Tad was quick to get up and prepare for school after his alarm went off on Monday morning. Moon Lake still had the shadow of the results of the debate on Tom Herald's proposal from the debate the previous Friday night, and Tad though he could hear some signs of that sort of thing going on outside. It wasn't shouting arguments and fistfights, or at least Tad didn't think so, but there were some amount of debate that Tad thought he could hear out in the woods and areas around his house. It was something that his mother had kept him inside for over the night.
But the arrival of the Ross family had put a hold on at least some of those frustrations. At least for Tad, because while he had found a good girlfriend in Amy Howler and had made a few friends in Moon Lake, Connor Ross was the best friend that he'd had before Moon Lake and now the Ross family had essentially followed him. Tad figured that Connor's father had to have been promoted around the same time as his own father's death or shortly after, and thus setting up the move for the Ross family. The fact that it had occurred and that they'd come to Moon Lake might be a coincidence, but it was one that Tad liked and that had him eager to get ready for school, and his mom and Claire both noticed as he prepared himself.
"This Connor and your son must have been very close," Claire said to Jen softly as they watched Tad eat and eat quickly.
"They were good friends, yes," Jen nodded, "when we got to Quantico... I enrolled Tad in the public school that was off the base as it would give him a wider experience than just the base itself. And while he made a few friends... Connor was the one that he got along the best with. They'd often hang out at the Ross house or in the park playing frisbee... generally because with the post 9/11 security measures it would have been hard for Connor or his father to get onto the base as they weren't in the military or a member of some other government agency... but still, they did a lot together. Which will make the fact that the Ross family took Moon Lake's secret well an even better thing."
Tad didn't pay attention to that and simply hurried on his way as he finished breakfast and grabbed his backpack on the way out the door. As the front door latched behind him, he caught sight of Amy, walking with her brothers Jay and Leon toward the bus stop for their street. Tad smiled and moved to catch up with her. She heard him coming and turned her head with a small smile while brothers smirked and elbowed one another for a moment or two. Amy ignored them for the moment.
"Hey, Tad, missed you yesterday," Amy said to him as he crossed the street and joined them on the way to the bus stop.
"Sorry," Tad gave a weak smile, "but an old friend of mine came to town yesterday... I actually spent much of the day hanging out with him and helping him move in..."
"Oh... is he like you? A were from outside Moon Lake?" Amy asked as Jay and Leon also looked to Tad.
"No, Connor's a normal, as is his family," Tad answered, "though they did take the news about Moon Lake... and me... EXTREMELY well."
Amy raised an eyebrow at that, "How well?"
"Like he already knew about weres and was supportive," Tad answered.
"Did he know you were a were?" Jay asked curiously.
"No, I'd never told him... and the family was surprised when I helped Mrs. Twist with the welcome, so they hadn't figured it out by other means," Tad answered.
Amy was quiet for a moment and bit her lip as she did so and then finished with, "well... THAT might help ease all the fears some will have about the plans for the big reveal and all that. Most... even those that agree to be the family were aren't so openly supportive at first. Do you know when he'll start school?"
"Should be today," Tad answered, "it wouldn't surprise me if his dad did everything online or had a discreet visit here to sign the paperwork before either buying the house... or renting it... and so on. I was hoping we'd meet him before classes start this morning."
Amy nodded and they quietly made their way up to the bus stop where there were a few others waiting for the bus there. A few more joined them as they waited for the bus. It did eventually arrive and the group climbed on with Tad and Amy finding open seats near each other. Jay and Leon went elsewhere to sit. From there the bus then continued down the road until it reached the rounded nub at the end of the street that was just wide enough to let the bus turn around. From there, the bus then headed back toward the center of town, dropped off any and all elementary school students at the elementary school and then made its way toward the high school.
