Basking under brilliant rays of the waning winter months' sun, drooping stalactites composed of melt off from the roof of the school building dripped and dropped fat tears of ice cold water down along their fading crystalline frames. Clinging timidly to the fragile tips that birthed them each droplet took it's time detaching from their icicles to tumble in a glittering pristine free fall before plunging amongst the salt and sand muddied slush below. Trudging through the slick frigid mush with the aid of high cuffed rubber boots grade schoolers gathered off their buses, covering their heads with back packs and hoodies in a desperate attempt to keep the chilly drops from sliding down the backs of puffy winter coats. One particularly well aimed drop zeroed in on a unaware red fox kit, the near frozen water trickling down into warm neck fur setting off rippling shivers along the well groomed pelt and tail.
Hopping and dancing his way into the first floor hallway Mikky pulled on the back of his coat shaking the fabric in an attempt to dislodge the damp spot soaking into his fur right between his shoulder blades. Wiggling out of the uncomfortable sensation the six year old pup sighed as he pushed into the throng of students crowding the hall way hanging up coats and hats in cubby holes before the bell rang shrilly announcing the start of classes. Kicking off his boots Mikky knelt down to pull on his dry sneakers before turning to look into his back pack for the carefully wrapped stack of cheerfully colored gift cards. Looking over the generic greetings safely picked be researchers to convey companionship without controversy the lithe boy nodded satisfied that he could participate in the class’s activities for the day.
Ushering in the shouting and scampering cubs to their seats, Ms. Fitzgerald closed the door behind Mikky before heading to the front of the black board and pulling out a clipboard to take down the daily roll call. Taking his seat next to his friend Collin the red fox kit raised his paw when his name was called out before turning to look over the assorted treats and cards the rest of the class had brought from home to share. Two desks ahead and one to the left Sarah had a bag full of neatly folded envelopes with stylized names written on them in silver ink, the contents of the cards hidden behind red lace and ribbon ties. To Mikky's left Collin had a bag full of miniature heresy kisses with a space on the wrapper for the recipients name, while behind him Jeremy had a handful of candy heart containers accompanied with a thoroughly disinterested expression.
After writing up the date on the chalk board Ms. Fitzgerald turned around to face the class, the heart patterned skirt fluttering as the black feline brushed the long white hair over her shoulders to address the students with a bright smile on her face.
“Good morning class,” The young kindergarten teacher called out and was returned with a chorus of greetings from the cubs, “Now as we all know it is Valentines days and I can see everyone has brought in their cards or treats to share, but we have a little bit of class work to get through before we pass out our gifts.”
Sitting up straight and adjusting his glasses Mikky failed to join in the moaning objections from the rest of class, though he noted he was not alone in his less the enthusiastic eagerness for the up coming festivities. The lack of vocal argument from Jeremy prompted the kit to look back in time to see the gray raccoon cub roiling his eyes and staring out the window in a complete lack of concern. Turning back to Ms. Fitzgerald as she wrote out the morning exercises Mikky silently wondered why his usual antagonist was so apathetic to the holiday spirit.
“We'll start with next weeks spelling and grammar list,” Ms. Fitzgerald spoke up writing down a list of twelve words the class was to study and memorize for Monday’s quiz, “Everyone write these down and we'll go over the definitions.”
Taking his time to scrawl out the list on lined notebook paper, Mikky marked down which were verbs, nouns, and pronouns along with the definitions as the teacher read them out to the class. Once the spelling list was finished up Ms. Fitzgerald moved onto subtraction problems, putting up a number of equations on the board for the students to complete before the first break period. While he was calculating the third question of twenty minus fourteen, Collin leaned over and whispered into Mikky's ear.
“Sarah's got a special card made up for you and me,” The white furred arctic fox raccoon mix informed his best mate, “I saw them through the window while she was making them out yesterday. I think she like likes us.”
“Are you sure?” The red fox cub whispered back frowning as he scratched out six to answer the question on his paper, “What did they say on them?”
“They said, 'To my best friend's, I'll Love you forever,'” Collin confided with a smile as he tapped his number two pencil on his desk looking a bit dreamy eyed at the red squirrel with the long red hair two desks up, “We should do something special for her, something better then candy and cards.”
“Like what?” Mikky asked looking up quickly to make sure no one was over hearing to spill the exchange to the teacher feeling a bit funny about the idea of Sarah loving him forever, “There aren't any flowers outside yet, and I don't have anything else to give her but my card.”
