Yeah, it's a short one, but I did warn you about inconsistent schedule.

Chapter 12 : The talk

"Is that true ?"

Judy's midway to her seat in literature when she's stopped by a doe. The other female bunny, wears heavy make up, and is named Sarah (she thinks). They never talked before and Judy's actually surprised the other doe would ever talk to her.

"What ?"

"That you tutor a fox."

"Yeah."

"And that he fought with Donnie."

"Yeah… That too."

Without another word, the doe walks back to her friend and hear them chattering between themselves. She can make out the word "fox", "true" and another that makes her thinks her life is going to get a whole lot harder : "predophile".

- 1 -

"So, I didn't know you were into canids." Comes a whisper to Judy's left. The doe turns her head as she exit the mathematics' class to see a smiling Sharla. It's the only class in which they aren't sitting next to each other. Coincidentally, in this one, Sharla sits next to Sarah.

"Not you too." The bunny groans.

"I'm not judging, you've spent a lot of time together."

"Sharla..."

"I mean, you're growing, your hormones are doing strange things to your mind and body. I think it's fine, if it makes you happy."

The bunny elbows her ribs, though with far less than her full strength. "Are you finished ?"

"Well, I have a lot of other really interesting gossips from the warpainted airhead, but you got the abridged version."

"Oh thanks cheese-"

"Though, is it true fox have a knot ?"

"A what ? What is that ?"

The ewe shoots her a crooked smile. "Just ask Zoogle image about fox knots."

As they exit the room, Judy takes out her phone and quickly types it in, before blushing hard. Is that what it looks like ? Would that be what Gideon's look like ? And why the hell I she wondering about that ? "Oh sweet cheese and crackers… Why did you have to put this inside my head ? And how did you even know about that ?"

"Sarah knows a surprising amount in terms of biology. As for the why, it's because you're so cute when you blush."

"Don't call me cute." The bunny huffs. "You're a really bad friend, you know that, right ? If this gossip is going to turn into a thing, I hope you'll be more supportive than that."

"It won't be a thing. No one is going to believe it."

The bunny is studying in her room with her headphones. With her bunny hearing, she's forced to keep the sound quite low. That's why, when someone knocks on the door, she easily hears them.

"Come in ?" She answers, taking down her headphones.

Both her parent appear. Her father, a rather pudgy buck, wears a worried expression, matched in tone, though not in intensity, by the matronly doe that leads the two of them.

"Judy, can we talk to you ?"

She's heard that tone before. It's somewhere between the "you should try to find an easier dream." speech the one from "here's how bunnies are made."

"Yes." She answers, putting down her headphones and preparing herself to a very uncomfortable discussion. "What is it ?"

"Well… Erh." Begins Bonnie. "You know that we love you, right ?"

Yup, that's a red flag. What is it going to be ? New chores ? A new ploy to get her to make more male friends ? Another 'dreams should be given up on' speech ?

"Yes. I know."

"Have you, uh… Thought about the biology ?"

"The… Biology ?"

"About… Ah, this is hard… How to put it… Ronnie ! You know Ronnie, right ?"

The bunny rolls her eyes. "He's my cousin, of course I know him."

"Well… When you heard he was gay, what did you think ?"

Judy shrugs. "I didn't really care. I think he and his boyfriend are cute together."

"Yeah… Right. Us too… I might have been a bit hard on your aunt and uncle, they had a hard time understanding it…"

The bunny nods. She remembers that they got into a few fights, but after the buck told them that they could either accept who he was or that they'd not be part of his life, they started to understand that they might be wrong. Too bad it took an ultimatum for that to happen.

"We want you to know that if we don't really understand..."

"I think it's darnn weird !" Mutters her father, getting an elbow to the rib from his wife.

"We still love you."

"Wha- What are you talking about ?" Judy asks a bit lost.

"All we want is for you to be careful, Jude. You're at that age where you're going to have urges. And sometimes they're going to be really strong. It'll be up to you to chose to act upon them or not. But it needs to be a choice."

The bunny's brow furrow as she tries to understand what they mean. Then it dawns on her. "What- I'm not dating Gideon !"

They stare at her in confusion, until her mother talks again. "You're not ?"

"Of course not !" The bunny scoffs. "I'm tutoring him ! Where did you get that notion ?"

"Erh..." Hesitates her father. "Well, you know, sometimes your siblings talk and we hear things… You two are really not dating ?"

"No !"

Both her parents emit a long sigh of relief, which somehow only serves to make her temper raise. "Oh, Jude, I'm so glad !" Says her father. "I really didn't want to have to deal with that."

"Stu !"

"What ? Homosexuality, I can understand but inters..." He shudders. "Makes my skin crawl."

"Alright. Okay. Good talk." The bunny utters, before walking toward them and ushering them out. "Gotta keep studying."

Her parents look a bit shocked as they get basically pushed out of the room by their daughter, but don't really protest. "Okay dear." Says her mother.

"Don't overwork yourself." Says her father as she closes the door.

Then she goes back to her bed, grabs a pillow and screams inside it, in anger. Weirdly enough, it turns into an urge to cry. That her parents made assumption about her love life is bad enough, but their reaction when learning they were wrong felt somehow worse.