Chapter 117: 91. Unwelcome Developments

There was something about seeing Cerys turn into a large dangerous-looking wolf, then immediately start acting like a big happy puppy the moment my little sister started scritching her ears. It didn't exactly snap me out of the mood I'd been in since the thing with Mr. Ainsley, but it definitely helped. Maybe it was even a sort of turning point.

Me and Kaylee ended up hanging out with the two wolfgirls a lot through the rest of that week. Nina too, she was good friends with Melanie and Cerys and she enjoyed spending time with them as much as I did.

By the time we started writing our exams at the end of January I was mostly back to feeling ok again. Same with Cerys, she seemed a lot happier. In fact she was almost back to her old self again. Not quite the bold brash Touhou witch, but she'd definitely regained her confidence.

We all noticed that at the February club meeting. It was a quiet meeting, actually the whole month was pretty quiet overall. Just like the year before, there wasn't anything supernatural going on and it was too cold and wintery out for most of us. And school was a thing, for me and Kaylee and Paige anyways. We were all starting our very last semester of high school.

In the meantime Brooke was still teaching Melody about being a witch, including all the Word Will and Way stuff that was part of May Hawthorne's brand of magic. The tall blonde also told the shape-shifter how that magic was connected to May, so she'd know going into it that using magic benefited our former sponsor.

A few days after the club meeting the February full moon happened, and according to Melanie and Cerys that went fine for our resident werewolfs. Cerys was still compelled to shift, but she wasn't afraid of it anymore and she said it didn't hurt to shift anymore either. The two of them only missed one day of school too, and Cerys wasn't all uptight or moody before or after the moon which was nice.

Now we were into March and things were mostly going smoothly. Or it seemed that way anyways. A lot of us were focused on spring break which was coming up soon, even if we didn't actually have any big plans or anything. About the only stressful stuff some of us were focused on was what we'd be doing after graduation.

Like we already knew Paige was going to be moving out of town for university so she wouldn't be around anymore. And Kaylee was talking about that too, but she hadn't made her mind up yet. Like she didn't want to move away, but we didn't have a nearby university she could attend. The only thing we had in town was the college that Brooke and Melody went to. I'd already decided I'd go there too next year, since I didn't want to move away from my family and friends.

Now it was Monday, the seventh of March, and that was the topic of conversation again as me and Kaylee and Paige all walked into the lunchroom together at school. My little sister was already sitting with Cerys and Melanie, so the three of us decided to leave the younger group alone while we found our own place to sit.

My girlfriend and I both brought our lunch again, we grabbed a table while Paige went through the cafeteria and bought herself something to eat. Then she found our table and sat down across from us, while Kaylee picked up the discussion where she left off earlier.

"If I go to university it's going to mean moving away," the cute redhead sighed. "Going into residence, or moving in with other students someplace, getting a room somewhere. Basically it means not being here anymore. I'll be away from my girlfriend, and all my other friends. And away from the club."

Paige looked at me and smiled, "Too bad you've already decided on the local college. If you and Kaylee went to the same university you could both go together. Maybe even share a room or something."

That made me blush, while Kaylee pointed out "It'd still mean both of us moving away from the rest of our friends and the club."

"And I don't really want to move away from my parents and my sister," I added quietly. "Maybe someday, but I'm not ready yet."

The three of us were quiet for a bit as we all focused on our lunch, but I noticed Paige had a thoughtful look on her face.

After a gulp of her water she looked to Kaylee and suggested, "If you could get yourself a car, there's at least a couple universities close enough that you could attend classes while still living here. Like U of T has a campus in the west end, that's only about sixty kilometres away. And there's Humber, their campus is in the north-west part of the city, that's not too far either."

"I know it's an added expense," she added, "With gas and insurance and everything. And it's probably not a great drive, especially in the winter? I'm just saying there's some options."

My girlfriend nodded, "I know. Thanks for the suggestions Paige. It's not just the cost of gas and insurance, it's also the time. That's at least ninety minutes a day in a car, which is time I'd otherwise be using to study or do homework or be at a part-time job."

"It's too bad I can't learn how to teleport," she added quietly. "That'd be so much easier."

I blushed and cringed again, but stayed quiet. It was something she asked me about at one point, like if I could teach her how it worked. Kaylee knew I could do it, and all our friends knew my sister and parents could teleport. The problem was it took way more power than most people could manage. Gods, demons, and angels could teleport. Maybe it'd be possible for an extremely talented human, but odds were none of our friends would ever be able to do that kind of thing.

Meanwhile Kaylee continued, "I really need to make a decision soon. Like I'm probably already late to be sending out applications? I definitely need to get that done over the break, which means I basically need to make my mind up by the end of this week."

I looked to Paige and asked, "Are you still planning to go to Western?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "That's been my plan all along. They have a good program there, my folks are helping me find somewhere to stay and everything. And they're helping with tuition and all that stuff too. I know it's going to be a big adjustment, but it's the best option for my education."

Kaylee sighed quietly, "It's still a tough decision though, isn't it? I know it's supposed to be a big deal, like a coming of age moment. It feels like after high school is when a lot of folks move away from home, to go off to university or college. That's one of the dividing lines, between being a kid and being an adult."

"Or I guess after high school a lot of kids just start working," she added. "Either way it's when everything changes. Or almost everything."

Paige shrugged, "It used to be. How many people end up moving back in with their parents after they've finished university? It's not like the old days. We're not going to graduate with our Masters or Bachelors and instantly land a high-paying job then go buy a house and start a family."

That made my girlfriend grimace, "I'm not ready to think about what happens after university, it's hard enough thinking about what happens after high school."

"True enough," Paige smiled. Then she looked at me and asked, "How about you Cass? Do you have any long-term plans? Actually I don't think I've heard you say what you're planning to take at college next year."

