While Lionel Ulysses killer was at the hospital in Moon Lake, Tom the reporter tried to dig into the facts behind the oddness to Lionel Ulysses' arrest, and his mom began her work to get back into the job force, Tad focused on the one thing he really could and that was his school work. Classes went by as they typically did and the teachers did try to keep things on task, but Tad did notice that those who had either seen the news report or heard about it from their parents did seem to be nervous on it. It showed in either hushed conversations or in the way many of them carried themselves, just as Amy's brothers had been nervous.
Some students talked about other things. He overheard something about "Eric Anderson and Julie Stovall," from some underclassmen in the hall, but he had to get to his own classes and couldn't pay attention to what the freshman students were talking about. He remembered meeting a Nate Anderson after his welcome ceremony to the pack that he'd joined, and privately wondered if Nate and Eric were related, but from what he knew, Nate was a Junior and didn't share any classes with Tad. If he was to get a chance, he'd need it to be a meeting in the hall, which could be difficult to put together. The only other chance would be to try and meet with Nate after school, hopefully before he and his friends left. Until then he had only his classes.
He also wanted to chat with Amy, mostly about many of the things that was normally talked on between high school students, but while he did share a class with her, that wasn't until the afternoon. Right now he still had his morning classes and was coming up to the hardest one, Government. It was one of the classes that all Seniors were required to take during the year and Tad found it on his schedule in the morning. It wasn't necessarily super hard, and the teacher had generally tried to use as much real world discussion to make the subject as interesting as it could be, but it was also another of those classes that many students simply didn't want to take. The actions in Seattle, however, also made that morning's class a bit more active than expected.
"Settle down, class, settle down," the teacher and older looking werecattle, who's muscular body still looked very strong, though obviously without the look of grace that many other weres had.
Tad looked forward and sat quietly as the teacher calmly strode forward from his desk to the smartboard at the front of the room. The teacher passed a small podium and picked up a remote and turned it on while the rest of the class did settle down a bit, though Tad could still hear some whispers about what had happened over the weekend. The screen in front of them then brought up a picture showed a large oval picture with the US Capital Building inside it.
"Now, class, last week were working with the form and function of our government with the main legislative body, Congress," the teacher spoke, "now, does anyone remember the main purpose of Congress?"
"To pass laws," one student commented.
"To give representation of all the people in the government," another student added.
"Even weres?" a female student next to Tad asked, bringing things back to what happened in Seattle.
The teacher nodded to the first two students, "Yes, Congress does pass laws and legislate on the issues that we all face, and in its way they do represent all Americans." He then turned to the student beside Tad, "and in pure theory, weres ARE represented, but we also have to remember that representation will be based on the people who run for the Senate or the percentages of the population for the House.... and that will relate to the population data."
"So... weres might not be represented?" the student next to Tad asked again, sounding nervous.
"You can't know if members of the government are weres, they'd all be in hiding too!" another student argued, "especially after what that dumb-ass rat did!"
Tad noticed the young woman beside him shy away. She was a wererat and likely felt nervous because of the fact that the were who might have exposed their existence was a wererat. It was one of the things that Tad was still learning about Moon Lake, as the individual were-groups within the town seemed to judge themselves even more than others did. He remembered overhearing a couple of the werefoxes in the school apologizing to Nate and once to a younger male with brown hair for what Yvette Smith had done. If the werefoxes were the most hurt by the actions of one of their rogues, it'd make sense that wererats would also be the most nervous and perhaps upset by the fact that one of their members also "went rogue."
"Cole, language," the teacher spoke with an almost bellowing voice, though keeping the volume down enough that he wasn't startling everyone in the room or other rooms. "I'm sorry, Sasha, but I'm afraid that there is no for certain answer as to whether or not there are actually weres in Congress at this time. Weres outside of Moon Lake are likely to be far more secretive of the truth about themselves than we are here in Moon Lake for fairly obvious reasons."
"Will they outlaw us?" the student beside Tad, Sasha, asked. Her eyes were wide, and Tad was fairly certain she'd been borderline terrified through the course of the day.
"That'll depend on whether or not weres are fully exposed and people believe it and what happens as a result of that exposure," the teacher spoke in an assuring voice, "but it is probably safe to say that there are many people who could be quite tolerant of us... much more so than in the past, simply for the fact that much has changed over the years."
"You think so?" Sasha asked.
The teacher nodded, "When my family came to Moon Lake, slavery was still a legal practice, and while it did take a war to end it and the consequences of it haven't been fully repaired... things aren't as bad for African Americans as they were in 1859. Things may not be perfect, but they are getting better..."
"Our situation is a bit different from the slaves," Cole countered, "people think we're mindless lust filled beasts with no control or control but no soul."
"If weres are exposed though... in the past, weres were hunted one at a time and they had no real strong point that they could legally defend themselves from," Tad commented, "I'd think that Moon Lake is different and has a plan to handle such a situation."
"That it does, Mr. Decker," the teacher gave a smile, "very astute and very correct. And with that plan and with all the outlets of the modern world, we have the means with which to demonstrate that we aren't mindless lust filled beasts with no control or control but no soul. Which could shape how we are viewed and would lead to laws being made that represent that viewpoint within how the government, and in this particular case, Congress, functions."