Oliver's Mum waved as she drove off, the Labrador pup waving back woefully. After a second of watching her go, Oliver readjusted his backpack and began heading in towards the playground. He was always dropped off at school early, since his Mum usually had to work, and there was no way his Dad would get up that early just to drive him. Thankfully Brady usually arrived early as well, and the two thirteen year olds could hang out before class inevitably started. He was in no rush this morning though; it was at least forty minutes until the bell rang and the Lab was happy to trot along at his own pace. Besides, even Brady was rarely here this early. Ollie's assumption turned out to be a good one, because as he turned the corner to the playground it was easy to see there was no one around. Shivering a little in the chilly morning air, the dog wandered over and plonked himself down on a metal platform, pulling his legs up and crossing them. He let the backpack sag behind him, the shoulder straps slipping off as it came to rest on the platform.

The pup tapped rhythmically on his knees, lightly humming a tune and looking around for signs of life. So far nobody had showed up, the grounds were totally empty. He knew it was early, but it still seemed so strange. How could not one other fur be here? Eventually (Well, something close to four minutes, which felt like a lifetime to a thirteen-year-old) Oliver got bored of being patient and jumped up to his feet. He turned back to check his backpack, briefly wondering if it was worth bringing with him, but ended up deciding against it. The bag had his name on it, he was at school, not like someone was going to steal it or anything. Still moving at a pace best described as meandering, the Labrador headed towards the toilets. He didn't need to go, but just around the corner were some drinking fountains. They weren't terribly exciting by any means, but sipping the water was at the very least something to do.  

As he turned the corner to the fountains, a faint cry rang out through the air, tripping up Oliver's sensitive hearing. The pup paused to look around, there was no one else nearby, so it must have come from an echo bouncing off the walls of the school buildings. He briefly considered ignoring the noise and dismissing it as morning playfulness…but it hadn't sounded entirely happy. Unable to ignore his curiosity, the Labrador tried to move closer in the direction the voice had come from, walking slowly around to the hidden little spot behind the toilets.

“I just…I gotta go…" The voice whined, and now that he was closer the dog instantly recognised it as Brady's voice. It was slightly higher than most furs their age, and just a little scratchy. He definitely didn't sound happy either; Oliver even thought he sounded scared.

“You fucking idiot." Another voice said, this one pretty deep and sounding like it came from a slightly larger teenager.

“I don't even know why anyone bothers with you. You're so fucking stupid. It's embarrassing." Another unidentified voice said.

“I…Oliver's gonna be here soon…" Brady pleaded, sounding like he was almost on the verge of tears. “Just…just leave me alone okay?"

“Oliver's gonna be here soon." Mimicked the first voice teasingly. “You're so fucking gay sometimes. You probably wish you could suck his dick right?" It accused. At this point, nobody (Including Brady himself) was really aware the wolf was gay, but teenagers had a particularly cruel way of seeking out insecurities. Brady didn't know he was gay for sure, but he knew he liked boys more than he was supposed to and it was certainly something he worried about.

“N-No." The wolf stammered, sounding small. Oliver was now creeping slowly towards the corner of the toilet building, and as he did so he bent down and wrapped his paw around a baseball-sized rock. Weighing it in his hand, the Labrador peeked around the corner to see Brady pressed up against the school border fence, the two sixteen-year-olds with their back to Oliver. It was a tall white bear and a stocky badger. The badger had a finger jammed at Brady, who was just trying to disappear into the wooden fencing behind him.

“Shut the hell up. Gimme your phone." He demanded.

“I…no…" Muttered the wolf, looking down at his feet. The bear put a huge paw on his chest, shoving him back up against the fence. The bear held him there with intense eye contact while the badger stuck a paw into his right jeans pocket. Brady tried to squirm to the side, clearly uncomfortable, but the bear just forced him back into place. After a second, the badger made a face indicating satisfaction, before tearing the phone out of Brady's pocket. He instantly pressed the home button, only to be greeted by a password request.

“Open it." He barked, pushing the phone up into the wolf's face. Brady just shook his head. He knew there were photos on there he couldn't be caught dead with. Not in high school anyway.

“Now, what are you hiding then?" The bear said, emphasising his words with a firm push. Brady had tears starting to well up in his eyes.

“Are you really fucking crying?" The badger spat, right before Oliver stepped up behind him and brought the rock down onto his neck, hard. The stone struck a point just behind the teen's ear, instantly making a jarring click noise and tearing some of the skin. The badger instantly dropped the phone, screaming as he tumbled to the side, clutching his neck. Oliver turned to the bear, who instantly jumped back and held his paws up in surrender.

“Ollie?" Asked Brady cautiously; trying and failing to hide the fact he was on the brink of tears. Oliver just made a motion as if he was going to throw the rock at the bear, who flinched, shielding his face with his paws. The badger quickly scampered to his feet, blood on his paws, dust on his pants and tears in his eyes.

