Once Doesn't Mean Always (Straight Furry Story)

23: Promise, not Threat

Smoke

9th of May, 2014

I get off the bus with Cloudy and walk with her to our group, like we always do. The thought of what James had done to Cloudy yesterday still haunts me, angers me
"Hey, you there, wolf boy?" I hear David, calling out for my attention. I shake my head and reply
"Huh, sorry, I spaced out a little" everyone stares at me, knowing that something's running  through my head.

"You ok, man?" Emerald asks, looking at me with worry. I shake my head again and give a grin "yeah, I'm fine, like I said, just spaced out" I respond, everyone continues staring with concern, however, I get saved by the bell  before they could press me further. We all go to our classes and everyone decides to drop the conversation, at least for now.

Recess

Recess time comes and instead of going to the group, I decide to find James and Anthony. I look around the entire school, behind every corner and around every bench until I find them behind one of the gardening sheds at the back of the school. I walk up to the pair, anger swelling up inside me as I clench my paw into a fist and think about how James hurt Cloudy
"Oh, look, the feral is looking angry, oh please, don't give me rabi-" he begins to say, sounding snarky till I finally throw my fist straight into his nose then jab his gut.

James drops to the floor, paws cupped over his now squirting nose and rolled up with his knees on his chest due to gut pains. Anthony takes a step forward before I turn to him

"take another step if you wanna join him" I growl, clearly beyond just enraged. he looks at me in my hate filled eyes and steps back in terror.

I bend down next to James

"I don't care what you do to me, but touch Cloudy again, I don't care what the school does to me, I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, UNDERSTAND?" I snap at James, he look up in fear and shakily nods. I stand up and begun to walk away. as I was a couple steps away, I hear Anthony call out

"you think that this and some threat will scare us off?" He asks, trying to hide his fear and sound tough, I simply turn around to respond

"I don't make threats, I make promises" I say before walking away, first to a bathroom to wash my bloodstained fist then back to my group.

I get back to the group just a bit before recess ends. I sit down then Cloudy moves onto my lap

"where'd you go?" She asks as she wraps her arms around my neck and hangs off me

"nowhere important, just had to take care of something" I say with a gentle smile.

"Eww, dude!" Emerald yells, I look to see his gaze meet my slightly damp right paw, I look at it then look back at him as he projects a weird, disturbed look

"it's not what you think" I say, laughing nervously. "Please at least say that you were thinking of Cloudy or she may get a little jealous" Nathan jokes, I blush and face palm. Cloudy removes my hand and looks me in the eyes with her warm smile

"don't worry, I know that you didn't do 'that' but you will need to tell me what you went to do later" she says and I nod before gently moving her off, getting up and moving around to Nathan, from there, I smack the back of his head

"put that dirty mind to rest, moron" I say getting a few small chuckles from the group before the siren fro the end of recess sounds.

After school

I sit down on the bus next to Cloudy and prepare for the ride home. We both talk about our favourite songs and some other stuff, until we get a few stops away from ours. Cloudy finally asks

"Smoke, where did you go at recess?" I think of a good answer, knowing how she could get if i told her the truth. I sigh before deciding that I might as well come clean

"I ... I went to deal with James, got him in the nose and gut" I say, seriously and devoid of any pride.

The snow white fox frowns and shakes her head in disapproval

"Smoke, why?" She asks, I look down in disappointment

"it's just ... I didn't like how he hurt you, I was just so angry at him" I explain "I know, I shouldn't have gone and done it but ... he hurt you, I'm not letting that slide so easily, not when it's someone I care about ... someone like you". Cloudy shows her annoyance and punches my arm before looking away for a minute. I drop my head lower and hold it down until half a minute passes, Cloudy turn's back and cups my face and in her paws and lifts till we meet, eye to eye "Pup, you don't have to go and 'teach people a lesson' because they hurt me, I can fight my own battles, and it really does hurt to know that you did that because I wanted you to drop it, like I said, it was nothing, just minor scratches and marks" she says, extremely serious and annoyed but ... gentle and in control "besides, as the old saying goes, 'an eye for an eye and the world goes blind' revenge is never the answer, it just shows how easy it is to push someone down to another's level" she explains as she lets go of my face.

I sit in silence and think about what she said for a few moments before breaking the silence

"I'm sorry, I was just-" I say but she puts a finger over my lips

"I know, but next time, please just talk to me before this happens again" she asks and I just give a gentle nod. "Thanks, pup" she says before moving her finger and coming in for a kiss on the edge of my lips, signifying some forgiveness before adding "still love you", I smile

"love you too" I respond. Not long after, we reach our stop, I follow her off and we walk home, paw in paw.