Disclaimer: All properties, plots, characters, and settings created by Walt Disney Animation Studios, belong to Disney. All original plots, characters, and settings created by myself, belong to me.

Notes: Ahem. Hello again. Hope everyone is well. Enjoy.

Chapter 7: Returning the Favor

10:47 am, October 11, 2006
Bunnyburrow Senior High School, 4 Main Street, Bunnyburrow, ZT.

Under the monotone fluorescent glow within a high school classroom, an ordinary day of school was puttering onward. Teenage mammals barely tried to stay focused as they mumbled progressively throughout their schoolwork. Aside from the usual awkward and introverted pairs, a low, consistent chatter subsided throughout the class from the groups of socializing individuals. A unique pair, off to the corner, was no exception.

"Aw crud. Moosburg wants another presentation." The fox smiled sarcastically. This was probably the third presentation that Mrs. Moosburg had assigned the partnerships thus far in the quarter. Nick was getting a little tired with the repetition of it all.

"What do you mean, ANOTHER presentation? You NAILED the last one." The rabbit beamed, hitting her fist against her other paw with emphasis.

"Well, just because I can give a good presentation doesn't mean I enjoy it." Nick grinned childishly.

"Seriously, Nick. I never realized that you were such a good public speaker. I mean, you talked about Zootopian history like you were an expert!"

"Uhm. Thanks?" Nick looked a little awkward at the praise, and he scratched the fur on the back of his head.

Judy continued, speaking a little off-handedly. "I talk to Kathy all the time you know, and she said you weren't much of a talker." She paused for a second, wondering if it were appropriate to make that kind of comment.

Nick gave a half-smile. "Kathy this, Kathy that. It's all about what Kathy told you? You know I've never talked to Kathy before."

"Yeah, I know. But she seems to know EVERYthing about EVERYbody. She's like an encyclopedia of social knowledge." Judy sounded like she was in awe of Kathy's social connections.

"Well, don't expect her to know everything." Nick snided. "I mean, don't you have YOUR own social connections?" Nick was almost teasing Judy. He'd realized a while ago that Judy had focused so hard on her career, that she'd barely spent time with any close friends. From years on the streets, it was easy to tell who was well connected, and who wasn't.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess." Judy looked a little flustered, but recovered. "I am glad that she was wrong though. You can talk about the Industrial Era like you're giving a sales pitch. Mrs. Moosburg loved it!"

Nick smiled. "Sure, Judy, sure." Nick propped his head up on one of his paws. He sighed. "I just hope I haven't crossed a line at some point."

Judy paused and squinted oddly at the fox. A line? "What do you mean?"

Nick inhaled sharply, wishing he hadn't changed the subject. "Well, y'know. We work together fine as a team, but at SOME point, SOME body's gonna get suspicious, especially after what happened last week."

Judy chuckled, half confused. "What, you think Barney's out searching for revenge?" She covered a grin with a paw.

"You never know, Judy. I'm still new here, but my guess is that word has gotten around." Nick's eyebrows raised. "Though I'm not sure if Kathy would tell you anything."

Judy's nose started twitching. "I uh, don't think you have to worry about anything. One of Kathy's friends, Trisha, dates Barney, and she hasn't said anything. Not to me at least."

"You think they'd tell you if they were angry being cornered in a dark alley off of First Avenue." He squinted skeptically.

"Sure they would." Judy's jaw tightened without certainty. "Maybe." Judy considered for a second telling Nick about how Kathy never had anything good to say about him, but something kept her from admitting Kathy's qualms about the vulpine.

"If you say so, Judy." Nick kind of doubted that Judy's 'friends' actually cared about her that much. Whatever. None of my business.

He turned his attention back to the assignment at hand, trying to force away the tension that he had sensed for years now.

12:28 am, October 11, 2006
Bunnyburrow Senior High School, 4 Main Street, Bunnyburrow, ZT

Nick washed his paws quietly in the men's restroom, gazing at his fur in the mirror. The mirror was scratched, and had a questionable smudge smeared across its surface, which distorted the image partially. Nick rubbed soap through the fur on each of his fingers, making sure to wash each of his claws thoroughly.

