The More You Learn The Less You Know
#2 of New Kid
Part Two: The More You Learn The Less You Know
Chapter notes: A continuation of where the last chapter left off, Zeke continues through his day and meets some minor characters. We also get a little glimpse of what Zeke's past has been like and also start to see what could be a new friendship between Zeke and Matt.
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I found Mrs. Barton's room easily enough and walked into a nice little classroom that, instead of the regular desks and things, had a bunch of little tables put together for the students to sit at. They were all arranged into seating arrangements of 4 per group. As I looked around the room I saw Matt wave a paw at me to come over to the group that he was a part of. I acknowledged him and walked over to the table he was sitting at along with two other furs that were sitting on the other side of the table. I put my stuff down and looked over at the two guys as Matt introduced us. "Zeke, this is Christian; Chris," Matt told me pointing to a brown coyote, "and this is Salem," motioning towards the black panther sitting across from me. "Guys this is Zeke, he's new here and is gonna help me with my English grade." They both smiled at me and shook my paw saying hello to each other as I sat down.
When the bell rang the doe that I assumed was Mrs. Barton walked in from an adjoining room in the back. She waved to the class and said in a slightly frazzled voice, "Hello class, today I've got some paper work to do, so all of you just relax, do some homework, or whatever. Just stay quiet and we'll pick up on our discussion of the vascular system tomorrow." With that she went to her desk in the back and started to do her paperwork.
I raised my eyebrows and was a little confused by her behavior, "Uhh... does this happen a lot?" I looked at Matt for some sort of explanation and he just nodded. "Yeah, Mrs. Barton also works as a nurse at the local hospital so she's busy a lot of the time, but we still get our work done and we have a good time in class." I nodded and shrugged, since this was going to be a free class I thought I might as well get some work done on that poem. I got out my notebook and pencil and turned to a piece of paper before I started to write down some rhyming I had been thinking of in my head.
As I lay upon my bed
Thoughts of you race through my head
And as I lay in my place
I start to dream of your face
To feel your form close to me
So that my heart can be free
As our tails moved left and right
I'd stay with you through the night
Then with the rising of the sun
I'd see that you were the one
The one I'd hold until the end
To be with me through every bend
I stopped and looked at my work so far. What I had so far was good, but before I could start to think some more on it, I felt a paw on my shoulder. I turned my head around and saw Matt looking at me curiously. "Hey, you ok? I asked you a question and you didn't say anything."
"Heh... sorry, got caught up in my writing for class and didn't hear you," I shrugged and sniffed at the air and caught Matt's scent and suddenly realized something about him. "Hey you live near the ocean don't you? Up in one of those rich joints, right?" All three of the guys looked at me a bit surprised and Matt just nodded. "Yeah. How did you know that though?"
I smirked at him and turned to face him sand said in a matter of fact kind of way, "Only houses I've seen near the ocean are the upper class houses, and you have a stronger scent of the ocean on you than your friends here which means that you're exposed to it more and logically likely live closer to it." They all looked at me rather shocked at my calm logical explanation and I just sighed and explained some more, "I've got a keener sense of smell than average, even for a canine, and I'm also very good at figuring things out and learning about the things around me." I closed my eyes for a second and started on a small monologue that got colder and meaner sounding as I went on unintentionally, "Knowledge and learning are more important than anything else; with those things nothing is impossible. With those things I can tell who I can trust and who is nothing but scum. I've learned many things in my life and I have learned to defend myself and attack any who back me into a corner." I opened my eyes again and looked at Salem and Chris who just kind of stared at me like I was a bit dangerous or crazy, but Matt just laughed heartily and smiled wide, "Man I can tell I'm gonna like you just fine."
I just nodded and looked at Matt for the first real time since I'd met him earlier. Nothing that would have been seen as odd, just a kind of look like I'm giving him the once over to see what he's like. He was a well built otter, looked about 6 feet tall with a pretty long tail like most otters had. His fur was thick and smooth and he looked like he was pretty well built. If I had to guess I'd say that he was a jock, most likely a swimmer, which would be no surprise what with him being an otter. I didn't want to assume that though, as it was a bit of a stereotype, so I guessed that he could also do something else like baseball or wrestling. He had a very handsome face and a pair of dark blue eyes and some long whiskers coming from a small black nose that I noticed he twitched a bit in a rather cute way. He had short hair and all in all looked like a very handsome young fur, I'd wager that he was pretty popular with the girls and would likely have a girlfriend.
