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: Well then. I hope you didn't mind the 'short' wait. Here's chapter eight!
Chapter 8: Yearning for Change
11:12 am, October 17, 2006
Bunnyburrow Senior High School, 4 Main Street, Bunnyburrow, ZT.
The high school cafeteria was bustling in the chaos of first lunch. Mammals waited mundanely in the lunch line, not necessarily enthusiastic to buy mediocre lunch food. Rabbits and other small mammals darted between lunch tables as they entered the large, concrete lunchroom. Rays of gray light washed into the room from the thin windows that lined the tall ceiling. An occasional, frigid draft blew through the room as some mammals walked into the building from a courtyard to the side of the building.
At one of the tables near the center of the room, a group of mostly female rabbits had collected and were ogling over the latest fashion statements. Many of them were wearing flashy jewelry and bright clothing, chatting gleefully about the hottest trends and the hottest classmates. A few near the center of the table were bickering worthlessly, however.
"I told you Trisha! You need to apologize to Judy again," a rabbit with vibrant lipstick and patchy cream-colored fur demanded of her classmate.
The taller rabbit that she was yelling at groaned, and she scowled back at the other rabbit. "Oh gosh, Kathy. How many times do y'want me to do that!"
"She's just barely started sitting at our table again, and whenever she makes eye contact with you, I can almost feel the annoyance bleeding out of her fur." She glared at Trisha, blaming her for all of the trouble. "She hates you now."
"Ugh. So what! Who cares what Judy thinks?" She rolled her eyes conclusively and flared her paws in front of her, frustrated. "Six months ago we were having fun, making fun of Judy every opportunity we got. Now you're all about being NICE, NICE, NICE. I hate it!"
Kathy clenched her paws eagerly, and gleamed insatiably at her classmate. "But Trisha, isn't this all worth it?" She grinned. "Think of the drama, the suspense, the embarrassment! Getting Judy on OUR side is super important. It's way more fun than just making FUN of her!"
Trisha groaned again. "Oh gosh, Kathy. I swear you're obsessed. Do you really think this is worth it? I mean, aren't you putting that rabbit in danger, coaxing her to side with a chomper?"
"I'm not going to pass up an opportunity to embarrass little entitled Judy," Kathy replied, shrugging savagely. "It's HER fault for not seeing what's obvious."
Trisha glanced over at Kathy again. "Look, Kathy, I find Judy just as annoying as the last sane-rabbit, but to the point that I would mislead her for months just to get a few laughs? Yeah, I don't think so." She peeled her eyes away from Kathy, and pulled out a bottle of flavored water from her bag. She gazed at her classmates, who were eating nonchalantly.
Kathy was starting to look a little desperate. "C'mon Trisha. Just, if you can convince Judy that you didn't mean to attack her 'nice fox friend'," Kathy begged with air quotes, "you can get all chummy with her again, and then-" Kathy saw Judy approaching their table from across the cafeteria. "Oh, HI JUDY!" She screamed happily while standing up in her seat. She waved across the cafeteria.
Judy was carrying a tray of boiled vegetables from the lunch line, gazing around the cafeteria. She had been heading in the direction for Kathy's table, but seemed a little unsure about Trisha's presence. She didn't want to associate with any kind of bully.
"What's up, Kathy?" Judy padded up behind the rabbit's seat. She ignored Trisha, who seemed equally willing to pretend that she didn't exist.
"Here, Judy, I saved you a seat!" She patted the empty seat between her and Trisha, as if she was being generous. Judy scrutinized the offer.
For the past week, it seemed like Kathy would talk about nothing but forgiving Trisha. That she'd just overreacted. It was a simple mistake. Or, some excuse along those lines. Judy liked Kathy, she was interesting and unique, but Judy was annoyed by Trisha since she found her beating up her partner from history class.
She glanced uncertainly at the empty seat, while being examined by Kathy's gleefully optimistic eyes. "C'mon, Judy, Trisha misses you."
Judy was about to sit down, but she paused awkwardly when Kathy started to plead. That isn't normal for her. She hopped onto the circular seat, and slid her legs underneath the folding table, making her best effort to persistently ignore Trisha.
