To Grow

The woodworking block was entertaining, as always. I love, love 

the smell of wood. If I could smell it forever, I would be very happy. Ecstatic. 

The selfstudy block went by quickly, and I returned to my dorm. I came back just in time to see Summer sneaking off again. Now I think about it, how does she get the liquor and drugs? Isn't part of the point of this school is to get away from all the bad influences of society or something? I shrugged. It was none of my business. 

Suddenly, I remembered that I forgot to ask for Em's dorm room number. I wish I could be with my new friend more. She's my very first friend! Every time I thought of that, I would feel a new burst of happiness. It's the weekend tomorrow...should I just look around the dorm for her? 

I laid on my bed, and considered. She was my friend, first and foremost, and I was pretty sure that friends spent weekends and time outside of school together. Maybe I can shift into my quick furred form and smell around for her? I had her scent memorized, anyways. Not the scent of the mild perfume or deodorant she uses, but of her base scent. 

I shifted, and exited the room, careful to be quiet, and pricked my ears for any movement. If worse came to worse, I would just shift into my human form and say that I was heading to the showers, but I had forgotten my clothing.

I was immediately assaulted by many scents that clashed and merged together. I tried my best to sift through all the scents to find Em's scent. I could scent maybe a hint of her. Was I too far away? 

I walked to the stairs and began climbing to the fourth floor. She might be on the second or first floor, but I should be able to smell her if she was on the first or second floor. 

And as I suspected, her scent became slightly stronger. I sniffed some more, and followed her scent trail towards room 10, which was one of the rooms farthest from the stairs. I was about to knock, but then I remembered that I wasn't wearing any sort clothing.

I rushed back to my room, wore my clothes, and walked back up to Em's room. I knocked on the door, and an unfamiliar face greeted me. Actually, the face looked slightly familiar. Where did I see it before?

The girl's face paled, and she stuttered, "I-I swear! I have no other evidence!" And with that, I remembered who she was. She was one of Em's friends. I think, since they were peeking on me together. But they had just left Em the moment they could, without any reluctance. They did nothing wrong, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.

"Not here for you. Here for Em," I said. "Hello. How are you doing?" I belatedly added. I keep on forgetting these human rituals!

"O-oh. Um, wait a sec." The girl turned away from the door, her eyes glued on me as best as she could, which amused me. If I wanted to hurt her, I wouldn't be tricking her. She wasn't strong enough. Or maybe she was, but because we were all forbidden from using our powers she was thus weaker than me?

"Hey, Em! Storm Erickson is here for you!" The girl called. 

"Wait, she's here?" Em's voice called back. "I'm using the bathroom!" Then, she muttered, "Not that there's a bath in here."

"Wait a sec. She's in the bathroom," The girl turned to face me. I nodded.

"May I come in?" I asked her.

"S-sure."

I stepped in the room, made sure the door was closed shut, and threw off my restrictive clothes. Why do humans wear these? The girl's face turned red, and she made a weird squeak. 

"Since you know my Power, and have seen me use it, there's no point bothering. I prefer my other forms over this form, anyways," I explained. Shouldn't I be more upset over having my Power exposed? Wasn't the whole point of hunting during lunch outside of school grounds was to avoid people finding out my secret? Actually, why did I just take off my clothing so easily? I remember just...having this knowing...feeling that I wasn't supposed to take them off outside of my own room. How come it was so easy for me now?

"B-but, don't you have the Power Inhibiters?" the girl asked.

"Power Inhibitors?" I asked. That sounded familiar.

"Yeah. The things that stop us from using our power. If we use our Power, it senses it, and immediately warns us to stop using our powers. Then it'll send a message to the database for the infraction. And finally, if you continue to use your Power, it'll start flashing red and make screeching sounds. Only in the Battlemaster elective do they disable the Power Inhibiter." She raised her hand, and on her wrist was a thin strip of metal with a small blinking light attached. 

"I don't have one. I think they gave me one?" I tried to recall whether or not I had been given one. I didn't remember any of the sort.

"Huh. I guess they didn't give you one 'cus there was no need to? Like, you could just transform out of it." The girl mused.

I heard a door open, and I saw Em standing in front of the bathroom door, her eyes roving over my body, her face blushing.

"Uh...if you two were in the middle of something, I can go back into the bathroom...?" Em immediately began closing the door.

"Wait! Storm just wants to transform, I think?" The girl quickly said to Em.

"Oh." 

I shifted to my big furred form, lumbered over to Em, and laid down. We weren't close enough for me to expose my belly, but I trusted her enough. I didn't trust the other girl, but if she did decide to attack, she stands no chance. Em was still standing awkwardly in front of the bathroom door.

"Uh, Storm, is it fine if I go to my bed first?" Em asked. I purred, and moved to the bed with Em's scent strongly embedded on it. I crawled on the bed and waited for Em.

"So, uh, how did you find my room?" She asked, tentatively sitting on the very edge of the bed. I lazily put my tail on her lap, and pulled her closer to me gently. I was in a ver good mood. The scent of my first, and favourite friend's scent was everywhere, and I was in a mostly safe space. I shifted only my throat back into a human's -a trick I had figured out recently- and said, "I smelled you. I already know your scent, so all I had to do was follow it here. You're much easier to track than prey." After saying so, my throat was back to a big furred one's, and I continued to purr. 

"O-oh." Em responded, her face flushed. Her face really liked flushing.