Chapter 10 : The Altercation
The bunny's walking out of her last class of the day, getting ready to meet with Gideon for their weekly (or sometimes biweekly) tutoring session.
Earlier, the fox sent her a text about him being potentially late, and that he'd grab the key from the front desk before meeting with her, to which she replied she'd wait for him in the schoolyard. She's actually glad for the respite, going directly to another classroom isn't always what she wants to do right after class.
Settling on a bench, she stretches her back and arms, while she watches the other student slowly pouring out of the school.
A group of bunnies detaches itself from the crowd and moves in her direction. On the front of the trio, she can see Donnie, who looks less bashful than when they met a couple of times before. His friends stops behind him and leaves him some privacy as he approaches her. "Hey Judy."
"Hey Donnie." She greets, standing up.
"The friends and I were about to go hangout in the arcade… Wanna come ?"
The doe sighs. "That's a bit last minute, and I actually already have something planned."
"You mean your tutoring session with the fox ?" He asks in what manages to sound like a neutral tone.
"Yeah, with Gideon. If you want to hang-out, maybe we should-"
"Honestly, I don't understand why you waste your time with him." Donnie states. "You're a good student, you're great at sports. Do you really need the money that much ?"
"He doesn't pay me."
"What ? Did he threaten you ?" The buck reacts. "You should talk to a teacher about it."
"No, he just needed help. He didn't threaten me."
The buck's gaze turns to dubious. "Well, then I really don't see why you waste your time. He's just going to either repeat or drop out. Or repeat, then drop out."
"Hey, don't say that, he's really making progress !"
"Not as if he could really do worse, couldn't he ?"
"What's your problem ?" The bunny almost shouts. "And what does it matter to you that I tutor him ?"
"It matters to me because someone as brilliant and talented as you would rather lose her time with someone like him, than to hang out with mammals that are actually worth it ! Come on, even you have to see that."
"I'm not- Wow, if you're actually that kind of guy, I'm actually glad I couldn't come. If you really want to know, yes, I'd rather hang out with Gideon than with you" The bunny says, seething, pointing a digit at his face.
"Heh, speaking of the devil." The buck smirks.
She turns to where Donnie's looking, to see Gideon approach them. It feels like seeing the fox from middleschool again. He walking in a fast pace with his fists balled, and seems like he overheard part of the conversation.
"Is he botherin' ya ?" The tod asks, in a tone that conveys that he'll do something drastic about it if it's the case.
"No, he was just leaving." The bunny answers, putting a paw to his forearm to keep him calm.
Donnie's gaze narrows as it travels between the two of them. "Oh I see how it is. And you call that tutoring sessions…"
"What do you mean ?"
"Oh don't play dumb. And here I bought it for a second that he was actually studying. You actually do need the money that much."
"Wha- I already told you he wasn't paying me !"
"Well, I guess money's tight when you have so many siblings." He continues, ignoring her. "I just didn't think you'd be stooping so low as to whore your li-"
A red furred fist collides with the buck's snout, sending him backward. A second later, the tod is on him, his paw grabbing his collar. He punches the bunny a second time, before Judy catches his arm.
"Gideon, what are you doing !?" She shouts.
Donnie seizes the opportunity to make a perfect rendition of her double kick from eight years prior, and sends them both tumbling back. One of the buck's friend grabs her shoulder as Donnie rushes the fox, trying a kick to his snout, that he blocks with his arm.
"Stay down. It's not your busin-"
Her martial art training kicks in and she sends him flying over her shoulder, breaking his fall by holding him so that he won't hurt himself. Then she rushes to Donnie, grabbing his collar and pulling him away from the fox.
Gideon gets up, and raises his fist, ready to attack the buck once again. "STOP !" Judy shouts. "Stop it, Gid !" Then she feels Donnie trying to push her away, raising his own fist to attack her friend. Grabbing his arm, she twits it, and brings him to the ground.
"Hey what's happening !?" Comes an adult voice.
"It's the principal !" Reacts one of Donnie's friend. "Run !" The both of them scatter and disappear, leaving the three mammal alone to face the grown ram who looks at them with a stern glare.
"My office. Now."
Judy tries to help Donnie up, but he refuses her paw, shoot ing her a heinous look. As they walk, the principal takes out his phone. "Mrs Catmull ? Could you come to my office ? Yes, now, it's important."
- 1 -
"Now, I want to know exactly what happened."
The ram is sitting at his desk, his snout hidden behind his crossed hooves. His gaze glimmers with stern disappointment as it goes from one mammal to the next. Mrs Catmull is standing next to him with her arms crossed, her worry thinly veiled behind the neutral expression she tries to keep.
Gideon has a scrapped elbow, and his right eye has started to swell. Donnie has a split lip, but his nose has stopped bleeding. Judy's mostly intact.
