"…Hi?"

"…Hello again."

The two fell silent until the raccoon said, "So, um, the next class?"

That snapped Jack out of his stupor, and he quickly nodded his head. "Yes! Yeah, uh, let's get going." Both kits started walking down the hall, weaving in between the other students. The buck turned towards his companion. "So, who do you have next?"

Corey quickly looked at his schedule. "Uh, Mrs. Buckingham."

"Cool, she's my next one, too."

Jack led the boar down the hall to the next class. Most of the class was already there, but by the time both he and Corey walked in, they still had two minutes left. Jack sat down at his desk, which had an empty one next to him. The raccoon looked around for another desk, but seeing none, reluctantly sat down next to the bunny, fiddling with his necklace.

After a beat, Corey spoke up. "Look, I appreciate it, but you don't have to be my tour guide here. I can find my way around."

Jack smiled and shook his head. "I know, but the teachers will give me hell for not doing this. Besides, even if I don't do this, they'll just assign another student instead." He faced the raccoon. "Better it be someone who knows you already than someone who doesn't, right?"

Corey stared at him. "But you DON'T know me."

That caused the buck's smile to fall slightly. Before he could say anything, though, that was when Mrs. Buckingham stood and started that day's math lesson. Throughout the class, Jack tried to get to know Corey, but every time the raccoon shut him out. One hour later, and the bell rang for break. As the kits were leaving the classroom, Jack turned to Corey.

"Can I see your schedule?" Corey handed it over to the buck, who quickly read through it and scoffed. "Similar schedule, my ass; it's exactly the same." Jack looked back at the raccoon. "We have every class together."

"Seriously?" the boar asked with a sigh.

"Yep." 'Great, not just one week with someone who doesn't want to talk with me, but the rest of the semester as well.'

The next two periods went the same as the first two, with the only time the two were separated being for lunch. While Jack went and sat down next to Josie as per usual, Corey elected to sit by himself at an empty table. Josie looked over to the raccoon's table, then back to the striped bunny.

"Don't you want to invite him over here?" she asked him.

Jack shrugged. "He's going to say 'No,' so why bother?"

The doe looked unconvinced but didn't argue. After lunch, they had two more classes until the day ended. Jack again tried to talk to the raccoon and learn more about him throughout each class, but each time it was like talking to a brick wall. Finally, the final bell rang, and Corey left the classroom without so much as a goodbye to buck. Jack sighed.

'This is going to be a long week.'

TUESDAY AFTERNOON…

["And he won't even say anything?"]

Jack threw his paw up into the air, even though Skye couldn't see him. "No, nothing! This guy is in every one of my classes, and I still don't know anything about him!"

School had just ended about two hours prior, and the buck was on his daily phone call with Nick and Skye. It was Corey's second day at the school, and despite his best efforts, Jack was still no closer to knowing who the raccoon was. Every time, the boar would refuse to say anything.

["Well, he just moved to a new area; you can't just expect him to tell you his life's story right off the bat."]

Jack bit back a scoff at Nick's comment. "Yeah, but I'm not asking for his life's story," he said, pacing around his room. "I'm supposed to get to know this guy, and he's making it very difficult to do that! I just want to know his interests, where he's from, y'know?"

["Maybe that's the problem."]

The striped bunny stopped in his pacing. "What do you mean?"

Skye continued. ["Well, you keep asking things about HIM; why not tell him things about YOU? He might be feeling overwhelmed by everything that's happening, what, with the move and all? Knowing more about someone who's lived there for years might make him more comfortable and open up."]

"…"

["…Jack? You still there?"]

Jack ran his paw down his face and let out a heavy sigh.

"Holy Frith, I'm so stupid."

["No arguments over here."]

"Shut up, Nick."

WEDNESDAY MORNING…

It was the next day after second period, and after putting his books away, Jack went to his next class. Sure enough, he saw the raccoon sitting at his desk, fiddling with the pendant on his necklace and waiting for the break to be over. The buck took a deep breath and made his way over to the boar, sitting on top of the desk next to him. He took a quick look at the pendant, and while he didn't know what it meant, he thought he recognized it.

