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Popularity, Part 2 (Were-TF)

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   Note: Chronologically, this story takes place at the same time as Part 1, but is told from Kelly's point of view.

  “You need to chill out a little, Alice.”

    As the words exited my mouth, I gave one final glare to my friend before turning and walking away. As I headed over to my next class, though, my annoyance with Alice began melting away, leaving behind only sadness. I had been friends with Alice for a long time… since elementary school, in fact. Back then, it didn’t matter what other people did or thought of us. Neither of us cared about popularity or being the best or anything like that, and I was fine with that.

    But apparently, Alice wasn’t. As soon as we got to high school, she completely changed. She began changing her clothes, her hair, even her personality… all for the sake of being the popular girl she thought she always was. She would do things she didn’t really want to do, and that led to her being miserable. It got in the way of her academics, too. She would miss assignments, stop studying, even arrive at school late because of her commitments to other people. I had tried to talk to her about it, tried to get her to stop making such a big deal over these kinds of things, but she refused to listen, saying that she needed to do it to be liked.


    I desperately wanted to help her… but would could I do? What was I supposed to do?

    Lunchtime came. I trudged into the lunchroom, not really feeling like eating anything, and sat down at one of the empty tables. Other than Alice, no one that I really knew ate lunch at the same time as I did. When I first came here, I assumed that we would always eat lunch together, and at first, we did. But as the year went on, she began eating with other people, the popular ones that she so desperately wanted to be like. As I sat down, I looked across the room and saw her sit down next to the girl who appeared to be the leader of this popular crowd, Lori Dent. I knew I shouldn’t hate Lori- after all, it wasn’t necessarily her fault that Alice wanted to be like her- but I did.

    “Hey. Is this seat taken?”

    I looked up to see another girl standing over me. She was fairly tall, with very fair skin and long, bright red hair, obviously dyed. “Um… no, not at all” I said. “Go ahead.”

    “Thanks” said the girl, sitting down. “My name’s Lily, by the way.”

    “I’m Kelly. Kelly Browning” I said. I sighed, looking back over to the table where Alice and Lori were sitting.

    Lily followed my gaze. “Looking over at the popular table?” she asked.

    I nodded. “Yeah” I said. “I have a friend who sits over there.

    “You’re friends with one of them?” asked Lily, looking confused. “Why aren’t you sitting with them, then?

    “I shrugged. “We had...a bit of an argument” I said. “And I don’t really like most of them, anyway.” I sighed. “We’re not even that friendly with each other, anymore….”

    “What do you mean?” asked Lily, sounding concerned.

    I looked up at her. “Ever since we got to high school… it just seems like we’ve been drifting apart from each other. It seems like all she wants is to be popular… and the worst part is that she’s making herself miserable because of it.” I looked back over at the table. “I guess that’s why I don’t like most of those people… because I feel like they took her away from me. I know it’s not really their fault, but…”

    I looked back over at Lily, noticing that she was smiling at me. “If it makes you feel any better… I kind of have a grudge against that table, too.” She looked over at the table. “My boyfriend… before we met, he dated someone from that table, and… well… apparently, it ended pretty badly. He wouldn’t even tell me what happened when we first met.” She sighed. “Eventually, though, I found out who it was that he dated. Apparently, it was one of the girls who sits at that table.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what it was that she did to him… but it must have been pretty bad. I’ve heard rumors about that table, too… rumors about how the girls there seem to want to be popular more than anything else. And I feel like… maybe that has something to do with what happened between them.” She looked at me. “Does that make sense to you?”

    I nodded. “I guess” I said. “That whole thing about wanting to be popular does sound a lot like Alice, but…” I sighed, lowering my head. “I don’t know. I mean, you don’t even know what it was that this girl did to your boyfriend.” I sighed. “And even if what she did was something really horrible and unforgivable… well, I don’t think we should assume that all of the girls there would do something like that. I know my friend wouldn’t….”

    “I hope you’re right” said Lily, nodding. As she said it, the bell rang. “Oh, shoot! Sorry, I have to go. I’ll see you later, Kelly.”   

 
I watched her run out into the hallway, thinking about what I had just said about Alice. To be honest… I really wasn’t sure whether or not it was actually true. I wanted so badly to believe that Alice wouldn’t try to hurt someone like that, but… I just didn’t know. After everything she had said to me and everything I had seen from her, I wasn’t sure if I could put anything past her.

