Hey guys, how are things? Here is Chapter 8, hope you enjoy it a little ;)
Big thanks to MrShurukan for helping me once again!
Beastars – Into the spotlight
Chapter 8 – Frustration and bad ideas
POV Juno
My life just went downhill since last evening. I didn´t want to do anything and I didn´t want to talk to anybody either, not even to my roommates, the ones who hadn´t left the dorm for the weekend. I just went into my bed, closed the curtain behind me and cried myself to sleep.
"Was it really so wrong what I did? Was there no way he could ever forgive me? Not at all? Was I really such a bad person?"
These questions came to my mind time and time again, and I just couldn't forget about it for a single minute.
I still had that tiny string of hope left somehow. Maybe Legoshi really just had a very bad day yesterday. I just couldn't believe he had faked everything we had in the last couple of weeks. We had so much fun together on the stage and on that Halloween-Party, he even confessed that himself. Did he really want to throw all of that away just like that?
It took me until 11AM until I finally made it out of my bed, and when I pulled my curtain aside, I was all alone in the room.
I rubbed my tired eyes and took another look at the wall besides my bed, which still was pretty much covered with all the newspaper articles I had collected.
I was kinda glad I was alone right now. We weren't alone when Legoshi left me sitting there in the cafeteria yesterday, and I was pretty sure the gossip-talk about ´Romeo and Juliet´ was all over the campus already. It was only a matter of time until my roommates and especially Vera would find out about this. She still talked about him and his ´freakishly sexy´ body from time to time, and just the thought of her being with him disgusted me. That slut should search her own handsome wolf-boy. He was my Romeo and not just some Toy. I would tell her that in her face next time she started talking about it.
Right now, I had something else on my mind though. I was really hungry in the meanwhile. Maybe some food would brighten my day a little more.
POV Legoshi
"…and this is the point where you have to find the hypothenuse of the triangle" Jack explained to Zuki, who had joined us in our dorm so he could help her with the math terms he had already explained to me last evening. At least I assumed it was her, because he had told me in advance that he would give her some extra lessons today.
I didn´t know how long they were going on with this already, because I´ve just woken up from a -maybe not even that little- nap, which I really needed apparently. My curtain has been closed this entire time and she probably didn´t even know I was here.
"…do you remember how to find the hypotenuse?" he asked her.
"Was it…it was the longest side of the triangle, right?"
"Yes, and it´s always on the opposite side of the 90° angle…"
"Oh, okay…right" she said, taking notes once again.
I slowly got up from my matrass and rubbed my eyes tiredly.
"Legoshi…" Jack asked through the curtain with a little chuckle, "…do you still remember how to get the length of the hypotenuse in a right-angle triangle?"
"Uhm…" I sighed while rubbing my head, "Was it…the root of…the other two other two sides?"
"Almost…"
"The…uhm…of the squares of the other sides?"
"There we go" Jack chuckled contentedly, "Not bad, Romeo."
"Romeo" Zuki chuckled while noting that down as well.
"Jack" I sighed, while he chuckled about this in amusement.
"Yeah?"
"Please shut up."
She probably didn´t even knew I lived in this dorm, and it would have been fine like that to me, but I knew Jack, he couldn't shut his mouth about something like this anyway. He probably just waited for me to wake up.
"Sorry" he chuckled, "Just a reflex..."
"Yeah…" I sighed, slowly pushing aside the curtain and getting my eyes used to the bright afternoon-sunlight, "…sure it was."
"Oh…oh my" the snow leopard-girl giggled in surprise as she saw me, "…it is Romeo!"
"Hey…" I greeted her lowly but with a little smirk.
"I…I…" she stuttered, clearly flattered of meeting me in person, which still was such a ridiculous thing to think of, "I…I think you were really good on stage!"
"Thank you" I told her with a little smile while getting off my matrass slowly.
"See, Legoshi" Jack chuckled, "I´m not alone thinking like that."
"Have you heard me complaining about it?" I asked back.
"No…" Jack agreed with a big smile, "…I just like to remind you about it."
I just nodded understandingly, while our guest apparently still couldn´t get her eyes off me.
"Can I…can I ask" Zuki stuttered, "Those scars on your back we saw in the play…they looked so realistic! How did they do that make-up?"
"Uhm…" I chuckled nervously, "…it´s not actually make-up. Those claw-marks are real. They insisted I´d get my shirt off because it fit the fighting scene so well" I explained.
"What, really?" she giggled, holding her hands in front of her mouth.
I nodded with a little smirk, before I stood up from my bed and stretched myself a little.
"Come on, Zuki" Jack chuckled, "Don't tell me you haven´t enjoyed seeing this handsome wolf like that…"
"I…I…uh…" she stuttered, looking at the widely grinning Labrador with a half-opened mouth.
"Jack" I sighed once again, sadly not being able to hide a tiny, amused little smirk.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
Zuki couldn´t hide a little giggle about that either.
"Can I…can I see them?" she asked now, apparently being not as shy as it seemed at first.
I took a quick look around for some reason, then I pulled my white shirt over my head and turned my back towards her so she could see the scars that decorated it.
"Oh…oh my!" she panted in shock, "Those are really deep! How did you get these?"
"I got in a fight with another member from the drama-club once" I said, waving it off, "It´s really not so bad."
"Can I…can I touch them?" she asked.
"I mean…if you want to..."
She carefully slid her hands over the scars on my back now.
"Oh wow" she commented, "Those scars are huge! I bet that hurt like hell."
