Chapter 3

I went to the park the next day. Nothing happened during my walk. I was glad of that. I even tried tracking back to find where the male werewolf had come from. I didn't have any luck with it. I didn't really think I would but I figured I had to try.

I ate my lunch and called Becca to see if she wanted to hang out. She told me she had a date and that she would be too busy. I said it was fine and hung up. I felt a little bit of jealousy but I didn't want her to know that. I had done pretty well to keep my feelings hidden. I almost had myself convinced that I didn't think of her that way. I am pretty sure that I had everyone else convinced as well.

I tried calling Derek to see if he wanted to go hang out but he said he was hanging out with a couple girls from school. He tried to ask if I wanted to join him. I declined his invitation and quickly hung up.

I felt like I was losing my friends but I knew it was bound to happen eventually. I went looking for either of my foster siblings. They were both out with friends at the time and probably wouldn't be home for the rest of the day.

I was out of options so I asked Julia if she would give me a ride to the mall. She had seen me call my friends and get shot down so I guess she was feeling bad for me because she tried to ask if I wanted to hang out with her. All I could think is how bad the situation would be if I had to hang out with my mother.

I declined her invitation and just asked her to give me that ride. She agreed and away we were. I didn't need to change and since she wasn't staying, she didn't need to either.

I walked thru the mall and enjoyed the two legged scenery. I am still a boy after all. I even picked up a couple pairs of jeans that I had been needing. A couple long sleeved shirts topped the pile as well. My old shirts were trying to get too tight over my expanding chest.

I spent a few hours at the mall and then decided that I was going to just walk home. It was only a couple miles. I thought I could even stop by the fast food joint on the way. I very rarely ate at the fast food joints because I wasn't much of one for the unhealthy foods they offered. I would eat some of their salads from time to time though.

While I was sitting in the restaurant eating my salad, I looked across the street. There was a local hang out for some of the rougher kids across the street. I was surprised at who I saw.

Alicia was sitting with a couple other girls. She had a couple of the Goth kids around her. The boys that were hanging around her seemed to be hitting on her and her friends. Alicia didn't look to happy to be there but the boys would leave her alone.

I am a very passive person and I have never been very tough, so I normally try to look the other way when something like that happens. For some reason though, this time I couldn't. I had taken her under my protection as a lycanthrope, so I felt obligated to do something.

I had no idea what I was going to do but I knew I couldn't walk away this time.

I threw my trash away and crossed the street. I didn't really have a plan but I was trying to act casual. I walked right up to the biggest of them and "accidentally" bumped into him, spilling his drink down the front of his shirt. The girls all started laughing as I started trying to apologize.

I happened to glance in Alicia's direction. I think she saw my intentions. She had a very small smile hidden on her face. I turned back to the guy I had spilled the drink on. He was fuming, and he looked quite embarrassed.

The guy whose shirt I had ruined pushed me. I stumbled backwards a couple steps before being able to catch my balance. That was what people saw anyways, I could have easily dodged his hands but I was still scared to let anyone know about any changes that have taken place in my body. It was very hard to keep all my muscles relaxed when I saw the push coming.

I was still apologizing to him when I saw him rear back to hit me. I didn't want to think about how much this was going to hurt, but I knew I had to let him do it. It was like slow motion, watching his fist come flying towards my face. I wanted to turn my head or duck, but I knew I couldn't move of I might give away my secrets.

I felt the blow connect with the left side of my face. I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt. I had to completely relax my neck muscles so my head would snap back the same as it would for someone who hadn't seen the hit coming.

I went down hard. He had caught me right under the eye. I could feel the beginnings of what was sure to be a black eye. I fell to my knees and stayed there for a minute. I heard the idiot that had hit me try to start talking to the girls again. I guess he thought he looked cool. I glanced up and saw that Alicia seemed to be even more scared now.

I stood up again and turned to face the idiot again.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I tried to apologize to you and you hit me. Why would you do that? What have I ever done to you?"