    As the day went on, I began thinking more and more about that table. By the time I went to my locker at the end of the day, my head was spinning with all of the questions I had. Who was that girl that Lily was talking about? What happened between her and Lily’s boyfriend? Was it really as bad as Lily described it? Would Alice do something like that? Did Alice have any connection at all with this whole incident? Did-

    “Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?”

    Startled, I looked up from my locker at the face of a tall girl with short black hair and a very bright smile, one that seemed to drown out everything else around it. I instantly recognized her as Lori, the girl that Alice was sitting with at lunch. “Um, okay” I said. “What do you want to talk about?”

    In response, Lori started walking away, gesturing for me to follow her. “Come on, let’s go someplace a little quieter” she said. I shrugged, and began following her through the hallway, wondering what it was she wanted to talk about.

    Eventually, we ended up in a quieter part of the hall, just below the gym. “...Is this where you wanted to come?” I asked, looking around. “It kind of seems like an odd place to talk, but…”

    Lori spun around. “Okay, listen to me” she said, her bright smile completely gone. “I don’t know exactly what you said to Alice, but whatever it was, it needs to stop. Now.”

    I stepped back, startled. “What? What are you talking about?” I asked.

    Lori took a step towards me. Any cheerfulness that had been on her face was gone, replaced by a stern, cold glare. “I’m talking about what you said to her this morning” she said. “You were trying to get her to stop hanging out with us, weren’t you?”

    “W-what?” I cried. “N-no! That’s not what I said at all?”

    “Is that so?” asked Lori, taking another step. “Because that’s not what I heard. From what Alice told me, you were saying some very… objectionable things to her. Like how she shouldn’t have gone to the movies with us last night. Or how she should stop being so social and outgoing with us. Is that right?”

    “Well…” I wasn’t really sure how to answer. “I guess…. but I didn’t mean it like that! I’m just… concerned about her. Being social is great, but I feel like it’s beginning to take over her life. I mean, she constantly arrives at school late, she barely gets her homework done, she’s constantly exhausted… and I just think it might all be too much for her.”

    For a moment, Lori just stared at me. Then she sighed. “Well, alright then” she said. “If you feel like that kind of thing need to be said, then you can go ahead and say it for all I care.” She turned away, beginning to walk toward the end of the hallway. “It doesn’t really matter what you say, anyway” she said. “Since Alice won’t be listening to you for much longer.”

    I nodded, slightly tuned out. How was I supposed to help Alice get over this stupid popularity obsession of hers? But then… Lori’s words suddenly registered with me. “Wait” I said. “What did you just say?”

    Lori sighed again. “Let me put this in terms that you can understand” she said. “Pretty soon, Alice isn’t going to care about anything you say. Basically, you’re not going to be friends with her anymore. Not after I’m through with her, anyway.

    Now I was shocked. “What do you mean we’re not going to be friends anymore?” I cried.

    “Still don’t get it, do you?” said Lori. “Alright, then. Your soon-to-be-ex-friend Alice has made a commitment to be popular, right? Well, right now, I’m trying to strengthen that devotion by loosening her commitment to everything else. School, friends… even you’ll be thrown aside eventually, especially if you keep saying what you’re saying to her. Why do you think I keep dragging her out on these social gatherings?”

    “Wait” I said, still unable to believe what I was hearing. “You’re doing that to her on purpose?”

    “Of course I am” said Lori, her smile becoming an evil smirk. “Pretty soon, she won’t be able to deal with any of this other stuff, and she’ll just have to give up on it. And then she’ll be mine.”

    I couldn’t believe this! “But… she doesn’t have to give up on any of that!” I said, though I sounded much more sure than I felt. “She could just give up on being popular instead!”

    Lori’s evil smirk grew wider. “I admire your wishful thinking” she said. “But I’m afraid that’s just not possible. She’s too committed.” She looked away from me for a moment, a blissful look crossing her face. “I’ve seen it before, you know. Countless times. These girls come in with dreams of being popular, so they come to me for help. I make it so that being popular is the only thing they care about, and then they become so devoted to me that I can do pretty much whatever I want with them. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

    I began breathing heavily, my fists clenched in anger. “That’s despicable!” I yelled, taking a step toward her. “You’re a monster!”

