Rachel Van Direstag muddled through her morning classes, the warning of her dream from that morning as well as her discussion with Melissa Jenkins going through her head. She felt that she needed to make a decision soon, else she'd have that choice taken from her because of her father. She didn't know the penalties of trying to leave town without the Mandatory Were Law filled, and she didn't want to know. The sooner she made a choice, the better before something bad happened. She looked at the paper she made that morning before school, listing the options that she made earlier. The top one that read "werewolf" was not only crossed out, but scribbled out so to be unreadable. By the time study hall time arrived, she had most of the things crossed off with two things still active on her list. As soon as the bell rang, Rachel made her way to study hall.
Once she entered the library, she saw a familiar redhead girl motioning Rachel to join her and her group. Rachel moved to join the group as Melissa got up and gave Rachel a hug. "I'm so glad to see you, Rach. Come, and join us," Melissa said as she motioned to an empty chair. Rachel sat in the empty chair as Melissa sat next to a rather large built young man. "Guys, this is the friend from Michigan I told you about. Her name is Rachel Van Direstag." Rachel waved a little nervously to the people in the group. "Rachel, these are the friends that welcomed me to Moon Lake when I first moved here. This is Trevor, Jason, Megumi, Roy, and Alice."
"Hi," Rachel said again. She noticed that all of the men and women there were particularly built well like most of the other students she saw. "Are all of you...weres?"
"Yeah," Roy answered, "Trevor's a bull, Jason's a tiger, Megumi's a hot vixen," Megumi rolled her eyes when Roy said that. "Alice's a rabbit, and I'm a wolf." Rachel flinched and moved away from Roy when he said that. "Um..." Roy said when he saw Rachel's reaction, "Did I say something wrong?"
"Sorry," Rachel mumbled, "It's just...things have been weird since I moved here." She looked at Melissa Jenkins, who put a comforting hand on Rachel's arm. "I mean...I had this weird dream and...well..."
The group looked at each other before Trevor said, "Hey, if there's anything we can do to help, we'll help. A friend of Mel's is a friend of ours too." Rachel smiled when she heard that.
"It's just...I've had this dream...of myself. Warning myself that my father's going to do something stupid...that'll cause everyone in my family, including myself, to be changed into werewolves."
The people in the group looked at each other before Megumi asked, "Is anyone else in your family a were or have decided to become a were?"
Rachel shook her head, "Not that I know of. Dad's sorta against it, and Mom's supporting him. Frank seems at least open to learning about it and Rob, my little brother, seems to think it's all a fantasy." She ran a hand through her hair, "I mean, I've heard of some law but...they wouldn't, would they?"
"The Mandatory Were Law," Jason said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, that's it," Rachel said. She thought for a moment and asked, "I mean, the town couldn't...could they?"
Jason sighed and said, "That's something my dad's involved in. It generally hasn't been a problem ever since they changed the law back in the 1980's when only one member of the family had to join were society." He paused as he thought for a moment, "Normally, a family has a week to decide who'll become the were and then some time after that to actually follow through on that decision. And since only one member has to do that, it made enforcement a bit easy. While there's a provision to force a change, it's never been used since the law change."
"But..." Rachel said rather slowly, "It could happen."
"Well, if the family does something to indicate that they won't follow the law, the town could have several options, including forced transformation," Jason said with a rather serious face. "Like I said, it's never been used..."
"But..." Rachel said, with a bit more fear in her voice, "It could still happen...I...I...don't want to be a werewolf."
"Is that what your dream warned you of?" Megumi asked softly. Rachel didn't say anything as she nodded her head.
Melissa pulled Rachel into a comforting hug as Rachel almost cried into Melissa's chest. "Listen," Melissa said softly, "I'm your friend. I've always been your friend even before we moved here, and I'll still be your friend even after this. I'm not going to let anything happen to you that you don't want. Not if I can help it."
"Thank you," Rachel said softly, holding back her tears.
"Yeah, and I've said before, any friend of Mel's is a friend of ours," Trevor said as he put a gentle hand on Rachel's shoulder. "So, what Mel said goes for us too." Rachel smiled as she looked up at Trevor.
"Thank you," Rachel said as she looked up. "Um..." she said as she went to her backpack and pulled out a sheet of paper. "I've been working on what group I should join. I've narrowed it down to two...bear and fox."
"Not a bad choice," Megumi said, "Just keep in mind that once you join, there aren't any do-overs. You'll be in that group for the rest of your life."
"I...I know," Rachel said.
"It's not like she'll have much of a choice," Roy said, "We can help her out if she can make a decision."
"Roy!" Alice said sharply, "This isn't a choice to be made lightly."
"I know, but if what's she saying is true," Roy replied, "She's gonna lose that choice if we don't act fast. Werewolves are cool and all that, but it ain't cool to force someone to be a werewolf." Rachel giggled a little when she heard that and Roy just gave a half smile. "The way I figure it, all we need to do is get her some birth control pills, find someone to change her, and get the deed done tonight. Doesn't seem to be all that complicated to me."
Alice sighed as she said, "I suppose under normal circumstances, I'd say she'd need to wait and take her time."
"But these aren't normal circumstances," Trevor retorted. "Rachel, do you think you might be able to make a decision?"
"I...guess so," Rachel said slowly.
"Then the answer's simple to me. We support Rachel and her decision the best we can." As Trevor said this, the rest of the group nodded their heads. It wasn't going to be easy, but it's something that they all could agree on. It was at that point that the school bell rang, signaling the end of study hall and time for lunch.