"He attacked me." Says Donnie, pointing at Gideon who's sitting on the other side of Judy. "He punched me in the face, I was only defending my-"
"Gideon didn't do anything." Judy cuts him. She's fairly certain the principal only saw the end of their altercation. Gideon already got suspended several times, he's repeating a year. If he's found guilty of this, she knows he'll get expelled. "Donnie insulted me and I attacked him. Gideon tried to separate us and he took most of the hits. Then I immobilized Donnie with an armlock."
"You liar ! That's not what happened !"
"As if you'd ever admit being beaten by a girl !"she sneers.
"You b-"
"You three, SHUT UP !" Growls the principal. "Mrs Catmull, please accompany Mr Grey and Mr Earson outside. I want to talk to Ms Hopps alone."
"Of course Mr Woolinski."
The three mammals leave the room, Gideon with his head bowed, while Donnie shoots Judy a last glare.
As the door closes, the ram lets out a deep tired sigh. "Ms Hopps, what are you doing ?"
"I-"
"It was rhetorical. I know you were lying, not that what you told me was impossible, but we both know it's highly improbable that you'd attack anyone simply because they insulted you. So let me ask you this once again, and don't lie to me this time : What happened ?"
The doe looks at her feet. She can't tell the truth. She can't. If Gideon gets expelled, it'll be on his school record next to his suspension and repeated years, and it'll make it hell for him to finish his education somewhere else. She feels the familiar prick of tears at the corner of her eyes.
"You do realise that if you go through with your version, that it's the one that is accepted as the official one, I'll be forced to take action. We're talking hours of detention, maybe a suspension. And if Mr Earson's family decides to sue, you could get a juvenile record. That would destroy your chances to get into the ZPA."
Judy's fur stands on end. It could happen, it could destroy her chance to get her dream. But it could also destroy Gideon's chance at a future. She tries to keep it together, but she can't stop the single tear that escapes her right eye.
"I get that you're trying to protect your friend. Truly, I find it admirable. But it's not your responsibility."
"I don't want him to get expelled." She chokes.
Woolinski's gaze softens. "Do you know how many teachers came here to show me his grades ? Do you realise how much progress he's made since you started tutoring him ? I'm not going to waste his or your efforts like that. If we keep this on the down low, there's no reason for things to escalate, but I need to know the truth for that."
Judy slowly exhales and wipes her eyes. She hesitates to ask him to promise, it would sound childish. "I… Okay. It's… Donnie was trying to ask me to hang out, but I couldn't come because I had a tutoring session planned with Gideon. When I told him that, he became aggressive. Told me I was wasting my time, and that I should hang out with mammals that where actually worth it. I told him that if he was going to take it like this, I was glad I couldn't hang out. Then Gideon arrived..."
She closes her eyes, trying to recall things as exactly as she can. "He asked if Donnie was bothering me, and I told him that it wasn't the case and that he was leaving. Then Donnie said that I wasn't actually tutoring him, but… Erm… Performing sexual service for him in exchange of money."
The principal's eyes widen at that. "He what ?"
"He… Erh, said that because I had so many siblings, we didn't have enough money, and that I had to "Whore Myself.". Wait, no… He said "Whore your..."and Gideon punched him before he could finish his sentence."
"And then ?" The ram is frowning, not liking what he's hearing a bit.
"Then I tried to stop him, and Donnie kicked him away. One of his friend tried to keep me from separating them, but I was able to make him let go of me. By that time, Donnie had jumped on Gideon and was punching him in the face. I had to pull him away and tell Gideon to stop when he tried to attack Donnie again. Then Donnie tried to shove me away to attack Gideon for a second time and I put him in an armlock. Then you arrived."
Woolinski emits a deep sigh. "Okay… So you didn't attack Mr Earson, you only tried to keep them both from fighting."
"Yeah…"
The horned mammal looks like he's in a deep state of reflection, and the bunny doesn't dare interrupt him. His brow furrows several times, until he seems to reach for a conclusion. "It's a complicated situation. Mr Earson did insult you, and that warrants a disciplinary action, but Mr Grey did worse by physically attacking him. Logic says I should suspend him, but that wouldn't do any good for his grades. I'll have to give him detention."
"You can't… He has to work every evening to help support his family !"
"Except on tuesdays."
"But it's the days I'm tutoring him on !" She reacts.
At that, the ram shoots her a thin smile. "Then your now free to use that time as you see fit."
She's about to protest, until realisation dawns on her. "Oh. Thank you sir."
"I don't see what you're talking about. Please tell them to get back in."
She gets up and opens the door, to see Gideon and Donnie standing a few feet away with each other, Mrs Catmull between them. The feline shoots her an interrogative look. "Mr Woolinski wants you back in."
They follow her, placing themselves in the exact same position as they were a few minutes before.
"So, Mr Earson, I'd like you to tell me exactly what happened."
"Yeah, I guess you were tired of being lied to." He sneers.