    Lori turned to me again, an evil glint in her eyes. “Maybe” she said. “But I think that being a monster is much better than being an obstacle. And since that’s exactly what you are, I’m not sure you’re really qualified to judge.”

    I took another step, feeling all of the anger I had ever felt for Lori building up inside me. Only this time, it was justified. My hands were shaking with rage, and I could feel my heart pounding, adrenaline spreading through my body. Before I knew what was happening, I had lost control of myself. I raised my fist and drew it back, preparing to strike. I didn’t care what would happen. I didn’t care what the consequences would be. All I cared about was permanently wiping that smirk off of Lori’s face.

    The next few moments happened instantly. As I swung my fist forward, I felt something grab my arm. Next, I felt three clean, swift punches straight into my gut. As I doubled over in pain, I saw Lori standing over me, her evil grin even wider than before. “Did you really think I didn’t expect that?” she asked. “This always happens, too. Someone gets mad at me for doing what I do and lashes out. Why do you think I started taking fighting lessons?” She drew her fist back. “Unfortunately for you, it doesn’t look like you’ve had the same kind of experience… or training. Oh well, that’s just too bad for you!”

    I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact… but it never came. Instead, I suddenly heard Lori cry out, followed by something falling to the ground. I opened my eyes and saw Lori, lying there on the floor. Standing above her was… Lily? “You… bitch!” Lori yelled, struggling to her feet. She immediately tried to throw a punch at Lily, but it never hit its mark. Lily quickly dodged, and managed to land a few punches of her own with almost inhuman speed. Reeling from the impact, Lori staggered back. She looked up at both of us, her face twisted in pain. “You… don’t think I’ll forget this!” She yelled. “This isn’t over!” With that, she turned around and staggered away.

    “Whew… that was close…” said Lily. She turned to me. “You okay?”

    “I… guess” I said. “Just… kind of shocked.” I lowered my head. “I can’t believe she would do something like that...”

    Lily nodded. “I know what you mean” she said. “That stupid table… all they do is take and take and take….” She was getting angry, too. Her breathing became heavy, her fists were clenched, her pointed ears twitched on top of her head….

    Wait… pointed ears? “Um… Lily?” I asked, pointing at the ears that I had somehow failed to notice until now. “What are those?”

    “Oh… these?” asked Lily, bringing one of her hands up to her ears. “They’re… just something a friend gave me. Like a costume.”

    “Wow…” I said, amazed. Those ears were so realistic! The fur, the shape, the way the twitched… “Wait… but why are you wearing them now?”

    “Oh… well, I just got them, and… well, I wanted to see how I looked in them” she replied. She seemed nervous for some reason, which confused me. “I… I just think that they really fit me, you know?”

    I nodded. “Yeah” I said. “You know… I think I actually have something like that, too. Something that I think fits me.” As I said it, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small, golden monocle, hanging from a chain.

    “A monocle?” asked Lily, examining it. “Why do you feel like that fits you?”

    “Well… to be honest, I’m really not sure” I said. “I mean, my parents always tell me that I have beautiful eyes, so maybe that has something to do with it, but… I’m not sure, really. I just sort of bought it on impulse over the weekend.”

    “Because you felt drawn to it?” asked Lily.

    I looked up at Lily, noticing that her expression had completely changed. She looked dead serious, staring at me like my answer to her question was the most important thing ever. “Um, yeah... “ I said. “How did you know that?”

    Her serious expression disappeared. “Oh… just a guess” she said, smiling. “Hey, do you think you could come over to my house this evening? I have something else I want to show you.”

    “Um… okay…” I said. “You really want me to come over? We just met today…”

    She nodded. “Trust me, it’s going to be good” she said. “Okay, see you then!” As she turned and walked away, I thought I noticed something on her neck, poking out from beneath her long, red hair. It almost looked like… fur? No, that’s impossible, I thought. I must have imagined it.

    I looked back down at my monocle, my mind wandering to what Lori had said to me. I just couldn’t believe it. How could one person be so…. cruel, so controlling? Being with Lily had helped me forget for a moment, but… it wouldn’t change anything about the situation. I wanted to walk right down to the detention room Alice was in and tell her everything that I had heard, but I knew that they probably wouldn’t let me in. And after everything Lori had told me, I didn’t think she would believe me, anyway.