There was still a bit of time before even the warning bell rang when the bus arrived in front of the high school. There were a few other buses there and another one pulling in behind the bus that Amy and Tad were on. As it came to a stop and the doors opened they stood up and walked out. Tad was actively scanning the front of the school area, looking for any sign of Connor. As they got onto the sidewalk, Tad did finally catch sight of Conner. For the moment Connor had his back to him and was talking with Ryan Chang about something, though from Ryan could overhear, things sounded fairly calm. He didn't see Ava, but then it was possible that Ava had already gone into the building.
And that was a good thing. Ryan was a pretty good guy, so far as Tad could tell. The werewildcat was relatively smart and made for good conversation in the classes that they shared during the day. It was during these periods that Tad shared some things with Ryan on his past with his father being a Marine Corps officer and his own ideas in being a computer/video game designer and so on. Ryan then talked about his family, with his father and mother and technically half brother, but they got along that he and his elder brother got along well enough they considered themselves brothers.
From what Tad knew, three years before Ryan's mother met Ryan's father, Hu Chang, she'd been with some random werewolf at a pack meeting. The meeting had gotten into fairly typical werewolf meeting, and while Ryan's mom had enjoyed the meeting, she'd also missed her birth control pill for the day and had been in heat at the time. The result was Ryan's older half-brother. The father was identified but couldn't offer much, though when Ryan's mother met Hu, things got better in a hurry. Ryan's parents fell in love, got married, and then had Ryan, who always had his brother there as a sort of guardian... until recently as Ryan's half brother, Marshall, had gone to study in England.
"And it looks like we'll have company," Ryan said to Connor as Tad and Amy got closer making Connor stop and look over to see Tad approaching.
Tad noted Conner turning around and then smiled as they got close enough to shake hands.
"So, making friends already?" Tad asked to Connor.
"Yeah... ran into Ryan on the way to the bus stop from the house... not much of a ride," Connor commented slowly.
"Moon Lake doesn't have much in the way of rural routes," Ryan told him, "likely because we're in a valley with mountains on all sides... there just isn't the room for it."
"And most times, most of us will walk home if we don't have a car of our own," Amy added as she came up next to Tad.
"Connor, this is Amy Howler," Tad introduced his friend from Quantico to his girlfriend in Moon Lake.
"Howler?" Connor wondered. "You're a werewolf too?"
"Yes," Amy nodded, "though that has little to do with my name."
"And we've been dating for a little while now... nothing too big outside of some romantic walks in the woods, among other things," Tad answered.
Connor looked Amy over, and noted that the eighteen year old female was slightly shorter than Tad, but well muscled and proportionately as curvy as Samantha Twist was. In fact he'd even noticed that a good many of the other students on the bus were rather athletic looking in some ways. Some of the females didn't quite have that look, as he figured that women with chests that big wouldn't have much in the way of balance, but he had no room to judge or complain on anything. After all for the moment he was still learning about Moon Lake and things.
"Yeah... a lot of this is rather interesting... who would have thought that weres were real..." Connor spoke, his voice falling off at the end, "and ultimately nothing like the movies. There's so much that I'd want to learn..."
"Good to see that you're positive about things," Tad replied with a smile.
"Though right now... it may be best to be careful with who you ask questions about weres and to especially be careful on how you ask those questions," Amy commented, noting a tone that sounded like Connor was a fan of weres, which wasn't exactly a bad thing, "as there are some things going on right now that some people may be sensitive on."
"Like what?" Connor asked, looking between Tad, Ryan, and Amy.
"Last Friday a werefox from Seattle proposed that weres come out into the open... declare our existence to the world and thus provide proof that no one can deny," Ryan commented, "and it's been a surprise in most ways and will have Moon Lake on edge for awhile. Though I'm sure if you're friendly and polite, you shouldn't have a problem."
"I can do that..." Connor answered.
"You may also want to be prepared to be focused on school work as you start," Tad warned, "We aren't at the end of the fall semester yet... but things have gone far enough that the teachers probably will you to try and catch up as quick as you can. I had to do the same when my mom and I arrived."
"No problem," Connor nodded as the warning bell went off and they hurried their way toward the school doors.