Hey all! I've been thinking about creating a collaboration for a second Zootopia fanfic, where another author and I could work jointly on a story because I want to continue writing about the world of Zootopia but I have no idea what the common masses want to see, haha. So if any of you have fanfic ideas that you want to bring into fruition, PM me!
On that note, here's chapter 3 (:
"Axel Herrera is currently currently available. At the tone, please leave a—"
With a huff, Adriana ended her second attempted call to her older brother, Axel. He usually picked up the first time around, even if he was busy. Why now, of all possible times, did he have to be unavailable?
Deciding to try once more, she tapped "try call again" and waited.
On the other end of the unanswered call was a female cheetah sitting on Axel's bed. She was undressed from the night before, and she was very angry at the fact that some other female was calling Axel in the early hours of the morning.
"Who is this Adriana bitch? Why won't she stop calling?" the she-cheetah yelled at Axel, who was only half-awake and staring at her blankly.
"Adriana is my little sister," he muttered with indifference.
"Oh, really?" she hissed. "Well, why don't I answer your 'little sister' and ask her why she's calling you at 5 in the morning?"
Axel shrugged. "Okay."
Shooting him a nasty look, the cheetah opened the call and put the phone to her ear. "Hi, Adriana. Did you want to speak to your boyfriend Axel?"
A snicker came from the other end of the line. "My boyfriend? No, ma'am. I want to speak to my brother Axel," Adriana corrected.
The cheetah sneered at the male jaguar in front of her. "I can't believe this," she chided while waving the phone about. "You're seeing another girl behind my back and you set up a sibling act to try and fool me? I can't believe this!" she repeated.
Axel rolled his eyes. Quickly leaning forward, he plucked the phone from the female's delicate paw. She gasped incredulously as he put the phone to his ear. "Hey, kiddo," he spoke into the mic, "I need you to stay on hold for one sec."
"Okay," Adriana said patiently. There was a thud on the other end of the line as Axel put the phone down on his dresser, but he forgot to put the call on mute, and his little sister was able to hear everything he said with perfect clarity.
"Get out of my house," came his strong voice.
"What?!" the cheetah screeched. "You can't just tell me to leave the house!"
"Yes, I can," he said calmly. "This is my property and I want you to get off of it."
The female stared at him speechlessly. She was frozen with astonishment. "You—you can't do that! I'm your girlfriend!" she pleaded unsteadily.
Axel's eyebrow arched. "No…you're not?"
Her jaw dropped. "Axel, we started dating fourteen hours ago and just had sex last night!"
"That doesn't make you my girlfriend!" he exclaimed exasperatedly. "Woman, I don't even know your name!"
With an offended gasp, she stomped her foot hard on the ground. "My name is Giovanni," she said through gritted teeth.
"Okay, Giovanni, get out of my house or I'm calling the police." Axel crossed his arms expectantly.
"I—I don't have my clothes on!" she stammered.
"That is not my problem!" Axel bent down to grab her clothes off the floor. He balled them up and handed them to Giovanni. "Now let's go." Placing his large paws on Giovanni's shoulders, he steered her towards his front door. When she refused to budge, Axel gave her a terse push to get her moving.
"Axel, what is wrong with you!" Giovanni cried out. Her fists were balled up in frustration and her voice held undertones of pleading. She was promptly shoved out the front door. Before Axel could slam the door shut, Giovanni screamed, "We are OVER!"
He gave an amused scoff. "That's okay. I have a much more important female to deal with right now. Call me later when you start missing me." Axel grabbed the handle and firmly shut the door.
Giovanni was still standing outside, craning her neck to peer through the window blinds. Axel looked back at her and reached over to twist the blinds shut.
After he bounded back to his room, he snatched his phone from the dresser. "Adriana, you still there?"
"Yes," came the younger female's hesitant voice.
"Tell me what you need." He tapped his claws on the counter as he waited for her answer.
"I...Okay, this is going to sound so loco, but the police are at my school right now and they asked for my name and I kind of lied to them about who I am so right now they're looking for me but they don't know that they're looking for me."
It took a second for him to process the words that his little sister had just poured onto him. Suddenly, his mouth fell open and his eyes widened. "What?! Adriana, you're frickin' crazy!"
"Hey, what was I supposed to do?" Adriana said defensively. Her voice took on a tone of anger and she began to vent. "Was I supposed to turn myself in for a crime that happened three YEARS ago? Besides, you promised that you would cover me up and I would never have to worry about the police hunting me down!"
"I know! I went to every length to make sure that nobody would ever find out what you did," he assured her. "Are you absolutely sure that they're looking for you because of that incident?"
She was silent for a moment. "No," she stated reluctantly, "I don't actually know why they asked for me."
"Okay," Axel said carefully. "Wait. Don't tell me that you got into trouble again because if you did, I am coming down there right now and I am going to whoop your-"
"Axel, I didn't do anything!" Adriana pleaded. "I swear! Can't you just come and pick me up or something before the cops find me?"
"No, that would be too obvious. But what I can do is call up my buddy Gomez. He's a detective working for the ZPD, and he can find out what's going on." Axel paused. "Something about all this seems a little off, but we'll have things cleared up. You steer clear of the cops while I figure out what's going on. Capiche?"
"Capiche," Adriana said tersely.
"And stop lying to the cops!" he added sharply.