"I'll ask you to refrain from that kind of remark."
The bunny frowns. "Well, I came to ask her if she wanted to hang out, and she told me that she couldn't because she was tutoring this d- Tutoring Gideon. Then he came and he didn't seem happy that I was talking to her. Then he attacked me."
Judy's fuming at his blatant concealing of his own fault in the event, but refrains from saying anything when her gaze crosses the ram's.
"And then ?"
"Well, I pushed him back."
"And ?"
Donnie's starting to realise that lunging at Gideon again after getting him to let go probably wasn't the right course of action.
"Mr Earson, Mr Grey has a black eye, I doubt he did it to himself." The ram states.
"I… I attacked him back. Then Judy pulled me off of him and put me in an armlock."
The ram is staring at the young bunny over his crossed hooves. "I don't think you lied to me, but there are a lot of holes in your stories, aren't there ?"
The bunny looks away shamefully.
"So how about this, I tell you what I think happened, and you tell me if I'm wrong or right. Now, I think Gideon did throw the first punch, but only because you insulted Ms Hopps. Am I right ?"
The buck nods.
"And might I know what you said ?"
"I… I told she was… er… Doing things to him for money." He slowly says, his ears turning bright red.
"Donnie !" Reacts Mrs Catmull. "I… I don't even know what to say !"
"After that, and after you attacked Mr Grey back, she pulled you away from him, she told Gideon to stop and he did, didn't he ?"
Donnie nods.
"Why did she have to put you in an armlock ?"
"I… I tried to punch him again."
"Hm…" Mr Woolinski huffs reflectively. "Mr Grey, is there something you'd like to add ? Something that would miss from Mr Earson's recalling of the event ?"
The young vulpine shakes his head.
"Alright… Then, Mr Earson, do you acknowledge that insulting Ms Hopps was wrong of you."
"I guess."
"It was yes or no question."
"Yes." The answers reluctantly.
"Then I'd like you to apologize to her."
The buck tenses up and glances at her. For a couple of seconds, she thinks he won't do it, then he pushes each word out. "I'm sorry I insulted you."
"Alright. Now, you did use a terrible slur against a fellow mammal, so I still have to take disciplinary action. Detention, next Friday evening until seven PM."
"But-" His gaze crosses the principal, and falls silent, thinking better of it.
"Ms Hopps, wouldn't you have lied to me during this… Interview. Would it be normal circumstances, I would have given you detention, but tempers were high, and you were only trying to protect a friend. Consider this you first and final warning."
"Thank you sir. I'm sorry I lied to you."
The ram waves his hoof dismissively. "No harm done. And finally Mr Grey… I can understand that you'd be protective of your friends, but using physical violence to do so is something I can't condone inside the walls of my establishment. Or even outside them, for that matter. This is why you'll be in detention every Tuesdays for the rest of the year."
The vulpine's gaze roam from the principal to Judy. Then it goes back to the principal's face and contorts with anger and sadness. His fists starts trembling and he puts them inside his pocket.
"Frankly, I'm disappointed in you. I know you're making progress, but you need to address this anger problem. We're being patient with you, but we can't let it go when you things like that. You need to understand… We can't help you if you won't help yourself."
Judy can see something snap inside the tod even before he opens his mouth.
"Gid-"
"Fuck this shit."
Mrs Catmull gasps, Judy puts her paws to her mouth, and Donnie grins. The ram's hooves clench as he leans forward. "Excuse me ?"
The fox doesn't wait for them to say anything more, and simply turns around and leaves the room.
"Gideon !"
"Mr Grey !"
He hears Judy and Mrs Catmull call behind him as he slams the door.
Mr Woolinsky rubs the spot between his eyes before standing up. "Mr Earson, and Ms Hopps, both of your are dismissed. I'll have to call his mother-"
"Sir, can I try to talk to him first ?" Cuts the doe.
The ram shoots her a peculiar look. "Why ?"
"He… When he's like that, he doesn't really think straight."
Donnie snorts. "He's just a mindless idiot. Why do you defend him so much ?"
The doe glares at him. "If you don't want me to give the principal a reason to give me detention, you really should shut your piehole."
"Ms Hopps !" Reacts the cougar, though the doe can see the hint of a smile in her outraged expression.
"I'm sorry Mrs Catmull. What I mean to say is… Let me talk to him. I'm sure when he realises he just did, he'll come to apologise."
The ram reflects on it for a few more second. "I'll ask Mrs Catmull to accompany you."
"I think it would be best if I went on my own."
The two adult give her a perplexed look. "What if he gets violent ?" Mrs Catmull asks.
"He won't. And I can handle him anyway."
"I'm sure you-" Starts Donnie, before being cut by the cougar's hard glare.
"Very well. But depending on his behaviour, I can't guarantee he won't get another sanction." States the ram. "Now go find him before he leaves."