"Yaaas!" Kathy shivered with joy when Judy took her seat.
Judy grinned a little. These over-dramatic outbursts definitely gave Kathy some charm. She stabbed a rubbery carrot off of her school lunch tray and chewed it mindlessly. Trisha also had her attention focused on her meal, though Kathy was awkwardly staring between the two of them, as if waiting for something to happen.
"Sooo, Trisha. Do you have anything to say to Judy?" Kathy butted into the silence when Trisha and Judy, clearly, were not taking any kind of interaction into their own hands.
Trisha rolled her eyes menacingly, and her mouth drooped in annoyance of Kathy's nonsense. Thankfully, Judy's attention was turned neutrally on Kathy's eager eyes.
"Look, Kathy, I really don't feel like talking to Trisha right now, okay. Not after how she acted last week." Judy's murmur was completely overshadowed by Kathy's dangerous glare in Trisha's direction.
Trisha sighed detestably. "Ugh. Okay, Judy, I'm sooo sorry for how I treated your FRIEND last week." She choked the apology out, as if she was being forced to at gunpoint. She rolled her eyes at Kathy hatefully. There, are you happy now? She was sick of trying to please Judy all of the time.
"There, see, Judy. Everything that happened last week was just a big misunderstanding." She grinned ear-to-ear. "Right, Trisha?"
"Yeah, yeah. All a big misunderstanding. That's right," Trisha mumbled, she had her attention turned back on her own lunch.
Judy glanced between the pair, slightly suspicious. "A big misunderstanding? You had him pinned to a locker, Trisha. How is that a misunderstanding?" She muttered. "Like, did you mistake him for someone else?"
Trisha was about to blurt out a reply when Kathy chose to respond for her. "Oh, you caught Trisha at a really weird time, Judy. Apparently Alicia was in a bad mood, and she just went ALL OUT on the guy closest to her, which just happened to be Nick, and Kathy didn't stop her, so…" Kathy started rambling to a partially disbelieving Judy. "...so anyway, long story short, Trisha has some out-of-whack anger management problems that got out of hand last week."
Trisha was seething. She'd almost expected Kathy to make up some completely random explanation for the incident on the spot, but she felt betrayed that she would go out of her way to personally INSULT her. She wanted to bash her lunch tray into Kathy's head.
"Uhhh, okay?" Judy barely absorbed any of Kathy's disconnected explanations, but she was nearly convinced by the sincerity in her voice. "I, uh, guess that makes sense," she lied. "For a little while I thought all of this had something to do with what happened between Barney and Nick a few weeks ago," Judy chuckled.
Kathy cracked up. "Oh, of COURSE NOT, Judy. Why would it have any-" Trisha interrupted her.
"Well, actually, it DOES have to do with what happened to Barney last week, JUDY," Trisha noted. She squinted suspiciously at Judy. "How the HECK would you know about that?" She didn't think the fox would have told her anything about it.
"Oh, I was there," Judy commented, unconcerned.
"WHAT! YOU! You of all- You were there!?" Trisha was furious. First Kathy pisses me off, and then apparently Judy WITNESSED Barney's humiliation. "Why didn't you do anything? Say something? You watched him get robbed and are okay with it! Barney's been telling me that that disgusting fox can't be trusted, and here you are witnessing that criminal in action. How can you STILL talk to that filthy, stupid, idiotic, thieving, dangerous f-"
"-aaand, as I was saying, Trisha has anger issues..." She had jumped out of her seat and pressed her paws between Judy and Trisha. Grinding her teeth, she flashed an anxious smile towards Judy, before turning and beaming a death glare in Trisha's face. "...that she is working on!" She chirped desperately, trying to get Trisha to shut up.
"No, no, no, no. Just shut up Kathy! I don't know what you're trying to do here, but I DO NOT have anger issues, and you CANNOT defend that fox!" Kathy's furious gaze turned away from her former ally, and pierced Judy's eyes. "And you! You can't trust him either. I don't know what STUPID thoughts are running through your head, but I can't fathom why you'd witness that chomper cornering MY boyfriend in an alley and robbing him and still feel even REMOTELY okay around him." If they weren't in the busiest room in the building, Trisha would have punched her. She wished she had a second lunch tray at her disposal.