"It was alright" I waved it off, "The adrenaline on stage made me forget about that."
"Since when are you acting?" she wanted to know, "You´ve been doing this already before joining the drama-club here, right? You clearly are so much better than the other actors."
"Well, if that wasn´t a bold statement. She was thinking like that as well? The vote of the drama-club probably really was justified."
"This was my first real role" I told her in all honesty, "But it´s nice of you to say that."
Jack gave me a little wink as well right now.
"Wow, then you´re just seriously talented" she giggled, "You should hold onto that!"
"If you only knew how often I´ve been telling him that already" Jack explained with an amused grin.
"No, really!" Zuki said, as I put my shirt back over my head, "You could do that professionally."
I nodded with another little smile. Then went towards my backpack and searched for my scribbling block, on which I had done some of those math-tasks with Jack already. I needed something to change that topic right now, and joining them to do a few more task was not a bad idea really.
POV Haru
My Saturday was just as boring as every other Saturday. The only thing I really had to get done today was watering all the plants in the garden, but when I was done with that, there wasn´t much else left to do really.
When I strolled through one of the hallways, just coming back from a little snack I got myself at the cafeteria, I found a flowerpot with a hydrangea that looked like it was in a really bad shape. I took the whole pot with me and went on my way back to the garden so I could treat it properly. It was really heavy though, and on my way up the stairs, when I took a little break and put it on the floor for a moment, I suddenly got interrupted by the loud female laughter from a group of students I really never needed in my life. Mizuchi the harlequin-rabbit and her friends.
"Oh look who we have here, talking to her flowers again" her voice echoed through the hallway, accompanied by even more giggling from her gang.
"The dwarf-rabbit is talking to her flowers again!"
It seemed like they haven't learned from the last time they tried to mess with me.
"Do you hear voices I don't?" I asked back with a little sigh, "…because I haven't heard anybody talking to anything…"
"What are you doing here on the weekend you freak? And where is that wolf-boy who always follows you everywhere you´re going?"
"The one you were so scared of that you ran away every time you saw me?" I asked back with a superior grin.
"Where is he now, little dwarf-rabbit?" she asked provokingly.
This bitch of a harlequin-rabbit was even dumber than she looked like. But there was nothing I could really do about it right now. I was alone and they were a group of three.
Mizuchi suddenly came closer to me and started pushing me backwards a few steps. I didn´t expect her be that aggressive, but I had a slight foreboding on what this could be about already.
"Hey!" I yelled, "What do you want?"
"Have you seen my boyfriend again lately?" she asked, sounding quite upset, "…you better answer me, because Romeo isn´t here to save you this time!"
I found her still rather amusing than scary.
"Why? Does he still not want to get back together with you?" I asked back, with a superior little smile, "No, in fact, I haven't. But have you ever considered it having to do with your shitty personality?"
Just as expected, she couldn´t take that very well. But what did I care, she´s never been nice to me either.
Right in the moment she wanted to push me again, we suddenly got interrupted by something equally big and strong as a wolf. He was a tiger, and he even seemed kinda familiar to me. I believed I´ve had seen him before.
"Hey!" he asked loudly, immediately scaring them off, "Ladies, what is going on here, is there a problem?"
Like the little cowards they were, the harlequin-rabbit and her friends just stared at him in pure fear for a moment and then screamingly ran away as quickly as they could.
This was really convenient for me right now, even more because it was not Legoshi who saved me this time. That would have been a very awkward situation.
"T-thank you!" I told him with a little smile.
"Oh, that´s no problem" he told me while waving it off with a little smile, "What´s going on with them?"
"Oh, they try to bully me any chance they get" I sighed, "I´ve had something with her boyfriend once, and she still thinks he doesn't want to spend time with her because of me…"
He nodded understandingly. "She sounded like a real bitch to me. No wonder he left her…"
This time it was me who nodded.
He pointed at the heavy flower-pot I had rested on the floor for a moment.
"Are you the bunny girl from the gardening club?" he asked.
"Yes" I affirmed, "My name is Haru. Where do you know that from?"
"Well" he chuckled, "I saw the flower-pot…and I assumed it was you who kindly provided the drama-club with flowers for the Romeo and Juliet performance, wasn´t it?"
"That´s why you seemed familiar!" I told him with a little smile, "You have played Tybalt in that play, right?"
"Yes" he told me with a little smile, offering me to shake his hand, "That´s right. Call me Bill."
"I really enjoyed that performance" I told him while shaking his hands.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I thought it was great!"
"Thank you so much" he told me with a proud little smile, "Hey, can I help you carry that flower-pot up the stairs?"
There it was again. Bigger Animals asking me if they could help me. But I enjoyed his company right now, so instead of gladly declining his offer, like I normally did, I nodded with a thankful smile.
"That would be really kind of you" I told him thankfully.
"That´s no problem" he waved it off, "Lead the way!"
He lifted the heavy pot off the floor with ease and followed me up the stairs.
I opened the door to the garden for him and he put down the flower-pot where I pointed it out for him next to the shed. He took a quick look around and then looked at me again.
"So this is where that wolf went all the time during our rehearsals?"
"Yeah…" I chuckled, now becoming slightly nervous, "He helped me water the plants sometimes. I think he really enjoyed the atmosphere and the silence here."
"Yeah…it´s quite in contrast to what we do on stage sometimes…" he agreed, "Really nice, actually…"
"Should I give you a little tour?" I asked innocently, still being really glad to have someone friendly to talk to right now. He thought about my offer for a moment, then he nodded with a little smile.
