Chapter 1

Sounds of many people can be heard. A bell coming from every room indicated that school was finally out. Now is not the time for the meeting scheduled with schoolwork, it is the time for in-school, out of school, and extracurricular activity. No, a certain human James sure does not have his hopes up for some extracurricular activities.

I snapped out of my focused trance, frustrated to realize that school was out for the day. I couldn't help but think about the multitude of things to do when I got home. Oh, I didn't have that much to do since I'd already finished my homework for tonight. Well, I thought to myself about this, but maybe I should go see Dex practice today. He always talked about how active he is, and how much he would appreciate it if I saw how the team played. That's when you're there for something that's not enthusiastically athletic. I  stopped advancing towards several of the football players, some human and some anthro. I tried my best to avoid them, but all they did was walked towards me much faster. I then tried to do a normal, evasive maneuver and go in the other direction; however, I was surrounded on both sides.

“Where do you think you're going?" One of the anthros said. I didn't answer back, but instead I tried to move them out of the way by force. That didn't work seeing as how there are three of them in the way. My reward for being so bold was just getting thrown onto the ground flat on my butt. Another one taunted, “What's wrong? Feelin' anxious now because your boyfriend isn't here?" This time, I did respond with, “Says the guy who hangs out with no one else other than the football team."

All that did was piss off my attacker. With a growl, Dale, the hot-headed Doberman, spat back, “You're more like a little shit getting ready to get his ass beat." Dale and his lame excuse of back-ups, came closer until someone shouted, “Back away from my friend now!"

I snap out of my small flashback from high school. I sigh as I think about how long ago that was. Five years ago, I believe. Man, what a blast from the past, I say. Focusing back on my notes in class, I look them over. To my surprise, I managed to write down almost every single thing while in my trance. I must have been very fortunate to my second mind still focusing. Regardless I managed to not lag behind class, unlike my friend Dex. Dexter Shepwood Jr. is my best friend from high school. He is a very muscular German shepherd anthro, who shares similarities with me in engineering, except his, is more of the mechanical field while mine is more in the technical/computer field. He is loyal to the bone. There's never been a time where I felt discouraged, and he wasn't there to make me feel better. Though he is overprotective at times, he is a really good friend, unless you are on his list of potential pranks.

We are in physics class, Dexter's weaker subject. He is doing his usual thing: daydreaming again, looking off into space as if the classroom was just a ghostly entity. Recently I have noticed that his lack of interest in this class has been getting tiring, and even from the start of the semester, I've seen him struggle to stay awake. I can always tutor him, but usually, he has some BS excuse.

After class was over, I stay to see if Dex would wake up from his semi-lucid daydream. I wait for about ten minutes before I get impatient and go to his seat to snap him out of it.

“Uh hello? Anyone in that heap of muscle and fur?" I wave my hand in front of his face to break him out of his hypnotic state. He decides to play along and imitates a phone answering machine.

“Hello, and sorry that I wasn't able to pick up your call. Please leave your name and number after the beep." After the 'beep', I grab his ears and drag him down the stairs to the exit of the auditorium. If there's anything I learned from Dex, he didn't like being touched on the head or grabbed by the ears at all, under no circumstance, unless it was me.

“Sorry my ass, we need to go before the professor thinks we are here to have a discussion about the homework."

He shakes his head with a scared face, signaling that he would like to go now. I guess he doesn't like after school academic tutorials. When we exit the auditorium and wave goodbye to the professor, I let go of his ear, and we start to walk in the hallway. While I had my physics textbook and my laptop to take my notes and print from, Dex brought only his innovative attitude, droopy tail, and foul morning breath.

Through Lobby D4 at the university, I followed the crowd leading to the exit doors outside. I noticed that Dex was still lagging from his mental nap back in Physics. While my back was turned to check on him, I tripped over someone's protruding foot. I fall to the ground with an audible thud, straight on my ass. I can't complain since that is better than landing on my neck and arm. I take the apologetic side even though it was his fault.

“Oh sorry, I wasn't looking," I lie.

The well-built husky scoffs at me as if he was saying, “How dare you to touch me." He tries to walk off with that egotistic attitude until a  force stops him in his tracks. I am pretty sure I can feel a growl resonating from within the person behind the husky. I recognize it anywhere. It is surely Dex, and from what I can tell, the beast from within Dex is releasing itself onto this bully. By that, I mean the “will probably kill anyone who hurts my friend" beast.

“You ran into my friend and you knew you were in the wrong." Dex bares his teeth and snarls out,“Don't you have something to say?" He glares at the husky as if he was going to kill him right then and there. By size, Dex is obviously going to win if there was a fight, but I don't know if this husky probably had some Kung Fu or some taekwondo training hidden up his furry sleeve. The scared husky apologizes to both me and Dex, even though it was me that he hurt.

“S-s-s-sorry, man! It won't happen again. Uh..." He looks at me with a distant stare, where any moment Dex could rip his guts out. “Sorry human for running into you." He bolts away from such an intimidating duo.

Dex helps me onto my feet and picks up my book and printed notes from the ground. I smack his chest, mildly annoyed and not “wetting my pants" afraid. “What the hell was that? You look like you were about to tear him in half. You're lucky this is college and nobody gives a shit." I try to be serious, but he just laughs and slaps my back hard enough to make me lose some air.

“Hey, you're my best friend James. Somebody has to make sure you're not getting into any trouble, and that has to be me." I give him a raised eyebrow with a scrunched up mouth as I continue to walk further into one of the many courtyards on the campus. I find a bench and reorganize my papers back like I had them originally. Dex sits down next to me and stretches his arms, wrapping his right arm around my shoulder in a friendly gesture.

