A Fox's Love (American Kitsune Book 1) (29 page)

Kevin's right eye began twitching violently as he continued to eat. Maybe if he just ignored the insanity happening around him everything would return to normal. Not even he believed his own thoughts, but the small hope that burying his metaphorical head in the equally metaphorical sand would bring back his old life was all he had.

At least this day couldn't get any worse. Right?

He had no idea how much he would come to regret those thoughts later on.

Scene Break.

After lunch Kevin was subject to more classes with Lilian. It was even worse than his first few classes of the day because his first class after lunch had Eric in it as well. Normally, this would have been great as they could talk about, you know, guy stuff. Things were different now. With all that had happened this day, Kevin and Eric weren't really on speaking terms.

This may have had something to do with the way Lilian was 'still' clinging to Kevin. Even now the red head was sitting at the table, completely ignoring the computer in front of her as she rested her head against Kevin's shoulder and watched him as he typed away on the keyboard. Yeah, Eric's decision to not speak with his best friend and simply glare definitely had something to do with that.

Jealousy kills friendships faster than herpes.

Thus, Kevin was forced to deal with more of the same thing he got during gym and lunch. It was even worse because they were all sitting right next to each other.

Then there was the teacher. Ms. Nestato, a crotchety old woman with scraggly white hair. She had come over to berate them and tell Lilian to start typing. Naturally, the fox girl had just worked her Kitsune magic and the woman had not looked at them since.

"You really should think about actually doing some of the work," said Kevin, trying to subtly convince Lilian to let go of him and stop distracting him with those two round globes on her chest. He still hadn't been able to figure out if she was doing this on purpose or not, though he supposed it didn't change the fact that it was keeping him from being able to properly concentrate on what he was doing.

"Why?" Lilian asked plaintively, clearly not understanding why she had to work when she could just use an enchantment on the teacher to make the old woman
think
she had done her work.

Besides, it wasn't like she would ever have any use for this class. She had never even used a computer before and couldn't see herself needing to learn how to use one any time soon. The only reason she was even here was so she could be with her Beloved.

"Because everyone else is staring at us."

Lilian took her head off his shoulder to look around the room, thereby missing Kevin breathing a sigh of relief. When she noticed that, yes, everyone in class was staring at them, and in the case of boys, glaring at Kevin, she put her head back down on his shoulder, missing the look of complete dismay on his face as she scooted her seat even closer to his. "So?"

"So?" Kevin sputtered for a moment, ignoring the mutterings of rage from his friend next to him. "So can you just act normal for once?"

"This is normal," Lilian told him in a matter of fact voice. She sighed and gently rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. Her Beloved made a really comfortable pillow. "Couples are supposed to do this, aren't they? It's perfectly natural for us to be close like this."

"Not in class it's not," Kevin muttered before his right eye twitched. "And we're not a couple."

"Of course we are." Once again, Lilian was speaking with that accommodating voice she used when she thought he was being silly. "You're my mate. In human terms, we might as well be married. That makes us a couple."

Kevin just slumped in his seat. That was it. He was giving up. There was just no winning with this girl.

Instead of trying to convince the beauty using his shoulder as her head rest that she should at least try and do some of the work, Kevin focused on his own work, hoping it would distract him from said girl. It was very difficult: between Eric's grumbling and heated glares, and Lilian doing what she always did, concentrating on anything was a challenge. Still, he managed to muddle through his lessons somehow.

The class was called Computer Programming. It was an elective class that taught students how to use programming languages like C++ and JavaScript. Kevin wasn't really sure what he would use these skills for, but since the world they were in had entered the digital age several decades ago and the internet was the largest network in use, he felt that knowing this stuff would be useful.

Surprisingly, Eric was incredible at this class. The guy was a computer whiz. At least when he wasn't busy trying to discreetly surf the web for porn.

It really was a good thing for him that his dad was the Principle.

Scene Break.

When the last class of the day finally ended Kevin was forced to trudge his way towards Ms. Vis' class instead of the locker room where he would have gotten changed into his track uniform and hit the field. He was not happy about that. The only silver lining to this whole situation was that Lilian was going with him. Since he blamed her for what happened and really didn't want to spend anymore time with the girl, it wasn't much of a consolation.

"I'm glad you two made it here so quickly," Ms. Vis said with a sniff as the pair entered her classroom. "It shows that you at least know how to be prompt. Now, if you could just learn not to disrupt my class." Kevin winced while Lilian simply looked indifferent. "And since you are here, we can get started on your punishment."

She directed them over to the chalk board. Kevin honestly didn't know why this woman still used something so nineteenth century. Most of the other teachers used newer technology. He guessed she was just old fashioned that way.

"You can start by cleaning the chalk board and dusting the erasers. After that I'll find something else for you to do. We'll continue doing this until I've determined that you've learned your lesson." With that Ms. Vis walked towards her desk, sat down, and began grading homework assignments.

"I can't believe this," Kevin grumbled as he got started. "I didn't even do anything wrong." It wasn't like he had asked Lilian to cause a scene. Why was he getting punished for something she did?

The one who had actually caused the scene was you, Kevin. All Lilian did was show up at school without telling you before hand.

"Hmm?" Kevin looked up for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed. "Why do I have the sudden urge to strangle someone?" After a moment he shrugged the thought off and resumed work. That board wasn't going to clean itself.

Kevin ignored Lilian as she stared at him while he was cleaning the chalk board. If she didn't do something soon, she was going to get in trouble.