"Yeah, sure" he agreed, "Why not?"
POV Legoshi
We´ve been laying around like this all afternoon. Since Zuki left us after Jack´s math lesson, the Labrador was laying on his matrass reading Mangas and I was laying on my matrass reading the Script of our new play. On a Saturday.
The whole school was up partying, going to the movies, having a great time with their friends or their families, and us dorks spent our whole afternoon laying on our beds reading.
"Volpone, or the Fox" it said on the first page of the script.
I´ve been fascinated by the concept of this story ever since Sanu had first told us about it.
But the more I read into it, the more I began wondering why they all wanted me to play that role? This character was nothing like me at all. I found the concept of the storyline really funny and interesting right from the start, but I couldn´t picture myself playing that Role convincingly.
This cunning spiteful genius who just wants to see the world on fire. Claims to be so ill that he could die any minute and waiting for his ´best friends´ to arrive with gold and other gifts at his doorsteps, who are really just trying to convince him of making them his only legacy-holders in the end. Whoever brings the bigger gift thinks they get the whole cake at the end, but in reality, Volpone was not ill at all and just enjoys watching them fight for his legacy.
"Was that what foxes liked to do? Just mess around with others for their own entertainment? "
This really got me thinking right now.
"Did that fox guy from the other dorm just tried to pick a fight with me so he could act like I hurt him really badly and I would suffer from the consequences? Was that the way he tried to get me out of the Beastars-race, although I wasn´t even taking part in it?"
Maybe I was just over exaggerating that a little. Maybe he had just a bad day and needed somebody to blame in that moment.
I rested that thought for now and continued reading with great interest.
This other character in the story, "Mosca", which really just means "fly" in italian, I thought was just the perfect role for Aoba: Funny, smart, a little quirky, nevertheless serious about his business and almost even smarter than the guy this story was named after. It was a full lead-act, and I believed he had even more lines in the script than me.
Now I pictured us, Aoba and I, acting out that first sequence, that already very funny and light-hearted discussion at the beginning, and it already changed my mind a little. That already sounded like a lot of fun all over sudden. I was pretty sure I could do that style of acting after all. I really enjoyed the funny scene with Aoba as Mercutio as well.
"Hey Legoshi" Jack suddenly asked, putting his Manga away for a moment, "Can I ask you something? This has been on my mind since quite a while now…"
"Yeah, sure" I said, as I was on the bottom of my page right now anyway. I put the piece of paper I used to take notes as a marker and put the whole thing aside for a moment, "What is it?"
"If you really had sex with Juno in that night of the Halloween party…" he began, "…how come you can´t remember anything from that?"
That was a really good point actually. Now that I found out about the rabbit-blood in Juno´s fur yesterday, that made a lot more sense to me as well suddenly.
Since Jack was so nice to wait for this until we were alone, I decided to do him the favor and didn´t try to get rid of this topic right away.
"That was not quite accurate…" I confessed after thinking about it shortly, "I did remember some parts of it. But I think it mostly had to do with the alcohol, the Viagra and the rabbit-blood she had in her fur."
"The what?!" he asked, almost choking because he was so shocked, "Viagra?"
"It was Bill´s idea" I sighed, "He tried helping out Juno getting closer to me that way, and it kinda worked out for him that night…"
"Holy moses…" he said, shaking his head, "That sounds really dangerous!"
I just nodded silently.
"Did it work?" he asked, "…I mean the Viagra."
"Apparently" I sighed, though with a little chuckle about his shocked expression right now, "But we´re both still alive…so I guess it wasn´t too bad…"
He nodded slowly but not quite so surely.
"What exactly do you remember of that night?"
I wasn´t quite sure why this was so awkward for me to talk about, but I didn´t want to be rude to him either.
"Should I really get into detail there?" I asked while raising my eyebrows.
"Well…" Jack chuckled with a little smirk, "…we are all alone right now…and I would honestly really like to know what that experience was like for you. I wasn´t lying when I told you I still was a virgin…"
He really seemed to be serious about this.
"Okay…" I said understandingly, thinking about it for a moment.
It really wasn´t all that easy to explain, sadly.
"…first thing that comes to my mind right now…" I remembered, "I was so unbothered about it that night. I wasn't scared of hurting her or doing anything wrong, I just did it…"
"What, really? You weren´t scared when you got closer?"
"As far as I can remember, no" I affirmed.
"But how did you know what to do? And how to do it?"
I couldn´t really explain that either.
"…maybe the Viagra had something to do with this as well…" I explained, "I really was…activated…I was desperate…"
"Really?"
"All I know is that I must have been going down on her like crazy."
"But she liked it?"
I just nodded with a confident little smile.
"Where do you know that from?" he asked curiously.
He was asking the right questions yet once again. It really didn´t seem to sound believable coming from me.
"Her dorm-mates" I sighed with a little smirk, knowing that he would like this, "They all had surrounded me when I woke up the next morning…"
"What, really?" he asked with a chuckle, "…and you were still naked?"
I just nodded silently.
"And…and what did she say when you talked to her about this later?"
"She…" I sighed, "I think she really enjoyed it."
"Did you enjoy it while it happened?"
I should have expected that question beforehand as well.
"I…I…" I stuttered, being really ashamed about this somehow, "…yeah. I think I did."
That of course made him grin even wider.
"Come on" I sighed, "I´m just a guy as well…"
"Why are you still so sore about it then?" he asked, which really surprised me now.
"Where am I s…"
"You still only see this as a mistake" he said, having quite a serious expression on his face all over sudden, "But you never even considered giving her a chance."