When he was satisfied with his hygiene, he glanced around the empty bathroom. It wasn't super well cleaned, and a dissatisfying smell clung permanently in the air. The restroom was on the larger side, with many stalls, probably to accommodate the large student population in Bunnyburrow. Though at this time, between the fifth and sixth period, it was desolate. Just as Nick liked it to be.

He twisted off the faucet lever, which continued dripping regardless. He reached over to a paper dispenser on the wall to his right, clawing for a cheap, scratchy sheet of tissue to dry his paws. He took his time, not being particularly excited for his next class. Though math was one of his favorite topics, the same could not be said about the precalculus teacher, Ms. Lyssa. She had made it clear the moment they met that she did not like foxes with a passion. Whenever Nick raised his paw in class to respond to a question, she made a distinct effort to avoid calling on him. Usually she didn't check his homework, assuming he hadn't done it, and she also failed him on most tests, accusing him of cheating.

Despite his plummeting grades in that class, it had to be the easiest subject for him. Math was always clear, predictable, and unbiased. It was purely logic based, not reliant on blatant memorization or philosophy.

The sudden CREAK of the door opening returned Nick's attention to the mirror as he finished drying his paws. With the mirror, he could barely see the threshold of the entryway. He tossed the paper towel into the bin and was just about to leave when he saw a beaver scowling at him through the mirror. He heard a pattering noise of more small mammals crowding through the doorway.

"Heya FOX. What's up?" A sharp voice cut through the air, and echoed through the bathroom. To Nick's disdain, a bunch more mammals started to reinforce the beaver. A rabbit, a hare, -no- three rabbits. Some prairie dogs. The growing hoard of small, male prey cornered Nick against the sinks. Crap! Nick screamed internally.

"Hey, there. Can I help you?" Nick acted casually, leaning backwards on a short sink. He struggled to keep his outward demeanor calm. Nick knew that even small preys were a force to be reckoned with when they had strength in numbers. Especially in the desolate boy's restroom. Nick hoped he'd be able to quickly make a bolt for the door and leave these guys behind.

"I believe we have some business with you, filth." The beaver yelled bluntly, pointing aggressively at Nick. He'd been hoping that the fox would back down, or shown some sign of fear, but his face remained confidently blank.

"Oh, and what might that be?" Nick continued putting his best face forward. The bathroom door creaked as another mammal joined the fray. One of the oldest goats in the school joined the crowd of scowling mammals. Nick's smile faltered. A goat was large enough to beat him up at ease.

"I heard a RUMOR last week, that you mugged Barney," the goat bleated ruggedly. He stepped towards Nick ominously, who had his back pressed as closely to the sink as possible, trying to keep his distance.

"Yeah, an' Jerry too!" One of the many rabbits added.

"Uh, sure I did. But I didn't keep anything!" Nick smiled weakly. He held his paws outward surrenduringly. The last thing he wanted to do was get in a bathroom fight with a bunch of preys. The only possible outcome was a punishment on his end.

"Oh, don't try to smartass me, FOX. You think you're some kind of wise-guy, eh? The goat closed the gap between himself and the fox, pinning the fox to the wall in between two of the sinks. "'bout time you learn your place."

Nick lost any hope of avoiding confrontation. His collar shone yellow aggressively. What had started as an odd, hostile group, had clearly devolved into a mob intent on beating up a suddenly nonthreatening predator. If he retaliated in any way, shape, or form that injured one of these guys, he could wish public school goodbye, for sure.

Nick clung to a desperate hope of negotiation with the mob of teenagers. "Now wait a minute. Let's not jump to conclu-"

"We're all sick of you, pred! Actin' like you own the place. No one messes with Barney and gets away with it." The goat screeched, driving his hoofs further into Nick's shoulders.

