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A week had passed. This was the first-six-weeks marker, leaving five six-weeks more to go. They were going to get their report cards on Friday, but for now all the tests and quizzes were mostly over with, and they were riding down to the trough of the wave.

Lyza was returning back to normal. The situation with Kval turned out better than expected, as Lyza had explained. Their father had to calm mother down, and then spoke with Kval in front of the whole family, and surprised her by asking what he thought Kval should do. The young boy-turned-adult said he wanted to let the authorities know, but also tell them he suspected Buggy of giving him the drugs.

The police confiscated the drugs and searched the house--not for the first time--and found nothing else, thankfully. Kval wasn't arrested, but there were more things that were going to happen that for the life of her Emeral didn't understand. She thought her dad might, even though he didn't handle those kinds of cases, but she didn't want to ask him.

The roller-coaster ride was over, and it had come to a golden stop. Emeral was very much content with the way things had become. She looked forward to walking home with Ket every day, of course no one witnessed them leave together. The sidewalks were wide, so they were always side-by-side and she would bump into him a little, maybe-kinda-sorta accidentally.

They were becoming friends very quickly, spending some days after school finding common grounds to walk on. She found out he had taken a teacher she had, and they made fun of her little quirks. They talked about the school food, the playground, sometimes the other kids...everything.

One day she asked about Egypt, which sparked him right away. He tried to tell her everything he knew about it; about the different gods and the pharaohs, mummification, the Book of the Dead. It was mostly broken knowledge from tattered memories. She listened intently all the same.

He offered to show her the Eye of Horus if she wanted to see it, but she had no interest--not because she didn't like it, but because she was deathly afraid of anything happening ot it at all, ever-ever.

In return she taught him some of the medical stuff she gleaned. It was kind of weird, but really fun, talking about teeth, nails, eyes, ears; even some of the gross stuff like spit, blood and boogers. She could tell it weirded him out a bit how it didn't phase her to talk about boogers, but he seemed to get used to it.

"There's one thing that I always wanted to know," he started, and Emeral slightly dreaded the question to come.

"Yeah...?"

"What's a uvula?"

"A...? oh! I know what that is...!"

He was still very timid about being a good friend, but actually quite capable. Either he was a quick learner, or he had it in him all along and didn't know it. There was still a lot for him to learn, but he was definitely doing well. Emeral was still careful not to push him too far out of his comfort circle. But they could both tell it was expanding, if even just an inch every day.

Like all boys, he was a risk-taker, which she actually did not expect. Outside of school he was like a whole a different person. They had gone exploring during the weekend, and he managed to get a few cuts from climbing around, and one nasty scrape from a devious rock hidden in fallen leaves.

But thankfully Emeral had a first-aid kit handy--nothing much, but enough to tend to his wounds. She liked patching him up, except for having to use the isoproptol.

"Blood doesn't bother you, does it?" He commented, as she wiped his weeping shin.

"Nope. I sometimes watch CSI with mom while eating dinner. Lyza thinks that's gross."

"It is gross. ...What's CSI?"

She would often catch him glancing at her during class, and had to fight herself not to tease him. It wasn't like he could help it, the only other thing to look at besides her direction was the wall. But it made her feel like that time in dodgeball, where he was watching her. His eyes were so different from any other kids'. His stare was so strange, like he was seeing X-rays of your bones or something. Sometimes it made her shiver.

Though they were clear it was still a friendship, Emeral couldn't help her toes touching the very edge of the line. When they parted at the gate to her home, they would hug. But quickly she began pecking his cheek as part of the routine. She loved standing on her tip-toes to reach him with her lips, their whiskers colliding, the scent of lunch on his breath wafting into her nostrils.

She watched him warily the first time, making sure he wouldn't burst into flames and run away.

He smiled nervously, but no combustion occurred. The custom was accepted on every occasion.

Yup. Things were just perfect.

* * *

"Man I hope we play dodge ball today!" Lyza said, smacking fist-to-palm.

Emeral flinched at the noise, abruptly aware of her surroundings--sparse as they were. It was foggy out, which was weird. Usually it cleared up by now. Yet she didn't remember it was foggy in the morning. In fact, she didn't remember ever leaving the classroom. But she felt like she had. They were marching single-file toward the Gym. Man was it hot.

"I thought you just stayed on the sidelines like Ket and those other girls," She said, responding to her friend.

"Well normally I do...but I've been so stressed from all that family drama. I just need to blat! someone in the face!"

"Look out," Emeral joked, "Lyz's on the warpath and out for blood!"

The rabbit giggled. "Well, I have been practicing my throwing-arm with Kval. Maybe if I peg Ritzer they'll cheer for me too huh?"

The garage approached. Emeral felt a pang in her back, like she'd pulled a muscle. She rubbed it a bit as she replied, "I wouldn't go for him if I were you, could get yourself in big trouble."