"What, Juno?"
"Yes, Juno!" Jack affirmed, "Unlike Haru, that girl really is in love with you. And she´s still faithful, although you never really have returned her love for you!"
That actually made me think about it right now. I never had seen it that way.
"Hm…yeah" I sighed.
"I believe it might help if you look at her with different eyes" he said, "…because I don't think waiting for Haru to come back at you will make you happy in the end…"
I nodded slowly. I couldn´t deny he probably had a point with that. I was just blindly running after Haru all this time, but I may have forced this too much.
"Have you had something with her yet by the way?" I asked out of a quick impulse. This was something that I wanted to ask him since quite a while already.
"N…no" he confessed, although he knew he really could tell me, "I haven't seen her in quite a while. I always thought it would be awkward to see her again after running away like that..."
"Come on, Jack…" I told him, but he just shook his head a little.
He really looked a little sad about that all over sudden.
It seemed like he felt like the biggest coward who ever lived. I was pretty sure that was what he was thinking. But first of all, I would never tell him that like that, and secondly, I couldn't say I was much better either. I ran away the first time I met her.
I was kinda amused about myself because of how much of a loser I really was.
"Haru probably really just played with me. Although it took me a really long time to notice, I think Jack is right in the end. I haven´t even had the urge to see her again in the last few days."
"You´ll be laughing" I told him with a little chuckle, "…but exactly the same thing happened to me the first day I met her."
"What do you mean exactly the same thing?"
"I helped her carry some really heavy flower-pots to the back of her garden, and she wanted to make it up to me for everything I did…"
"What, really?"
"Yeah…I apparently haven't reacted quickly enough, and then she had already undressed herself down to her underwear and opened my belt. I was really panicking when I finally noticed. Closed the sliding-door behind me as I ran away and got my tail stuck…"
"Ouch."
I nodded.
"Well…she has quite a pleasant personality…" Jack explained, "…she´s charming. I immediately liked being around her…"
He left a short pause after that.
"…but that´s not the only side to her, sadly."
"Yeah…" I sighed. I knew what he meant.
"No offence…but I think her type won´t ever be satisfied. Those rumors are around for a reason…"
POV Bill
"That was…" she chuckled, "…that was quite interesting…"
"Interesting?! Not scary? Not exciting? Not even painful? Just interesting?"
She really was talking from experience as it seemed. She just had sex with a Tiger and shrugged it off just like that.
"I didn´t hurt you, right?" I asked, still panting lowly.
I was not quite sure why I asked that, because she really didn´t seem genuinely excited about it. I really enjoyed it, but I probably wasn´t as good at hiding it.
I felt so dirty right now. It was a little bit like jacking off to some pretty weird porn and then realizing what you were actually watching after you´ve finished.
"No, I´m fine…" she assured, still looking really relaxed.
This was just so wrong.
"The fuck? Did I just sleep with this girl just to mess with Legoshi? Shit, Sam would kill me if she found out about this!"
But she felt so soft and tender with her touch. The sex with her was just so much nicer than with my girlfriend. I kinda understood now why Legoshi liked her so much.
"Well, I have no problem taking her, fuckhead! That´s what you get for messing with me! You think you´re so smart taking my fame away from me? Live with that!"
I was glad I did it, but that other thought just wouldn't get out of my head: For her it was just some quick sex, I betrayed my girlfriend with this.
I never thought I would do something like that.
"What´s the next performance gonna be about?" she now asked just out of the blue.
"Uhm…you mean…the next play we´re going to do in the drama-club?"
"What else could I mean?" she giggled.
"Volpone" I told her, hoping she didn´t know it and wasn´t interested in it any further.
"Never heard of it…"
"It´s a pretty cool story, but it´s really hard to pull off."
"Who´s playing the lead-roles?" she wanted to know, "…besides Legoshi I mean…"
"Besides L…" I stuttered, "…wh-where do you know that from?"
"The whole school is talking about him…" she chuckled, "They´d be stupid if they didn´t use that hype…"
"Oh, so it was that obvious. Great. Well, at least I took revenge on a personal level…"
"Yeah…" I sighed, "…they liked him as Romeo."
"I got to know him as a very shy and not very self-conscious boy" she explained with a giggle, "I never imagined him to be this talented on stage."
"Talented?" it burst out of me.
"Yes…" she chuckled, "…I think he was really good...don´t you think?"
I just shrugged my shoulders as I really wanted to change the topic at this point. I would rather even leave this place now. I had no further business here.
I stood up from the little bed she had in her shed and picked up my boxers from the floor.
"Can we…" I began, when I was almost done with dressing myself, "Can we keep this a secret?"
"You mean that Legoshi has a lead role again?"
"What we did here."
"Oh…" she said, "…yeah…uhm…sure."
"Thanks" I told her with a little smile.
"But you don't have a girlfriend, right?" she chuckled with a slightly evil grin.
"I…uhm…" I chuckled nervously, "I gotta go. See you around!"
And with that I quickly opened the door to her shed and went outside. I almost trapped my tail when I closed the sliding door behind me, but I got it out of there just in time.
Nevertheless, I headed straight for the exit door now.
This dwarf-rabbit girl really was cold-blooded. Now I understood why Legoshi had so much trouble with her already. First, she seduced me like I was the love of her life and now she shredded me apart. The rumors were true and it seemed like I´ve just tapped into her trap as well.
"At least I taught that bastard of a wolf a lesson! Serves you right, asshole."
