Furry Art Academy-CH. 4

Chapter 4- Crushed or Crushing

"What's with you lately? You've been kind of..distracted since school started." asked an academy student. A sophomore by the name of Kimberly. She was a bear who was studying in the same major as her friend, Piper.
The two students were walking to the campus. They lived on opposite sides of the street and walk together most days when their work schedules didn't get in the way.
"Huh?" Piper faced her.
"See! What'd I tell ya."
"I don't know, that's why I said 'huh'!" Piper rolled her eyes.
"You've been acting differently since school started. Tell me what's wrong." insisted Kimberly.
Piper sighed, "I don't even know what's wrong."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she looked up at her friend. (Out of all the academy students that have been mentioned, Kimberly is the shortest.)
Piper continued to look forward, "It's just... I think I ran into someone at school on the first week that I used to be close with."
"That's what's bothering you? Why would that—" she paused then squinted her eyes, smiling at the blue hyena.
"What the hell is that look for?!" Piper asked being slightly weirded out.
"This 'someone' is that old love interest of yours, isn't it?!"
Piper quickly looked away about to respond but Kimberly jumped in again.
"Ah ha! So it is! You said you'd never love anybody else. That this person was the only one for you." Kimberly adjusted her glasses.
"So what if I said that? I ...actually I'm starting to question myself."
"Why?"
Piper hesitated with her answer, "Because I don't think they recognize me."
"What, that's strange since you haven't changed hardly at all since then. I'm sure she recognized you and you just don't know it."
"'She?'" Piper stopped walking.
Kimberly giggled, "Yeah, don't take this the wrong way but...it was kind of obvious." She said then continued walking.
Piper blinked in shock then jogged to catch up to her friend.

"So you're still not gonna tell me who she is, Tay?" Spark poked Tay's shoulder repeatedly.
Tay grabbed her wrist and glared at her, "For the thousandth time, Spark, NO!"
Spark pulled her arms away, "Geez you're no fun. What do you think I'm gonna do? Run up and flat out tell this girl? Grab a bullhorn and stand in the middle of the cafeteria at lunch time?"
"Well knowing you!"
Spark playfully punched the lioness, "Screw you!"
"Please don't."
"Not what I meant, Tay."

"So then you like her but... You don't want to say anything?" Eliza repeated to Gwen while she sat onto of her desk.
"...yeah..What if she thinks I'm a freak and never speaks to me again?"
"I doubt that'll happen. I say you should go for it."
"But..what if she rejects me? What if she says no?!" Gwen  asked nervously with her stomach already in knots.
"Hey," Eliza placed her paw on Gwen's shoulder and stared into her eyes, "What if she says yes? If you like someone then there should never be anything to stop you from taking that risk. If she says yes then the risk was worth it, right? Would you rather go on regretting saying nothing or dive in and see what happens?"
Gwen stared up at her friend taking in her advise, "O-okay... I'll give it a shot."
"Atta girl! Now I only have one more thing to say."
"What's that?"
Eliza made a pouty face and asked in a cute voice, "Pwease won't you tell me who she is??"
"No!" Gwen gently pushed her off the desk, "Go back to your desk before you get in trouble!"
"Alright alright!" Eliza gracefully stepped off the desk and returned to her own.
Spark and Tay entered the class and said their hellos to their friends. But Spark stopped by Azealia's seat and looked down at her.
"Hey, Azealia?"
The mint green canine looked up from her book.
"Are you..okay? I noticed during lunchtime you act a bit different. Like something's on your mind."
Azealia lowered her book still looking up at her.
"Ya know, just talking about stuff is the best stress reliever. I tell that to everyone I know. And I'm all about listening to people, in case you need it." Spark patted her shoulder and went to her desk.
Azealia stared down at her book. But she wasn't reading. She clenched her paws around the hard cover. Why couldn't she talk like normal people can? Why was she so shy?

The first couple classes were over with. It was third period and Gwen paced back and forth in front of a vending machine on the third floor. She was tugging on her necktie and breathing heavy.
"Okay, okay, okay...okay..." Gwen kept repeating. She stopped pacing and looked at her reflection through the vending machine glass, "Geez...my hair.."
"Oh, hey Gwen." A voice came from behind. Gwen jumped and zipped around and pressed herself against the vending machine.
"Spark!" she blurted out awkwardly, face red.
Spark burst into laughter, "Oh gosh, sorry! Didn't mean to scare you."
Gwen straightened up, fiddling with her braid which hung down over her left shoulder, "Y-you didn't scare me!"
"Oh really? Didn't look like it." Spark folded her arms.
"Okay m-maybe a little.." Gwen couldn't look into her eyes.
"What're you doing over here? I thought your class for 3rd period was downstairs?" asked Spark.
"I-It is. I just wanted... To.." she stared into Spark's dark brown eyes. Her heart was racing and all feelings in her knees were gone. She swallowed hard, "...I.."
Spark raised an eyebrow, utterly confused.
"..to get a snack, obviously!" she whipped around and shoved a dollar in the machine and pushed the buttons mindlessly.
"Is there not one downstairs?" Spark asked.
"Broken! Yeah it's totally out of order and ... All that.." Gwen softly cleared her throat.
"Uh huh...well I'll see you at lunch, kay?" Spark gave a wave and continued down the hall.
Gwen smiled and waved until she was around the corner. Then her cheery smile vanished. She fell against the machine and slid to the floor.
"Dammit...there went the perfect chance." She buried her face in her paws, "I like you...why is that so hard to say?"

