Maybe I should have based the grade system on the French one as I'm way more familiar with that one. I had to retcon "Sophomore" into "Freshmammal" to unfuck the timeline a bit. Plus it's more in line with how I see it all unfold.

Judy's 14 (she skipped a year in elementary, she'll be 15 at the beginning of the next year), Gideon's 17 (repeated 2 years, so he should be in Junior year). I hope I'm not screwing up my calculations. I actually used the diagram on wikipedia about the Education in the US.

In any case, thank you for bearing with me and my mistakes :)

Don't hesitate to review, critically or not, I try to answer everyone.

Chapter 17 : Future Inquiries

The next few tutoring sessions feel weird. The fox is still as focused as before, but there's less communication. He just writes down what she says and answers her questions when she asks them. Aside from that, Judy feels that they don't talk as much.

It gets too much when the tod doesn't show up at recess to hang out with them. It doesn't take long for the bunny to track him down, there are only so much isolated corners he could be hiding out in.

"Gideon ?" She calls, rounding a corner that leads near a fire exit. "Oh, you're there."

"H-hey." He greets, trying to hide the smoke of his cigarette.

"What are you doing here ?"

"Nuthin'."

The bunny groans. "Come on. What's happening ?"

Gideon shrugs, and shoves his paws in his pockets. If he's trying to hide that there's something on his mind, he's doing a pretty crappy job at it.

"Gid, please tell me. Can I help ? Is there something I said ? Do you have trouble at work ?"

"No. It's not that."

"What is it then ?"

"Ya'll just worry over nuthin'."

"If it's putting you down like that, it's not nothing."

Sometimes, Gideon wishes his murderous gaze would work on her again, as it stand, she just lifts a brow and takes a step forward when she sees it. "Gid, you know you don't scare me, right ?"

"Maybe ya should be scared." He mutters.

"As if you'd ever hurt me."

"I hurt you before."

"And you won't do it again." She smiles. "Come on, is there something I can do to help ? If you have something on your chest..."

"It's that with rumors and everythin', I thought… If we keep hangin' out, it's gonna, be weird, ain't it ? I mean, people's gonna talk again, and I don't want to make more trouble for ya."

"So you don't hang out with us because you don't want to start new rumors ?"

The fox nods. "Of course. I mean, I put ya in enough trouble. Ya had to stand up for me three times already, against Hopton, Donnie and the principal. I can't ask ya to keep doin' that."

"You don't have to ask me. You're my friend dummy. Now come on, recess is almost over."

"What if they start talkin' again ?"

Judy stops to stare at him. What if they do ? Then the answer becomes obvious

"I'd rather hang out with you and have them talk than lose a friend."

Of course, if that happens again, she hopes he'll be able to better rein in his anger.

"I know ya were in trouble wid yer parents." He states, taking a step back when she approaches him.

The doe lifts a brow, how does he… Well of course, she's not the only Hopps from her litter in highschool, and news do go fast in the burrow. "I wouldn't say trouble…"

"I hear they were petty ticked off when they we 'broke up'. One of yer sisters says they shouted at you…"

"In a burrow with over 250 bunnies, you can be sure we occasionally shout at each other. And I didn't get in trouble. I straightened things with them, explained to them the fake break up thing. Gideon, you're not causing trouble for me. Other mammals will always put their snouts where they don't belong. Please don't isolate yourself because of that." She smiles taking a step toward him and another when he doesn't move, before grabbing the paw that still holds the almost consumed cigarette. "And stop smoking these, they're bad for your health."

Gideon doesn't feel comfortable in Mrs Catmull's office. To be quite honest, he doesn't feel at ease in any office. Being in one was never synonym with good news.

"So, Mr Grey, I've been reviewing your marks for this new quarter, and until now, I have to say that I, as well as lot of your teachers, am pleased." She smiles warmly. "But that's not why I had you called to my office."

The tod rolls his eyes. He knows why she called him here. She has done so a lot in the past two years and he doubts this time will be any different. "You wanna know what I want to do wid' me life." He states to which she answers with a nod. "Well, I dunno."

The feline gives him a reflective look. "You don't ?"

"Nah. I mean, I know I don't wanna go to college. More school ain't somethin' I wanna do. I ain't even good at it."

"Your marks beg to differ." The cat counters.

The tod snorts. "Yeah, well, I have Judy helpin' me study. I know I'd never had gone that far without her."

"She isn't the one that passed your tests."

"I know ! It's… I ain't completely stupid. I know I can learn stuff. But I can't learn to want to learn. It's borin'. If it wasn't for Jude, I'd have given up by now. But she'd be disappointed, and she's worked so hard, I can't just stop ! I gotta graduate. I ain't sure I want to, but I need to."

The career counsellor scratches her muzzle. She isn't surprised by his views on the situation, and she thinks he's pretty spot on. It wasn't just a coincidence that she asked Judy to tutor him. She had hope some of her drive and ambition would seep into the fox. It'll only have worked if he and find something to be passionate about.

"Is there something you like to do, then ? Something unrelated to work that you just do on your spare time."

The tod has to dig a bit to find something. He likes to hang out with Travis and Judy, but it's not really something he does. "I sometimes shoot plastic bottles with my BB gun. It's fun." He shrugs. "I don't have much time to do things wid' work and school..."

"That's all ?" Asks the feline, a bit dismayed. Is that everything this seventeen years old does ? School and work ? That's more than depressing, but it's not as if she could do much about it. "Isn't there anything else, you like to do ? Anything at all ?"

All she gets as an answer is a low mutter.

"I didn't catch that."

"I like bakin'." He repeats, his ears heating up.

"You do ? Are you good at it ?"

