Time Does Not Fly
By Humphrey Loves Kate
Kody's eyes shot open. What time is it now? Last time I looked at the clock it was dark outside, Kody thought. With a deep breath in, Kody stretched out his body and turned to look behind his bunk bed down to the clock on the lower shelf of his bookcase. 10:22 a.m. The teen wolf had spent another Friday night staying up late in order to text his friends. Darn, always regret doing that when I wake up the next morning, he thought. Face planting into his pillow, the adolescent wolf decided to lay in bed for a little while longer. It was spring break anyway and a Saturday in April 2014.
Kody's eyes shot open again. He had slept for almost two hours more! 12:15 p.m. The school play was tonight! It was show two of two of "The Man Who Came to Dinner," and Kody had a small supporting part in the play. He thought he should have gotten the lead of course. After all, he had five years of experience in theater before coming to his current school. But "high school plays are not based on talent, they are based on who has been there the longest." At least that was what he had told his friend Natasha over text message one day when he was especially fuming over the injustice he felt he had been dealt. "But there are no small parts, only small actors!" That's what Kody's eccentric acting coach, Annette, had told him the other day when he visited her in home coaching studio. It might be true. But the fact that the guy wolf that got the lead had no previous experience, besides having the lead in the play last year, completely annoyed Kody. He can't even learn his lines, Kody thought with a low growl remembering how the director continually called out the correct lines during dress rehearsals.
Kody slipped on his jeans, which he had to secure with a belt to keep them from slipping off, and a blue button down shirt. He brushed his dark brown and almost black fur into place and smiled at his reflection in his bathroom mirror. He sure had improved over the last year. He had lost an inch in his waist after leaving his old job at a fast food joint, had healthier fur, a healthier, leaner body, and better skin under the short fur on his face. He was also fifteen pounds lighter. His shoulders were very broad in contrast to his thinner than average waist. He thought he looked attractive. All I need now is that coveted six pack, the wolf thought as he lifted up his shirt smiling. His stomach was toned, and two abdominal muscles were clearly defined underneath the curvature of his rib cage, but the others were hidden under a thin layer of fat over his stomach. Most out of shape wolves would be jealous of his body, but he held himself to higher standards, almost to the standards of his school's teen body builder, Garth. But Garth did a lot of things to his body that Kody's philosophies just did not synchronize with. Garth did not take steroids, but some of the supplements he did take really wrecked havoc on his skin and hair. Better to be trim and have a nice face than bulging but with cystic, athlete's acne, Kody believed.
As Kody walked downstairs, the smell off coffee met his nostrils. The wolf wagged his tail. He sure did love a good cup of coffee, especially with sweetener in it or some dark chocolate on the side. His grandparents were in town to watch him in the play later that evening, and whenever his grandparents came for the weekend they brought loads of coffee! Of course it seemed like loads to Kody's household. Kody only drank coffee when he felt he needed it to wake up extra early or go through a long night of homework, and his mom drank decaf. "Want some more brown water with your bagel?" Kody's granddad would joke whenever he poured his daughter, Kody's mom, another cup. Guess we're spending the day with the family caffeine addicts, Kody thought to himself. He really did like his grandparents, though. Their caffeine addiction was just something to joke about.
"He's awake!" Kody's mom exclaimed.
"Hi Mom," Kody smiled as he sat down at the old kitchen table with his mom and her parents. "Morning Granddaddy and Grandmoma. How long have you guys been here?"
"We drove in this morning and got into town 'bout 10:30," Kody's granddad, Tom, said in his deep south, redneck accent.
"Would you like a cup of coffee?" Kody's grandmother, Mary, offered as she rose to cross the kitchen and grab the coffee pot.
Probably her third or fourth cup, Kody smiled to himself as she poured some into her own mug. "Sure, but just one please. I probably need some to get through tonight. We didn't get home until 11:00 last night, and it may be later tonight."
"Oh, that's right, you had the first performance of the play last night," Mary poured another mug full for Kody.
"Yes ma'am," Kody confirmed, taking the mug and dumping two spoonfuls of sugar into the hot drink. Kody lived in northern Middle Tennessee an hour from Nashville, his mom had grown up in Memphis, and his grandparents were from Kentucky and Tennessee but had resided in Memphis for the past thirty years. "Ma'am" was something you always said to an elder woman no matter what. Kody did not understand it even though he'd lived in the same small city of Lewisville, Tennessee his entire life. It was one of many things that were slowly creeping into the young wolf's life that were beginning to make him feel like he did not belong where he was. Maybe someday he would leave his town and never come back. But for now he was stuck where he was. Fortunately, he had friends and a social group in Nashville due to the fact that that was where his private school group held their weekly classes.
"Well what time do you have to leave to get all the makeup on and your fur done?" Tom asked teasingly.
Kody rolled his eyes as he sat down with his coffee and a banana. "3:00," he answered back, "And I have a lot to do until then. I have to make my bed, re iron the clothes from last night, shower, pack everything into my car, pack a snack, and make sure I have all of my lines ready to go."
"Well sounds like you'll be busy," Mary smiled.
"Yeah, I will be. Hey mom, can we go out for ice cream after tonight's show, please?" Kody turned to his mother with a pleading puppy look on his muzzle, which made him look like a little puppy again.. "I've eaten really healthy all week to look my best for the show and I'm always so hungry when we finally finish!"
"Well, I don't know. We'll see what time you finish the show," Kody's mom shrugged.
"We finished right at 10:00 last night! I know we'll be done by then tonight and can go to Dairy Queen! It's just the next exit on Interstate 40!" Kody licked his lips thinking of the double fudge cookie dough blizzard that was his guilty pleasure treat.
"Like I said, we'll see," Kody's mom repeated.
"Okay, well even if none of you guys come with me, I'm still going! You're letting me drive myself again, right?"
"Yes you can drive yourself there again. You've done it every single night this week for rehearsals."
"Just don't speed," Mary warned
"Okay Grandmomma," Kody looked away knowing he would forget and find himself traveling at 80 miles per hour, his interstate driving speed by his own default. "I gotta go get ready," Kody said as he finished his coffee and banana before running upstairs again.
Author's Note: So hello again world of FanFiction. HLK here. This is a story I've really wanted to do for a while, but I wasn't quite sure how well it would go over with some of my traditional A&O readers. But I digress. It's 2015 and nearly every possible permutation involving our favorite four legged wolf heroes has been done. So, why not do two legged characters in an anthro story using my life as the plot?
That's right. This story is anthro. I promise it will be unique though.
That's right. This story will be 75% TRUE! The other 25% is, of course, a made up statistic (85% of statistics are made up on the spot, including this one!) to describe the remaining portion in which I place the wonderful heroes of Alpha and Omega into my life and make everyone an anthro wolf. Yay!
Oh by the way, pretty much everything in this chapter actually happened. Yes I really do have an eccentric acting coach. More on her in chapters to come.
I am writing this for several reasons, and I'll share a few of them with you guys.
1: My friend Crowwolf and I continually joke my life is crazy enough to have a book series on.
2: I just graduated high school a month ago. I want a way to preserve those memories in detail.
3: Your personal entertainment. :o :D
Please leave a review! Craziness to come! Kody's got 3 rather dramatic sisters! O.o
