Chapter 2

Dawn was in something of a trance as she rode the bus home that day.

She couldn't believe Leodore Lionheart - the Leodore Lionheart, most popular boy in school - had asked her out. It was the last thing she'd expected, and though she supposed she ought to count herself lucky (after all, the girls all adored him), she couldn't help feeling a trifle strange about it, too. As far as she knew, he'd never noticed her or had shown any interest in her before. Why was he showing it now?

...Maybe he had noticed her and just never mustered up the courage to talk to her until now.

Truth be told, this unexpected turn of events was only part of her problem. The real trouble was going to be telling her parents. For perhaps the first time since grade school, Dawn was dreading coming home from school.

She was a star student by nature, excelling in just about every subject she took. That all started in junior high, for she'd never really enjoyed grade school, having been the target of bullying and harassment for most of her life. Not that junior high had been much better, but the students at least found ways of tormenting her that were less...outright. But other than that, she thoroughly enjoyed her classes. She loved learning, loved putting her mind to a challenge and pushing herself beyond her limits. Her parents had high hopes for her. Her parents...well, that was to be expected.

She came from a lower middle-class family with a decidedly unimpressive history (including financial history.) Her father, John, was an assistant manager at Claw Mart, a local retail store, and her mother Abigail earned a living by cleaning houses. Because Dawn earned such good grades and had shown herself to be a model student, her parents were certain that she'd be successful in life and desired a future for her that was brighter than their own.

...As to how they would take the news of her going out on a date with a predator, she had no idea. Her parents weren't prejudiced people, but it remained an uncomfortable fact that most if not all of their family hardship was delivered at the hands of predators. Dawn could never understand if it was because predators were bullies, or if it was just coincidence. After all, she'd known some kind predators throughout her life. But she and her family had never been mistreated by prey before.

Her father's boss, a jaguar by the name of Felix Fangley, was hard on him, constantly piling his workload and berating him whenever John couldn't finish his assignments on time. It was the tip of the iceberg, but John refused to complain too much about it. She knew, because she had gone to Claw Mart once while he was working. She'd wanted to pick up a few things for dinner, and maybe catch her dad to say a quick hello. Her heart sank when she heard a loud voice, and cautiously stepped out of the aisle to see Mr. Fangley shouting at her father. She'd been unsure as to how she should react, couldn't even move from her spot as her father turned to face her, a look of slight surprise on his face. She'd snapped out of her trance and approached him.

"Daddy," she said, "how can you let Mr. Fangley treat you like that?"

"Never mind, sweetheart. He's just stressed, he tends to lash out when the DM's come down on his head."

"But he yelled at you - in front of people!"

"Dawn, sweetie...sometimes dealing with belligerent bosses is part of working in retail." He bent down and lifted a small box from their new shipment. "There's good days and there's bad days." He looked at her. "I'm sorry you had to see that...but don't let it bother you, ok? Come here." He reached out and arm and she gave him a quick hug. "Chin up, Sweetie. I'll see you and mom tonight after work."

Her father always took things so well. He was always trying to look at the bright side of things, always attempted to find the good in people, and she admired him greatly for it. She wished she could be more like him, but try as she might, she found it hard to find good in any animal that could be so cruel to her father. It just wasn't fair...it wasn't right.

He'd had his work hours cut short before, too - which, as an assistant manager, was almost unheard of, and for a while John feared that he might be laid off. He'd said that it was because a friend of Fangley's was looking for a managerial position, and Fangley wanted to help his friend out by hiring him as a temp. Her father had been so civil about the whole thing, not even mentioning whether his boss's friend was predator or prey.

This was several months after Dawn had witnessed her father being mistreated, and when she found out that Mr. Fangley had hired his friend as a temp, she'd casually made a trip to the store to get a look at this person. It was naughty of her to make an undercover visit just to see if the new person was a predator, and she knew it. But somehow she felt she had to find out if her father was being unjustly pushed aside, even if it was temporary.

She never found out for certain, though she heavily suspected that said new person was a coyote she had seen chatting with Mr. Fangley.

That happened more than a year ago.

XXX

After getting home, greeting her mother, and starting on a snack, Dawn decided that she would tell her parents about Leodore over dinner.

It wasn't so much her parents' opinion on predators that worried her, but the fact that she was dating one. Well, had been asked out on a single date with one. Inter-species relationships was a topic she'd never brought up before, and for that matter neither had her parents. She wasn't at all sure how they'd react.

So many things swam around in her mind, mostly concerning her parents, that she never stopped to think about her own feelings toward Leodore.

Truth be told, she had none toward him, but that's what dating was for - to try and get to know a person, see if you got along with them, to give things a chance to grow between them. Dawn had never really thought much about Leodore, but since he'd asked her out, she found herself thinking about him more than she ever had before, wondering about him.

She knew that he was popular, got good grades, and was really good in gym class. He was outgoing and social, and quick to answer questions and participate in class debates. Very unlike herself who, though she was sweet and smart, was more the shy type who only sometimes raised her hand in class, and took part in debates with excessive knowledge, as opposed to excessive volume.

