The ride to Moon Lake High went fairly well for Nate and Eric. They did manage to get out the door on time, and Ben was there to pick them up. They then followed with the standard route to pick up Alex and then head over to Moon Lake High School. It was something that became a fairly normal routine for the Anderson boys, though there times when Eric occasionally took the bus when he knew that Julie would be riding the bus that picked up students on Wood Street and taking them to the school. It was also a fairly calm ride with Ben noticing in the rearview mirror that Eric seemed to be in better spirits than he'd been in the past couple of days, which was a good thing.
"Another school day," Alex said as he stretched after they arrived in the parking lot at the High School.
"And hopefully a normal school day," Nate commented, his thoughts on his brother and glad that he seemed to be doing better.
Nate managed a small smile as Eric climbed out, thanked Ben for the ride and then took off like a shot toward the school's front doors. Eric didn't go in, however, as he met and leaped into the arms of a certain blond haired weremermaid who was waiting for him on the front steps. That was truly something that Nate was supportive of, as even without the issues that had been between their parents in Minnesota, Nate was also well aware of the bullying that Eric had endured from other students. Nate had also seen how withdrawn and private Eric became, even after his father made it clear to the Middle School Eric had been at was responsible for those that bullied Eric, but while they'd been in Minnesota, there hadn't been that much that Nate could have done to help Eric. Then came Moon Lake and its "magic," as Eric met Julie and seemed to open up in ways that Eric had never been, even before he'd been bullied. Like his parents, Nate loved seeing that growth in Eric and had been afraid when it looked like Eric was sliding back into that isolation. Seeing Eric and Julie happily hug on the school's front steps was a big thing that assured Nate that his little brother would be fine.
"Or as "normal" as Moon Lake gets," Ben commented as he shut the car door, letting Nate and Alex chuckle at the joke.
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And for Nate, much of the day did go as normally as things could be in Moon Lake. He had his classes, some of which were harder than others, but he was able to maintain some degree of focus as the teachers went through their lessons of the day. However, even in his human form, he'd picked up some whispers here and there through the course of the morning. Some of it seemed pretty normal, as while most of Moon Lake High's students were weres of some kind, that didn't mean that things like rumors and gossip didn't disappear. He remembered some things being rather trendy in the realm of gossip over the past couple of weeks.
The biggest thing that he'd heard on recently had been in relation to a history teacher getting into a fight with another were before the Halloween Dance and clawing a Normal human by accident. The rumors made various claims on the teacher being rogue or having actually done it on purpose, which made it pass through the school even faster. Though by the past Monday, those rumors had largely vanished as the teacher not only returned but Nate had overheard her talking with one of the other faculty members that not only had the normal scratched forgiven her, but that the two of them were engaged. In this, Nate was well aware that rumors could travel.
However, the teachers often kept pretty tight control over their classes. Some, Nate figured because they were weres that were old enough that their original education in teaching was one that was pretty authoritarian in nature. Some because since they were weres themselves, the teachers could hear the whispers two and had to interject into them to keep students on task. In fact about the only classes that Nate had through the morning where those whispers didn't really decrease was when the teacher was a Moon Lake Normal, or at least Nate thought the teacher was a Moon Lake Normal. Unfortunately, he'd often been just far enough away that he couldn't pick up everything. He thought he heard the words "meeting" and "special" from time to time, but beyond that, he wasn't sure.
It left him curious, and thus by the time the Junior class lunch period started, that curiosity was getting the better of him. He sat down with Alex and Ben at one of the tables with a couple of others nearby as well and brought up the subject.
"Have any of you heard about what's been whispered about today?" Nate asked to Alex and Ben.
"Whispered about?" Ben wondered, "Don't tell us you're getting into gossip, Nate."
"Not gossip," Nate answered raising a hand, "it's just... I've had a couple of classes where I swear I've heard something being whispered about a special meeting."
"I think I've heard some of it too," Alex commented, "though... never could pick up everything. I think it's something that relates to something that happened at the City Council Meeting on Monday."
"That's something that Felisha told me," a new voice spoke up, making the three werewolves turn their heads to see the female werehorse that was sitting there.
Her name was Brittany, and she fit what was to be expected from most werehorses, even in her human form. She was tall and very muscled in a way that didn't cut into her femininity. Though, neither Nate nor Alex really cared about that part. For the moment, Nate's greatest concern was with his curiosity at what was going on.
"She said that one of the representatives called for a special meeting on Friday," Brittany explained.
"Any idea on what it was about?" Alex asked.
"I think it was in relation to something about the future... or something like that," Brittany answered, "I can't quite remember what it was exactly, now."
"Might just be some new business or something coming in," Ben guessed, "that sort of thing happens from time to time when new businesses come to Moon Lake. The rest of it is probably just gossip over who made the suggestion and not worth paying attention to."
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And Nate wasn't the only one who heard about these rumors. Eric had heard about it as well. Though he didn't hear about it until the end of the day, mostly as his hearing out of water wasn't that different from before Julie lovingly welcomed him into were society, and thus he didn't pick up on people whispering in the way Nate, Alex, or Ben could. And by chance, neither Julie nor Arthur had heard about it during Freshman lunch and no one had approached him prior to lunch on the issue. That however changed at the end of the day as Eric began to pack his backpack to head home for the day.
"Hey Eric," came a familiar voice from his right which made Eric's heart flutter for a moment.
He quickly finished collecting things for his homework and pulling out his backpack before shutting his locker to find Julie standing there. Eric smiled happily as he saw her, and his weremer eyes seeing the bright glow around her. She looked a bit contemplative about something at the moment, which puzzled him a bit as he looked to her.
"Hi," Eric answered, "is... is something going on?"
"Did you hear anything odd today?" Julie wondered.
"I don't think so," Eric commented. He might have seen Spencer from time to time in the hallways between classes, but he didn't hear anything odd. "Did you hear something odd?"
"I didn't really hear about it until the end of the day," Julie answered, "but it sounded like some kind odd rumor."
Eric raised an eyebrow as they began to go down the stairs toward the ground floor. They got about halfway down the stairs before Julie then continued her report.
"Someone came up to me and asked about some sort of special meeting that the City Council was to be having," Julie commented.
"Well... that might make sense, as didn't you tell me that you do pay attention to some of the things your dad does?" Eric asked he glanced to her.
"I do... but my dad is the Mayor," Julie answered, "he's not required to attend City Council meetings. And a lot of times... what the City Council deals with is pretty mundane. So... when someone asks about a special meeting being called for... I'm just as lost as anyone else. I'd hoped that you might have heard something."
"I can't say that I have," Eric managed after a moment, "Sorry."
Julie's response was to give a low shrug and then look forward, "It's okay... I suppose. If it's big... I'm sure we'll hear more about it. If not... it'll just be another thing in the rumor mill."
Eric nodded to that, and simply looked forward to walking home with Julie.