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~FALL~

Mornings, something Arden really didn't have to deal with during the summer, were now back with a vengeance.

His alarm clock went off at six; the young otter hit snooze with his paw and moved his other paw around the bed, searching for Mark. Slowly, he remembered that Mark wasn't there; the wolf was at home, in his own bed, probably doing the same thing.

'Five more minutes.' He made a mental note to set the alarm five minutes ahead.

The next thing he heard was his 'Otters in America' ring tone. "Hello." He mumbled sleepily into the phone, stifling a huge yawn.

"Aww! You didn't wait for me." It was Mark, chipper and wide awake.

"Wait for what?" Arden rubbed his eyes with a free paw and took stock of the surroundings.

"We were supposed to wa... Wait a minute, did you just wake up?"

"Yup." He was fully awake now as he darted to the bathroom to wash up.

"Well, you better hurry." Mark chuckled. "I'm outside your house; I guess I'll wait for you."

Arden was no stranger to hurrying up; with practiced ease, he brushed his teeth, washed up, sprayed his fur with deodorant and bounded out the door.

"Whoa, new record!" Mark was standing in the driveway. He wore jeans and a bright blue polo shirt that brought out his gorgeous eyes more than ever.

The boys embraced and kissed lovingly.

"Am I going to have to give you a wake-up call every day?" Mark asked after they parted and headed down the street. He checked the time on his phone.

"I'd much rather you do it in person." Arden smiled at him. "I really missed you last night... and this morning."

"Me too."

They walked in silence for a little while before Arden spoke up again. "So... remember how we kept putting a certain discussion off? I think now's a pretty good time to have it."

Mark put his phone away and focused his attention on the otter. "Which one?"

"The one about how heavy we're going to go on the PDA at school." Arden was really reluctant to continue, but he forced himself; this had to be done.

"Well, I just use my PDA to write down homework and stuff." Mark pulled out his iPhone again and brought up the planner app.

Arden rolled his eyes. "Public displays of affection." He wasn't sure if the wolf really didn't know what the term meant, or if he was just trying to skirt the subject.

"Oh." Mark went quiet.

"Look, we don't have to do anything if you don't want." Arden spoke after a few uncomfortable moments of silence dragged by. "It's just that we started doing it over the past several days... and I really liked it."

"Me too." Mark looked down at the sidewalk. "That's why it's so hard. I want to, I really do."

"We can wait." Arden had a great deal of trouble hiding the disappointment in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Ar." Mark brushed his paw against Arden's but didn't take hold. "I'll start coming out to one or two friends at a time. Once enough of them know, we'll come out together."

He put his arm around the otter as they walked. "I really want everyone to know about my awesome boyfriend and be jealous of how lucky I am."

They strolled to school with Mark's arm around Arden, separating when the main building loomed into view. Both boys were reluctant, but they knew that this is how things had to be -- at least for now.

The late bell rang just as they arrived at Arden's calculus class.

"I'll see you in history." Habitually, Mark leaned over for a kiss; he drew back quickly, realizing where he was, and looked away with a sigh.

"Yeah." Arden smiled weakly. "See you there."

He walked into class; everyone was already seated, and the teacher was staring him down. He ignored her and took an empty seat near the back.

"Well, now that everyone's seen it fit to join us..."

Arden could still feel the squirrel's stern gaze boring into him.

"...we can begin. My name is Miss Florin..." She began writing stuff down on the whiteboard and droning.

The monotone was very hard to follow, and Arden soon gave up.

He chose, instead, to focus on his dilemma with Mark. They both wanted to come out to everyone; they were both ready... so what was the problem? He was tossing around different variations of a coming out speech when a nasty voice finally broke into his thought bubble.

"Mister Halinen!"

He looked up to see Florin staring at him; some of his classmates were giggling.

"I'm sorry I'm so boring, but if you want to pass... and since you're taking AP Calculus, I will assume that you do, in fact, want to pass... you will have to pay attention."

Arden nodded politely. "I will... I- I mean, I am."

"I hope so. Now, why don't you come up to the board and solve this little problem for us?" She tapped her claw on a trig problem she had put up.

Arden went up and did the whole thing in seconds. After giving Florin a smug grin, he returned to his seat.

"Thank you, Mr. Halinen," Florin said through gritted teeth.

Arden nodded and went back to his own thoughts.

The bell rang sometime later. He wasn't sure if the teacher ever called on him again; he really didn't care. This was one of those classes where he would keep his head down, do the work and try his best not to snap at the professor.

History was next -- which meant seeing Mark. Just the thought of seeing the wolf again dissipated most of the unpleasantness brought on by the calculus class.

When he walked into class, however, some of the former unpleasantness returned. Mark was sitting at the very the back... but Sam was sitting towards the front; both were looking at him expectantly and smiling.

He stood there, trying to figure out where to sit until a voice behind him said: "Attention passengers, please no standing in the isles!" He turned around to see a short red fox smiling cheerfully at him.

