You wouldn't the imagine how much I had to push myself to get the chapter written. Not a bad thing since sometimes a little force is needed. Hopefully this will lead to more productive writing.
9:00 PM, outside the Law Library,
Jack sat impatiently in front of the library entrance, waiting for the others to arrive for the meeting. If he were honest, the buck expected the worst. Jack still wondered why he agreed to another one. Maybe it was to challenge Nick's leadership. Maybe it was a desire to prove a point. Two familiar voices interrupted his thoughts, and the rabbit looked up and saw Nick and Clawhauser approaching.
The cheetah looked absolutely miserable while the fox walked smugly.
"What's gotten into you two?" Jack asked as the two predators stopped in front of him.
Nick calmly took a seat next to Jack. "I found Ben's outline. It was in the library the whole time."
While that question was answered, the buck raised his eyebrow and tilted his head in confusion. "Okay, but why does Clawhauser look unhappy?"
"He's holding my outline hostage until I repay him." The cheetah deadpanned.
Jack wanted to say so many things right now, but that was interrupted by the arrival of Skye and Fru Fru, the latter being carried by the vixen.
"Hi boys!" The shrew greeted.
"Hi girls." Nick said smugly.
His behavior immediately attracted Skye's curiosity. "Why are you so upbeat?"
It was Jack who answered. "Nick found Ben's outline and is using it as leverage."
"Ooh," The girls winced.
"That's rough." Fru Fru said. "Though to be fair, you sort of deserve this Ben."
The cheetah could only whine. "I know, and I'm sorry for the trouble my behavior caused."
"How long will you keep at this Nick?" Skye asked. "We still need copies to study for Property."
"Just this week, but that doesn't mean he's off the hook."
"Oh come on Nick! I said I was sorry!"
His pleading did little to change Nick's mind as he narrowed his eyes at Clawhauser. "I know, but I'm waiting until Carrots is finished. If she does well, I'll be lenient. But if she fails, you better hope that I can convince her that I'm handling you."
The cheetah nervously gulped, not wanting to even imagine how angry Judy would be at him. He began saying prayers in his mind, begging for mercy.
"Okay," Jack interjected. "Let's get on with this meeting. Besides Ben here, I believe Skye is the only mammal who hasn't given copies of her outline to the group?"
"I have them right here!" The arctic vixen set her bag down and proceeded to remove stacks of papers which was her outline. She gave a copy to everyone else, saving one for Judy later.
"Thank you. That leaves only Ben. Seriously Nick, the rest of us are relying on it to do well in the course. If you get carried away, what happened between Ben and Judy in the library can happen to us."
"I am not like Nick!" The cheetah shouted.
"Ben calm down!" Nick cried.
"But Jack has a point! Why do you have to hang this over my head?"
This time Nick stood up and glared at Clawhauser, bearing his teeth into a snarl. "Careful now, you don't want something bad happening to the outline do you?"
The cheetah returned the gesture and growled. "You wouldn't."
Nick also growled. "Try me."
Sensing the escalation, Fru Fru quickly climbed onto Skye's head and held on as the vixen charged forward and placed her and the shrew between the snarling, growling predators.
"Will you two stop it!" the shrew yelled. "This isn't helping us!"
"You're going to get us all in trouble if you keep this up!" Skye exclaimed.
"Can I just say something!?" Jack interjected. Fortunately, his shout halted the potential altercation as all eyes fell on him. "Thank you," Jack took a moment to gather his thoughts and calm down before speaking. You all are a bunch of morons. Disorganized, inconsiderate, selfish and ego-maniacal."
His blunt assessment drew the desired reactions when everyone else glared at him.
"Not me!" Clawhauser yelled.
The others would have responded the same were it not for Nick. "So does that mean you're finally quitting?"
Jack looked in his direction to see a smug look on his face and his arms crossed. The buck returned the gestures. "I have been taking time out of my day to organize and come to these meetings, yet all we've done is argued. Is it unfair of me to ask if that's normal?"
While the others saw it as Jack finally having enough and saying his piece before leaving, Nick saw it another way, hoping to keep the group together. "Are you saying that you like the study groups? I mean why would you still show up if you still held out hope."
