Here's a new chapter.
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Chapter 23 : Prom Night
It's prom night.
And Judy is gnawing on her dull claws.
Gideon is going to prom with Hester, and there's nothing she can do about it.
Well, she could tell him not to go, and she bet he wouldn't, but… It's a bad idea for a whole bunch of reasons.
And what if Hester managed to sway him with her foxy charms ? What if she kisses him or… Or worse.
The vixen's older than she is, she certainly has more experience with that, than she has. What if she brings him home. What if they…
Grabbing her phone, she starts texting Sharla about it. She needs to vent. At least, just a little.
- 1 -
Gideon's mother is driving him toward the highschool home. He's wearing suspenders, a blue checkered shirt, his hair is neatly styled, and he feels utterly ridiculous.
"I still don't get why we ain't pickin' her up." Says Willa.
"It was simpler that way."
"Alright."
His mom looks into the distance, in an expression the tod knows well. "What ?" He asks, knowing she'll ending asking her own question sooner or later.
"I just hadn't heard about this Hester before. I'm glad yer takin' an interest in datin'. Thought ya had someone else in mind though."
"Can't invite Judy to prom, I ain't Junior or Senior."
When he sees the expression of surprise on his mother's face, the tod realises what he just said.
"Gideon, I hope you aren't leadin' both these girls on- Or even one of 'em fer that matter." She scolds.
"Nonono. It ain't like 'dat." The young fox sighs as he realises he has to come clean. "I… Judy confessed to me after Hester invited me. And we… Erh… We kissed. And we're datin' but we're keepin' to ourselves 'cuz of her parents and school… Hester knows, we told her."
"And she still wants ya to go to prom wid' her ?"
"Yeah."
Willa emits a snort. "Oh boy."
"What ?"
"Don'thy she's tryin' to snatch ya back like Judy did?"
"It wouldn't work."
"Ya think she knows it?"
"I dunno. Maybe."
"Well, be careful either way. Aaand we're here." She states, parking in the school's street.
Putting his pow on the door handle, he gives a look at his mother. "So… Ya got nuthin' against me datin' Judy ?"
She stares at him through the rear view mirror for a few seconds before sighing.
"Can't say I really get it, but… As far as I'm concerned, she's a pretty decent girl. I dunno about bunnies and fox bein' together, but it can't be more wrong than a tod beatin' his vixen black an' blue. If yer good to her and she's good to ya, tha's all that matters."
"Thanks Ma."
"Have a good evenin', and tryna have fun. And gimme a call when yer leavin'."
The tod exits the car, looking around for Hester. A text from her makes his phone ring. "Almost there." It says.
With a thin smile, he types "OK." And goes to lean against the wall, paws in his pockets. Mammals, mostly juniors and seniors, are entering the gates, and throw him suspicious looks. His first reflex is to glare at them, but he doesn't want to risk being barred entry. So he elects to bear with it.
Cars come and go. At some point, a large van filled with bunnies stops, letting about a dozen out. Most of them stay away, simply giving inquisitive looks.
"Hey." The tod almost jumps and turns to see Hester wearing a pink dress with transparent sleeves. Her make-up makes her eyes look bigger, older too.
"Y-ya look good." He blurts, and she really does.
"Thanks. So do you. Hm..."
"What ?"
"May I ?" She asks, approaching him.
The tod nods, and she opens the first button of his shirt.
- 2 -
"Im just worried, ok ?" The doe types.
"U trust Gid ?" Comes Sharla's answer.
"Yes. Of course."
"Y R U worried, then ?"
"Wat if she uses, like, foxy charms, or smthg ?"
The doe's phone vibrates, and, expecting the text to be from Sharla, she automatically opens it. Her old phone's resolution isn't fantastic, but it's recent enough to show pictures. What she sees is Gideon, wearing a pair of trousers with suspenders, contrasting with his usual overalls, and a blue checkered shirt. His sleeves a rolled up, showing the result of his hard work at the mill, the first button of his shirt is open, a tuft of fur sticking out, and his hair are a bit messed up, but in a sort-of controlled bad boy's way. He's leaning against the wall, paws in his pocket looking in the distance.
Her heart skips a bit. Did someone turn the heat on ? Since when can Gideon's phone take pictures ? It's an old black and white thing. Then she sees that it's not his number, and that there's a message attached.
"So glad I have Ur playboy of a tod 4 the evenin. XOXO, Hester."
Judy yanks her ears and shoves her face into a pillow and screams. Great, now she's jealous and horny.
- 3 -
"Ya think she'll like the picture ?" The tod asks.
"Oh, yeah. I can guarantee that." Hester smiles, sliding her phone back into her purse. "Offer me your arm ?"
