"Ah!! So, so sorry!"

"That's the third time already. Are you sure you're okay with this? I've taught animals that were a bit shaky at the start, but not complete marshmallows."

"Y-Yeah! I-I mean, sure. I will just, huh, do something more, I don't know! Maybe you could try showing me again?"

"Sounds fine by me. Now I understand why Ellen was so mad when Durham stepped on her, this really stings."

"Urgh, I'm really sorry Shiira."

"How about we make a deal? I teach you how to dance and you stop apologizing for every silly mistake. Is that good enough for you?"

"Huh... yeah. I will try."

The cheetah sighed. When she gave her word to Durham that she would teach his canine friend how to dance she expected something less frustrating. Jack was an absolute pile of anxiety. She tried her best to work around his weird personality. Sometimes he could go from chipper to absolute devasted in the blink of an eye. She had to admit he was endearing somewhat despite his unspoken fear of getting close to her. She was still trying to get him to do the most basic lessons, but every time they made physical contact Jack would just turn into a bamboo and go extremely pale. Shiira saw her fair share of shy animals, but Jack was establishing himself on a whole new level.

For his credit he did manage to follow some basic steps, even at the cost of the girl's feet. Thankfully he was lightweight, otherwise she probably would've given up by the third time he stepped on her. Jack was just a tad bit shorter than her, but the labrador was doing a very good job on avoiding eye contact. Any other day of the month she would've been extremely upset by this kind of behavior, but after the near disaster of the last weekend she just wanted to get her mind off the Drama Club and focus more on her own ambitions. Being patient was going to be a basic requirement if she ever decides to pursue a career as a dancing teacher.

Jack tried his best to follow her steps, both animals had their hands holding each other. His initial internal crisis, caused by the suddenness of their physical approach, had finally dissipated. The canine struggled to mimic her stances despite her constant orientation, but the blame was purely on him for being often distracted by the situation he found himself at. Jack was afraid that looking directly at Shiira, especially while being this close, would lock him into an embarrassing trance that he would quickly regret.

"Focus on your breathing, keep it steady, don't think too hard about what's around you, just feel the movement flow and keep relaxed through the motions." She said while pulling him into a slow spin. Jack nodded quietly as he tried his best to not trip over his own feet or hers. "Don't worry about getting it right in the first day, this takes a certain amount of practice anyways."

"Huh, does that mean we're going to do this kind of thing more often?" He asked shakily. The cheetah chuckled at the silly question.

"Of course. Might take few days but I can help you get settled for a basic dance. At least enough for you to not embarrass yourself with whoever you're looking to dance with."

Jack only replied with a sheepish smile of his own. He wished he could have the courage to say something smart, but anything he said at this point would simply give away his intentions.

"Speaking of embarrassing yourself." The started, adjusting Jack's posture as the Labrador started to lose the grip on her. "Have you seen Durham? I normally wouldn't ask but we've got used with having him around. Also Ellen has been quietly upset, which it's worrisome if you ask me. Ellen never goes quiet if she's upset with something or someone."

Jack's sudden crestfallen expression caught the cheetah off guard. She stopped guiding him as the canine clearly got too upset to pay attention to what was happening.

"About that... " Jack's voice was barely audible, the tone of sadness had Shiira on edge. "Durham got suspended from the Sports club."

"Wait, what?!" She asked loudly. Sure, Durham could be a mouthful at times and quite uncaring to social standards, but nothing about the coyote would ever suggest him to do something so inflicting to earn him a club suspension. "Why?"

"I... kinda don't like saying this, but... he got suspended under the allegations that he was being disruptive and demoralizing students, also he was presenting himself as dangerous towards herbivores and carnivores."

Shiira stared at him dubiously. Durham? Dangerous? Disruptive and Demoralizing? Was that actually serious?

"But... who even said such things?" The cheetah asked, fully understanding why Ellen had been so off lately. Jack shrugged, the despondent look on his face was very telling on how upset he was for his friend. She couldn't help but feel sympathetic to his feelings on the matter.

"That was what the notification he got from the Academy three days ago had it written. The complains were set under anonymous for the sake of protection and all of that standard procedure stuff. I just... don't know what to think. I want to help him, but this is way above me or any of the others. He... that's going to damage his chances at a career really bad."

Shiira crossed her arms, a thoughtful frown on her face as she tried to place the pieces together. It was too much of a coincidence this happened a day after Durham's comments after the Adler's presentation show. She would bet her student ID on it that the complaint originated from someone inside the Drama club.

