~The Watchdog: The Other Side~
Eddy sat in the nurse's office holding a large ice pack to the back of his head. Looking at the large plain clock on the wall, he decided he was going to completely miss his physics class, but just shrugged it off.
"Meh. I suck at science anyway."
"What was that?" The short stout nurse stuck her head out of her tiny office, her overly painted face contorted into a seemingly permanent pout.
"N...nothing Misses Green. Just talking to myself."
"Miss. Miss Green. And if you're well enough to talk to yourself, you're well enough for class."
Eddy tried for a moment to understand the nurse's logic in that, but it hurt too much, so he just lazily lifted his free arm in defeat. "I'm sorry, MISS Green. I'll be quiet."
The nurse glared for a moment longer before leaning forward and out of view again, no doubt looking at pictures of pretty lap cats on her computer. Eddy just sighed softly, rubbing his neck, feeling the extra high collar of his shirt. He hated when his collar was so high, but it was all he could do to hide the dark hickey he had found under his fur that morning.
As the mutt heard the door to the nurse's office open, he quickly moved his hand away from his neck, whistling a little tune in innocence. The whistle provoked another glare from the nurse, making Eddy quickly cover his mouth as he turned to see who was walking in.
"Howdy Eeeeeddy." Carrot. The small orange wolf made a grin pull at Eddy's lips as he leaned in the doorway giving a small wave. "Sorry about your little accident, I saw your fall. You okay?"
"Wha...Oh! Oh yeah, no, no I'm fine. Just uh, bumped my head is all." The fall was a work of genius, if Eddy had anything to say about it. Walk into the hall for his first class, 'slip' on some invisible water on the tiles, boom. No questions about the huge bump. "Is that what I think it is?" The mutt pointed fearfully at the packet in his friend's hand.
Carrot grinned awkwardly and scratched the back of his head as he held up the large stack of papers. "Yeah... End of the year project. I brought it since you missed class." The wolf slipped into the small white office, quickly hopping up onto the paper lined bench Eddy had been forced to sit on the whole class period and patting the dog's lap as he whined. "Don't worry, I told the teacher we'd make the perfect team and he said we could do it together, even though we've been teaming up all semester. I'll go over the basics now, then I can go over to your house for dinner and we can think of what we can do."
"Bow....okaaaaaay. Thanks bud." Eddy's groans were painful, but he gave a little hip bump to Carrot, granting him a little smile. "I'll make you a Quesadilla."
"With steak and green chili?" Carrot's tail wagged quickly and his green eyes grew wide in excitement.
"Haha! Only the best for you."
"Hey!" Miss Green almost screamed from her office. "If you're fine to talk...!" The boys were gone, running out of the office before the beastly nurse could finish.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The boys sat side by side, looking over the makeshift blueprints set beside the dirty plates from dinner. Eddy still held his last slice of food in his mouth, scratching his head with one hand, his other leaning with his arm heavily on the table.
"Maybe it should be more like a cross bow. You know, a cross in front and just find a way to pull back across the arm." Eddy lowered his hand enough to pull the food out of his mouth to talk, and then took a bite before going back to scratching his head.
"Yes, you've said that Eddy, but I'm telling you that would be way too heavy. It has to fit on the forearm and fit both of us, you know. I think something more like a slingshot or a CO2 cartridge." Carrot pointed as the arm on the blueprint, making the point, "See, you're twice as big as me, so it could work for you, but I need something useable."
"Hmm..." They both leaned in and put their heads literally together for a few seconds before both fell face first into the table. They chuckled together a bit, then wordlessly decided to take a break.
Eddy picked up the dishes and began cleaning up the kitchen while Carrot laid his head on the counter, staring dreamily at the blender. It took Eddy a while to notice, but once he did he knew exactly what his friend wanted. Some quick moves and a minute of loud blending, and Carrot had a huge glass full of purple smoothie love.
Eddy would have laughed if he hadn't seen his friend do this many times before, but couldn't help but smile as the orange boy grew a large purple mustache. "Oh hey, that reminds me, I've been practicing and experimenting with that smoke ball thing you designed. I have a few suggestions for it."
"Oh yeah, I have the schematics in my bag. ... wait, how did me drinking a smoothie remind you of...?"
"Shut up, I don't have to defend myself."
Carrot laughed at his dull-headed friend and went into his bag. "So what needs fixing or whatever?"
"Well..." Eddy pulled one of the cloth balls from a drawer and held it up. "It works just fine, except you have to hit it really hard on a solid surface to get it to pop big enough to be effective. Like pitching it against a brick wall or a floor."
"That should be good enough for demonstrations though, right? It should get you an easy 'A' from Dr. Huber."
"Yeeeeeah, but I want it to be practical." He tried to give his best puppy eyes. "Pleeeease?"
"Oh shut up, I'll help you. Just keep the smoothies coming."
Apparently done with their new project for the day, the boys went outside to work on the smoke bombs they had made the week before. They worked until the sun had nearly fallen fully under the high buildings in the distant large city, and had come up with quite a few ideas and models to work on later. With the sun falling, the two decided it was time to go their separate ways. Normally Eddy would have begged Carrot to spend the night like they sometimes did on heavy study days, but he had plans to go out, so just walked Carrot home.
Just across the street from his own house, Eddy leaned on Carrot's door. "So I'll see you tomorrow in class?"
"Eddy, it's Friday."
"Oh yeah... So I'll you tomorrow here?"
"I can't wait." The wolf smiled with a slight blush and the two stood together in an awkward silence for almost a whole minute before Carrot finally went inside, and Eddy slipped back into his house. He had a few hours before it would be dark enough to leave and go for a patrol as The Watchdog, and he had to be ready.
