Who: Kelsey, Zach, Adrienne, Lucinda, Nico, and Loki.
When: Saturday: April 7th, 2007
Where: Zach's house in Del Norte County, California.
What: Kelsey didn’t always approve of Adrienne. In fact, he once hated her. Family drama ensues.

Kelsey made his way down the darkened hall to find Zach, his robe tied around his flannel nightclothes. His mind poured over the information he had discovered just hours before from the mouth of his daughter. Alicia hadn’t said it directly to him, but Kelsey heard her say it nonetheless. His daughter had been talking to Zach about Adrienne, the girlfriend of his son, who had flown across the country to spend some time with Zach at their residence. During their talk, the word werewolf had come up — and it had come up in reference to Adrienne. Many, many times. Alicia had not sounded surprised either. In fact, she had already known about it when Kelsey overhead the two of them talking about her.

Zach had lied to Kelsey about this new girl. Of course she wasn’t a normal human, coming from the same school that Zach had been sent off to, but his son had lied to him about exactly what she was. An animal shapeshifter, Zach had said. Lucinda had said it, too, as did Alicia. Adrienne was not an animal shapeshifter with the ability to become a wolf, though. She was a monster — a werewolf of all things — and Zach had allowed her to come into their home without as much as warning to his own father! If Zach thought that this was something the elder Kitano was going to brush off and forgive, he was deeply mistaken.

( “I’m wrong?” Kelsey inquired. His voice was so low, so quiet it silenced Zach completely. “I’m wrong about wanting to protect my family? About wanting to protect my son from making the biggest mistake of his life? For getting involved with a werewolf!” )

Who: Nico and Umeko
When: Afternoon, October 7, 2007
Where: Ancient ruins
What: A picnic date

Nico hadn't had a proper date since... well fuck, he didn't know since when, but it had been a long damn time. He was looking forward to spending more time with the cute girl who turned into a panda. They had an interesting first meeting, and then an interesting lunch afterward where they talked about pranks and made other plans. Other plans as in their date. He was glad (or was he lucky?) that she agreed to go on a date with him. Nico had joked with her that it was the necessary payment to keep his mouth shut about her panda pranking secret.

Hopefully, she hadn't agreed to the date just for that reason. He really hoped that wasn't the only reason, and that maybe she was really interested in him. Nico was beginning to feel lonely lately; not that he hadn't spent enough time with his friends (because he had), but he hadn't had a proper girlfriend in forever, and he wanted to have a special person to spend time with. Zach had Adrienne, and Loki had Mits, so why couldn't he have someone?

He didn't tell any of his friends his feelings, though. It was a secret, one that was necessary if he was going to keep up his image of being a flirt and a player. Deep down though, Nico wanted to have a relationship. Seeing the ones his friends had made him realize that. But! He wasn't going to reveal those cards just yet.

Nico picked Umeko up at her cottage, and together they rode out toward the ancient ruins. He had been there before with Zach, and so he was familiar with the lay of the land. Nico had packed a decent sized lunch for the both of them, and it was packed securely in the bags that his horse carried. They found a spot by one of the fallen pillars, and Nico set up the blanket and the food for them to begin.

"I don't know about you," he said when he was done. "But I'm starving! Let's eat!" He sat down quickly, but waited for Umeko to join him before he started digging into the food.

Who: Zach and Nico
When: Sunday, February 25, 2007. Noon.
Where: Outside on the school grounds.
What: Zach talks with his best friend.

Zach sat down outside in front of a tree, the breeze catching in his hair as he waited for Nico to show at their designated spot. Despite his chat with Loki, he found himself not caring much for the idea they had discussed about a prank. His energy seemed to have died out after thinking about Loki’s words. The anger and general displeasure seeping outwards at others shut off and began to trickle inwards at himself. That was what it was all about, anyway. That was where it belonged, then.

It was true he felt betrayed by Adrienne and what she had done during their emerging relationship. To him, she had discarded everything they were working towards for a mere thrill with someone much more desirable than Zach. High self-esteem wasn’t ever a part of Zach’s life. Undoubtedly to other women, Rafe was attractive, fierce, mysterious, and strong — a much better catch than Zach, at any rate.

He wondered who would think it hypocritical of him, given what had happened between him and Katrina. Zach told himself, over and over again, that happened before he ever met Adrienne. Who would be on his side, though? No one would care of his point of view, not if they knew. Nico would always be his friend; he could count on that. Katrina hadn’t been chased away either, even though Zach had lost the contents of his stomach in front of her in the club Saturday night. He shouldn’t have drunk so much, but he was trying to be tough. It was important for him to be tough, wasn’t it? He was weak, small, and he cared too much. Everything his father silently told him wasn’t good enough: be stronger, be tougher. Be me.

Adrienne wasn’t the main problem, though. The situation with her opened his eyes, made him realize something else. He didn’t have any friends here, did he? Zach spent so much of his time around Adrienne, making it all about her. He felt like his small amount of friendships here hadn’t been lasting ones, the ones he tried to make. Maybe it was his own fault. He hadn’t tried hard enough — like Loki said. Damn it, why did the annoying one have to be right?

Eventually, he thought about everything until it made him angry. Zach wanted to do a prank, something mean, just because he realized he didn’t have any friends here anymore. He didn’t care about anyone but Nico and Katrina. He wanted to spite people. It’s what Zach was good at back home. He could do it again here, too.

The idea lost his interest, though. Anger turned to sadness, and he just leaned again the tree. He didn’t want to do anything. Most people would be vile and turn on the one they cared about, but Zach couldn’t hate Adrienne. He wanted to save himself the pain and just walk away from her. Be cruel, make her friends hate him, and all of the ties would be cut. After his drunken chat with Adrienne’s close friend, Zach just hated himself. He couldn’t follow through with this plan. He was weak again. Go figure.

He had reported Rafe, hoping they would kick him out of the school. No student was capable of doing that to another student through some stupid prank. Maybe it would work. Maybe it wouldn’t. Zach would just have to wait and see. He expected to be disappointed, but that wasn’t anything new. Sighing, he tilted his head against the tree and stared at the sky. The air smelled like rain. He hoped it would rain soon.

A smile crossed his face; maybe he could convince Nico to help bring it sooner.