Gideon's brow raises before she realises what she means and complying. She slides her paw on his forearm and lets him lead her in.
"You work out?"
"Got a job at the steel mill. I just quit though. I got hired at a bakery."
Gideon is acutely aware of the gazes that follow them as they enter the school gym where they've set up the prom. Most mammals are looking at them in half surprise, some send him dubious looks, but they all return to their own conversations.
"You bake?" She asks in surprise.
"Uh… Yes." His tone is somewhat defensive. Is she going to laugh at him? Up to know everything is going smoothly, but Judy did snatch him under her snout and this evening could be a way to get back at both of them.
"What can you do?"
"Pies, cakes… I dunno, wid' a recipe I can make most stuff work out." He shrugs.
"Is it what you want to do?"
"Yeah, I really enjoy it. And ya, do you do, like… Erh… Stuff?"
"I like to read and watch movies." She shrugs. "I like to dance and do sports, but I don't have something I want to do. I'll probably get in management or admin in college until I figure it out. My dad always said that what's important isn't what you do, but with whom you're doing it with."
"So ya mean, workin' wid friends?"
"I guess. I can't imagine having to spend my time with people I can't stand."
At first they mostly walk around the makeshift ballroom. Spotlights and balloons have been installed, and music is playing. Gideon follows Hester, as she goes from a group of friends to the next. She chats with them a bit, and they barely acknowledge him, not that he really cares. He absentmindedly sips on his applejuice when the music picks up and the vixen pulls him by the arm.
"Let's go dance!"
"I dunno how to dance..."
"Who cares? You think they do?" She grins, pointing at the other teenager moving awkwardly with their flailing limbs.
But as it turns out, Hesters knows how to dance. Or at least be graceful. It seems she has no regard for what others think of her. She weaves and sways, giving him playful glances as he tries to match her pace, and just now, he knows that if Judy wasn't in the equation, he'd be perfectly happy to be with her. But the simple idea of not being with the doe feels too wrong.
Still, he's having a fun evening so far.
- 4 -
Judy's phone rings and she almost jumps as she sees the caller's name.
Gideon.
She pushes the green phone button without even thinking. "Gid-"
"Judy?"
His voice is low, almost mute.
"Are you okay?" She immediately asks.
"I dunno."
"What's happening?"
She hears him take a breath and then emit a weird chuckle.
"I… It's stupid."
"If it puts you in that state, it can't be stupid." She hears herself say, hoping real hard none of her fears have come true. "What's going on?"
- 5 -
"I'm going to grab a drink." Says Hester in Gideon's ear.
"Cool. Gotta go take a- to the toilet."
They part ways, and the tod walks through the crowd. Other mammals are still watching him, mainly bunnies. He spies one that he recognises, Donnie, chatting with a doe.
Aside from that one, he isn't familiar with much of the others, but he'd bet he took out his anger on them at some point. He tries his best not to hunch his shoulders or look embarrassed.
Reaching the toilets, he's in the middle of taking care of his business, when he hears the door creak open.
Giving a glance toward the noise, he sees Donnie and two other bucks, not those he fought before, these ones look a bit older, and are staring at him.
He does his best not to look bothered and goes to clean his paws.
"Are you paying this one too?"
Gideon's jaw clenches and he slowly exhales. So that's what it's gonna be.
"I ain't payin' anyone." He answers as evenly as he can manage, while grabbing towels from a dispenser and wiping his paws.
"Honestly, I can't see any other reason why a female would pay attention to a fat idiot like you."
Those words stings, as they ring true. Why would Judy or Hester like him, he has no idea. But they do. And that's what matters, doesn't it?
"Ya done?" Gideon asks, walking up to the buck and crossing his arms. "Cuz yer in my way."
"And what are you going to do about it, huh?" Reacts the buck, trying shove him back and barely making him move and inch.
"I'll go through ya."
"You think you scare me?"
Gideon hesitates. He can't fight. It'll disappoint Judy, and it could make him be thrown out of the party. Plus, he doesn't really want to fight. The one that fought was the old Gideon. The bully. The coward. The bad fox. He partly does want to shove his fists into the buck's face and be done with it, but his two cronies will turn the situation into a messy fight.
But he can threaten, after all, Donnie started it.
"I know I do." Gideon answers, showing teeth and emitting a low growl. Nose twitch, tremor in their paws. The tod knows he's right.
"You can't fight us."
"And why?"
"You'll be expelled."
At that, a grin spreads on the tod's face as he chuckle. He doesn't mean it to make ominous, but he just got what happened. They think they can push him around because he won't be able to fight back. "I can't be expelled."
