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A matter of change

Chapter 3: life goes on

I had to stay in the hospital for a few days so that the doctors could run some tests on me, you know, to make sure there wasn't any "permanent damage". After being prodded from tip to tail I was given a clean bill of health, although I was advised to remain there for further "study." Honestly? I had had enough medical attention to last me a life time; I just wanted to get out of there as soon as physically possible. When I checked out the next day, I was relieved to find that the FBI had left us a car with blacked out windows. At least I wouldn't have to put up with the horrified faces of the public. I was comforted to see the front door of my house, knowing there would not be any accusing eyes inside, and that it was probably the safest place in the world for me now.

A month passed since that fateful day where life dealt me the ace of spades and told me to deal with it. Not that I don't like staying at home and skipping school, but I began to feel like a caged animal. I know how ironic that may sound but it was true. The only difference between me and a wolf you'd see at the zoo is that the iron bars surrounding me were there to keep everyone else out. I went out every now and then for a run, but only ever at night. The darkness seemed to call to me, probably part of the wolf's instincts deep inside of me. It was the only thing that kept me sane in a world where it hurt my eyes to look in the mirror. I guess it was because even if I ran into someone they wouldn't be able to see what I truly looked like. Unless of course they happened to be carrying a torch with them, in that case I was screwed and legged it as fast as possible. Some thing about the change also made me a hell of a lot faster than before; I could easily run the hundred metres in under 10 seconds now, whereas before I had trouble doing it under 20! I wasn't fat or anything before, I just wasn't motivated enough. Now I had plenty of motivation though; seeing the terrified look in a persons face is more than enough to get you moving, for fear of persecution and discrimination. The night was so forgiving. The day seemed prey upon my every weakness and exploit it, destroying me from the inside out.

As I was only 17 and attending 6th form, I had to have work sent home regularly so that I didn't fall too far behind with my studies. Pointless really, as my future seemed so bleak that I could see no purpose for learning anything new. Many bundles of work came with notes from concerned teachers, hoping for me to get well soon. I really hadn't done myself any favours at school; making friends with teachers was just asking for trouble. My emails slowly racked up as all of the friends that I did have wanted to know if I'd fallen off the edge of the world or something. I dared not reply to any of them in case they started asking questions, questions that I really didn't want to answer. Eventually the time came where no amount of home schooling and hiding away could save me from the truth. I was going to have to embrace the fact that I was going to have to get on with the rest of my life; the first step was to go back to school. I had to ask my mum to re-buy my entire uniform, only in the next size up to make room for the added muscle and rather thick fur. Even though it was the middle of winter I couldn't wear anything more than a t-shirt and shorts without sweating like a dog. I dunno how I was gonna cope with trousers, a shirt, a tie, a blazer and a thick layer of my own fur. It was going to be hell, but I was going to have to find a way with dealing with it like I had done with everything else up to that point.

I picked the first Tuesday after half term to go back for two reasons; one: because Mondays suck, and two: because people would be so busy coping with new work loads that they would barely notice me...or so I thought. I had to ask my mum to prepare a lot of sick notes as I had been away for a very long time. There were also letters addressed to each individual teacher explaining about my...condition, in that I was still the same straight A student behind the frankly rather terrifying new appearance. That morning I woke up to find I had slept in, and that I had about 10 minutes to get dressed, pack my bag and get to school on time. Not a great start to the rest of my life. Even with extra large clothes I struggled to get into them, my fur kept getting caught everywhere, and it was uncomfortable as hell. My mum had kindly cut holes in my boxers and trousers for my tail to go through. She had been so supportive and never ceased to amaze me. I walked into the bathroom and I looked at myself in the mirror, a wolf in school uniform stared back at me. I looked like something out of a Steven king novel. I brushed back the fur on top of my head, saving a couple of strands which fell in front of my left eye. I hoped that this would at least help my friends recognise me, as that was how I used to style my hair before it started growing all over my entire body. I pulled myself together and got the rest of my stuff ready. Thank god my mum offered me a ride in; I don't think I would have coped with having to take the bus. Having to sit there with all those eyes boring into the back of my head, not to mention the bus driver asking me what species I was, let alone my age. It didn't bear thinking about. I counted the minutes it took to get to school. Each one seeming to take longer and longer to tick by, it was agony. We got there eventually, 10 minutes late. Typical. I bailed out of the car and walked quickly across the desolate play ground towards the main entrance, the looming double doors standing over me like a pair of wooden bouncers, ready to throw me aside at any moment. I knew that inside lay both misery and suffering, but I also knew that it was the only way forward. I took a deep breath as I pushed one of the doors aside and walked willingly into the void.