    I sighed, slipping the monocle back into my pocket and heading outside. Maybe spending the evening at Lily’s house would make me feel a bit better. Maybe I would even figure out what to do about Alice while I was there. At least it would give me someone to talk to about it.



    A few hours later, I was standing in front of Lily’s house, knocking on her door. It hadn’t been hard to find, since it was pretty close to the school. After a few seconds of knocking, the door opened, and I found myself standing face to face with Lily’s mother. “Oh… you must be Kelly” she said. “Lily’s waiting for you. She’s just inside.”

    “Thanks” I said, walking past her into the hallway. As I turned the corner into their living room, I noticed Lily, sitting on one of the couches. She turned to me, brushing her red hair out of her face. “Oh… hi, Kelly” she said.

    “Hi” I said, sitting down next to her. “So… what have you been doing?”

    She shrugged, turning to look at one of the windows. “Just waiting” she said. She got up and began walking over to the window, and I noticed that she looked… nervous? Drawing back the curtains, she looked out the window, glancing up at the sky. “...Nope” she said, closing the curtain. “Nothing yet.”

    I stood up, trying to get a glimpse at what she was looking at. “What are you looking for?” I asked.

    She looked back at me. “The moon” she said. “It’s supposed to be full tonight, you know.” She sat back down, gazing off into the distance. “I’ve always liked looking at the moon. I like how it lights up the sky, how it makes the darkness seem a little brighter, how mysterious everything associated with it seems to be… even now, after I…” she trailed off.

    I looked at her, confused. “Go on” I said. “After you what?”

    She stood up suddenly, her face a mixture of fear and panic. Then, as she looked back at me, her emotions seemed to… melt away. “I’m… sorry” she said. “I’m… a little nervous.” She walked back over to the window, looking up at the night sky once again. As she did, the fear seemed to return to her face. “There it is” she said. “The moon is out.”

    “Lily” I said walking over to her. “What’s going on?”

    She grabbed my hand in response, dragging me down the hallway and to the front door “Just… wait here, okay?” she said. “And… don’t scream or anything.” She chuckled nervously. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

    Now I was really confused. Scream? What was she talking about? As she walked out the door into the cold night, I noticed that she wasn’t wearing a coat or a jacket, or even any shoes or socks. But she didn’t seem to mind the cold at all… in fact, she seemed to embrace it.

    After a few moments, Lily turned her head toward me and grinned. As she did, though, I noticed something odd about her teeth. It was a little hard to tell in the dark, but it looked like they were… growing? They seemed to be getting longer and sharper, until they looked more like… fangs. As I watched, another surprise greeted me: her face looked like it was pushing out of her skull, growing and lengthening into a… muzzle. Patches of brown fur also began appearing on her face, and her ears were growing larger, becoming pointed and sliding to the top of her head.

    I watched, shocked. What was going on? Lily’s head was gone, replaced by the head of some kind of… animal! But as my gaze shifted downward, I noticed that her head wasn’t the only thing changing. The same brown fur that was on her face had spread to her legs, and was making its way down to her feet. Once it reached them, they began changing as well, growing much larger and slightly slimming out. Her toes also changed, growing larger and merging together until only three remained. Finally, her stance shifted, forcing her onto the balls of her feet. Only now, they looked more like… paws. Now I could see why she wasn’t wearing socks or shoes. They would have been destroyed if she was!

    The changes began spreading across her body. Her red hair seemed to shrink back into her skull, turning into the brown fur. Her hands also began sprouting fur, her fingernails sharpening into claws and her fingers shrinking and thickening a little, becoming slightly more paw-like. The back of her pants tore open as a brown, furry tail emerged, dangling from her behind. As the changes came to a stop, she looked up at me, smiling. Surprisingly, her clothes seemed unaffected by the change, remaining on her body as if nothing had happened. “Don’t worry” she said. “It’s still me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

    I just stood there, shocked. I wasn’t sure what to say. Before my eyes, Lily had transformed into something completely unreal, something I didn’t think even existed. “You’re… you’re a werewolf?” I said. “Wait… no, that can’t be right. You don’t look like a wolf… your ears are too large… and your muzzle is a bit too narrow… you look more like a… a…”

    “A coyote” Lily said, nodding. “That’s what I am. A werecoyote.”

