Shapeshifters

16

IT WAS THE last week of school and I couldn't wait to tell Sunny the good news. My graduation present to her was that she could have her house back. Dust had learned enough to survive, so she didn't have to live with Petunia anymore. 

I saw Sunny in the second class of the day and told her the good news. She rejoiced as much as she could without getting caught. When I asked her if she had gotten me anything, all she said was that I would have to wait until that evening.

I would never tell Sunny, but I had forgotten what that night was until Petunia secretly reminded me at lunch what tonight was. The graduation dinner at Petunia's house.

"Right," I said. "Case and I will be there."

Even after a few months, it was still weird to call Dust Case. It wasn't natural, but then again, neither was seeing him everyday.

Sunny and I got Dust enrolled for second semester. The counselors weren't too happy with Sunny for bringing another friend in for a schedule. Guess they still remembered me at the beginning.

"We have some classes together," I told Dust when I saw his schedule. "But the classes we don't have, you either have Sunny or Petunia."

We weren't doing anything in any of our classes that week. Not even Mrs. Vestion was giving us anything. Except her annual apology for being a teacher who pushed her students too far. Everyone in the class agreed, since we all thought that from day one.

That night, after dinner was all cleaned up, all four of us sat in Petunia's living room and chatted. I told everyone that Sunny be able to move back into her home. Petunia gave Sunny a box of chocolates and Dust and I a picture of all four of us. Dust presented us all a card thanking us for taking him in. I was surprised because he didn't sign it Dust, he signed it Case. Sunny then told me to close my eyes and open my hands. I did and in my hands were placed two sets of keys.

"What are these for?" I asked her.

"Your new apartment and car!" She answered happily. "I let you live in my house all year, well a year Thursday, and I thought it was time to give you your own place."

I said a huge thank you and gave her a big hug. She then provided Dust some clothes and Petunia a bracelet. After a few more hours of talking, Sunny, Dust, and I went back to Sunny's house. 

Dust volunteered to sleep on the couch. So I took my room and Sunny took hers. We didn't even spend all night talking, we were all too tired.

The rest of the week flew by so fast. Friday came and school ended. Sunny, Petunia, Dust, and I got lots of pictures of the four of us. That afternoon I moved into my apartment. I had everyone over and we told jokes of when I first showed up. 

"Do you remember when you first had chocolate?" Petunia asked me. 

I laughed. "You promised you wouldn't bring it up anymore!" I playfully slapped her arm.

She chuckled and continued. "You were sick for days! And we didn't feel sorry at all!"

We laughed so hard until we all were crying and our stomachs ached. We brought up more funny stories. We told them until none of us could breathe, we were all laughing so hard. 

After five or six hours I kicked them all out, but Dust stayed. Since we decided that Sunny could have some time to herself, I was allowing Dust to stay at my new apartment until further arrangements could be made.

That evening, before bed, Dust and I were just talking on the couch when he said, "Can we please talk about what happened when I showed up?"

"What is there to talk about?" 

"You had no reaction when I mentioned your father."

"It took me by surprise." I admitted. "But it wasn't the only thing."

"Yeah? What else surprised you?"

"Well," I started. "First, you showing up. Then you kissed me. Then you mentioned my father. So by the time you mentioned Shapeclaw, I was too shocked to even care at the moment."

He nodded. "I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before tonight."

I blushed and responded, "Laughter comes from living. I've never really been alive before coming here."

He was quiet for a minute then asked, "What really happened? To cause you to run. I know it wasn't just me, I was just the final straw."

It was my turn to be quiet. It was a few minutes before I replied. "I don't think I can talk about it. I can't." I was quiet for another minute before quietly saying, "Sometimes memories are the worst form of torture."

He apologized and then got up to go to bed. I didn't want him to go but then I said, "I thought you forgot about me."

He turned around and answered, "Never. Even when the pack stopped looking, I never did. I never gave up hope. I ran away because they all had given up."

I stood up and walked over to him. "It was getting lonely here. Sunny and Petunia can only give one a certain amount of fun before they get boring."

"Light," He said. "I think we have to save the packs."

One pup of light and one pup of dark, will join together and change the packs forever. It all came rushing back to me. All the meetings with Shapeclaw, the prophecy, the curse, all of it.

"We're just pups," I told him. "We aren't supposed to be heros."

Dust put his arms around my waist and acknowledged lowly, "You really have gotta stop doing that."

"What?"

"Saying things that make me want to kiss you."

I looked at him, so innocent. My thoughts drifted back to the laser tag game we played, where we kissed, he shot me, and walked away. Next thing I knew he was kissing me again. I took a gasp and kissed him back. We stood there embraced for a few minutes before he broke off.

"Good night," He said and kissed me briefly before heading to his room.

I stood there, my eyes still on his closed door. I stood there for a few minutes before going to my own room thinking about how much I'd missed him. And how much I loved him.