The British literature class of Mr. Koray Demir was engaging and informative, as the vulpine interacted with his students though questions and reading passionately from the very book he assigned to his students. Rather than letting them read everything, Koray mixed it up by reading some chapters himself and getting students to read some parts out loud. The class size was fairly good with 31 students packed into the vintage-looking classroom inside the Arts department of Bedrock University. Within the crowd of students was the tall, young reindeer bull, sitting comfortably in the second row, trying his best to follow the contents of the lecture.

Five weeks had passed since Erik has started his courses at Bedrock university and it's been a mix of results for him. While he did alright in three of his courses, he didn't do well in others and British Literature was sadly one of them. The material of the lessons was at a level of advanced English, which Erik found difficult to understand. The quality of English lessons at his high school in Oulu was intermediate at best, and it was a frustrating experience at times for the young reindeer. Nonetheless, he wanted to succeed and decided against dropping the class.

The students were currently reading a book called 'White Fangs', a story about an Irish Setter whose life turns around after an attempted suicide and finds himself on an emotional roller coaster to get his life back on track. The story was saddening through most of the book but became uplifting towards the end. Erik tried his best to understand the content of it, but he had to keep asking about the plot and what was going on. It was difficult material for someone who had just graduated high school English in Finland and both the student and teacher knew it.

As Erik reread some of the sentences of the day's chapter, Koray asked the class for specific highlights they found interesting in the chapter, then wrote them down on the white board. The professor tried to get Erik's attention a few minutes into the discussion. "So, Erik, what did you think stood out to you in this chapter?"

"Oh, uhm..." Erik paused as he went through the last chapter, thinking he had noted it. There was a scene in the book where the Setter met the Jamaican Tody he saw at a New Year's Eve party.

"When the Setter met the Tody again after weeks." Erik continued, pointing his hoof finger at the page. "The whole conversation seemed awkward, but I think they're both in love."

Light chatter came from behind Erik, while Troy, a black timber wolf and Erik's newest friend, nodded contently. "Not bad, man." he said to encourage his friend.

Koray adjusted his glasses, nodding lightly. "Indeed, Erik. They do seem to make that very impression, but they don't quite know it yet," the professor added on as he wrote down some of what Erik said on the board. Erik felt a rush of nervous energy come over him.

"Does anyone else have an impression from the chapter we just read?" Koray asked the class, looking around as he pointed to a robin who had raises her right wing arm. "Yes, Amy?"

"I found the part where the Setter was rethinking the whole meeting with the Tody quite interesting. I mean, he seems interested in her, but he seems too afraid to ask her out, since he's still in a rough shape after all he has been through recently. He seems unable to break himself out of his shell at this point," the robin spoke confidently towards her instructor.

"Very good. I do find that quite intriguing as well." Koray smiled as he wrote down Amy's answer on the board. The cross fox briefly looked towards the clock, seeing it at 4:49 PM. It was time for class to end.

"Alright, guys, for next class, I want you to read Chapters 9 and 10 and write a 750 word summary for each of them. That's another 1500-word essay I'm sure you can handle. Have yourselves a good evening." Koray signaled the dismissal of his class, as students began to hustle to get their stuff together and get out of the classroom. Troy looked over to Erik as the two stood up and zipped their backpacks shut.

Koray approached Erik once more. "Erik, can I talk to you for a minute? I just want to talk about your last assignment." With a concerned look on his face, Erik nodded. "Yes, I'll stay."

"You wanna meet up later tonight and get some homework done?" Troy asked as Erik looked over and swung his bag over his shoulder.

"Yes, I can do that." Erik responded, watching Troy crack a smirk. "Alright, dude, see ya later then." Troy nodded as he headed out the door with the last few remaining students. A minute later, Erik was alone with his instructor once again. Today's meeting seemed to be more serious than last time.

Sighing, Erik walked over to Koray's desk, taking a seat on the chair beside it. He knew he wasn't doing as well as he wanted to, but he was trying as hard as he possibly could. He grabbed his last essay assignment out of his bag and put it on the desk. A 'C-' was marked in red on top of the page.