One class period later and it was lunch. While all the students shuffled down hallways and through lunch lines, Azealia was taking her time getting to her regular table with her friends.
Then suddenly she felt a paw on her shoulder. She turned to see the blue furred hyena, Piper. Azealia's eyes widen only slightly.
"Hey, Azealia right? C-can I buy you lunch?" Piper asked with a nervous tone.
Azealia softly smiled and gave a nod. The two walked through the halls to the lunch line and out without hardly saying a word. Both holding trays of food, Piper turned to her, "What table do you normally sit at?"
Azealia gestured to the table where her friends were already seated at.
"...D-do you mind if I..sit with you?"
Azealia smiled, "Sure." then lead the sophomore to the table.
"Hey check it out, Azealia made a friend!" Tay pointed.
"Hi." Piper said to the group.
They each said hello as she took her seat.
"So what's your name?" Eliza asked.
"My name's Piper, nice to meet you guys. You're all freshies aren't you?"
"You're not?" Gwen asked.
"I'm a sophomore."
"Sophomore? Wait then how'd you and Azealia meet?" Spark pointed out.
Azealia and Piper both looked at each other.
"...I helped her find her class on the second day of school." Piper opened up a milk carton.
"Aw that was kind of you." Eliza said, "Thank you for helping out our dear Azealia here, Piper."
Azealia blushed and looked away hiding behind her bangs.
Piper watched this then responded, "Um, sure yeah no problem. So tell me about yourselves."
Tay answered "Well, my name's Tay. I'm majoring in music. This is Spark and she's studying visual art. Over there is Gwen who's majoring in dance. That there is Eliza who's going into designing. And you already know Azealia."
Everyone stared at Tay shocked.
"...What? Did I get something wrong?"
"You guys sure are a colorful group. Even here at a school for artists there are still stereotypical high school division. Good to see there are some who push boundaries around here." Piper commented.
"What are you majoring in, Piper?" Gwen asked.
"Writing, I want to be a journalist."
"Hey maybe Azealia could be the photographer for whatever newspaper you work for!" Spark joked.
Azealia and Piper didn't flinch.
"Heh sure." Piper said just to keep the conversation going.
Gwen turned to Eliza, "Hey so for History homework did you..." and with that the conversations bounced back and forth between school and non-school related topics and didn't fall on the sophomore or the photographer student. As lunch went on, the two, who sat rather close remained silent unless spoken to. Once the bell rang, everyone grabbed their things, while Azealia rushed away quickly without her friends noticing. Except for Piper.

"Azealia? Azealia!" Piper ran after her, "Wait!"
Azealia, fists squeezed shut whipped around with an annoyed expression; one that Piper had not seen before.
"What?" she plainly asked.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." she turned around and continued walking.
"Wait!"
Azealia kept walking.
"Azealia!" Piper ran after her and grasped her arm.
The canine stopped but didn't face the hyena.
"...D-Don't you remember me?" Piper asked with a lump in her throat.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Azealia said flat out with no hint of sadness.
"Zeal!" Piper shut her eyes, "You really forgot me?"
Azealia bit her lip and turned to face her with tears in her eyes, "..No...I couldn't forget you.."
"Azealia.."
"...But I want to." Azealia pulled her arm away and walked off leaving Piper standing and staring in shock.
"...What..no.." Piper was speechless.
Azealia turned a corner and leaned against the wall. Her lip quivered so she covered her mouth with her paw. "Piper..." she mumbled under her breath as tears fell.

It was evening now. The sky was orange as it was during this time of day. Out on the edge of town Spark sat on the hood of her Bronco and stared at the clouds. She was lost in the music from the radio. Her mind was going off from topic to topic when she suddenly gasped and threw herself forward.
"What? Wait..." she blurted then stared at the floor thinking hard. She thought back to earlier that day. Her face turned red, "Heh...oh, now I get it...Gwen." And she smiled.

-End-
---Continued in Chapter 5---