Richard van Direstag sat down on the ground after Samantha Twist left the house. He was in a bit of a shock to say the least after hearing the news about this town. He wouldn't have believed it if he didn't see Samantha turn into a talking cat right before his eyes. But what shocked him more was the Mandatory Were Law. At least one of them would have to give up their humanity and become one of...them. He ran a hand through his hair, still unsure of what to do.
"Dear?" he heard his wife Rose ask him. "Are you all right? I mean..."
Richard sighed and said, "I'm just not sure what to do. Does one of us have to become...one of them? What happens if we refuse? Should we get out of here while we still can?" He took a deep breath and said, "I'm just not sure what to do."
Rose pursed her lips as she knelt down beside her husband. She pulled him into a hug as it calmed him down a bit. Frank stood by as he leaned against the wall, also not saying a thing. Richard took a few deep breaths as he processed the news. There was a part of him that just wanted to pile the family back into the van and get out of town...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile back in school, Rachel sat down at a lunch table along with the rest of the sophomore class. She sat quietly at her table as she observed the room and the rest of her class. What is it with this class? Her concentration was broken when a certain red-head girl sat right across from her. The girl stared at Rachel for a bit before asking, "Rachel? Rachel van Direstag?"
Rachel blinked for a moment before replying. She was trying to figure out who this girl was and why did she look so familiar. "Yes? And you are?"
Melissa Jenkins put a hand to her mouth and then said, "Oh my god! It IS you! I got your email but I didn't think you'd be here so soon." Rachel blinked a bit more as she tried to figure out who this girl was.
"Mel? Is that...you?" Rachel asked slowly.
"I just can't believe you moved all the way from Michigan to be here," Mel said. "And yup, it's me."
Rachel finally broke out into a smile as the two girls squeed and hugged each other. The two of them noticed that the students around them were giving rather strange looks and then they sat back down.
"It's been...like...forever since I've seen you," Rachel said. "And it's good to see a familiar face. But...you look so...big since the last time I saw you. Did you get a growth spurt or something?"
"Ah, well, you see," Melissa replied as she tried to think of something to say. "Um...you don't know...do you?"
"Know? Know what?" Rachel asked. She looked around the room before replying, "Come to think of it, there's something rather strange about this place. Everyone looks so...buff." She turned to look at Mel again. "Including you."
"Well, yeah, there's a good reason for that..." Mel said. "You haven't gotten a visit from the city hall, have you?"
"No, why? What's that got to do with what's going on here?" Rachel replied.
Mel sighed and said, "Look, this town's...special. Like...really special." Rachel just gave her a strange look. It was then that the school bell rang, singling the end of the lunch period. Mel sighed and said, "I don't think there's enough time to explain right now. Do you have your schedule with you?" Rachel nodded before handing Melissa a scrap of paper. Melissa studied it for a moment and then said, "Oh good, we have literature class last period. Look, I'll explain everything, but after class, k?"
"Wait, explain what? Why are you acting so strange?" Rachel asked, but Mel skipped out before answering any of her questions. Rachel huffed as she gathered her things together and made off to her next class.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the same time, Rob was in his freshmen study hall. He was supposed to be studying his books, but he was too busy studying the girls. Even though most of them were his age, they all had this figure. More than a few times, he'd see the girls seeing him look at them, and he'd quickly turn away as if he were reading. During one of those times when he was "looking" at his book, he heard a female voice call out to him. "Hey." He looked up to see one of the girls standing right in front of him.
"We noticed you looking at us," the girl said with a bit of a smirk.
"Oh, um, sorry," Rob mumbled as he looked deep into his book.
"No, it's cool," the girl said. "We're used to it by now. She took a moment to study Rob. "You must be new here. What's your name?"
"Rob," he mumbled even more. He could feel his face turning red talking to this girl.
"Rob, huh? Well, the name's Amy." She took a seat right next to him and leaned up against him. "So, you new here, Rob? Where you from?"
"Michigan," he mumbled softly. It was then the bell rang singling the end of the study hall.
Amy sighed before saying, "Well, it's good to meet you, Rob. I guess we gotta go back to class." She took a moment to lean in and whisper into his ear, "And next time, try not to be so shy." Rob's face heated up as she got up walked towards her group of friends. Rob watched as they walked away. But before they left the room, Amy looked back and winked at him.
Rob shook his head and asked himself, "What was that?" He then gathered his things together and proceed to his next class.