Chapter 5: The Fox and the Hound

It was lunchtime and the Cherryton High students were eagerly waiting to fill their bellies. It was at a table away from everyone however, that Jack and Manny sat down at so they could talk.

"Man, I still can't figure out what was up with that rabbit." the fox said as after taking a bite of his burger. "And it's not just her, what is up with animals using secrets to torment each other?"

The labrador shrugged. "Beats me, I mean, it's not like it's any of her business. Was she upset with me or something? Did she hate that I'm an honor student or was it that I'm able to compete with Louis in terms of academics?"

"Heh, I'm willing to bet it's that last one," Manny said with a laugh. "A bitch like her is obviously one of his obsessive fangirls! Heck, it wouldn't be the first time one of them did something like this."

Jack took a sip of his milk before looking at his lunch mate with curiosity.

"Is there something on my face?" the smaller canine asked with a raised brow.

"N-No, it's nothing," the yellow dog said. "It's just, why did you help me out like that?"

The fox shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know man, I just saw her giving you a hard time and I just jumped in. I mean, the way she was talking to you like that, it was just like how that asshole was when I stepped on his tail by accident. It made me sick."

"You mean that dog you got into a fight with?" Jack said as he looked down at his food with an emotionless face.

Manny looked at Jack before looking down at his own lunch. "Yea..."

The two stayed silent for a moment, unsure how to proceed. After taking a moment to gather themselves, Manny spoke up first.

"Listen, I meant it when I wanted to talk to you. I know I didn't make the best first impression and I know we talked about it a little bit, but I wanted to officially clear the air between us. I mean, you are friends with Voss too and since we're going to see each other more often, I figured we should start over," the fox explained.

Jack tilted his head slightly as he looked up and brought a finger to his muzzle. "Yea, I guess you have a point there. You are friends with Voss and I promised I would teach you sign language."

The labrador turned his head back to Manny and nodded. "Alright, if you're really willing to put everything behind us, then I'll try to do the same."

The fox's tail began to wag as he let out a sigh of relief. "Boy am I glad you said that. I was honestly ready to plead my case a bit more!"

Jack chuckled a little as he put a hand behind his head. "There's no need for that. I can tell you were serious about making up. Plus, I trust Voss's judgment."

"I'm glad you do," the fox replied. "For a guy who can't talk, he's a good guy to have in your corner."

"For sure," Jack said with a nod. "Voss has always had my back and he tends to be the voice of reason for our pack. Collot is too, but he and Legosi are more like older brothers to the rest of us. Honestly though, Voss is really the one who keeps us all in check."

"I can imagine. I may not know that much sign language, but from what I have learned from him and from what we've talked about, I can tell that Voss is a good guy," Manny said with a smile.

Jack's tail began to wag. He was happy Voss was able to find a friend in Manny, even after what happened that day.

"Hey Manny, since we're starting over and all… Is there anything you wanna ask me?" Jack asked before he drank from his milk box.

The red fox brought a hand up to his muzzle as he thought about what he should ask. He thought about starting with the basics like asking about Jack's family, what his friends were like, or what hobbies the labrador had. However, there was one thing burning inside the smaller canine's mind that he just needed to know.

"I guess what I really want to ask is… Is it true that you got involved with a gang, like… a real gang?" Manny asked, his full attention on Jack.

Jack began to cough from surprise to the point where Manny had to pat him on the back.

"I uh… I'd rather not talk about that," the yellow dog answered after wiping the milk off his face.

The fox shrugged his shoulders. "Alright man, it's your business and I know when I shouldn't pry. Still though, I'm not one for judging people so if you ever want to vent, I'm willing to give you an ear."

"Ok. Thank you for understanding," Jack said with a relieved tone. "Um… is it alright if I ask you something?"

"Sure man, shoot," Manny replied.

The labrador looked to the side, took a deep breath and spoke. "How is it that you can stand up for yourself and others? You defended yourself against that dog, even if it did lead to trouble, and you made that rabbit back off so easily. I just… I don't know how guys like you and Legosi do it."

Manny let out a mischievous grin. "Heh, well, I can't speak for your friend, but for me, it's all about being clever! Clever enough to use people's weaknesses against them and to get inside their heads and show them they aren't as tough as they think."

"Uh… that sounds kind of sketchy," Jack said as he sweat dropped.

Manny eyed Jack intently before looking at the other students. "Jack, I can tell you're a smart guy, but you have a very innocent heart. So it makes sense that you think I'm harsh, but I'm really not."

He turned back to the labrador. "Jack, do you play chess?" the fox asked seemingly out of the blue.

Jack nodded. "I do actually, I play it with my roommates. Of course, since they've never been able to beat me, they've gotten a little competitive about it."

"I see," the smaller carnivore said with an air of intrigue. "In that case, I think I can explain what I meant."

Manny pointed to the other students. "Tell me Jack, what do you see when you look at them?"

Jack looked at everyone. He tried to see if anything was off as if Manny was hinting at something, but couldn't find a thing.

"I don't know, everyone is eating, talking, throwing a little food… but not much else," the labrador answered.