Hopefully she would keep her mouth shut and Sam would never find out about that.
POV Juno
It was late in the afternoon when I finally decided to leave the dorm again and at least go for a little walk in the park today. I have been laying on my bed the whole day already, so I thought some fresh air might help me getting my head clear a little better.
There was not a lot going on outside right now, but I didn´t expect it to be much different.
I trotted down the stone paths without any real goal and mainly looked at the floor. From the very few students that were outside right now, some of them recognized me as Juliet from the drama-club performance and greeted me respectfully, but most of them just left me to my business. Not that I minded, I had other thoughts.
"Could it really be that he still had something with that rabbit-girl? I´ve rarely seen or heard of him being around her lately. Or did she break up with him? Did she find out about that night somehow? Is that why he was so mad about this?"
It just wouldn´t get into my head.
I was just walking past a bench when somebody suddenly asked me: "How is becoming the next Beastar working out so far, Juliet?"
I was sure I knew this voice. Seeing that he knew quite a lot about my ambitions, I was almost sure who was sitting on that bench hiding behind the newspaper he pretended to be reading. But I couldn't quite believe it at first.
"Louis?" I asked lowly.
He now lowered the Newspaper and revealed his face. It indeed was him.
"What…what the hell are you doing here?"
"Legoshi has not just stepped out of the shadow, he has pushed you into his own, hasn´t he?"
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
He folded his Newspaper in a way that just one article was to be seen, then he pointed at it and handed it over to me. It was the city newspaper and that same article I´ve had hanging besides my bed as well. I´ve had already read it, naturally.
"Legoshi was the only one who got asked if he wants to do this professionally after graduation…that means something when a reporter asks you that…" he explained dryly.
"Y…yeah" I stuttered, not being able to process all that right now at all, "…w-where have you been all this time?"
"Let´s say I´ve had some personal business…"
"You´ve been gone for months! What are you doing back here?"
He just chuckled about that question as if it was an explanation.
"Glad that Legoshi was your Romeo instead of me?" he asked boldly but with a little chuckle.
"I…uhm…", I stuttered, before actually answering honestly, "…yeah…I was."
He nodded, not very surprised about that statement.
"Have you enjoyed pretending to love each other on the stage?"
"It was not just pretending!" I told him, "What is your point? Are you jealous?"
I almost caught myself yelling at him.
"Just curious…" he waved it off dryly. That supreme smirk and charismatic behavior he really had down, but in my emotional state right now I saw just right though his bullshit. What I didn´t get was why he tried provoking me like that.
"Anyway, why didn't you come back sooner?" I wanted to know, giving him back his newspaper as I had no need to take a closer look at it.
"I probably wouldn't have come back at all if I hadn't seen that article about our drama-club in the newspaper."
"So it is just you being jealous" I concluded.
That comment actually made him a little mad, so I immediately continued to find out what this really was about.
"You´re jealous because you´ve never been invited to the city-theatre as a lead-actor."
"I finally have some concurrence…" he tried to make me believe.
"Yeah, sure…"
"Believe what you want. I don't have to prove anything."
"…anyway, I´m quite sure you´re a little too late for that" I commented dryly, "The roles for the next play are set already."
"Yeah?" he asked with great interest, "What piece did they choose? Still Hedda Gabler?"
"No. Sanu changed it to Volpone."
"Hah!" Louis laughed out now, "That´s not doable with a high-school drama-club."
"You´ll see that it is" I muttered, "With Legoshi and Aoba in the lead roles…it´s going to be great. We wanted to do something big, and I think we´re quite capable, even without you."
"You´re really over-estimating yourselves. Romeo and Juliet is a lot easier. And that is a piece that just works because everybody knows it…"
"If that is what you want to believe" I told him dryly, showing him a supreme little smirk as well now, "You´ll read about it in the newspaper again. And not just in the school-wave."
That actually made him look really mad right now. He may have been the biggest star of this school once, but now we didn´t just catch up with him, we shot way past him. The whole school knew the drama-club played in the city-theatre.
"You were in the newspaper because you did well for a high-school drama-club…" he chuckled, "It´s not like you can compare yourselves to professionals now."
He still seemed to be pretty sure about that.
"So…you just came here to talk us down?" I asked, being a little annoyed by all that bullshit meanwhile, "Great. I could have lived without that."
With that I actually just wanted to leave him sit on his bench, but he still wasn´t finished as it turned out.
"So…you´re really dating him now?" he wanted to know with a mean little chuckle. That change of topic actually made me stay a little longer.
"Yes" I told him distinctively, just to make him shut up, "Believe it or not. And I´ve already had sex with him."
That statement really seemed to surprise him.
"Wow…so Haru really broke his heart as well…" he concluded, "…doesn´t surprise me…"
It seemed like he was talking from experience about that, and that actually was quite interesting.
"…so he really was quite desperate as it seems…" he added with an amused chuckle.
What an asshole.
"It´s not like that!"
"Is it not?" he asked with a cold look, "Don´t lie to yourself! That wolf doesn't care about anything anymore, does he? Especially not about you. He finally understood that he mustn´t hide all the time, and now that he found his voice he shows what he´s really capable of. He even stole the lead-role from Bill, although he got that one promised by Sanu personally."
"You…you know about that?"
"You didn´t mention Bill when you said you could do this…" he reminded me, "And yes, I´ve discussed that with them back then, I was closer to Sanu than any of you."
Now that actually was quite interesting as well.