Ket, who was a few kids up in the line, looked back. Emeral returned the stare.

The gym was as dirty as always. The fans were coughing, although today they seemed a little quieter; the floors scuffed and scraped, lights flashing odd colors. One seemed to be disco-flashing, which was kind of weird.

Emeral bit her lip. Did anyone else notice? It was a wonder the whole place didn't just collapse in on itself.

The whistle chirped, like a locust sitting by everyone's eardrum. The students filed in, sat in their little rows like the tamest of ducklings--some of them actual ducklings. The coaches fought for attention, and finally garnered it with another locust-call. The room fell silent, and the two bears began barking orders, readying for the warm-ups, though the bell hadn't rung yet.

Emeral was not too happy with the strain. Her back flared, and as she stretched her body tensed up in pain. She wouldn't be able to do the main event of the day, and would end up with the humiliation of telling the coaches, unless it was dodge ball.

She fought through the mountain climber, wincing and moving carefully. But push-ups were her limit, she had to stop, and the coaches regarded her as she kneeled.

She recognized one of them as Coach Berts. But that was weird; she hadn't seen him since second grade. Did he come back? Was he a sub?

Another call of the whistle, "Dodge ball!" they shouted, and the kids cheered.

With a groan Emeral stood, dragging herself over to the sidelines. She took her place in the little crowd of kids that didn't want to play, leaning against the wall. They were talking, chatting, but she wasn't listening.

"Not playing today?"

She looked left, and then right to see Ket already beside her. She still hadn't gotten used to his stealth, and wondered where he hid the cloaking device. Or maybe it was his super-power. Then again, perhaps he had alien-knowledge of worm-holes. "Nah, hurt my back in classes yesterday. Landed wrong." Then she thought twice, and realized she didn't know how it got hurt. It just hurt.

"Ouch," he said, "I'll make sure to carry your backpack on the way home."

She giggled, "You're scoring points really fast, y'know that?"

"Hey, look, is that Lyza?"

Emeral looked out to the field, and saw the feeble-looking rabbit getting way too into the game. "Yup," she said nervously, "Looks like she got her wish. Why don't you go play? I'm sure you're not as bad as you think."

He shrugged. "I...I'm really not that good."

"Doesn't matter. You could just stay in back, no one will really notice--oh man she's not really gonna--!" Emeral gasped as Lyza got a ball from the ground and made her way from the side-back to the front-and-center.

She was headed for Ritzer's side, and let the bullet fly. The bully was concentrating on someone else--her ball flew toward him while his head was turned...

Bap!

The game immediately slowed.

"Ha!" Lyza said pointing, "Gotcha Ritzer!" She stuck her tongue out.

The lion cub growled, a vein in his forehead. "You little punk!" The rabbit squealed, ducking down as a ball flew between her splitting ears. Another flew, glanced off her shoulder, another toward her face but missed, and then another. It was like they had an endless supply. Whistles flared, coaches shouted, trying to break the game up. Kids backed away, but everything just built up.

Emeral felt a rush of wind at her side, and when she looked she caught Ket running away from her. Like a fire he ran toward Lyza, and his hand lashed out at a ball that was about to smack the arms blocking her head. More balls flew, and hit him one by one, but he just stood, his back turned to them, taking the barrage. His body served as a buffer against Ritzer and the assault, until it died down.

The coaches stared on, readying to rush in if things got hectic again--but they were more or less enjoying the whole thing like a show.

"Ket--Ket-Ket-Ket-Ket," Ritzer said, "Waddaya doin' on th'field? Thought I told ya natta play dodge ball ev'again."

Lyza looked up at the orange tiger that stood between her and the bullies' line of sight. He ignored them, kneeling on one knee.

"You okay Lyza?" He asked, handing her the yellow ball in his hand.

"Yeah...they don't hurt...it was just scary..." She took it timidly.

"Good. I'll walk you off the field if you--"

Fwap!

Lyza gasped as a ball smacked him in the back of the head, causing it to jerk forward and his eyes to bulge.

"Turd, I ordered you get off the field!" Ritzer shouted.

The rabbit gazed on as the tiger calmly grasped the ball in her hands. She let his veining hand take it, for fear it might erupt in her face with how tightly he squeezed it.

He stood, ever so slowly, and turned around.

"And I thought I told you not to pick on anyone else but me," he said tossing the ball up into the air and catching it.

Emeral's stomach churned. This would not end well. What was Ket trying to do--impress her by acting like a hero? She wanted him alive!

"Well," Ritzer snorted, "You haven't been puttin' out."

Even the coaches laughed at that one. But Ket stood unscathed, tossing the ball up, catch, up, catch. "Apologize," The tiger ordered curtly.

The lion glared. "I ain't apologizin' t'd'at bunn'! Shoulda minded 'er own business."