Koray adjusted his tie and shoved his glasses closer to his face, then began to speak. "I know you did your best on that work, but I'm beginning to think that you'll need some extra help with your homework." He watched Erik look down and nod. Koray sat up and leaned on the desk. "Look at me, Erik."

Erik slowly raised his head as he brushed the hair from his sight, so he could look at his professor face-to-face.

"I'm not here to make you feel like you're not good enough for this class," Koray continued. "I want to help you succeed, because I can see you have potential and I know you're trying. But you have to make the next step, which is to understand and process the material better than you do right now. Do you understand what I'm trying to say, Erik?"

With a sigh, Erik nodded. "I think so. I have been trying to focus a lot on this class, because I realized how hard it is. But I have been studying every day, like you told me to."

"That's great to hear, Erik." Koray nodded, feeling relieved to hear that. "But like I said, you need to take the next step. I want you to understand all this better," the professor looked on as his student nodded.

"Erik, if you don't mind, I would like to talk to your next of kin about this. I usually don't do this, but I feel like someone you're close to needs to know. Is there someone I can reach?" Koray grabbed a paper and pen, as he watched Erik adjust in his seat, taking a deep breath.

Erik found the idea of having his dad involved in his schooling appalling. But at the same time, he knew Blake wouldn't ridicule him for his performance when he had seen his son studying and giving his best shot at an American university.

"Yes, my father. We live together so you can reach him over the same phone number." Erik replied, shifting in his seat, still feeling rather uncomfortable about the idea.

"Okay, great. Thanks, Erik. That's all I wanted to talk about today." Koray copied the information from his class list onto the note pad he was holding. "Don't worry, Erik. I won't tell your father anything bad. I just want to be on the same page with him as I am with you. I want to help you, Erik, that's all. Do you understand that?"

Erik nodded once again. "Yes, Mr. Demir."

Koray nodded slowly, detecting the disappointment in Erik's voice. "Alright, Erik, you may go. Remember Chapter 9 and 10 for next class."

The professor watched as Erik said goodbye and left the classroom.

---

Koray didn't usually bother contact a student's parents; his students were all adults, he shouldn't have to speak with their parents. But this was an exception. Here he had a student with a lot of drive and potential, but was struggling to reach it; Erik Toivonen. It couldn't be easy to be in an English Literature class when English was your second language. So the fox sat at his desk; he'd contacted Erik's father to come in and talk with him. He was just waiting for his guest to arrive and spent some time marking papers instead.

Blake walked down the corridors of the Arts building of Bedrock University, looking for Mr. Demir's office. It felt off to be called in by a college professor, but he knew it's important to hear what his son's professor has to say about his performance in college. He approached the door of Koray's office and proceeded to knock.

Koray looked up from the papers he was going over when he heard the knock at the door, a smile on his features. "Come in, it's open." he called out with a smile, putting his papers down and rising from his seat to greet his guest.

Blake entered the room, wearing a wind jacket over his blue polo shirt, which was showing his bulky frame rather well, along with a dark pair of pants. He walked forward to greet the professor with a handshake. "Hello, Mr. Demir. It's a pleasure to meet you." Koray did his best to hide his surprise as the massive reindeer entered his office, smiling warmly as he moved to shake the ungulate's hand.
"Please, call me Koray. I assume you're Erik's father...Blake, was it?" Koray asked, his tone warm and welcoming as he motioned to an empty chair and moved back to his own. He took a moment while his back was turned to marvel mentally at the sheer size of the man.

Blake firmly shook the smaller fox's hand, nodding in reply to the question. "Yes, Blake is my name." he smiled as he took the empty chair beside him and moved close to the desk as he sat down, looking into the fox's amber eyes. "Now... please, tell me what's been going on with Erik. Has he been good to you?"

"Erik has been fine. He's a good and attentive student. A pleasure to have in class, really." Koray admitted with a smile before his expression changed to one of concern. "He's a fine student, with a lot of drive, but he's struggling with the course material. I understand that English is his second language, and I just wanted to discuss with you some ideas I have to help him."

"Okay." Blake leaned back in his seat, putting his hands together as he thought before speaking up. "What would those ideas be?"