"That's right!" One of the rabbits reinforced the goat's comments, as the rest of the group chuckled satisfactorily. The mob appeared to be very satisfied that they had successfully apprehended a fox.

Nick gazed rapidly around the restroom, avidly searching for a means of escape. Somehow he needed to loosen the goat's grip and probably make a bolt for the door. He needed to distract him. He decided to pull the oldest trick from the book.

"Hey, look over there!" Nick yelled with a surprised voice. He pointed eagerly with a claw at the opposite wall in the restroom. The goat turned around to face where Nick had pointed, confused by the sudden remark. The stupid hoard of rabbits turned with just as much gullibility, angling their ears in the direction that Nick had randomly pointed at.

In the split second when mob was distracted, Nick deftly flicked his paws between the hooves of the goat, tossing them off of his shoulder. He ducked under his briefly limp arms and scampered towards the door. He shifted rapidly past the conglomeration of mammals, who had, by now, recovered from the fox's trick and were now grabbing for the escaping fox.

"Hey, get that stupid, flea-infested, good for nothing…" Nick didn't care to listen to the mindless insults being thrown at him.

Nick burst from the bathroom, glancing both ways. This bathroom was located on the edge of the school building in a short connecting hallway that was usually empty. On his left, the hallway led to a door outside past a few lockers. If he wanted to escape the troublesome crowd of misbehaving boys, he'd want to head the opposite direction, into the crowded hallway where he couldn't be publicly chased. He turned to his right, where the hallway led into the bustling, main hall, which was distinctly emanating noise during the class transition.

Just to put a damper on his quick thinking, Nick realized another group of mammals stood between him and the busy hallway. Several female rabbits, other small mammals. An aggressive deer began striding towards the fox.

Crap! Outside it is! Nick made a u-turn and twisted away from the grimacing deer just as the group of boys burst from the men's restroom. Nick broke into a full-on sprint towards the outside. Once he escaped into the sunlight, he figured he could outmaneuver the rabbits. It'd be better than getting cornered in a desolate hallway, that was for sure. Just a few more feet!

Right when he was about 10 feet from the door, the hotfooted fox felt a hoof drive into his right shoulder. The limb, with all of its force, shoved the canine sharply away from his escape.

SLAM! The full strength of a deer beat Nick straight into the tough doors of the lockers that lined the hallway. The side of his face was grotesquely pressed against the cold metal doors, as the sharp hooves of the deer stabbed him in the back. His collar shocked him gloriously, but the deer was apparently either too large or too occupied with immobilizing the fox that she didn't notice. Nick grunted a startled breath.

In the two months spent at Bunnyburrow High School, Nick had never been confronted so aggressively before. Sure, he'd experienced this sort of crap back in Zootopia, but in Bunnyburrow? Usually everyone was too wary of him to want to pin him against a locker in a desolate hallway. He guessed he must have touched a nerve when he offended Barney in the previous week. It was just his luck that they'd recruited one of the deer in school. Otherwise, he probably could have outrun the hoard.

"Ha, you thought you'd get off easy, eh foxy?" A hostile, female rabbit approached the limp fox, still being pressed brutally against the wall. Nick glimpsed the rabbit, who he recognized as Trisha. She, from his understanding, was totally connected with Kathy's popular group. Then Nick remembered Judy's comment, that she was Barney's boyfriend. Oh crap. He could only imagine how satisfying this was for her to threaten the mammal that had bested her crush.

Trisha continued. "Thankfully, I don't need to rely on a bunch of nitwits to catch a fox." She twisted her head furiously, and glared distastefully at the crowd of boys that had originally cornered Nick in the bathroom. The goat looked most ashamed. "Nice job trapping him, Alicia." She smiled at the deer, who nodded a silent reply. She glanced warily behind her, making sure that there were no teachers or adults popping around the corner into the hallway.

"Anyway, I heard it through the grapevine that you just so happened to have attacked Barney and Jerry last week. You cornered them in an alley, and threatened to eat them, right?" The rabbit scowled with confidence, not fearing the immobilized fox in front of her.