“Listen James. I know I can be overprotective but you still have no physical capability to take on an anthro," he says with a bit of concern. I understand what he's telling me, and having some physical training and knowing how to fight is better than no physical training and not knowing how to fight.

“Uh-huh, sure Dexter Shepwood, and I am sure I can't fend for myself." I joke at the fact he knows that I can defend myself if needed.

Trying to change the subject, Dex tries talking about all of the 'fine girls' in the classroom.

“So James did you see the totally hot foxy lady in our room?" he asks me but I barely pay any sort of attention while I meticulously rearrange my papers in the correct order. He howls briefly and slurs, “'Cause she was fine."

As a light act of payback, I retort, “Funny. I saw you more interested in the dust particles in the room than Rose Blaine being there." Being the overdramatic type here, Dex acts like his heart was shot at and is bawling on my head.

“Aww come on James! You know that class doesn't suit me!" he says like an immature child.

“It suits anyone who puts their mind and attitude towards it Dex. You know if you needed any help you can always ask me, that's what friends are for right? What's better is that we're roommates," I say as I throw his big dog head off the top of my head to rid some unnecessary weight on my neck.

“Yeah, yeah, James, but I'm sure you'd rather go to that party Kev is having tonight at the school's library." He tries to give me an excuse to not do so well in the class, yet I am more taken aback by the thought of a student having a party at the university library! “You do know that is against the school rules, Dex? You can lose all of your extracurricular activities including sports, get expelled, or worse, blacklisted. I don't want you to keep risking your-" He stops me from talking me with his index and middle finger on my head before I could say anything. “James calm down. Today is the main librarian's birthday, and Kev is that librarian's young cousin. That's why Kev is throwing a party."

Well, now I feel dumbfounded since I knew nothing about Kev or his relationship with the library staff. Dex probably knows this Kev guy from the football team here at West Point University.

“Oh, I didn't know that," I comment to the new information given.

“Hey James, I know we were supposed to head out to lunch, but I have to see my trainer and the local physician about my lower spine injury last game. I'm sure we can still do a meet up before the party." He gets up and does a salute goodbye with his right-hand paw. Sometimes I wonder if he tries to piss me off on purpose or if he is doing it to be completely cute in front of the girls while trying to embarrass me at the same time.

I decide to go back to my dorm once I had completed my paper organization. While I head back, I get a text from Gloria, an old human friend from high school at a college on the other side of the country.

“Hey James, how's it going? I just wanted to remind you that I'm going to be visiting in 3 weeks before finals. I also want you to meet my son Darrell. I'm sure you two will get along. See you soon."

Is she coming to visit me 3 weeks from now? Well, I thought I would never see her again after that huge debacle with her boyfriend's arrest for drug possession. Well, I'm pretty sure she is here to visit family or some other reason that's not concerning me.

When I arrive at our dorm room, the scents of musk and urine combined with stale food hits my square in the face. I almost cringe at the odor. My sloppy roommate didn't clean up the room like he promised he was going to this morning. No time like the present and no use of waiting on him to do it, so I decide to do it myself. I clean up all of the scraps of papers and get some floor cleaner from 'my' bathroom. Thankfully the cleaner is pleasantly fragrant, so the scent of piss from his black-out drunken incident from three days ago can dissipate. I have to pick up his socks on his side of the room, his sweaty musky shirts, and his revolting underwear and throw them into the dirty clothes hamper. After I fix his bed, I notice something sticking out from the corner of his bed. There is a pen situated along the edge where the mattress meets the wall. I pick it up out of curiosity and wonder why he had a pen unless he just liked throwing shit everywhere. the general area to find why the pen was there. I look under his bed and look underneath the small nightstand. I see a notepad of sorts under his small night table, deeply rooted in some of his more used boxers. Despite me hating every second of it, I  move the underwear to get the book they were guarding. After I removed the underwear I found out that I will actually have to move the table completely to get to the treasured notebook. I really have to go out of my way just to read his private life, which in hindsight is not the nicest thing to do. When I retrieve the notepad, it has the word Journal scribbled on the front. Already going out of my way to get the freaking journal, I open up the pages and start to read. Now I don't want to waste any more of my time reading from beginning to finish, so I choose to read his log for yesterday evening.

“November 2, 2020.

Dear Journal, today has been, well, exciting to say the least. I aced that report in Computer class today even though I felt my tail twitching constantly, and I stuttered on some words. In the end, I believe my nervousness disappeared when I imagined James there watching. Even though he wasn't there physically to support me, I know that he would if he could. He's my best friend and I would do the same for him.

After the professor gave me my final grade of a 91 at the end of class, I was very much satisfied. I had a feeling that James would be so proud of me when I tell him my grade though I am still concerned about today's evening football practice.

Aside from my lower back getting injured last weekend, there was something else bothering me. Well, it's embarrassing to say, but I am sure no one is going to read my Journal other than me, and I know James wouldn't dare lift my night table, including my pile of dirty underwear to get to it.

After practice today at the showers, I was minding my own business until I saw Kevin naked out of the corner of my eye. I hesitated to look because it's weird to stare at another man's junk for too long. After he was done taking his shower and put some casual clothes on, he pats my back telling me to take it easy during practice until I know for sure that I can play the next game. When he left, I just felt this strange warm feeling in my cheeks from that pat on the back. I was blushing! It was weird, and I am even more embarrassed even thinking about what just happened. I only have this warm feeling in my heart happen when I am around him and James, except with James, that was a friendly warm feeling. I don't understand why I blushed at all. I know I haven't been all that good around girls but am I truly losing it? Am I becoming gay?"

I shut the journal once I read that incriminating line. There is more in the entry, but I am too scared to read the rest. Judging by the footsteps behind me and that reminiscent snarl, I know who it is and what he must be feeling at this moment.

“Dex, why didn't you tell me?"