1 Chapter 1 (2/2)

”But...” Wyatt says, ”there is no... question zero”.

”Then leave me alone” Jackson says.

So much for not making enemies on the first day. ”Why is everyone here either so loud or so bitter?” Wyatt asks.

Jackson laughs and says ”You tell me”.

”Is it the laibah teacher?” Wyatt asks.

Just then, the door opens again. That one girl was walking onto the rooftop as well, but notices Wyatt. She immediately turns around and the door closes behind her. Wyatt's head hangs in defeat. ”She hates me, doesn't she?” Wyatt asks himself.

”Well, did something happen between you two?” Jackson asks.

”We...” Wyatt says, ”bumped into each other last night on the streets”.

”Were you not looking where you were going?” Jackson asks.

”No” Wyatt says.

”Then it's your fault...” Jackson says as he goes back to eating.

”Yeah” Wyatt says, ”thanks jackass... like I didn't already know that”.

”Glad I could help” Jackson says.

Wyatt sighs to himself and says ”Today is gonna to be a long day”.

While heading back to class, after lunch, Wyatt runs into that girl again. He stops her right outside of class and says ”Sorry I bumped into you last night, you don't hate me do you?”. The girl silently shakes her head 'No' in response. ”My name is Wyatt Bogan” Wyatt says, ”what's yours?”.

”Emma” she says. ”Emma Frey”.

”Nice to meet you” Wyatt says as he holds out his hand for a handshake. Emma ignores his handshake and turns around to find her seat again. Wyatt sighs again and says ”Maybe she really does hate me...”.

After school ended, Wyatt stops by his dorm to leave his school stuff at home. When he begins to leave the campus for work, he sees Emma walking alone. Wyatt chooses not to try and force her to talk with him, since it seemed like she really didn't want to talk with him. He walks down the street towards Out & About. However, sure enough, down the road was Emma walking. She was walking away from him this time and not towards him. However, the direction she was walking leads only outside of town towards the woods. There wasn't anything there to do really, unless you just want to go see all of the trees. However, as strange as it seemed to Wyatt, he kept walking towards Out & About. Wyatt starts work, but the entire time, he couldn't get Emma out of his mind. It was like Wyatt knew something was off about her, or that something was wrong. He didn't know what, so he tried to put it off of his mind. When Wyatt finishes work, late at night, he begins walking towards the college. On his way, he passes a clothing store, and outside of the clothing store was Emma. She was sitting on the street, leaning against a wall and sleeping. She was holding another dress, but she seemed to be using that as a blanket. As Wyatt walks up to her, she wakes up in a panic.

”Are you alright?” Wyatt asks. Emma seemed a little too scared to answer, and now embarrassed that one of her classmates had seen her like this. After a short moment of silence, Emma's stomach growls again. ”Are you... hungry?” Wyatt asks. Emma nods her head lightly, feeling embarrassed. ”I can get some food if you want” Wyatt says.

”Oh no!” Emma says, ”I couldn't... I mean- I don't want to... I can't ask for-”.

”Don't worry about it” Wyatt says, ”consider it my apology. Besides, I've got a job. I'll get more money soon”.

Emma hesitates for a long while but eventually says ”Okay” quietly and stands up. With her left hand, she grabs onto the back of Wyatt's shirt and follows him back to Out & About. Emma holding onto Wyatt's shirt seemed strange at first to Wyatt, but he figured if it makes her more comfortable, then it's fine. Eventually, they reach the convenience store called Out & About. When there, Wyatt buys them both food so she won't feel uncomfortable for being the only one eating.

While eating, Wyatt asks ”Where do you live?”. Emma stops eating and freezes for a moment. ”You were just sitting on the streets” Wyatt adds, ”do you need someone to escort you home?”.

Emma swallows her food and says ”I don't... live anywhere”.

”Anywhere?” Wyatt asks. ”Are you homeless?”.

”Well, I mean-” Emma says, ”I live in the... forest... over there”. Emma then points south-west, towards the forest outside of town, ”but I...” Emma continues, ”don't have a home there”.

”You couldn't get a dorm at the college?” Wyatt asks. Emma once again shakes her head 'No'. ”Want to stay at my place?” Wyatt asks. Emma jumps with such a surprise that she begins to choke on her food. ”W-What I mean is...” Wyatt clarifies, ”if you don't have anywhere to go. I don't want to just leave people on the streets like that. I live in one of the dorms in the college, but they never assigned another student to my room... so there's space there if you want a place to sleep”.

Emma swallows her food after pounding in her own chest for a while. After that she asks ”But isn't that- I mean... is that... okay to do? What if we're... well... I mean, as long as you don't mind”.

”Well, it is a boys dorm” Wyatt says, ”so I'd have to sneak you in, but that shouldn't be too hard. All the other students are always so caught up in their bitterness, I'm sure it'll be easy enough to do”.

”S-s-sure” Emma says. ”I hope it's not... a burden to you”.

”Don't worry about that” Wyatt says. ”By the way, I saw you stitching up that dress, and then you were waiting outside a clothing store... what have you been doing?”.

”I'm a...” Emma says, ”a clothier... kind of. I make clothes, like my uniform, but it's more of a hobby of mine. Sometimes I sell my clothes to the people at that store to buy food”.

”And that's why you're always so hungry?” Wyatt asks. ”Is that also why you were worried about that dress having a tear in the sleeve?”.

Emma nods and says ”it won't sell if it's already ripped up before being worn”.

After a little while of talking, Wyatt and Emma walk back to the college. While walking, Emma thought she heard something rattling near them. Then suddenly, a loud squeak as a rat jumped out from behind a trash can. Emma jumped and stopped walking. When she got scared, a fox tail and fox ears popped out of her. When Wyatt noticed she stopped, he turned around.

”You alright?” He asks.

”Y-Yeah!” Emma says, folding her fox ears back and covering her tail with her hands. She was looking up, pretending to take deep breaths. What she was really doing was making sure Wyatt didn't see her ears.

”Oh, it's just a rat” Wyatt says as he laughs. ”Did he give you a jump scare?”.

”Yeah” Emma says, ”jumped right out in front of me”. Emma starts laughing nervously and says ”Come on, let's get out of here already”.

Wyatt turns back around and begins walking again as he says ”Alright”.

As Emma shapeshifts back into her human form, she whispers to herself ”Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! This is your one chance at having a home for the first time in a year, don't let him know you're a laibah!”.