Summer started as a new start for Fen, a new venture on her own. Mr. Kaden had been supportive of her choice to choose to be human and not take whatever 'cure' was come up with. Her 'parents' weren't as supportive, which was to be expected. So she planned to stay at the school for the summer. The first week was a lot of fun, she took advantage of the mostly empty grounds to explore and was even planning on taking a summer school class. Fen even made some new friends, one of which was Nicole.
That first week she hung out with the other girl whenever she could. They talked about a lot of stuff from movies to music to sports, nothing super private but it was all great 'getting to know you' stuff. Fen was feeling like she was really starting to bond with someone else and was going to have a new friend going into the next year (seeing as all her fox friends had graduated) when Nicole said she was going to go home for a couple of weeks. What Fen wasn't expecting was the invite to go with.
The plane ride had been just as terrifying as her first was, but Nicole kept her company and that made her feel a lot better. Their time in Montreal was full of more bonding and they really got to know a lot about each other. It was inevitable, after all there's not much else to do when you spend all day, everyday with someone for a couple weeks. Nicole showed Fen around where she grew up and Fen really enjoyed seeing so many new places. They did some clothes shopping for the new year and Fen even got some Pokémon hunting in.
The closer they got the more Fen wanted to share what she was, but kept finding a reason not to. The main being that if she was going to commit to a life as human she should fully commit and forget her previous life. It was harder then she thought it would be.
One night they were flipping around channels on TV and ended up on the animal planet and some show about unconventional pets. It was like when a movie character turned on the tv and the news, commercial, etc showed the character exactly what they needed to know. Fen did miss being a fox. As much as she loved the experiences she was able to have as a human she desperately missed what was natural for her. That night she excused herself and spent a while crying in the bathroom. Nicole seemed concerned and confused. It was their last night before heading back to the school and Fen made an excuse about being upset the vacation was ending. She wasn't sure if Nicole believed her or not but if she didn't she didn't say anything.
Once they were back at school she had a meeting with Ms. Hallowfen about the 'cure'. She said she thought about it a lot and didn't want to give up being human. She also admitted that she missed being a fox. Fen found herself once more in tears as she spoke, feeling so torn about the decision but knew that if being a fox would mean she'd have to give up her new life she would find a way to deal. The witch seemed to understand and made a cryptic comment about speaking with the other teachers.
So with her new friend and positive outlook on the future, Fen felt herself ready to tackle the new year.