"No clue what you're talking abou-" Nick stammered with a failed attempt at calm. He was having some trouble speaking when his face was smudged on the uncomfortable metal surface, though he was cut off when the deer, Alicia, pressed him harder into the chilly locker door.

"Blah, blah, no one cares about what you have to say, fox! We know the truth already anyway." Trisha cut him off. "You had the guts to mess with the most popular boy in town, and think you can get away with it!" She turned sarcastically to one of her pals. "Can you believe it? The pred moved to Bunnyburrow, wanting to get a taste of rabbit himself, and instead gets pinned to a locker!" She chortled gleefully. "It's almost like a storybook!" The rabbits laughed.

Nick's eyes glared with annoyance. He'd spent the first month of school keeping to himself, not talking to anyone, and then the second he made a move, he was accused of wanting to eat a rabbit. Great! Just great! I guess I saw it coming.

Judy Hopps barely managed to snag a few papers stuck in the back of her locker. There was a shelf in the top of the locker that was just barely out of her reach, so she had to jump up and hold on to the edge of the shelf briefly while she used her free paw to try and clear out the locker. Judy was extremely organized, though somehow, a few papers must have fallen out of one of her folders when she threw it onto the upper shelf.

She glanced at the papers that were partially crumpled. Oh! There's that math homework! She'd been looking for it all morning. Thankfully, she'd realized there were loose papers just before precalculus started and found the assignment. She tucked it safely back into her homework folder and kicked the locker shut.

Today was a day much like any other. Listen to the teachers, get your work done, et cetera, et cetera. Judy, so far in the school, was making A's in all of her classes, except for math. She'd always had trouble with math.

She turned a corner and walked into the main hallway. Bunnyburrow High School was a very expansive building. The original part of the school was very conventionally built: a two story, brick building from the '50s. Though it had an amalgamation of additions added over the past decades in order to house the booming population in Bunnyburrow, not to mention the assortment of "temporary" trailers that surrounded the building out of desperation.

The main hallway was noisy during the transition, filled with chatter and slowly growing excitement for the end of the school day. She stepped over a crack in the floor that designated where the original school building ended and one of the cheaper additions was tacked on.

She forged onward, knowing that her precalculus class was at the end of the hall. The hall diverged in a complicated web of directions though Judy knew the school's map by heart.

Her walk was uneventful. She walked around some clumps of students that had arrogantly blocked off the hallway to gossip in circles. A few boys were horsing around in the doorway of the gym, which made sense because they were horses. All everyday, normal annoyances. She was only a few doors down from the classroom, when she paused at the noise of a locker being slammed down a hallway to her right that she just passed.

She was about to ignore it, until she heard Trisha's familiar voice. "Ha, you thought you'd get off easy, eh-" Judy twisted around, her nose wiggling nervously. She doubled back, and peered down the corner of the hallway. Please be nothing, please be nothing. If one thing was for sure, it was that she didn't want to have to confront Trisha.

What the-. By the looks of it, a crowd of mammals had gathered at the end of the hallway, close to the exit door. What could they possibly be doing? She stared with uncertainty, until her gaze fell upon the subject of the crowd. A limp, scrawny drape of red fur was being held above the floor by Alicia, the deer, against the lockers. She was confused for a second, until she realized. Oh, no, no, no…

She marched with fervor towards the crowd while going unnoticed. The mammals were laughing, glad to have immobilized the fox. "It's almost like a storybook!" Trisha went on laughing. She could see Nick's uncomfortable face now, grimacing against the surface of the metal door. Her disgust that anyone should be bullied like this boiled over.

"Hey, what's going on here!?" The clump of rabbits twisted towards Judy, thinking for a moment that she was a teacher. She saw many of them sigh with relief when they saw that it was only her. Trisha, though, looked uncomfortable. She gave one of her fake smiles, as was typical of her. Trisha was one of Kathy's best friends, so Judy was used to talking to her on a daily basis. She even considered her a friend. Nick frowned, and glanced worriedly at the ceiling: a gesture that Judy didn't notice.

