After School Surprise Part 1
A young high school boy finds himself basically 'adopted' by a group of girls after they rescue him from a group of bullies.
After School Surprise Part 1
By
Charles E. Terrell Jr. aka Nightmask
With the close of yet another day at Riverton High School the throngs of young teens scattered to the various places all such teens go, forming up into groups both large and small in a variety of breakdowns. Some clusters seemed based on species or grade, while others were more mixed and joined together by common interests or gender, and others by little that could be discerned even by them. The only thing that seemed common was that few seemed willing to travel alone, and those that did quickly padded home.
As the school emptied the mall on the other hand filled with a sea of different species just hanging out and wandering around its massive interior, occasionally drawn into this store or that by a particularly impressive display, scent, or just general curiosity. There also seemed much the pack mentality from the way the groups held together, as even as they joked and laughed there always seemed to be a wary eye cast about, particularly by the smaller groups of females scattered about the common areas of the mall.
"So where'd you want to go again Julia?" asked the taller member of a group of six young females of mixed sizes and species, the young female's species evident at a glance from the long fluffy tail with twin stripes tracing their way out to the tip, warning everyone as to her mephit nature.
"I need to stop in at Fiber Friends and picked up some yarn and knitting tools. Mom's making me learn how to knit and insists I have to have my own stuff to work with instead of using hers," the shorter raccoon replied while making a face. "She thinks it's a sin for a raccoon female to not know how to knit and sew and things like that."
"I don't know about that but it's good for practicing your manual dexterity for a lot of things besides knitting stuff Julia," interjected the shortest member of the group, a stockier badger femme dressed in sturdier workpants and shirt compared to the sweaters and skirts the rest of the group was wearing. "Even if you don't have claws like mine."
"Do raccoons ever need that kind of practice?" asked the sandy furred fennec vixen before her sharp ears heard sounds of whimpering and scuffling through the crowd. "Hey, I think something's happening over at the fountain!" she exclaimed, redirecting the attention of the mephit, badger, and twin ferrets towards the sounds of conflict.
The crowds parted easily enough with a skunk and a badger leading the way, until they could see through the quietly watching but otherwise unhelpful creatures. They all bristled though at the sight of a lone human girl being batted around between a trio of raccoon males who were clearly older and larger than the defenseless human.
"I can't believe it, what's a human doing alone here, and why isn't anyone stopping them?!" growled the badger as outrage filled her at such openly callous abuse.
"I don't know Dorothy but I know it's going to stop now!" the mephit hotly stated, as she strode forward with her friends quickly marching in step along with her. It was bad enough one had to be careful where one went away from the public eye and had to travel in circles for added safety, one should at least be able to get around in a mall safely.
"Alright you three, let her go right now!" declared the mephit once she was close enough, backed up by a chorus of "You tell them Desiree!" from her companions.
"Her? You mean this?" sneered one of the raccoons, clearly the leader from the way he glared at the skunk and shook their victim just to make his point. "Who's going to make us?"
"If you don't let her go and leave right now we're going to make you, and three raccoons don't cut it against even one badger, let alone a skunk, two ferrets, a raccoon, and a fox," Desiree replied as she touted up the differences between the two sides while being careful to keep an eye on just the leader and the human and trusting in her friends to mind the rest. "Although if you want to add your tails to our collection I'm sure they'd look nice in it," she continued, reminding them of one of the worst insults short of castration one could do to a tailed species.
All three of the raccoons instinctively curled his tail up against his back at the threat and lost some of their cockiness from abusing a lone human, not caring for the odds even if they felt they could have handled any one of the females facing them. Seeing the shift in body language Desiree pressed her point as she motioned for the human to come over to her while keeping a steady eye on the alpha bully.
"Come here honey, these three aren't going to bother you any more, are you?" she asked as she glared at the raccoons, backed up by her friends who lined up along with her, claws showing and teeth bared. Sniffling the young human found herself pushed at the mephit by the now not so tough raccoon before he broke and ran, quickly followed by his friends into the watching crowds.
"There there honey, it's okay, we'll take care of you," Desiree spoke soothingly to the human as she clung to the mephit, the smell of blood from her cuts scenting the air while Julia shooed the uncaring crowds away.
"Go on, nothing left for you to see here, you selfish bastards, go back to whatever you were doing besides standing around useless," growled the raccoon while the ferrets and vixen took up positions around the mephit and human just in case the raccoons came back or someone else decided to take their place.
"Let's go get you cleaned up sweetie," Desiree said as she petted the human soothingly, or at least hoped it was soothing for a human too, and wondered for the life of her why she was traveling alone. "Do you have any extra clothes with you?" she asked while looking the girl over critically, guessing if worse came to worse one of them would have something she could wear temporarily, at least until she got home.
"N-no, this is all I have," she replied softly, still clinging to the taller female while Julia returned to them and cocked her head curiously as she got a chance to look the human over more closely, then gasped in surprise.
"Hey, I think she's in the same home-ec class I'm in! Don't you have fifth period home economics?" the raccoon asked, and looked even more surprised at the shy nod of yes.
"I thought you looked familiar! There was all sorts of talk about you at the start of the season, although I don't remember what. So what's your name dear?"
"M-my name's Kelly."