Manny shook his head. "I didn't mean what they're doing, I meant what is it you see when you look at them? How do you see them? What do you see them as?" he asked.

The yellow furred carnivore shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I see guys that seem ok enough, I see students who could challenge me academically, I see some animals that I know I should stay away from…"

As Jack continued to list off what he saw in everyone, Manny closed his eyes and brought a finger up to his forehead in a thoughtful yet frustrated fashion.

"Yep! This guy is waaay too innocent," he thought to himself. "No wonder so many people were able to take advantage of him for so long. I honestly feel bad for him."

"Hey, are you ok?" the labrador asked, realizing that his lunch companion was deep in thought.

"Yea, I'm fine," the orange carnivore answered. "I just think you're missing the point. You see Jack, when I look at everyone here at school, what I see… are chess pieces."

"Chess pieces?" Jack asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, chess pieces, each one having its own value and what you need to do is understand that value. Because just like in chess, it's not enough to come up with one strategy, but many strategies. The best way to do that is to have as much info as possible," Manny explained

"I think I understand," Jack replied. "If you know your opponent, then you know how to shut them down when they try something. But in that case, wouldn't the other students be players rather than pieces?"

The fox laughed. "I can see how you would think that, it's honestly what most people think. However, that isn't actually the case. You see, what makes everyone pieces instead of players is that they all belong to a faction."

"It's in understanding these factions that we can start strategizing. What's more, these factions have their leaders and those leaders are our enemy players."

Manny pointed to a small group of students. "Take those girls over there. They are all about gossip and the latest trends. With this in mind, we can use them to our advantage. If we ever had a problem with someone, like that rabbit from earlier, we just drop a few hints to those girls and by the end of the day, everyone in the school will know the target's dirty secrets."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I think I get it, but didn't you say that they have a leader?"

The smaller canine nodded. "Yes they do, and that leader is our concern. See, we can give them good gossip, but it's a double edged sword. If we're not careful, their leader can turn that gossip on us. So, what do you think we should do?"

The labrador brought a hand up to his muzzle and began to ponder over this obvious test. He went through various strategies in the same fashion as he would in a chess game and ultimately came up with two answers.

"If the leader is the player, then we need to give her as little room to work with as possible. So we would either have to take her pawns or use something that will stop her from turning against us," he answered. "Something like one of her secrets or some other weakness we could exploit."

Manny nodded. "That's right, I knew you'd get it! As long as we think and strategize a bit, we'll be able to use all the different factions to help us, not necessarily get us what we want, but at least help keep people off our backs and even get them to see things our way."

Jack scratched the back of his head and smiled. "I'm glad I was able to figure it out. I honestly never really thought about looking at anyone in this way and now that I have, I think I might be able to use this to help someone."

The fox raised a brow and smirked. "Help someone, eh? Who's the lucky girl?"

Jack blushed as he put his hands up and waved them defensively.

"It's not like that," he said in a slightly panicked tone.

He looked down as his ears folded back. "It's just… it's Legosi. He's my best friend and means a lot to me, but he's gotten into this habit of getting into trouble lately and I'm worried."

"He used to be this quiet, unassuming guy who just faded into the background. Of course, that had its own set of problems. Other students would bully him and say that he was a sorry excuse for a carnivore or that he should be acting like a wolf. It honestly made me sick. All he wanted was to be left alone and not bother anyone."

"Recently though, he's changed. He's still no social butterfly, but he's opening himself up more and has even made some really good friends in his club. He's learning a lot more about himself and figuring out who he really is. I'm happy he's grown so much, but-"

"But he's acting in a way that he wouldn't before and doing things differently," Manny said, finishing the labrador's thought. "Things that could get him noticed or have gotten him in trouble."

The yellow dog nodded slightly. "Yea, and I'm scared he's going to get himself hurt. I know I said I didn't want to talk about it, but I think I need to."

"Legosi saved me from that gang, quite literally. He saved me when I was in danger and while I'm more than grateful for that, I've realized something. The old Legosi would never have done that. Or at least he would not have tried such a direct path. He would've called the police or asked anyone for help. Instead, he took on the whole gang by himself just to save me."

"The same goes for that tiger in the drama club he got into a fight with. He would never have started that fight. But because that tiger was threatening someone Legosi looked up to and stole the role from them, he started that fight right on stage and called that tiger out."

"That wolf has changed so much that I'm not sure how to feel about it. I'm happy that he's grown and that he's willing to do so much for everyone he cares about, but I'm scared that he's become reckless and that he's going to end up killing himself."

Manny let out a small laugh as his tail began to wag. "Sounds like a real hero in the making! And here I thought all the selfless people went and died off a long time ago. Tell me, does he have his own costume?"

"This isn't funny! I'm being serious!" he barked as he stood up and slammed his hands on the table.

Manny gave him a deadpan look before pointing in the direction behind him. Jack turned his head and saw everyone staring at him, causing his body to jump as his ears folded back and his tail tucked between his legs.

The fox stood up, "I think we should take this elsewhere."

Jack awkwardly nodded and the two left the cafeteria, everyone watching them as they left.

