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Jem, an average grey-furred wolf, was just starting his first day at his new high school. His father had landed a sweet new job before school had let out the previous year, and since then the man had been gone four days a week, but coming home weekly with a fat multi-thousand dollar check. All summer long, whatever Jem wanted, he bought with his new $300 a week allowance, which after the first month had been stagnating in a checking account.

Of course, the new job meant he had to move, but why would that bother him? He didn't have friends back in Iowa to miss him. Now, he was in a much larger school, with a football team. Now, Jem isn't the biggest guy, but with his sheer running speed, according to his reasoning, football should be pretty easy for him. As a junior, he was going for the local varsity team.

"Good luck!" his mother yelled out to him.

"Thanks!" he shouted back. "Have fun at your new job!"

"I will!" his mother replied. It was her first day as an accountant. She liked numbers more than she liked people, so the fact that a multi-millionaire trusted her to balance out his checkbook was exciting.

Jem didn't understand her obsession with numbers, but then again, he was the one sitting on the couch through-out football season, holding the bowl of chips, cheering on the Bears, right beside his father. After looking up at the brick walls of the three story building, he took a deep breath and trudged forward into his new life.

The day progressed like Jem had expected. "This year we'll be learning..." "During this class you'll have to..." and so on. It was just a bunch of introductions to the courses. Four classes before lunch, his stomach was growling when he finally got there. When he sat down at the table and took a look at his tray, he just about drooled on it.

"Hey," a guy's voice said behind him. "Mind if I have a seat?"

There was another, larger wolf behind Jem. "Go ahead," he replied. "Just don't expect much conversation."

In about five minutes the two had scarfed down their food and moved on to staring at one girl nearby, who was sitting alone. She was a thin, tough-looking fox-girl. Dressed in black, with two piercings on each eyebrow, one on her lower lip, and three earrings in her left ear that weighed it down and caused it to flop over, it was obvious she was trying to make a statement.

"Well, it's official," Jem said. "I want to take her out on a date."

"What?!" the other wolf yelled. "You're either stupid or brave, and since I don't really know you, I'm betting on stupid!"

Jem looked him square in the eyes and smirked. "You're right, you don't know me," he said, standing up to get rid of his tray.

His clothes weren't trendy, by any means. Black jeans with two chains hanging from his right leg, and a black t-shirt with his favorite death metal band portrayed on the front. Hangover Crash. The story behind the name is actually kind of funny. The singer is a billy goat who used to have a pretty strong drinking track record. Then, after one heavy night of drinking, the bassist woke him up by smashing a box of light bulbs on the singer's bedroom floor.

After dropping off his tray at the kitchen window, he walked up to the fox-girl and immediately said, "Hey, my name's Jem, yours?"

"Just call me Frost," she replied, looking him over and offering a hand.

Jem shook it asking, "Mind if I take a seat?"

Frost kicked a chair out next to him waving for him to sit there. "I need to ask. Why are you talking to me?" she asked as she took a bite of her turkey sandwich.

"Honestly?" he asked. "I was hoping to take you out on a date."

Frost coughed outright, choking on her food. When she was done choking, she looked around, leaning closer to Jem. "I hope you're joking," she growled.

"Afraid not," he shrugged, smiling at her reaction. She was funny to him. Every single reaction was predictable to the last detail. "Why, do you already have a boyfriend?"

"No, but..." she faded off. "Why?"

Now it was Jem's turn to be confused. He didn't know why. She caught his eye and held it. For the longest time, he had wandered around school and never saw anyone do that. "You managed to do something no one ever has before," he said looking at the table. "You caught my eye and held it. Beyond that, I really don't understand it myself."

"Can I count on seeing you again tomorrow?" she asked, her ears turning pink. "I'd like to get to know you a bit better before anything else."

Jem nodded just a second before the bell rang to leave for class. "By the way," he said as he stood up. "I plan on trying out for the football team after school tonight."

"I'm normally walking home anyways," she said, before she swallowed what was left of her food. "I'll come watch. Not like I have anything better to look forward to."

The large wolf that had been sitting next to him during lunch was in his fifth period class, staring wide-eyed as from a desk near the back. Jem decided to sit next to him. "Brave, not stupid," was all he told the larger guy as he smiled at the chalkboard.

At the end of the day, Jem went out to the football field where the coach had told everyone to meet at across the intercom, after getting changed in the locker-room. "Name?" he asked each teenager as he walked down the line.

"Jemison Hallows," Jem replied when the coach got to him. The large bull obviously worked out. No one short of a body builder could have muscles that big.

"Let me guess," the bull sighed. "You're going for a linebacker position."

"Whatever needs a fast runner," Jem shrugged.

The bull sighed, shaking his head as he continued down the line. Jem looked at the bleachers, where Frost was just sitting down. He was admittedly happy to see her there. "Alright, listen up!" the coach shouted. "I want everyone to take a spot on the goal-line to my left! We're going to have a good clean foot race to the other side of the field, on my 'go'!"

After that, the coach walked to the goal post at the other end of the field and blew his whistle. As all of them took off to the other goal post, one thought echoed in Jem's head like every time he had run in his life. Faster, faster, faster, faster... meanwhile, his feet were hitting the ground faster, but touching it for less and less time, with less and less of the bottoms of them even touching the grass.

Skidding to a stop at the other side of the field, he turned to see everyone still rushing forward at the thirty yard line, except for two other guys just reaching the twenty, barely ahead of the pack. His heart was thudding in his chest, but his lungs were keeping pace for now. That would change in a moment when the oxygen deprivation set in.