"Nice to meet you Kelly, now let's go get you cleaned up," Desiree greeted her, the sextet now expanded by a new member as they padded through the crowds, the excitement of earlier quickly fading from their minds as they headed towards the restrooms. When they got there though Kelly balked about going in.
"What's the matter honey?" Desiree asked when she felt Kelly stop just a few feet shy of entering
"I-I'm not supposed to go in there," Kelly said very nervously.
"Why would you think that? It's an all-species restroom and we can't clean you up out here," the mephit noted matter-of-factly.
"Because it's only for girls," Kelly finally replied, even more shyly, which brought several stunned looks from the group and a moment of enlightenment from Julia.
"That's what the talk was all about at the start of the semester, it wasn't over a human in the class, but a boy," the raccoon declared with a look of satisfaction for finally remembering, even if it took a bit of prompting.
"You're a boy?" the others asked almost in unison, with the bright blush and embarrassed squirming all the confirmation they needed at that point, although the ferrets couldn't resist leaning in to sniff at him curiously.
"You don't smell like a boy," they declared in harmony, their tails gyrating around rapidly. "Are you sure you aren't a girl?"
"Boy or girl you need cleaned up and this is the closest place we can take care of you Kelly," Desiree said as she took charge. "Lori, you and Kerri check and see if the restroom's empty, Julia, you and Dorothy ought to be able to get in and out of the Medi-mart with some bandages and other things without any trouble, while Kelly, Cassandra, and I wait here for you to get back."
A chorus of acknowledgements and agreements came from the rest of the girls as the ferrets in their boundless energy dashed into the girls restroom to see if it was empty and the raccoon and badger went to get some basic first aid items to treat the human. Desiree couldn't help but be proud of how her friends trusted in her judgment and quickly set about following her instructions, although she didn't have long to think about it as she felt Kelly shiver against her and wrapped her tail around the human snuggly.
"Don't you worry honey you're going to be alright, we'll take good care of you," she promised in her most soothing voice even as she felt a bit of shocked awareness as the main crisis faded enough for her to realize just how small Kelly was. She, no he she pointedly reminded herself, was barely 5' tall if that. His head barely even came up to the underside of her breasts, and he was supposed to be in Julia's grade? Even Cassandra was a few inches taller and she was a fennec.
"Th-Thank you miss," Kelly replied, clutching tightly at the mephit as he alternately shook, shivered, sniffled, and sobbed as he clung to her for safety.
"No need to call me miss, I'm Desiree, and my friend here is Cassandra," Desiree gently informed him while the fennec gave a Kelly a friendly smile as he looked up at her through tear-blurred eyes and gave a hesitant smile back.
"H-Hi Cassandra, th-thanks for rescuing me from Garret and his friends," Kelly replied, skin still flushed from everything but his racing heart beginning to slow as the adrenaline rush wore off, which served to leave him weak in the knees and jittery as all the energy he'd burned off in those few minutes caught up with him.
"Woah, hang in there Kelly, we'd better get you to a seat," Desiree said, attention returning to the state the poor human was in, with Cassandra slipping up to help support him between the two of them.
"Hey Desiree!" "The restroom's all clear!" came the almost seamless pair of sentences from behind her as the twins exited the restroom and padded up behind her. Like many twins it was almost like they had the same mind given how they could switch between speaking in perfect harmony to completing what each other said as if it all came from just one person. They also took a great deal of delight out of playing with people's minds when in the mood.
"Thanks Lori, Kerri, you two can stay outside and help shoo away anyone else that comes along while we take care of cleaning up Kelly, and send in Julia and Dorothy when they get back," Desiree told them as she started off towards the restroom with Kelly still clinging to her and Cassandra supporting him from the other side.
Hesitant as he was to enter somewhere forbidden to him by his gender Kelly went along with the urgings of the two females as they led him into the restroom, Cassandra pushing the door open ahead of them and keeping it that way until he was inside. He couldn't help but gawk a bit at the differences between the male and female restrooms; the room was so much brighter and not only had furniture to lounge on but a variety of things he'd never seen before, being part of female grooming as they were.
"Never seen the inside of a girls restroom before Kelly?" Cassandra teased gently as she saw him looking around and caused him to jump guiltily. "Calm down sweetie, you're not going to get into trouble, you've been invited remember?"
"Which now that we're here let's see about checking you over and seeing how much we'll have to do when Julia and Dorothy get back," Desiree stated as she gently but firmly disengaged Kelly's arms from around her waist and slipping her hands beneath his arms easily lifted him up and sat him on the edge of the sink counter, eliciting a squeal of surprise and fear from him.
"Sorry honey, just easier to clean you up and check you out where the light is the best," the contrite mephit said, before her ears perked at an unexpected gasp from the fennec. It didn't take her long to realize why, when she saw the various bruises and pale scars through the tears in Kelly's clothes. The poor boy looked like he'd been the subject of almost regular bullying and as the two girls stared at him he started to curl up into himself in shame and embarrassment.
"Hey now, none of that, you've nothing to be ashamed of honey," Desiree told him, reaching to tilt his chin up and stroke beneath it gently with a finger. "We're going to get you cleaned up and after we find something for you wear we'll see to it you get home safely."
"Something to wear?" he asked, still enough in shock from the attack to not realize how bad off his clothes were.
"Honey your clothes are in tatters, you can't be running around in what's left of them," Desiree pointed out and caused the poor boy to blush brightly and try to cover himself when she added, "You're almost showing off everything."
