“Eric if you don’t get your sorry butt down here I’m leaving without you!” Nate shouted. His parents both winced, they were only standing a few feet from Nate when he yelled. He muttered an apology.
“It’s alright, Eric probably wouldn’t have heard you otherwise.” William said.
“Sorry, lost track of time.” Eric said, rushing down the stairs. He only had enough time to dress and grab toaster waffles before following his brother out the door. His parents once again noticed the energetic bounce in his step and wished him a good day.
“At least he’s happy, and safe.” Martha thought as she watched both sons leave. William gave her a condensed version of the talk he had with Nate. They both had their own concerns, but agreed not to jump to conclusions until Nate actually introduce them to this mysterious Kenya.
“Hey, someone looks happy.” Ben Twist noted when he saw the younger Anderson beaming in his seat. Nate was driving them today, since he father didn’t have any Monday morning classes he didn’t need his car until later.
“I’ll say. You should have heard him singing in the shower this morning.” Nate snickered, bumping Eric’s arm.
“As opposed to your banging your head against the wall.” Eric said. Nate blushed, since he hadn’t exactly been banging his head against the wall. As usual, Eric was blissfully unaware of what he was really doing. Thinking of Kenya, and playing with himself on his bed. Guess he was a bit noisier than he thought he was.
“Where’s Alex?” Nate asked, realizing Ben was sitting in the backseat by himself.
“He only woke up after I called to ask if he needed a ride. Said to just go on without him.” Ben said. He gathered Alex got back home pretty late last night, even if Moon Lake was only about fifteen or so minutes from Moon Lake.
“So, you’re all caught up to speed on stuff then? Bet you wished you’d stayed home this weekend. Or was it all worth it?” Ben asked Nate.
“Well, it was certainly something…” Nate said.
“You’re not sore because Eric got Spencer are you?” Ben whispered. Nate was glad there was a red light ahead of them, because otherwise he might have caused an accident. His foot still hit the brake pretty hard, and Eric complained as his seat belt choked him back.
“Sorry,” Nate said to Eric before addressing Ben.
“Why would I be upset about that?” Nate whispered.
“I dunno. Maybe because I saw her kissing you Friday?” Ben said. He hadn’t mentioned it before, thinking nothing of the act at the time. But now that Eric seemed pretty interested in Spencer, and vice versa, he was curious. He didn’t know how serious Nate was with Kenya.
“That wasn’t… I ‘m fine with those two going out.” Nate said, getting a bit flustered.
“Alright, just wanted to ask. Sorry if I struck a nerve.” Ben said. He could hear Nate’s heart rate accelerate a bit, and wondered if Nate really was “fine”. His reaction wasn’t the sort most people would have if they didn’t have any feelings. But Ben knew better than to press the issue in front of Eric, who was still trapped in a bubble of happiness.
Nate parked the car in the school parking lot, and then sat there for a moment. Ben and Eric both asked if he was alright.
“Just need a second to think.” Nate said. Eric shrugged it off and walked away. Ben lingered, worried he put thoughts in Nate’s head he hadn’t had before. He left eventually, mentally kicking himself for saying anything in the first place.
Nate relaxed once they were gone, and tried to calm himself down. Why was he getting so worked up over this? Ben was just acting like a concerned friend. Nate was the one overreacting.
“Get it together Nate. You’re trying to work things out with Kenya, not Spencer. Wrong panther, wrong panther…” he said to himself. Pushing all thoughts of both from his head, he walked into the school. A few of his other male friends approached him and started asking about his brothers apparent battle with some crazy weredog.
“This is going to be a very long day,” Nate thought.
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Eric found he was having a similar experience as Nate. Countless classmates, and even a few teachers, came up to him and commended him on his chivalry. He just blushed and tried to tell them the truth, that Spencer was the one who ended up fighting Jeremy. Of course no one really listened.
But by the end of the day, the real news circling around the school was Julie and Eric’s breakup. And that wasn’t pleasant for either party. Eric felt sorry for Julie, though he knew she brought this on herself for cheating on him.