Inside I realised that maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. The hallways looked the same as they always had, plastered in both chewing gum and exemplary work from students, some of which was mine. The empty corridors seemed much smaller than before as I walked slowly towards my form room. This was probably because I was a good few inches taller from the change. I knew that I really should have been running, but I had to take this slowly or risk getting over excited and set myself up for a fall. When I finally reached my room I was shaking all over. I could hear the class from the other side of the door. 'Great a full house' I thought to myself, well at least I could explain everything to all of them in one go. I looked through the gap in the door to see that the teacher hadn't yet arrived, which was probably for the best. I took one last deep breath before grabbing the handle, turning it slowly and pushing the door aside. I walked briskly to my seat at the back of the class room, taking extra care not to look any one in the eye. The noise quickly died down to make way for perfect silence as I sat down, slinging my bag under the table. I was looking down at the floor, pretending like there was nothing to be interested in. I slowly looked up to find 30 pairs of eyes staring at me in disbelief. I looked around with one eyebrow raised jokingly. I had never seen the entire class silent before. It was kind of creepy. Although I loved the silence, the golden silence, I felt I had to break it eventually.

"What?!" I said aloud. I don't know what possessed me to say it but it really didn't matter now, all I knew was that I had made the first move.

"You're a wolf!" someone shouted from across the class room. I didn't recognise the voice so it was probably a new kid; well I had been away for more than a month, I'm sure a lot of things had changed. I had to say something.

"Well thank you Mr. Obvious!" I laughed dryly and looked around the class to see if anyone else thought it was funny. They didn't. They were all still fixated on me, mouths still wide open, and I doubt half of them had even blinked. This was really uncomfortable. I moved my finger round the inside of my collar to cool down a bit; damn it was hot in there. I slipped off my blazer and hung it on the back of the chair, revealing my upper build and fur covered arms. Finally it was their turn to ask the questions.

"Ermm...Who the hell are you?! What are you?!" It was Andy one of my mates, or so I thought. He was always incredibly nosey and always wanted to know what was going on, I wasn't surprised that he was the first one to ask me anything.

"Dude it's me Jake. Don't you recognise me?" I knew that he wouldn't, I was just playing with him.

"Jake?! What the hell happened to you, you're a....ermm...different!" the rest of the class focused their gaze on me. I guess they were trying to see the resemblance between what I used to look like and the new me.

"Thanks for noticing!" I couldn't stop my pathetic attempts to lighten up the situation. I had never been the centre of attention like this before and it felt really uncomfortable.

"But...What happened? That's either the best costume ever made or..." he stopped mid sentence.

"Or what?" I asked.

"Or puberty hit you like a ton of bricks!!" Finally the silence was broken as the entire class burst out laughing. In way it was a relief, as I don't think I would have been able to cope with the awkward silence much longer. I played along with the joke by putting my head on the table with my hands over my head and pretended to make whimpering noises. As the laughter began to die down Andy started asking questions again.

"Seriously though...What happened to you?" I took a moment to gather my thoughts and prepare an answer. I pushed against the table and attempted to lean back on my chair, completely misjudging the strength necessary to do so and ended up banging my head on the table behind me and falling flat on my back on the floor. Shrieks of laughter followed as I lay there dazed and slightly concussed. I really didn't know my own strength anymore and controlling myself took a lot of effort. Just my luck then that the teacher chose just that exact moment to arrive late. The laughter ended abruptly as I heard the door open and slam shut.

