Melissa felt quite pleased with the fact that Rachel seemed okay with being her family's were. It eased a lot of the worries on her mind that had been there when she found that the Van Direstags were actually moving to Moon Lake, as she knew that some Moon Lake's unique attributes could be troubling. She even remembered being uneasy and nervous about those things to, and only accepted being the Jenkins family were because of the knowledge that neither her nor her father would really have anywhere to go after moving in and the fact that her father was heavily mourning for her mother at the time. Of course, from there things changed, and for the better...
Her dad started falling for Virginia, and while his becoming a weretiger could have gone better, it made him happy again. She'd met Trevor and soon found herself falling for him, too. While the timing of her becoming a werecow could have been better, Melissa didn't regret it. The only problem was that their transformations had meant big changes in both of them, even in their human forms, and that might make helping Rachel seem a bit difficult. Thankfully it seemed that Rachel responded relatively well and was willing to be her family's were, though some of that might have been a panicked response to dreams she'd had. That might be some issue of concern going forward, but while Rachel was still researching weres, that wouldn't be too much of a problem... at least so long as her parents gave her the time, which Melissa couldn't be fully sure on at present.
Though, from what Rachel had narrowed her choices down to, there were some difficulties. Getting Rachel information on werefoxes was easy, as Megumi could handle that with first hand experience, the other part though was finding a werebear, and that wasn't as easy. Particularly as Melissa didn't think she had a werebear in any of her classes, though she did have to admit that while her sense of smell was better after becoming a were, it wasn't so good that she was going to be tracking things by scent any time soon. And with the time between classes being a bit limited, there wasn't much that Melissa could do with regard to stopping and asking people along the way.
"Excuse me... do you know a werebear?" Melissa asked to one student in the hall after leaving her first post lunch class.
"Maybe," the other student, who carried a werebull's scent with him, answered, "but aren't you and Tyson a thing? Seen ya in the halls..."
"Yes, Trevor and I are a thing," Melissa grumbled, mostly because the other student's comment seemed to be more of a pass at her than actually answering her question, "but this is for a friend of mine who recently moved here. She might want to be a werebear."
"Ah... well..." he began, "I think so, but I gotta get to class. If you can't introduce me to your friend after school, maybe I can point out the werebear before he goes home... though he might be going for the Thanksgiving Day game too..."
And with that, that student disappeared into a doorway for his next class, which Melissa couldn't follow as her next class was in a different part of the school. She gave a heavy sigh and moved on, hoping that Rachel might have had better luck.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rachel's search for a werebear was a bit more difficult, largely because as a normal human being, she didn't have the enhanced senses to tell who was a were and who was not. Based on the guidebook, she could guess at who might be weres and who might not be, but she had to admit that there were a fair number of weres that would have fairly similar builds to each other. There were some cases where there were differences between specific weres, but none of them necessarily fit well with what she was looking.
"You doing okay?" a voice asked to Rachel as she sat at open space at a hexagonal shaped table.
Rachel looked up to see a young teen, about her age pulling out the plastic chair to sit down beside her. They'd met the previous day in this class and did okay, though Rachel was a bit distracted at the time trying to figure things out at the time to interact all that much. Now, though, she needed some of that interaction if she was going to be able to arrange a meeting with a werebear representative.
"Yeah... I'm doing okay," Rachel managed, glancing over her shoulder to see that the teacher was at his desk and hadn't started anything yet, "just trying to go over things that relate to... stuff..."
"Yeah... things in Moon Lake can be a bit overwhelming for new students, particularly those are new," the other girl answered as she set her books down and slid the chair in so she was seated next to Rachel, "before Halloween... there was this girl who moved here from Michigan, I think, and I have her in one of my morning classes. She seemed rather lost and overwhelmed on her first day here... though she did adapt, and managed to find Moon Lake High's most gentlemanly bachelor."
"That'd probably be Melissa Jenkins... and I'm glad she's doing well," Rachel nodded as she looked over to other girl, and then sighed, "Sorry... I was a bit out of it with these things, yesterday..."
"Gloria Stone," the other girl answered and shook hands with Rachel, "and it's okay. Any idea on what were you'd want to be yet... or did your parents decide to take that dive?"
"No... my parents wouldn't want that," Rachel answered, "my older brother might... or at least he seemed willing to learn about weres... but my folks... they've seemed to be against the idea and that's made me a bit nervous about them doing something stupid and losing any choice in the matter..."
Gloria nodded and let Rachel then continue.
"But I've leaned toward either werefoxes or werebears," Rachel answered, "I've met a werefox who'd be happy to share some of those details after school... but I haven't met a werebear yet... or at least I don't think I have."
"I think I can help... I have a werebear in one of my morning classes named Jack," Gloria commented, "and he's pretty laid back for a werebear. I could let him know you want to talk and introduce you to him at lunch tomorrow... that sound good?"
"That could help..." Rachel said slowly, "at least with getting some information on them beyond the general descriptions that are in the guidebook..."
"No problem," Gloria answered and was about to continue when the period bell rang and the teacher moved from the desk to shut the door and begin the period's lesson.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Melissa was a bit nervous as she came into her last class of the day, as her attempts to get something to help Rachel had either met dead ends, ran out of time between classes, or a few cases like the earlier conversation in the hall in which the student she'd talked to took it as an excuse to hit on her. In this, she hadn't had much luck in helping her friend. As she entered the classroom she found Rachel sitting quite calmly with a small smile, which was a big step up from the previous day at the same time.
"Tough afternoon?" Rachel asked as Melissa sat down in the desk behind her friend.
"Not too bad with regard to classes," Melissa answered, "though I will have to admit that I haven't had much luck with finding a werebear to talk with you. Either there wasn't enough time between classes... or the person asked had other things on his mind..."
"I could imagine," Rachel rolled her eyes at Melissa's comment.
"And I really can't say on how the others are fairing with regard to finding a werebear," Melissa answered, "Hopefully better... as I'm pretty sure there are students here that are werebears... it's just that by coincidence that none of them are in any of my classes."
Rachel tapped her desk for a moment, though she also noted that the teacher for the class was moving toward the door, so it wouldn't be too long before that period began. In this, she rushed to assure Melissa, who had done a lot to help her with regard to the things she'd been nervous on over Moon Lake's secrets, the Mandatory Were Law, and the odd dreams she'd been having, that counted for a lot in Rachel's mind. The fact that the friends Melissa had made in Moon Lake had also offered to help was good, and since "officially" learning about the rules a fair number of the other students were fairly helpful too. Some seemed a bit distracted over something that happened over Halloween, but that was a bit different.
"It's okay," Rachel answered, "a student in one of my other classes after lunch actually knows a werebear and offered to let me get in contact with him over lunch tomorrow... which could work, assuming my dad doesn't rush anything."
"Well... that'll be good," Melissa said with some relief, but couldn't say more as the teacher shut the door to the classroom and began to walk toward the podium at the front of the room.