"Well, I haven't lotsa people tryin' it out. Judy and Travis like it. Ma' too."

"What do you like in it ?"

The tod finds that question strange. He likes it, that's all there is. But then, maybe it's not just that. "I… Ain't never been good at doin' anythin'. I ain't very smart, or very quick. But bakin's just… Easy. It makes sense. Ya got stuff that ya like, and you put it together and it works. And sometimes it doesn't, but ya kinda know when it won't. Sometimes there's things that shouldn't work together and they do. It's like… There are rules, but if ya break'em the right way, it's better ya know ? Plus, there's always sumthin' sweet to eat at the end, so that's nice."

"Why don't you try doing something with that ?"

"Like workin' in a bakery ? There ain't no bakery in the tri-burrow that'll hire a fox."

"Maybe you could try somewhere else. Maybe Podunk would have some-"

"And abandon Ma and Hailey ? Not gonna happen." He states crossing his arms.

Mrs Catmull brushes that last part off. She knew the fox considered that he was responsible for his family before he confirmed it. Instead she goes back to his previous comment. "What if there was a bakery ready to hire a fox, though ? Would you consider it ?"

"If 'dere was anythin' else than the mill considerin' to hire me, I'd take it. Gettin' to bake, to really learn to bake on top of it…" His gaze unfocuses for a couple of seconds, he then dismissively shakes his head. "That ain't gonna happen."

Judy has been tutoring Gideon for almost six months now. In that span of time, she saw him going from an anger-prone tod, to a somewhat melancholic one. His marks are still rising, though they seem to be getting to the end of an ascending curve, but it feels like he's getting a bit… Shier. He still shows a hostile exterior to the other mammals, especially those that used to spread rumors around them, but with her, Bobby and Sharla, he's reserved.

Sometimes, he'll blurt something stupid or insensitive, much in line with the bully he used to be, but it's always followed with a form of apology.

It's lost in that thought that the bunny feels a light tap on her shoulder. She interrupts her walk to her next class to turn around, finding herself face to face with a vixen that has to be about her age.

"Hello, can I help you ?"

"Yes. Uhm, hello, I'm Hester." The female fox greets, offering a paw. "I already know you."

The doe almost rolls her eyes. After the rumors, who doesn't ?

The vixen looks a bit nervous, wringing her paws nervously. "Sooo. Erh… You're really not with Gideon anymore ?"

"We never were." The bunny blurts. Somehow, she feels like she can trust that vixen. If another fox had taunted them with the rumours, she's pretty sure she'd have noticed it.

"Didn't you two break up ?" Hester reacts, surprised.

Well, the cat's out of the bag now. "To stop the rumors. They didn't believe we weren't together. Please keep this to yourself, I don't want the rumors to come back."

The vixen smiles. "Yeah, I can understand that. Then I suppose you'll be okay giving him this from me." She states, producing an envelope. "It's, ah… Well, it's to ask him to prom…"

"You want to ask him to prom ?" Reacts the bunny a tad too sharply. "I didn't know you two were friends."

"Well… We aren't. We were in the same class in elementary school a couple of years and he wasn't mean to me, and seems to be getting… uh… Better. Plus there aren't a lot of foxes to go around."

"Gideons isn't a default choice." Judy bristles. Gideon deserves better than someone that would settle for him. He deserves someone that would actually see how great a mammal he is !

Hester's eyes widen, suddenly blushing in embarrassment. "I didn't mean- Sorry, it was a bad joke… So, could you give that to him ? I would really appreciate it."

"Y-yeah. Of course." The doe agrees, repressing the strange urge she has to just tear the letter in half.

- 1 -

The rest of the day passes in a sort of daze. The letter is burning a hole in her bag as she carries it from one class to the next.

She has trouble concentrating when she tutors Gideon too, so much so that he's actually the one correcting her on a couple of occurrences.

"Ya okay, Judy ?" He asks. "Ya seem pretty outta it."

"Yeah. I'm fine." She answers curtly, shaking her head to push away her thoughts.

"Ya sure ? Maybe yer a bit sick. I can't concentrate when I have a fever." One of his finger goes to rest on her nose to check her temperature, which immediately make her blush. "Ya seem a bit hot. Maybe ya should just go home. I can manage this time."

"I'm. Fine." She hisses between her teeth, swatting his paw away, which makes him recoil a bit. She hasn't been angry at him since the beginning of the year, she was bound to lose her patience sometime.

As the detention ends, Gideon quickly puts his stuff back in his back, waiting for Judy as she lags behind. He almost asks her if she's okay again, but realises that she might not appreciate it. Instead, they silently walk to the bike park. The tod is unlocking his own bike when a white envelope enters his field of vision.

"What's this ?"

"It's for you. it's from Hester."

With a raised eyebrow, the fox opens the letter and starts reading, his eyes widening as he does so.

"She's askin' me to prom." He states with a strange smile.

"Ah… yeah. That's what I thought."

"Never thought 'bout ever goin'…" The fox mutters.

Something cold pierces her chest. She doesn't know what it is, but she feels her throat tighten. She doesn't understand. She has no reason to feel that way, after all, they're both freshammal, it's not as if he could have invited her.

"Well, I hope you'll have fun." She says, managing to keep her voice even.

"Yeah, thanks." He smiles, as she takes her bike and rides away.

Now he's going to have to bring his answer to the vixen. It's going to be a bit weird, he doesn't know Hester. They never really interacted. She probably just want to go to prom with a fox her age, which he is having repeated classes twice already.

And going with her could finish dispel the last rumours about him and Judy… He kind of wish he was in the right year to invite the doe instead, but the isn't much they can do about that.