Virginia McCoy returned home in the early evening, just as the sun was going down and with some mixed feelings of joy and worry. The worry part came from all the rumors that were going around the school about things that were coming down in the future. Virginia had little real idea on where this started and what made sense of it. Could something big be coming, sure, but these rumors seemed to be so wild and getting wilder over the course of the week, Virginia didn't think that they would actually go as far as what these rumors seemed to indicate. She only wished there would be some way to calm things down, as at times it had been distracting through the day. Thankfully those distractions hadn't interrupted the academic team's practice and preparation for the match against Spokane on Friday. She only hoped that these distractions did cause trouble on Friday, given that the contest was scheduled to be in the gym at Moon Lake High.
The joy, however, related to her coming wedding with Harold Jenkins. Her neighbor and one who had been quite helpful with some of her school functions and she'd been able to helpful to regarding his surprises and issues, at first with Moon Lake's mandatory were law. After he became a weretiger, thanks to Alice Decrux extending Virginia's claws during their fight, and Virginia was cleared of any possible Statue 1A violations, it rapidly blossomed into all out romance. Virginia loved that and the proposed wedding that came from it. Some of that was rushed, but she couldn't complain on that. She'd largely been alone since becoming a weretiger, herself, and Harold provided her with something that would provide for her own happy ever after, and if Harold had been having prophecy dreams before becoming a weretiger, he would also provide a family for her that would go beyond becoming Melissa's stepmother.
And that was largely what set about her biggest plans for the evening. She barely noticed a man walking south on North Avenue from the Jenkins home as she also had her own business to attend to before getting to the most important part of the day. There were all the various parts of her job that had to be handled, from grading papers to other things that were critically important. These things were fairly important, and while Moon Lake held a fairly weekly oriented system, in which new grades were often due by the start of the next week, Virginia often found it best to get at least some of her day to day work done in the evenings in order to make sure she wasn't swamped with that work on Saturday and Sunday. This coming weekend made that even more important given that Saturday would be her wedding day and the rest of that day, at least, would be her honeymoon.
When Virginia got through with the work she needed to do, she then made her way out. By now night was well starting to fall on Moon Lake. There were a few lights left on at the Jenkins home, which made Virginia smile as she made her way across the grass. She also noted Trever Tyson's truck parked on the driveway of the Jenkins home, which meant that either, he and Melissa were working on homework together, or they had gone out for the evening. Though given that it was starting to get later in the evening and toward night, he doubted it was homework. Melissa Jenkins seemed to a smart enough girl to focus on those things when she needed to and she doubted that Harold would just lit her not work on those things. Virginia had also seen through two years as a teacher and the head of Moon Lake High's academic team to know that Trevor wouldn't just let his own homework and chores slacken. It gave Virginia some sense that he likely got his homework done after practice and saw to what chores his parents had for him before coming to take Melissa out for the evening. It was something that also made Virginia happy for them and gave her the chance to talk to Harold alone.
With that she calmly approached the door and knocked on it. It wasn't long before the one she had come over to see answered the door, and Harold smiled as he saw her.
"Virginia," Harold smiled and pulled her into a hug with a passionate kiss that soon followed, and one that Virginia happily returned, "It's good to see you."
"I know," Virginia smiled, "and in a few days... we'll see a lot of each other every day..."
"I can't wait," Harold smiled and escorted Virginia in and shut the door behind them.
He led Virginia to the right where she could pick up the scent of cooked steak cheesy potatoes, and some sliced carrots. She also rapidly looked to see that there were only places set with glasses of water next to them. And both places were set next to each other. It was something that seemed to set up a romantic dinner, particularly since the two of them were alone. She smiled and made her way over to one seat and watched while Harold went around the other side of the table to then sit down beside her.
"I take it you had a quiet day to be able to set all this up?" Virginia asked to him with a fairly playful smile.
"My day was quiet," Harold answered, "though... I can't necessarily say the same about some others..."
