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After several more rounds of Tammy whooping Eric's butt and him declaring that, 'He will get his vengeance!', Tammy's mother Susan called them into the dining room for dinner. She had made lasagna with Caesar salad and garlic toast and Zel couldn't help but drool a little at how good it smelled. Just as Susan finished fixing Tammy's plate, everyone heard the door open and close, followed by a soft thud as something hit the floor.

"I'm home!" Called out a decidedly male voice.

"We're in the dining room, honey!" Susan called back, "You're just in time for dinner."

"Perfect! I'm starving!" Spoke the deep voice as black furred rabbit entered the dining room. He was just slightly shorter than Zel, he being the tallest in the room, and had white fur on the tips of his ears. He was in the process of loosening his tie when he spotted the unfamiliar wolf and otter sitting at the table, "Oh. I see we have company?"

"Dad, these are my friends Eric and Zel." Tammy said as she waved a hand at them.

Their manners getting the better of them, they both stood and approached Tammy's dad and Eric was the first to outstretch his paw.

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Harlow." He said with his usual bubbly grin.

Mr. Harlow took Eric's paw and shook it, "Likewise Eric and please, call me Jack."

Eric grinned and nodded while Zel held his paw out next, "Pleasure to meet you, sir."

Jack shook Zel's paw with a smile and looked to Tammy, "Such manners! Tammy, you better snatch one of them up before someone else does."

Tammy just groaned as her dad chuckled and moved to sit down and eat. He took a big whiff of the food before sighing, "Smells great, Susan."

Susan had kept serving while the boys introduced themselves, so when they sat back down, their plates were full of steaming lasagna, crisp salad and aromatic toast. As they started eating, everyone complimented Susan on how good the food was and she thanked them in kind. As the meal progressed, Jack and Susan started asking the boys about themselves. They answered the questions honestly and when asked about their hobbies, Susan got excited when she heard that Zel was an aspiring writer.

"What kind of stories do you write, Zel?"

Zel started fidgeting as the spotlight was on him, "Mostly just what I'm in the mood to write. I've down a couple mysteries, a thriller, children type stories, adventure stories, and several other genres. I've been doing mostly romance these days and I'm currently working on a novel type that is basically a sci-fi Romeo and Juliet kind of story."

When the word 'romance' was brought up, Susan's eyes widened a little in excitement, "That sounds intriguing. I'd love to read it when it's finished. How many chapters is it so far?"

Zel scratched the back of his head, "Um... Sure. It's 19 chapters long and I'm about to start the last chapter."

"Wow. That must have taken a while to write." Jack commented after finishing his meal.

"About two weeks I think? I kinda lose track of days when I start something new."

The Harlow family looked at him in awe while Eric chuckled at their reaction. He'd had the same reaction when he first found out how long it took for Zel to write something.

Susan was the first to speak, "How long is each chapter?"

Zel fiddled with his earring as he thought, "I'm not sure. I write everything by hand so it's not like I can use a word program's word count function, but each chapter takes up anywhere between 3 to 6 pages and my writing is kinda small. Except for a few pieces at the beginning, it takes up the majority of my notebook."

Both Tammy and Eric blushed a little when they thought about what was at the front of that notebook before Tammy looked to her mom, "It's true, his writing is pretty small. Readable, but small."

Susan looked even more intrigued and spoke as she cleared the table, "I know I asked to read it once you're finished, but would you mind if I started reading now until your mom arrives?"

"Uh... Alright." He went to the living room and grabbed his notebook from his bag. As he walked back to the dining room, he opened it to the first page of his novel. When Susan returned, he handed it to her and her eyes widened when she saw his script.

"You do have small writing, but it's completely legible. That must have taken a lot of practice."

Zel nodded, "I started writing small so I could get as much out of each notebook so I didn't have to get a new one as often."

"That's very practical of you." She said before she started reading.

As she got into it, everyone else left the table, with Jack heading to his office and the teens heading back to the living room.

"I think you just made mom's night. She's quite a bibliophile."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"True, but you'll be lucky if you get your notebook back before you leave."

"He'll get it back!" Susan called from the dining room without looking up.

The teens chuckled and went back to their video games while Zel called his mom. Not 15 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Tammy got up and answered and was greeted by a very pleasant looking timberwolf not much taller than Zel.