"Who's that on the floor down there?" A deep voice bellowed across the room. It was Mr. Alan alright, the strictest teacher this side of England.

"Sorry sir it's me." I called out. I was still lying on the floor gathering my thoughts. I sure hoped he remembered my voice at least. He did.

"Is that you Jake? About time you came back to school. Stand up and tell us where you've been."

"...Do I have to?" I wanted to stay down there for the rest of the day but I knew he wouldn't have any of it.

"What?! Of course you do now get up boy!"

I sighed deeply as I slowly raised myself and the chair up, taking extra care to not look Mr. Alan in the eye. I got up, straightened my tie and sat back down on my chair. I sat there for about a minute waiting for him to say something, anything, but nothing happened. I slowly looked up to find Mr. Alan with the strangest look on his face, a combination of fear, confusion, and utter disbelief. I looked around the room again to find that some people hadn't even taken their eyes off of me since I walked in. I turned my head back to the front of class and stared Mr. Alan right in the eyes. He twitched briefly and his expression quickly changed to that of dismissal.

"Very good costume boy. But now is not the time for fun and games so please, take it off." I really didn't know what to say. He thought it was a costume. How could I tell him that no matter how hard I wanted to, I could never change back to what I used to look like? I simply sat there and scratched my head for a bit.

"Well? Come on boy we don't have all day!"

"Umm sir? It's not a costume..."

"What do you mean it's not a costume? Don't play games with me boy I'm really not in the mood. Now I'll ask you one last time to change out of that ridicules get up, or suffer the consequences for disobeying a teacher."

What the hell was I supposed to do? He was never going to believe me.

"Sir this really isn't a costume! Honestly! Look I even have a tail!" I stood up and turned around slowly, shaking my bushy tail from side to side to show him I was serious. I could see every pair of eyes in the room following it from left to right. "And if you still don't believe me I even have a letter explaining about my umm... condition." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small envelope with my teachers name on it. I walked over to his desk and handed it to him. He snatched it from my hand and tore into it, frantically opening the letter as his eyes furiously scanned over the writing. I don't know what my mum had written on it but it certainly made Mr. Alan stop dead in his tracks. He gradually folded the up the piece of paper and looked up at me.

"...You may take your seat." He said calmly, as if nothing had happened. I turned around and went back to my place.

"So? What happened to you man?" Andy just didn't give up.

"Well..." I had to tread carefully here as the FBI agent had told me not to disclose any classified information. "Would you believe me, if I said that I was kidnapped by a group of mad scientists, who used me as a guinea pig in their experiments to alter the human genome? Hmm?" I glanced around the room and checked the expressions on everyone's faces. All blank with either confusion or scepticism. "No? Didn't think so." I think I got away with that one. I didn't give them any specific details and I made it seem like I had made the whole thing up, which I obviously hadn't. But they bought it, I think.

"Is that really true?" I heard some one ask from across the room.

"Ermmm..." I was about to say yes when a high pitched ringing sound almost deafened me. It hurt my ears so much I yelped slightly, like most animals do when they hear a really high pitched noise or something. They were so damn sensitive that any loud sound was almost unbearable. I pretended that I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, grabbed my bag and legged it out the door. Well at least the worst of it was behind me I thought as I walked swiftly down the corridor to my first lesson; ignoring the startled faces on the kids as I went past. The next couple of lessons were fairly similar to that morning's registration, in that both the students and the teachers spent half the lesson staring at me, and the other half asking impromptu questions about all kinds of things. Some one even asked me if my dick was like a wolf's! I laughed at the time, but the truth was he was right. I had like a large sheathe which concealed my private parts. Going to the bathroom was a bitch though, as I had to kind of cock my leg over the toilet and try not to fall over! I really was a freak of nature.

