at all this week? I'll text her sometimes, but she hardly says anything, and I never see her around school. Do you think she's staying home or something?" Lucy asked the girls quietly. "I haven't seen or heard from her at all. Maybe it has something to do with Panther?" Amanda asked in response. Lucy just leaned her head sideways, assuming that was what it was, but just wasn't sure.
"Well it's weird, whatever it is. The group just hasn't been the same without her for the past couple of months. Since she's been hanging out with….you know" Katt added to the discussion. They all nodded, "I really thought them splitting up would be a good thing, but apparently not." Lucy said as she pondered the situation. They sat there and thought on what to do, how to reunite their group. Lucy snapped her fingers as if a light bulb appeared over her head. "I've got it!" The other two girls snapped over to her as she signaled them to lean in close as she whispered her idea.
"I have this feeling, Fox has to be holding something back. He ALWAYS seems to know something, even if he acts clueless all the time. But he has to know something he isn't telling us." The girls thought about it, and realized they had no better alternative plan, they had no leads besides this proposed situation. "Well, I suppose that might be true. It's not like me or Katt has any better ideas. So how do we do this?" the pink frog asked.
"Well…" Lucy scratched her ear, not really knowing exactly.
"Maybe we just ask him?" Katt asked in an unsure tone of voice. Lucy pointed her finger at Katt as she tried to form words. "That's genius" Was all she could say. "I'll ask Fox if he knows anything, it's not like he'll get mad or anything right?" The girls just nodded along with the newly formed plan.
"So it looked kinda like the girls were talking about something important today during our game, what do you think it was?" Slippy asked the guys as they changed clothes in the locker room. "Probably something like purses or shoes or…whatever it is girls like I guess." Bill said in response. "Probably something that's just super duper top secret, from the way they were huddled up even though no one was anywhere near them." Fox added as he was rolling up the sleeves on his plaid shirt. "Knowing the girls we'll probably be finding out soon, it's always a matter of time." Falco continued as he laced up his shoes.
Fox was walking down the hall towards his last class as he was caught by Lucy. "Hey Fox." She said sounding sort of nervous. "Hey Lucy, what's up?" She just flopped her ears a bit. "Nothing really, just headed to class. Saw you and wanted to talk since we haven't talked a lot lately. You know?" He nodded along. "It's been a while, that's for sure. You seem nervous, something eatin' ya?" She'd been found out sort of, so she figured she'd try and draw him in.
"Sort of, do you mind a small talk after school today? Maybe meet me outside my locker?" "Sure, that's fine. See you then." He calmly said as he turned into his last class.
'Alright, so now I just have to figure out how to ask him. Maybe just ask it flat out.' Lucy's thoughts rambled on in her class. 'Maybe if I ask straight out he'll respect it and…well maybe it'll bother him. Maybe if I just…no that won't work. Maybe I should-' Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud noise, the bell. 'Oh crap! What now? I haven't got it figured out at all! Well… Fox is nice, surely he'll understand if I just ask.' She picked up her books and walked down to her locker.
She leaned against it as all the other students crossed the hall to leave, and as she looked down it she could see Fox walking towards her. 'Okay, deep breath. Fox is your friend, he's nice, he'll understand.' "Hey Lucy." As he said that she quickly took a nervous gulp. "So what did you wanna talk about? You sounded kinda bent up on something."
She cleared her throat as she waved her arm, signaling him to follow her as she walked towards the door. "So Fox, you know Krystal's been missing for the past few days? How we never see her in class?" "Yeah I noticed that, crossed my mind a time or two." "Well, I text her every once in a while and she texts back, but she doesn't say much. And you know her and Panther broke up, right?" He nodded along to her questions. "And well I thought a bit about it and was wondering, do you think you know why she's acting so weird?"
Fox had a baffled look on his face once she asked. "No idea really. I went and talked to her on Friday but that was it, dropped by and gave some advice then I left. Haven't heard from her since, haven't seen her since. Saw her mom Monday afternoon and everything seemed normal from her. Didn't think much of it, just figured she wasn't ready to be around Panther again or something, since she was so into him. Since her mom was there I'm assuming she was here at school, but don't know where." He just shrugged his shoulder as he finished his statement. "Sorry if that doesn't help."
Lucy sighed, it didn't help really. It just pointed them to a dead end, she thought Fox would have the answer for their small problem but he was as clueless as herself and the other girls. "Well thanks Fox, it didn't help but thanks for trying." She sighed as she finished saying it and her ears drooped a little bit. "Although you seem really bent outta shape over this, do you think there's more to it than meets the eye? I didn't really think much of it." Lucy just shook her head, she just wanted to know where her friend was, she hadn't gotten to spend quality time with her in what seemed like forever.
"Maybe we'll find something soon, maybe she'll be fine and you guys can hang out again." The rabbit looked up and saw her friend smiling warmly back at her.
"Look." He said as he pointed out to the parking lot. Krystal's mom was sitting out in the parking lot again, same spot and everything, but Krystal was nowhere around.
"You know what that means, she's here somewhere."
They both nodded, Krystal was up to something.
"Maybe you can find her next week." Lucy nodded and went on her way. Fox stopped at his locker to put his books back that he wouldn't need this weekend. He curiously moved it to close it, but didn't. He looked around because he could have sworn he heard someone around the corner.
He shut the locker and walked around to where he thought he heard it, but it was just a group of the band members talking about their plans for the weekend.
"Weird" He said to himself as he walked off towards the parking lot.
So I believe that this is the first chapter that Krystal has not been physically active in the chapter, which I think is a good start for a shift. Notice that she wasn't a priority of any sorts to Fox, which is the sort of shift I was looking for. Now the next chapter may be slow to come because I feel like this chapter has some good buildup, so I think I'm gonna try and take my time and get something reaaaally nice going, do some digging on story ideas and all. Hope this sufficed for a good chapter and hope everyone enjoyed it. Please let me know in the review what you think of this chapter and how it ties in the with previous few. Please keep public predictions to a minimum, please let me know your opinions and mood on the shift. Ciao :D -Jake
