The end of the day came as it always did and Nate Anderson slowly made his way to his locker from his last class. He had some homework to do, but not too much, though that let his mind wander a little bit on what had triggered the school's announcement that all after school activities, at least for the day, were cancelled. Nate had some clue as to what the cancellation was about, in order to give the school the ability to respond to things that had happened and get policies in place that would determine how to deal with things if fights like the one before school continued. The one thing that Nate really couldn't figure out was why the immediate cancellation.
For while Moon Lake's situation was different from other schools, Nate would have figured that policies for things like this were already in place. To run into problems between students was not something that was new to Moon Lake in 2015. Sure the were thing might be new to Nate, but that didn't mean there were other things that teens might fight about and that schools would have to pay attention to. The kids that bullied Eric in Minnesota before his eight grade year there were the sort that came to mind when Nate thought on the present issue. In this, he'd figured that Moon Lake should have had some awareness on possible policies for fights and arguments that could potentially grow out of control.
"Hey, you ready to go?" came a voice from behind him just as he reached his locker.
Nate turned around to see Alex coming up with his bookbag ready and zipped up. Likely because Alex's last class of the day happened to be closer to where his locker was, while Nate had to go farther. He pulled up on the locker's opener to collect the things he'd put in there at the start of the day.
"Just about," Nate answered, "thankfully... things were pretty light on homework... at least for me."
"Lucky you," Alex answered, "though... I suppose with everything cancelled for after school activities today... there will be time to solve for Y and all that."
"I still don't get all of it," Nate commented as he put the books he needed into the his backpack along with the rest of the materials needed for the homework he had, "surely the school's already had policies for this sort of thing..."
"The present reveal is pretty new," Alex answered as Nate shut his locker, "sure there may have been some who wanted share things with the world... but to my knowledge, it's never actually gotten to the point where anyone's convinced the City Council to go through with it. And thus raising a sort of hot button issue sort of thing that the school... and probably the town in general aren't fully prepared for. For Moon Lake has a lot to loose if things go wrong."
"That issue is new... but that doesn't mean it'd be the only thing that people may have argued over," Nate commented, "and there are plenty of hot button issues. For many... homosexuality is one of them."
"Not really in Moon Lake, though," Alex commented, "it's taken some legal juggling and all that to protect Moon Lake's werecats and werewildcats... but the acceptance of them in Moon Lake is the same, and really at levels that has only come about more recently in places. As such... Moon Lake hasn't had that sort of issue. Because weres have tended to be targets of human hunters more than anything else... the intent has been to keep Moon Lake balanced and free from those prejudices..."
"And apparently unprepared for when people have different opinions," Nate commented, "a few fights here and there and the school has no policy in place to deal with something that could trigger fights?"
"Probably nothing on this scale and on a situation that would be uniquely important to Moon Lake," Alex gave a shrug as the two made their way toward the front doors of the high school and planning to meet up with Ben for their ride home. "It'll be likely that they revise some existing policy that's there for other issues with ideas that would relate to this issue particularly."
The two nodded and went through the inner set of doors that took them into a small entryway room that separated the main hallway from the doors that lead outside. As they entered they came across a tall and highly athletic looking male, even by were standards. Alex recognized him as a Senior werehorse named "Stanly" and the frown on his face gave a pretty clear indication that he was not in a good mood. Stanley came right up to them with a fairly clear look of intent as he did so.
"This is all whack, man," Stanly said to Nate and Alex, while standing before them and staying in front of them, "the Thanksgiving Day game is one of the few events of any school year in which we get to have real sporting events... Sure it's flag football this year, which is a bummer, but still it's better than nothing."
"Yeah... I know how you feel," Alex answered, hoping that this was all Stanly was on about. "But I'm sure this will only be for a day... while the teachers all meet to discuss what they will do to handle some of these sorts of things going forward. Make sure no one is fighting."
"The fighting is fine... just make it a boxing match," Stanly answered, "it'd still be better than just sitting around with books..."
Stanly looked between the two werewolves that were before him. Both looked a bit nervous and Nate the more nervous of the two, but he had to get something as to why everything after school had been cancelled for the day, and most had brushed by him and often moved in a crowd. However, for whatever reason, Nate and Alex had fallen behind some of the other students and thus, Nate and Alex would be the ones he'd vent his frustration on.
"I mean would it really be that important for all this because a couple of guys got into a fight before school started?" Stanly spoke in protest, "we ought to picket. Say we want our sports, that sort of thing."
"I'd think that after the fight this morning and concerns that people are reacting the wrong way to the City Council's vote from last Friday that they're being understandably cautious," Alex commented as he and Nate took a step to the left, only to have Stanly match it by moving to his right.
"That's dumb," Stanly spoke, "Let them talk on this plan. I'd bet it more likely that the guy can't put a thought together and things go back the way they always were without any problem..."
"Maybe," Nate commented, "but then what if it's more necessary than people think? What if it's more contentious than you think."
"If it were necessary something would have already happened," Stanly answered, "cancelling our after school stuff because of it gets in the way..."
Nate and Alex stood there quietly not hearing a side door to the office open beside them. Stanly wasn't necessarily the violent sort, but at times he could be stubborn and opinionated and had lead to some rumors that went around the high school that his fursona should have been based off a Mule rather than the American Cream Draft Horse breed. This had left them listening to Stanly's comment until a new voice cut in.
"Is for the moment a measure needed to assure that the student body is safe," came Principal Andrews' voice from the doorway to the high school's office, "for keep in mind that not every student here is a were. We cannot have people letting their emotions get out of control to the point that a normal is turned by accident. The consequences of something like that would be far bigger than the loss of a sporting event."
That drew attention to the werelion principal who stood there holding the office door open. Even in human form, he stood with an impressive enough stature that even Stanly backed down a bit.
"And once we're sure that our procedures are tweaked to make sure that everyone follows all the rules and that students understand that fighting will not solve problems," Principal Andrews spoke with his eyes glancing between the three teams, "we can resume our extra curriculars. And we think things will be handled well enough that they should be able to resume tomorrow... That is if we don't get reports of more fights at night or threats of breaking the rules."
"Yes, sir," Nate and Alex answered almost in sync. Stanly did accept it, but said nothing.
"Now, move along," Principal Andrews spoke, "as you are expected to be on your way home at present. Best be on your way."
There were a few nods and Stanly then backed off to let Nate and Alex by. The two of them were quick to make their way out and hustled down the steps, largely hoping to avoid any increased pressure with Stanly as he followed behind them. There were a couple students sitting by the edge of the lawn with a teacher standing present as chaperone as they were waiting for the buses to arrive, but Nate and Alex turned to the parking lot where they found Ben waiting by his car with Eric and Julie nearby as well.
"Hopefully we're not too late..." Nate said to Alex as they moved along.