Chapter 4 : Too Fast

"You're going too fast."

Judy blinks and turns her head toward the fox. She's been trying to explain Thylales theorem to him for the pas half-hour, something it seems he hasn't even carried on from middle school.

He hunches over his notebook, glaring at the paper, stuck mid-sentence. There's a light tremble in his pencil.

"This is really basic stuff."

"You're going t-t-too fast." He repeats between his fangs, low snarl in his throat. He's been doing progress in the past two weeks, not enough to get passing grades, but it's way better than it was before (not that it really could have been worse), though he's still really far from the woods' exit.

Judy keeps herself from sighing, as it would only anger him, and goes back to the beginning, checking each time if he gets what she's saying.

Judy's going over the vulpine's last litterature essay. His grammar isn't as abysmal as it could have been (still pretty bad). Thankfully, he doesn't write the same way he talks. His vocabulary however, is still worrying. There are words she doesn't even recognize. Some of them look like mixes of two. What does "Uncalistable" even mean ?

"What does this sentence mean ?" She asks.

"Well, what it says, I guess ?" He answers.

She slides the copy toward him and points at him. A look of incomprehension shows on his features.

"I dunno. Don't remember writing it."

This is going to be a very long session. "Okay, so ; basic plan. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis."

"Wot ?"

"I mean, I guess you'll never reach the peak of school essay, but it's better to keep it simple than to lose yourself in your argumentation."

The fox seems utterly lost. "Argumentation ?"

"Ah… I need to explain to you how essays work, don't I ?"

With a scowl, he takes out a new sheet of paper and uncaps his pencil. She didn't mean to make it sound like she thought he was stupid, but sometimes she just let slip how surprised she is that he knows so little.

"So the covalent bond is the chemical bond between two atoms..."

Gideon is writing down what the bunny is explaining to him with a deep frown.

"… It means that they share an electron pair, known as bonded pair. For instance, Hydrogen has one electron, so H2, a molecule made of two Hydrogen atom is linked with one bonded pair of-"

"You're going too fast."

Judy's eye twitches at the angry delivery. She's trying to be as didactic as she can. "Covalent bonding include many kinds of interactions, like Sigma or Pi bondings, but-"

"Too fast."

"You simply need to be more focused-"

His face whips up, and she can see the anger in her eyes, as well as the tears that in their corners. Then his notebook flies across the room before he shoves the table aside and walks out.

"Gideon !"

Damn that rotund fox is fast when he really wants to. Looking inside the hallway to her left then to her right, she see the tip of a russet tail disappearing at the corner. Breaking into a sprint, she goes after him, to find him sitting on the tiled floor, his arms around his knees, trying to wipe his eyes as he tries to bore holes into the wall. "Go away."

"Gideon-"

"Get the f-f-fuck away !"

She just stand there. She can't just leave him, but she doesn't have any idea what to say to him either. She's never seen him cry before. Hell, she never even imagined that he could.

"I know I'm dumb okay ? Ya don't need to rub it in !"

"I'm not-"

"Think ya fool me with yer little Miss perfect act ? Fuck, I thought you were tryin' to help me, but ya just want to feel superior !"

"I don't-"

"This is basic stuff." He says imitating her. " 'I need to explain how essays work.' I'm dumb, but I ain't that dumb that I don't see ya makin' fun of me !"

Judy feels a bit stumped. She was ribbing him, the same way she likes to do when she trains with Sharla. The ewe takes it in good fun, especially since she digs at her right back when she gets better grades in science (which happens more often than not). She was just trying to motivate him, but that just might not have been the right way to go with it. "I'm sorry."

"Shut up !"

"Gideon-"

"Ya don't mean it. I know I'm dumb. I'm slow. I can't write really fast, and even if I could, it's not as if I was really gettin' anything you say. You don't need to pretend you don't laugh at me in my back. I know y'all do. I don't even know why I try. I though maybe if I put my mind to it, but no ! I'm just as fuck'n stupid as he- As y'all thought after all."

The bunny puts a paw to his forearm, and he flinches, pulling it away. He stares at her with haunted eyes for a second, before getting up. "I'm going home." He says in a broken voice.

"We haven't finished studying."