    “I… I don’t believe it…” I said. “That’s… that’s so cool!” Excited, I ran right up to Lily, a huge grin on my face. I grabbed her hand, running my fingers through the fur that had grown there. “This is amazing…” I said. “It’s actually real…”

    I looked up at Lily’s face, noticing that she seemed a bit shocked herself. “You… like it?” she asked. “Wow… I was not expecting that…” She chuckled to herself. “Well… if you like this, then you’re probably going to love what happens next…”

    I looked up at her, confused. “Why? What happens next?” As I said it, I happened to glance up at the moon behind Lily’s head. For a moment, I just stared, mesmerized by the object that had just caused Lily’s change. It seemed so bright, so… vivid. In fact, just looking at it made the sky seem brighter…

    Hold on… was it just me or… was the sky actually getting brighter? Looking around, I noticed that my vision was somehow beginning to improve. Things were becoming brighter, more in focus, more… clear. I could tell that it was still dark, but I was somehow able to see things as if it was daytime! What was going on?”

    “Hey, do you still have that monocle with you?” asked Lily, looking down at the pocket where my monocle was kept.

    “Um… yeah” I said, reaching into my pocket. But the moment I did, I felt something sharp jab into my leg. “Ow!” I yelled, grabbing the monocle and pulling it out. “What was tha-” I never finished the thought. The moment I got a good look at my hand, all of my thoughts stopped. My hand didn’t look normal, it looked yellow and… scaly. My fingernails had also changed, becoming long, curved claws. I looked over at my other hand, seeing that it looked exactly the same.

    I looked back up at Lily… and it hit me. “No… no way…” I said, unable to believe it. “Am… am I…”

    Lily nodded. “Yep. You’re a werecreature, too. You don’t look like you’re going to be a werecoyote like me, though. Probably some kind of bird, judging by those feathers on your face.”

    “Feathers?” Upon hearing the word, I immediately rushed back inside, running to the nearest bathroom. Once inside, I quickly glanced in the mirror, seeing that my face was quickly becoming covered in brown and white feathers. But that wasn’t the only surprise: as I watched, my nose and mouth fused and hardened, curving down to form a short beak. Amazed, I raised one of my clawed hands to my face, feeling the smooth growth. Looking back at the mirror, I noticed something else: my eyes, which had already been slightly larger than average, were enormous, about three times larger than they had been. I chuckled to myself, realizing that this must have had something to do with the my vision improvement.

    I looked back out into the hallway, noticing Lily standing there, a smile stretched across her muzzle once again. “You okay, Kelly?” she asked.

    I nodded. “Yeah” I said. I reached up to feel my hair, noticing that it had a more feathery texture, similar to the feathers on my face. I also noticed two tufts of feathers sticking out from the top of my head, resembling horns. “This is… this is so cool!”

    “Cool, huh?” Lily chuckled again. “Wow… that sure is a far cry from how I reacted the first time I changed…”

    As I ran my hand through my feathers, I began to feel something happening to my feet. It felt like they were… growing, and my shoes were beginning to strain under the pressure. The next thing I knew, my shoes were ripped apart as my feet tore through them, reducing them to scraps. I looked down at my feet, seeing that they had become yellow and scaly, like my hands. I also now had only three long toes on each foot, plus a fourth extending from each heel, and each toe ended in a long, curved claw. Staring, I realized exactly what it was that my hands and feet had become: bird talons.

    “Oh…” said Lily, looking down at my tattered shoes. “Sorry… I probably should have warned you about that. Don’t worry too much about it, though. It happens to most people the first time they change.”

    But I didn’t really care about the shoes at that point. Staring down at my massive talons, I began to feel something odd spreading across my body. Being careful not to tear it with my claws, I lifted my shirt up to find feathers, similar to the ones on my face, growing on my torso. Around this point, I began realizing how odd the two of us must have looked together. “Um, Lily?” I said. “What happens if your mom comes down and sees us like this?”

    “Oh, don’t worry about that” said Lily, smiling. “She already knows about all of this.”

    “She… does?” I asked, the feathers spreading to my upper arms and legs. “You mean… you told her about this already?”

    Lily shook her head. “Actually, she told me” she said. “This condition… it’s hereditary. You get it from your parents.”