"My first one is trying to speak more English with him at home. I respect your origins and your language, but the more he uses English, the easier it'll come for him." Koray stated calmly from his seat; even sitting he had to look up at Blake slightly. "Another suggestion is getting him a tutor. I have a few I'd recommend."

"In my defense, Koray, I do speak in English with him on and off, but I also don't want him to lose his native tongue. I hope you understand." Blake looked towards Koray, his expression showing concern. "I do help him with homework as best as I can, but a tutor sounds good."

"I completely understand that, Mr Toivonen, and I'm not asking you to drop your native language. But just encourage him to speak more English at home. It won't do any harm." Koray spoke in a soothing tone, not wanting to anger the rather massive reindeer. "I may have the perfect tutor for Erik. I'll talk to her and see what I can arrange. I will also try to work with Erik a little more myself, but I can't focus too much on him. I can't have myself being accused of favoritism you see."

Blake nodded as he listened to Koray's suggestions. "I understand, Mr. Demir... sorry, Koray. You have a whole class to teach and I do not want you to tire yourself with my son. I think a tutor would help him a lot and much more than I could." the reindeer leaned back once more.

"Excellent! I'll get in touch with one of my juniors tomorrow. I think I know the perfect one to work with Erik." Koray said with a warm smile, taking off his glasses for a moment to clean them on the hem of his sweater vest before replacing them on his muzzle. "If you don't mind me asking, Mr. Toivonen, how is your experience in America so far?"

Blake cracked a smile as he readjusted his seating. "It's been great, thank you, Koray. I haven't seen much of it yet though. I did come to America a few months before, as part of my job, so I already had a taste of what it's like."

Koray perked his ears up at the mention of Blake's job. "What exactly is your job?"

"I'm an agent for some basketball players in the FBA." Blake stated contently. "I worked in Europe before, but now I have found work here with some young talent and now I'm guiding them through their first year of their careers."

"Oh that sounds very nice." Koray noted with a smirk. "You must be a busy guy."

Blake shrugged as he leaned forward a little. "Yeah, you can say that. Just keeping in touch with my clients is all I do at the moment. At least it's good money." the big reindeer cracked a joke, but it wasn't very amusing to the vulpine professor.

"When you have passion for your employment, then money should not be an issue." Koray adjusted his glasses as he looked towards the big reindeer. "I most certainly feel that with being a teacher."
Blake nodded as he held his hand up. "Oh, I'm not saying that I'm not enjoying my job, but it's nice to know that having a passion comes with good benefits, including a very good salary."

Koray nodded a bit in agreement to Blake's comment. "That is quite true, yes." he wrote down some information to Blake on a piece of paper and handed it to him. "This is the number of Lindsey, one of the best tutors in the school. Erik should get in touch with her as soon as possible."

Blake took the paper and looked at it briefly, noting the name and number before putting it in his pocket. "Thank you, Mr. Demir. Sorry, Koray. I will give it to Erik when I get home," he readjusts his seating. "Is there anything else you had on your mind?"

The professor replied with a headshake. "No, Mr. Toivonen. That would be all. Thank you very much for coming on such short notice. I know it was a rather unusual thing for me to do, but I want this to go smoothly for Erik and I want to see him succeed just as much as you do." Koray smiled reassuringly towards the big reindeer as the two stood up. Blake nodded as he stretched briefly. "Of course, Koray. I want only the best for my son."

"I'm glad we're on the same page on that." Koray said as he extended his arm out for a handshake. "It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Toivonen."

Blake chuckled as he gladly took the fox's hand and shook it then let go. "Call me Blake. It was very nice to meet you too. But now I have to go. I'm waiting on a call from one of my clients. Good bye, Koray." the reindeer waved as he took his jacket and opened the door to leave the office.

"Of course. See you later, Blake." Koray nodded and waved back as he watched Blake close the door behind him. The cross fox slumped back down to his seat and took a deep breath. A lot of good things came out of this meeting. The vulpine professor was sure he'd direct Erik towards academic success, even if he felt he had stepped over a few boundaries. But sometimes, you have to step out of your comfort zone to help others.