"Maybe you should call home and have someone bring you some spare clothes while we keep you safe?" Cassandra suggested while she started wetting some paper towels and dabbing at a few of the worst of his cuts.
"There won't be anyone home for hours; Mom works late and Dad left a long time ago," was the soft reply, which left both the girls feeling pangs of sympathy for the boy. It was far too common for the males to wander off after starting a family in the modern age, where they weren't as necessary to the survival of the children they brought into the world as they once had been. No wonder he wasn't very masculine, with no role model around and the other young males abusing him beyond what was common for determining the pecking order growing up.
"We'll just have to take care it all ourselves then," Desiree stated matter-of-factly, putting on a cheerful, confident air, and patted Kelly on the head affectionately. "Don't worry honey, we'll see you home safe and sound," she promised with a disarming smile. "In the meantime we need to get you out of the ruins of your clothes and finish cleaning you up before Julia and Dorothy get back."
"Out of my clothes?!" Kelly squeaked out, which brought an amused chuckle from the mephit, who simply reached for the hem of his shirt and brought his attention firmly enough to it to emphasize how tattered and useless the raccoons had left it.
"Yes out of your clothes; not like you have anything we haven't seen in the Health and Sexual Education classes after all," the mephit pointed out; although didn't add that admittedly the non-human courses like those for her and her friends didn't tend to include male human anatomy given how rare such cross-species sexual interaction was. "Now be a good boy as we don't want to tie up this bathroom all day and the sooner we're done the sooner we can get you home."
Kelly blushed and squirmed a bit but otherwise didn't resist as Desiree's forceful and confident tone took all thought of resistance out of the shy boy, only moving when necessary for the removal of his tattered clothes. It helped though that neither girl teased or otherwise made fun of him as he was reduced to sitting on the counter fully exposed in the bright lights, since not like his socks really concealed anything important. That they left his lap covered with the remains of his pants helped, although both girls had to resist wincing at the scratches that fortunately had stopped short of his most sensitive bits.
As the girls busied themselves wiping him off with wet towels and getting the blood off while assessing the shape he was in he couldn't help trying to keep his chest and nether regions covered, inadequate as it was with just his hands and slender arms, with the most success only due to the remains of his jeans draped over his lap. They'd made good progress though in getting him cleaned up when they heard the bathroom door opening and Kelly jumped in fresh embarrassment.
"How's he looking Desiree?" Julia asked as the coon and badger pushed their way in, the badger carrying a good-sized plastic carrycase before drawing up short as the door swung shut behind them as they stared at the naked boy. Not so much because he was naked really, although they were a bit startled, but more from how vividly past and present bruises and other injuries stood out so starkly against his pale white skin. "Wow, I'm glad we got the deluxe case instead of one of the cheaper smaller ones," Dorothy blurted out, then felt a blush of embarrassment herself at being so tactless and adding to Kelly's obvious discomfort.
"Not as bad as it appears," Cassandra cut in, answering the original question while she took the case from Dorothy and sat it on the counter next to Kelly, the fennec quickly breaking the seals to get to the medical supplies inside. "We need to find him something to wear though when we're done taking care of all these cuts," she noted to the other two, gesturing with her tail to the tattered remains of his clothes while passing some antiseptic over to the mephit.
"Hmmmm, you still have your cheerleading outfit with you don't you Cassandra?" Desiree asked as she started dabbing antiseptic on the worst of Kelly's cuts first, drawing soft hisses from him as he tried not to make too much noise and draw more attention his way. Puzzled the fennec gave a nod while applying some antiseptic to the cuts and scratches on her side of Kelly. "You aren't much bigger than Kelly, if you switch back into your cheerleading outfit he can wear what you've got on until we get him home."
"You want me to give him my clothes?!" Cassandra barked, surprised enough she found herself having to promptly make soothing, apologetic sounds to Kelly after pressing too hard at one of his cuts.
"Well the rest of us are either too large or too small for him to use any of our clothes," the mephit pointed out reasonably. "It's not like he's going to keep them, right Kelly?" she asked, causing him to jump as the attention turned back to him and required a minute to reply with a shake of his head. "See? Besides we can't keep things tied up much longer; someone's going to get around Lori and Kerri trying to divert them eventually, and we haven't time to go buy him clothes and he can't go outside like this. He can't wear your cheerleading outfit as he'd stand out too much in it."
"Okay, fine, you win. Julia, take over for me will you?" Cassandra asked as she passed the antiseptic and some bandages to the raccoon, who took them with a nod. "Don't forget some of that pain-numbing ointment while you're at it for his bruises," she added as she dropped her backpack onto one of the nearby chairs and shuffled around inside, digging out her cheerleading outfit and laying it out before slipping out of her burgundy sweater with barely a thought to the watching boy. What little embarrassment the older girl felt she decided was acceptable given how much worse the boy had to feel surrounded by four fully dressed girls while he was completely naked.
However embarrassing it was to slip into a girl's sweater it was much more comforting than sitting around naked and Kelly quickly slipped into the soft outfit as soon as the mephit and raccoon has finished taking care of his upper half. The soft material brought the scent of the vixen along with it as it clung almost as girlishly to him as it had its owner, who ended up passing her panties along with her matching burgundy skirt over to rely upon the built-in panties of her outfit to preserve her public modesty. Once the finished with the rest of him they helped him down so he could slip into the rest of Cassandra's clothes.