'But who?' She wondered internally. 'I can think of few that don't really like Durham, but the others were never bothered by his presence. Surely not any of the girls. They all seem to like him, surprisingly. Even Mina softened to him. Never imagined I would hear her asking about where the coyote is. That Durham sure can leave an impression when he wants to. At least it's the good kind of impression, unlike Louis. Speaking of him, I wouldn't put it past Louis to complain, but he knows how bad such complains can damage a person and those claims are just too absurd. Louis wouldn't go that far.'

"How is he faring with this situation?" She asked. Jack scratched one of his ears, a thoughtful look on his face that surprised her. His mood swings at each different topic were mind blowing.

"Eh, I don't really know how to describe it. He kinda reminded me of Legosi, quiet and distant. Sometimes even less talkative than Legosi, which is quite something if I must say. He won't say it, but... I'm sure he's feeling very betrayed at what happened. He's thinking on doing something, but I fear what that might be. Durham is unpredictable."

"You think he would go after whoever gave him away?" Shiira asked worriedly. Last thing she wanted was another crime scene involving the Drama club. She wouldn't put past Durham the possibility of vengeance. Yes, she believed things could end really bad, especially since this denouncing act had the coyote's future compromised. Jack didn't think that way.

"No. Durham may be a little on the odd side but he wouldn't go far as to hunt someone down. It's not like him at all. I'm sure he will get around it eventually. He always do when things get difficult."

"Ain't that the truth." Shiira had to admit when remembering the efforts the coyote had to do in regards to gaining Ellen's trust and friendship. The zebra had privately shared her encounters with the coyote with the cheetah and Els. The three girls would always keep tabs on whoever they encountered just to make sure if anything bad happened they would have a lead to go after. They decided to do such after what happened with Tem. "Still, I will ask around to see if I get anything on who might have done it. I wouldn't doubt that someone from my club was the responsible."

"Yeah, I just don't see how will that change anything." Jack replied uncertainly.

"It doesn't. I just need to know who I can trust. I had enough issues just setting stage acts, but now having animals attacking someone's back? Not in my watch. If they have a problem with what Durham, or anyone, says then they are not fit to be in this club."

Jack couldn't help but stare in awe at how fierce and amazing she looked with that confident stance. He wished he could look as assured and determinated as the cheetah. He got so caught up on her body language that he failed to notice that she was looking back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"See something you like?"

The labrador blinked. It took him few seconds to understand what she just said. A near panic state almost consumed his soul.

"Whaaaa...?! Oh, no! No, no, no! I was just... huh... how do I explain this?!" He said mostly to himself. Shiira giggled as she watched the dog melt into puddim.

"You really need to tag along with a flirty joke. Otherwise any girl will be unsure of talking with you." Jack grimaced. She had a point and it relieved him that she was just messing around.

"Oh, yeah. I guess so. I kinda never really talked with girls aside my cousins. I really don't think I can do much to impress a girl anyways."

"You would be surprised. There's more to liking someone than just physical appearance and mo- errr, notable personality."

Jack raised an eyebrow at her odd choice of words. The cheetah seemed flustered for some reason and he wasn't sure what caused such reaction.

"Uh, sure? I thought personality was like the big deal of why you like someone."

"I-It is! It's just... trust is even a bigger deal." The cheetah paused, letting out a suffering sigh. "I wished I could trust the people I get involved with. I get disappointed very often."

"Oh." Jack regarded the saddened female with sympathy. "I'm sorry about that. I kinda understand it too. Sometimes I wonder about the friends I have. Legosi is like my best friend, but there are times that I wonder if he's hiding things from me. I respect his privacy, but I can't help on think of why he felt that it was necessary to keep some things to himself. Still, I rather not evaluate my friendship based on the amount we shared, but the joyful times we spent together."

'Why can't more guys be like you, Jack? I wish your type was more often around.' The cheetah lamented despite being impressed by how loyal the canine is to his friends.

"Speaking of not talking things... have you seen Juno? I noticed that she doesn't show up anywhere near Legosi anymore."

Shiira grimaced. She didn't like to talk anything that regarded Juno recently. It was still upsetting to see the gray wolf female sulking whenever Shiira got a chance to see her. The cheetah wished she could offer advice to the girl but Shiira never had this kind of experience with anyone. The cheetah never felt that strongly about any other animal. At least not yet.

"Juno and Legosi had an argument. At least that much I could get from Durham and Ellen. Apparently Legosi just rejected her advances and Juno took it pretty bad. I mean, sure it sucks to be rejected, but I hope she would've moved on from this point. I worry she might end up doing something stupid. Yet, I cannot go around babysitting her. She has to overcome this pain on her own."

Jack frowned thoughtfully. Legosi wasn't the one to flat out reject someone even if they were being extremely insistent. The taller canine always worried about hurting other people and messing with Juno's feelings wasn't something he would do deliberately. Also it still made no sense as to why Legosi didn't want to get involved with Juno.

