William and Martha Anderson had been sitting in the outer office of Moon Lake High School since their arrival, after talking separately to the Vice Principal on the phone. The secretary and her assistant had been very nice to them both, even to the point of getting something along the line of "refreshments", but were unaware that they had totally missed their son Eric, let alone anyone else involved since there was more than one entrance into the administrative area of the school.
Now, as Sheriff Cooper started to walk past them with Julie Stovall in custody after talking to Mayor Stovall about Cathy Shaffer, both Andersons stood up and demanded to know, "What did you do to Eric? Is he alright?"
"Mister and Mrs. Anderson?" began Sheriff Cooper, stopping in front of them. "I've already talked to and have taken a statement from your son. He's fine, but we will need to make arrangements for Eric to testify when Julie Stovall's case comes to trial."
"Whatever we need to do," began William, while holding his wife's hands. "We're just glad Eric's okay," he added, as the last bell of the day began to ring, indicating school was officially dismissed until tomorrow.
Just then, Martin and Melissa Stovall came out of the Principal's office after needing a minute to collect themselves. They stopped in mid-step upon seeing the Andersons, uncertain what to say, but Martha knew what was on her mind.
"If my son becomes a were-mer because of your daughter..." she said to them, as she began to growl as menacingly as a werefox could.
"There's no risk of that Mrs. Anderson," said the Sheriff calmly, while stepping in between Martha and the Stovalls, with Julie still in tow. "From what I saw, Eric's a fine and healthy werepanther."
Both William and Martha wanted to say something, for this was the second time that reference had been made in regards to Eric, but remained silent as Julie spoke.
"Mister and Mrs. Anderson," she began meekly, staring at the floor, unable to look at them.
"Yes young lady?" prompted William.
"Please tell Eric..."
Then Julie paused, collecting her thoughts before saying, "Please tell Eric... he better enjoy life while he still can!"
With that, Julie smiled as Martha gasped, Melissa started to faint into her husband's arms, and Sheriff Cooper dragged his prisoner away as William started to growl menacingly.
William held his wife for a moment, then stared at the Stovalls. From all appearances, they were just as surprised by Julie's last words as he and Martha had been, but there was no way William was going to let the insult go unanswered.
"Sir," began William, while approaching Martin Stovall. "We are not meeting under the best of circumstances, and I hope Julie gets the help she seriously needs, but while my family just moved to Moon Lake this past summer, rest assured that we will NOT be voting for you in the next election!"
Martin Stovall simply nodded in acknowledgement as William took Martha's hand and led her outside the administrative offices of Moon Lake High School.
Standing there in the corridor watching the students file out for the day, they started discussing what they should do next when their oldest son Nate approached.
He quickly filled them in on everything he could, including showing them the now viral video of Brian Walker breaking up with Julie Stovall.
When Nate finished, Martha said, "While in hindsight we understand why now, we're not happy that you boys lied to us about Eric's injury, but we can discuss that later. Where is he?"
"Now that school's out for the day? With Spencer for sure, and maybe Frieda Knight as well," began Nate, explaining Frieda was a werepanthress friend of Eric and Spencer's, before showing them the text message he received from Eric earlier.
'No need to pick me up after class. Will be a "you know what" soon. [wink emoji] Please let mom and dad know not to worry. I am fine.'
Martha and William looked at each other.
'So it was true' was the unspoken thought between them. Eric was about to have his fondest wish concerning his love for Spencer Lawson granted and become a werepanther in the process, if he wasn't one already.
Martha leaned in close to her husband's ear and whispered, "You do know the only way it could have happened before now, right?"
William simply nodded and whispered in return, "We need to keep this between ourselves," to which both Martha and Nate nodded in agreement. Being a werewolf himself, he had heard their conversation easily.
Before any of the Andersons could say or whisper another word between them, the secretary came out and said, "Principal Andrews sincerely apologies for the delay, but would like to speak to you now if possible."
With that, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson started to follow the secretary as Nate said he would see everyone at home later.