“Well we could give her a kiss,” The hybrid kit grinned the black face mask tightening about his green eyes deviously, “Just on the cheek, between friends, that should be alright with her.”
Blinking slowly the red fox boy turned to look at his friend, a dubious expression on his face as he gauged how serious the white kit was. After a moment Mikky turned to look at Sarah and chewed his lip nervously.
“You sure about that?” The reluctant fox cub asked looking down on his math problems to cover his blush, “I mean shouldn't we ask first?”
“But it won't be a surprise then,” Collin stated confidently to encourage his friend, “We'll do it at the same time when we go out to recess, just on the cheek nothing wrong with that. Just between friends where's the harm?”
As he thought it over Mikky weighted the decision against the likely outcome. If it was true Sarah did like like him and Collin that way, then it should be o.k. to give a kiss as friends as a surprise gift. Nodding to Collin his agreement as they passed their papers to the front of the rows of desks to be collected and graded, Mikky was startled as a heavy foot kicked the bottom of his seat. Turning around confused and a little startled the red fox kit stared back at Jeremy wondering what torment the bully had in mind for him today.
“If I was you two, I won't surprise Sarah like that,” The gray raccoon cub with the shoulder length rat tail commented with narrow blue eyes, “Girls don't like being kissed unless you ask them to first.”
“And how'd you know anything about that?” Collin asked Jeremy looking a bit peeved that his conversation had been over heard, “Kissed a lot of girls have you?”
“That's none of your business mutt,” Jeremy smiled back in a superior fashion that only egged on the white furred half breed, “But if you really like Sarah you'll act like a gentleman, and a gentleman always asks for a kiss first.”
“Sarah's our friend, she'll understand you'll see,” Collin looked back taking the bait and having to prove his rival wrong at any cost, “You in Mikky? You'll give her a surprise kiss with me?”
Mikky rubbed his feet together never being the assertive type, but trusting his best friend's good intentions as well as knowing how fond Sarah was of them. Nodding his head in agreement the red fox boy watched as Jeremy just smiled broadly at them and sat back in his seat folding his paws together looking down at them like the Cheshire Cat.
Once all the math problems had been collected by Ms. Fitzgerald, the class was given the last hour before recess to put together their cardboard mail boxes and decorate them with bright construction paper from the supply closet. Cutting out a form fitting sheet of red paper Mikky drew on a cheerful cupid fox, rainbows, and hearts to let everyone know the purpose of his collection box. Sliding a glue stick along the blank side of the construction paper, the fox kit folded and pressed the covering of his box in place tucking the sides and corners in neatly and setting the finished product on the edge of his desk. Once the class was finished building their mailboxes the rows were given turns to pass out their cards and treats before the recess bell rang.
Taking his turn to drop his store bought cards into each box, Mikky went about with a nervous smile as he moved about the class distributing cards all about. Looking over the bare and unadorned brown box Jeremy had made, the red fox kit dropped his card among the pile of others as the gray raccoon kit looked on sourly with a slight air of menace. Hurrying on the fox boy left a card for Collin on his way to leaving his offering in Sarah's sports decorated mailbox. Grateful the red squirrel was further down the rows and didn't see his blush, Mikky quickly left his card and moved back to his seat to wait for his own rewards.
When Sarah passed by and handed over her cards with a wide smile, Collin gave Mikky a thumbs up which the fox kit returned with an a.o.k. sign.
Gathering out in the hallway after the bell rang Ms. Fitzgerald took a head count as the students pulled on their jackets and gloves, the black feline helping a collie into a snowsuit as plastic roll up sleds were carried outside. Following Collin into the playground, Mikky held his paws in the front pocket of his coat, clasping them together as his nerves grew on edge as the moment approached. Waving over at the boys Sarah came running across the yard towards them dragging a metal disk along behind ready to race down the last snowy sloop before the sun melted away the tracks she had built up the last few days.
“So, I figure we can get two on at a time to help pack the snow down,” Sarah called out her head band covering her ears and holding her hair back as Collin and Mikky fell in behind her blushing bright in the cheeks, “I bet we can get all the way across the soccer field at the base of the hill if we can get the snow smooth enough. What do you guys...”
Turning around to confirm her plan with her best friends, Sarah was ambushed by a pair of warm lips pecking both sides of her cheeks as she blinked in shock.