Somewhere in the back of my head an answer popped up right away. Like some part of my brain wanted to say that I was a demonic goddess of chaos and that's what I'd be focused on as my career. Everything else, like college or a job was just a cover so I'd blend in with the humans.

Except there was no way I'd say that sort of thing out loud, even if we weren't in a public place. Just thinking about stuff like that made me blush again.

So I kept all that bottled up inside and instead I quietly mumbled, "I'm going to take a writing course at college, like a literature thing I guess? And me and Nina were both talking about maybe doing volunteer work at the local animal shelter, like to keep the animals company and take them on walks and look after them and stuff. She really likes doggos and I like buns, and we both like kitties. Actually we both like all the cute fuzzy things. So that's what we're looking at."

"That's so totally you," Kaylee grinned as she pulled me into a side-hug.

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"Woah better knock that off Kaylee," Melanie snarked with some over the top sarcasm as she and the others approached our table. "You know it traumatizes the straights, whenever they see PDA from us queers."

My girlfriend rolled her eyes and grumped, "I wish that's all it took to traumatize the straights."

The two werewolfs sat down next to Paige, while my little sister took the seat on my right. And as they all got comfortable Cerys asked, "We were wondering about the next club meeting? I know the full moon's not till next Friday, but since next week's spring break that means our meeting would probably be some time in the middle of it?"

"Yeah," Paige nodded. "I was thinking Wednesday maybe, the sixteenth? Why, are you two going to be busy or something?"

"Working," Melanie stated. "Me and Cerys are taking extra shifts over the break, except for Friday. We'll be off for the full moon. We'll probably get one other day off during the week too, but that's about it."

Kaylee suggested, "Maybe we should have the meeting early again? How about this Friday? That way it's not going to get in the way of anybody's plans for the week off."

Our club leader shrugged, "Works for me. It's probably going to be another short meeting anyways, nobody's come up with anything for the agenda. It'll probably pick up though next month. Stuff always comes up with the spring thaw."

Me and Kaylee both noticed some dark looks as they crossed Melanie's expression. Like maybe things weren't as quiet as we thought. Or maybe something else was going on that upset the wolfgirl.

My girlfriend spoke up first, "Hey Melanie? Everything ok? You look like you've got something on your mind."

Cerys gave her girlfriend a look, that seemed to ask 'want me to handle this?'

The older wolf decided to speak for herself though. She made a face as she responded, "My dad asked to talk to me yesterday before work, he wanted to have a word with me in private. Turns out he got a registered letter last Friday, from some lawyer back in BC? It was divorce papers."

She sighed and continued, "Apparently my mom's been seeing somebody else for the last year. Now she's talking about getting married again, but first she's gotta get rid of my dad."

Paige sighed, "I'm sorry Melanie. I know that must really hurt, both you and your dad."

Cerys reached out and took her girlfriend's hand in hers, and the two exchanged another glance. Some unspoken communication seemed to pass between them both, then Melanie looked back at the rest of us again.

"There's more," the wolfgirl admitted quietly. "My mom also signed some papers to give up all her parental custody rights to me, so dad has sole custody. She basically disowned me I guess? It's like she's not even my mom anymore, outside of the biological sense."

We could all hear the pain and hurt in Melanie's voice, despite her best efforts not to let on how upset she was.

I gave her a sad look as I told her, "Melanie I'm really sorry. If there's anything we can do just say so, ok? I'm sure the whole club feels the same, we're all here for you."

"Thanks Cass," she responded. "Maybe I'll try and talk with your moms about this stuff? Since they offered back at new years and all."

"That's a good idea," I agreed. "I'm sure they'll do all they can to help."

We were all quiet for a few moments, then Paige asked "What about the house situation? Is that still up in the air too?"

Melanie grimaced, "The landlord wants us out by the middle of May. So we've basically got two months? Dad's still trying to fight it though, but it's not like we can afford a lawyer or anything."

"The whole neighbourhood's fighting it," Cerys added. She finally let go of Melanie's hand, then moved closer and wrapped an arm around her girlfriend. "There's another meeting next week at City Hall before they make a final decision, and few people in the area are organizing a group to go and fight to have the whole thing shut down."

"I don't know how many people will be able to make it though. I'm sure scheduling it during spring break wasn't an accident," Melanie added with a frown.

That was about the only big thing to happen in the last five or six weeks, but it had nothing to do with Club Luna or the supernatural.

Some developer was trying to buy up a bunch of older properties, including the one where Melanie lived. He wanted to tear them all down and build townhouses or something, but if that happened then Mr. Caetano would probably move out of town. That'd mean Melanie would be leaving, and Cerys would end up either with her aunt and uncle or she'd have to go back to her mom.

"Is that meeting open to the public?" Kaylee asked. "Maybe we could all go and help speak out against the development?"

Melanie shrugged, "I don't know, I think you have to be a property owner to have a say in the thing? My dad'll be there, but I'm pretty sure it's only the homeowners in the area who get to actually speak."

"When is it exactly?" I asked.

Somewhere in the back of my mind a thought popped up, that perhaps a little chaos might derail the developer's plans. I quickly pushed that idea away though. I hadn't forgotten what my mom said about consequences and stuff. And a quick glance at the two catgirls and the bunnygirl eating lunch together on the far side of the cafeteria reminded me I really wanted to avoid doing goddess stuff.

Meanwhile the wolfgirl sighed, "Next Thursday evening, the seventeenth? The meeting starts at six, which means me and Cerys can't go regardless. We'd be wolfing out in the middle of it."

"Sorry Melanie," Paige sighed. "If there's anything we can do let us know ok? As for the club meeting, we'll do that this Friday. I'll post the announcement on the group chat today."