"No no honey, they go on like this," Desiree said with an amused smile while adjusting the panties and skirt on the boy, then cocked her head to give him a critical look. "My, you look so adorable if I didn't know better I'd swear you were a girl. What do you think girls?" she asked as she turned and looked to the others.
"Looks just as cute as Cassandra does when she's wearing it," Dorothy declared, which earned her a tongue stuck out her way from the self-same vixen.
Truthfully he did look just like any other adorable girl in the soft sweater and on him just past knee length skirt. His hair was more than long enough to come past his shoulders and curled much like a girl's as he stood shyly under the gaze of the watching girls. Fidgeting as they looked at him he jumped briefly as Desiree started adjusting and tweaking his new outfit like she would any of her friends to look his best.
"Well girls I think we should get this mess cleaned up quick and get Kelly here home; we'll have to come back another time for your yarn and tools Julia," Desiree suggested as she turned and started picking up and tossing the scraps from the medical kit into the recycling bin nearby.
"I-I don't want to be a bother," Kelly softly said. "I can just go home myself so you can do whatever you were going to before I messed things up."
"You'll do no such thing," Cassandra said as she wagged a finger at the boy. "For one your safety is more important than some yarn and for another that's my best sweater and someone's sure to tear it up like your clothes if you go home alone and I want it back intact," she concluded, although gave him a smile and a wink to take the sting out of the words.
"Th-Then I don't mind if you want to get your stuff now, I don't want to cause problems," he replied, standing close to Desiree since the mephit left him feeling the safest, after his clinging to her earlier. He was finding it less embarrassing than he'd have thought being dressed up like a girl and surrounded by girls in a restroom on top of that. The ready acceptance and friendly treatment was going fair to calming his fears and make him eager to repay them somehow for rescuing him.
"You sure honey? The mall's crowded and everyone will see you," Desiree pointed out, only to receive a nod from the boy.
"Well if they think I'm a girl instead of a boy no one will care right?" he asked, then blushed and thanked Julia for handing him what was left of his clothes and his own thin backpack, quickly stuffing his clothes inside and slipping the backpack on.
"If he wants to stay with us let him Desiree," Julia piped in, her tail flicking about as she patted Kelly on the head and ruffled his hair playfully, causing him to squirm shyly at the touch. "He looks like a girl, almost smells like one, and does smell like Cassandra. As long as he doesn't run around like a boy he should be fine, especially if we keep him between us and treat him like a girl while everyone's watching."
While she was just a year ahead of him in school the mephit was considerably more mature, like most girls, and as she looked into Kelly's eyes could see so much loneliness there and an aching need to belong she couldn't bring herself to turn him down. She and the rest of her circle had been together for years, long enough to almost forget what it was like being without a circle to depend on. Just trying to imagine what it must have been like for Kelly to get to his age without anyone else caused an involuntary shiver to race up along her spine. There was no way she could turn him down and take their company away from him so soon.
"Okay honey, let's go and pick up Lori and Kerri and head by the yarn place then," Desiree replied, her tail flicking around to brush up against Kelly's back and briefly hug him with the large fluffy plume before she slipped an arm around his shoulders and held him beside her.
It was a little strange at first as they stepped back out into the bustling mall outside, and not just for having the freshly dressed and feminized boy along with them, but for the change in their group dynamic as well. Quiet to a fault though he was the girls has unconsciously circled around him with the irrepressible ferret twins chattering away as they occupied the rear and the raccoon and badger leading the way while the mephit and vixen engaged him in conversation as best they could.
"So why were you here in the mall by yourself sweetie?" Cassandra asked while adjusting her skirt and top off and on. It was good enough for cheering the team on (even if they didn't get the bouncing bosom from her like they did from the rest, since even fully mature physically she'd never have more than an A-cup until she was a mother) but not all that fun to pad around in long-term. Oh well, a little discomfort was worth it after seeing what that poor boy had been through.
"Oh, uhm, the latest Elyssa Tokagawa interactive novel came out today and I wanted to get my copy before they sold out. I guess I'll have to order a copy now," Kelly said, clearly disappointed at missing out.
"Why can't you get it after we take care of what Julia needs?" the vixen asked, uncertain why he couldn't. "Have they run out?"
"No, but I don't want to take up anyone's time to get it," he told her, which earned him a stern look and another finger wagged at him.
"You need to work on your confidence sweetie, and not be so afraid to speak up," the vixen said as the tapped him on the nose gently with a clawtip. "If there are any problems we'll let you know and work them out, until then relax, we'll take good care of you."
"Okay. I'm sorry I'm such a bother, I don't get to hang out with anyone so don't know what to do," he confessed, which earned him a gentle squeeze from Desiree's arm, which still rested securely around his shoulders.
"Well stop apologizing for everything for starters," the mephit suggested, murrchuckling throatily. "The only thing to worry about is when does your mom get home so we can get you home before she does so she doesn't see you wearing girls clothes."
"Oh, she doesn't come home before eight in the evening during the week," was the shocking answer. It was almost unheard of for a parent to even be at work past six let alone past eight, at least for the dayrunners like humans. "On the weekend she generally runs a lot so I stay home reading or watching TV or other stuff."
