"Still tutoring the big bad fox ?" Sharla asks between two reps of sit ups.

"Yup."

"Is he actually getting better or is it just a waste of time ?"

Judy doesn't know. She feels like there are other problems than just him being a little slow he needs to deal with. "He's making progress. I don't know- Well, I doubt he'll pass, but they might let him repeat this year a second time if he keeps up."

"Do you think he'd want to ?"

That too, she doesn't know. The fox has no reason to want to keep going at the moment, aside from the fact that it would be rather hard for him to find a job without any diploma. "I'll try to make him like studying… But even I don't really like it."

"It's more about getting used to it." Agrees her wooled friend. "It'll be harder for him if he doesn't have any motivation."

Judy's never been a massive fan of History. She knows the basics, she learns what she needs to, and a bit more, since she knows having a balanced report shows consistency. But she can't bring herself to care about old kings, past wars, and the petty stories that led the formers to wage the latters. She'd be more interested in the day to day life of the small people. What they did, how they did… There's something interesting in that seemingly unimportant day to day life.

So when someone knocks on the door of the classroom, she welcomes the interruption.

- 1 -

"Mr Grey, could you please see me after class ?"

There's absolutely no love between Gideon and his math teacher, Mrs Hopton. The elder and stern doe talks fast, doesn't take questions (not that he would ever raise his paw in class) and sticks to the point. She asks questions to her students at random, fairly giving or taking points depending on the answer she gets.

The fox spends the lesson trying to keep up, knowing full well that he won't be able to understand anything until Judy helps him catch up with the older stuff. The elder lagomorph is probably going to reprimand him over his lack of effort, and he could barely care less.

Then, the class finally ends, and the fox quickly shoves his stuff back into his bag, waiting for the room to empty himself from his peers.

"Could you please come here ?"

It's her usual stern tone and the vulpine doesn't expect anything good to come out of whatever she wants with him.

"What is this ?"

She slides his last test on her desk, pointing grade to him. sixty-eight. The fox can't help but grin, it's more than the triple his last mark. Judy gave him a few pointers, hoping it would be enough for him to keep his head out of the water. She told him how to dumbly apply the formulas without even understanding what he was doing, as well as give him a few tricks to understand where he should apply them. And it kind of worked. He still doesn't know what he did, given how much guess work went into that test, but at least, getting relatively okay grades should give him some breathing room.

"You know I don't tolerate cheating in my classroom."

His smile falls. "I didn't-"

"Now if you come out with it, I'll allow you to retake the test."

"I d-d-didn't cheat." He answers, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

The doe glares at him. "Someone like you doesn't make that kind of progress overnight. Tell me how you did it or I'll mark it as a zero."

"I. DIDN'T. CHEAT !" His fist collides with the desk, leaving a small dent in it.

- 2 -

"What's happening, Mrs Catmull ?" Asks the bunny as she walks at the feline's side.

"I would seem Mr Grey found himself in a bit of a pickle and… He's not always the best at communicating."

"Tell me about it." Sighs Judy knowingly. "He didn't do anything rash, I hope."

"Just yelled at Mrs Hopton and punched her desk." The counsellor answers in a light tone that fills Judy with dread.

They arrive at the principals office, the cougar knocking before pushing the door, to see Gideon sitting on a chair and glaring at the floor, while both Mrs Hopton and Principal Woolinski, glass wearing sheep, are trying to get the fox to admit to his cheating.

"Mr Grey, not only have you cheated, but you showed an unacceptable attitude toward one of you teachers. If you don't tell the truth, I'm afraid I will have not choice but-"

A ball of dread settles in Judy's stomach. "You- You cheated ?"

His eyes glance toward her. "I d-d-didn't cheat." He doesn't really care his teacher or the principal would think that. Of course, it hurts that they would accuse him and punish him for a crime he hasn't committed, but he's been through that before, it wouldn't be anything new. However he can't stand the idea of Judy thinking that. "I swear I didn't." He croaks, barely managing to keep his voice level.

"No-one can make such leaps in results so fast. Not by themselves." States the bunny teacher.

"He wasn't alone." Answers Judy. "I've been tutoring him."

"Now, Judy, you don't need to pre-"

"For the past three weeks, I've been studying with him on every tuesday and other thursdays." She clarifies.

Both prey are stumped. "Oh… We didn't know." Says the principal. "Then, these result are a testament to your teaching skills. In that case, I guess there's no incident."

"No incident ? He did shout at me, and displayed some aggressive behaviour !"

"Yes, that is a problem." Reluctantly concedes the sheep.

Gideon shrinks on his chair. That, he knows he can't get out of. Judy, for her part, is fuming. The fox might not be the nicest or delicate mammal, but he did get wrongly accused, and she knows she would have felt insulted if she had been in his shoes. Then she takes a page out of the law books she's been reading, surprising herself with the words coming out of her mouth.

"Only if that accusation isn't as baseless as the one on his alleged cheating."

She feels a bit self-conscious about the stares she get. Plus, she's pretty sure he actually did do that. But the teacher hasn't offered any word of apology to him about the fake accusation, and she knows she won't on her own volition.

"Mrs Hopps, how improper of you accuse me of such things !"

"How improper of you to accuse Gideon of cheating without proof." Comes her cool and barbed reply.