"You ever wonder why Legosi avoided Juno so much? I get she can be a bit straightforward to the point of being annoying at times." Shiira chuckled.

"You mean 'desperate'."

"I... well, it sounds rude to describe it like that. I rather not talk about her like if she's some... huh..."

"Bitch?" Jack gasped, staring in shock towards the cheetah. Shiira giggled at his cute reaction.

"Come on Jack, sure you are grown up enough to handle few swears. Or do you think of me as a big meanie?" She joked provocatively. The Labrador seemed uncertain of what to say, his eyes searched for some sort of distraction or anything to change the subject.

"Say, where's everyone? I thought your club had daily practices." The cheetah glared, unimpressed at his efforts to sway away from the previous topic. The canine gulped nervously as he found himself under a rather unnerving stare of hers.

"If you really want to know." She started, deciding to let him have his way this time. "They have the day off. Aoba, Tao and Bill are probably heading out somewhere. Not that I really care that much. It kinda bothers me to think all the carnivores can go whenever they want and all the others are stuck here. No wonder Ellen was also sulking after today's meeting. She hates being locked, no matter where. She's a proactive type after all. It was one of these occasions I wished Durham was here to look after her."

Jack's ears perked at the mention of the coyote. He stared suspiciously at the cheetah as he replayed her words in his head.

"Wait, what do you mean with wishing for Durham to be here for Ellen?" The canine asked slowly. Shiira nearly facepalmed as she realized that she talked way too much. "Wait! You know?!"

Shiira regarded him with a dubious look, clueless about what he was talking about.

"Huh, know about what?"

"Wha-? About Ellen and Durham! You know he has feelings for her?!" Jack asked rather excitedly. He never had the chance to talk about Durham's love interest with anyone, even Durham asked him not to bring it up. Finding out that Shiira was also on par with it made him extremely happy.

"Oh? You know it too?" Shiira asked back, realization dawning on her face. "And here I thought he was better at keeping secrets."

"How would I not know about my friend's love interest?" Jack replied, feeling a bit offended by her remark. Shiira scoffed.

"Do you know about Legosi's love interest?" Jack sighed in defeat. She had him there.

"Okay, I get your point. But isn't this great?!" He asked loudly, nearly making the cheetah jump. She couldn't help but smile at his doofy expression. "I was starting to think that none of us was going to get with anyone before we graduated! Also... what do you think?" He asked, his voice shifting from cheerful to concerned in the span of a second. His mood swings were starting to humour her. "Will they be alright even if they're different species?"

"Why wouldn't they? Even if Durham goes wild I wouldn't be impressed if Ellen beats him senseless before he managed to do anything he would regret forever." The cheeath asked, seemingly relaxed about the canine's concerns. Jack made a face at how natural she saw that to be a thing.

"I was looking at this from a more social perspective." Jack explained, a sorrowful expression on his face that told all Shiira needed to know.

"I see what you mean. No, I don't think they are the kind that would care or let that get to them in any shape or form. Both are too thick headed to have random animals get to them. Althought they could end up arrested for beating some poor idiot to near death."

Jack's alarmed face nearly made the cheetah laugh.

"You know I'm joking, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I.. I worry for them. I wish they can work out. I imagine Ellen doesn't know?" Jack asked expectantly. Shiira nodded to his incomplete question. "Oh, so just have to wait for them to figure it out."

"Speaking of figuring things out, Jack, why you wanted dancing lessons? Are you actually looking for some girl to impress?" Shiira couldn't help but ask. Jack nodded sheepshily.

"Yeah, basically that's what this is all about."

"Do I known this girl? I can tell she would be for some fun times by being with a guy like you." The cheeath said, offering an encouraging smile as she voiced her curiosity.

Jack didn't reply right away. He fully understodd what he was being asked but choose to think more carefully before replying.

"Yeah. You known her. I won't say her name right away. I want to keep it a surprise."

A/N: Okay. So I have to drop some news about this story. Yes, I will keep updating it, no worries on that regard. BUT I will not be able to promise weekly updates as I was currently doing. I'm getting caught up with IRL things and I have other stories and community projects to work with. Tbh I could use a bit of a pause. Working on something for so long tends to wear me out so I could use a refresh before going full on it again. Also I've been struggling with time to write this and other stories I wanted to catch up with. I'm very thanful for those who have been following the story so far! You folks are the reason I kept putting more time into this than I actually had available and I thank ya'll very much! :3

On a further note I usually do reworks on past chapters for improvements on structure/grammar/storytelling, so I might go back to rework things or even add more to them without altering the story overall.

Cya! Have a great week! Until the next update!