Even the chattering ferrets went silent showing that they'd been listening along with the rest, appalled that any parent but especially a mother would behave like that. Didn't the poor boy have anyone to turn to? The sudden silence didn't help any coming right on the heels of what he'd said, but before it grew more uncomfortable than it already was Cassandra stepped in to fill the void.
"In that case you're spending the evening with us, and no complaining or trying to get out of it understand?" she told him sternly, and nodded for him to look to the others to see them nodding agreement. "Just give us your address so we can be sure to know when to leave here to get you home in plenty of time before your mom."
The address proved a bit of a surprise in and of itself when he gave it to them, as while it wasn't that far from the mall it was still in one of the wealthier stretches of town. For someone who's mother was doing so well it was incomprehensible that she apparently did nothing to ensure her son's safety and proper socialization. The twins in particular had a rather heated back and forth commentary about it, although given how rapidly they were speaking no one really understood what they said besides them.
With a little effort though they got things back on track, both for picking up Julia and Kelly's items as well as turning the conversation to more innocuous topics, like schoolwork and school gossip. If anyone thought there was anything strange about Kelly there wasn't any evidence of it, even when he stopped in with Desiree's encouragement. He even got a pat on the head from the elderly raccoon who worked the yarn shop who complimented him on being such a cute girl and how pretty she'd grow up to be.
Shopping done they dragged Kelly off to the Food Court and after some gentle probing got out of him what'd he'd like to eat and found a table area large enough to accommodate them all. It did prove a bit embarrassing at first though as his lack of experience with sitting in a dress flashed several his borrowed panties and left him beet red from head to toe in embarrassment before Julia corrected him. Reminded he wasn't really a girl Desiree and the others took a few minutes to give him pointers on how to act female, at least enough to pass and know how to sit and arrange his skirt for modesty's sake.
"Something wrong Kelly?" Desiree asked when she noticed him squirming around in his seat around halfway through their meal.
"Uhm, no, I just need to go to the bathroom," he admitted, embarrassed at having to mention that around the girls.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "One of us will have to escort you to the girls restroom then since you can't go to the boys dressed as you are."
"I'll do it Desiree," Dorothy volunteered, the badger setting down what was her third sandwich by that point and reaching for a napkin to clean the grease from her hands and claws. "On the off-chance something were to happen I'd be best able to handle things until the rest of you could come help. Not that you should worry about anything happening Kelly," she said reassuringly to him as she pushed her chair back.
"Just listen to Dorothy's advise and follow her lead and you'll be fine Kelly," Desiree added while patting him on the head gently.
"O-Okay," he stammered out shyly as he got up as well when the badger came over to stand next to him and waited for him to stand. Mindful of their advise he was careful to get up without any unwanted displays or less than feminine motions.
"We'll be back shortly girls," Dorothy tossed back to them as she padded off her left arm draped protectively around Kelly's shoulders.
"That poor boy," Cassandra commented when they were out of earshot, the fennec's tail flicking angrily behind her. "I can't believe he hasn't got anyone looking out for him. What mother leaves her child to end up abused like he's been?"
"A very poor one," Julia replied to which the others nodded vigorous agreement. "There must be something we can do for him beyond just taking him home later."
"Yes he really needs..." "...some friends," the ferret girls stated, with Kerri finishing up the sentence started by Lori.
"Well he does seem pretty sweet," Cassandra commented, "although needs some help with his confidence and learning how to protect himself."
"Nothing we can't take care of," Julia declared confidently.
"Maybe we could get our mother to help teach him how to protect himself," Kerri suggested before Lori added, "although with how she feels about males he might have to keep Cassandra's outfit on to get any help from her."
"Given how he looks and smells that might actually work," Cassandra mused, "provided he didn't mind pretending to be a girl around her."
"He seems to be okay doing it here with us," Julia pointed out.
"Only because he's in shock from the assault and didn't have anything else to wear," Desiree reminded her. "He might not be okay with dressing up like a girl once the shock wears off and he's had time to recover."
"We can worry about that later, right now let's just see he gets to relax and help him forget about it and get him home safely," Cassandra told the others while trying to calm her tail and deal with her anger over how Kelly's mother could neglect him so badly. "Then we can see when he leaves for school in the morning and how and consider walking him to and from school if possible."
"He said his mother generally doesn't get home before eight in the evening. That's a long time to be home alone," Desiree reminded her. "He'd be better off if we just kept him with us," the compassionate mephit suggested, remembering how he clung to her for protection and how it tugged at her nascent mothering instincts even at her young age.
"He's not a stray to be taking home Desiree," Julia jokingly stated, earning her a glare from the mephit that the raccoon waved her hands before her to ward off. "Okay okay so he is a stray, or at least could use some taking in and protecting like one."
"We can talk with him about it when he gets back. After all we don't know that he'd want to spend time with us like that," Cassandra cut in to put things to rest.
"Still would be nice to have another member in our circle even if it would be a bit odd having a boy join," Desiree thought out loud before nibbling on some sausage.
"That's a big jump there to joining our group when we've just met him Desiree," Cassandra exclaimed. "Besides he's a bit incompatible with the initiation."
"So if he's worthy we'll make one up just for him," the mephit replied unperturbed. "We've just met him I know but there's just something about him that my instincts say he's okay."
"Can't argue with instinct," Cassandra reflected, with instinct considered as important as reason to develop to its fullest to survive in the world. "Still we'll see how things go just getting him home and getting my clothes back from him tomorrow."
