The day had been rather quiet for John. He did his best to follow along with Henry as he made some household repairs with things. They weren't much and some of them were probably projects that Henry Jenkins normally wouldn't need help with, but John was happy to help and doing so gave him something to keep his mind off of some of the things that had been troubling his mind of late, and there were plenty of those things. Some related to who he was and where he leaned. Part of him was getting some of the realization that he was in fact bisexual and that years of his father's rants on the subject had made him fearful of truly discovering things had left him nervous over who he was attracted to, given some of the things that had happened in Alabama.
There, he had had one altercation in which a boy in his class said that he loved John and had something of a "first kiss," even if it was more a kiss on the cheek than anything else. But John had never been repulsed by it, which surprised him, and in a way he liked the other boy a bit too, but knew that if he was gay... he'd never be able to show that before his father. However after Jenny and Harry had saved him from that, he'd met Ginger O'Toole and a part of him was really stricken with the weretigress. She'd been kind to him, understood some of the things he was wrestling with, and she looked really good in her wereform. The fact that she "turned him on" while in that form also gave him some hint that he might be bisexual. Which might not be bad, but he still had no way to know for certain, at least for now.
But who he was wasn't the only worry at the moment. That now included this whole reveal and some of the negative feedback that had come to the Jenkins door. One classmate of Harry and Jenny's had even come to say how bad it was. And if it was bad, a part of John couldn't help but worry over what would happen. Would the National Guard be sent in to find out who was a were and who wasn't and send him and Janice back to Alabama, and a father who Jenny had just saved them from? Some nightmares he'd had imagined things even worse with his father leading an angry mob off to kill him and another weretiger, though John could not remember who the other were was. He was fairly certain the Jenkins knew about his nightmares as Jenny and Harry gave him hugs and said "I love you" before they left for college that morning, and that left his mind worrying on that.
With all that on his mind, he sat on the front deck of the Jenkins house and looked out over the quiet suburban neighborhood, which looked quite normal to any outside viewer. His focus though was on the sidewalk going past the Jenkins home as he hoped to see Ginger come by. He felt he could talk to her on some of these things and get some hopeful assurance that things had gone well for her and thus maybe his nightmares were just the result of his own mind going over too many things. It was something that made him quite glad at the budding friendship with Ginger, and eventually he did see her and her brother walking along the street nearby. That actually got him to his feet and he waved to her. He couldn't help but give a small smile when he noticed her look to him and wave back. He then quietly waved as she said something to her brother and then came toward the Jenkins home.
"Hey, John," Ginger said as she approached, "you haven't been waiting all day by yourself, here, have you?"
"No, not all day," John relaxed a bit as he walked back to the bench and patted on the pad that was there for Ginger to sit down beside him. Ginger didn't sit down though and stayed standing, which made John frown, "Is something wrong?"
"I... I really don't know," Ginger answered, "supposedly a couple of kids got into on the way into school this morning with regard to the reveal and one lost a tooth in the brawl... and I've heard a couple of rumors here and there that would indicate that there might have been some other altercations like that over the reveal... and that the school wants to get control over everything... and have policies in place for that sort of thing. Probably try to prevent future fights and plan out the school's disciplinary action for such behavior."
"Even if it wasn't on the school's time?" John asked, some of his worries coming back a bit stronger, a few visions of his father leading a mob after him and an unknown weretiger. His subconscious mind then added in, what if that weretiger was Ginger... and it made lump swell in his throat. For if there were fights at school and elsewhere, that could mean things could escalate and no matter how much Harry and Jenny might wish to protect him, if some other were that was bigger came in opposition to the reveal, they wouldn't last long and if someone like their father came... it could end in gunfire, just as his nightmares implied.
"It's part of the thing that has been part of Moon Lake," Ginger sighed, "it's not like the Colony in "the Howling," where everyone was a werewolf waiting to go out to just hunt people in secret and hid that they were werewolves while doing that... But that doesn't mean that Moon Lake wants that kind of chaos on its own streets either. If two weres get into it and get hurt during the day... and start transforming as a response... that's where something like a camera-phone or some guy with a video camera could stumble onto something odd and what many have wanted to prevent happens anyway."
"And this fighting would be that much of a concern?" John asked.
"With regard to Moon Lake's safety... yes," Ginger answered, "some of this will probably blow over because of how big it is... but for the moment people will be concerned about it. And the town and the school are responding accordingly, and with the instruction that everyone went straight home after school, at least for today. Likely as the school plans on how to handle things."
"So... you can't stay?" John asked nervously.
"I'm afraid not," Ginger sighed and looked down, "I told Fred that I would stop by long enough to let you know what's going on... but I can't do much more than that. Likely as the school will have gotten out calls to families regarding the situation... if I were able to spend the night, that might be okay... but that wouldn't be my place. I'm sorry."
"Yeah," John said weakly, his hopes dashed on talking with her over his nightmares and what she could analyze out of them. Largely as something out of their conversations had seemed to put him at ease and even make him more willing accept the possibility that he might be bi, even if he still had questions in that regard. It only increased his worry over this reveal creating things like his nightmares, even if it was more weres fighting each other than his father leading an angry normal human mob.
"But as I said... things will calm down... hopefully soon," Ginger promised him, noting how down he looked, which broke her heart, "and I will try to keep you up to date on what happens. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow."
"Hopefully," John sighed as Ginger nodded, gave him a small and nervous wave before turning back and dashing off in the general direction of the O'Toole home.
She left John sitting there with his eyes focused on her to the point where he ignored some of the other high school aged students that came by the Jenkins home. It left John wondering on how this would be going elsewhere in Moon Lake and with other families. It didn't necessarily help his personal pain, but a part of him also recognized that some things were bigger than him, that fights had broken out. A part of him wanted to be there by Ginger's side and protect her, as any good friend would, but he also recognized that if someone went after her that was another kind of were, Ginger would have to protect him rather than him protecting her. He sighed at that, collected some of the things that he'd brought out that had been a part of routine that he and Ginger had sort of established after she got out of school and went inside.
He came in to find the Jenkins and Lisa going about some personal business. Henry was looking over some mail, likely a bill for something while Lisa was showing Janice some of the sorts of patterns that Janice could get into if she ever wanted to take up quilting, stitching, or any assorted needlework as a hobby. Harry and Jenny weren't back yet from the college and that left John with a heavy sigh.
"How did it go John?" Janice asked to him when she heard him sigh and setting the pattern book down.
"Troubled," John sighed weakly and slumped onto the couch, "there was a fight at the school today and because of some other stuff that apparently happened last night... the school has everyone from the school having to go to their homes. Ginger could only stop by long enough to say what was going on."
"This would be about the reveal, I'd assume?" Henry asked from the kitchen.
"I think so," John said weakly, "and... well..."
"You're worried about her?" Janice asked, her voice not teasing but concerned.
"Yeah... I mean... she'll be my best friend," John answered, "I wouldn't want her hurt because someone feels threatened by her for some odd reason."
"I'm sure it's just jitters over the reveal idea," Lisa commented, "Moon Lake's been too used to things like this being made with fairly weak points... often because it's some lovestruck were that simply wants to embrace who he is as often as he can and has no point better than that. The fact that this time someone DID have a better argument and convinced the City Council to vote in favor... that's bound to rub some people's fur the wrong way. It'll take time to smooth things out, regardless of which way they're settled."
John nodded, but his worries about that sort of thing leading to him or Ginger... or both being hurt still remained. And occasionally it included the worry of his father leading such a hate drive mob. It was something that didn't work well when all he had was hope, at the moment.