At Drama Club, Lee was splitting his attention between the script and Trevor. As usual, the bear looked dour.
The chimera gulped. He thought about it for a while, but the only way he could handle this situation was to talk to him about not taking his meds. But Trevor was likely to go off on him again.
Lee was debating if he should bring it up during club or not. On one hand, he knew if Trevor caused a scene, then Jolene might punish him for acting out again.
On the other hand, if Jolene intervenes, it'll increase Lee's chance of not getting ripped in half by an angry bear.
The chimera looked over to Jolene, who was busy talking to Ibuki about something. Lee wondered if he should tell Jolene about Trevor not taking his meds.
While she was technically part of the faculty, that was only because she was placed there through Louis's influence. The sheep already had plans to quit immediately after Ibuki graduated so she could go back to her real job. It made Lee wonder if he could trust her not to immediately report Trevor since she was somewhat of an outsider among the faculty.
Lee started walking towards Jolene but stopped himself. He just realized that was an incredibly stupid idea. The entire reason Jolene was given this job was to protect Ibuki. If she found out Trevor hasn't been taking his meds, she'd toss him out in a heartbeat.
He sighed. Was there a single person he could turn to? How can he deal with this dilemma without getting Trevor into trouble? The bear had gone through so much pain and just wasn't thinking clearly. The last thing Lee wanted to see after all that was the ursine to be expelled while still mourning his mother.
He had to wonder exactly why Trevor had been refusing to take his meds. Did he just grow weary of the constant headaches? Lee could understand that. It seemed unfair that being a bear meant you had no choice but to take pills that weaken you and cause burning migraines. But it's not like the chimera could just come up with another solution.
Lee knew what he needed to do. He needs to confront him again, but in private. He gulped. Meaning Jolene can't come to his rescue if things go south. Still, he had to have courage, for Trevor's sake.
Jolene looked up at the clock before raising her voice. "We're outta time, everybody! I'll see you all tomorrow!"
The students all started to file out of the room. Now was his chance. He approached Trevor, but before he could reach the ursine, Jolene walked up to him.
"Sorry to keep you longer, Trevor-kun. But I have some important questions about the costumes."
Trevor nodded. "Understood. Take your time."
Lee groaned and left. Maybe he can talk to him before club tomorrow.
Esther and Olivia sat behind the practice building of the Drama Club with Theo. The caprid had the bluejay's phone connected to his laptop.
The feline and canine couple watched anxiously, waiting for him to say something.
A look of disgust crossed his face. "I recovered the deleted files. But you're reallynot gonna like them."
Esther and Olivia got behind Theo and watched his monitor as he flipped through the images.
All of the photos were of same-sex couples having intimate moments. Kissing, having sex in the woods, or under the bleachers. There were also several photos of Jolene, but the sheep was just minding her own business in all of them. Some of the photos were even Lee and Ibuki kissing or holding hands. And, of course, there was the photo of Olivia and Esther having sex on the roof.
The tiger growled in disgust. Olivia didn't look quite as upset.
The lab looked at the screen with a smug expression. "The authorities look down on owning photos of underaged children in sexual situations. If we prove that the old crone has been receiving them, we could even land her in prison."
Esther looked curious. "How are we gonna do that?"
Olivia adjusted her glasses with a smirk. "All we need to do is get us, Theo-kun, Headmaster Gon, and Meredith in the same room. Then we can take her down."
Theo clicked around on the school website. "Well, we'll have to wait for an opportunity. When we're thisclose to Winter break Gon is busier than ever. Worst case scenario, we wait until afterbreak to deal with this."
The tiger looked concerned. "But you said deleted photos vanish the more she uses her phone. What if they're all gone?"
The goat shrugged. "They could already begone. In which case, we could end up wasting the Headmaster's time."
Olivia shook her head. "We needto do something about this soon. All we have to do is find a way to forceGon to talk to us."
Esther looked at her girlfriend with a hopeful expression. "You have an idea?"
The lab sighed. "I don't have anything right now."
The three looked disappointed. But with no plan in place yet, they split up and waited for an opportunity to strike.
When Ibuki got back to the dorm, the first thing he saw when he walked in was Jiro in his bunk, wagging his tail and blushing as he looked at his phone.
Ibuki chuckled. "So are you two officially dating yet?"
Jiro looked at the chimera and blew a raspberry. "None of your business."
The deer-wolf laughed. "Seriously though. You two are really cute together."
The fox's blush deepened. "I-it's nothing that serious yet." He chuckled nervously. "At least she didn't run away screaming after seeing my back page drawings."
Ibuki looked curious. "How didshe react to those drawings by the way?"
"She said they were cool and she told me I'm 'deep' for some reason."
The chimera nodded. "You're a very intelligent person, Jiro-kun. And the way you express yourself through your art is really neat."
The vulpine artist scratched his face nervously. "Maybe I shouldtry to make it serious. Most girls won't even talk to me. They get creeped out by my face."
Jiro sighed and looked at Ibuki. "Just out of curiosity, Ibuki-kun. When you're talking to me, do you ever get the feeling that I don't care about what you're saying?"
