"oh crap, crap, crap! I can't be late! I'm never late!"
I rushed all around the house, trying to get this and that and everything else that I needed. I hear a pop, and snatched the toast from the toaster and stuffed into my mouth as I fought to get my hair right and straighten out my shirt all at the same time. It's been a full week since I got the snot beat out of me by those guys, and ever since I haven't seen them, but heard news reports.
Windtunneler had gone to the United States because the Student Exchange Program this past Saturday, and I wanted to be one of the people to greet the person who came over here in hir stead. My alarm didn’t want to cooperate apparently, and I only had five minutes to grab everything and bolt out of the door.
So with the dry toast in my mouth and my books all shoved into my backpack, I rushed out the door and down the sidewalk. I hoped to at least get there in time for the driver to notice me running up, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Instead, I arrived just in time to see it pulling off of our street and down the road.
‘great,’ I thought to myself with a sigh, ‘I gotta walk. at least it’s nice out.’
Rather then rushing myself as I did earlier (mainly because I knew I’d be late to school anyhow), I chose to take my time and enjoy the walk there. I even stopped at a small coffee shop to buy an actual breakfast to eat on the way, if you count a few doughnuts and coffee as breakfast.
I went into the school and inched inside, sneaking around to my locker as the first period was soon to end. I blended in with the crowd and went to Geometry as if I was there from the start and wanted to get through the day as I usual did.
That didn’t go as planned either when, right after I got the warm-up questions done, I was called to the office. I got my pass and headed down, where I sat and waited behind three other students. After about twenty minutes I was called in to talk to Mr. Norton.
Mr. Norton is a by-the-book, nose-to-the-grindstone type of vice principle. He’d snap if he so much as saw a stick of gum in your hand. I was kinda nervous as I sat opposite of the human, and I had a good feeling as to why I was there. After going through a few stacks of papers, Norton turned to me.
“So, chakat Earthpaw. When did you get here?”
I gulped a little. I knew I wouldn’t get away with sneaking in.
“I got here just before first period ended. I was rushed this morning. I missed the bus and had to walk, so I took my time getting here.”
“Why didn’t you come to the office like you should?”
“I wanted to get to my classes as if I was here...” I bit my lip.
“Well, you weren’t here, which means you were late. And you didn’t come up to the office like you should have. Now I know you don’t usually break rules, but I would have expected you to follow procedure if you did. You’ll get off with just a detention, alright?”
I simply nodded. He looked at the clock and wrote me a pass to my next period.
“Second period is over. Go to your next class,” He handed me the note. I nodded again and went out, running my hands through my hair, trying to stay positive and focus on the rest of the day to come.
That didn’t work so well when I got to my third period Nutritional Foods class. I came in and was reminded that I was to do my food demonstration, only to realize I left the recipe in the kitchen during my rush! Mr. Debias was cool with it, though, as he switched me to the next day and taught us the facts on cheeses instead. History class went better as all we did was review the chapter questions, which I thankfully had to give in. Wellness and Fitness also went by in a breeze, as we simply discussed carbs and their influence on the body.
I plopped down at the luncheon table, my head starting to hurt as I started to pick at what I got. I pretty much ignored everyone else, and headed right off to my study hall. I wanted to rest, but again I wanted to get through all the homework before I actually went home. So I dragged all my stuff over to me and, while trying to ignore the increasing headache, got most of the work done by the time the next period bell rang. I trudged myself into Howl’s class and took notes with only half my mind working, as the other half was tired and aching like mad. He seemed to notice my discomfort, and asked me about it while everyone else got ready to leave.
“I’m fine” I gently mumbled as I lazily slid my small pack on, “just...bad day...”
He nodded, patting my shoulder and helping me up a little, “Yeah, we all have those sometimes...”
“no, I mean I had a BAD day...ugh...” I closed my eyes and clenched the bridge between my eyes, trying to get past the pain.
“Just go home and get some rest. You look like you need it.”
“Thanks.”
I grabbed the rest of my books and headed out. I got to my locker, loaded everything except for my leftover homework in, and padded out to the bus pickup which was out front. I stepped outside, and the sudden splash of light on my face made me stop, as it made the pain suddenly shoot through my skull. I slapped both hands over my eyes, and stumbled a bit until I knocked into someone, causing us both to fall and get all tangled up into each other.
