You're Fake (Chapter 2)

Instructions

============================================= I saunter through the hallways to my rather short science class, eager to catch Sam during lunch and teach him some more! The ritual the other day worked so well, maybe Sam was beginning to believe my ways were real. Yet he still looks anxious all the time. Hm. ~Maybe I could cheer him up!~ ~Aha!~ I have a thought. What if I become an Australian shepherd, like Sam was thinking about? Or convince him that we should *both* be!~ ~Perfect,~ I think, and fluff up my dark hair before slipping into the classroom. * * * -45 minutes later- I race into the cafeteria ahead of everyone else and breeze through the line like a tornado, holding my fourteen or so tails out of the way of other people as they waved wildly. ~Why not be fashionable about my lifestyle?~ Sure, no other of the five or six other alterhumans have this many types, but who said there was a limit? I walk over to Ashley, another therian, and we start chatting about our gear. “So we’re like felting our masks, and I’m like ‘this design might be better for my tiger theriotype than the silver wolf,’” Ashley says, recalling a time a few weeks ago when some of the therians had gathered to make gear together and hang out. Then she pauses and asks, “Haven’t you narrowed your types down at all, Jacob?” She glances toward my tails. “At least half of them must be your imagination.” I laugh it off. “No, I haven’t. In fact, I’ve decided I’m also an Australian shepherd and a cottontail rabbit!” She freezes and her jaw drops. “You.. what?” “What do you mean? “You don’t just *DECIDE* your types!” Ashley explodes. “Tell me that what you said was a mistake!” I hesitate, at a loss for words. Her eyes flash in disgust and she turns away. “You have until Saturday to explain yourself, or I’m telling everyone.” “Everyone?” I croak. That’s in five days. But I’m not fake. Therians can decide their types, right? “*Everyone.*” And she’s gone, and I’m left standing alone in the middle of the cafeteria, a half-eaten sandwich in my hand and a whirling mind. =============================================

Notes & Credits