"Almost the whole drama-club voted for Legoshi when Sanu proposed a vote to change the lead-actor" I confessed. I really was curious how much he knew about that.
"When there is anybody in the club -right now- who can do that role, that would be Legoshi…" he explained, "Bill would be even less capable of doing that than he was capable of doing the grim-reaper."
"Let me guess" I sighed while rolling my eyes, "You wouldn't have any problems with that role either."
"That isn't even the most difficult role…" he said, actually really knowing about that piece, "…that would be Mosca."
"You would totally suck in that role" I told him in all honesty, "Aoba is doing that one, and seeing how great he did as Mercutio, he will be awesome in that role as well."
"You´ve never seen me perform on stage" he told me, sounding quite sore about that comment, "You´ve joined the drama-club just last year, don't act like you know everything!"
That actually was the first time I´ve smiled today. I really enjoyed being in that position right now. Seeing him like that gave me back a lot of energy. After all I´ve had to suffer through, it really was delightful to see that I wasn't the only one struggling.
"Talk to me that way when you´ve been playing in the city theatre" I told him from above with a superior grin now, and I could literally feel how much that annoyed him.
"Careful now" he told me with a very angry expression.
That didn´t impress me either. I just showed him that tiny little smirk once again and then left him sitting right there on his bench. I didn´t care about him, I just wanted him to know that.
I went on my way again, leaving him behind me, still not having a goal exactly, but that also still didn´t matter to me. That meet-up had made my day quite a bit brighter.
POV Jack
"Now, now, my clients! Begin their visitation! Vulture, kite, Raven and gorcrow, all my birds of prey…"
I couldn´t help but giggle about this strange style of writing. Not even Legoshi could keep a totally straight face right now.
"…what are the news? Talk to me, Mosca!" he continued.
"Uhm…" I stuttered, trying to find the lines in the script, "A piece of plate, sir."
"Of what bigness?"
"Huge…and…Massy, and antique…" I read, raising my hand in a dramatic pose, "…with your name inscribed and arms engraved…en- …shit…engraven!"
"Can´t you not read properly, Mosca?" he grinned, before he continued with his actual text, "…Good! And not a fox stretch´d on the earth, with fine delusive sleights, Mocking a gaping crow? Ha, Mosca?"
"Sharp, sir."
Legoshi nodded contentedly. I gave him back the script now, because that was the part he had highlighted and asked me to practice with him quickly.
This already was so much fun.
"Damn, you are good at this, Legoshi" I told him in all honesty.
"You think?" he asked with a little smile, "I think it´s still a little stale. I hope Sanu lets me change a few of the lines a little."
I just shrugged my shoulder with a little nod.
"So did I understand this right?" I asked, "This play is about Volpone pretending to be really ill, but he is not in reality. And his ´friends´ all bring them presents one bigger than the other to become chosen the legacy-owners in his testament?"
"Yes" he affirmed, "They all know he´s incredibly rich, has no other relatives left and no other legacy-owners for that matter and seems to be so ill that he might die in the next few days."
"And that leads to a big fight between all those other characters?"
He nodded. "Yeah, and Volpone just watches them taking themselves apart."
"Damn, I enjoy that already!"
"Yeah, I really like this piece too. That´s why I want to do it justice on stage."
"And Mosca is the only one knowing what the fox is really doing?"
"Yeah. But his part is even more genius, because he´s not only double-crossing the legacy-hunters with Volpone, who is his boss, he´s double-crossing Volpone as well in the end."
"…and gets away with it?"
"Yeah. Volpone goes too far with his malicious plan. He forces Mosca to help him fake his death, because he finds it funny to see their surprised faces when he reveals it. Mosca has enough of it at this point, because he´s scared of the law, but he has to do it since Volpone basically owns him."
"Damn…"
"Yeah, and the best part is, that none of the legacy hunters actually get the legacy by his testament."
"Mosca does?"
"Yes" he affirmed, "That was his plan all along. And now the legacy-hunters all really want to kill him instead of Volpone."
"But Volpone is still alive?"
"Yeah, but they all think he´s dead, that´s why he´s left with nothing and Mosca is the legal owner of all his legacy by the testament. And if Volpone would show himself again…"
"…all his crimes would be revealed" I finished his sentence.
He nodded once again.
"Damn this is complicated!"
"Pretty cool, right?"
"So the fox doesn't win in the end?"
"No. Volpone has to leave the city and flee from the law."
"But what about Mosca?"
"He settles for a deal with all the legacy hunters, gives them back everything they gave to Volpone in their greed and even a little bit more than that. Mosca is a free man who is no longer a slave anymore. And he still has quite a lot of money."
"And Volpone is left with nothing?"
"Not exactly nothing…he still has some other ships and houses in other countries I believe. He has been a worldwide successful businessman or something like that. But the point of the story is, that the weak little fly, who the fox could have crushed anytime he liked, outsmarted the fox and won the whole thing in the end…"
POV Samantha (Tigress, Bill´s girlfriend)
"Sounds boring as hell" I commented with a little chuckle.
"You wanted me to tell you about it…" he remembered me with a deep sigh, "…and it´s really not boring if you would understand it."
I had no idea why he was like this once again. Ever since he came back from his last drama-club meeting, his behavior was really strange. But it didn´t seem like he wanted to talk about that either.
"And which role are you playing again?"
"You don't care about that anyway, do you?" he asked dryly, "You´re not going to watch it anyway if you think it´s boring, are you?"
"Don't know yet" I replied with a shrug off my shoulders, "Romeo and Juliet was pretty cool. Those two wolves are so cute together."