“WHOA! HEY!”
I clenched my eyes shut as more pain came from the shouting. I opened my eyes as I heard her(?) let out a sharp gasp, making me think I hurt hir. I gasped too, and my killer migraine disappeared as I looked into the all-too-familiar sapphire eyes of the chakat I fell into.
A midnight black chakat with dark diagonal blue streaks all along hir fur. Hir hair, also midnight black, layered as it reached down the middle of hir back with the front hanging just above hir eyes, held back with a white headband. Shi would have been showing hir CC-D breasts if it weren’t for the top. And how could I forget the beautiful, gorgeous, sapphire blue eyes as they looked back at me. It was the chakat that I had been literally dreaming about ever since we came here.
My look of pure shock, complete with open gaped mouth, was mirrored in hir own features as shi looked me over with hir eyes before bringing them back to mine. With a slight blush, I quickly got up and brushed myself off, then offered hir a hand to help hir back up.
“uh...ahem...I...uh...s-sorry about that. I was having a bit of trouble walking...”
“n-not a problem...” shi said as shi straightened hir top, “It’s...it’s alright...”
We started gawking at each other for another couple of seconds before I shook my head a bit and gave a big smile, “H-Hi...I’m chakat Earthpaw, child of Whitetail and Moonbeam.”
“Earthpaw...” Shi seemed slightly dazed as shi looked at me more, making my blush brighter before shi shook hirself out of it, “I’m chakat Nightstorm, child of Whiteshade and Trailwalker...” Shi smiled back just as brightly, and I barely noticed the red in hir ears (hard to notice when it’s pure black there).
I hesitated a second, and just did what I always did. I padded forward and wrapped my arms around hir in a hug, which shi returned as shi wrapped hir own arms around me. The hug felt different from previous greeting hugs I gave...it felt different from any other hug all together. I felt a spark, a zest, coming from it that fuelled an inner flame that made the day seem perfect, despite all that happened.
We stopped the hug all too soon, and smiled at each other when I noticed the buses pulling in, “Hey!”
Nightstorm and I rushed over to it just as Mr. Ocker, our driver, was about to close the doors, “Hey, Earth. Where’ve you been?”
“Long day.”
My reply seemed good enough for him, and me and storm found a seat together. My sister gave me a curious look, and I mouthed the words “tell you later” to hir before turning to Nightstorm.
“So, are you the exchange student for Windtunneler? Shi didn’t mention you were a chakat too.” I smiled brightly at hir.
“Oh? I figured shi might have said something...then again shi might not have gotten my letter until we were about to switch. Shi was certainly right about what shi wrote me, this place is great!”
“Yeah, I had jitters when I moved here a few weeks ago, but this place grows on you pretty fast. If you want, I could help you get used to being around here...”
“Oh, I’d love..!” Shi stopped hirself and said a bit more calmly, “I’d love too, Earthpaw.”
I smiled at hir, “Call me Earth or Earthy.”
Shi nodded, “And you can just use Storm for me.”
We talked the rest of the five minutes about various things. Shi gave hir sympathies when I told hir how my day went, and gently hugged me which I gave back with enthusiasm. The bus pulled up to our stop and we all got off, me and Storm last as we didn’t notice we got there until Sun shouted at us. We got on the sidewalk and gave each other a huge hug, not wanting to let go. Again, Sun had to intervene by tapping me on the shoulder, getting us to pull apart.
“I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Storm.” I smiled brightly at hir, which shi returned.
“Can’t wait for you to show me the places...I’ll see you then...”
Storm turned and walked away, looking back at me to blow a small kiss, making me blush a little. I gazed after hir, and didn’t realize that I was purring until the sound of Sunshine’s voice snapped me back to where I was.
“So, what’s up between you two? It looked like you hit it off pretty well.”
I smiled, more so to myself than my sister, “Like a home-run at a baseball game. It was so different...”
“Well, you and shir different were radiating such wonderful feelings it got me and Breeze all twittery. It almost seemed as if you two already knew each other.”
I stopped, wondering whether or not to tell hir about the dreams. ‘why not?’ I asked myself, and so I spilled the beans.
