“Morning.” Ben Twist said when Nate and Eric came out of their house. Martha stood in the doorway waving goodbye to her sons. Then she went back to preparing for her own day of work.
“You feeling alright Eric?” Ben saw Eric had his brow furrowed, and he was chewing his lip nervously.
“Just a little nervous about my first day, that’s all.” Eric said, referring to his first day back at school post-were transformation.
“You’ve got nothing to worry about. Trust me.” Ben said. Though he knew the rumor mill had already started, no thanks to their gossiping pack-mate Megan Brown. Eric didn’t have that many friends. So luckily he hadn’t gotten all the invasive text messages Ben and Nate did.
Neither said anything for Eric’s sake, but were a little worried Eric wouldn’t respond well to all the attention The most popular version of the story (regarding Julie’s interrupting Eric’s initiation ceremony), was that Julie all but bared her beating heart to Eric, but he turned her down. And she went into some kind of state of shock.
“Listen, if you do have any trouble, we’ve got your back.’ Nate turned around in his seat to look at Eric in the back. Eric’s face brightened some when Nate spoke. And Ben nodded in agreement, adding that five pissed off werewolves would win in any fight (unless it was with six angry werewolves).
“Five?” Eric repeated He counted himself, Nate, Ben, and probably Alex. Who was the fifth?
“Dude, you didn’t forget about your girlfriend did ya?” Nate snickered. Eric slapped a hand to his head. He’d been so busy worrying he forgot about Cassie.
Thankfully, that rumor mill hadn’t started yet. But by the end of the day, Ben guessed the school would know those two were an item. And any werewolf with a good nose would know they were more than just an item.
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Once at school, Ben and Nate gave everyone staring a dirty look. Eric was reluctant to get out, but once he did he get like he just showed up to school naked. A few of Julie’s girlfriends were watching from across the parking lot and whispering to themselves. A couple of guys were sizing him up.
Only three students approached them; Alex, Cassie, and to Ben’s horror Megan. He didn’t know what she could want, but it wasn’t going to be anything good. She walked straight towards him, like the others weren’t even there. Cassie smiled and waved at Eric, obviously not wanting to show any public affection in front of half the school.
“Awkward silence, check.” Alex muttered before Nate jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow.
“Ow, what? Just trying to lighten the mood. Or if you’d rather us all stand here for the rest of the day…” Alex looked at Nate.
“We should go inside, classes will start soon.” Ben said before Nate could respond. As the others went in, Ben pulled back, and then yanked Megan to the side to see what she wanted from him.
“Alright Megan, what do you want? More info so you can spread more rumors? Ben demanded.
“And a good morning to you. Look, it’s not my fault if people misunderstood the information. All I said was that Julie Stovall came to Eric’s initiation and made a big stink about him dumping her.” Megan said defensively.
“He didn’t want to break up with her in the first place!” Ben said.
“Well that’s not what Julie thought. After Eric told her she spent the afternoon locked in one of the bathrooms crying. You know how mermaids are with their stupid fairytale endings and crap. One little bump in the road and they go all to pieces.”
Megan wasn’t shy about openly expressing her dislike of weremer. Well actually it was just the female mer she had a problem with. As she put it, “they’re air headed blonde bimbos who smell like fish more often than a girl is supposed to”.
“Ugh, don’t you have anything better to do than gossip?”
“Eh, not really. But any who, I wanted to ask you about the other night with Sasha.”
“How did… nevermind.” Ben resigned, knowing Megan was more than capable of getting any information she wanted. In that sense, she’d make a great detective, or journalist.
“So, did you enjoy yourself as much as she did?”
“Im not sure. I didn’t realize she enjoyed it that much.” Ben was honestly surprised. He didn’t want to say anything about what a good time he had for fear Sasha didn’t enjoy herself as much as him. But maybe she had after all…
“First wolf she’s ever tried so you left quite the lasting impression. Anyway, since your night was cut a bit short, she asked me to give you this.” Megan held out a small note and then went on her way. Ben watched the she-wolf strut across the parking lot, drawing eyes as she did. Megan really was something else.
Ben opened the note and read, “Free 4 round 2 later tonight. I’ll be waiting at the same spot around 7.” Ben smiled and tucked the note safely into his pocket before entering the school too.
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Eric and Cassie walked to their lockers together, which were closer than they expected. Unfortunately, Julie’s was also relatively close, and the outside of her locker was plastered with “Get Well Soon” cards and the like.
Eric hung his head in shame as he went to his locker to grab his books for his morning classes. Cassie tried to comfort him, but with all the stares they were getting, she decided it would be better not to. Most of their class already had opinions of Eric, there was no need to add fuel to the fire.
“Hey, stop torturing yourself so much. Nothing that happened is your fault, and you know it.” Cassie whispered to Eric as they walked to their classrooms. The had to part at the second floor landing, where Eric still had another flight of stairs to ascend.
“It’s not that really. I know I’m not responsible. I’m just… not used to all the attention. It’s kinda freaking me out.” he admitted.
That made sense to Cassie. During Eric’s first few days in Moon Lake, the only thing she’d noticed about him was that he was kinda cute, and very quiet. Like introvert quiet. All the staring and attention was a lot to take in. But Cassie was glad it wasn’t the Julie situation doing this to him.
“They’re just gawking at how handsome you are.” Cassie said, stealing a quick kiss while they had a moment alone. Eric smiled weakly and thanked her for the compliment.
“I’ll see you at lunch. Try not to let those guys get to you. The Eric Anderson I’ve become acquainted with is nothing like the person they see you as.”
“Acquainted with? That’s it, I haven’t been friend-zoned I’ve just been aquaintanced?” Eric joked.
“Acquainted with, in love with, whatever you call it means the same thing.” Cassie smirked before running off to her first period class. Eric climbed the last flight of stairs, finding his step had a bit more bounce to it now.