“Why don't you just fuck off?" Growled Oliver, as the two turned and ran. As they disappeared around the corner, he hurled the rock at them, striking the bear in the back of the leg. It clearly didn't do any damage, but it made him feel better. Panting from the rush of adrenaline, the Lab turned to his friend and smiled ruefully.

“What the hell?" Asked the wolf, totally bewildered and staring at his friend with something akin to shock.  

“Are you okay?" The dog asked, Brady just quickly nodded, wiping his eyes. Oliver smiled properly now, relaxing his posture and bending down to pick up the phone that the badger dropped.

“Thanks." Brady said quietly, awkwardly looking at his paws.

“No worries." Oliver said, handing him the mobile. Brady nodded again, slipping the device back into his jeans. Without another word, the two walked back out to a more visible area towards the playground. The first thing they saw was the badger and bear off in the distance pointing, and then a teacher in the process of storming over furiously.

“Shit." Brady said, his ears instantly dropping.   

Brady shivered a little in the chilled morning air, despite the dark hoodie that he'd wrapped himself in. He was leaning on the hood of his car, the only one currently in the parking lot of his town's local police station. It was a relatively small yellow-bricked building. It had few employees, and mostly everyone in town knew them by sight. It was traditional for the cops to come out to the local high school every now and then, just to have a chat with a few classes about crimes and growing up and such. The main role of the cops here was to resolve domestic disputes, lock up furs for the night that had too much to drink and fine speeding drivers.

It was going to be a warm day, but that usually meant the morning was cold. Other furs could say what they wanted, but Brady was the one out at eight-thirty in the morning, shivering. He was relieved when the local Sergeant's car pulled into the driveway, the sturdy goat giving him a wave. Brady nodded back, pushing off from his car and walking over to the police vehicle. Sergeant Baker climbed out of his car with two takeaway coffees in hand, passing one to Brady.

“Here ya go sport." He said. “Thought you could use it." He said, smiling. Brady nodded his appreciation.

“Thanks uh, Sergeant. Appreciate it." He replied awkwardly, before cautiously sipping the hot drink.

“Jesus kid, city do that to ya already? Just use my damn name would'ya?" The cop said, scoffing a little. The wolf blushed in embarrassment. He had no excuse really, the goat regularly ate in the café his mother worked at, and had stopped for dinner at Brady's house more than a few times as he was growing up. They knew each other reasonably well, which is how the Sergeant had guessed the wolf would already be there.

“Oh, right, uh, sorry." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, Jeremy." Adding the name for bonus points.

“Good. Let's go inside huh?" Brady nodded, following after the goat as he walked to the station door, unlocking the entrance and pushing inside. “Just as a heads up, I'm not in a huge rush to let Oliver go. Sitting in there for another hour won't hurt him, just givin' him more time to think."

“Oh, okay." Brady replied, unsure how formal or casual to be. This wasn't a situation he'd been in before.

“I was surprised when I got the call, actually. Went out meaning to just scold 'em, but Brady…" The goat trailed off.

“Yeah?"

“Your boy was off his face mate. Had to drag him down for his own sake in the end. He sobered up yesterday well enough though, spent all day thinkin' about it, probably feels like a right idiot now."

“Is he okay?" Brady asked. The cop just shrugged.

“He's alright now. Made a damn fool of himself, broke that poor girl's window too." He replied. Brady held up his bandaged forearm.

“Yeah, I know. That was right before I left." Jeremy gave the young wolf a look, before clicking his tongue.

“You cut your arm on the glass?" He asked.

“According to Max, I cut my arm going through the glass." Brady said.

“Ah, right. Just as well you weren't there when I was then I guess."

“Yeah maybe." The wolf suddenly felt anxious, worried he'd accidentally over-shared. “So is uh, is Ollie in any serious trouble?" The goat took a minute to think, sitting carefully behind his desk and leaning back.

“Nah." He finally said. “Not really, not much I can really do to him I guess. Not without making everyone's lives difficult." The goat explained. “Had a pretty stern chat with him though, and he's sat for a day by 'imself. Maybe he'll smarten up, stop hanging around with that Paul kid so much, that guy…I dunno, I worry about him, he's into some stuff he really shouldn't be. You be careful too, okay Brady?" The wolf nodded quickly, happy to agree to anything as long as the awkwardness would end.

“Yeah. Yeah I'll watch out." He said. Jeremy nodded, sighing and finally climbing to his feet.

“Righto. S'pose I should let him out then, eh?" He said, phrasing it almost as a question, which took Brady off guard. He shrugged, running a hand through the fur on his head.

“Uh, that'd be…good, yeah." He replied. The goat nodded, leading the nervous young male down a narrow hallway into a room containing three reasonably sized cells, each divided by thick brick walls. Brady couldn't help but grin at seeing his friend, despite the dog's fickle state. Oliver was sitting on the floor, knees pulled up to his chest and staring at the floor dejectedly.