Ibuki tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
"Even when I use my notepad, people can't seem to get past the numb face. I alwayslook bored and apathetic, even when I'm listening intently. I wasn't even smiling while I was texting her. I think on some level, people can only see my real face and not the notepad."
Ibuki scratched his chin in contemplation. " When we first met, I kinda got a negative vibe from you. I kinda immediately assumed you were going to be unfriendly. But when I got to know you, I started to see your face as a mask."
Jiro dragged a hand down his face. "A mask…"
The deer-wolf nodded. "You can't change the expression of a mask. And you're always in such a cheerful mood. Your demeanor doesn't match your bored-looking expression at all. So I could barely even see it as a face anymore. Honestly, I'm not sure a functional face could do you justice either. You're a very layered and fascinating person with incredibly complex ideas and emotions."
The artist blushed again. "Aw, geeze. Don't give me thatmuch praise, Ibuki-kun. It's embarrassing." Despite the vulpine's words, Ibuki could see his tail wagging rapidly. All canines love being praised.
Ibuki smiled. The tail of a canine is less complex than a face, but it still says so much about how they're feeling. Even Ibuki's tail would wag sometimes. His mother, his boyfriend, his boyfriend's father, he always liked seeing them happy like that.
The rest of the chimera's roommates returned. That night, the deer-wolf would take note of how many of them wagged their tails while conversing with each other. And just seeing that made his own tail wag.
When Esther got back to the dorm, Lin was blushing and smiling while texting on her phone. The tiger was surprised by how well those two had been getting along.
She felt happy for them, and yet somewhat frustrated. Even though they aren't the same species, they were still a straight couple. Nobody would bat an eye at that. Why was it that her kind of romance gets way more flak?
The tiger gritted her teeth. Now that she thought about it, she didn't see any straight couples in those photos. Even the ones of them having sex, which is still against school rules, were all same-sex. What the hell is with the double standard?
She took a deep breath to calm herself down. Esther decided not to disturb the panther while she was texting her vulpine boyfriend. While Lin had denied being his girlfriend, as far as Esther was concerned, she totally was.
The tiger sighed and walked over to her bunk with her bookbag in hand. She laid out her textbook, pencils, and her binder. She sat down and opened the textbook to chapter twenty-eight. Thanks to her girlfriend's tutoring, she had a pretty good grasp on the subject and was confident she could study without her help.
Esther's grades were considerably better than they were in middle school. Back then, she rarely broke a "C" and would get anything between "D" or even "F". Now, she never did worse than a "B-". When her last math test came back with an "A" she assumed the teacher must've made some sort of mistake, however, it was entirely correct.
It seemed her relationship with Olivia had benefited her in absolutely massive ways. She was happier, less angry, and, apparently, smarter than she used to be. She just hoped that she wouldn't end up ruining it. She truly loved the labrador and even had fantasies of getting married.
She shook her head rapidly, getting those thoughts out. She was far too busy with all this homework. Olivia would be incredibly disappointed if she failed the test.
Lee made his way through the halls of the school, taking the long way to Drama Club. He was hoping that maybe Trevor would be offering a prayer to Tem.
When he arrived at the memorial, he spotted the bear there. However, he was talking to someone on his cellphone. "I'd like to spend New Years with you. You know where I'll be."
Trevor hung up and turned around, spotting the chimera. He smiled. "Hello, Lee-kun."
Lee looked curious. "Who were you talking to?"
The bear's lip twitched. "No offense, Lee-kun. But you're waytoo nosey."
The chimera's eye was drawn to Trevor's pocket. Lee could see the bottle of honey was half-empty. Was the bear taking his meds again? Or was this just a trick after he was confronted last time?
Lee looked concerned. "I'm just worried about you, Trevor-senpai. I don't like accusing you of lying, but I'm really not convinced you're taking your meds."
Trevor stared at the chimera with an unreadable expression. "Lee-kun. What do you see when you look at me?"
The chimera was confused. "Sorry. I don't follow."
"If I wasn't taking my muscle suppressor, what do you think I would do?"
"I… I don't know. But you should still be taking it. I don't know why you would even refuse to."
The ursine sighed. "Now is the time to be honest, Lee-kun. You think I'm dangerous."
"Trevor-sen-"
Trevor raised a hand. "I know it's not because of my Papa. I know you know I'm not him. But you're still scared of me. Scared I'll lose control because I'm a bear and it's in my nature."
Lee was silent, trying to think up a response that wouldn't offend him. But it seemed he was right. That was a good summary of the chimera's concerns.
The bear smiled. "I'm not going to hurt anyone in this school. And you're only going to have to deal with me for so long."
The chimera looked bewildered. "W-what does that mean?"
Trevor stared out the window. "Because I'm making a New Years' resolution. And Winter Break is coming up real soon."
Lee gave the ursine an aggravated look. "J-just cut the cryptic shit! What are you saying?"
The bear chuckled. "I guess you're not thatscared of me after all. You're a strong guy, Lee-kun."
Trevor started walking away, but not towards Drama Club. Lee looked at him in confusion. "Hey, wait. Drama Club is the otherway."
The bear kept walking. "Sorry, Lee-kun. But I told Jo-chan I'm taking a break from Drama Club for now. I'll see you later."
Lee was baffled. What the hell was going on with that guy?