The other kids all stared at me like I was a total idiot. I guess I probably was but I couldn't think of any other way to get him to leave Alicia alone.

The idiot reared back to hit me again. This time, it was even harder to hold still and let him get his shot in. I knew how much it was going to hurt but I was very determined.

As I was falling down from the new hit, I saw Alicia watching me closely. I think she had an idea that I was doing this to help her out. She looked like she wanted to get up and leave so she didn't have to watch but her friends wouldn't get up to let her out of the seat. I wasn't very impressed with her friends. They actually seemed to be getting turned on a little by the violence of the idiot hitting me.

When the idiot turned to talk to the girls again, I stood up again. I had been abused quite harshly by the worst bullies that went to my school. What this guy was dishing out wasn't anything.

When the idiot heard the gasps of the other kids around him, he turned around and looked quite surprised to see me standing back up. He didn't even wait for me to say anything this time. He punched me again as I was still bent over a little. When I went down, he started to kick me in the ribs. I was very hard pressed to not fight back. I knew I could have taken him but I didn't want anyone else to ever know that I could.

The beating seemed to last forever, but it was probably only a couple minutes. I heard the owner of the store we were in front of come out yelling at the idiot to get off his property. Idiot stopped kicking me, after getting a couple extra kicks in for the road, then he turned and left.

All the other kids walked off or tried to just ignore me. They didn't want to be seen helping me. I got up tenderly. I happened to glance in Alicia's direction. She seemed to have tears in her eyes. When she looked in my eyes, I winked at her before turning to leave. She was shocked out of her tears when she saw me wink.

I walked out from under the awning that the kids were hanging out under. I was holding my ribs and I had a little blood running down my chin, from the corner of my mouth. I made it almost a block away when I heard running feet coming up behind me. I didn't turn, because I could tell from the sound that it was a female running up behind me.

I walked in silence for a while longer. The feet were just behind me, following me. I guessed who it was.

"I'm not going to bite, you know?" I told her in a quiet voice. I heard her let out a startled gasp. She must not have thought I knew she was there. She quickened her pace and caught up to me. We continued on in silence for a few blocks.

"Thank you." She finally said. She spoke so softly I almost missed it.

"For what?" I asked her.

"I know you did that on purpose." She said. "I don't know why you did that but I could see in your eyes that you knew what you were doing."

I nodded at her before saying. "Well, it didn't look like you were too happy at those idiots trying to throw themselves at you. I just figured I would give them something else to do. Besides, I knew that the owner would have to come out eventually and ask them to leave."

Alicia nodded at my logic but she didn't seem to know what to say. We walked on in silence for a couple more blocks. I knew we were getting close to her house so I wanted to say something to get on her friendly side.

"You don't have to put up with that kind of stuff if you don't want to." I said. "Besides, what they did was nothing compared to some of the pain I have had to put up with at different times."

I smiled at her and was happy when she smiled back.

"Where do you go to school?" She asked me. "I don't recognize you."

I blushed when I realized why she had asked me that. Due to my size, most people guessed my age wrong. I was only as tall as some of the boys in her grade.

"I go to high school." I said. "Most people guess my age wrong."

Alicia blushed when she realized that she was talking to a boy from high school. I smiled at her and we walked on.

"So, what school do you go to?" I asked her.

"I go to the middle school." She said. "I'm sorry about thinking you were so young."

I smiled at her again and said. "It's ok, I'm only a freshman anyways." I was surprised that I felt so comfortable with Alicia. I never feel this comfortable around girls as cute as her. She might not be very developed, but she was still quite hot, in my opinion.

We continued to talk for the rest of the trip to her house. When we got close to where I knew she was going to have to turn, I was trying to think of some way to get her to keep talking. I was drawing a blank since I had no experience with the subject.

"Maybe I'll see you at school during lunch?" Alicia asked me. Since the quad where I eat my lunch usually was shared by all three schools, I thought it was possible.