"He DID NOT rob Barney! I saw it with my own eyes!" Judy defended herself desperately. "He was only defending me!"
"Defending you! Seriously!?" Trisha stared at her incredulously. "Give me a break, Judy. You've known that fox for barely a month, and he's already BRAINWASHED you!" She waved her paws around erratically. "Of literally any rabbit in this room, why do YOU want to be a cop? Of all bunnies? You're about the most gullible one I've ever met!"
"You're the one trying to defend your own bullying." Judy rose her voice. "I should have gotten a teacher when I had the chance, then you wouldn't be here making judgements." The offense shone vibrantly on Judy's face. "Y'know what? Maybe I'll just leave." She jumped up from her seat, taking her lunch tray with her. She ignored the prying eyes watching her that had just witnessed Trisha's explosion.
"Yeah, do that, Judy." Trisha exclaimed wearily.
"What the heck, Trisha! Now she'll never talk to you ever again!" Kathy's lips pursed in toxicity.
"Good riddance. If she wants to trust the fox, let her."
Judy wandered away from the lunch table looking for a different seat. She couldn't believe Trisha had acted so unreasonably. Couldn't she see how speciest she was being? Judy's fur writhed in annoyance at the blatant discrimination. I need to confront Kathy later about Trisha.
Trisha's outburst had garnered some attention from the mammals around the popular girls' table, but it settled down once Judy left. She ignored the incessant murmuring that continued among the groups of small mammals.
She glanced around the cafeteria. Where the heck am I gonna sit now? She'd been sitting at Kathy's table for the whole school year so far, but before then she'd sat with quite a few different groups. She was always an outcast but was on decent terms with most mammals.
Her eyes met a table of science geeks, where she'd sat before being invited away. I can't sit there, Kathy would disown me. She considered sitting with a flock of sheep. Not enough space at that table. She could sit with computer wonks. No, that would be super awkward. She noticed a table of prairie dog freshmen. Ugh, they're probably kind of annoying. Maybe the artsy kids would welcome her to her table? I doubt it.
The Bunnyburrow High cafeteria was built with an exceptional capacity, and with it came lots of options. Judy also noticed that many of her siblings were scattered around the cafeteria at many different tables, all clustered with their own friends. Judy knew that she stuck out like a sore thumb, and that most of her siblings wouldn't necessarily appreciate it if she invaded one of their friend groups.
Judy was about to count her blessings and hope that a group of athletic hares would just ignore her if she sat at the end of their table. At that moment though, her eyes locked onto the unmistakable red fur of a certain vulpine.
Absolutely not! She declared internally. There was no way that she'd intentionally sit next to a predator EATING. No way!
She padded onward through the cafeteria, inching towards the table of hares. Yet, in a manner particularly unique to Judy, the idea-or sense of challenge-of sitting with Nick had completely permeated her train of thought. She couldn't resist.
Imagine how Trisha would react. The idea of completely defying her felt satisfying. That would show her. Her words continued flashing through her head. 'Of all bunnies. You're about the most gullible one I've ever met!' she recalled her saying. Judy knew she wasn't gullible. And she knew that Nick was perfectly tolerable. He wouldn't hurt her. Right?
She inhaled sharply, as if trying to fill herself with confidence, and she changed course towards what was apparently the predators table. A new rush of hesitation overcame Judy when she saw the other mammals at the table more clearly. She noticed that there was not one, but two wolves sitting at one end of the table. One had lighter, almost white, fur, and the other had dark gray fur that emphasized the apparent confidence in his facial expressions. There was also a menacing looking panther, who zipped up his hoodie, not noticing Judy's stare. Next to him sat an inconspicuous looking lynx, who set a sandwich onto the table before adjusting his glasses.
She swallowed anxiously and pledged to ignore the other preds. She reminded herself that they were all wearing TAME Collars; there was nothing they could possibly do to hurt her. Her steps became more confident when she thought of how her siblings would react. She smirked at the thought of telling her younger sisters about how brave she was. They'll think I'm such a daredevil, she relished the idea.