    “WHAT?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My parents were capable of doing this too? As I tried to absorb this, I felt pressure begin to build in the back of my pants. The next thing I knew, they had ripped open, giving way to a large plume of brown and white tail feathers. But I barely even noticed. “But… I’ve been with them on full moon nights! I never saw them change at all! How…”

    “They probably learned to control it” replied Lily. “Once you have enough experience with this, you can prevent yourself from changing during a full moon. You can even learn to shift whenever you want.”

    “Whenever you want….” I thought back to when Lily had rescued me from Lori earlier. Was it possible that…. I looked up at her pointed ears, seeing that they looked exactly like the ones she had “worn” then. “So those ears you wore when you talked to me….”

    “...were real” Lily said. “Seems I’m gaining the ability to change whenever I want. I can only change a little right now, but I should be able to change fully eventually.” She looked over at the monocle I was holding. “Something else you should know… the reason you never changed until now is because of that monocle. See, this ability of ours needs to be awakened by an object… something we feel drawn to. In your case, that monocle. When I heard you describe it like that… well, I knew what was going to happen. That’s why I invited you over.

    “Um… okay” I said, slipping the monocle back into my pocket. Like Lily's clothes, my clothes didn't seem to be affected at all by the changes. “I guess that makes-” I suddenly stopped. I was beginning to feel more pressure against my clothing, this time against the back of my shirt, near my shoulder blades. “Wait…” I said, realization of what was about to happen hitting me full force. “Am… am I growing…” Before I could finish, the back of my shirt ripped open, revealing to massive, fully brown-and-white feathered… wings.

    “No way… “ I reached back with one of my clawed hands, running it across my new appendages. They felt… right, just as natural as arms or legs. “This… this is…” I turned to Lily, my face filled with joy. “This is awesome!” I looked out the open door, into the night. “Can I actually fly with these?”

    “I don’t see why you couldn’t” said Lily, nodding. She began looking over me, a curious look in her eyes. “Definitely some kind of bird…  probably a wereowl, judging by those eyes of yours…”

    But I was barely listening. I quickly ran out the door, my claws clicking against the hardwood floor as I went. Once I was outside, I jumped into the air, spreading my wings. I felt my wings catch a gust of wind, lifting me up into the sky. Before I knew it, I was far up above the ground, flying through the air as if I had been doing it my entire life. Looking back down at the ground, I noticed Lily standing below me, looking up. “You doing alright up there?” she asked.

    “Yeah!” I said, nodding. “I… I feel amazing! Like I could fly up here forever!” As the thought crossed my mind, a sly smile began forming across my face. “In fact… why don’t you see if you can keep up with me?” Without another thought, I took off, flying through the night.

    “Hey, no fair! You can fly!” Laughing, Lily began running after me.

    I laughed too, and for the first time, I felt… like I belonged. Like this was who I was meant to be. Thanks to my vastly improved night vision, everything around me felt so… clear, so in focus. And with my wings carrying me through the sky, not to mention my razor-sharp talons, I knew that I owned the night sky. This was my dominion.

    After a few minutes, I found myself flying over a deserted road, with Lily still running behind me, not too far off. But as I looked down at the road, I began hearing something. It sounded like someone was… crying? Wanting to find out what was going on, I began flying lower over the road, looking for the source of the noise. But as I scanned the road, my eyes fell upon something that made my jaw… er, beak… drop.

    Sitting on the side of the road was what looked like… another werecreature. This one was evidently a female, judging by her clothes and body shape, and she looked kind of similar to Lily, with her fur, paws, and canine-like muzzle. However, this creature’s fur was mostly orange, her paws were black, and her tail was much larger and more bushy than Lily’s. She looked a bit like a fox, and I figured that that's what she must have been: a werefox. I also noticed that she was crying, her paws covering her face and her body shaking uncontrollably. “Help me…” she said. “Somebody, help me…”

    I touched down onto the ground next to her, my claws digging into the soil. “Hey… are you okay?” I asked.

    The creature turned around, startled. As soon as she saw me, though, she screamed, jumping back. “Wha… what are you?” she cried. “S-stay away from me! I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to hurt anyone! I… I just….”

    “Hurt anyone?” I asked, confused. Something about her voice seemed familiar… and her outfit looked like I had seen it before, too. Wait… no, it couldn’t be… “Are…” I started, barely able to get the words out. “Are… you… Alice?”