"Hey."

No answer.

"I didn't get to say this before, but your necklace is really cool."

Still nothing from the raccoon.

Jack sighed. "OK, so I know that I've been asking a lot of questions: about your family, where you're from, your interests, the whole nine yards. And it was because I wanted to get to know you better." Corey remained silent as the buck continued. "Then yesterday, I realized that you don't know anything about me; so, why would you tell me about you? So, how about this: I tell you a bit about myself, and you can tell me as much about yourself as you want. That sound good?"

The raccoon didn't answer and just stared down at his desk. Jack took that as a 'Yes.'

"OK, so I'll start: I was born here, so I know just about every place in town." Nothing. "Two of my best friends live in the city about two hours away." Still nothing. Jack held back a sigh.

'This isn't working.'

Finally, he said, "OK, so you know that I play guitar." He paused, and quickly looked around the room to see if anyone else was listening. Seeing that everyone else was talking with their friends, he looked back at the raccoon and took a breath.

"I also have really bad stage fright."

That finally got Corey's attention, as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and he finally looked at the bunny.

"Stage fright?"

Jack nodded, smiling sheepishly. "Yeah."

"The guy who killed it at the festival has stage fright?"

The bunny nodded again, and the raccoon finally let out a small laugh and shook his head. "Could've fooled me."

"Nah, it's true!" Jack insisted. "I would've bolted off the stage if Jo hadn't been there."

Corey laughed a little. "Wow, that's funny."

'OK, now we're making some progress.' "So, what else do you want to know?" Jack asked.

Corey gave it some thought before asking, "How many siblings do you have?"

"None," came the buck's answer, shaking his head. "Only child."

"Really? Me too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Corey sat up a little bit more. "OK, your turn."

Jack thought for a second before asking, "What's your necklace from?"

"Oh, this?" the raccoon gestured towards it. "It's the A Feline Trio logo; they're a band I really like."

"OK," Jack said, nodding his head. It wasn't a band he knew, but he'd check them out later.

"What else?"

"Where're you from?"

"Deerbrooke."

The buck whistled. "Wow, that's really far out."

"Yeah," the boar agreed. "About a three-to-four-hour drive, give or take. Unless you take the train like I did; then it's only two hours."

"Must've been boring."

"Eh. I've been on worse."

"Seriously?" Jack asked incredulously.

Corey nodded. "Oh, yeah. My family used to drive across the country every summer; each trip would take about two full weeks."

Jack laughed. "Heh, I had some friends do that once. Apparently, one time was more than enough for them." That got a small smile from the raccoon. "So, why the move out here? Seems odd to move this late in the school year."

Corey shrugged. "It's only for this semester; I'm hopefully moving back home after this."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. Things at home are…tense, right now," the raccoon said quietly.

Jack could tell that there was more to it than that, but instead said, "Well, here's hoping things get better."

Corey looked at him, a little surprised. "You're not going to ask me about what's going on?"

"Do you want me to ask you?" the buck instead asked.

"…Not particularly…"

"Then I won't ask, and you don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to." Corey looked at Jack, still surprised, before quickly nodding his head.

"Thanks."

The two sat there in silence before Corey asked, "How long have you been playing guitar?"

"About three years now."

"Bullshit," The raccoon said, shaking his head. "There's no way you're that good after three years.

"Hey, that's offensive to bulls," Jack joked, earning a laugh from the boar. "But I'm telling ya, it's the truth. I just practice a lot." Corey looked skeptical but didn't say anything else. "Any friends back home?"

The raccoon shook his head. "Nah, not really. Deerbrooke is rather…conservative, I guess you could say? Most of them have the same thoughts on everything, and I just…don't." He paused. "That's not to say I didn't have ANY friends, just none that I would call close. The closest one I had was a weasel in second grade. His name was Terry, and we did everything together."

