Chapter 4

"Never! In all my years of being Principal-" An Angry Principal Fetchit was all he could muster. "Foxy! Picking a fight with a student over a game! Aorta, falling to Foxy's bait and attempting to fight back! and-" He stopped short, staring at the last kid in his office.

Fish stared up at Fetchit with a look of extreme guilt in his eyes. The Principal paused then said, "And I don't know what you did Fish, but you obviously did something. So, afterschool today, you will all stay for detention." He then pointed with his furry thumb at his door and motioned to them they could leave. Foxy lept up and left quickly, obviously still steamed. However, Fish and Aorta left together to finish the rest of the school day.

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Detention wasn't as bad as they thought. They were sent to Ms. Spottedfur, a leopard teacher who always loved her kids dearly. When the trio walked in, she motioned them to sit where ever. Aorta and Foxy took the back corners as far away form each other as they could get. Fish grabbed the desk next to Aorta and sat, doing some homework for Mutton and Language Arts.

Aorta, having finished her homework in study hall, pulled out a sharpener, a fresh new pencil, and some white glossy paper. She began drawing, starting with a sketch, then moving on to darkening to lines. Fish peered over from time to time. What looked like a squishy mess of pencil marks slowly evolved into a beautiful lake with lillypads and all kinds of flora growing around it. Something in Fish's mind clicked, like if he knew that place.

Aorta, noticing him looking at her pencil drawing, sighed and said, "I've always wanted to go to a wonderous place like this..." Fish turned back to his work and smiled like he knew something he shouldn't know. Foxy shot them nasty looks and stared down at her work, straining to remember things her teachers droned on about.

A bell sounded and Ms. Spottedfur looked up from her book she was reading. "Ok kids, you can leave. I also certainly hope I don't see you in here again." Her eyes followed them out. After they got out of the building, Foxy shot the two animals a look of hate, stuck her tounge out and cantered off. Fish, making sure Foxy was gone, grabbed Aorta's wrist and began to run, dragging her behind him.

As any girl would be, suddenly abducted by a boy, questioned Fish with a shaky voice, "Where are we going..!" He simply turned and blubbed, "Its a surprise!" and kept on running. Aorta, getting some feeling back in her numb legs, start to run along Fish instead of being dragged.

After about 10 minutes of running, her and Fish were clearly outside the town in the woods."Uhh.. Fish..?" Aorta muttered, still a bit confused. Fish ignored her and kept going untill..

They emerged into a clearing in the woods where a large and deep pond stood, still and inviting. Fish let go of Aorta and sat near the waters edge. He then tapped the ground beside him, motioning her to sit. Still in shock at the beauty around her, she did as he asked and sat next to him.

Aorta skimmed a rock over the surface, and it skipped about 5 times. Fish searched for a flat rock. After finally finding one, he skipped it. The rock bounced to the other side of the pool and landed on the shore of the other side. Aorta laughed, "Hey! Thats no fair!" She then shoved him playfully, and started to laugh. Fish pushed her back, smiling happily. They did this for a few minutes till SPLOOOOOOSH!

Fish lept up and stared at the pound. Aorta had just slipped and fell in and disapeared from sight. After a few seconds, some bubbles appeared and the wolven popped out, hair drenched and flattened. Reaching up, she tugged the orange hairtie out and flicked it up onto the rocks to her fur could float freely through the water. "Come on in! It's quite nice actually!"

With care, Fish baby-stepped to the pound and stared at the water. If he kept his helmet on, he would be a bit too heavy to swim, and if he took it off... Well, he could. But if this was salt water, it was just an act of suicide. Aorta looked at him then the water, and then understood. "Its freshwater!" She said, inhaling a mouthful and squirting it at him. "It tastes good too! Here, I can help!" With that, she climbed up onto the shore and stood behind Fish. "Still sure you want to go in?"

Fish nodded, and prepared to dive. Aorta gripped the side of the diving bell and gripped onto it with her claws. "By the way.. Thanks for standing up for me.." She then lifted the helmet up. Fish inhaled some water, and dived into the pound while the water from the helmet cascaded down in buckets. After calming down, Fish looked up and waited for Aorta to come in. To calm his nerves, he swam around for a few minutes. 'I missed being able to do this..' he thought. A faint splashing noise caught his attention, and he turned his head.

Aorta had jumped into the water, hair floating freely behind her. She swam over to Fish, and pushed in gently, sending him to float off a few inches. He caught himself and pushed her back. After quick runs to the surface for the wolf, the two played together in the pound for quite a while. After about an hour, they began to slow down and just started to lazily swim around.

After drifting around like he was laying on a couch on his dorsal side, Fish glanced up. Aorta was slowly swimming toward him. Her eyes glittered with happiness and something else, but Fish wasn't sure what it was. The little smile on her face hinted she was going to do something, but what is was, it was unclear to Fish till..

She grabbed him by his shoulders and gave him a gentle hug, temporarily shocking the poor goldfish. After the hug, she broke and smiled, still keeping her hands on his shoulder. She moved in closer so Fish could clearly see every eyelash and her eyes half shut. She seemed to get too close then...