Now he sighed deeply.
"Well…that´s really the only thing they are" he muttered lowly, still not looking up from his script.
"What?" I chuckled in confusion.
"Did he not realize how good they were on stage? Or was he playing it down on purpose?"
"It´s not really that special. They just look good together on stage" he explained.
"Well…I think they acted really good too. Legoshi seemed so innocent on the Halloween party. I never thought he could perform like that…"
"You´re over-exaggerating again" he told me coldly.
Now that really supported my theory. He really did sound like he was jealous. That explained a lot.
It was just in his nature to be really ambitious. He always told me how proud he was that he finally was about to get a lead role, and now it was like somebody had taken away every bit of passion he had for the drama-club. He didn´t have passion for anything anymore, apparently. He wasn´t even in the mood for sex since last evening, which I normally didn´t have to ask him twice about.
"…I thought you were cool with Legoshi and Juno?" I asked him, just out of interest in his salty behavior.
"I just don't like how everybody keeps praising them as if they were the only thing that made this performance so special."
"It was really good" I assured once more, "…but the roles of Legoshi and Juno just are the most important ones in Romeo and Juliet…it wouldn't have been good if they didn´t perform their roles that well…"
Now that I said it out loud, it suddenly clicked in my head.
"That´s why he didn´t want to tell me about the roles: He didn´t get a lead role! He was too ashamed to confess it."
This made so much sense all over sudden. He didn´t get the lead-role because Legoshi got it.
"Why wouldn´t they pick Legoshi for the lead-role? He clearly was the better actor."
Now that I began thinking about it, it was so easy to figure out all over sudden. He didn´t bleed on his nose last evening because he ran into a doorframe, he probably had a fight with Romeo.
This was just way too interesting right now. Seeing that totally ignored me at this point and wouldn't openly talk to me about this anyway, I got my phone and searched the chat with I´ve started with Juno back then at that Halloween party.
Sam: "Hey Juno, can I ask you something? I think something is going on between Bill and Legoshi…" /
Juno: "Yeah, sure...wanna meet outside in the park? I´m taking a little walk right now…" /
Sam: "Sound´s good! Gonna be there in a minute!" /
And with that I finally had found something against my boredom. I was glad she answered my message pretty much immediately, and now I didn´t want to waste any more time and immediately went on my way.
"I´m having a quick meetup with some students from my class…" I explained to Bill when I left the room, "Gonna discuss something about our project…"
"Sure…" he said, not even pretending like he was listening, "…see you later."
I probably could have told him that I was having a meet-up with Santa Clause and he would just have shrugged his shoulders. I had the feeling that I was becoming less and less important to him every single day.
I left the building and immediately headed for the park. After I took a quick look around, I soon spotted her silhouette in the distance and began walking into her direction. When she noticed me, she immediately began coming towards me as well.
"Hey, beautiful" I greeted her, "So nice to see you!"
She hugged me back with a little smile.
"Nice to see you too! I was so bored this whole day already."
"Yeah, me too…" I told her in all honesty, "And Bill doesn´t care about me at all since yesterday…"
She just nodded understandingly. I immediately sensed she knew a little more than I.
"It´s about the lead-role, isn´t it?"
She continued nodding.
"Yeah, I thought so."
"You did?"
"He´s been talking about this quite a lot in the last few weeks. He was so proud about it…"
She still nodded understandingly, "He was really confident he would get the role…"
"It was promised to him, wasn´t it?"
"It was…" she sighed, "…but then the piece we´re doing got changed and almost the whole drama-club thought Legoshi would fit the lead-role better…"
This time it was me who just nodded. Although I really supported Bill´s ambitions for the drama-club, I couldn´t deny that Legoshi was much more convincing on stage.
"Bill´s role is not a bad one either" Juno explained, "…but he wanted to play the lead-role really badly and naturally wasn´t happy with that vote yesterday…"
"Could have told you that in advance…" I chuckled.
"We all were pretty nervous about it" she agreed, "…and I really feel a little bad for him…"
I could tell she wasn't too happy about this whole deal either.
"Legoshi was just awesome as Romeo" I told her, "No doubt they all want to see him again."
She nodded in agreement. That was followed by a little pause.
For a couple of moments, we just walked through the park side by side, then I remembered that other topic I wanted to ask her about:
"Has he been in a fight with Legoshi afterwards? About that vote I mean?"
"A fight?" she asked in surprise, "Not that I know of…"
"He came home with a bleeding nose yesterday. Waved it off as a door-frame he hadn´t seen…but there also was a slight limp to his walk…"
"Legoshi seemed pretty calm when I met him after the vote…and he wasn´t hurt either…" she explained while shrugging her shoulders, looking a little confused about his as well, "…I haven't seen Bill after the vote anymore though…"
But then she suddenly seemed to have realized something and her expression changed pretty drastically. "Oh shit" she said while covering her mouth with her paws, "…I think I know what that could be about!"
She rested one of her hands on her forehead. "Oh god…yeah…that could have been Legoshi!"
"What? Really? "
"Hasn´t he told you about it yet? About the rabbit-blood?"
"The what?!"
"Did he still use that stuff? I had told him to get rid of it so often about this already, but he just wouldn´t listen to me. I need to do something about this once and for all."
"You might want to sit down for this one" Juno sighed after hesitating for a short moment.
We just arrived at an empty park bench and this was a pretty convenient spot to talk anyway.
"So…before that Halloween-party…" she began, "…Bill gave me this little bottle with rabbit-blood. He told me to put just a drop of it into my fur. He said Legoshi would find it attractive, and he really was right with that."
