"Heather and her friends seemed to treat Molly with some respect," Dave commented.
"They treated her better many others," I sighed with a nod, "but then not everyone is going to be some nut that only sees "humanity" by it's outward appearance..."
"What about the people here?" Dave wondered, "I heard she's started with the local elementary."
"Dealing with the stuff out here didn't occur until we moved out here," I told him, "We had only just returned to campus to finish college."
"And how long was that again?" Dave asked again.
"About two months, where we'd encounter many of the same problems we ran into "at home", as well as some new ones," I sighed, "we didn't share classes, but there were some obvious times when we could be together."
++++++++++++++++++++
Breakfast and dinner were one of the few times that Molly and I saw each other at school, outside of dates on the weekends or special occasions. We met outside school's dinning hall and waited patiently in line. Some people continued to give Molly second looks like she was a female "Shere Khan". I sighed and let it go. The receptionist took our meal cards and handed them back after breakfast for that day had been "paid" for.
Our college's dinning plan was fairly flexible. Several fast food restaurants were attached, but they expected cash up front, and their serving sizes would never satisfy her new carnivorous nature or her metabolism, requiring her to eat roughly ten pounds a day. So we stuck with the school's standard buffet which had a wide range o choices. For breakfast, they had ham and eggs, bacon, waffles, pancakes, hash-browns... just about everything that people could order.
I was helping myself to some pancakes when I heard some argument start in on of the other buffet lines.
"Jeez, girl, save some for the rest of us," I heard a voice challenge Molly, "It's not like they won't feed you."
I gathered my breakfast to journey back to her to see Molly being confronted by one of the school's football linemen, who, even if he equaled Molly's weight, was still weaker then her.
"What you consider an average sized portion will not satisfy me," Molly answered, "I would still be hungry."
"Couldn't you eat something else then?" the guy protested, "you know the stuff no one likes?"
"That would make me sick," Molly answered, filling her third plate with a mixture of ham and eggs.
"Well you can't just..." the guy began to advance on her with the intent on giving her a human portion, and seemed to ignore a low snarl from Molly.
"Tank, she's a full grown tigress," I spoke in warning, "thanks some freak show mad scientist. She needs that more then you... and I also wouldn't challenge someone that it strong enough to kill a full grown bull and drag for it miles and across lakes and rivers."
"But..." Tank began to protest, but this time he did notice Molly snarling at him, claws unsheathed, "sorry."
Molly and I went to eat our breakfast.
"Why can't people accept what that freak show did to me?" Molly sighed.
"I'm sure they can accept it, the problem is the consequences," I sighed, "The "furry fandom" creates a lot of images humanoid animals... and pretend to be animals, but they don't actually study the animal scientifically. They see humanoid animal, roughly the same size as a human and enjoying all the same foods that humans eat... which isn't that realistic."
"A lot of that revolves around humanoid animals having sex, George," Molly answered.
++++++++++++++++++++++
"Challenging her over ham and eggs?" Dave asked.
"Not everyone goes to college for the right reasons," I commented, "and not everyone goes there to really be smart... I mean the NFL uses NCAA Football as its minor leagues."
Dave slowly nodded.
"And that was only a sample of the things we put up with," I told him.
+++++++++++++++++++++
That weekend I was out in the dorm's lobby watching a Royal's game while working on some homework. Class-wise things had been good, but there was still the people that acted like Molly wanted to eat them, and Tank's story of her attacking him at breakfast didn't help matters.
"Dude, there he is!" a voice called out.
I looked up to see a couple of my college friends, Hank Summers and Scott McCoy.
"Here I am," I answered.
"How are things going?" Hank asked.
"They're losing, like always," I commented, referring to the game was watching.
"Still think you ought to root for the Cardinals, a way better team... and they get to pick the Pope," Scott chuckled, always making some joke on the fact that St. Louis's baseball team and Arizona's football team names matched an office of the Catholic church.
"I..." began to answer.
"I was actually referring to Molly," Hank interrupted, "we saw the news, and I've caught you walking with her from time to time."
"About as well as could be expected," I sighed, "she's really the same as she has always been."
"But aren't you nervous she might... eat you, I mean, some tigers DO turn man-eater," Hank responded.
"What?! No! She isn't lost to some mindless blood-lust," I told him, "she is the same Molly as she was before... and it has been the thinking like that, that has done the most to hurt her."
"Bet she's a REAL tiger in bed now, eh?" Scott asked with a smirk.
"Get your head out of the gutter, will you!?"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Molly and I continued to muddle through. We didn't go out as much, mostly because most people still treated her like she was a wild animal... but so far I had thought it was because Molly was doing her student teaching. As I sat in my room studying for finals, I soon learned how wrong that was.
"GEORGE!" I heard Molly's voice call through it.
I went to the door to find Molly there with tears in her eyes, matting her fur.
"Molly, what's wrong?" I asked her.
"I can't be a teacher," she sobbed as she ducked through the doorway.
"Your failing classes?" I asked in disbelief, between the two of us Molly had always been the better student.
"No, I can pull my year grade point average to a solid B with passing finals," Molly answered, "but no one would take me as a student teacher... NO ONE!"
I did the only thing I could, I hugged her.
"We'll find a way," I told her, "Surely someone would you teach."
"Only as an aide, nothing more," Molly cried, "I worked so hard to get ready for the student teaching... an they never let me do it because I'm a tigress!"
I could only hug her.
"We'll find a way."