"You still in touch with him?" the buck asked.

It was very small, but Jack could see Corey slightly stiffen at the question. "No," came the curt answer. "We haven't talked in years."

Jack chose not to ask about it, instead saying, "Well, that's a shame."

"Yeah," Corey agreed, nodding his head. "It really is."

The bell suddenly rang, causing both boys to jump slightly. Jack got off the desk, grabbing his bag. "Talk to you more at lunch?"

Corey turned towards him and smiled.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"…and then we talked more at lunch, and we talked about his favorite bands," Jack said to Skye over the phone after school.

["Oh, yeah? What does he like?"]

"He said he likes most styles of music like classic rock, but he's a big fan of punk rock bands from the '90s and 2000s," the buck explained. "Bands like Green Hay, mink-182, A Feline Trio, Yellowcat, GOATFX, Bat Religion, and a lot more that I can't remember off the top of my head."

The vixen giggled. ["So, bands that you've never heard of?"]

"Hey, I know most of those bands, like Green Hay and mink!" Jack tried to defend.

["But do you know any of the others? Like, can you name me a song from Yellowcat?"]

"…No…"

["Sounds like you've got a lot of studying to do."]

Jack snorted. "Yeah, I guess I do.

Skye was silent for a beat. ["All joking aside, I'm glad he's starting to open up to you. He seems like a nice guy."]

"Yeah," the striped bunny agreed. "Once he started talking about his interests, I couldn't get him to stop if I tried."

["You guys hanging out more tomorrow?"]

"That's the plan, yeah."

["Nice."] Jack then heard a voice calling Skye, and the vixen sighed. ["Hey, I gotta go; Mom's calling."]

"OK. Talk to you tomorrow?"

["Definitely. Bye, Jack. Miss you."]

"Bye, Skye. Miss you, too. Say hi to Nick and your mom for me and Judy."

With that, the two kits hung up. Jack let out a small sigh as he set his phone down on his bed. Sure, it was always great talking with her and Nick, but it wasn't the same as seeing them both face to face. He shook his head and went to his laptop, pulling up Ewetube and searching for 'Yellowcat songs.' A few seconds later, the search results came up.

"OK, let's try this one," he said to himself as he clicked on a random song called 'Ocean Avenue.'

THURSDAY AFTERNOON…

"OK, what about them?" Corey asked, pointing to two does. It was lunchtime, and Jack and Corey were sitting together again, with the buck talking about certain students to his new friend.

Jack looked to where the boar was pointing and smiled. "OK, so, those two are Felicia and Faith," he explained. "They've been friends since they were both five, though with the way they act, they might as well be sisters. They're really nice, and like just about everyone."

Corey smirked. "You, uh, 'friendly' with either?"

Jack rolled his eyes as he pushed the raccoon, who was now laughing. "Nah. They're sweet, but they're not my type."

"So, what is your type?"

The buck just shrugged. Corey looked around for a bit and pointed to someone else.

"What about them?"

Jack groaned when he saw them. "Gideon Grey."

"Not a fan of him?" the boar asked.

"Gideon's been a pain for as long as he's been here," Jack explained. "That dude has some real bad anger issues. He tried to take a swipe at my cousin last year, though luckily, my friends stopped him." The buck took a bite of his sandwich. "Once the school caught wind of that, they finally decided to do something about it. I heard they're making his parents take him to see a therapist."

"Has it been working?"

"I guess?" Jack offered. "There hasn't been an incident like that since, but it's not like he just turned into a saint or anything; he's still a massive asshole." He turned to Corey. "My advice is to try not to cross paths with him."

The raccoon nodded. "Noted."

Jack looked around the cafeteria when his eyes fell on someone. "I'll give Gideon this, though: he's not my least favorite mammal at this school."

"Really?"