Eventually the moment that I was dreading since I woke up this morning finally arrived. It was break time. Now I didn't just have 30 odd students to deal with, I had the entire school. All 1400 of them! I walked slowly towards the hall like a man walking in front of a firing squad. It wasn't so bad at first, but it slowly filled up and sooner rather than later, it was heaving. I tried hiding myself in the corner of the large room using others for cover, but it wasn't enough. Before I know what was happening I was surrounded by what must have been a thousand grey blazers, all with faces of murderous intent. As the circle of underage thugs closed in on me I knew that some one was gonna get hurt; and I was going to have to extremely careful if I didn't want it to be me. I made an unimpressed expression as I looked round at the nameless masses and smirked; I knew this was going to happen, I just knew it. As I stifled a laugh from their pathetic predictability, I was slightly taken aback to see a single figure step forward from the crowd. I stopped smiling and took a good look at the behemoth approaching me. He must have been at least 6ft something and built like a brick house. He wasn't the greatest looking of guys: shaved head, spotty and had a rather bushy monobrow, but these things only made him look all the more intimidating. He stopped walking and leaned forward so his face was only an inch away from the tip of my muzzle. We locked eyes as we waited for the other to say something. It was then that I realised that the entire hall had gone so quite you could hear a pin drop, or in my case a body soon enough. I bit the bullet and made the first move.

"(Sigh) What do you want?" I took a slightly more submissive stance and took a step backwards. I didn't want to look like I was chickening out, but I'm not a naturally aggressive person, and if it's possible I'd rather avoid confrontation altogether. But in this situation I began to think that a fight was unavoidable. The yob in front of me finally spoke in a deep, authoritative voice.

"I don't think animals are allowed in this school mate!" he smiled and turned to his friends to indicate for them to start laughing. I just thought how sad they all looked.

"Yeah very funny...Now what do you want?" I knew where this was going but I continued nevertheless.

"Hmm let me think..." he scratched his chin with his left hand and rested his right against his hip, looking as cocky as possible. He stood there like that for a while in a deliberate attempt to piss me off. I was beginning to lose my patience. "Oh I remember now! I want you outta here! Your kind...whatever the hell you are...ain't welcome here!"

"Oh yeah what kind?" I knew exactly what I meant but I asked anyway.

"You know...Furry!" Oh Christ I thought, that was what they were gonna call me from now on. A furry! Fantastic, I now had my own species.

"Look it's not my fault I look like this. Besides I've been going to this school for the last 4 years and you've never bothered me before!" This last statement caused a couple of whispers to go round the circle. I picked up a few of them with my super sensitive hearing, and it appeared as if no one could quite believe that they had been working alongside a 'furry' for so many years without noticing. Even the guy in front of me didn't quite believe me.

"You're kidding right? There's no way I couldn't have seen you around before. What's your name?"

"Furlong...Jake Furlong. Ring any bells?" I didn't think he would recognise my name, but for some reason, he did. The expression on his face changed quickly from smugness...to shocked understanding. Did he know who I was, and if he did, how? I certainly didn't know him. I stood there for a minute in complete silence, waiting for him to say something.

"...Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"...Jake Furlong?"

"Errr...Yes. What? Do I know you or something?" I had no idea what was going on. I thought the fight would've been and been and gone by now, but this latest revelation threw me completely.

"You did that end of year speech last term, right?"

"Err...Yeah that was me."

"And you were part of that school council committee weren't you?"

"Yeah, your point?" What was he getting at?

"So you're the same Jake Furlong that ratted on us last year when tried to steal the answers for a test from the teachers desk?!" My heart froze and my blood ran cold with fear. My lower limbs began shaking violently as I finally realised where I recognised this kid from. Like he said, I caught him and his friends stealing papers off of a teacher's desk a few months ago. I did what I thought was right and told someone. The teachers grabbed him and mates and searched their lockers to find weeks of test papers and other important documents. If memory serves they were excluded from school for over a month, all because of me. Now I knew I was gonna get it, and at least now I knew why. I knew I had to say something in my defence, but all I managed to say was: "Uh oh..."