Turning a bright pink herself the tomboy was speechless as the boys held the kiss for a few seconds before pulling back and smiling widely, Mikky holding his tail in both paws as Collin held his paws behind his back. As the school yard chuckles and laughs broke out, Sarah's bashful reaction turn into a glaring frown as the athletic squirrel girl pulled back her left paw and popped the white furred mixed breed right in the mouth. As his best mate fell to the ground in a giggling heap, Mikky yelped and turned tail dashing away from a vengeful squirrel cub as she reached out to grab him from behind yelling out all sorts of anger retorts.
Watching from the tether ball circle Jeremy smirked as he watched Mikky run for his very life, the pursuit ending quickly enough when Ms. Fitzgerald nabbed Sarah by the back of her coat and pulling her away towards the principal's office. Pulling out the decorative wrapped letter the tomboy had left in his plain brown mail box, the gray raccoon opened the card read to himself and nodded, folding it with care and tucking it way in his coat. Moving over to look down on the prone and panting white furred lover boy, the class bully shook his head and called out.
“I told you so.”
***
“So I think I have come to a decision on what your punishment should be,” Walking about the cluttered machine room over looking the city park that served as the trio's secret base, Sarah stalked back and forth as her best friends looked on pensively, “It will be a fair yet ironic task you have to under take, after getting me sent to the principal's office and ambushing me like that.”
“It's not our fault you got sent to the principal’s office,” Collin retorted, holding a snowball under his swollen bottom lip, still nursing the blow he had received, “Don't you think you got me back enough?”
“Oh it is too your fault I got sent to the principal's office,” Sarah glared back menacingly at the white kit amber eyes narrowed and towering over the repentant boy, “You kissed me without permission. If you don't do what I tell you then I'll have to let your dad's know what you did and let them pick your punishment. Would you like to go about it that way instead?”
Pinning his ears back and looking down at his feet Collin shook his head no as the sweetly worded threat found it's mark. Cowering beside the ancient carpeting loom near the stairs, Mikky looked on ashamed tail wrapped about his left leg as he and his best friend attempted to placate the irate tomboy.
“We didn't mean anything by it Sarah,” Mikky whimpered looking up and hoping he would get off light, not wanting to have to worry about the only girl he was friends with holding a grudge against him, “We just thought that you liked us like that. We wanted to to give you a surprise, that's all.”
“Just cause I gave you a special card doesn't mean I wanted you to kiss me in front of the class like that,” Sarah looked over sternly, her mood unchanging and authority unrelenting, “But I'll forgive you this one time if you follow through with your punishment.”
“What do we have to do?” Collin asked sounding nervous but still willing to play along so his fathers didn't find out about the stolen kiss.
“Well, as you two got to steal a kiss from me, I think it's only fair that you to share a kiss with each other,” Sarah said leaning back on an office chair with a devious grin on her face, “While I watch of course.”
“You want us to kiss each other?!” Mikky gasped looking petrified as Collin turned a very dark beet red, “But we're boys! We can't kiss each other!”
“Oh yeah, why is that?” The tomboy asked playing the devil's advocate and keeping her voice reasonable, “Collin's dads kiss each other, and they are both boys. I don't see anything wrong with you too kissing each other, especially as you are friends.”
“But we don't like each other like that!” The white kit called out in protest pleading for mercy, “Not like we like you. And it's not fair that we are forced to kiss each other as a punishment.”
“Kind of like it wasn't fair to kiss me without my permission?” Sarah asked her tone softening as she got her point across, “If you really are sorry, and you really don't want me to tell your folks then you have to kiss so you understand why I'm mad at you. Nothing mushy like on the lips, just a peck on the cheeks like you did with me. That's fair right?”
Looking at Sarah in true remorse as the weight of his actions sank in Collin nodded sniffling a bit as he worked up his courage. Looking over at Mikky the hybrid cub blushed balling his paws into fists as he nodded that he was o.k with the idea if his best mate was. Nodding back and moving over tepidly the red fox kit leaned in carefully as Collin held still, face turned to the side offering his left cheek for the kiss. Gulping and squeezing his gray eyes shut Mikky planted his lips to the side of his friend's muzzle feeling a hot rush race up into his belly similar to the sensation he felt when he kissed Sarah in the school yard.