The buck shook his head. "Nope." He then pointed to a well-dressed woodchuck sitting with a small group of mammals. "That honor would belong to Chuck Woodson."

Corey looked at the woodchuck, who was gesturing something with his paws, wearing a smug and condescending smile. The raccoon huffed. "You haven't even told me anything about him, and I already hate him."

"Yeah, he definitely gives that off that vibe, doesn't he?" Jack agreed. He then let out a sigh. "Chuck's different from Gideon: with Gideon, anyone is fair game to him. Chuck, on the other paw, makes it personal. He doesn't get physical often, but he will if you push his buttons hard enough. The thing is, he knows how to spin words around. I can't even tell you how many times he's…" The buck trailed off before he could finish: 'Made fun of me because of my parents.'

Jack quickly shook his head. "What's worse is that his father's a prominent member of the school board, so he can get away with it. Doesn't matter how many students report him; if there isn't any hard proof, nothing is ever done about it."

"So, don't give him a reason to make it personal?" Corey asked.

"Exactly. He's usually easy to ignore, but once he's on the warpath…"

"Got it." The boar looked to his right and saw a brown doe walking towards them. "And the brown bunny coming our way?"

Jack looked over and grinned when he saw who it was. "'Sup, Jo?"

Josie smiled. "Hey, dude! Mind if I sit here?" Both Jack and Corey shook their heads, and she sat down across from them. "You're Corey, right?" she asked the raccoon. At his nod, she held out her paw and said, "I'm Josie, Jack's friend and bandmate."

Corey's eyes lit up as he shook her paw. "Oh yeah, I remember you! You were the one who hung him out to dry when I approached you guys."

"Thanks for that, by the way," Jack muttered, though he was smiling.

"You're welcome," the doe said smugly. At the buck's eye roll, she giggled. "So, what're you guys talking about?"

Corey shrugged. "Not much. He was telling me about some of the students here, and before that we were talking about bands-"

"Oh, by the way," Jack interrupted, "I checked out Yellowcat last night."

"What'd you think?"

The buck smiled and looked at the doe across from him. "I think we could pull off 'Ocean Avenue' if we wanted to. And I think you'll appreciate this one."

Josie's head tilted in confusion. "Why's that?"

"Because this is a rock song that actually has violin on it."

"Get the fuck outta here; really?!" The doe exclaimed with big eyes and an even bigger smile. At Jack's nod, she fist pumped. "Yes!"

Corey chuckled. "I take it that doesn't happen often?"

Josie shook her head. "It's hard to take rock songs and put them on violin. Any song that already has it is good in my book."

"But you haven't even heard it yet!" Jack pointed out, laughing a little.

"Don't care, we're doing it!" That brought an even bigger laugh from him.

"If we're doing it," the buck started, "we should get Judy and Skye to join us."

"Oooh, that'd be awesome!" Josie agreed.

Corey looked between them. "Who?"

"Judy's my cousin," Jack explained. "She picked up bass a few months ago, and she's getting pretty good at it. Skye's one of my friends from the city who plays drums. I met her and her brother Nick about a year ago."

"How're they doing?" Josie asked.

Jack smiled. "They're doing good. Apparently, their mom is trying to make some time to come down for Jude's birthday in two weeks. Don't tell her, but we're going to try and throw her a little party."

"Sweet!"

"They come down often?" the raccoon asked.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, or Judy and I go up to see them in the city and spend the weekend there. We try to do it at least once every month."

"And your families are OK with the trips?"

"Yeah, especially their mom. She's pretty awesome."

"Yeah, she is," Josie agreed. She then turned to Corey. "So, what do your parents do?" she asked, wanting to make conversation.