Tammy was the first to speak, "Hi. You must be Zel's mom. I'm Tammy, his new friend."

The woman's smile grew even wider in excitement, "Wonderful to meet you Tammy. My name is Jane and, yes, I am Zel's mother. I trust he and Eric haven't caused too much of an inconvenience?"

Tammy chuckled, "Not at all. They're a couple of great guys." She moved to the side to make room, "Please, come in."

Jane nodded and stepped into the house with Tammy closing the door behind her. She led the wolf down the short hall to the living room, "Zel? Your mom is here."

Zel looked away from the conversation he'd been having with Eric to his mom, "Hey mom."

"I trust you've been on your best behaviour for Tammy and her parents?"

Zel rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh, replying with the typical teenager's annoyance, "Yes, mom, I have."

Jane chuckled and turned to the otter she thought of as a second son, "And how have you been, Eric?"

Eric smiled, "I've been good, mom."

This got a very confused look from Tammy who looked between the two wolves and the otter, "Did I miss something?"

Jane is the one that answered, "Ever since Eric basically forced himself to be Zel's first and best friend when they were in the fourth grade, he's spent just as much time at our house as he has at his. He accidentally called me mom one day and it just stuck."

"I kinda switch between that and her name depending on my mood. I was curious to see how you'd react. Wish I'd had my phone out to catch your face." His grin just kept getting bigger.

Tammy went to flip him the bird before remembering who was standing right next to her. Her arm was halfway lifted when she caught herself. After giving a sheepish smile to Jane, she stuck her tongue out at the otter on the couch who returned that action. The next sound semi startled Jane. A giggle erupted from her son. She'd heard him laugh when spending time with Eric, but it had almost always been a little forced, but the sound she had just heard had come as easily as breathing. As the three teenagers laughed at their own antics, she looked between them happily. It was a huge relief to see her son coming out of his self-made fortress and allowing himself to be happy. She heard a shuffle from behind her as Susan entered the room carrying Zel's notebook. That caused her to be even more surprised. Apparently, who she assumed to be Tammy's mother, had been allowed to read from his notebook when she hadn't. She didn't know whether to be proud that her son was letting others beside his teacher to read his work, or insulted that she still wasn't allowed. She pushed the thoughts aside and turned to the rabbit.

"I heard another voice. I'm guessing you are Zel's mother. I'm Susan, Tammy's mother." She said with a smile as she held out her free paw.

Jane took the paw in her own, "That I am. Nice to meet you. My name's Jane."

"Pleasure's all mine. You know, you have a very talented son." She lifted the notebook to show what she was talking about.

Looking at her suddenly blushing son, she smiled, "I know."

Susan walked over and returned the book to Zel, "I love what I've read so far and can't wait to finish."

Zel took the book and put it into his knapsack with the rest of his books and schoolwork, mumbling a small thanks, not able to make eye contact. He and Eric proceeded to the front door and grabbed their shoes before turning to Tammy and Susan, "Thanks for having us and for dinner." Eric said for the both of them.

Susan smiled at them, "Our pleasure guys. Come over any time."

Tammy matched her mom's smile, "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

The boys nodded and turned to the leave. They climbed into the car and waved one last time to Tammy and her mom. During the drive, Jane asked the usual questions like how their days were and if anything exciting happened, besides making a new friend. They answered with 'It was fine' and 'Nothing', both deciding to omit the incident with Daryl. Well, Zel omitted it and Eric followed suit, knowing that if his friend didn't want to make a deal out of it with his parents. They dropped Eric off saying goodbye and then made the two minute drive to their own home. They walked in, Zel saying hi to his dad on his way to his room. Once there, he pulled his notebook out and put his knapsack on the floor by his door. He sat at his desk and turned on his laptop. He opened his word program and turned to the first page of the story he promised he'd make a copy of for Tammy and got to typing. His fingers flew across the keys as he typed, copying half of the ten page story within twenty minutes, making minor edits and corrections as he went. It wasn't that he couldn't type fast, indeed, he could type almost three times faster than he could write. He just prefered putting pencil to paper. The feel, the smell, the sound, it all encouraged his creative process. It was like he'd told Mr. Rathman, typing to him felt cold and impersonal, like it took away from the overall feel of the story. In less than an hour he'd finished, plus corrections that made it better, and had set it to print. As his printer whirred to life and began spitting out pages with type on both sides, he looked to his most recent work that Susan had been reading. Before he knew what he was doing, he had opened a new document and had started typing.