I wasn't that bad looking myself, my mom said that I looked pretty handsome, but mothers say such things a lot so that didn't really count to me. I had bright blue eyes; long, thick, grey hair that I sometimes pulled back into a pony tail; a nice soft coat of thick and slightly shaggy grey fur; and a nice long fairly bushy tail. I was fairly well built, not real muscular or anything but I wasn't out of shape, if anything I was kind of on the thin side. All in all I looked like your average grey wolf and you'd never think that I was a hybrid by looking at me. That is, if you didn't look to hard for certain clues. If I took off my shirt then you'd really be able to tell by the orange fur that ran down my back with the black tiger stripes along my neck and back, not to mention a few stripes on my upper arms that I was a hybrid. My ears were also a bit shorter and rounder than a wolf's and were courtesy of my mother, and then, of course, my retractable claws were also another sign of my tiger heritage. Of course it didn't really matter to me what I looked like, but to others as soon as they saw those stripes and feline things they'd only see those things about me and treat me like I was nothing.
After I finished looking Matt over I turned back to my notebook to think again, but then Chris coughed a little to clear his throat and to get my attention. I looked up at him waiting for him to speak and he just raised an eyebrow curiously. "Ya' know... you don't have to be so serious about things, I mean it's not like the world's out to get you or anything, ya know?"
I cringed at his words and held my shoulder out of reflex and looked away from him, "The last time... ," I gulped and took a deep breath before going on, "The last time that I didn't learn something important about someone... I got hurt... really badly, and my little brother... he almost died... After that happened, I swore I'd never let it happen again." I squeezed my shoulder as the image of the night I received that wound resurfaced in my mind and growled deeply letting my anger get the better of me, "I won't let those I care for be harmed... ever again."
I squeezed my shoulder harder and was barring my teeth as I was thinking back on that event when I felt a soft reassuring squeeze on my other shoulder. I relaxed my stance and turned to Matt who just starred at me with sympathetic eyes and smiled a warm smile at me, "It's ok man; you don't have to defend yourself or your beliefs. We've all got secrets and scars. Something happened to you in the past and it's made you this way. I'm sorry for whatever happened but we won't pry. I hope that we can be friends though and...," he looked away for a second like he was thinking about something before turning back to me, "and that whatever happened to you before won't happen again."
I looked at him curiously, I had a feeling that wasn't exactly what he wanted to say but I let that go and nodded giving a slight smile at him. "Thank you." I took a deep breath and relaxed before I looked around at the guys, "So... what do you guys normally do on days like this?"
Salem scratched his head and shrugged at me, "Ehh... we normally just talk, hang out, do homework, or play cards, but I forgot my deck today so we can't play anything." I smirked at him, reached into my backpack, and pulled out a new pack of cards. "What kind of games do you guys know how to play?" I started cutting the cards making sure that they got shuffled well while I looked at the guys around me. Salem chuckled and held out his paw for the cards to cut before he handed them back, "You know how to play Egyptian war?" I grinned at the feline and started dealing out cards between the four of us. "It's been awhile, but let's see if I do." I dealt out the rest of the cards and we spent the rest of the class playing cards, talking, and just hanging out getting to know each other.
The rest of the day went by rather smoothly. I wasn't that social in most of my other classes, but Matt still talked to me and introduced me to a few other furs whom I was polite to. I still wasn't sure what to make of this school or anything so I wasn't going to get attached to it just yet. I mainly just sat by myself and worked on my drawing or my poem during my classes unless I was taking notes for something. And so the day went on, Matt and I got to talking and I don't know what it was about him, but I felt like I could actually trust him for some reason. It seemed to me at different points of the day that he had something that he wanted to tell me but for whatever reason he didn't say anything.
After our 4th period history class together it was time for lunch and a bunch of furs started heading towards the cafeteria, but I had other plans in mind. I packed up my stuff and thought that I'd just head to library which was away from the cafeteria and spend my lunch there. I didn't want to draw any attention to myself that I was doing this though, so I didn't say anything as I walked out of the classroom and headed towards the library. Matt however noticed me walking the other way and walked quickly to catch up with me. "Hey, Zeke, ya know the caf's that way, right?" I nodded at him simply and shrugged, "Yeah, I know. I just prefer to be alone a lot." He raised his eyebrow in curiosity and I went on, "Ya know the whole "lone wolf" thing? Well I just have grown accustomed to being alone so I normally just skip lunch and just hang out somewhere until my next class." He looked at me like he was kind of disappointed but then perked up and smiled, "Well hey, your next class is art, right? Well tell ya what, the art room is right next to the courtyard and the cafeteria, so head over that way and I'll go get a quick something and meet ya there, ok?"