"Uh oh is right! I've been waiting for this moment for a long time!" And with that he pulled his fist back and swung for my face. I ducked just in time as I felt his hand swipe past the top of my head. The crowd began to cheer as they finally got to see exactly what they had wanted right from the start. I regained my wits and took another step back.

"Look man I really don't want to fight you! I'm sorry alright?"

"Yeah well it's a bit too late for that now ain't it? Now you better ask one of your friends to call an ambulance for you now, or perhaps the vet would be more appropriate!" He swung again missing the tip of my muzzle by the narrowest of margins.

"Look man just shut up and back off before one of us does something we'll regret!" I wasn't so much threatening him as trying to make him see that this was utterly pointless. I was going to keep coming to school as long as I wanted, even if it meant being hospitalised by guys like him.

"That's right, you're gonna regret the day you ever messed with me!" He prepared to swing at me for a third time, but just as I prepared to dodge it someone behind me decided it would be a great idea to grab my tail and give it a hard tug. I yelped loudly and jumped round to see who did it, only to feel a large meaty fist plough into the side of my face, sending me crashing to floor. A loud cheer went up for the man who felled the wolf monster. I raised myself up onto my knees and shook my head, trying to regain my senses. I moved my hand up to my mouth to find it was slightly damp. I took it away and looked at it, stained with patches of dark crimson. I wiped it off with my sleeve and stood back up. My stare shifted from my blood tainted hands towards the thug standing to the side of me. He was looking as smug as ever.

"Heh heh heh. So you want some more do you?"

I wasn't quite sure what happened next, but all of a sudden I started growling ferociously. That wiped the smile off of his face. As I felt my heart rate skyrocket and adrenaline pump throughout my body, I lost control. Colour began bleeding from my eyes until my entire world turned black and white. As the rage inside of my boiled over I felt as if I was just watching a black and white movie, it felt like I wasn't really there. Before I knew what was happening I ran screaming towards him and floored in one punch. I didn't give him the opportunity to get back up, as I pounced on him and pinned him to the floor with my muscular arms. He looked like he was about to wet himself as I curled back my upper lip, revealing my razor sharp teeth that could tear into his flesh at a moments notice. I enjoyed watching him squirm there for a while as I thought about what to do next. The crowd had gone deadly silent. Just as I was about to let go I thought of what to say. Without loosening my grip at all I began to talk in a clear and commanding voice.

"Now I suggest you listen carefully because I'm going to say this once. If you refuse to listen I might just have to tear your ears off, alright?" That got his attention. "Now, if you haven't already noticed I've got my own problems to deal with, like how the hell I'm supposed to get on with the rest of my life looking like this! The only possible future for someone in my condition involves working in either the circus or as a horror movie extra. So I've already got lots of things to deal with without having to worry about jerks like you alright? Now you better start getting used to the idea of having me around, because I ain't going anywhere. And if your unhappy with that, then I guess I could put you out of your misery..." I extended my claws so that they just touched the skin on his neck. "Get the point?" He nodded slightly and gulped loudly. I slowly released my grip on him and stood up, stepping over him as I walked towards the door. There were a few people in standing in the way of the main door, but after a quick flash of my teeth they soon parted. I felt it best that I take the rest of the day off to avoid any further conflicts. I walked out of the front entrance and made my way to the bus stop to catch a ride home. I almost got away scot free if there hadn't been a teacher on duty patrolling the school grounds.

"Where do you think you are going...whoah! Who...What are you?" I rolled my eyes and kept walking. "H...Hey! What do you think you are doing? Get back in class right now." I turned around and looked her in the face. A smile crept across my face.

"If you really want me, come and catch me!" and with that I span round and sprinted down the road. I didn't look back as I heard the pathetic protests from the teacher, until she went out of ear shot. As I thought about my first day back to school, I felt something I didn't think I would ever feel again. I felt...I felt...great.