"Oh yeah, and why's that?" Asks Ronnie in a voice he tries to keep even.
"Because I'm leavin' school. Doin' an apprenticeship as a baker."
The 'oh shit' face the three bunnies make is priceless, and the tod takes a stomping step toward them.
"You're lucky I didn't want to wreck your face, you fat idiot!" Ronnie says, pointing a finger at him and swiftly leaving through the bathroom door.
The tod emits a long sigh once they've all disappeared and goes to the sink to splash some water on his face. Only then does he notices his paws are trembling. In the mirror, his pupils are focused slits, his fur is puffy and the growl in his throat seems not to want to calm down. He thought he was past it, past that, the violence. But he was so ready to fight them. To hurt them.
"No, no, no. I'm not that." He mutters, taking a step back, recoiling until his back hits a stall's door.
His paw pats his jean and he finds his phone, quickly going through his short contact list.
"Judy?" He says, as soon as she answers.
- 6 -
The doe emits a nervous giggle as he finishes his story. "So you didn't fight them?" She ends up saying.
"No, but… Almost."
She doesn't really know what to say. He didn't fight them, so it's all okay, right?
"It's just… It would've been so easy, ya know? They got me so angry, and I wanted to hurt them."
"But you didn't."
"I know…"
"Gideon, if people attack you, you have the right to fight back. You should fight back. Isn't that what I used to do against you?"
"Yeah, but… You were never a bully to me."
Judy's throat dries up as her discussion with Travis replays in her mind. True, she never bullied anyone, but there were time she actually seeked him out to lecture him when she couldn't prove he was the one at fault… And it did devolve into violent altercations a couple of times.
"It doesn't matter. If someone threatens or attack you, you have the right to defend yourself."
"And what if… I enjoyed scaring them?"
"I… Well, I guess you have the right to feel… I don't know, you were in the right so that you felt good about that victory…" The doe closes her eyes. She doesn't really want to recall the times her and the fox were at each other's neck, especially now that she knows of the reason for his troubled temper. "I never enjoyed fighting with you, but I know it felt good when I won." She says in a small voice.
The silence that follows is excruciating. Did he feel hurt by what she just said? She didn't mean that she enjoyed hurting him, not that she ever hurt him much, but…
"Thanks." She hears him say. "It helps that you think I ain't a bad mammal anymore."
"You never were-"
"I wos. I just got better. I wish ya were there wid me. At prom."
"Me too. You looked really good in that picture."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. Anyway, maybe you should get back to the party. With Hester."
"Y-yeah. Yeah. See ya later?"
"Of course. Have fun."
As he hangs up, she lets her back fall on the bed and sighs. He might be out there with the vixen but it's her he called when he needed to talk. She's the one that knows him best. And the vixen can't take that from her.
- 7 -
Gideon pushes the door and leaves the toilets, feeling immediately assaulted by the loud music coming from the party. He looks around to find Hester chatting with mammals he assumes are her friends. There's a wolf, a pair of sheep and a bunny. At first he's surprised, then feels a bit silly. Of course she would mingle with others while he was away.
One of them points at him as they notice him and Hester turns and waves at him before excusing herself from the group.
"You okay?" She asks as soon as he's close.
"Shure, why?"
"People say you fought with Donnie in the toilets."
"Didn't really fought. What's that bonehead doin' here anyway?"
"I heard he's dating a Junior. Couldn't tell you who, though. How did you manage to get him to leave you alone?"
"I… Erh… Reasoned wid' him."
"You reasoned that idiot?"
"Threatened." The tod admits somewhat shamefully. "He got scared when I told him I didn't risk gettin' expelled."
"Oh? Why?"
"I'm leavin' school. Doin' an apprentice in Moleburrow for the diploma and workin' at Ol'Leapers-"
"Leapers? He took you? He doesn't even accept foxes as customers!" The vixen reacts.
"Changed his mind."
"You must be a really great baker. I should try some of your stuff some times." She smiles, batting her eyes.
"Well, ya might soon. If everythin' goes right, I should be able to make stuff that's good enough before the end of summer." He says proudly, the innuendo flying so high above his head it almost shatters a spotlight.
"I can't wait!"
- 8 -
As Gideon sits next to his mother in the car, he leans back with a long sigh.
"How was your evening?"
"Good. It was good." He answers.
"Anythin' interestin' happened?"
"Erh… I almost got into a fight wid' Donnie."
"Almost?"
"I defused it."
"I'm proud of ya. We don't need to drive Hester back home?"
"Nah. Her parents picked her up a few minutes ago."
"I'm glad you had fun."
"Yeah, me too."
The vixen nods with a smile and drives away.