"I'd really like that." I said. "I always eat my lunch in the quad. I would be honored if you would be willing to join me some time." Alicia blushed and nodded her head at me. I was blushing at my own forwardness. I had never said anything like that to a girl before.

"Well, this is my stop." Alicia said. "It was a pleasure to meet you." She said.

"The pleasure was all mine." I said. "If you ever need a friend to help you out again, I will do my best to help you anytime."

Alicia blushed again and thanked me. I was on cloud nine. Alicia had one of those smiles that seemed to light up her entire face. She turned and walked up her driveway then. I was whistling as I walked off. Things were going better than I thought they would. That idiot had probably just saved me a few weeks work of trying to gain Alicia's trust.

I went to bed early that night, without having seen either of my siblings. Becca was busy again as well, so I didn't talk to her either.

The next day was a Sunday so I didn't really have anything pressing to do. I wasn't in the mood to go hiking again, but I also didn't want Julia bugging me about "moping" around the house, so I got my stuff and left the house.

I left the stuff back by the tree house. I walked into the woods without really having any sort of destination in mind. I just continued to walk. When I finally looked around me, to see where I was, I was surprised to recognize the area. I wasn't far from the clearing where I had taken Alicia.

I heard someone in the clearing so I quietly crept up to it to see what I could see. I wasn't really surprised to see Alicia there. I was surprised to see that she was talking to another girl. The other girl appeared to be the same age or younger.

"I'm telling you, he was here." Alicia was saying. "He was really sweet to me. He growled at my dad though, so he couldn't have been bad."

"I don't know Alicia; he would have to be a tame animal to be that nice." The other girl said.

"If we stay here long enough, maybe he'll come back." Alicia said. "You've been one of my best friends forever Laura. In all of that time, have I ever lied to you?"

"No you haven't." Laura said. "But still, even you have to admit that this sounds too much like a dream. A wild animal, especially one that looks like what you are describing, does not just stop and make friends with little girls."

"Oh I know that." Alicia said. "There are other circumstances that I can't tell you about, but trust me, it happened."

"Ok, I believe you." Laura said. "So what makes you think he will show up here today anyways?"

"It's just a feeling." Alicia said. "You know how my feelings are sometimes?"

"True, your feelings are usually right." Laura said.

"Yeah." Alicia said. "Actually, my feelings are telling me that he is here already. The funny part is that even if he was here already, we probably wouldn't know."

Laura looked around herself nervously. Alicia giggled at her friend's behavior. Laura blushed but continued to look around despite Alicia's giggles.

"Remember what I said." Alicia said. "He won't hurt you if you are my friend."

Laura smiled at Alicia. "Hey, you never know. He could always change his mind."

"He won't change his mind." Alicia said. "I do think he is out there. I think he is just too shy to come out."

Laura giggled at what Alicia said, which of course got Alicia giggling as well.

"Maybe we should give him a reason to want to come out." Laura said, causing Alicia to blush. "I'm pretty sure that we could show him enough to want to join us."

"You are so bad." Alicia told her. "But I'm willing if you are?"

It was now Laura's turn to blush. I was inwardly smiling at their antics. Alicia leaned towards Laura who was leaning in as well. They both closed their eyes as their lips got closer together. The sight was quite beautiful.

Their lips gently touched together. I had never seen anything so hot in my entire life. The kiss grew more passionate as time progressed. I was curious as to how far they would go.

"Maybe you were wrong about him being here already." Laura said after breaking the kiss. They both appeared to be breathing heavy.

"I still think he is out there." Alicia said. "You know how males are though. He is probably out there waiting and being as quiet as possible to see how far we will go. They are so predictable."

They both started laughing at Alicia's joke. Laura looked around at the woods and said loudly. "Are you out there? If you are, you had might as well come on out. We aren't going to go any farther."