"So anyway, that's when I decided to put a sticky note on the bottom of Ms. Lyssa's computer mouse." A wolf with dark gray fur laughed as he told his tale.
"Oh, God, you're so immature Eric." A wolf with lighter fur rolled her eyes, though her grin reinforced Eric's confidence.
Nick chewed on some salad as he eavesdropped on Eric and Janet's conversation. Nick was usually pretty quiet, but he admitted that the other mammals usually had something interesting to say.
"Aw, c'mon, you knew it was hilarious too!" Eric started giggling. "She had to call the janitor into the room to help her figure out how to get her computer to start working again." He laughed hysterically at the memory.
"Cool it, Eric. Or you'll buzz yourself," Janet reminded him sternly.
As if on cue, the light on Eric's collar beeped with a warning yellow light. Eric cleared his throat, and continued his story cautiously. "Anway, you remember how it took them half-an-hour to figure out what was wrong with the computer." He risked a smile. "I ought to try another time; y'know, just to see if that idiot learned anything."
"I'll bet she didn't." Janet stopped trying to hide her grin. "Maybe next time she fails your test, you can try to-" her voice trailed off as her focus averted away from Eric towards the other end of the lunch table.
Nick noticed Janet's abrupt silence, and he perked his ears to notice several tables surrounding the predators' table becoming oddly quiet. He swallowed his mouthful of lettuce, glancing at Janet. Nick's eyes quickly turned in the direction of her stare at the same time his nose caught the smell of a familiar rabbit. What the…
Lo and behold, there was Judy, plopping down silently one seat away from Nick. She slapped her tray of crummy lunch food onto the table, diverting her gaze from the frozen group of predators whose stares were pinned onto the small rabbit that dared to sit within two yards of themselves.
There was an awkward moment of silence that solidified the uncertainty that overcame the tables in this part of the cafeteria. Evidently, it was unusual for any prey-mammal to sit at the same table as the gang of predators. A light murmur cautiously emerged, breaking the foreign stillness. Some whispers from other tables found their way into Nick's ears: "What is she doing?", "She's going to get herself killed.", "Who convinced her to do that?", and the like.
Judy's focus was still dedicated to her meal. Nick tore his stare away from the bunny, briefly back to the other preds. A few of them returned his questioning, confused gaze with an expression that clearly declared that, 'you better do something, Wilde. She's here 'cause of you.' Eric notably flicked his muzzle in Judy's direction, urging the fox to end the tension.
Nick proceeded cautiously. "Uh, hi, Judy?" He asked questioningly. A million thoughts darted through his distracted mind. Why the HECK was she here!? "I, uh, are you alright?" he articulated.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed a place to sit," she declared sternly. The rabbit met his astounded expression for the first time, forcing a façade of confidence.
"Uh, huh." She must be pretty desperate, Nick thought to himself. He studied her expression, only being able to decipher an apparent frustration.
"Did- did something happen with you and Kathy, or something?" Nick asked cautiously. "That's where you usually sit, right?" The fox acted concerned. He was having trouble comprehending what thoughts had run through the rabbit's mind to convince her to sit with a bunch of 'dangerous' predators.
"No, Kathy's fine. It's just Trisha who's being a jerk," Judy replied curtly. Nick could tell that she was trying to be casual. Her aura was overflowing with forced confidence. He suspected she was trying to distract herself from the half-dozen preds by holding a staring contest with her meal.
"Ah. I see." Nick sighed. He wasn't entirely sure how to handle this kind of situation. "What? Is she pissed about last week, or something?" Nick desperately tried to initiate some small talk.
"Something like that," Judy replied vaguely. "She's being kind of…" Judy paused as if searching for a word. "...unreasonable." She glanced back in the direction of her table, squinting. "She seemed pretty overprotective of her boyfriend though."
"She and Barney must be pretty close," Nick affirmed, nodding. He knew that Judy wasn't really seeing the 'big picture.'
"'Pretty close?' You kiddin' me, Wilde?" Eric had strided over and plopped himself in the usually empty seat on the other side of the fox. He leaned around from behind Nick to get a good look at the random rabbit sitting at his table. "Trisha and Barney are 'bout as stuck together as peanut butter and jelly."