"Oh, nothing's wrong here, Judy. It's all good!" She stood between Judy and Nick, smiling anxiously.

Judy peered behind Trisha, at the fox that was definitely NOT good. "Trisha, what the heck!?" She frowned worriedly at Trisha's denial, her palms facing upward. "What are you doing?"

"Ugh, just, Judy, just, y'know. Shut up!" She breathed in a way that was almost aggressive. "Just turn around and go, this is none of your business."

"You're hurting him!" She demanded, glaring at Kathy.

"Judy, you don't understand. You ought to know better. We're just doing what you SHOULD have done a LONG time ago."

"Beating up one of our, um, classmates!" Judy spat, hesitating for a moment. "I thought we were friends!" She demanded.

"Judy, this isn't any of your-"

"That's it! I'm gonna get Mr. Hardwood down here! Don't you know you're breaking the school handbook!" Judy demanded. A few rabbits in the group rolled their eyes at Judy's goody-two-shoes-iness. Judy turned around to the gym, which was just a spitting distance from them in the main hall. Mr. Hardwood was the P.E. teacher.

"No, no, no, Judy, that isn't a good idea." Trisha frowned desperately. She knew that Judy wouldn't hesitate to tattle-tale on anybody. "We're friends, remember? No need to get Mr. Hardwood involved." She pried, as if trying to get Judy to forget that there was still a fox pinned to the wall behind her.

"You haven't even let him down yet, and YOU expect me not to get an adult involved?" She gestured disbelievingly at Nick, who was still grimly trapped by a deer.

Trisha's face fell in defeat. She turned around hesitantly. As much as she wanted to teach that stupid pred a lesson, Mr. Hardwood was not lenient with bullies. Trisha had no doubt that Judy would betray her if she gave her the chance. Looking back at the fox though, she did hesitate. If Alicia let go, would the fox become aggressive? Would he attack them? The rabbits wouldn't have the upper hand any more. And she would look stupid in front of her group letting little Judy win. Trisha knew though that Kathy insisted on befriending Judy. She was her little "project." It would be good to have Judy on her side.

"Ugh, okay, let the fox go." Trisha strained, rubbing her eyes with a pair of fingers.

Alicia raised her eyebrows before pulling her hooves back, letting the fox fall onto the ground, his collar releasing another unnoticed ZAP.

"You happy now, Judy? We let your, um, pal go." She looked genuinely worried. The fox stood up, as many of the rabbits and other preys started to disperse, either giving Judy or Nick a death glare.

"Yeah, you better, Trisha." Judy looked disgusted.

Trisha sidestepped next to Judy, glancing behind her at the ragged fox. She scowled at him. Then she left Judy with the fox wordlessly. If she wants to save the stupid fox, let her. She'd have speak to Kathy about the situation later.

Judy hopped over to the worn-out fox. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Nick looked annoyed. "I was doing fine. You didn't need to get involved." He stood up wearily.

"Uh, yeah. I'm pretty sure I did!" Judy was perplexed as to why the fox would even pretend like he could handle that situation on his own. "Alicia had you cornered!" She waved a paw at the deer, who disappeared around the corner.

"Sure, sure." Nick brushed his pants off with his paws, before scratching the irritated skin under his collar. The prickling feeling of the electricity was still coursing under his pelt. Nick sighed. "Just...you need to be careful around those guys…" Nick looked back up at Judy's face when she interrupted him.

"Hmph? Didn't I tell you the same thing when you helped me last week? What makes you think you can stand up for me, but when I do the same for you I'm putting myself in danger, eh?" She gave Nick a dour look and pursed her lips.

Nick threw a palm onto his face and clenched his teeth. "Ugh. Got me there Hopps. Fine."

"Why did they even attack you?" She turned to look down towards the main hallway, where Trisha had meandered away moments prior. "I've never seen Trisha be so aggressive before." She looked investigative.

"Why do you think?" Nick grumbled.