"Should make for fun wearing in the future, remembering how they were worn by a boy who looked as cute as you in them," teased Julia.
"As if," the fennec tossed back with a sniff. "He can buy his own sweaters and skirts in the future."
"Or you can just make them for him," Desiree noted with a barely restrained grin. "Although why your mother expects you to learn all that old-fashioned home making is beyond me."
"Tell me about it," Julia declared, eyes rolling as she thought about it. "Here she's a doctor but wants me to make sure I know how to make clothes and knit and all that kind of stuff."
"Nothing wrong with that, just look at what happened with Kelly. Being able to make your own clothes or at least patch them up well is still a pretty good idea when it's so easy for something to happen and see them damaged or ruined," Cassandra reminded her. The vixen had quite appreciated her own instruction in such things from her mother and during her time in the Home Economics classes even if she didn't need it very often.
"You're always so practical-minded Cassandra," Julia grumped. "I'd like to enjoy being a teenager a while longer instead of having to worry about things like that."
"That's when you most have to worry about it," came the reply from the vixen. "We've been lucky in not having to have too many fights but things could easily change and we'd be keeping your mom busy in more ways than one."
"I hear plenty of horror stories from her about the kids she has to take care of at the school already," the raccoon replied, not envying her mother her spot as school doctor given how many students came her way after run-ins with other students when lacking the protection of the rest of their circle or because they were loners without such protection on their side.
"From the looks of him she probably knows Kelly pretty well," Desiree commented softly, unable to get the human off her mind even for the short bit of time he was absent.
"We'll do everything we can to see to it she doesn't have to see him again if she has," Cassandra told the mephit reassuringly while patting her on the arm. The concern for the human was admirable but worrying the vixen a bit given she didn't worry too much about others they'd come across in similar situations; perhaps this was the event that would start her maturing and seeing outside their circle she thought to herself.
Before they could continue Desiree saw that they'd been talking long enough for Kelly and Dorothy to finally be returning from the direction of the restrooms and waved to them as they drew near to let the others know that they were back.
Taking her role of guardian seriously Dorothy kept her hand resting on Kelly's shoulder as she guided him in the direction of the restrooms looking every bit the protective sister with her body language and general behavior. The badger might have been the younger of the two but had a maturity level far in excess of her years due to her upbringing and the emphasis in badger families on being kind, helpful, and to do their best to always watch out for others.
"Now before we get their Kelly I'll give you some advise on how to fit in without drawing too much attention to yourself okay?" she asked as she looked down at the slender human and received a quiet nod of agreement from him.
"First off it'll likely be fairly full and busy in this restroom since it's right here off the Food Court unlike the other one we cleaned you up at so you will see females grooming and some might be showing off things you haven't seen in person before so whatever you do don't stare, that's an invitation to a fight as staring will be seen as a challenge," Dorothy started out with. "Glances here and there are okay as just looking around happens but you never stare."
"Maybe we should go to the one you cleaned me up in?" Kelly tentatively suggested even though he couldn't resist squirming a bit due to the fullness of his bladder.
"You'll be okay, just don't stare and remember that females don't stand they sit," she pointed out to the blushing boy. "I know it's embarrassing having to talk about this but relax you'll be okay as long as you don't panic or do something obvious. So you sit, take care of things, pretend to wipe yourself clean and come back out. No one will notice since you're human that you don't have to do any extensive grooming as long as you wash your hands and act polite to anyone that talks to you and be respectful. I'll be right in there so you've nothing to worry about."
"I'll do my best to be a girl and not draw attention to myself," Kelly replied softly, hands clutched in front of him as the approached the door marked clearly for females.
"Just try to behave like you belong in here and relax, you've nothing to be nervous about," she told him quickly as she swung the door open for him and motioned him in ahead of her.
Walking in wasn't easy for him and he couldn't do anything about the embarrassed blush to his skin as he stepped into the expansive restroom intended for females. The differences between this one and the other he'd been in were obvious from the chatter of various female voices and the sight of a dozen or so females of various species making full use of the facilities. The sound of the door shutting behind him raised his nervousness as it left him feeling trapped inside, with only the reassuring presence of Dorothy keeping him from wetting himself in his current state.
A few eyes turned their way as they walked in but turned away once their curiosity was satisfied, in keeping with the generally unspoken social etiquette of female restroom use. Kelly didn't know quite how to react especially when it was evident all the stalls were occupied, looking up to Dorothy for advise on how to react.
"Looks like you'll have a bit of a wait Kelly," she told him in a casual tone of voice, as if such waiting was to be expected, her own eyes glancing around to take note of what females were around and what they were up to as was the natural course of things. "I'm sure the boys though never have to worry about waiting," she said with a private wink for him and just loud enough that the closest girls laughed in response.
"We wouldn't have to wait either if we could just line up along a wall and let go," commented a smartly dressed ferret with a string of piercings lining the edge of her left ear.
"Like we'd ever let them do that to us," Dorothy replied with a chuckle, using the distraction of the conversation to help Kelly feel more at ease and draw attention from him.
"As if!" the ferret agreed while brushing out the fur of her tail and inspecting it for anything that might have gotten on it while she'd been relieving herself earlier. "The wait's worth it compared to what it'd be like to put up with what the boys do."
