Trying Too Hard [Bunny Love Story]

►Chapter Seventeen◄

There was nothing good about the following Monday. From the very moment I woke up, nothing was going my way. I had overslept and for one reason or another my alarm clock didn't feel like doing it's job, so I ended up being late for school. The rest of the day I was tired and slow, which had then resulted in me not being able to understand the reasoning behind Eric Cartman's confrontation. At least, not at first.

"Butters!" he had called out to me, slipping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me to a less populated area of the hallway. Lunch had just started a mere sixty seconds ago and all I had on my mind at the time was just getting my lunch and going to my usual table, where I could then rest up a little bit in preparation for my following classes."I know a secret," Eric told me in a hushed tone.

"Oh goody!" I smiled at him. I always liked it when someone shared a secret with me because it meant that I was a least a little bit trustworthy. "What is it, fella?"

Smirking, he leaned in even closer and whispered into my ear; "It's about you."

Confused, I furrowed my eyebrows and stared at him as he stepped back and gave me a smug look. "Wh-what do you mean buddy?"

This seemed to irritate him, as he backed away from me and let out an exaggerated sigh along with the shake of his head. It was in that moment that I realized what he was talking about. He must have seen the look of shock on my face, because he soon returned to that knowing look. "Now, now, Butters. I won't tell anyone so long as you do as I say."

"W-well.." I swallowed a lump in my throat and looked at him caautiously. "What is it you need?"

"Mrs. Romero is at lunch right now," he explained, "and she always leaves the keys t her classroom in the teacher's break room. Something about not losing them or whatever."

"Okay?" I asked, not really knowing wwhere hewas trying to go with this.

Eric sighed. "Don't be such a retard, Butters. I wnt you to steal them."

I could feel my stomach tighten and then stab mefrom the inside out. "Why?" I was eventually able to bring myself to speak up again.

"So that you can get into her fucking classroom!" he shouted at me, obviously losing his patience.

"We-well why would we wannago intoher cl-classroom?" I questioned further.

"Ugh!" Eric threw his head back dramatically. "So you can get the answer sheet for our test on Friday!" I looked at him in disbelief for about ten seconds before I cleared my throat and started rubbing my knuckles together. He wanted me to steal for him?

I've probably done worse.                           

"What if I-I get caught?" I asked him.

"You better not get caught," he warned me, not at all answering my question. I wasn't quite sure what he would have done to me had I furthered my hesitation, but I quickly gave in anyway. After all, I didn't want to lose a friend over something so silly! So, taking a deep breath, I nodded my head in agreement. "I knew you'd pull through!" he grinned at me. "Now hurry up, we don't have all day." Eric turned around and led me to the office. Once we were there, he walked right up to the woman behind the counter and started talking to her, asking random questions in a sweet voice.

While she was distracted, I hurriedly slipped into the break room. Everything about this felt so wrong that I nearly turned around and bailed, but I had to stop myself because if I didn't do this Eric would definitely tell everyone that I'm the vandalizer, that it's my fault there are ugly spray painted images everywhere.

It wasn't until I was inside of the room that I realized I had forgotten to check if anyone was spending their lunch period in there or not, so I considered myself the luckiest man alive when it was completely empty.

Why is it so empty?

I looked around, not seeeing a set of keys anywhere. I started to search through the cabinets and drawers, scanning the surface of every counter and spinning around in a circle to make sure that I had checked everything. Just when I was going to give up, my foot hit against something on the floor. The feeling was followed by a scraping noise that startled me. Looking down in shock I saw that I had kicked a keychain across the floor.

Was I really going to rebel more than I already had been these past years for Eric to ace one little test? I could get in serious trouble! Getting expelled would only be one of my consequences if I choose to pull through with this.

The keys seemed to shimmer and sparkle under the lighting, almost as if it were openly nviting me to snatch them right off the ground. So that's what I did. After all, I really didn't want anyone to know that it was me of all people who trespassed private property and did all those terrible things!

Swiftly, I stepped out of the room with Mrs. Romero's keys stuffed into my pocket along with both my hands. In front of me I could see Eric still chatting away to the mean looking lady even now, and by the looks of it she was getting more and more irritated by his presence. So I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Hi-a buddy!" I greeted. "Uh, th-the guys were looking for you!"

"Oh, what?" Eric turned to me expectantly. I nodded in return and he grinned while looking back to the woman. "It seems that I am needed by my very good friends," he amiably stated. "So do please excuse me." He grabbed my arm right then and led me out, only to tighten his grip when we were safely in the school hallway. "Damn it Butters, what the fuck took you so long?!" 

"Gee, I'm sorry Eric!" I apologized, looking down at my feet with a slight frown. "I couldn't find them at first.. They were on the ground of all places!"

Rolling his eyes, Eric let go of me. "Whatever, let's go before lunch ends." I followed him as he led me to Mrs. Romero's classroom.

I couldn't help but wonder what it was that I had just gotten myself into.