    Immediately, the fear vanished from her eyes, replaced by pure shock. “No… way…” she said. “...Kelly? Is that you?”

    Before I could answer, Lily came running up behind me. “Hey” she said. “Sorry about the delay, but I found this car that looked like it had been in an accident, and…” As soon as she noticed Alice, she stopped. “What the… You?” she cried. “You’re a werecreature, too?”

    I looked between the two of them, confused. “You know each other?” I asked.

    “She doesn’t know me, but I know exactly who she is!” yelled Lily. “This is the girl who I was telling you about at lunch! The one who dated my boyfriend!”

    “What?” I cried. I looked back at Alice, seeing that the fear had returned. “But… that can’t be right! This is the girl I’m friends with! The one I told you about! She… she…” I trailed off, no longer completely sure of myself. I looked back at Alice, seeing a guilty look in her eyes. “Do you know what she’s talking about, Alice?”

    Alice looked at both of us, and slowly nodded. “Yes… she’s right” she said. She hung her head, her pointed ears drooping. “It happened about a year ago. One of the boys in school asked me out, and… well, I agreed to go out with him. But while we were on the date, he began telling me about how he was introverted. How he always preferred staying home to being out with other people.” She looked up at us, the guilt in her eyes more apparent than ever. “You need to understand… I wouldn’t have cared at all if it weren’t for Lori. She always told me that I needed to date someone who wanted to be popular to be popular myself. But I was to scared to tell him that… so when he went to use the bathroom, I… I ran out on him.”

    “So… that’s what you did to him.” Lily shook her head. “No wonder he never liked to talk about it. I would think he would be pretty upset about that.”

    Alice nodded, her head drooping again. “He was here, you know” she said. “He found me right after I changed… right after I crashed my car. He didn’t recognize me at first, but when he did… things went downhill pretty quickly. He yelled at me, grabbed my arm… he was pretty mad.” She sighed. “Not that I blame him… I’d probably be mad, too…”

    I placed my hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Alice” I said. I looked up at Lily. “Why don’t you go look for that boyfriend of yours, Lily? Maybe you could talk to clear things up about Alice for him.” I looked back at Alice. “I’ll stay here with Alice.”

    “Well…” Lily nodded. “Okay, I’ll go.” She turned around, starting to running down the street. “Robert! Hey, Robert!”

    Once she was gone, I turned to Alice. “So… are you feeling any better?”

    Alice groaned, rubbing her forehead with her paw. “I don’t know… this whole day has just been too crazy for me…” She looked down at herself. “I mean, I turned into this, for one thing… I’m not even sure how I should feel about that…” She brushed her claws through her fur, running them across her tail. “It just feels… so weird…”

    “Hey, it’s not that bad” I said, spreading out my wings. “I mean, I can fly! I know you can’t, but…”

    Alice shook her head. “This isn’t even the only thing” she said. “Before, when I was with Lori… I found one of her ‘tricks’ for staying popular.” She sighed. “We went to the mall together, and when we got back together… well, she told me that she stole a bunch of the stuff that she had. Not only that, but she said it like she just expected me to go along with it.” She looked back up at me. “Of course, I left as soon as I found out. And… well, you know what happened next.”

    I nodded. “That girl is bad news, that’s for sure. In fact, she probably did just expect you to accept that she was stealing.” I smiled at her. “But you didn’t. You weren’t completely under her control, and that’s what’s important.” Still smiling, I sat down next to her, putting my arm around her. “And right now, you have a chance to make things right. You can get rid of Lori, get rid of this popularity obsession… you can be reborn. Heck, you already have a new body. Why not get a new mindset to match?” I stood up, holding out my hand to her. “You ready to join us?”

    For a moment, Alice just sat there. Then she smiled, grabbing my hand with her paw. “Yeah” she said. “I’m ready.”
A long, long story that took me a long, long time to write. But it's finally done!Sweating a little... 

Honestly, I don't really have much more to say about this one. As usual, I welcome constructive criticism, and until next time, I'm Robert Dayson, signing off!
© 2015 - 2024 RobertDayson
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Dragonguardian253's avatar
Very nice job on part 2. I never realized that Kelly and Lily were both were creatures and I also liked how you described Lori's plan so evil. I'm definitely gonna watch you.