"Yes, sir," she replied with a roll of the eyes. "But thanks, Axel."
"No problem, kiddo. You stay safe. I'll see ya later."
Adriana said goodbye and closed the call. Leaning back against the wall, she put her face in her paws and exhaled deeply. It was 5:13 AM, and she had to find a way to avoid the cops for the entire school day. What was she supposed to do?
She took a brief peek around the hall. The girls' bathroom was just a short dash away from the corner she stood at; if she ran quickly, hopefully nobody would see her. Biting her lip, Adriana sprinted for the bathroom but was caught by a towering lion wearing gym shorts.
"Adriana!" he called out. The jaguar froze at the sound of his deep voice. "Why aren't you on the lacrosse field? Practice starts in five minutes!" he yelled in between mouthfuls of a chocolate doughnut.
Her heart skipped at the thought of having to practice, but she remained calm on the outside. "Sorry, Coach. I was just headed to the bathroom to get ready right now," she said easily.
"Good. I'm not going to have my team's co-captain miss practice two days before a game! Now get changed and get on that field." He briefly eyed the jaguar, then he turned around and wiped sprinkles off of his mouth as he headed to the lacrosse field.
two hours later
The back of Adriana's neck was still slick with sweat as she stripped out of her lacrosse uniform and back into her school clothes. She glanced at the clock on the wall of the locker room: it was 7:42 AM. There were over fifteen minutes till class started, but the hallways would become packed with kids in only a couple of minutes. It would be easy to squeeze through the crowd and slip right past the cops.
She walked to the door to exit the bathroom, but she stopped when she heard angry voices outside.
"...I can't believe she lied to us!"
"We're not going to let it slow us down."
"I'm just so mad! She was RIGHT in our grasp and we let her get away!"
"Don't think about it too much. Let's just keep moving..."
Adriana's eyes widened. It was the police she had encountered earlier. They were talking about her. The worst part? They were right outside the bathroom. Adriana stood frozen, praying to whatever gods there were that they wouldn't happen to come into the girls' bathroom.
A few seconds passed, but the voices were still outside. The cops, by the sounds of their conversation, seemed to be hovering at the door. Adriana shut her eyes. "Please, please, please go away," she muttered hopelessly.
It took a few moments for their voices to slowly fade, but eventually, they were gone. Adriana breathed a sigh of relief and cracked the bathroom door open. She peeked through. Nobody seemed to be standing outside, so she opened the door all the way and hustled out into the hallway.
Her fleeting yellow eyes caught sight of a furry cottonball tail around the corner to the right. Instinctively, Adriana began to run the other way, but she heard a voice yell from behind her, "Hey! Stop right there!" It was one of the cops. The bunny had heard her and was now pulling her tazer gun out of her belt.
Adriana leaped around the corner and ducked into the closest classroom.
When she looked up, she realized she had accidentally sought refuge in none other than her own first period homeroom. Like a deer caught in headlights, she made fearful eye contact with her teacher, Sra. Gonzalez.
"Good morning, Adriana. Is everything all right?" The hippo's eyed her in concern.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine!" Adriana said with breathy cheer. Her teacher's eyes were still trained on her, so she slowly made her way over to her seat and set her things down. Eyeing the clock, she said, "I'm going to go use the bathroom."
"Class is about to start," Sra. Gonzalez responded. "Are you sure you'll make it back in—"
The school-wide intercom suddenly buzzed. "Adriana Herrera, to the front office immediately, please!"
Sra. Gonzalez raised one eyebrow. "Sounds like you had better get going."
"Uh... Yeah," Adriana agreed. As if in a stupor, she began to take slow, unsteady steps towards the classroom door. She paused right in front of the exit and hesitated to turn the knob, but it was suddenly kicked open from the other side as an influx of other students entered the classroom.
"Hey, Adriana!" called a female wolf who playfully shoved her in greeting. "I heard you got called to the front office. What'd you do this time?" she asked with a lopsided grin.
All that Adriana could do was muster a smile in response. She quietly stepped out the door and was immediately greeted with a sea of Selva High's inhabitants. Her head hung low as she shuffled her way past the other students. She refused to make eye contact with anyone that she even remotely knew. Everybody had already heard the intercom calling for Adriana's name. Even if they didn't know what she had been called to the front office for, it would definitely look questionable.
A rare feeling of anxiety flooded Adriana as she entered the front office. Her yellow eyes darted around the room but nobody was present except for the receptionist, who sat typing away at her desk. Adriana apprehensively approached the receptionist. "Hi," she said reluctantly. "I was called to the front office?"
The receptionist adjusted her glasses and looked up. "Yes, Adriana?" The jaguar nodded. "Head into the conference room over to the right. We have somebody here to meet you."
"Thanks," Adriana mumbled. She trailed over to the conference room and reluctantly pushed the door open.
As she looked into the room, her heart practically stopped.
There were two familiar animals sitting in the conference room. They both wore eerily placid expressions on their faces that raised the hairs on the back of Adriana's neck.
"Good morning, Adriana," said the rabbit. The fox leaned back and put his legs on the table, continuing, "We're here from the ZPD-but you already know that. Sit down and get comfortable, because we're going to have a nice long chat."
There's chapter 3! Sorry it's so rushed, I just didn't want to leave you guys hanging. Please leave feedback if you can, I'm always looking for improvement!