Two Sides of the Moon. (Beastars AU)

Chapter 21: Bishop Takes Queen, Knight Checks King

It was late afternoon and Juno had brought Jack to a café that was on the school grounds. It was a good place for the students to get coffee, hang out, and more importantly the perfect place to have a serious discussion without having anyone eavesdropping. She had Jack wait at a table outside that was a bit more out of the way than the other tables while she went to get drinks.

Juno came back with two milk boxes and sat down. "Here you are," she said as she handed Jack his milk box. "I'm glad you came here with me Jack. It gives me a chance to get to know you and also ask you some stuff."

Jack broke the milk seal of the box with its straw and took a sip. He then put the milk down and looked to the side. The dog wasn't sure what he could say to Juno that wouldn't either hurt her feelings or reveal his own feelings for Legosi.

Jack shook his head and faced the she-wolf. "Listen Juno... there's something we need to talk about."

Before Jack could say more they overheard some students talking.

"Hey! Isn't that Juno?" a badger girl asked.

"Yea, but who is she with?" her lynx friend answered.

"Whoa! Isn't that Jack?" a male jackal student who was sitting at another table asked in surprise. "Check out the hot wolf he's with!"

"Man, how does a nerd like him get a girl like that?" his dingo friend barked.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Jack said to Juno pleadingly. He really wasn't comfortable with what was happening and he tried to make that clear.

"Oh pay them no mind," Juno said cheerfully. "Animals like them are gonna talk no matter what so it's best to just ignore them."

Jack let out a sigh. Seeing how Juno just went with it despite how the labrador was bothered by the sudden gossiping confirmed what Jack thought about her. It was clear that she and Legosi were very different animals. If the wolf were here right now with Juno instead of Jack, Legosi would more than likely look for any excuse to get away from everyone.

"So Jack, tell me about yourself," Juno said, paying absolutely no attention to the crowd or to how awkward Jack felt. "I know that you're an honor student and that you're friends with Legosi, but aside from that I know next to nothing about you."

"Wait, how did you know I was an honor student?" Jack asked as his eyes widened.

"Oh... well I actually didn't, it was more of a guess," Juno answered. "Some of the students keep talking about a golden retriever named Jack who's on the honor roll and since you fit two of those descriptions I figured I'd take a guess."

"I see," Jack said with a worried look on his face. "What kind of things did they say?"

"Oh you know, just that it was thanks to your tutoring that they did so well on their last test," Juno answered happily.

Jack smiled. His ears went up a bit and his tail started wagging. Ever since the cafeteria fight he wasn't sure if there were any students who still liked him or appreciated him, but with that one sentence Jack felt a great weight lift from his shoulders.

"I'm-I'm so happy to hear that," he said with excitement. "I honestly don't know what to say."

"You sound so surprised," Juno said with both a smile and look of confusion. "You helped them so it should stand to reason that they'd be grateful."

Jack's ears jumped.

"Oh... yea," the labrador answered awkwardly. "It's just that things have been a little... weird around here, so I wasn't expecting it at all."