"And I'm going to miss practice," he sighed. His coach wasn't going to like that. The man hated when his athletes couldn't make it to practice for
any
reason. They could have a doctor's note stating they had bronchitis and he still wouldn't give two squats.

He also seemed to like working Kevin harder than the others, so it would be worse for him. He didn't doubt the man would throw a fit at their next practice and give him a long lecture on why he couldn't afford to miss a single practice. Then he would force Kevin to run laps around the track until the young man was ready to drop dead.

Life was so unfair sometimes.

"Are you okay, Beloved?" Lilian asked in concern.

"No, I'm not okay," he snapped, making Lilian flinch. Kevin felt a bit guilty when he saw the look on her face, but his frustration currently overrode his sense of guilt.

"Is... is there anything I can do to help?" Lilian sounded surprisingly meek, her posture and expression downtrodden. Clearly, she was feeling the pressure of her Beloved's anger.

The guilt came back and brought friends. Kevin opened his mouth to give her some reassurance that it wasn't her fault. And it really wasn't when he thought about it. It's not like she had caused a scene. All she had done was show up. He had been the one to blow his top and get them detention.

So good of you to finally notice Kevin.

Before he could speak up he was interrupted, however, and by the last person he would want interrupting him right now.

"Excuse me." Kevin nearly groaned as Ms. Vis stood up from behind her desk and marched over to them. "Why aren't you two working? Are you done? Should I give you more work to do?"

Kevin's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to try and come up with some excuse as to why they weren't working that wouldn't get them into trouble, when Lilian did it for him. A good thing too. With Kevin's inability to tell a good lie, it would have likely only caused more problems.

"We were working," she told Ms. Vis, who turned to stare at her. Big mistake. "But you already knew that, didn't you?" Lilian's eyes glowed as she stared deeply into the stern math teacher's own irises. "You were watching us the whole time."

"Yes..." Ms. Vis blinked, her eyes glazing over. She then nodded to herself. "Right, my mistake. Carry on."

As Ms. Vis walked back to her desk, Kevin turned to Lilian with a new light in his eyes. He had a plan to make it to track practice now. All thanks to this girl.

"Lilian," he said slowly. "Do you think you could do that Kitsune enchantment thing to get us out of trouble with Ms. Vis?"

"Of course," Lilian tilted her head cutely before smiling. It was a very mischievous smile, one befitting a Kitsune. "Just give me a second and I'll get us out of here in no time, Beloved."

At that moment, Kevin couldn't help but think that she had the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

Chapter 15: The Fine Line Between Interest and Obsession

"Swift!" Coach Deretaine shouted the moment Kevin arrived at the track field. Said boy just barely managed to contain his wince as he looked at his coach. He knew the moment Ms. Vis gave him detention he would be in trouble with his coach, but that did not prepare him to actually face the man.

He wondered if it was too late to turn back.

Coach Deretaine was a lot different than PE teachers like Coach Raide. Where that man was large, hairy and had the biggest beer gut he had ever seen, Coach Deretaine was small, thin and wiry. He had actually been mistaken for a high school students a few times because of his small stature and youthful appearance.

Not that any of the track and field students would admit to thinking that. The man may be short and thin, but that thin body was packed with wiry muscles of the kind you would expect on someone who coached track and field. Kevin often wondered if the man had been an Olympic runner or professional athlete at some point. He had the kind of body type that Kevin was striving to attain.

Unlike Coach Raide, who taught Physical Education, Coach Deretaine taught Health, which they all took freshmen year. It was knowledge based rather than physical work based. In that class they had learned about the human body, puberty and nutrition. They were also taught about the importance of having a healthy and balanced diet, and learned about muscle groups and their purpose. It was all very informative, if a bit boring.

"Yes, coach?" asked Kevin, even though he already knew exactly what the man was going to say.

"You're late!"

There it was.

"I'm sorry," Kevin apologized, but didn't offer an excuse. Coach Deretaine wouldn't care for any excuse he made. He could have gotten a note from Ms. Vis and his coach
still
wouldn't have cared. "It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," Coach Deretaine growled. Kevin also sometimes wondered if the man had been a military instructor in a past life. He certainly acted like it sometimes. "I can't have any of my runners getting lazy and fat from slacking off! Now join the others and start stretching!"

"Yes sir!"

Kevin quickly did as told and ended up standing next to another person who did the 100 and 200 meter dash, as well as the 500 meter relay like him. This boy had dark brown nearly black hair, black eyes and narrow features. He was a few inches shorter than Kevin and quite a bit skinnier. He actually looked really scrawny, like a stiff breeze would blow him over, but Kevin knew better. This kid was his biggest contender for title of fastest student on the track field.

"Chase."

"Swift."

The boy's name was Kasey Chase. Despite his small size he was actually a year above Kevin, a junior. Ever since Kevin had joined the track and field team, he and Kasey had formed a rivalry that could become pretty intense at times. They had never come to blows, but there were numerous instances when the two would stay out on the track field well after everyone else had left in order to see who was faster. They had actually been chased off the track field one time by an officer who had been in the area after a report had been filed about vandals making noise on the track field.

After the quick greeting and by now traditional glare, the two boys did their best to ignore each other. They would save their rivalry for the field, where they would try to prove once and for all who was the fastest student.

Kevin focused entirely on his stretches. Stretching both before and after any kind of physical exertion was very important, especially when running. The likelihood of injury greatly increased if the body wasn't loose and limber when running as fast as possible for 100 meters.