"Well we girls have always had higher standards," the badger pointed out before giving Kelly a gentle nudge towards a stall that came available as a tall and particularly endowed for her age mephit came out with a swish of her large fluffy tail. Not that he needed the encouragement given his need by that point; in fact he totally forgot to be embarrassed or shy about walking past the skunk even with some of the display she gave while getting her skirt back in place.
In his haste Kelly almost forgot his instructions to pretend to be female but remembered just in time. Blushing furiously he slipped the borrowed panties down to his ankles almost with the sound of the shutting door still in the air and seated himself quickly. The thought of all the girls around him and the little slivers space around the door's edges that he could see them moving around outside was inhibiting but not enough to prevent his relieving himself.
Meanwhile Dorothy waited outside patiently for Kelly to finish and continued her casual conversation with the ferret, including providing some help with her grooming. She kept at least part of her attention on the stall Kelly was in even though she didn't think there was anything to worry about, just in case.
By the time Kelly was finished the ferret had already said goodbye and left for whatever else she had in mind along with several other girls that were clearly part of her own circle which wasn't a problem as the fewer girls around the better. Feeling much more at ease with that taken care of Kelly managed to carry out the rest of the pretenses he had to with more confidence and even managed to handle sliding into the panties and tucking himself in so he wouldn't show in his borrowed skirt without embarrassment.
"Well there you are! I was afraid you'd fallen in and I'd have to come in and rescue you," Dorothy teased as Kelly stepped out with a final brushing of his hands over the skirt to tug the hem down as far as was reasonable.
"Badgers can swim?" he asked, surprised by the teasing and responding in a more literal fashion to her comment.
"With a lot of effort," she replied while ruffling his hair up as he stepped by her to wash up as he'd been told to do before they came in, looking for an open spot along the line of sinks taken up by some of the other females occupying the room.
"Oh, okay," he said as he did his best to act casual, not stare, and clean himself up as quickly as he could. He couldn't help a few repeat glances at some of the girls but managed to avert his gaze before it became too noticeable and got cleaned up without incident and rejoined the watchful badger. The idea that she'd come in simply to keep Kelly company didn't appear to be out of place and a fairly common thing instead.
"See? You did just fine," Dorothy said once they were outside and out of casual earshot of anyone inside.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Kelly admitted and gave the badger a tentative smile.
"It'll be even easier if you have to do it again," she noted although couldn't imagine why he'd be dressing up like a girl again once he got back home and could get some of his regular clothes instead of wearing Cassandra's.
The rest of the meal went uneventfully as they finished up and Kelly managed to even smile and actually join in the conversations going on around him instead of shyly sitting them out. With their return from the restroom the others shifted the conversation to other topics, preferring to present the human with a friendly atmosphere rather than stress him out with their more serious questions directly upon his return. Instead they ate up the majority of time left before having to return him home simply chatting at the table once they'd cleaned it up.
"So Kelly when do you normally leave for school in the morning," Desiree asked with deceptive casualness once their time to be heading out drew near.
"Well I have to leave at least twenty minutes before school starts to be there on time but sometimes I leave a lot earlier so that maybe I can get to school without getting caught by any of the other boys," was the reply she received from him. The hours spent together with them having left him at ease enough with them to be able to say that without more than a small shiver at the reminder of what he could expect come tomorrow.
"Would you like us to drop by and walk you to school in the morning?" she asked him while the others were packing things up and getting ready for the walk back to his house.
"Oh I couldn't ask you to do that; I don't want to be a bother," he replied, a shadow of sadness crossing his features.
"You don't have to ask we're offering, and you aren't a bother," she chastised him gently. "It's no trouble to come by and let you walk to school with us and you can hang with us after school if you want."
"I could?" he asked, the shock from the offer leaving his crushing need for friends and general companionship writ in bold letters across his features. It hit all of them almost like a physical blow as their well-honed instincts read that need like a deafening shout in their ears. What Desiree had dimly sensed before was laid bare to them with his unexpected reaction to what would have been a simple offer to so many others.
"Of course you can," Julia declared, the raccoon unconsciously stepping closer to him and letting her tail brush against him gently.
"Some of us have things to do after school on certain days but you can hang out with the rest of us," Desiree added before giving him a reassuring hug.
"I'd love that. If you really want me around," he added, afraid to get his hopes up that anyone would want him around or be friends with him.
"Of course we do," Dorothy told him, not too surprised by the offer even if she hadn't been part of the conversation at the table earlier. "If you didn't have to go home we'd let you stay with us."
"Oh right, home," he whispered almost too softly for even Cassandra to hear.
"If you don't mind going to school early we can come by and join you around forty minutes before school in the morning," Desiree informed him as the septet headed out of the mall and in the general direction of where Kelly said he lived in one of the more affluent areas of town.
"I don't mind," he said, finding the circle of females comforting. He didn't feel alone or afraid hated the thought it would end once he was home, fearing deep in his heart that they wouldn't be back and he'd go back to being alone once again.
"Well then we'll be by to meet you then and you can walk to school with us," she made clear to him, seeing his doubts written in his posture as he was an open book to her and the other girls as his lack of socialization left him without even the minimum experience to conceal his feelings from others.
"Okay," was all he said, letting himself hope that they would indeed be there in the morning and that he could have friends just like everyone else.