I smiled to myself again. I guess that was the end of the show. What she said was pretty true. We are pretty predictable. I was debating with myself whether I wanted to show myself to her friend. I really didn't want Alicia thinking that she could just show me off to all of her friends.

I made my decision though, but I figured I was going to do it on my own terms. I figured I would change completely into my animal form. Every time Alicia had seen me before, I had been in the form that was pretty much in between the two.

I very rarely changed all the way because I liked to have the use of my hands at all times. Because Alicia had never seen me completely changed before, I thought it would be funny to see what her reaction was going to be. I couldn't wait to see it.

Whenever I changed, I didn't change into a wolf. What you see in movies isn't all the lycanthropes that are out there. I changed into a type of saber toothed tiger. Most lycanthropes were of the wolf variety but not all. The only governing factor is that they were an animal of equal size.

I made a little noise to let them know that I was there. I watched their reaction for a couple minutes to see how they were going to behave. Laura jumped when she first heard me. She tried to look around to find me but I was very well hidden. She had a very nervous look on her face. Alicia jumped at the sound but she was able to quickly get control of herself.

I gave a few more minutes to build the suspense higher. I will admit that I was having a bit of perverse fun scaring them. I know it was childish but hey, I am still only fifteen, so lay off.

"You can come out now." Alicia said. "We won't hurt you."

I watched Alicia's face when I finally stepped out from behind some cover. The smile quickly left her face when she saw me for the first time. I growled at both of them and they backed away from me. They were holding each other's hand like they were life lines.

I approached them slowly, growling and snarling the whole time. I was laughing to myself. I waited until just before it looked like they were going to bolt, I then stopped growling and sat down.

They both looked confused by my actions and were unsure of what to do. I lay down and started to clean my paws. It must have been very confusing to them to see a large cat with very large teeth, just suddenly act docile.

Understanding dawned on Alicia's face. She realized that I was playing a joke on them. She growled at me and ran to me so she could throw her arms around neck. I purred at her and rubbed my head against her cheek.

Laura took a second to get over her shock enough to relax. When she was finally relaxed enough, she slowly approached me. I kept quiet and tried to ignore her. The fear that I could smell on both girls was driving me mad. It made me want to attack but I was doing everything possible to keep control. It is harder than you might think to go against instinct like that.

Laura slowly reached out to touch my head. I kept my eyes closed the entire time. I didn't want to see her face and be even more sorely tempted.

"You were telling the truth." Laura said after rubbing my head for a couple minutes. "He does have very soft fur. He must be tame though, I don't see how any wild animal could be this sweet. What kind of cat is he anyways? I don't recognize the breed."

"I don't know." Alicia said. "I've been meaning to look it up. The funny part is that he almost looks like one of those saber toothed tigers that we always hear about in science."

"Yeah he does." Laura said. "I read in class that there were many different types, but the stuff I read said that they were all supposed to be extinct. He shouldn't be alive, let alone be so docile."

Alicia agreed with Laura but smiled at me when Laura wasn't looking. "Thanks for coming out." She whispered to me. "But that joke wasn't very funny. Especially since I didn't know that it was possible to go all the way to animal form."

I nodded just slightly so she was the only one that saw it. She smiled and said. "I really have a lot to learn about all this don't I?" I nodded again.

After Alicia sat down, with her legs crossed, I moved to lay my head into her lap. She immediately proceeded to scratch behind my ears while I purred. It was very surprising how good it felt when she did that.

Laura continued to stare at us, she looked surprised at our behavior with each other. It didn't take the two girls long to start to talk about school and other stuff. When they started to talk about boys though, I quickly started to zone them out. Laura had sat down next to us and she started to rub my back. I don't know what came over me but her rubbing felt so good that I quickly turned onto my side so she could start to rub my belly.

I was greatly enjoying their ministrations until I heard their conversation turn to any boys they were especially interested in. My interest was piqued when I heard Alicia start talking about meeting me the other day.

"I met a really nice boy yesterday." Alicia said. "He did something really nice for me."