Nick jerked his head backward towards Eric, startled by his sudden closeness. "Oh really?" He replied, raising his eyebrows.
"Yep. Sure thing. They've been stuck together since middle school." Eric was grinning at Judy. "Pretty dumb if you ask me. Barney can be a real asshole sometimes. I'm not surprised you got fed up with their antics." Eric gestured in Judy's direction.
Judy shrugged. Eric was being friendly, but Judy wasn't necessarily overjoyed at the wolf's apparent interest in her. She seemed even more tense now, if that was even possible.
Eric continued. "And from what I heard, you had to pry this li'l vulpine away from her last week." Eric jabbed Nick in the side playfully. "What was that all about?"
Nick was about to respond with a vague response, before Judy spoke up instead. "Trisha latches onto rumors really easily. She seems to think you actually robbed Barney. At least, that's probably what HE told her," she mentioned, keeping her attention pinned on Nick and away from the larger predator nearby.
At this tidbit, Eric had stopped leaning on the table towards Judy and was glimpsing the fox out of the corner of his eye. Nick was frowning. It was true that the wolf didn't know Nick very well, and was occasionally suspicious of him, but he knew it wasn't uncommon for stereotypical rumors about all the predators in the school to be strewn about. He knew foxes were known for being conniving and thievish, so at the hint of a rumor he felt a flash of sympathy for him. After all, wolves had their fair share of stereotypes as well.
Nick scratched the fur underneath his collar habitually. "Well, that's what she told me too, but I don't think it's all that important." He clearly wasn't relishing the conversation about his time being pinned to a locker. "What's more important is that she doesn't start bothering you, Judy."
"A little late for that." Judy sighed contemptuously. She couldn't help but feel a tragic annoyance towards anyone that broke rules and STILL tried to associate with her.
"I don't mean, like, just annoying you. Hopefully she doesn't start giving you the same crap that she gives me," Nick clarified bluntly. The fox searched Judy's expression, letting barely a sliver of worry sneak from his gaze. The fox knew Trisha hated him, not just because she thought he was a thief, not just because he humiliated her boyfriend, but because of his species. And if Trisha was so vulnerable as to fall victim to her own natural, specist instincts, he doubted she'd resist judging Judy either. She was too different. Too deviant. Too defiant.
"I don't think she'd do that, she's too close with Kathy." Judy feigned some more confidence, but Nick saw through her mask to see her own doubt.
"And you're sure Kathy will protect you?" Nick pressed doubtfully. He knew Kathy probably felt the same way as Trisha, she was just better at hiding it. "How long have you known her for, again?"
"Just since last year," Judy said casually, as if that was impressive. "Kathy's pretty nice, y'know. I'm pretty sure she doesn't like Trisha's conspiracies."
"Uh, huh. Sure." Nick was hardly sure if Judy realized how gullible she was being. Giving complete trust to the most popular rabbit in the school? Tough luck, Carrots.
Judy's nerves had lessened since she'd been sitting at the table for most of lunch. She poked at her food, her nerves only resurfacing when the sudden end-of-lunch bell rang. She hadn't noticed how close the different table was to the intercom.
Judy sprung out of her seat enthusiastically, subconsciously relieved to put a bit of distance between the clump of predators. "Whelp, I'd better be off to gym class, Nick. I'll see you?"
"Yep, you're always welcome here if Trisha drives you nuts again." Nick smiled morosely.
"Thanks, Nick." Judy jogged off into the crowd of small mammals now flooding its way out of the cafeteria.
The predators collected their things and tossed their bags over their shoulders. Prey mammals from neighboring tables didn't hide their disgusted faces, and willingly gave glares to the predators for their 'blatant manipulation.' At that moment though, Nick didn't care. His attention was fixed on the direction that the friendly rabbit had bolted.
Nick trudged passively out of the cafeteria. He watched his step, taking care not to breach the personal space of any defensive rabbits. He turned in the direction of his locker. It seemed that the other predators from his table had clung near him though, as a gray furred paw jabbed him in the side intently.