The rest of the walk was of a more casual nature, talking about classes and school especially those that they shared or had common interests in: all the normal stuff a group of teenagers would be expected to talk about when together. In no time at all though they found themselves in front of the expensive two story house that Kelly lived in and knew that they'd have to part ways at.
"Give me a minute and I'll run in and change so I can give you back your clothes Cassandra," Kelly said to the vixen as he stood in the doorway, not looking eager to go in but more resigned in posture.
"You keep them and give them to me tomorrow Kelly," she told him instead, drawing a startled look from him. "That way you know I'll be by to pick them up in the morning on the way to school," she pointed out to him, knowing it'd give him some comfort having that tangible reminder that she and the others would be back.
"Are you sure?" he asked even as he looked happy at the offer and at the reassurances she was giving him.
"Yes I'm sure now you run along inside and we'll see you at forty till in the morning," she told him before turning him towards the door and giving his backside a playful swat.
"Okay!" he squeaked out at the swat, not used to such playfulness but used to doing what he was told. Quickly saying goodbye to everyone he unlocked the door and waved to everyone as they left to head off to their own homes leaving him to the emptiness of his home as the door shut behind him.
He didn't really have any reason to stay downstairs, he never did, so with a rustle of the skirt he was wearing made his way through the house and to the stairs leading up to the second floor. The expensive and tasteful furnishings he didn't even take note of as he slipped into his room as he had a thousand times before, only this time wasn't like all those others in so many new ways. For one there was a lightness in his step that had never been there before, one that had him tossing his backpack onto his bed and twirling about in his room with a swish of his borrowed skirt.
Someone actually wanted to spend time with him! Girls wanted to spend time with him! He didn't even mind that he'd spent the entire time dressed as one or the embarrassing time in the bathroom without anything on at all when it meant getting to not be alone yet another day. He flopped down onto his bed next to his backpack and kicked his shoes off onto the floor then blushed as the skirt flipped up and exposed the vixen's panties he was now wearing. He ought to take everything off and get into his own clothes but as he brushed his hands over the sweater and down onto the skirt he found he didn't want the moment to end as the scent of her tickled his nose in the still air of his room.
As he lay on his bed hugging himself he closed his eyes to remember what it was like for the last few hours with the wonderful girls that had rescued him and let the images drift through his mind. Rolling onto his stomach he let his head rest on his crossed arms while the hint of a smile tugged at his lips, legs spread as he reviewed the wonders of the day. When he got back around to the memories of the second girls restroom he giggled to himself as he let himself enjoy what he was too terrified to at the time; the little flashes of girls he'd only seen in educational materials in school or as illustrations in some of the adventure and romance novels he loved to read. It didn't take long for him to feel the panties growing tighter against his boy bits as he grew aroused at the memories.
Kelly blushed and squirmed and reached to adjust himself, which only made it worse from the rubbing of the silk panties against his sensitive glans. He knew he shouldn't get like this while wearing the vixen's clothes but found he couldn't help himself as it just felt so nice and the day's excitement had left him on an emotional roller coaster that had to be dealt with.
Soon he had both hands down between his legs and reaching into the panties to stroke at his small member, rubbing along it and playing with his hairless sac. Even if tomorrow proved to be a return to the unpleasant reality he was used to he was going to enjoy it to the fullest he thought to himself as he caressed himself faster and faster too excited to hunt up some lubricant to make it go easier. Not that he had much need of any anyway as he was simply too excited to hold out for long and with a muffled cry into his bedsheets he climaxed with a quick spray of his boyish seed intoCassandra's panties and getting his fingers sticky with his cum.
When he finally settled down and got back into being aware of what he was up to Kelly blushed brightly at having gone so far and made a mess of the panties he'd been loaned. Rolling back over and sliding to the edge of the bed he quickly pulled off the cumsoaked panties and rushed to his bathroom to rinse them out in the sink then blushed more as the rubbing of the skirt against his still stiff member left him rubbing his seed onto it as well. He was going to wash everything anyway rather than return the clothes dirty but now he'd have to do it right now, he pouted as he stripped the skirt and sweater off.
At least he wouldn't have to worry about his mom checking on things, she'd always left washing things to him once he was old enough. Slipping into a robe real quick on the off-chance she came home earlier than expected he dashed downstairs to the wash room to get Cassandra's clothes set up for washing along with other items pending washing anyway. Not until he'd got that going did he head back to clean himself up (with a measure of pain from his new bruises and cuts but he was used to that) and slip into some casual sweater pants and a t-shirt sporting the cover from one of Elyssa Tokagawa's earlier novels.
It wasn't until he'd finished up washing, drying, and sorting the clothes that he realized his mother wasn't home yet and sighed softly. Another night home alone in the big house with nothing but his books and toys as company before bedtime. At least he had better memories than previous nights to sleep on he thought to himself as he neatly folded Cassandra's outfit and carried it up to his room to place it where he wouldn't forget it.
Without any homework to worry about he simply read from his new novel until it was time for bed at which point he switched over to his pajamas and laid everything out for the morning as he did every night before bed. It felt so weird though laying the carefully wrapped sweater, skirt, and panties next to his backpack so he wouldn't forget them when it came time to return them to Cassandra in the morning. He actually had something to look forward to in the morning, someone to go to school with and talk to. He almost couldn't get to sleep as he crawled into bed and turned off the light to dream about the day that had been and the days to come.