"What did he do?" Laura asked.

"Well, you know how Tommy Jenkins is always trying to hook up with me?" Alicia said. When Laura nodded her head, Alicia continued. "Well, he was pulling his shit again yesterday. He was being worse than usual. I couldn't get him to leave me alone. I think he was just about to forcefully sit down next to me when this boy came walking across the street. He came walking right up to Tommy and seemed to trip. When he tripped he knocked into Tommy and made him spill his soda."

Laura was riveted by the story. I was listening with little interest. I knew what happened there but I did want to see what all Alicia told Laura. I also wanted to know what Alicia thought of me.

"Tommy got mad and punched him." Alicia said, at which Laura gasped. "He fell down but got right back up. He said something to Tommy and Tommy hit him again. No matter how many times Tommy hit him, he kept getting back up. Eventually though, the owner came out and chased them both away."

"So how do you know that he was doing it for you?" Laura asked.

"I didn't at first." Alicia said. "But I noticed that every time he got hit, he would look up at me to see if I was still there. I think he was waiting for me to escape."

"Oh my god, that is so sweet." Laura said. "You can find a million guys that are willing to fight for you but it takes a special kind of guy to take a beating for you."

"Yeah I know." Alicia said. "And he was cute to." Alicia said while blushing.

Laura giggled then said. "Oh really? That nice and cute as well. So what happened to him?"

"Well after the owner kicked him out, I caught up to him as he was walking up the street." Alicia said. "The funny part is that he lives just up the road from me. We talked for a little bit. He seemed awfully shy around me. I thought it was awfully cute though."

"Really?" Laura said. "So you like him huh?"

Alicia blushed and nodded her head.

"We made plans to meet at school tomorrow." Alicia said. "He is in high school but he said he always eats in the quad."

"That's cool." Laura said. "That means I can meet him." She said with a smile.

"Sure, I just hope he shows up." Alicia said. "He really did seem awfully shy. It looked like it was hard for him to even just ask to have lunch with me."

"Don't worry, I promise I'll be on my best behavior." Laura said with a chuckle. "I always said you needed to find you a great guy instead of those dead beats you usually hang out with. I just never thought you would have one fall into your lap like that."

Alicia started giggling at the joke. "I know. And he sure is easy on the eyes." She said with a blush.

Laura laughed at her friends comment. They then proceeded to talk about me like I was some sort of livestock. I had heard the guys talk about girls before but compared to these girls, they were being quite vague. I was glad that I couldn't blush in this form because if I could, I would've been in trouble.

It was weird for me to hear the girls talking about how cute I supposedly was. I was pretty sure that I wasn't ugly but I was also sure that I wasn't as cute as Alicia was making me out to be.

"He was wearing really bagging clothes that day." Alicia said. "He might have a little extra weight but I'm sure he doesn't look that bad. I think he is just scared to show his body."

"Usually guys that wear the really baggy clothes are super skinny." Laura said. "But, if he really is as nice as you say than you should just ignore his body. Anyone that is that nice should be cut some slack for any short comings that he might have."

"Yeah." Alicia said. "I have never been one of those girls that cared a whole lot about a guy's body, but this guy sure did have a delectable face."

The girls both started giggling again. They continued to talk about me for a while. I waited for nearly a whole hour while they kept discussing me. They talked about little things that I was sure Alicia wasn't around me long enough to have noticed but she never seemed to be without an answer. Eventually they did move on to other subjects.

It was time for me to leave so I got up and padded around the girls a couple times before stopping in front of Alicia and looking her in the eyes. She stared back into my eyes for a few seconds until I turned to walk away.

"Will you come back tomorrow?" Alicia asked me in a rush.

I turned to face her again for a minute before gently nodding my head in the affirmative. Alicia had a huge smile on her face at my nod but Laura looked really surprised that I would respond in that way. I had briefly forgotten about Laura being there.