"What?" I asked in complete disbelief and confusion.
"Legoshi has a crush on a rabbit-girl at this school" she sighed, "She is in the gardening-club, her name is Haru. She´s the one who got abducted by the Shishigumi last semester."
"And Bill knew all that?" I asked, really being surprised about this. I knew about that rabbit-girl who got abducted, but I never knew Legoshi had something with her.
"Everybody knew that, Legoshi saved her from the Lion clan" Juno explained, "Bill just wanted to help me get his attention so we could create more hype and promote our Romeo and Juliet performance. And it worked."
I needed a moment to process all this. This was so much more complicated than I first thought it was.
"You…you´ve had sex with him on that evening, right? I mean with Legoshi?"
"Yes" she affirmed with a sad little sigh, "But there was something else Bill did, which I didn´t know until yesterday evening. He apparently mixed Viagra into our drinks."
"What!?" I almost yelled out, "You can´t be serious!"
She just nodded slowly.
"I…I…" I stuttered, utterly ashamed about that, "I am so sorry! Bill did a lot of stupid shit before…but that…where would he even get Viagra from?"
I still remained shaking my head about this in disbelief.
"…I got to know it from Legoshi last evening when I had dinner with him" Juno told me lowly while shrugging her shoulders, "…I guess Bill got hit by his rage a little more violently than I."
"Totally deserved" I told her dryly, "I cannot fucking believe that. I´ll beat him up myself for that later! He should use the fucking Viagra on himself!"
Now that I looked at the wolf girl-besides me once again, I noticed that tears had started forming in the corners of her eyes.
"Legoshi was so cold and unforgiving about this yesterday" she suddenly cried out, "And he was so endlessly disappointed because I didn't tell him about it sooner!"
She really was crying right now, but I could totally understand her.
"Hey" I tried to console her a little, putting my arms around her smoothly.
"…I…I think I´ve really messed this up! I´m not sure he could ever forgive me for that!"
"Hey…" I told her again, "…it will be alright! Trust me!"
I patted her shoulders a little more while she was still trying to get her breathing under control again.
"…I would be upset about that too, you can´t blame him for that! And I really am upset about what Bill did to you with this."
She shook her head a little bit now.
"Yeah, but it was my decision to really use that blood…" she said, "Bill gave it to me, but it was me who put it in my fur that night."
"Legoshi will forgive you eventually" I waved it off, "You´ll see."
"He´s such a lovely guy" she said lowly, "…but I could understand if he never wants to have anything to do with me again…"
"Come on" I chuckled, rattling her shoulders gently, "That´s not going to happen!"
I could tell she was really scared right now. She still seemed to be genuinely in love with him. Life really doesn´t seem to be fair sometimes.
"I´ll talk to Bill about this later, you can believe me on that! And he won´t be talking himself out of this, I promise!"
"No. It´s not just his fault" she told me lowly, "And it´s not like I didn´t enjoy that night either. I was really happy that evening..."
"Yeah?" I asked with a chuckle, actually glad about that change of topic, "Is Romeo good in bed?"
She nodded with a little smile, "It was really good" she whispered, "Better than I ever hoped for."
"Damn, I´m so jealous to hear that" I grinned, "My sex-life with Bill got so boring in the meanwhile."
I was glad about this much more cheerful topic. That maybe made her forget about all that other stuff for at least a moment.
"Really?" Juno asked with a little chuckle for herself now, "Judging by his confidence I always thought he was a real pro when it comes to that…"
"Hah!" I couldn´t stop myself from laughing out loudly, "He´s good at talking and promoting himself…that´s probably why he started in the drama-club too…"
"Really? Is it that bad?"
"It´s rare that I get there all the way…you know…" I told her with a big grin, "…and it´s not like he cares about me when he´s done…pretty pathetic to be honest."
I was pretty sure Bill wouldn´t like me to tell her about that, but there were two reasons that made it easily justifiable to me right now: It helped her getting a few other thoughts in her head right now, and he just earned it. It was as simple as that.
"…you sounded like it was quite a lot better with Romeo…" I grinned at her.
"It was awesome" she affirmed, still lowly but at least with a little smile now, "…he made me cum twice in a row…and it was just so…uncomplicated and…exciting…"
"What, really?" I asked with great interest, "You gotta tell me more about that!"
POV Jack
"I can´t tell you more about that, Jack" he chuckled once again, "I don't remember exactly."
"Come on, Legoshi" I grinned, "You gotta know at least some highlights!"
He was still laying on his matrass on his back, holding his script above his face so he could read.
"Why do you keep bringing up that topic?" he asked, turning his head towards me with a little smirk, "I´m curious, this really seems to bother you!"
"I´m just interested you know…" I told him with a little grin, "Come on, spare some details already!"
"What kind of details?" he asked, "What interesting details do you want to hear?"
I loved how defensive he still was about this. That´s why I didn´t want to left him off the hook even more. I decided to stroll over to his bed now and throw myself onto his matrass right next to him in a playful way. He could continue reading that script on another day as well.
"Really?" he chuckled, as I took the script out of his hands and tossed it to the side.
"Come on, Legoshi" I grinned once more, pushing him closer to the wall and claiming a little more of his matrass that way, "What is there to be ashamed about?"
Sorry for that really bad ending :P
Anybody interested in a chapter 8.2? Or should we skip that?
Anyway, I´d be really glad to know what you think of this chapter! ;)
See you later 3
~furr