"Oh, sorry." Arden quickly took a seat next to Sam.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I would have done a seating chart, had I known that picking a seat was that difficult. I'm Warren, by the way... or Mr. Fresto; but don't call me that, because I hate my last name."

Arden liked the fox right away; his clothes might have been a bit shabby, but his smile and his confident paw-shake made everything else seem superfluous.

Fresto waited for a few more students to enter and then approached the whiteboard. "Good morning, class! My name is Warren. I don't expect a reply back because I know that most of you are still asleep. Welcome to AP European History." He picked up a marker and jotted down his name and contact information on the board in flourishing script. "So, let's dive right in! Who can tell me something about Charlemagne?"

Arden raised his paw. Not only did he love history, but he was really liking the teacher as well. 'Not a bad way to balance out Calc.'

The class went by even faster than Calc had; this time, however, Arden didn't need to daydream. He paid full attention to Warren and immensely enjoyed the fox's teaching style.

The bell rang and Warren made one last announcement as everyone got up to leave. "I almost forgot!" He scribbled the information quickly on the board. "I am the adviser for the Elton Macenfield Young Gay Alliance... or EMYGA. We meet every Wednesday right after school in room 245."

Most of the class ignored him; there were even some snickers, but Arden stopped for a moment to jot down the time and room number before catching up with Mark.

"What an awesome class!" he said after the wolf finally slowed down.

"Yup." Mark continued walking, staring blankly at the way ahead.

"Look, I'm sorry I sat next to Sam." He tried not to sound annoyed at the wolf's childish behavior. "It's just that I haven't seen him much over the summer, and I was kinda rushed into my seat."

"So, you're not angry at me?" The wolf looked up, his eyes brightening slightly.

"For what?"

"For wanting to take my time with this 'coming out' thing."

"Mark." Arden stopped him right in the middle of the hallway. "I already told you. I understand. After what happened with... well, you know... after that, I wouldn't expect you to want to wear rainbow stickers and march in parades. It will take time, and I will be with you no matter how long it takes." He whispered the last part, even though he knew nobody was listening.

Finally, the wolf smiled. "Thank you."

Arden saw tears welling up in Mark's eyes and changed the subject as quickly as he could. "As far as History goes, we'll sit together next time -- all three of us."

"Sounds good to me." Mark checked his phone. "I gotta run to class; AP Physics."

"Ouch! Well, have fun." They began walking their separate ways. "Oh, will I see you at lunch?" Arden called after him.

"Umm... Well, I usually sit with the rest of the soccer team."

"That's okay. I'll see ya in English, then." Arden wanted to feel sad or at the very least angry, but then he realized that even if they were openly dating, it would only be right to give Mark some space.

Biology was fun, if only because the teacher called in sick and the sub, a very overweight bobcat, couldn't care less about... anything.

Arden ended up talking to Sam the entire time. He caught him up on the latest news and told him about his progress with Mark.

"It won't happen right away," Sam said, doodling aimlessly in his notebook. "It never does. But once it happens, you will both be happy; because you'll both do it willingly. Nothing worse than being outed, after all."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Arden chuckled.

Lunch was never a leisurely affair at Elton; the students got thirty minutes to get to the cafeteria, buy their food and eat it.

After standing in line for ten minutes for a slice of "whole wheat" pizza, Arden hurried off to find a seat. The place was packed from top to bottom. Every table he went to was full; he couldn't understand how, despite sprinting from a classroom that was on the same floor as the cafeteria, he was still one of the last in line and one of the last to sit down.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally found a seat at a small table, tucked away behind the vending machines.

"Mind if I join you?"

He recognized Mark's voice immediately and spun around. "I thought you wanted to eat lunch with the team." He couldn't help but grow a bit suspicious.

"I didn't say I wanted to, I just said I usually do." Mark sat down next to him. "But it's a new year, and there's no better time to start a new tradition."

Arden loved this new tradition. He enjoyed Mark's company so much that he didn't even notice how much his pizza tasted like ketchup-covered cardboard.

"Aww, that's adorable! You're having lunch with your boyfriend!" It was Andy. He and a few guys from the soccer team found Mark and just couldn't resist a taunt.

Several of the tables within earshot fell silent and the kids turned to stare at the boys.

"They're called friends, Andy." Chris, who was walking by, came over to help. "I know you don't have any, but other people do. So, why don't you go take the five minutes you have before class starts and maybe find yourself a few."

"Ha. Ha." Andy grimaced at the coyote and wandered off.

"Thanks, Chris!" Mark composed himself enough to speak.

"No probs." The coyote smiled. "Listen, if they keep giving you crap we can talk to the coach and get them kicked from the team."

"Nah, it's cool, I'm sure it won't get that far. Oh, this is Arden."

Arden and Chris shook paws.

"Oh yeah! You're the guy Mark decked with the ball! Good thing we weren't playing golf, huh?"

"Yeah." Arden laughed. Chris seemed like a nice enough sort.