“Well, dickhead, someone finally came to collect your sorry self." The goat said, putting on his tough-n-gruff cop voice. The Lab's head shot up, tail wagging slightly at the sight of Brady. He quickly shot to his feet, stretching and groaning, eager to get out of the tiny room. As soon as the Sergeant had unlocked the cell door, Oliver was out and hugging Brady. It was a very un-Oliver thing to do, and the wolf was at first taken aback, before returning the favour.

“Thanks for coming to get me." The Lab said sadly into his friends shoulder. Brady didn't respond, just patting the dog on his back.

“Alright, you two get outta here. I have work to do." Said the cop, waving a hand towards the door, before heading back up the hallway and dumping himself back behind his desk. The two wandered out of the station, heading over towards Brady's car.

“So what now?" Murmured Oliver.

“We're gonna go over to mine. Parents are both out, Jake is there, but he'll be holed up in his room." Brady said, climbing into the car. Oliver nodded, following his friends lead.

“Really…thank you Brady." Said the dog in the car, looking at the wolf quite seriously. “You'll notice my girlfriend isn't here. Neither are my parents. You're the only one who actually gave a shit about me." He said, his eyes still red and puffy from crying the night before, and looking as if they weren't terribly far away from resuming the waterworks.

“That's okay, anytime dude." Said Brady, starting up the car. He quickly pulled out of the station and drove the ten-minute trip across town to his house. Parking in the street, the two furs let themselves inside and went to sit in the kitchen. “You want something to drink?" The wolf asked, gesturing to the fridge.

“Oh, ah…cold water, if you have it." Answered Oliver hesitantly. Brady opened the fridge and examined the stock, before removing a small bottle of water and tossing it to the lab. He sat down across from the dog, folding his paws over.

“So what the fuck?" He asked seriously. Oliver took a second to answer, gulping down some of his drink, before setting the bottle back on the table and shrugging.

“I…I had a bad trip. I've never had a bad one before. Not like that." He admitted, and Brady could see the skin under his fur growing red with shame.

“Damn fucking right you had a bad trip. How much did you take?"

“I…I don't even remember. Like…four tabs maybe?" He admitted, staring intently at his paws. Brady stared for a minute, shaking his head.

“Dude, you scared the shit out of everyone. Apparently you put me through a window, made Marley cry and screamed at a wall."

“Yeah, it wasn't good."

“Why'd you do that?"

“I…I can't remember."

“Fuck."

“How about you? What do you remember from the party?" Oliver asked, looking up now, his eyes reminded Brady of when he was a pup and defended him at school. The teachers had screamed bloody murder; he'd struck another student with a rock after all and they were “concerned". The badger had claimed they'd been joking around, and Brady was too nervous to really give any damning answers. But the Lab hadn't cared really, he was just glad he stopped his friend getting picked on. Even when the mother's brigade had been called in, he hadn't seemed to mind.    

“Nothing really. Woke up at Max's, he explained most of it to me."

“Oh, fuck…right Max…he isn't too mad is he?" Oliver asked, suddenly looking very concerned. “Look, he's a nice enough guy…I didn't mean to…"

“Wait, wait." Brady interrupted, holding a paw up to stop his friend. “What do you mean? I thought you two didn't even see each other that night?" He asked. The Lab thought for a minute, before shaking his head.

“No, that's not right. We did, had a huge shouting match too. I can remember Max being there for like…two hours before my memory goes all…foggy." He said, rubbing his temples. Brady leaned forward, glaring intensely at the dog's eyes.

“You're sure Max was there? And he argued with you? About what?" He asked.

“I, I don't even know really." Muttered Oliver.

“Ollie, come on." He pressured.

“I mean, he was all like, don't push Brady into doing stuff he doesn't want, and stuff. I told him to get fucked. He uh…didn't like that." Brady stared at his friend with his mouth actually hanging open.

“He what?" He asked again, feeling a mix of confusion, anger and hurt. Why had Max lied to him? There was also the other possibility, that now Oliver was lying about something. Brady had no idea who he was supposed to trust. But what motivation would either even have?

“Yeah, even went so far as to ask me to leave you alone. Max is a tool. But I mean, I guess he's okay. He did take you home in the end." Oliver seemed to hear what he'd just said. “I mean, not like…like that, uh, unless you guys…that's fine I mean…I don't wanna…like, presume...but you don't…uh…" He spluttered, before Brady just smirked.

“Ollie I was way too fucked to do anything, he just got me into bed safe."

“Oh okay, cool. Yeah, we shouted a bit, but like…got over it. Y'know? Whatever." The dog kind of trailed off, playing with his emptying water bottle. “I'll send him a text or something later, say I'm sorry I guess. He came over to play nice, we both had a bit too much to drink…we didn't mean to fight like that."  

That's not what he told me. Brady thought uneasily. What the fuck is going on?