The coach walked over and patted him on the back. "Nice hustle," he said as the wolf started huffing for oxygen. "Let's see you do that with a ball under your arm. Alright, all of you line up, starting at the forty yard line. The next challenge is going to pick up a ball and try to throw it through the goal post in front of you."

It wasn't until the end of tryouts that they learned who would be on the team and who would be on the sidelines. Jem's position was wide receiver. He needed to get out past the defensive line, catch the ball, and run.

The instant Jem was off the field, Frost walked up to him. "Okay, the first minute was incredible, but I couldn't really focus after that," she said smiling at him. "How did you run that fast?"

He had to laugh a moment before he replied. "I only have one thought when I'm running," he said plainly. "Faster."

"And that works?" Frost asked, clearly confused.

"I'm going to head up to the locker room and get changed," he told her. "If you want to wait there, I'm pretty sure my mom would be willing to give us both a ride."

"Wait, you mean you don't have your own car?" she asked.

"Not yet," Jem laughed. "My birthday is September 19. Two weeks away. My dad told me he'd get me a car then, but it'd be a surprise what kind."

Frost smiled and nodded. "Alright," she said, following him the whole way up.

In the locker room, he talked with the big wolf from the lunch table again. "You're a fast little fucker," the guy said. "Name's Dan, by the way."

"Jem, and you've got quite the arm."

"Yeah, I'm still a defensive lineman."

"Then you'll get to watch me run from the sidelines," Jem laughed.

"And you're quite the pickup artist to get goth-girl to follow you," Dan said as he threw a shirt on.

"She's actually the first girl who isn't related to me that I've talked to," Jem said, as he finished getting dressed and zipped up his backpack. When he looked up, Dan was eyeing him like he was insane. "See you at practice tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, sure," Dan replied, staring.

The moment Jem stepped out of the locker room he saw two preppy-looking chicks bothering Frost. One of them was a black cat of some kind, probably a panther, while the other was definitely a lioness. Quickly looking them up and down, he had one thought. "You think he would ever want someone like you?" the lioness demanded. "Take my advice and back off. No one that athletic wants a little gothic skank."

"Hey," he said coming up behind them. "Did you know the easiest way to find a whore in any crowd is to just look for a mini skirt?" Both girls' jaws dropped as he stepped up next to Frost, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Back off before I have to hurt you somewhere you can't put a Band-Aid."

As Jem led Frost away from the crude duo, he listened to what they said. "What did he mean by that?" one of them asked.

"He has more than just that one line up his sleeves," the other replied. "He's still going to be mine."

"But how? He just shut you out like last week's news."

"I have plans Lizzy. I always have plans."

The moment Jem and Frost found their way out of earshot, they busted into laughter falling to the floor and sitting against a wall. "Thanks for that," Frost said, as she calmed down. "You're weird, but daring. No one's ever stood up for me before."

"And I've never had a friend to stand up for," he replied as he pulled out his phone. "Let me call my mom quick. Then we can get out of here before those two pull their chins off the floor and come to skin us alive."

As he waited for his phone to ring, Jem felt Frost lean against his shoulder and he wrapped his free arm around her waist. "Hello," his mother said when she picked up. "Are tryouts over?"

"Yeah, I need a ride for two," he said pleasantly.

"Oh, you finally made your first friend!" his mother cheered. "Ask them if they want to come over and visit! I'll bake cookies to celebrate!"

"Do you want to come over?" Jem asked. "My mom says she's making cookies to celebrate."

"That'd be nice," Frost replied. "Sure, if I can spend the night."

"My friend wants to stay the night, as a condition for coming over," Jem told his mother, grinning as he listened for her reply.

"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem," his mother replied. "You need to spend some time with kids outside your family. Just make sure your friend's parents are okay with it. I'll be there in five minutes."

"See you then. Bye."

Jem hung up his phone, shoved in back into his pocket, and looked at Frost. The vixen looked up at him and he got a glimpse into her ice blue eyes. They blended in pretty well with the white fur around her face and looked absolutely gorgeous on her. "You know," she said plainly. "I think this could be the start of something incredible."

"I think you might be right," Jem replied, hopes alive in his head, right beside a nagging pain. "I really don't want to get up right now. My legs are killing me."

"How long do we have?" Frost asked.

"Not long. Less than five minutes."

Frost stood up, pulled him up and held onto his hand as they walked out to the parking lot. They waited on the curb, Jem watching for his mother while Frost paced back and forth, her tail twitching nervously. "What if your parents don't like me?" she finally asked, stopping in her tracks.

"Then they won't like you," Jem replied. "It isn't like they can keep me from seeing you. We go to school together."

When Jem saw his mother driving up in a brand new silver Porsche, he stood up and cocked his head to the side, confused as he started laughing and shaking his head. "How do you like my new car?" she yelled out the window.

"Mom, why did you buy this?" he asked through his laughter.

"I didn't," she yelled. "Your father did."

"Don't worry Frost, I'll hop in back," Jem said as he opened the door. "The front has more leg room for you."

"Alright," she nodded, getting in after him and closing the door.

"Wait, this is your new friend?" his mother asked as the two teens buckled up.

"Yeah," he replied.

"I assumed it was going to be a boy. That's all."

"Her name is Frost," Jem said plainly. "Frost, this is my overly eccentric mother."

Jem leaned forward as the two shook hands. "Now that you two have met, let's get to those cookies and put in a movie or something."