As for what he said about being against bullying, it was something she could greatly appreciate. As someone who's never been a stranger to bullying, it wasn't hard to see why she appreciated someone who went out of their way to stand up for the weak. She'd heard rumors about Leodore's good character throughout the school, but had never personally witnessed it until he had stood up for her against Daryl. It was a revelation to see his kind heart put to good use in front of her eyes, and even in spite of the stories she'd heard, she still couldn't help but feel surprised that he'd defended her. No one ever did that - not truly.

'Maybe this Leodore isn't such a bad guy,' she thought as she sat in her room, staring at a half-written sheet of paper, pencil tapping lightly against her mouth.

It'd been hard for her to concentrate on things ever since he'd asked her out. After about twenty minutes, she gave up trying to finish her literature essay and got up from her bed. She walked over to her window and stared out at the quaint apartment buildings that lined her neighborhood. Although her parents didn't make a ton of money, they were fortunate enough to be able to afford a place in a safe, clean part of the city.

She leaned her elbows on the sill and stared at a couple of rabbits playing hopscotch with a raccoon. She thought of Leodore, and of what Saturday might bring. Was he seriously interested in her, or was it just a fleeting fancy? What if this was all just a prank and he intended to humiliate her? Her heart skipped a beat at the thought, before she remembered that doing so would be contrary to his character. She didn't know him that well, but nothing she'd ever heard or seen from him suggested that he was the type to pull a cruel stunt like that. And didn't he tell her himself that he couldn't stand bullies?

She relaxed at the thought and shook her head. 'I'll just have to wait and see how Saturday goes!' She left off thoughts of Leodore and telling her parents for the time being, determined to re-focus her attention on her schoolwork. It wouldn't do to throw away all that hard work just because of a distraction.

XXX

Come six o'clock, Dawn assisted her mother with dinner preparation.

"You seem distracted this evening," her mother gently observed. Her daughter was a fair hand at cooking, but her dicing of the vegetables was slow and sloppy; very unlike her.

"Well mom, there's something I'd like to tell you and daddy over dinner." She offered what she hoped was a cheerful smile, but she was nervous.

"Oh? What about?"

"Oh, you'll find out." She smiled again, this time reassuringly, and carried the silverware to the table.

John got home not long afterwards. "Hi everyone," he greeted in a tired but happy voice. "How's my family? Mmm, sure smells good in here."

Abigail glanced at her husband. "It's vegetable terrine, sweet."

"Wow, we haven't had that in a while - I can't wait! Lemme get out of my uniform." He left to change and get refreshed from a long day at work.

Abigail had tried getting clues out of her daughter as to what she wanted to talk to them about, but Dawn kept insisting they would both find out at dinner.

When all was ready and set out before the table, John arrived just as Abigail set down the main course: a beautifully prepared vegetable terrine.

"It looks amazing, dear." He set a napkin in his lap, and after they said grace, prepared to eat.

"Now," Abigail said. "Dawn has something she wants to tell us."

"Oh? What is it?" They stared expectantly at their daughter.

Dawn paused, and forced herself to swallow the small bite of terrine. She stared at her parents. "Well…" She took a long sip from her glass. "It's...kinda big."

They exchanged glances. "I hope it's big in a good way," John said.

"It is!" 'At least, I hope it is,' she thought, then said out loud, "Well, you won't believe this, but...you know Leodore from the debate team?"

"Leodore," Abigail mused. "He's that lion, right? We saw him at one of the soccer games?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"What about him?" John asked, taking a bite.

"Well, something interesting happened. He...he asked me out today…"

They stopped eating, and silence reigned.

Then, to Dawn's relief, they appeared pleasantly surprised rather than outraged or offended.

"So someone's asked you out on a date, huh?" Her mom broke out into a giddy smile. "What do you know...My baby's growing up!"

"Congrats, dear," John said, then added, "just make sure that boy minds his manners. I won't stand for anyone treating our little lamb like anything less than a lady."

"Daddy, I'm not a lamb anymore."

"You still call me 'daddy'."

She chuckled. "I'll always call you daddy."

"When are you gonna get together with him?" Abigail asked.

"This Saturday. We're going for pizza."

"I'm happy for you, Dawn." Abigail smiled. "It'll be good for you to get out; you do spend too much time reading and studying."

"I spend plenty of time with April," she said matter-of-factly. April was a pretty young doe who was a grade below Dawn, and considered a best friend to the sheep.

"I meant with boys."

"Don't encourage her too much, Abi,"John said. "She has plenty of time to associate with boys."

Abigail smiled knowingly, and glanced at her daughter. "Typical protective father."

"Ohh." John picked at his dinner, but the corners of his mouth twitched in a smile. Dawn was their only child, so they were naturally very protective of her.

"Well, two more days. That'll be exciting." Her mother was happy for her, and Dawn felt the beginnings of actual, stress-free excitement growing in her as well. She was happy that her parents weren't upset with her for agreeing to go out with Leodore, and felt much better now that she'd told them.

Even though she hardly knew him, she began to actually look forward to her date with him.

A/N: I wasn't sure how I wanted to depict Dawn's parents, but ultimately decided against stereotypes - I wanted to play around with the idea that just because Dawn is a villain in Zootopia does not necessarily mean that her parents were prejudiced or even that they put the whole "predator-hating" idea into Dawn's head. I'm aiming more for the idea that it's a notion she developed on her own, through unfortunate circumstances. People can make wrong choices without having to come from messed up families (well, messed up in a criminal sense.)