Mrs Hopton bristles. Principal Woolinsky rolls his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. Judy is the best student in her year, and Hopton is a vindictive bigot, despite the fact that she knows how to do her job. He doesn't know where that fight could lead, and he really doesn't like the idea of discovering it. "Let's take a deep breath and calm down, okay ? Mrs Hopton, you did falsely accuse Mr Grey of cheating, that much you can acknowledge."

"I do."

"And ?"

It takes a few seconds for the elder doe to understand what her superior wants. The next words she utters seem to be physically painful to her. "I apologise."

"Good. Now, Mr Grey, and I promise you no punishment will come to you, whatever your answer will be, did you, or did you not yell at Mr Hopton and punch her desk ?"

The tod's eye flutter to Judy. He seems to be weighing something in his mind and the bunny gives him an encouraging smile.

"I-I-I did. I'm so-so-sorry."

"Good. Good. Then… Mrs Hopps, I understand that Mr Grey is your friend..."

Judy raises a brow. Is he ? Her gaze flutters back to him. She guesses they kind of are friends.

"… But the way you spoke about and at Mrs Hopton was indeed not proper. There are other ways to raise concern than through… Sarcasm and irony."

"I apologise, Mrs Hopton." Judy states evenly. She is sorry that she spoke that way to a figure of authority. Not so much that it was aimed at that specific bunny.

The principal isn't thick enough to miss that this apology wasn't truly heartfelt, but he's not about to start another argument. "Then, we can all put that incident behind us. Have a nice day."

Mrs Catmull puts a paw to Gideon's shoulder and guides him outside, followed by both bunnies, teacher and student.

"Miss Hopps, can I have a word ?" Comes the elder doe's voice. With a nod, Judy goes with her around one of the corners. "So, you've truly started to tutor Mr Grey ?"

Judy acquiesces. "Yes."

"Hm… While I find it admirable that you would take upon you to help our… Less gifted students, I recommend you to be careful."

The doe has a couple of burning answers at the ready, but decides to keep them for herself.

"This Mr Grey is… Abad seed. He's known for his outbursts and occasional bouts of violence. He's been suspended more than a couple of times since he arrived in our school, and I doubt you'd want to be the victim of the reasons he did. Also, I'm worried he'd end up pulling you down with him, and I'd hate to see such a promising young lady like you stupidly lose track of their future."

It's getting harder and harder not to answer to that old hag. What does she know about Gideon, huh ? Sure, he used to be a bully, and his grades are way below average. But he's trying. Is she saying she should just turn her back on someone that needs her help ?

"I know… Well, we all know that you want to be the first bunny ZPD officer, and looking at your marks and record, I'm fairly certain you could achieve it."

Judy blinks. She was certainly the last mammal she expected to say something like that.

"But not if you burden yourself with mammals that aren't worth your time."

Mrs Hopton seems to be waiting for an answer, and Judy's struggling to not choose the most biting that comes to mind. "Thank you for the advice, but Gideon needs my help. What kind of ZPD officers would I make if I turned my back on that ?"

Given the look the teacher sends her way, Judy guesses that wasn't the answer she was hoping for. "Well, Miss Hopps, I think you should go back to your class room. Have a good day."

"You too Mrs Hopton."

They part ways, and Judy goes back to her own classroom, hoping that Gideon will be okay. As she sits back to her table, Sharla hands her her notes. "What happened ?" She asks in a whisper.

"Gideon was accused of cheating. I'll tell you all about it later." Judy answers, before catching up on the missed lesson.

- 3 -

As she exits the school at the end of the day, Judy tries to locate the fox. She gets intercepts by Donnie as she's about to take the direction of the bike park.

"Hey Judy !"

She groans internally. She knows he's been trying to find occasions to talk to her, and she hasn't been fleeing him. But this is really not the right time. "Yes ?"

"I was wondering… Did you change your mind about the soccer thing ?"

"Ah… No. Sorry. Listen, I really gotta-"

"And uh… Would you want to hang out, sometimes ?"

Her brain screeches to a halt. Wow, he does actually go through with it. "Sorry ?"

"You know… hang out. Like, erm… Maybe to the arcade or something ?" The buck is blushing. He really is asking her out, and she has no idea how to react to that.

"Uh… Sure, maybe… I don't know. Could we talk about it again ? I really need to go."

"Erh… Okay ?"

"It's not a no !" She shouts, sprinting away.

As she had suspected, she finds Gideon near the bike park, where he's struggling to put the chain on the chain wheel of a rusty bike.

"Gideon ?"

The fox jumps and pinches his finger. "Aw, FUCK !" He reacts before shooting her a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I've helped my dad working on the truck before. He gets a whole lot more colourful than that."

"Ah ?"

"What in the devil's name is that muck sucking piece of garbage and who's the son of a two dime's whore that built it like that in the first place !" She grumbles in an uncanny imitation of the older bunny, sending the fox in a fit of giggle.

"Okay tha's worse. D'ya need sumthin' ?"

"I just wanted to check if you were okay."

The chain snaps into place and the fox wipes his dirty paws on his overalls. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be ?"

"You seemed really upset."

Gideon seems to squirm uncomfortably. "Nah… But thank you fer… Whatever ya said. Ya didn't have to."

"Well, I am tutoring you."

"I was talkin' 'bout the baseless accusation thingy."

"Oh." Judy reacts. Looking back, she feels a bit silly about it. "Don't mention it."