Elsewhere, Collot was enjoying some much needed private time in the library. With everything that had happened and his roommates at each other's throats, he wanted the time alone. This was cut short as one of his said roommates walked in.

"Hey Collot, I've been looking for you," Miguno said happily as he sat down. "Got time to rap?"

"Even if I said no, it wouldn't stop you," Collot answered.

"Haha, guess you got a point there," the hyena laughed as he put a hand behind his head.

"Still, doesn't hurt to ask…"

The sheep dog gave Miguno an uninterested look before returning to his book.

"Anyway, I just wanted to see how you've been holding up. I know things have been hard and I-"

"Miguno, can you please just ask what you want to ask?" Collot said as he flipped the page. "Whatever it is you wanna talk about, just say it. No need to dance around it for my sake."

The smaller carnivore shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, I wanted to talk to you about Jack and Legosi. I'm sure you've noticed too, but it seems like they're keeping secrets again and I just wanted your opinion on it."

"Honestly, I really don't think it's any of our business," the large carnivore answered with a sigh..

"I know we made that promise, but it seems like it's become more of a burden than anything else."

"What do you mean?" Miguno asked.

"What I mean is, if they want to have a secret or two, then they should be able to. I don't want them to feel like they are obligated to tell us everything. Whatever it is they're hiding, I'm sure they will tell us when they are ready," Collot explained.

Miguno cocked his head. "I guess you have a point there, but aren't you a bit concerned? I get that they don't have to say anything, but they've been acting weird for a while now. Sure, Jack is more or less back to normal, but it's like he's waiting for something to happen. Then there's Legosi and well, even Durham, and they've been-"

Collot suddenly slammed his book closed, startling the hyena. He turned to his pack mate and started to growl.

"What do you want from me, Miguno?! Do you want me to just walk up and ask what's up with them?" the white furred canine asked as he got uncomfortably close to his friend's face.

"Want me to say that everything will be alright as long as we stick together? Oh, I know, how about I just snap my fingers and end world hunger while I'm at it? Is that what you want?!"

Miguno gave Collot a troubled look before giving himself and his friend some space. He looked down at the table, his ears folded back and his tail drooping.

"I… I'm sorry Collot," he said in a tone that sounded like a mix between a whisper and a whimper. "I… didn't mean to… make you feel like you're responsible for all of us."

Collot, realizing what he'd done, slowly reclined back into his chair before staring at the table himself.

"I'm sorry Miguno. I didn't mean to snap at you like that," Collot said as his own ears folded back. "I'm just a little frustrated right now and I guess I just… blew up."

"Hey… it's alright man," the hyena said. "We've been through a lot, so it makes sense that you'd be on edge."

"It's more than that to be honest," the large canine said with a sigh. "It's just one thing after another, you know? First there was the whole cafeteria fight, then there was Legosi's little stunt during the play."

"Not to mention the bullying we had to endure and that trouble with the dog gang... and on top of all that, we're still dealing with the police. I honestly don't know how much more of this I can take."

"Do you see what I mean Miguno? We're dealing with so much right now that I just don't think I can handle whatever it is that's going on with our roommates as well. I still love them of course, but right now, I don't want to get involved with any more problems."

"I understand, and I'm… sorry. I should have known better than to ask this of you and make you feel like you have to be the one who has to solve all our problems." Miguno said.

"It's just that… for the longest time, it really seemed like you had all the answers. Whenever we had a problem, you were always there to lift us up. I guess that's why I thought you'd be the best person to ask about all this."

He turned his head to Collot. "You know, I don't say this enough, but you guys mean the world to me. I care about all of you and I'm just scared of losing any of you. I hate seeing everyone so unhappy."

Collot put his arm around the hyena, prompting him to continue speaking his mind. "What we're dealing with right now, this isn't the same high school drama we've always dealt with. I can't just crack a joke or play a game and cheer everyone up like usual."

"Everything is changing so fast, it terrifies me. I'm left wondering if we'll really stay friends when we graduate. Like, would we even want to still be friends? What about twenty or thirty years from now? Will we still be friends by then? Because… that's how it was supposed to be. All of us staying friends forever, even when we become adults. Now though, I'm not so sure."

Collot looked at his packmate before bringing him into a soft hug. Miguno hadn't realized it, but his fears were the same as Collot's and it somehow made the white dog feel a little better about things. If Miguno was feeling this way, odds were that the others felt the same way too.

"My word, what a tender embrace!" a voice from behind them said.

The two carnivores turned their heads and saw a dall sheep they had never seen before, staring at them with great intrigue.

"Still though, fights, dog gangs, the police… I must say, this school just gets more and more interesting. So as touching as this is, I'd rather hear more about what you said before," he said as he brought a hand up to his chin and grinned. "No need to be shy now darlings, tell me everything."

Here's this chapter's secret.

Did you know that everyone in 701 made the promise to be together when they were still in middle school? While this may seem childish, they actually took this promise seriously. This is because, to a canine, bonds are very important. Due to this, if it ever felt like a bond would break, canines would show signs of great stress and even inflict self harm.