"Sure." Dan said nervously as Phil sat down across from him. "Why did you stand up for me like that?" Dan asked. As he waited for an answer he grabbed his beanie from under the table and dusted it off, putting it back on.
"What do you mean?" Phil looked confused.
"You stopped him when he was messing with me. Now the other wolves don't like you. Why'd you do that?"
"He was being mean. That's wrong, of course I stopped him."
"No one's ever stopped him before. Well, except Chris when he picks on PJ."
"Hm..." Phil looked down at the table, appearing sad. "Nobody deserves to be treated like that." He said, looking back up at Dan.
Dan looked up at him for a moment. He had light blue eyes, with speckles of green and yellow. He was paler than Dan had initially noticed. Dan realized he was staring and quickly looked back at the table. "Thanks," he said quietly.
Phil gave a soft smile. "No problem. Oh and, I haven't asked yet, what's your name? I'm Phil, but you already know that I guess." He gave an awkward laugh.
"I'm Dan."
"Well, it's good to meet you Dan." Phil smiled again and Dan felt himself give a little smile too.
They ate lunch mostly in silence, both too awkward to know what to say. When the dismissal bell rang, they stood across from each other for a moment, each wondering if the other would say something. Phil spoke first.
"Um, what class do you have next?We could walk together maybe."
"Maths."
"Oh! I have that too! Good to know we share a few classes." He smiled at Dan, hoping the neko would feel comforted walking with a wolf to protect him.
"Cool." Dan said, smiling back.
They walked to their class together, Phil growling and glaring at any of the wolves who tried to hurt Dan by throwing things at him or pushing him. The other nekos looked shocked to see Dan with a wolf. He hadn't ever become friends with the other nekos, and none of them were friends with the werewolves except PJ. And PJ barely counted, Dan thought, since he was pretty sure PJ and Chris were an item.
A few of the other nekos smiled at Dan and gave him thumbs up. He shyly smiled back to show he appreciated their support. For once, he made it through the hall and into class completely unharmed.
As it turned out, Dan had every class in the second half of the day with Phil. Only the morning classes after their homeroom were scrambled a bit so they were separated. They passed notes and smiled at each other throughout the rest of the days afternoon classes.
When the final bell rang, Phil approached Dan. "What are you up to after school?"
"Probably just gonna play some Mario Kart." Dan replied. He hoped he didn't sound boring.
"I love that game!" Phil said excitedly. "Could I come play it with you?"
"Um," Dan stopped speaking for a moment, shocked. Phil wanted to spend time with him? On purpose? Outside of school? Why?
Phil took Dan's silence as a sign he was uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I know we just met today, I should have realized you wouldn't want-"
"No!" Dan said quickly. "I mean, yes, I'd love it if you came over, that would be nice. I was just surprised that- nevermind, yes, I'd like that."
Phil tilted his head a bit in confusion, but smiled. "Alright! I'll text my mum and tell her I'm going with you."
They left the school building together, Dan feeling happy safe, Phil texting his mother. Suddenly while Phil was looking at his phone, something slammed into the back of Dan's head. He dropped to the ground and curled up in a ball. He didn't bother to see who had hit him. He just focused on protecting himself.
He heard Austin's laugh. He felt a kick to his head and his back. Then suddenly he heard a growl and realized Austin was no longer standing over him. He uncovered his eyes and saw one of the werewolves in full wolf form, dragging Austin by the collar of his shirt. The other wolves stood by in normal form looking shocked. Dan realized Chris wasn't with the group this time, and neither was PJ. He looked around for Phil frantically, before realizing Phil was the wolf that had Austin. He was bigger than most were in wolf form, and had silvery grey fur with white paws and some white on his tail.
Once Austin got to his feet, he shifted as well, dropping onto all fours. His wolf form was also bigger than most, and was a dusty brown color. Austin's group cheered. "Kick his ass Austin!" Someone yelled.
The two wolves growled at each other, pacing and glaring. Dan looked around for a teacher. He saw the art teacher in the distance. He didn't know her name to call out to her as he didn't have her class, but he ran towards her as fast as possible.
"Miss! Phil needs help, Austin attacked me and Phil pulled him off of me but now they're fighting and I'm afraid-"
"Calm down, I'm coming." She said gently, running after him back towards the fight. The wolves saw him coming with a teacher and shouted to Austin. He and Phil both looked up. Austin shifted back to human form, his ears still flattened in anger. He followed his friends behind the school and began running. By the time Dan got there with the teacher, they were gone. Phil shifted back and walked over to Dan. He was bleeding a bit from a scratch above his eye, but otherwise seemed unharmed.
"Dan!" Phil said, concerned, "Are you okay? How bad did he get you?"
"I'm alright, my head hurts but that's mostly all."
The teacher jumped in. "Phil, did you start that fight?" She said in a serious tone.
"Well, not exactly," Phil looked at the ground in shame, "He punched Dan in the back of the head and then started kicking him on the ground, I pulled him off of Dan, so technically I did start the fight between me and him. I'm sorry. I just couldn't let him hurt Dan."
Suddenly another neko poked her head out from the school doorway. She was quite short compared to Dan and Phil, and had bleach blonde hair with white ears and a white tail.
"Um, he's telling the truth Miss, I promise, I saw the whole thing."
The teacher sighed. "Thank you Louise. Listen, I'm not going to punish you for fighting to protect a fellow student. But don't make starting fights a habit." She said sternly to Phil. Then she turned to Dan. "Does this happen often? Do I need to talk to anyone about this?"
Dan looked at the ground. "No." He knew if Austin or any of his group got into trouble because he told someone about them, they might do more than just throw punches and paper.
She looked at him doubtfully for a moment. "Okay. You should head home. All of you." The three of them nodded and the teacher walked back towards the school doors.
Louise turned to Phil. "That was really brave, protecting Dan like that."
"Oh, um, thanks."
She turned to Dan. "Why'd you tell her not to say anything about it? Everyone knows you get picked on all the time." Dan looked at her and just shrugged. She looked worried, but didn't pry him for answers. "Well....be careful heading home," she told them before waving and heading down the street.
Dan looked at Phil. The blood from the scratch was running down his face. Dan set his backpack down and pulled a small pack of tissues out. "Come here," he told Phil.
Phil came closer and Dan began to use the tissue to clean up the blood from his face. Once it was mostly okay, he handed Phil a wad of tissues to hold on the cut and stop the bleeding. "Hold those on there until we get to my house, then we can clean it and get a band-aid."
Phil smiled. "You're sweet."
"Shut up." Dan rolled his eyes and felt himself blush.
Dan put the remaining tissues in his bag, picked it up, and began leading the way to his house.