"Well, I'll see you at practice, bro," Chris said. He shook paws with Mark and walked off.

The boys finished their lunch quietly and made their way to class.

"Glad Chris showed up when he did," Mark said. "I felt like I was about to pass out from the tension."

"Yeah." It dawned on Arden then just how nervous this whole situation made Mark. Before the wolf spoke up, he was planning to mention the gay alliance group to him; but, feeling the tension, Arden decided to wait. He changed the subject. "So, have you heard anything about the English teacher?"

"Eggurd? Yeah, she was my English teacher freshman year. She's really cool."

Miss Fiona Eggurd was an ancient mouse; her fur was silver from tip to tail and she wore thick spectacles on the bridge of her nose. Despite probably being older than all the students in the room put together, she was far more energetic than any of them.

"Shakespeare!" she squeaked as the last of the stragglers came in and sat down. "Overdone! No, this year we are going to focus on authors who do not get as much of the limelight."

She scurried over to a large wardrobe in the corner of the room and threw open the doors with one dramatic sweep of her frail paws. "Who wants to pass out the books?" she said, excitedly. "... for fifteen points of extra credit!"

There was a mass scraping of chairs as everyone rushed over to the closet.

"Well, it certainly is nice to see all of you so concerned about your grades." She smiled. "Might as well give you all some extra credit. Now, what you hold in your paws is the last play by one of the true masters of the English language, Oscar Wilde. Now," she scurried to the front of the class, "can anyone tell me why Mr. Wilde was such a controversial figure?"

Jeena Marbrook's paw shot up. "Because he was gay."

"That's right," Eggurd said. "We tend to think of homophobia today as unbearable and rampant, but if we look back at nineteenth-century England we see how lucky we are in comparison. Back then, homosexuality was a crime. People were thrown in jail for admitting to it." She looked genuinely sad at what she said. "Mister Wilde could have achieved a far greater level of fame had he been straight."

She went on to tell them about Wilde's life. She explained that his homosexuality was revealed because he sued his lover's father for libel, choosing not to hide it.

The bell rang too soon. Arden still had a lot of questions unanswered and resolved to do more research on Wilde when he got home.

He and Mark walked out of class discussing the play they were given. They were both very excited to read it and decided to meet every day after Mark's soccer practice and read it together.

Once outside, the boys bid each other good bye and Mark headed off to practice.

"Text me when it's over." Arden waved his phone, calling after the wolf.

Mark answered without turning around. "Will do!"

With over an hour to waste, Arden decided to head to the library to get some homework done. He didn't have much, but he wanted to get it out of the way before hanging out with Mark.

On the way there, he bumped into Mr. Fresto.

"Ah, it's my indecisive friend!" The fox shook paws with him. "How was your first day of school?"

Arden told him briefly about his day.

"Glad to hear senior year is going well for you," Fresto sighed, looking not at Arden, but through him.

"So, this gay club..." Arden wanted to stop himself, but it was too late. "Are there a lot of people in it?"

"More than you might think." Fresto pulled a poorly-photocopied pamphlet out of his bag. "Why, are you interested in joining?"

"A... I... Yes." There was no point in lying.

"Wonderful!" The fox smiled at Arden and patted him on the shoulder. "We meet anonymously, so there's nothing to worry about."

"I'll definitely swing by, then." They shook paws again, and Warren walked off toward the teacher parking lot.

'More than you might think...' Arden scratched his ear. 'Are there really openly gay kids in this school?'

'Did you think you were special?' His inner voice again. 'One in every ten people's supposed to be gay... so no, you and Mark aren't the only queers around.'

The library was empty save for an aging raccoon with thick spectacles at the check-out counter. She gave Arden a surprised smile when he walked in, clearly amazed that anyone would be spending a warm summer day at the library.

He smiled back and walked over to one of the study tables.

After an hour of math homework, he finally felt a familiar vibration in his pocket.

He pulled out his phone and read the text: 'all set. meet u at rabbits.'

'k,' he texted back.

He left the library quickly, eager to see Mark again.

Rabbit's was packed; it seemed like the entire population of Elton High migrated over and crammed themselves into the tiny smoothie shop.

Mark was nowhere to be seen.

Arden got two smoothies and went outside to wait for him.

The wolf showed up ten minutes later. Arden registered a slight look of worry about him, but it faded quickly, and he didn't give it another thought.

Mark took the smoothie and sniffed its contents. "Laguna Blast?"

"You bet!" Arden took a sip of his own drink. "So, shall we go and read us some Wilde?"

"Actually..." Mark pulled out his PDA and scrolled through it. "I have way more homework than I thought I did. Can we get together tomorrow? I think I'll be up 'til at least twelve doing it." He pulled Arden into a hug. "It's just homework, I promise."

"Okay." Arden hugged back. "We're still walking back together, though... right?"

"Unless you moved off our street without telling me." Mark smiled at him.

Smoothies in paw, the boys headed home.