I turned around then and walked off before Laura would have a chance to say anything. I didn't know what Alicia would tell her about me but I figured it would be a good test to see if she would give anything away or be able to keep it from her best friend. Because Alicia didn't actually know who I was, she couldn't actually cause me any real problems.

I returned home quickly and spent some time with my family. We hadn't been spending as much time together as we used to but I knew that was just a part of us all growing apart as us kids got older. We would still try to make some time for sitting in front of the TV though. It doesn't seem like much but it was enough for us. There usually wasn't much on today, so we watched the news.

I quickly got bored of that so I went to my room and lay down. I stared at the ceiling and thought about my life. I didn't think I could get anywhere with Alicia so I figured I would just make friends with her. That was my lot in life, or so I saw it and I was used to it.

I also had a fear of ever getting close enough to a girl that I would have to eventually let them see my body. I was still scared of showing my body to anyone. I hadn't even let anyone in my own family see my body in the almost three years since I started changing. I couldn't help but continue to think that my body was ugly.

I eventually dozed off until Julia came up to get me for dinner. I knew I was being lazy but I just didn't have anything to do so I slept. I even went right back to bed after dinner was over. I was trying not to think about meeting Alicia tomorrow because even though I was excited about it, I was also scared.

When I got up the next morning, the first thought on my mind was meeting Alicia. I got dressed in my normal baggy clothes. It would take quite a bit for me to decide to wear tighter clothes.

I ate my breakfast in record time and was out the door just as quick. I was starting to get nervous about meeting Alicia but I knew there was nothing I could do about it now. I kept getting more and more nervous about the encounter as the day wore on. I was actually working myself up more as I walked to school.

When I happened to get near the entrance to the school, I happened to see Alicia standing by Laura. They both seemed to be waiting for me. I definitely did not want to have our first meeting now so I did my best sneaking to get around them without them seeing me. I thought I might have heard them yelling for me but I made sure to act like I hadn't heard them.

I rushed to my first class of the day and sat at my desk waiting for the bell to start the day. I breathed a sigh of relief when I made it there without having to confront anyone.

I was able to start to relax as the day went by. The classes I was taking weren't hard but they were just enough to keep my mind occupied. The distraction was enough to make me actually forget about my upcoming meeting.

I didn't think about the meeting until I was on my way to lunch. When I thought about it, I tried thinking of some way that I could get out of the meeting. I was nervous as possible. My biggest problem was that I couldn't think of a way out of it that wouldn't hurt Alicia's feelings.

I tried to relax and just get on with the inevitable. I grabbed my lunch and headed out towards the quad. I was able to be ignored by all the other students as I walked to my favorite spot underneath one of the trees.

I started to think that maybe the girls had changed their minds about the meeting because I sat under the tree for nearly twenty minutes without them appearing. I had enough time to eat my lunch, even though I wasn't very hungry. The butterflies in my stomach barely let me keep what I ate down.

About the time that I finished eating, I heard a couple familiar voices approaching from the other side of the tree. Alicia's familiar voice said. "There you are."

I turned in time to see Alicia and Laura walking up to me. They were both smiling as I stood up and introduced myself to Laura. After the introductions were made, we all sat down in a loose circle under the tree.

I couldn't help but notice that both girls were wearing matching plaid skirts and white button down shirts. It took all my best efforts to not stare. The classic schoolgirl look that they were pulling was perfect. They did change a few things to suit them. They both liked to dress more Goth so they figure out nice ways to incorporate that into their look, including wearing black leather combat boots.

"So Tim, Alicia tells me that you did a very brave thing for her the other day?" Laura said.

"I really didn't do anything." I said. "I just lost my footing and tripped." I was blushing as I said that.

"That's not what I heard." Laura said, causing me to blush even darker which made Laura giggle. "You were right Alicia, he is so cute, especially when he blushes like that."

Alicia blushed a little when Laura told me that. Laura and Alicia both started giggling though when they saw me blush almost scarlet.