For the rest of the night, long after the story for Tammy had finished printing, he typed and edited and changed his sci-fi romance. At one point, he recalled his mother coming in, but he barely registered her presence, not on purpose or out of spite, he was simply too focused. His mother had seen him like this before and quickly left. When he had finally caught up to himself, he leaned back in his chair and stretched, feeling a few satisfying pops as he looked over to his bedside clock. His eyes widened when he saw that it was well past midnight. He groaned to himself for once again getting too lost in the words. He saved the document and set it to print the finished chapters. All nineteen of them. He then grabbed the story for Tammy, hole punched it and put it into a duotang. Before closing the clasps, he turned back to his computer and made two title pages for both works and set them to print as well. Since it would take a while for everything to finish printing, he stripped down to his boxers and climbed into the bed, his fatigue and the whirring of the printer lulling him into the first dreamless sleep he had had in a long while.

---

He slowly woke to the offensive shrill of his alarm clock, slapping it off and groggily climbing out of his bed. He lumbered to the bathroom and while he waiting for the shower to warm up, he looked into his reflection, something he hated doing but couldn't stop himself from doing. He saw the same cobalt and ash grey fur, green headfur, and lavender purple eyes he'd seen all his life. His eyes still carried that soft glow that he himself could never see unless the immediate area was sufficiently dark. He shook his head and climbed into the shower and let his thoughts roam. Yeah, he'd heard that a lot of furs could think better in the shower and he was sure that that was the case here as well, but it wasn't all of it. He'd always felt comfortable and at peace in water. He went through his routine to get ready for school, shower, brush his teeth, get dressed and eat breakfast, saying good morning to his parents. When he went back to his room to get his backpack, he organized the stories for Tammy and her mom, adding the title page to Tammy's and closing the clasps on the duotang and then putting the larger story into a small binder. He rushed out the door and arrived at the bus stop he shared with Eric and one other, a rather large bull who, despite his build and demeanor, was actually one of the smartest guys in the school and not on any of the sports teams, much to many of the coachs ire.

"Morning, Zel!" His friend cheerily greeted him. Zel could never figure out Eric could be this peppy every morning. It was just one of those mysteries of life that would never be solved.

"Morning," was the wolf's reply, the same as every other morning. It was pretty monotone and groggy like he'd just woken up instead of having been up for well over and hour.

"That the copy for Tammy?" Eric asked as he pointed at the duotang and binder in Zel's paw.

He nodded, "The other is a copy of what her mom was reading so she could keep reading it."

Eric raised an eyebrow at his lupine friend, "Wow. Never thought you'd do something like that. What made you do it?"

Zel shrugged, "Not sure. Guess I was just in to in the zone. I was waiting for the first to print and the next thing I know, it's after midnight and I had caught up with what I'd written."

Eric shook his head, worry etched on his muzzle, "You and your zone. It's gonna make you sick one day." His face then brightened into pride, "But that was a nice thing to do. I know how self-conscious you are about having others reading your work and you didn't need to do that, but you did anyway."

Zel blushed, "It's not that big a deal..."

Eric smiled knowingly, "If you say so, bud."

During their whole conversation, the bull had basically ignored them like he had every day. He had tried to be friends with Zel a long time but had been rebuffed like everyone else had. And everyday, Eric had apologized to him when he tried until he eventually gave up.

In light of his new friendship with Tammy, Zel thought back to how he'd treated a lot of people and didn't like what he'd saw. He nervously looked to the bull and cleared his throat. Eric, thinking that Zel was trying to get his attention, looked to his friend only to notice that he wasn't looking at him but the bull. He raised his brow in curiosity, wondering what will happen.

"H...Hey, Kevin?" Zel stuttered.

The bull was visibly startled at having been addressed by the wolf and looked at him curiously, "Yes?"