This caused Jack to chuckle. "I wouldn't go that far. I did miss them as far as liking them."
"Then what's your point?" Fru Fru asked.
The buck then took a deep breath. "Maybe we should just forget everything and start over." He looked around at everyone before continuing. "Maybe we were all just going through a bad day."
His comment caused Skye to raise an eyebrow in confusion. To her, it felt completely out of character for Jack. "What with the change of heart?"
Jack threw his arms in the air as he got up and started pacing around. "I don't know. All I know is that this constant bickering among us will affect our classes." He stopped pacing and turned to face the others with a knowing look.
The conversation became quiet as the buck let the others stew on his words. He thought it ironic how the tables turned in just a few weeks. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he did enjoy the time afforded to him with the work being split up.
Finally, Nick and Clawhauser relaxed their stances.
The fox, in particular, let out a deep sigh and ran his paw over his face. "He's right." Nick set his bag down and unzipped it. The girls gave him space but stayed within arm's distance in case anything happened. Nick lifted the outline and held it before the cheetah. "Take it."
Clawhauser was stunned into silence and could barely get the words 'But' out.
"You're still not off the hook. But from now on, using schoolwork as leverage is off limits. I think we can all agree on that."
He received nods in response, even from Clawhauser.
And while the cheetah wished Nick could let the whole issue go, he still got his outline back in the end. Ben released a huge sigh and accepted the stack of papers. "Thanks."
Seeing that the conflict was mostly behind them, Fru Fru and Skye decided that now was the time to bring up what they had discussed earlier at lunch.
"Speaking of bad days," The shrew said from atop the vixen's head. "Skye and I have an idea to help us relax."
"Oh? And what's that?" Nick asked.
The girls smiled as they prepared to lay it all out.
"How does a weekend party sound?" Skye proposed.
The next morning,
Judy anxiously paced around the waiting room to Bogo's office, waiting for the Cape Buffalo to arrive. She would occasionally glance at the stack of papers she carried in one arm. While it took many hours and nearly all night, Judy managed to finish the report and still get a few hours of sleep. While not as extensive as she desired, the report answered the question and provided a sufficient analysis of the facts of the case.
Judy thanked Natalie countless times for allowing her to stay after hours and offering to check the citations to ensure everything was in order. The grey rabbit promised the white rabbit to repay the favors in the future; much to the latter's insistence otherwise.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to the office opened and in walked Bogo. She quickly straightened herself to be more presentable. "Professor!"
But the Cape Buffalo appeared to have ignored her and instead turned his attention to his assistant. "Any messages for me Miss Nyala?"
The antelope promptly reached for an index card. "Yes, you have one call from Judge Barker and one call from a council mammal."
Bogo nodded in acknowledgment. "Inform them that I will return their calls after Contracts." He proceeded to enter his office, leaving a confused and exasperated Judy behind.
The rabbit quickly shook from her stupor and began pleading with Nyala. "Will you please call him? Tell him that Miss Hopps is here for the appointment!"
Normally, the assistant would dismiss any pleas, but having seen her boss not even glance the rabbit's way was highly unusual. Curiosity getting the better of her, Nyala picked up the headpiece and dialed in. "Professor Bogo, there is a Miss Hopps to see you. She does have an appointment…" The antelope glanced at Judy for a second before returning to the call. "She does…Okay, I'll tell her." She placed the headpiece back and turned to an anxious Judy. "Professor Bogo says to go to class and wait for him there."
This greatly confused Judy and she had so many questions. Still, the rabbit didn't know what happened before Bogo arrived on campus and it was none of her business to ask. Judy simply nodded and proceeded to Contracts. If something bad had happened to Bogo, she decided it would be best just to casually bring up the topic of her report rather than press the issue.
"Hey Carrots! How'd it go with Bogo?"
The rabbit looked up from her desk to see her friends gathering around. "He just told me to come to class. Didn't even mention the report."
Nick raised an eyebrow in confusion. "That's weird. Why would he do that?"
Jack scoffed. "Knowing Bogo, who knows?"
"At least he knows that you honored your part." Fru Fru said.