"Well, what the hell was that all about, Wilde?" Eric gazed at Nick accusatively. It was evident that he was confused, maybe even concerned, that a female rabbit had gone out of her way to side at HIS table. Nick doubted that had ever happened before.
"I don't even know," Nick muttered. He spoke as he continued walking forward, not giving Eric much attention.
"You're bluffing, aren't you?" Eric sounded annoyed with Nick's quietness, despite it never bothering him before.
"Really?" Nick finally turned his head to glance up at the wolf's stare. He had seen Eric like this before-confused, slightly dramatic-the extrovert acted this way whenever he felt uncomfortable.
"Gimmie a break, Wilde! What the heck did you do to get lil' Judy to sit at OUR table?" The pair turned a corner in the hallway, ignoring a few groups of rabbits that gave them evil glares when the large predators cut across the hallway. "Rabbits don't just, sit next to foxes! That isn't a thing!" he added.
Eric pressed further, trying to provoke some kind of contribution from the fox. "Especially Judy of all bunnies. She's a chicken, everyone knows that," he proclaimed.
"No she's not! What gave you that impression?" Nick insisted. Nick had known Judy for long enough to believe that Judy's determination, wit, and insistence in speaking to him in spite of her poorly hidden fears proved something. No, she was jumpy like rabbits tended to be, but she wasn't a chicken either.
"Judy's a PRISTINE specimen of gullibility, Wilde. Have you heard what she wants to do? She wants to be a BIG CITY cop. A bunny! How dumb is she?" Nick had reached his locker and had swiftly breached its lock. He glanced at the rambunctious wolf distastefully, but opted to keep his mouth shut.
Eric continued ranting. "Not to mention, it's common knowledge that Judy thinks she's better than everyone else. Her superiority complex is out of whack! I swear, just based on the way she acts, you can tell she thinks she's inclusive. She thinks she's open minded. She thinks she's fair." Eric shook his head in absurdity. Nick wasn't sure if he disagreed with the wolf or not. He had considered Judy's arrogance before, but he never felt like it overpowered her overall friendliness.
"You sound like Barney, y'know," a witty voice chimed from behind them. Janet had caught up with the fox and the other wolf. Her arms were crossed amusingly and she leaned in Eric's direction.
"Ex-cuse ME!" Eric twisted around defensively. "Absolutely not. You couldn't force me to spend a minute with that Barney idiot," he protested.
"Oh, really. How are you so sure?" Janet flashed him a toothy grin. She enjoyed throwing her playful remarks at Eric. "You and Barney might be brothers."
"Shut it, Janet!" Eric suppressed his laughter with a frown.
"Oh, c'mon. You didn't think it was cool for a bunny to sit at our table? That doesn't happen everyday!" Janet insisted. She put her arm around his shoulder platonically, grinning.
"Yeah, sure." Janet clearly had diffused Eric's discomfort. "I'm not complaining, I'm just confused," he rephrased.
"Nick probably has it all figured out. Right, Nick?" She turned her attention back to the fox, who had finished shuffling through papers at his locker.
Nick returned Janet's confident gaze. Nick wished things were as simple as Janet made them sound. "Judy's friendly. I'm not sure if it goes anywhere beyond that," he voiced bluntly.
"Well, keep looking out for her, Nick. If she trusts YOU of anyone, she isn't as bad as this idiot thinks." Nick accepted the backhanded compliment. Janet caught Eric off guard with a punch under his ribs.
"Ow! Fine, Janet." Eric rolled his eyes in response to her antics.
"Fine, Eric." Janet mocked him. The pair walked away from Nick into the sea of rabbits and hares.
Nick sighed and slammed his locker shut, heading down the hallway again. Predators are so supportive of each other, aren't they, he thought sarcastically. At least they weren't immediately suspicious. Of course, he knew many rabbits would see his apparent friendship with the rabbit as trouble. He only hoped they wouldn't gather much attention.
8:09 pm, October 17, 2006
The Hopps Family Farm, County Route 1, Bunnyburrow, ZT.
"Judy, what the heck is this!?"
