Like the First Time (Edited Version)

Prologue

Go ahead and say it. Just go on and get it out of your system. Say that this is fake and give yourself that little reminder that this isn't real and just a work of fiction. But it's not like that. The following events went exactly as I say they did. Other than the names, those I had to change around a bit, but who cares about names these days. I know I don't. But I'll tell you mine anyway, it's Lulu.

My life had been the epitome of boring before that flyer. I sometimes think that without it, I could have lived my life completely normally. Well, as normally as possible for a girl who can shapeshift into a wolf. Before you ask, no, I'm not a werewolf. I'm not some mythical beast running amuck to eat people, or some character from Harry Potter who wouldn't even remember their best friend after the change. It's not like that at all. In reality, it's almost the same thing as dying your hair. It's a change, you look different, but you're still whoever you were before you changed.

It's not that terrible being a shapeshifter. I mean sometimes I have to ignore the internal pull to run in the woods or my slightly odd wolffish habits so I can concentrate on a math test but all in all, it's just freedom. It's like I'm in a permanent state of it and I couldn't get away even if I wanted to.

But there was this one time, in 1st grade, I was the new kid at school and nobody would talk to me, except for this short little boy named Darren. I was really scared he would find out about my inner wolf and ended up getting so shaken up that I literally shifted right in front of him. I just crouched there in submission when he came over and scratched my ear.
"Nice puppy," he whispered and there we were, just a boy and a girl, one human and one wolf. How that worked, I have no clue but I just remember the relief that flooded over my childlike form.

Of course we moved two days later after I told my parents about the incident but I still remember him and how accepting he was of my difference.

I tell you that story to prove to you that what I'm saying is true. I was a little kid, just a 1st grader. And now here I am. With a real story. So obviously, my story would begin somewhere realistic, on a realistic day, in a realistic town. It all began in my room.