Once Doesn't Mean Always (Straight Furry Story)

12: Suspicions?

Cloudy

1st of April 2014

Things have been pretty good since I first started school. Every day, I walk with Smoke to and from the bus stop,. I can't exactly explain this but even though I still don't know the wolf really well, I feel sort of ... safe around him, I mean I feel comfortable, I may even have some strong feelings for him but I just don't really know just yet. Anyway, school was the same as usual, minus the amount of people starting to pick on me because I hang around Smoke, but I just ignore them anyway.

Some small changes in our little group include Tiana and Emerald actually hooking up now. I'd like to say that I'm surprised but I saw that it was bound to happen, but besides that, everything has been virtually the same as when I got here.

I wake up to a beam of sunlight breaking through the gaps of my curtains and landing on my face. The light glow accelerates to the point that I get blinded by my own fur. I sit up and rub my eyes

"ugh, sun, you are a cruel mistress" I mutter as I get out of bed.

I grab my school uniform, get dressed and look at the time on my clock that I have hanging up on a wall at the end of my bed, the hands indicate 6:40, plenty of time to get ready and get to the bus stop. I make my way to the kitchen before I grab a bowl, a spoon and grab a box of "Froot Loops" cereal and milk. I pour my cereal and milk in the bowl and start to eat while I wonder what I'm doing today.

When I finish my cereal, I drink the milk from the bowl and go and rinse out my dishes before dropping them into the sink. I make my way to my bathroom where I splash some water over my face to wake myself up then do my hair and brush my teeth before going back and packing my lunch. Before it was time to leave, I hear a knock on my door; I zip up my bag after packing and sling it around my back, putting one of my arms through a strap before making my way to my front door.

I open the door to see Smoke standing with his usual small grin.

"Ready to go?" he asks, I smile and nod before locking my door from the inside and closing it. We begin walking to our stop

"so, what's new?" I ask, Smoke just shrugs before asking

"nothing really, Sandra said she's going to apply for a waitress position today and that's about it" he says.

I look back in front of me before a thought hits me, making me turn back to Smoke

"hey, I don't think you ever told me, who is Sandra?" I ask, he lets a little laugh go before answering

"you never asked, she's my legal guardian" he says "no blood relations or anything" he adds. I want to change the subject before I accidentally say something or bring up his parents. We get to the stop minutes after and just talk about random things till the bus finally arrives.

We get on the bus and both pull out our music devices, preparing to play our own music. I look over to see Smoke looking at an old, red phone, half of it looks to be nothing but buttons and the screen looks a little dark. I remove my ear buds and tap Smoke's shoulder, getting his attention

"you have an outdated phone?" I ask with a little disbelief, he gives me a strange look

"it's not that bad" he says before I grab the phone and hold it up

"Really?" I say with a little attitude. Smoke just gives a nervous smile

"well, it texts and calls" he says, I sigh and hand it back

"the buttons are too small, if you press one, you press every other button surrounding it, the screen is so dim that you can only see what you're doing when the sun shines on it and finally, it's covered in scratches and scrapes, and all that is just ignoring the fact that it's still an old button phone from the early 2000s" I say, handing him back the outdated phone

"I can't afford anything else" he says.

I pat him on the back before I ask him

"when's your birthday?" he looks at me a little confused

"8th of May, why?" he asks, I smile and put my ear buds back in, sitting back down facing the front, Smoke still looks confused as the talk ends on that note, but he later copies me and sits silently till we get to school.

We both pack away our devices and ear buds as we prepare to get off the bus. From our stop, we make our way through the gates and over to where our group sits, avoiding the odd student that tries to annoy us. We get to our group to see Tiana sitting on Emerald's lap at the bench.

"Get a room" I playfully say as we approach, the couple just chuckle as we both sit down

"please, you guys aren't any better" Tiana says giggling, making me and Smoke look at each other for a moment, before we both blush a little and turn away (well, I blushed, I just think he thought it was embarrassing), Smoke turns back to face them and says

"but we aren't together" voicing the confusion we share, but the couple laugh as if they didn't believe that.

Emerald just gives a small laugh "she just means that you two spend a lot of time with each other these days, that's all, although, one does wonder" he says as he turns and winks at me. I blush a bright pink and break eye contact with him and look to the ground. Does he know how I feel? I think to myself.

"Heya guys!" Nikita says as she approaches (and saves me from this embarrassing talk), she REALLY couldn't have chosen a better time to break the awkwardness.

"What are we all talking abou-?" she asks

"nothing" I quickly say before she finishes. Smoke holds his usual, serious composure while I get my water bottle and take a swig. I put my bottle away after downing a gulp of water and look at my time table

"we have Careers after home class, right?" I ask, Emerald nods

"yeah" he says as the twins walk over. "Hey guys" David says "oh yeah, sirens gonna go in 3 ... 2 ... and" he adds, the sound of the siren follows after his count.

We all pick up our stuff and scatter off to our home classes. Because mine and Niki's (Nakita's) class was in the same block Smoke's and Emerald's, the 4 or us walk together until we reach the corner of the block, from there, we part ways with the boys.