The ball went up into the air, and Ket did not catch it this time. Instead, his leg curled back. His foot collided, turning the ball into a rocketing missile. Goren flinched in shock, and it smacked him right on the left-peck. He clutched his chest, visibly stepping back.

The teams balked. "That's fine," Ket said, "We'll just play a game of dodge ball, and you'll be sorry anyway."

And then it was on; Ket was assaulted by four all at once. He just stood, and they all missed him by an inch, caught by the kids behind him. He snatched a fifth one headed at him, and threw it back as he whirled around. It almost seemed like he wasn't aiming, and yet he smacked Goren for the second time, square in the gut. The wolf cub was sent flying, and crashed into the wall.

"Holy shit!" The pup coughed, getting up to one knee. "What the heck?"

"Don't take that from him, Goren!" A girl called from the side of the room.

"Aww can it Rini!" He huffed, returning into the fray.

"Anuff!" Ritzer said, forehead throbbing. "Ya want dodge ball," he picked up the closest one, which happened to be pink, "I'll give ya dodge ball!"

Lyza hurried back on hands and knees, running to Emeral when she was outside the line of fire. "Holy cow! Do you see this?" She shouted.

"I..." Emeral stared open-mouthed as the teams rushed in, energy of play that was almost on the level of blood-lust. "I don't believe it..." As good as she was at dodge ball, Ket was proving to be five times--no a hundred times--better than she.

If he didn't dodge, he caught. Getting hit was a physical impossibility. He stayed in the middle, and Ritzer's gang was obviously out for his head, yet he was in the perfect spot to be protected by some of the other kids that were more daring. He even began using the opponent's zeal to his advantage; when his side was getting low, he stayed farther in the back. Ritzer's gang was forced to throw and try to hit him, but the balls weren't fast or accurate enough. The kids behind him were easily able to catch the fly-by's and jump back in as meat-shields.

One of the balls rolled to Emeral's feet. She squatted at the knees to pick it up. She gripped it, and started to rise but found it immovable. It felt like it weighed a hundred-thousand tons. She lifted, but it wouldn't budge, and her back whimpered with pain. She looked at Lyza, but her friend was paying way too much attention to the game, open-mouthed and practically drooling.

Emeral let go and tried kicking the ball. It finally moved, but the motion felt weird like her foot was in jell-o. It rolled toward Ket's court, and as she looked up he was dodging like a phantom, but the number of balls in the air seemed to be growing. A cloud of pinks and purples and yellows and reds and greens and blues; the balls shot like comets from the icy haze of space. It started to get foggy, and the pain in her back started to creep up to her head. A loud screech echoed through the fog like a cave of bats being unleashed. War drums thundered in her ears. It became dark, and the lights above began to strobe.

Ket began slowing down, and the comets began colliding against him. In each flare of the strobe lighting he was in painful recoil, hit in any number of places on his body. It was like a flip-book of him getting mauled.

Emeral wanted to run, wanted to shout, but couldn't. She was stuck to the wall, cemented, like she was held down by chains. She tried moving her arms, balling her hands into fists. At last she opened her mouth, took in a deep breath, and heaved away from the wall...

"Ket--" Emeral gasped, flinching back just a bit like her own words had batted her on the nose. She stared out into darkness, a terrible pain in her head and in the center-left of her back. She lifted a hand to her ringing ear, a tone like one of those tests she had to do at school every year. Her mouth was open and spittle surrounded her lips and chin. She wiped at it sleepily, transferring it onto her sleep shirt.

She felt down at her ankles, pulling the sheet off of her legs. It was sweltering. It felt like her room was on top of a volcano. Sweat drenched the back of her knees, ankles, and soaked the neck and back of her shirt. She rolled over, reached over the side of the bed, groping for another shirt from her collection on the floor. She swapped it out.

She rested the back of her hand to her forehead. It was hot. Did she have a fever? She sighed, mopping the sweat off her brow. Tossing the old shirt aside she felt on the nightstand for a scrunchie. With methodical automation her hands manipulated her greasy hair into a pony-tail. At last she turned her pillow over to the cool and dry side, and lied back down. She glanced at the clock.

It was five-thirty. She could have slept in, but she was wide-awake. She recalled the dream from end to beginning. At first just the big things came back: trying to lift the ball at the end, the gym itself, the dodge ball match, and then... She rolled over, crossing her arms over her chest and staring into the blackness, tracing her collarbone.

Her heart sort of raced, and she felt her cheeks burning like her head. She didn't quite know what to feel--it was strange, and a part of her felt like she'd done something wrong. She'd dreamt of him; not just a dream with him in it, but a dream about him. She brought her knees up a little, adjusting the legs of the gym-shorts she wore as pajamas. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the emotions. Sleep was difficult, but eventually it did come back to her as light filtered through her bedroom window, high up near the ceiling.