Judy gasped. "It DID have something to do with last week, didn't it? Trisha's always rambling on about how much she loves Barney." She tapped her lips questioningly with a finger and raised a brow.

Nick sighed. "You're half right, I guess."

Judy grumbled. "Nick, I am so sorry about this. I can't believe I thought Trisha was my friend." She looked mournful.

Nick studied the little rabbit. He'd always found it weird that Judy was so connected to the pack of mindless trendsetters that constituted Kathy's little club. Even weirder that Judy felt the need to apologize for the mammals that she thought were her friends.

"You don't need to apologize for THEM, Judy. I don't really care that much." Nick rolled his eyes, acting casual. He started walking slowly back towards the main hall. Judy, keeping pace in front of him, walking backwards.

"How can you NOT care? Every other mammal I've ratted bullies out for seems to care." She cocked her head as they turned the corner, into the hallway that was now clearing out at the end of transition.

Nick exhaled. "Hm, well in that case, thank you Judy." Nick smiled toothily, very obviously only trying to please the rabbit. They reached the door of the precalculus class that they had together. The pair stopped where a few mammals were filing in.

Nick's smile faded a little, and he added, "I guess we ought to look out for each other then, right?" He shoved his hands into his pockets awkwardly.

Judy grinned. "I guess so. We can have each other's backs." She held up a closed fist at the fox, smiling enthusiastically.

The fox stared at at Judy's paw for a moment, before realizing that she wanted a fist-bump. Ah, she's one of THOSE types. He tapped her fist with his own. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you round then, Judy."

They walked into the classroom together, Nick headed for his desk in the back corner of the room, as Judy split off to her desk in the dead center. "See you." She murmured, before sitting down.

She turned around cautiously, watching the fox pull out his chair. He gazed out of the windows before leaning back into the chair that was slightly too small for him.

Judy turned back to the front of the room to face her precalculus teacher, Ms. Lyssa, who was glaring at the red furred mammal to the side of the room. Judy hadn't noticed it before, but Ms. Lyssa's resentment for her classmate suddenly seemed unmistakable.

Author's Notes: Well, well, well. Looks like Bunnyburrow High is full of drama. Judy and Nick seem to be warming up to each other though, which is good.

Anyway, sorry about that 'Gap,' between chapters. Believe me, it wasn't the plan to publish a chapter, skip two months, and then throw in another chapter by the time everyone's forgotten about this story. Lets just, uh, pretend September and October didn't exist. Yeah, that'll work. Maybe. Probably not.

Anyway, everything has just been horribly crazy; 2020 doing it's thing, amiright? School restarted for myself, I've been working too much, doing a bunch of other stuff, and then it seems like everyone I know has been having health problems. Oh yeah, and it's election season too.

Hm, well, with everything going on, it took far too long to get my ideas together to publish this chapter. I barely even knew what I wanted this chapter to look like when I started planning either. It's been rewritten plenty of times, characters were added, characters were removed. I deleted and rewrote multiple conversations, just trying to get everything to sound coherent.

I'm really glad that many of you have been showing interest for the past two months. It does mean a lot to me. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to repay you with a predictable upload schedule. I was really happy with publishing weekly back in the summer, but, clearly, that ain't gonna work going into the winter. All I can say is that I'll try to get chapters out as soon as I can manage, but that could take anywhere between days and months. I'm trying to make sure "The Gap" is as high quality as I can make it, so I hope that taking time will allow that to happen. I really do have a passion for this story that I'm writing. The overall story arc has been planned for a long time now, so I haven't lost interest. Only time.

Anyway, with that, I hope you all had a good September/October. I know how annoying it is to wait unreasonable amount of time for people to pump out new chapters. Believe me, I've been there. I hope I can upload within two months for Chapter 8, but we'll see what happens.

Oh, and before I go, if you live in the United States and are eligible to vote, please do that. The country is relying on you.

Happy election day, happy November, best of luck, and I'll be back. Stay safe.

-Wonks

This chapter was originally published on November 3, 2020.