Judy let out a giggle. "Yeah, now I just need to know his plans."
"Speaking of plans," Skye interjected. "We're thinking of having a party this weekend. Give us all the time to cool off."
"A party huh?" Intrigued filled her voice. The idea did sound appealing.
But before she could answer, Clawhauser got everyone else's attention. "Hey Bogo's here! We'll talk more at lunch!"
The others hurried back to their assigned seats and prepared for class. Meanwhile, Judy kept an eye on Bogo. The Cape Buffalo set down the books and seating chart before proceeding to the board behind him. He picked up a chalk and began writing on the board. When he finished, Judy saw the words Specific Performance written and underlined. Maybe that was a clue, but the only thing that came to mind was that the lecture was meant to resume the topic. She didn't have time to elaborate further when Bogo called her name.
"Miss Hopps."
The rabbit promptly stood up.
"Would you please come here with your report?"
Confusion reigned, but she obeyed. Her friends and classmates wondered what was going on, some believing the rabbit was in trouble. When Judy arrived at the front of the classroom, Bogo proceeded to walk towards the back of the classroom. Through all this, Judy still did not understand his intentions. Bogo finally reached the main doors and turned around to face his students.
"Today, we have a special lecture. Miss Hopps has graciously performed extra research and has prepared a presentation of this important principle in Contract law."
Judy's eyes widened and her ears shot up at his words. A presentation was the last thing on her mind. Panic started to set in as her nose began twitching madly.
"I ask that you question her when she is done." After finishing addressing the rest of the class, Bogo turned his eyes back on Judy. "Miss Hopps, your presentation."
"But sir," She raised the report for emphasis. "There are twenty pages to this. It could take the entire class for me to explain."
But the number of pages didn't faze the Cape Buffalo at all. "We expect you to fill this classroom with your knowledge."
Panic gave away to confusion and Judy remained frozen in her stance at the podium. The students remained silent but could feel the awkwardness of the situation and pity for Judy.
"We're waiting, Miss Hopps." Bogo broke the silence.
Judy shook from her stupor and set the report back down, wanting to seek clarification. "Are you asking me to give my answer?"
"They are eager to hear you Miss Hopps, and no less eager to tear you apart when you're done."
Judy knew a challenge when she heard one like the back of her paw. The confusion finally gave away to determination as she narrowed her eyes at Bogo. "With all due respect sir, they can't do that. I know the answer."
"Prove it." He brought his arms out for emphasis. "This classroom is your court, I am your judge, and they are your jury."
Judy's eyes fell to her classmates where amid mixed and indifference responses, she saw a few encouraging smiles. Especially from her friends.
With that, Judy returned the smile and turned to the introduction of the report.
"Specific performance. One common question that is asked is When can the court order you to fulfill a promise?. Dangerous promises are made, but does that mean they need to be honored? It is not a simple answer. For example, in Vitellynx v. Porkland Productions, Vitellynx had refused to walk the tightrope unless he received an increased payment. More than what was agreed upon by the two parties. But the appellate court considered the circumstances behind the decisions and discovered two important factors. One was that Vitellynx had waited until the last minute to demand the changes. Two was that a replacement could not be arranged in time for the performance. Because of these factors, the court ruled that Vitellynx's decision had caused undue stress for the plaintiff and ordered the defendant to walk the tightrope without a net as contracted."
Sorry. I've been holding onto this letter for a few days. It ended up lost in my books of all places. If I tell you everything that's happened in the last 48 hours, you both would be screaming for me to come home. But some of it was actually good. I was right about the blow up, but I think everything's calmed down now. Sorry to leave this letter off, but I promise to write to you more later.
Love Judy.
P.S. Professor Bogo is a terrible mammal, but he's also a great teacher. Since the first day, I've been pushed to my limit in his class. But after today, I think I'm going to be alright.
Judy placed the letter in the envelope and sealed it before delivering the letter to the university post office. As she walked out of the building to meet her friends and discuss the weekend party, her eyes fell to the report sitting on top of a book. A proud smile grew on her face, not at being given an A. That much she expected, but it was what Bogo had written under the grade.
Enlightening