Corey shrugged. "They both worked as accountants at this patent place in Deerbrooke." He then scoffed. "Nowadays, all they seem to do is fight and argue over every stupid little thing," he said under his breath. Jack and Josie's eyes widened, not expecting that response nor the bitter tone. The raccoon's breath caught, and then he sighed. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Josie nodded timidly. "If you don't want to talk about it-"

"No, it's fine. Might as well tell you guys; there's not much to it." Corey paused, trying to find the right words, before saying, "My parents are two of the most headstrong mammals I've ever seen. They always think they're right, always think everyone else is wrong…it's a miracle that they had gotten along as well as they did, let alone get married." He played with his lunch a little before continuing.

"Their marriage has been falling apart for a while now, but the last few months, with Dad's promotion and Mom getting laid off…" He shook his head. "The only thing they seem to agree on is that they hate each other now. That, and that they don't want me to witness it, hence," he gestured around him, "why I'm here." He then snorted. "I guess it never occurred to them that I'd have to go back eventually and see their broken marriage."

"Do you know which one you'd stay with?"

The boar shook his head. "Nope, though at this point, I'm not sure if I want to be with either."

"Who're you staying with now?" Josie asked.

"My grandparents," Corey answered. "My dad's parents. They never really got along with my mom, but now they're starting to get sick of my dad as well." He let out a little laugh. "It's a little weird living with them, but they do mean well, and honestly I prefer them to the alternative."

Josie sat there in silence, before softly saying, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up-"

Corey waved his paw dismissively. "Nah, you're good, I'm just venting. It's just…frustrating, y'know? I mean, I get along with both of my parents just fine, so why can't they?"

The three kits sat there in silence before Jack slowly said, "I guess some mammals don't work together as well as they thought they would." He noticed the small look Josie sent his way but chose to ignore it.

The raccoon shrugged. "Maybe. But you know parents, right? Saying one thing but meaning another."

"I wouldn't know." At Corey's confused look, Jack realized that he also said that out loud, so he elaborated. "I never knew my dad and my mom walked out on me when I was six. I've been living with my aunt, uncle, and cousins ever since."

The raccoon sat there silently before saying, "That's rough, buddy."

Jack snorted at the reference. "Seriously, that's your only comment?"

"Well, what else do you say to that?" Corey defended, laughing a little.

"Fair enough," The buck admitted, smiling a little bit. "Well, that's one way to lighten the mood."

"Hey, it's a good show!"

"Never said it wasn't!"

Josie held up her paws with a smile. "I'm staying out of this; I don't even know what show-"

"WHAT?!"

The doe jumped at the boys' exclamation. "You've never seen Avatar?!" Jack asked in disbelief.

"…Should I have seen it?"

The buck's mouth just hung open at the statement. He quickly looked at Corey, who was also shocked, then back at Josie. "OK, next time you are over at my place, we are watching it together!"

Josie chuckled and shrugged. "OK, deal."

"Trust me, you have NO idea what awaits you!" Jack told her. He then turned to the raccoon next to him. "Want to join us?"

Corey gave a small smile and shook his head as he said, "Thanks, but I wouldn't want to impose on you and your girlfriend."

"My girlfriend…?" Jack and Josie's eyes widened at the implication. "Oh! Oh, no, we're not dating," the buck clarified, gesturing between himself and the doe. "We're just friends.

The raccoon perked up, surprised at the revelation. "Wait, really? I thought…" He trailed off as he pointed between the two bunnies.

Josie laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, you and everyone else."

Jack nodded. "I mean, we tried it, but it just didn't feel right, y'know?"

Corey looked back and forth between them before smiling. "Well, in that case, sure! As long as it's OK with your aunt and uncle."

"Awesome! This Friday work for you guys?" Jack asked.

"Should be fine."

"Yeah, that'll work!"

Jack nodded and took a bite of his lunch. The three of them continued to talk for the remainder of the lunch period. Once the bell rang, the boys said bye to Josie and proceeded to walk to their next class. Along the way, Corey turned to Jack.

"She's really nice," he told the buck.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, she's the best."

Corey was silent for a bit before asking, "So, if it's not a personal question, how come you two aren't together?"

The striped bunny shrugged. "It's just like we said: we tried it, but it just didn't work out."

