"Ah, welcome, Dakota! Come in, come in!", the voice of my aunt chirped at the sight of me. She went straight to the kitchen as I closed the door behind me. "I just knew you would come so I met a batch of your favourite cookies!", she exclaimed as she handed me a bowl filled with white chocolate chip cookies.

"Thanks, auntie", I replied to her. "Oh, Dakota. How many times have I told you, you can call me either by name or mum", she said. I couldn't miss the underlying sadness in her tone. We both knew that she couldn't replace both my parents but I don't like to upset her at all.

"Okay, mum", I say. With that, she smiled at me. "Ah, silly me! I was busy baking these cookies that I forgot!", she gasped. Honestly, I would've just started helping her clean the house anyway because it was usually messy but this time around, it was suspiciously clean.

"It doesn't seem like I need to do any cleaning here", I remarked. "Ah, yes. I had some friends visit me and I didn't want to bother you during school and all, you know", she explained. I nod along to her explanation. Friends. How great to have a big friend group.

Not to say I don't like having Jasper around. I rather like being his friend but I guess what I'm saying is that, I want more friends like Jasper. The ones that don't care if I'm popular or handsome. I want friends like that. But, it's hard when your life revolves around false truths.

"Well, in any case, I have a question", I tell her. "Oh? And what might that be, Dakota?", she asked. "When I was younger, did I use to have...a necklace I wore?", I asked. She went silent, looking deep in thought. "Hmm, I probably need to check. Stay here, okay?", she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The necklace dangles over my face as I hold it above me. It was a simple looking necklace. Like one you'd find on any souvenir shop. Yet, it had a significant meaning. It was a gift from a friend that I don't even know. What did they even look like? It made my head hurt thinking about it.

I had about another 2 hours before school but it didn't matter to me currently. I was trying my best to ignite a memory or something. Doesn't this happen always in movies when a character forgets something crucial in their life? So, why isn't it working?

I sigh heavily at my realisation. I'm only believing a false hope in which I'm hoping for some closure. I slowly got up from my bed and grabbed my bag. Before I left, I wore the necklace around my neck. It was a friend's gift so I might as well cherish it.

I head down to the bus stop after locking my apartment door. The bus arrived earlier than expected so I hopped on and grabbed a seat. It was a rather quiet ride. Well, that is until someone ruined my peace and quiet. I looked over to see that hyena dude from last week.

"Hey, dude. Remember me? You know, transfer student from last week?", he asked. I only gave him a blank stare. He was giving me very off setting vibes and it only made true when I saw Jasper's reaction. He did not seemed pleased at all when he arrived.

"You're not much of a talker, aren't you?", he asks. I only stared at him. "Look. I'm sorry about last week. I was being pushy and didn't know my boundaries. I was hoping to make it up to you and hope we can be friends?", he asks, a glimmer of hope was evident in his eyes and voice.

He's a good actor but even an amateur could see right through that disguise. The only things he probably ever heard about me was how popular I was and my lack of friends. So, he's trying to aim for those two points thinking I'm just shy or something.

"Why do you think that?", I ask him. I grinned, playing at his game. "Well, everyone says how you're so smart and strong. Plus, you're so handsome. I'm surprised you don't have a girl glued to your side currently", he says. I can see that he's being cautious with his words.

"Everyone keeps talking about you and I was just wondering, if we became friends, I could learn to be like you", he says. He's taking the humility route, eh? "Oh, really? Tell me, what do they say about me?", I challenged him.

"Well...", he starts. He bites his lips as he tries to form a sentence. "First of all, you're smart so you must have a secret way of getting good grades. They say you must have a big brain to even score straight-A's", he explained.

"Well, there is something I do but most furs do it anyway", I reply. "Oh, really? What's that?", he asked excitedly. "Studying", I say, slowly. He looked taken aback at my reply but he didn't look like he was going to back down from this

How much longer do we have to be stuck in traffic? "Well, second of all, you are really strong, you know. You must be working out a lot then. You know, they say you must've gone through an experiment that made you be like this", he says.

I was rather confused at that. Why the fuck are furs thinking stuff like that? "That's the most unrealistic and dumbest thing I've ever heard", I reply. Honestly, what type of lie was he trying to think about? Or was that really what the others were thinking of me?

"Yeah, it's stupid. Well, you know, a word to the wise. You shouldn't be friends with that Jasper guy, you know", he says. Oh, now he's showing his true colours, isn't he? Let's hear what you got to say, you manipulative yeen. I look questionably at him, prompting him to continue.

"Well, at his old school, he apparently punched a guy so hard, the poor guy went into a coma. Not only that, he wrecked the entire school, grafitti and everything. And if that wasn't enough, he used to call others insulting names. He used to call me 'spotted whore'!", he sobbed.

I observe him thoroughly. He was sobbing but I can barely see any tears dripping down his face. "Yeah, sure. If my grandmother had wheels, she would've been a bike", I state. "Huh?", he asked, shock. The bus finally makes it to school so I quickly got off. Well, can't wait for another day of boredom.