Breakfast came and went quietly in the Anderson household after a relatively quiet night. While comforted by Frances and by Nate's apparent calm with what had happened in Seattle, William and Martha had only cuddled in each other's arms, relishing the feel of being close and never wanting that closeness to go away. They did sleep well, but as happens almost every Monday across America, they felt they could have gotten some more sleep when the alarm went off. That soon had them up and preparing breakfast and getting ready for the day, and their preparations served to help rouse the others.
Nate wanted to sleep a bit longer, but between his alarm and then his werewolf ears picking up the sound of the master bathroom shower turning on he wasn't going to get much of a chance. He tossed off his blankets and quickly began to resume his more human form, his fur slowly pulling back inside him, his feet shortening and changing to fit a more plantigrade stance, his claws rounding and shortening, his teeth dulling as his muzzle crunched backward into a more human face. Despite some of the audible pops and cracks as his bones shifted, the transformation was quick and painless as Nate went from his werewolf form to his human form, and soon went about getting dressed and getting ready for school.
He came down and went about getting some breakfast ready. He collected a packet of pop tarts and placed the pastries in the toaster and moved to wait patiently for them too cook, though he also did his best to make sure he was out of his mother's way as she poured herself a cup of coffee. His father and brother came down shortly after and the family settled down to breakfast, before they headed out for the day. William was the first to head out, as he had to be at the college before his students arrived, and left after giving Martha a kiss on the cheek. Nate and Eric weren't too far behind him.
"You two have a good day at school," Martha said to them.
"It will be," Eric smiled, "I'll get to see Julie on the bus ride to school, at lunch, and then walking her home."
"Okay," Martha gave a smile, "you may have to stop by the office on your way in. The school may keep files on which students are weres and which are not. They may want to know that you've become a were."
Eric nodded then departed toward the main bus stop, where he hoped to find Julie waiting for him. Martha, meanwhile, turned to Eric who was getting ready to walk next door to get his ride to school with Ben.
"I'm riding to school with Ben and Alex, mom," Nate called to her, "and Alex wants to go out for a dinner date on Tuesday, will that be okay?"
"Sure... so long as you get your homework done and keep focused on the important stuff," Martha answered.
Nate nodded and dashed off. He heard his mother ask what time on Tuesday that Alex wanted to have this date, but he'd moved far enough away that he didn't want to yell back across the lawn. He'd tell her more either after school or at dinner. He made his way over to find Ben on his way out toward his car.
"Hey, you ready?" Ben asked to him.
"As ready as I'll ever be for a Monday morning," Nate gave a small smile, "Hopefully the teachers decide to give us a break."
"Maybe," Ben commented, "but they had the weekend free... they'll likely make up for it today. The only thing that might change things would be relating to what happened yesterday."
Nate looked to Ben and nodded as Ben moved to climb into the driver's seat of his car.
"Did you hear anything from Alex?" Ben asked as Nate climbed into the front seat, "Is he coming to meet us or are we going to him?"
"I think we go to meet him," Nate answered.
Ben nodded as he backed up his car and they were soon on their way. They had to go a little bit further to get to Alex's house, but that didn't take too much time and Alex was actually waiting for them when Ben pulled up in front of the Ramsey home. Alex rushed out climbed into the backseat.
"Where's Eric?" Alex asked as Ben pulled back onto the road.
"He went to ride the bus with Julie," Nate answered.
"Young weremers and true love," Alex commented.
"Eric..." Ben began.
"He and Julie made love this past Friday and he became a very happy weremer," Nate explained to Ben as they rode along toward Moon Lake High School.
They arrived to find that there was some commotion in the halls as they entered the building and prepared to go to their lockers. The conversation soon played to some nervousness over what had happened in Seattle.
"At least the media thinks it was a costume piece," a female student commented to her friend next to her, "maybe people will think it was only a costume."
"Maybe... but that doesn't mean that everyone buys it," a second commented, "One disbeliever could blow the whole thing open. Especially since the police didn't say anything about FINDING the tail. So if it was a costume, it'd stand to wonder... where is the tail if it is a costume?"
Ben didn't hear the girl's answer, but sighed heavily.
"Things will be a bit tense here for a while," Nate commented off hand as he looked to Alex and Ben.
Both fellow werewolves nodded and agreed without saying anything. As they came to a flight of stairs, Alex did speak.
"Yeah... I didn't hear about it until I got home," Alex commented, "my folks had the news on and they included some reports on what happened."
"Things may be tense," Ben answered, "but so far it's nothing that Moon Lake hasn't survived before."
Nate and Alex nodded in agreement. Things may be tense for awhile, but the hope that things would settle down would die away. The three werewolves could only hope that their assumption that things would work out we played out.