"Any reason why?"

"Nope," Jack answered, shaking his head. "We just don't click that way, y'know? Does that make sense?"

"Not really, but I think I get what you're trying to say."

With that, the two kits walked to their next class of the day.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON…

Jack was setting up his laptop in his room when he heard a knock. He turned to see Judy poke her head in.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked the doe.

"Josie's here."

The buck smiled. "Sweet! I'll head up in a bit; Corey should be here soon, then we can get this underway."

Judy looked confused. "What're you guys doing?"

"Watching Avatar with Josie since she's never seen it."

"She's never seen Avatar?!"

"I know, right?!"

"Oooh, I have to see this! Can I join you guys?" she asked.

"Sure!" With that, Jack finished setting up his laptop. "C'mon, let's not keep her waiting."

Both kits left Jack's room and headed upstairs to the main floor. They entered the living room to see Josie sitting on the couch, scrolling through her phone. She looked up to see who had entered and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Hey," the doe greeted. "I'm not too early, am I?"

Jack waved his paw dismissively. "Nah, you're good. We're just waiting for Corey now."

"Did you remember to give him our address?" Judy asked.

"Yeah, I gave it to him after sixth period. He should be-"

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Jack grinned. "That should be him." He went to the front door and opened it to see a certain raccoon standing on the other side, looking a little nervous and playing with his necklace again.

"Hey, dude," he opened with. "You find the place OK?"

Corey nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't an issue."

Jack gestured over his shoulder. "Come on, mam." The raccoon walked inside, and they both went into the living to Judy and Josie. "Corey, this is Judy, my favorite cousin. Jude, this is Corey."

Judy smiled and held out her paw. "It's so nice to meet you!"

The boar shook it. "You too."

"I hope you don't mind, but I told her she could watch the show with us," Jack told him.

"Nah, it's good; the more, the merrier."

Judy quickly shushed him. "Don't say that too loudly. Otherwise, everyone will want to join us."

That brought a laugh from everyone. At that moment, Bonnie walked into the room.

"Oh! Josie, I didn't hear you come in." she said, smiling at the doe.

"Hi, Mrs. Hopps."

The elder doe then noticed Corey. "Well, hello there. I don't believe we've met."

"This is Corey," Jack introduced. "He's one of my friends at school. The four of us are going to watch Avatar together."

"Ah. Well, if you kits need anything, just let me know." With that, Bonnie walked into the kitchen.

Jack turned to the small group. "Ready to get this started?" At everyone's nod, they proceeded to walk downstairs to the buck's room. "Now, I was planning to just put on season one tonight and do the later seasons next time. That sound good?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Works for me."

"Sure."

A few minutes later, the group of four made it to Jack's room. Corey whistled when they entered. "Nice room."

"Thanks." Jack led them over to his bed. "Make yourselves comfortable." Judy, Josie, and Corey sat down on the bed while the buck went over to start the show, only to stop before he hit 'Play.' He let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Judy asked.

"I wish Nick and Skye were here," was his answer.

Corey looked over to the buck. "Your friends from the city?" Jack nodded. "How'd you guys meet?"

Judy laughed. "That right there is a long story." She and Jack then proceeded to tell the raccoon how the two siblings were visiting and checking out the fair that year, how they stood up to Gideon for Judy, how the storm forced them to take shelter at the Hopps' home, and the ensuing night in the game room.

"They told us how their dad had died a few months prior, and they were the first ones outside of Judy and her family that I told about my parents." Jack took a deep breath. "We've been close ever since. They're like the siblings I never had."

"So, what does that make me?" Josie asked.

Jack smirked. "The annoying best friend." The doe flipped him off, which made everyone laugh. He looked at the raccoon. "I think you'd like them. I know that they'd like you."

His friend smiled. "Well, here's hoping that I meet them one day."

Jack smiled back and pressed 'Play' to start the first episode. He sat down next to his friends and cousin as the opening credits began.