Eric's morning went fairly well, though he found that rumor mill regarding this City Council meeting didn't go away. His ears weren't as good as other weres at picking up some of the soft conversations that went on in the background, but he could hear that there were whispers going around. It left him fairly curious about it, but he figured that Julie's guess from the previous day was probably right and that whatever had triggered this rumor mill probably wasn't as big as it was being made out to be. In that he kept his focus on the days lessons and waited eagerly for his favorite part of the day, lunch.
Intellectually, Eric's favorite periods were in the sciences, but since meeting Julie he'd found that lunch was his favorite time of the day. Even before he began to recognize that he was falling in love with her, he enjoyed meeting with her. It really helped him adjust to so many of Moon Lake's secrets and even made him feel more comfortable with them. Once he began to realize that he was falling in love and after the magic moment that let him become Julie's weremer, it was an opportunity to see his Jewel and talk with her that would go beyond just saying hello in the hall or some brief question/answer segments between classes. Thus, after his last morning class before lunch ended, he hustled as quickly as he could to place his books and papers in his locker before walking on to the cafeteria.
He saw Julie ahead of him in the lunch line as he got to the cafeteria and he made his way to the back of the line. He waited quietly when he heard a male voice call to him, and he turned to see that it was Arthur who was just coming into the cafeteria.
"Hey, Eric," Arthur called to him as he found Eric at the back of the lunch line, "have you heard anything about all these rumors..."
"You too?" Eric wondered, remembering Julie's frustration in the hall over the rumors that had been going around the school and didn't seem to be going away.
"I'm actually not to worried about the meeting itself," Arthur answered, "I'm just more curious about where all these rumors came from... and how they've gotten as far as they have. More often than not, the rumor mill tends to be pretty short lived. It starts and stops and nothing gets too weird. But this one IS getting weird."
Eric had to admit that some of the few rumors that he had been able to overhear were weird. But a part of him figured that some of that words like "weird" and "normal" were all relative. Before coming to Moon Lake and meeting Julie, he would have felt that becoming a weremer would be weird, now though, it seemed perfectly normal and the best thing that had ever happened to them.
"One girl even told me that she thought that they're planning that everyone transforms and goes streaking down a nude beach," Arthur finished as they continued to go through the line. "I mean where did THAT come from?"
"I don't know..." Eric answered his voice tapered off, "but I'm sure things will all sort themselves out."
By this point they arrived at the serving area. Eric collected one of the multi colored plastic trays and slid it along the serving line where the school's lunch staff slid the day's serving into each appropriate box on the tray. He collected on carton of milk and offered the pay card that paid for his lunch through the account that his parents had paid for when they came to Moon Lake. Arthur did the same and they soon moved on. Eric moved toward where he could see Julie sitting and he could see her wave to him. Arthur then moved on for the moment, knowing that lunch was about the only time when Eric and Julie could have time together during the day. Eric sat down opposite Julie to see her give a small smile as he sat down.
"So... how are things going?" Eric asked as he looked to her.
"About as good as can be," Julie answered with a small smile.
"People are still talking?" Eric guessed.
"Or asking me directly," Julie answered with a slow nod. She knew a bit of what this meeting was supposed to be about, but she had promised not to say anything on it until after the meeting was held. The fact that people kept insisting on asking the questions was one of the things that irritated her on the issue. It wasn't repeated questioning from the same person, but often various others asking the same question.
Eric saw her look down and carefully reached across the table to hold one hand for the moment. She did smile and look back up to him. Eric returned the smile and they soon resumed eating their lunches. It was silent for a few moments, as Eric wasn't fully sure on what he could say to give Julie confidence and the school had rules against public displays of affection, which was really true for any school. That meant he really couldn't hold her close to him, and even if the school would allow that the wooden table top between them would impede that.
"Well... hopefully things will quiet down," Eric said hopefully, "or that this meeting will prove to be nothing major."
"Hopefully," Julie nodded, and then she brought up what had been on her mind, "You're sure though that you have to go to this appointment?"
Eric blinked in surprise and then nodded. That was the other thing he knew of and was waiting on. It related to the jealousy he'd had at Arthur getting some of Julie's attention and feared that he'd lose her to someone who was born a weremer. Some of it related to old feelings where he'd felt people outside his family lost interest in him, and he knew he'd overreacted at that. Particularly when Julie had seemed almost horrified that Eric thought that she would dump him and the fact that Arthur also apologized profusely, not knowing that Julie and Eric were informally engaged as far as weremers were concerned. And he even recognized that even while things had been going on in that direction.
"Yes... I may have overreacted and got a bit jealous over Arthur... but I'll even admit that there were some things that I know weren't right," Eric answered, "it may be a good idea to at least talk with Dr. Twist... get things off my chest and be assured that I'm not crazy."
"I could tell you that," Julie gave a small joke and reached over the table to take Eric's hands in her own, "maybe I could have recognized that Arthur was more interested than just as partners on a school project... and from what you told me about being bullied... I can easily understand getting a bit jealous. It's all understandable."
"I know... but it was sudden and I couldn't help but feel the way I did," Eric said slowly, "and in thinking back on it... given how I acted while I thought that you and Arthur... I don't want to risk something that could mean that we run into something more serious than a misunderstanding and I respond in a way that would cause bigger problems. And that relates to where I told you... that I never want to be in a position where I'd hurt you..."
"But you wouldn't," Julie protested, "I've never seen you get angry at anything or anyone here... And you've certainly never attacked anyone."
Eric gave a small smile, "Given the size and strength of some of the larger weres... if I tired anything physical, all I'd do is break my hand... and with some others... I might end up doing is get myself mauled."
Julie rolled her eyes and managed to take a bit of her food as she watched Eric take a sip from the milk carton he had. There was a short silence for a moment while she waited. There was some obvious background noise from what other students were talking about while they had their lunch, and Julie thought she heard some references to the city council meeting, but she kept her focus on Eric.
"But there are other ways that people could be hurt... especially if someone is responding emotionally to something," Eric said slowly, "and I have to admit... that while I was feeling jealous... I... I just felt down, and when my parents tried to help and do the things that loving parents do, I kinda snapped and yelled at my dad... I didn't want to or even mean to... but it just sort of happened. That is why I'm fine with the appointment... just to make sure. And maybe all that's needed is to let off some steam. Still... it'd be best to know for sure. And it'd only be one day."