Before we begin, our previous episode was #500!
As the bell rang in Moon Lake High School signaling the change between the end of third period and the start of fourth, Alex Ramsey and Nate Anderson spotted each other coming out of their respective class rooms, which happened to be across the hall from each other.
"Hey stud," whispered Alex to his boyfriend. "How's it hanging?"
"Not bad. Looking forward to our date tonight," replied Nate.
"Good. I'll pick you up around 5. Light dinner and then off for something very special," promised Alex. "Dress casual. What you have on now is fine," he added, because you won't be wearing it for long once what I've got planned gets underway, Alex happily thought.
"Okay. See you later handsome," replied Nate, using his pet name for Alex, before the boys parted company, knowing they'd see each other again during Junior Class lunch.
MEANWHILE...
Eric Anderson couldn't help but smile as he spotted his girlfriend/fiance Julie Stovall in the lunch line at the school cafeteria.
"Hello my jewel," he whispered, once Eric was close enough for Julie to hear.
"Flattery will get you everywhere," she teased, while smiling back at him.
"Slight change in plans. Dance lesson is at my house this afternoon, for at least as long as Nate's available. He has a date with Alex tonight," explained Eric.
"Those two are really getting serious," observed Julie.
"Not quite as serious as we are, yet," commented Eric, while staring at the single pearl necklace Julie wore proudly around her neck, telling all the were community who knew what it meant that she was a happily engaged were-mermaid.
"Give them time, my love. Give them time," replied Julie, before the happy couple went through the lunch line together.
"Okay. Let's find someplace to sit and eat, and we'll compare our respective days so far," suggested Julie, as she carried her tray away from the cashier.
"Besides missing you and awaiting precious moments like this?" asked Eric, as he followed her.
"Something like that," replied Julie with a smile, as she started looking for two empty seats next to each other in the cafeteria.
ELSEWHERE...
"Okay. Lunch time," announced Coach Katherine "Kat" Johnson to her assistant gym coach sub Martha Anderson at Moon Lake Junior High.
"Is the food here any good?" asked Martha, as she followed Kat to the cafeteria.
So far that day, Kat had been leading the girls gym classes in a jog around the school building since it was still relatively decent weather despite being the last week of October, while Martha kept time and a head count, making sure all the "stragglers" made the complete lap and weren't trying to lollygag to the point where they might have a chance to skip that class, if not the rest of the school day as well.
"About as good as any school menu, I suppose. It meets government mandates, but certainly lacks... something," admitted the gym coach, who insisted on being called Kat instead of Katherine.
Over lunch, the two ladies swapped life stories.
Martha's was brief, with parts of it (like the rogue werevixen Yvette Smith attacking and changing her husband into a werefox against his will) already public knowledge to the Moon Lake Community at large.
The only thing she never mentioned was why her family moved to Moon Lake to begin with, because William's past discretions were just that, the past. Becoming weres had done wonders for their marriage, especially with his vulpine life/soul mate bond to her, and except for the fact that her husband would still be paying child support for the "mistake" until the baby turned 18, she wanted to concentrate more upon their future happiness in Moon Lake.
Kat's story was different.
"Technically, I was born in 1970," she began.
"You certainly don't look like it," observed Martha.
"Thanks. Anyway, my parents were hippies on their way to Canada so my biological father could avoid the Vietnam War draft. But they were both stoned out of their gourds and crashed into Moon Lake itself. I was rescued by a were-mer who happened to be enjoying the water, but they didn't make it."
"Sorry to hear that," said Martha, with genuine condolence.
"Anyway, with no known family, I was adopted by the Johnsons, a family of weretigers and named Katherine, because no one knew what my real name was. The only ID my parents had were fakes, referring to themselves as Moondust and Starshine. Anyway, when I was old enough to do so, I willingly became a weretigress and came out of the closet as well, although I never realized I was in one to begin with."
"What do you mean?"
Kat lowered her voice before saying, "I'm a lesbian. Always had this sense that I was different, but never acted on it until after I became a were. By the way, I think you're quite attractive and would love to get to know you much better, if you know what I mean," she added with a smile.
Martha looked at the other woman and whispered, "If you haven't already sensed it, I'm a bi-werecat, and I think we can arrange something mutually satisfying for both of us sometime," before smiling at Kat.
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I didn't go into as much detail as I did during her Moon Lake of Earth 3 (a thread I've got to get back to when time permits) debut, but Kat pretty much has the same origin story in both worlds.
Have to get ready for work now.
Good night and take care.—tmw.