Pulling back after a moment the red fox looked at his friend embarrassed and confused by the reaction, then in turn the white kit gulping hard and composing himself for his part of the bargain. Finally looking up Collin moved over to Mikky, looking down at his best mate apologetic puckering up and leaning in to plant his own kiss. As the arctic fox raccoon mixed breed made contact with the fox boy's cheek both boys whined softly and broke away unable to look at each other as they struggled to recover from the light embrace. Watching on from her perch on the office chair Sarah smiled then approached both her friends taking their paws in her own and giving them each a quick kiss on the cheek.
“That wasn't so bad was it now?” The tomboy asked as the two boys turned and looked on bashfully, “If you two really wanted a kiss you should have asked first. You're my best friends you don't need to surprise me.”
“I'm sorry Sarah, your right, we should have asked first,” Collin apologized feeling mushy and light headed, “Will you forgive us?”
“I guess so,” Sarah nodded moving to the stairs, “But you have to help me finish up my sledding track, I got a world record to break after all.”
“O.k. Sarah we're coming,” Mikky called out letting the tomboy get down the first flight of stairs before he followed looking over at Collin with a nervous giggle and whispered, “Girls are crazy...”
“I heard that Mikky!” Yelling up the stairs the red squirrel girl admonished her friend, “You get to test out the track first! Any other smart remarks boys?”
“No Sarah!” Collin called out pushing Mikky along down to stairs and outside, “We're coming! Hold your horses!”
Out in the playground the trio made their way to the long slopping hill marking out their territory with Collin's scarf on a stick and took turns pushing and packing the snow down with the metal disk that would serve as their sled. A six inch deep trough was carved out and polished to a glass like finish that shined in the afternoon sun light. At the top of the hill Sarah was rubbing a paw full of Crisco to the bottom of the metal disk biting her lip as she made sure each square inch had a good coating of the slick grease. Placing the properly prepared sled on the top of the track the tomboy motioned for Mikky to hop on.
“O.k. just remember to lean with the curves or you go shooting off into someone’s else lane and cause a wreck,” Sarah warned Mikky as he took a seat gripping the rope handles tightly while Collin looked on uncertainly, “If you get air born go limp before you land, or your butt's gonna hurt really bad.”
“I dunno about this Sarah, was the grease a good idea?” Collin asked as Mikky seemed to be praying before the plunge, “Isn't it a little much? Isn't it cheating if your going for the record?”
“Only the unmodified record,” The tomboy said pulling the metal disk back a few feet to give it a running start, “With the modified rules this is all o.k. but we have to go farther. Ready Mikky?”
“Ready....” The red fox kit grabbed his glasses off and folded him in his coat for safety and tried not to look at the base of the track.
“On three then,” Sarah called out as Collin stood beside her to help push as a crowd of cubs gathered to watch, “One...Two...Three!”
Pushing off the hill top Mikky dropped like a stone off a cliff, the added thrust from his friends causing the kit to skip and skid along the dug out track barreling down to his doom. Watching from above as their friend yelped and screamed down the hill in a blare of red fur and orange metal Collin and Sarah winced and oohed as the disk took all of six seconds to clear the sloop and slid across the park towards the shopping complex. Launching over the sidewalk and onto the icy pavement Mikky could only cling to the disk as it flew like lighting across the lot and barreled into the large snow bank lodging the cub a foot deep into the drift. As a collection of parents chased after the run away cub and started to dig him out Collin's dad's Trent came over looking cross.
“What were you thinking?!” The hare asked as he lifted the dazed fox kit free and brushed him off, “Your not doing that again! You could have killed Mikky.”
“It was Sarah's idea,” Collin complained pointing out the fact that it was the red squirrel’s disk to begin with, “And I didn't make him...”
“Well if we are going to have difficultly making better decision perhaps we should head home and have a nice chat about responsibility.” Trent spoke sternly holding out his paw for Collin to take, “Sarah you too, and don't forget your death trap.”
“Yes Mr. Taft,” The tomboy retrieved her sled and carried it along as they headed back to the house disappointed that she didn't get to break the record, “I promise to be more careful next time.”
“I better keep a closer watch on your three, who knows what you'll be up to next.” The hare complained as the cubs followed along dutifully back to the safety of the town house for hot chocolate, warm towels, and a lecture on making wise choices, “Next thing I know you'll be smooching each other behind my back...”
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