“Well...technically we kinda did know each other already.”
“What? There’s no way. Shi only got here yesterday, and you probably haven’t seen hir before until you walked into hir earlier. Unless you mean to say that you two met online or something.”
“No, we didn’t meet online.”
Shi seemed puzzled, so I took a deep breath and tried to explain it.
“You know how I’ve been kinda...just spacing out into nothing the past few weeks?”
“Yeah, ever since we came here. It kinda freaked me out. So out of character for you.”
“Well, that’s because ever since we got here, I’ve been having a strange dream. Every night it was the same thing over and over again. Me and some chakat sitting on a hilltop at night. After each dream I could remember something new about what shi looked like. Just last week it got down to the point that I remembered everything.”
“oooh, so you’re saying that you’ve been dreaming of your perfect one.” Shi giggled, smirking.
“Actually...yes. We never did anything other than laying there, and it was absolutely perfect.”
“Wow. And you think Nightstorm is the one you were dreaming of?”
“I don’t think. I know. I KNOW shi was the one in the dream. I can feel it. And I‘ll bet that Storm feels it too.”
“You know...I was wondering why you two were gawking at each other so much when you actually met. Now it makes sense. Shi must have been having the same dream with you. It’s spooky, but at the same time it sounds quite romantic.”
“Yeah...can’t wait to see hir again...”
I was rather unresponsive the rest of the day, as my mind kept going back to Storm. Petting over hir soft fur with my hands as we hugged....hir warm body against mine...hir beautiful smile...and, oh, those gorgeous eyes....
“Earthpaw, why aren’t you eating?”
I blinked and looked down at the meatloaf my mother made, and took a big bite of it.
“You’ve been so off-key lately, Earthy. Is everything alright?” My mother asked with a concerned look on hir face.
“No. It’s perfectly fine.”
“Now that shi’s met shir perfect...” My sister smiled at me and mom.
“Shir perfect?” My mother looked from Sun to me, then back again in a hilarious way. Shi then showed a bright smile to me, “Oh! You’ve found someone, Earthy? Who?”
“Hir name is Nightstorm. Shi’s the exchange student for Windtunneler...”
“And shi’s been in your daughter’s dreams for the past two weeks...” Chimed in Sunshine, making me blush a little as Tail looked at me with a bit of curiosity now.
“Been in your dreams...you mean you’ve known about hir before you two met?”
I nodded, unable to get the red tint from my cheeks, “yeah...sorta. I’ve known what shi looked like, at least. we never talked in my dreams...just sat there,” I grinned a stupid, happy grin, “it was wonderful...”
My mother had hir hand on hir chin as if shi was thinking, “I’ve heard about relationships that had that happen before...amazing.”
“What? What‘s amazing?”
“Well...” Shi was about to explain when the phone began ringing and shi answered. Shi wasn’t gone long before shi came back with a sly smirk, “oh, Earthy...it’s Nightstorm.” As I went to the video-phone, I couldn’t help but giggle when shi whispered into my ear, “shi’s quite cute.”
My smile, as well as hirs apparently, brightened when I saw hir on the screen and shi saw me.
“Earthpaw! Nice to see you again! I’m sorry to call without you giving me your number, but I need to know about some homework we were given in History class. I think you have Mr. Stoops too, right?”
I knew that shi was making it up, as there was no homework for Stoops’ class, but I told hir a fake assignment then leaned in close to the screen to whisper to hir, “there’s no real homework. what you want, hmm?”
Shi giggled as shi whispered back, “you to get a computer and a webcam so we can talk more.”
I smiled brightly, and nodded, “done and done. Both in my room now.”
Shi smiled back, “talk to you tonight then.”
“Of course. Don’t forget the ‘assignment.’ See you later, Storm.”
“See you.” Shi said with a wink, making me blush again as I turned the vid-phone off, smiling again.
Later that night, I got onto the computer and logged in. I set up my webcam and got everything going, then typed in to get mine and Storm’s cams connected. As earlier, the second we saw each other our faces beamed. We talked almost all night until I noticed it was going on two in the morning. I, very reluctantly, told hir that we had to go to bed. We said goodnight, exchanging air-kisses again, and logged off. I fell asleep slowly that night, the night of one of the best days of my life.