“Getting your just desserts.” Eric thought. He didn’t want Julie to be unhappy, he wasn’t bitter or out for revenge. Still, watching her walk into the lunch room with a discernible scowl didn’t damper his day. He found himself sitting alone, glad to have the privacy. Julie came in with some of her girlfriends, looking worse than miserable.
Eric tried to make himself small, but she still found him. They looked eyes for a moment, before Julie turned away angrily.
“What’d I do?” Eric thought. He hadn’t said anything to anyone about their breakup. Why was she in such a foul mood? Was it because of what happened with Spencer? Had he moved on too fast? Well, considering that Julie had been very invested in her wereotter for the past two months, Eric didn’t think it too wrong that he found someone else.
“Guess she didn’t have him on as much of a leash like she thought.” one of Julie’s friends from that morning commented. Julie had gone to stand in the lunch line, still scowling. Her friends glanced back and forth from Julie to Eric sitting by himself eating a sandwich.
“I still can’t believe she hooked up with Brian. I mean, of all the guys she could have chosen why him?” another friend asked.
“Uh, didn’t you two hook up last summer Lisa?” the first girl giggled, her blond hair shaking around her head as she did.
“Well, ya. That’s why I’m surprised Julie picked him. He’s like the third worst guy I’ve been with.” Lisa said, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder haughty.
“Third worst? How many guys have you slept with? Five?”
“Oh shut up. You’re just jealous because you've only ever hooked up with one guy.” Lisa said, as Julie rejoined them. She didn’t feel like eating, or talking, or doing anything except crawling into a hole and spending the rest of her life angrily stabbing a picture of her mother. A bit of an overreaction sure, but Julie’s mother wasn’t known for being strict.
“Julie, you going to just stab that salad or eat it?”
“I don’t know Dana, maybe. Or maybe I’ll just stuff it into Eric’s pants.” Julie said.
“”Geez, no reason to bite my head off.” Dana said.
“I’m sorry. I’m just… I don’t know.” Julie said, putting her hands on her head. The headache she’d been fighting since this morning was returning with a vengeance. It was bad enough she missed her first period class because she spent the morning crying in the bathroom. Dana put a supportive hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, it’s alright. You’re upset, and angry at yourself for making a mistake.”
“Oh please, what mistake? Sure she could have done better than Brian, but what’s the big deal? We all know Eric’s the poster boy for chastity.” Lisa remarked.
“Lisa!” Dana said, hoping no one heard her.
“What? Tell me I’m wrong. You should have gone after his brother, Nate’s much more of a catch. And at least he’s already a were. Granted a werewolf, but a little variety never hurt no one.” Lisa said smirking.
“God no wonder mermaids have such a reputation for playing the field.” Dana grumbled.
“Look whose talking, little miss ‘chase my boyfriend around the woods in my undies’! You and Owen got caught chasing each other around the lake! I’m not the only one living up to my species reputation!” Lisa laughed. Dana blushed as red as her fur when she was in her werefox form. She herself was still grounded for her little excursion with her boyfriend that morning. Not as severely as Julie, but grounded all the same. She hadn’t even seen Owen outside of school since the incident (his parents came down pretty hard on him too). **
“Why don’t you talk to your parents about what happened? Your mom did have a bit of a severe reaction.” Dana suggested.
“Are you parents still fighting?” Lisa asked.
“Not exactly. They finally had the fight we all knew was coming the other night. But I think they’re going to really start trying to fix things.” Julie said. At least one good thing came of the weekend.
“Well, try to catch them in a good mood and talk to them. And uh, your mom’s probably right about apologizing to Eric.” Dana added, stealing a glance to Eric. He’d finished his lunch, and was reading a chemistry book.
“i don’t know what Julie, or even Spencer, can see in him. He’s so… Dana couldn’t even come up with an adjective to describe Eric and his quirks. Julie couldn’t either. She found herself staring at him too, also wondering what it was she liked about him in the first place.
**Reference to Entry 15 "Moving Day". Werefox and wereracoon were seen by a normal, running around the forest in their fursonas.