Zel couldn't hold the long and directed his eyes to the pavement below him. He wrung his paws as he forced the words out, "I j...just w-want to apologize for how I acted towards you in the past."

Both boys were surprised by this, but that surprise was quickly replaced by other emotions. Eric's proud smile made a reappearance for the second time that morning while Kevin's face shifted into an understanding smile.

"It's alright, Zel, but thank you. Eric explained why you acted the way you did and while I may not fully comprehend how you feel, I can understand your reasons."

Zel looked up a little surprised himself at how understanding the gentle giant was. He blushed slightly and nodded, "Thanks Kevin."

Kevin gently patted Zel's shoulder, causing him to jump and looked back up at the bull, "Eric was right though." Zel's face shifted to confusion before pointing to the binder and duotang in his paws, "Everyone at school knows how protective you are about what you write and the fact the you are willing sharing them is a major step forward in your personal growth. A lot of furs have been extremely curious about what you put in those notebooks, especially after that thing with Daryl."

Zel looked astonished as her turned to Eric for confirmation. The otter nodded, "It's true. I've had a lot of people come up to me over the years asking if I could shed some light on your writings. I've never told anyone about what I have seen, but I think some people are convinced you're plotting the end of the world or how to take it over."

Zel was not amused by this fact when Kevin spoke up chuckling, "I remember that rumour. Somehow it had gotten around that you were plotting to take over the world using zombies or demonic minions."

Zel could only snort at that before turning to Kevin with a mischievous grin, "Who says I haven't?"

Kevin stopped laughing and looked at Zel, now a little worried, "Wait... Seriously?"

Eric was having trouble keeping his laughter hidden from the bull. It wasn't often that Zel joked like that and he didn't want to ruin it.

Zel turned away looking ahead with that same sinister grin, "Maybe. I have done some research into the occult for some of the things I've written and had come across some interesting things..." He looked back at Kevin, his eyes pulsing with light, something that only happened when he was joking and really having fun, but the bull didn't know that so it just made the wolf look more menacing and his joke more believable.

Eric glanced at the horrified look on Kevin's face and couldn't hold it in anymore. He doubled over, holding his sides and howling with laughter. Zel couldn't hold it in either and broke, joining in with Eric in laughing. Kevin just stood there dumbfounded while the two took forever to get their breathing under control. When they finally did, they were both wiping tears from their eyes and high fiving each other. Kevin grumbled at having being gotten, "Dude, that was not cool. I thought you were serious. Your eyes were even glowing more than usual."

"Glowing how?" Eric asked.

"They were kinda pulsing like a really slow strobe light."

Eric chuckled, "That's what his eyes do when he's really into a joke and having fun."

"Ah. I see." He looked at Zel sheepishly, an odd sight on the large bull, "I will admit that I am one of the ones that is a little intimidated by the whole glowing thing."

Zel just shrugged, "It's okay. I don't blame you."

It was then that the bus showed up and the three of them climbed aboard. Tammy waved to them from her seat. While Kevin went to sit with his own friends, Eric and Zel took the seat across from Tammy.

Zel handed her the binder and duotang, "As promised. The binder is filled with the complete chapters of what your mom was reading last night. I figured she might want to keep reading it."

Tammy bounced in her seat with excitement. Since Eric had forced him to take the aisle side of the seat, Tammy was quickly hugging the wolf who could only let out a surprised, 'URK!'.

She sat back in her seat, clutching the written works like they were precious jewels and a glint in her eye that Zel couldn't figure out, "You are one awesome wolf, Zel."

Zel could only blush look away which didn't work since he looked right at Eric who was grinning at him. He turned to look straight ahead and pulled the hood of his sweater over his head. All he could say to his chuckling friends was, "It's not that big a deal..."

The two just shook their heads at him and started talking around him as the bus made its way to the school. It wasn't long before the bus pulled into the turnaround and dropped them off. As they walked into the school, Zel caught sight of Daryl who still looked a little shook up from the previous days altercation. Daryl turned his head in Zel's direction and froze, a look of terror on his face before he quickly made an escape into the crowded halls. This made a knot twist in Zel's gut. From the looks of it, he wouldn't bullied anymore, but the thought of being feared that much did not sit well with him at all. He decided then that he would have to try to apologize to his former bully.