Judy tore her eyes away from the laptop computer that she had borrowed from one of her brothers, and transitioned her attention onto her apparently furious mother. What could it possibly be now? Judy frowned.
Judy's mother had bounced furiously into the living room where Judy was browsing the web. In her paw she clutched what appeared to be a worn phone. The light pink flip phone had a couple flowery stickers glued onto its casing, distinctly identifying it as her sister, Julia's, phone.
"Have you seen this!? What is this!? Please tell me it's fake Judy!" She shoved the device abhorrently into Judy's face.
"Back it up, Mom. What is it now?" Judy replied much less expressively than what would be considered appropriate, considering her mother's concern. She moved the laptop off of her lap and pushed the phone out of her face.
"This photo. Your sister took- What is it?" she stammered unintelligibly.
Judy observed the phone's screen, which had apparently gone to sleep and turned dark. "I dunno Mom. Maybe you need to turn it on." Judy did her best to hide a grin. She hoped that whatever photo her sister took wasn't as big of a concern as her mother made it out to be.
"Oh, you stupid- stupid-" Mrs. Hopps muttered into the device angrily. She stabbed out a few keys trying to return it to whatever screen had made her so scared before. "This, Judy! THIS!" Her paw was shaking as she turned it in Judy's direction.
Judy's wit immediately dissolved at the sight of the photograph. Her jaw gaped slightly. Oh no. On the minuscule flip-phone display, was a tiny photograph of a rabbit sitting next to a fox. Me and Nick.
Of all the situations Judy had wanted to live through, explaining to her parents why she willingly sat next to an eating fox was not one of them. A million different lectures already ran through her head. He could have eaten you! Don't let him bait you! Stop being so gullible. Et cetera, et cetera. She had considered these thoughts earlier, but had brushed them aside.
"Oh, uh." She shrugged. "It, um, looks like I'm eating lunch."
Her mother glared at her furiously.
"...at school," Judy added helpfully.
"What the heck were you doing, Judy!?" She didn't hide her disgust. Her mouth quivered fearfully too, at Judy's confirmation of the picture's authenticity. "Is this the fox you work with in Moosburg's class?"
"Yes, Mom. He has a name, y'know." Judy frowned.
"Unless his name is 'I bait little rabbit girls so they're friendly to me,' I DON'T CARE. I do not care, Judy." She seethed through her teeth.
"Jeez, Mom. Chill. I can sit with whoever I want, you know." Judy rubbed her paws over her face in agitation. She was getting sick of her mother's invasiveness.
"Sure. Sure, Judy." Mrs. Hopps nodded sarcastically. "Under the simple condition that you ASK ME FIRST!" She pointed at Judy aggressively.
"You're ridiculous, Mom. Nick is harmless." She gave her mother a tired expression, sure that in any other household the situation would not be this dramatic.
"Oh, sure he is! How in the WORLD do you know that?" Judy's mother demanded.
Judy inhaled and was about to retort sharply when she hesitated. Do I know that? He IS a fox after all. She focused back on her mother when she resumed ranting.
"You don't. You don't know him! You may as well assume he can kill you," she insisted furiously.
Judy regained some footing. "Goodness, Mom. Have a little faith. You know I'm strong enough."
"NO, you're not," Judy's mother countered harshly. "You should not be floundering around, sitting at the most EDGY table you can find just to prove yourself!"
"Mom, nothing's gonna happen in school-"
"It doesn't matter. You are associating with THAT FILTH!" All of the pent-up annoyance that Mrs. Hopps had held against her daughter from her cockiness being rapidly released. "He's taking advantage of you."
"No, he's not. He's just trying to be nice." Judy rubbed her forehead, struggling to counter.
"Oh, listen to you. You feel sorry for him I bet?" She looked over at the doorway, shaking her head in disbelief. "Already falling for his tricks, I can't believe it…" She leaned over and rubbed her paws on her tired face, before looking up again. "Look, Judy. Can you please promise me that you'll just sit with Kathy. She's a nice girl. Everyone likes her," she noted desperately.
"That's exactly the problem, Mom. Her and Trisha are best friends. But Trisha's a jerk, you know. She's beaten up some mammals," Judy recalled her beef with Trisha from earlier.