"I'm finished." He answers, moving back toward the classroom. "I'm not gonna be back."

"But you need it !"

"Not as if it was makin' any difference." He retorts, picking up his notebook, and putting the table he pushed back in its place.

"You're making progress."

"Great. I went from the bottom of the barrel to below average. Ain't that amazin' ?"

"I know you can do it !" She says, putting herself in front of him. He tries to go around her but she sidesteps. "Are you going to just give up ?"

"Yeah. Now move. I don't wanna go trough ya."

Judy looks at him, gauging him. He's still bulkier than she is, but she's been taking martial art classes for years. She could take him, probably. But she doesn't want to. "Go ahead."

The vulpine grabs her shoulder and tries to shove her aside, but she simply shrugs his paw off, and slithers back in front of him. "Judy, I'm warnin' ya !"

She crosses her arms and remain on her spot, only moving when he tries to go around. Out of patience, he shoves her back. She would have remained standing if she had seen the chair behind her. As it stands, she hasn't.

So she trips, her head hitting against the corner of the table as she falls to the floor.

"Judy !"

The bunny grabs the side of her head in pain, as the fox passes an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry- I didn't mean- Are you okay ?"

"I'm fine." She answers with tears of pain in her eyes her paws on the place she hit her head.

"Hey, hey open your eyes." He says, and she obeys him. "Can ya follow my finger ?" She does, rather easily. "Is yer v-v-vision blurry ?"

The bunny quickly wipes her eyes and blinks a couple of times. "I don't think so."

"Think ya can stand ?"

"Yeah, I think so." The bunny lets the fox help her to her feet. Aside from the throbbing pain in her head, she feels okay.

"Do you feel dizziness or nausea ?"

"Yes, I… Are you checking me for a concussion ?" She asks.

The tod nods. "Yeah."

"How do you even know the symptoms ?" The bunny asks, rubbing the painful spot on her skull.

"Erh… I had a couple of accidents, and so did my mom. I guess that can get through that thick skull, eventually." He explains, knocking on his own forehead. "Sorry I pushed you."

Is that really Gideon Grey ? The ruthless fox that she spent so long fighting ? The bully that scared Sharla to death and never seemed to regret his bad behaviour ?

The sheepish fox staring at the ground looks so different from the terrible vulpine she knew in middle school.

"Y-you can hit me back if you want." He mutters, leaving his face exposed. A little part of Judy wants to take advantage of that, to make up for the years of violence he imposed on her and her friends. But this isn't the attitude of a violent mammal that revels in the hurt he causes. It feels weird, wrong, and not just because it's him.

Gideon feels one Judy's paws grab his collar, pulling him down, but instead of feeling the slap he was expecting, and believed he deserved, she wraps her arm around his neck.

"Whatchu doin' ?"

"It's called a hug, dumb fox."

Gideon feels stumped. He just hurt her and she's hugging him, what the hell is wrong with that bunny ?

"You know, social convention dictates for you to hug back."

He didn't really get the first part of the sentence, but the meaning was basically contained in the last two words. Plus he just hurt her, so maybe he should hug her to make her feel better. Maybe it's a bunny thing. In any case, he does hug her back. New contender in his top five favourite things : bunny hugs. Or maybe Judy hugs. No. Bunny hugs. Definitely nothing to do with it being specific to her. That would be weird. That paw brushing right under his left ear feels especially nice, that and the scent of violet and recently cut grass. Maybe being a fan of bunny hugs generally would be weirder though… Then she lets go and so does he.

"Feeling better ?"

"Ain't that my line ?" He awkwardly asks.

"Not the first bump I'd have gotten from you." The bunny grins, making the fox's expression crumble again.

"I'm sorry." He mutters.

"No- Oh gosh, I was joking ! It's all forgiven, don't worry about it."

"O-okay." He agrees unsure. "I… Maybe we should take you to the infirmary."

Judy shakes her head. "I'm fine, really." Plus, she really doesn't want to have to explain how she hurt herself. That would spell trouble for him. "But I think you're right… We should stop for now. I don't we're in any condition to study."

The fox nods and she goes to put her stuff into her bag.

"See you next week ?" She asks.

"Shure."