This caught Virginia a bit by surprise, and she wondered if some of these same rumors were buzzing around the college. True, Harold had told her he wouldn't actually have classes to teach until January and the next semester, but she did imagine that he likely had a fair amount of back and forth between the home he'd bought or rented and the college. As such, if the rumors were running around the high school, it wouldn't surprise her if they weren't running around the college as well.
"You remember what Melissa said about her friend... Rachel Van Direstag?" Harold asked.
"Yes," Virginia nodded, "and I believe I have her younger brother in my last class of the day. He's seemed a bit lost on the first day... but he's been doing better since then. I would imagine that Rachel has had similar good fortune, given her friendship with Melissa."
"Yeah... Melissa's done a lot to help her friend, which is good," Harold commented, "though it would appear that after working on their homework, Rachel seemed to be late in getting home and her father came by trying to find her. The last Melissa knew was that she might have gone to the hospital for the rules their pharmacy has for were birth control pills... which then had a worried werelion following the path that Rachel likely took to get there. I offered to go along and keep him company, given that our children our friends, but he seemed pretty intent on finding his daughter on his own."
Virginia then sighed, "Well... I'm sure things will be fine. Moon Lake has things that much of the country doesn't... but there is little real threat from anyone here to new residents. At least there usually isn't... though Decrux was also something of a rarity among weres as well."
"I hope so," Harold agreed, "though I was more surprised by the fact that Mr. Van Direstag became a were. I met him once at the college and he made it pretty certain that he had no intent on doing so, and I haven't read or heard about any sort of fight or incident that would have forcibly turned him. My only guess is that somewhere along the lines he had a change of heart and became a werelion."
"Those things happen to," Virginia commented, "I actually remember something that happened shortly after I moved to Moon Lake. A guy moved in after getting a job with the high school's custodial staff and seemed pretty against the whole mandatory were law too. Then he met the woman he was to be working alongside. In a matter of days he was a wererat to be with her and engaged besides."
"Sounds like magic," Harold commented.
“In some ways… it probably is,” Virginia agreed.
Harold nodded in agreement to that as the two began eating. The two took a few quiet bites, as it made sense to eat something, since Harold had gone through the effort of cooking. After a few moments, Virginia came up with a question while looking for a way to bring the conversation up to their own wedding.
"So... I take it Melissa has gone out for the night?" Virginia asked.
"Yes, she and Trevor went out for a walk shortly after Mr. Van Direstag left," Harold answered, "so we will have the evening to ourselves to discuss the wedding plans... though, I'd think that it's more confirming things that we already know. Like having our guests there..."
"And that worked out well?" Virginia asked, "for you, I mean?"
Harold nodded, "Yes. The dean had his fair share of business, but I was able to get in early enough that I could give him the details on when and where to be for the wedding... 10:30 AM at the courthouse on Saturday. We can expect him to be there and I also gave Melissa the rundown on this, so hopefully she remembers to tell Trever that. And in that... I'm ultimately quite pleased. I mean... Melissa and I are fairly new to town ourselves. So... having the college dean be willing to come to our wedding, on short notice, is very good."
"Well... Moon Lake is fairly close as a community," Virginia smiled, "and the dean has tended to be pretty protective of the staff at the college... and knowing me from weretiger meetings likely also gave you some proverbial brownie points as well."
"Which is good," Harold replied, "how did you go with Principal Andrews? Was the time good for him... or...?"
"No, it was good," Virginia answered, "and he is looking forward to it. So... we'll all be set for Saturday. Melissa and Trever as "family" members, given that it wouldn't surprise me if they end up tying the knot some day..."
"Yeah..." Harold replied, "there are some things where I'd have some issues with, but he seems pretty bright, responsible, and in a way... the kind of boy every father would want his daughter to date. Though, hopefully they wait until AFTER college to get married."
Virginia nodded in agreement, "and then we'd have two legal witnesses to make the marriage legal and hopefully things will be quiet enough to allow for a very happy honeymoon for you and me afterward."
"That'll be the best part," Harold smiled back at her.