"So your solution was to sit with a fox!? That isn't exactly guileless either." Judy's mother sighed.
Judy was getting tired. She frowned and inhaled sharply, "Okay, okay, okay. Can you leave me alone for a little bit?" She started waving her mother away. She wanted to get back to work on the homework that she had left. "Do you always have to take the smallest little thing and blow it out of proportion?" she questioned.
The older rabbit breathed softly, staring into space. Judy was surprised that she seemed to actually be reconsidering. Maybe she realized how harsh she's being. After a few moments, Judy's mother stared into her lavender eyes. "I just want you to be safe, dear. I love you too much."
Judy ignored the genuine desperation of her expression. She shirked her gaze. "Well, if you love me, maybe you'll trust my judgment," she snubbed.
Mrs. Hopps paused for a moment, contemplating her daughter's retorts. She edged towards a picture on the wall, straightening it and brushing off the dust. She didn't think her daughter knew what she was doing. At least it didn't seem that way. Regardless, she was compelled slightly by her insistence. She considered that she may need to learn the consequences of her actions the hard way.
Judy interrupted her mother's thoughts. "If you met Nick, I'm sure you'd see that you don't have to go berserk about him. He's not THAT scary," she claimed.
Judy watched her mother's eyes become laser-focused on her own. She stepped towards her daughter, lifting a finger in the air. "Okay, Judy. Listen to me; do-not-let-that-fox-take-advantage-of-you. Do you hear me?" she whispered, placing her paw on Judy's shoulder.
"Loud and clear."
"Fine, I trust you Judy. But don't make me regret it," she said with pain. Letting her daughter make these kinds of decisions stressed her, but fighting with Judy was clearly a losing battle.
"Thanks." Judy immediately lost focus on her mother. She stood there for a couple moments before turning around and leaving the room. She shook her head on her way out.
Judy tapped away at the laptop, glad to ignore the doubts planted by her mother.
Author's Notes: To Mrs. Hopps dismay, Judy remains as defiant as ever. Also, very confusing. She sure is learning how to make predators uncomfortable.
Anyway, where do I start? Uh. Hm. That was time. A lot of it too. Sorry. Let's see: I posted the last chapter of The Gap on November Third, election day. Feels like ages ago, actually. It didn't appear for a couple of hours too, thanks to the website's servers for doing their thing. So I've missed Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, an inauguration day, Easter, anything that's happened in the past six months for that matter. Wow, and what a crazy six months it's been.
If you want me to explain why it took six months to publish a single chapter of Zootopia Fanfiction, I don't have much to say. I had a crap ton of schoolwork, and it was a lot worse than I ever imagined it could be at the end of last summer. The utter homework load was awful. I would genuinely only find the chance to work on writing for a couple of minutes every few weeks. I've only found the time to finish and edit this chapter now that my exams are done. Then again, I suppose it doesn't help that this is the longest chapter I've written yet.
I thank anyone who is taking the time out of their day to read this, and I deeply appreciate your patience. If you remember correctly, I used to publish on a weekly basis in the summer. The good ol' days. We'll see what happens, but I'm hoping I can replicate something similar. After all, The Gap doesn't even have many chapters published yet. Even though I started writing it more than a year ago.
I'm tired, but the future is bright. I am sorry for that utterly nonexistent publishing schedule, but there isn't much I could do. I deeply appreciate anyone who reads this fic, and I appreciate feedback too. I hope you are enjoying my writing. I'll get to work on chapter 9 ASAP!
Stay safe! Summer is near!
-Wonks
Character Profiles:
Eric Alexander Carter:
Male, Canis lupus, born March 22 1989 (17 years old)
A wolf with dark gray fur who is one of the most well known predators in the school. Over the years, he has gained a reputation of being mostly benign, and he is deeply trusted by those who are familiar with him. His extroverted nature and lack of aggression have helped him become the pseudo-leader of the predators at Bunnyburrow High. He is confident in his abilities, and sometimes he thinks of himself as being edgy. Regardless, he is a pure Bunnyburrow native at heart, for better or for worse.
This chapter was originally published on May 26, 2021.