I looked at him rather strangely and felt like things were a bit strange here so I figured I'd risk it all now by likely sounding like a jerk to get some answers, "Listen. Why are you being so nice to me? I've been to a lot of schools before and I've never met a kid like you before whose been so nice to me right off the bat, so what's going on?" He looked at me surprised before he let his gaze drop down to his feet and just kind of stayed silent for a moment. "Well... to be honest I don't know. I just feel like you're a good fur deep down and someone who I could like, talk to, and become friends with. You seem really cool and stuff and I thought it'd be cool to get to know you, I'm sorry if I came on to strong."
I looked at him thoughtfully and smiled putting a paw on his shoulder sighing at my own stupid ignorance and paranoia. "No... I'm sorry, it's just that when people come on that strongly to me they normally want something. Go on now and get your lunch and I'll wait for ya over in the courtyard." He smiled one of those cocky grins that said 'awesome' before he ran off to grab something to eat, and I walked off to the courtyard.
We ended up in a gazebo by ourselves about five minutes later. He was eating some kind of cafeteria chicken sandwich and I was just doing some work while we talked. He asked basic questions, 'What do you like, where are you from, etc.' which I answered straightforwardly enough as I worked. When he stopped asking questions for a moment I asked him if he had a girlfriend and what he liked to do around here. He chuckled softly and shook his head, "Heh... Nope I haven't found anyone worth my time yet, and for fun... well nothing much to do around here unless you like going to the beach in the summer or the mall out a few miles from here." I just nodded and said that was fine as he finished eating.
We continued talking and even though he was trying to learn more about me I was still being rather vague until I remembered something. "Aww crud." Matt looked over at me curiously and I shook my head, "I just remembered that I have to get straight home today, I've got a lot of unpacking to do and I have to make dinner tonight. My dad won't be home til around 6 or something and as such I've got to do it all myself. So I won't be able to help you out this afternoon." I tried giving a sympathetic smile as I looked over at him. I could tell he was a tad disappointed by this, but as usual he seemed to be a step ahead of me. "No prob, I'll just come over to your place. In fact I'll just drive ya there." I was surprised by this and shook my head before I tried talking him out of it but he was insistent on it all.
"Dude, face it. You're a good fur, and I like ya and want to be your friend. I don't know what kind of troubles you've had in the past but I promise you, unless you're some psycho killer, rapist, or beat up on innocent animals or furs I'm not going to hate you or anything." He gave me a warm smile at that, but I just looked away wordlessly and held my shoulder again. "I've heard that before from a lot of different furs, and it didn't turn out to well for me later on." I sighed and felt a little awkward then at hearing someone again say that they wouldn't hurt me.
"Well I'm... not like most furs..." I almost didn't catch that last part that he said just above a whisper. I looked up at Matt and was about to ask what he meant by that when the bell rang. He jumped at the sudden noise and started looking a little nervous, "Well looks like I've got gym. I'll see ya after school at my locker ok? It's number 245 so it'll be down the hall from where Mr. Kole's room is." I nodded as he got up acting a little clumsy before he said bye and quickly departed from the gazebo to head off to class. As I collected my things I watched Matt walk off with his tail swaying back and forth and noticed that he seemed to mumble something to himself as he moved towards the gym. I shook my head and thought about his body language and what had just happened, "There's no way... I am NOT that lucky. Not by a long shot." I thought about his actions and what all had happened that some more as I walked into my art class. After a few minutes when the class had assembled I received my assignment, and started working. I worked diligently on that for the rest of the period by myself; I needed to focus on this. It would keep my mind safely away from other things.
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End Notes:
Ok there's part two, we start to see that Zeke's past has indeed shaped him into what he is now and that he's been really badly hurt in the past. We also see more from Matt and see just what kind of guy he is. More is to come and hopefully I'm doing well with this so far. Questions, comments, or concerns then please feel free to email me.