Chapter Two

Kody threw his roller duffel bag in the backseat of his car. He had a white 2004 Jeep Liberty that used to be his dad's car before his dad received a new pickup truck from someone at work. When Kody first started driving the Jeep at age 16, it was still "his dad's car." Over the years however, Kody's father rewarded the young wolf with more trust and eventually started calling it "Kody's Jeep" instead of his own car. The Jeep had horrendous gas mileage, consuming a half tank simply to travel the hour long commute to the school and back with no other stops. Kody had nearly gone broke keeping gas in his car before he found a job at a sub shop. His parents were partly to blame for that adventure though. They made the poor wolf pay for his own gas money, but wouldn't allow him to get a job until he was almost 17! He lived off savings from a temporary job he had at a farm over the summer during his 15th year. He had made it work though. Kody had a knack for "making things work" even with ridiculously low resources. He loved the rushing feeling of pride he received whenever he proved others had underestimated him. He smirked as he whipped the SUV out of the long, winding driveway that led to his house and out onto the open road.

Kody looked down at the speedometer. 80 miles per hour. He did have a speeding habit, despite his grandmother's warnings, but fortunately he knew where all the speed traps were. And he had somewhere to be. He was on his way to his school in Nashville via the interstate. Male actors were not required to be backstage until almost 5 p.m, but coming an hour away from Lewisville, Kody was planning on rush hour traffic and he wanted to arrive early because he was not arriving already in costume like everyone else was. It was bad enough to have to wear a hot costume on and backstage for five hours. It was worse to wear it for seven or eight hours because you put it on before you started driving. A smile tugged at the corners of Kody's mouth as the Nashville skyline came into view behind the southern Tennessee hills bordering the interstate. He was almost there.

Kody was always amazed at the rush he got from weaving in and out of multiple lane Nashville traffic. It was even better for him because mostly everyone in Nashville cruised on the freeways at five or ten miles over the speed limit. Wolves in Lewisville just were not like that. They were slower and took their time. That's small towns for ya, Kody rolled his eyes thinking. Nothing to do and nowhere to be. He swerved onto the winding bridged ramp that would place him on I-40 Eastbound, his tires striking the concrete causing that familiar, high pitch humming sound that can only be heard when driving on bridges coated in concrete. The wolf grinned as he passed three slower cars on the bridge and looked down to see seven lanes of traffic moving rapidly in either direction. I-40: one of the longest interstate highways in the country. The runways of BNA Nashville International Airport were visible above him and to the right on top of a wolf-made hill. Kody hit a button and the two front windows rolled down automatically. Air whipped through the interior of the Jeep, displacing nearly all the fur from his chest up. Kody turned the wheel of the car and held the sharp turn that curved down the hill and onto 40; he drove through the curve as fast as he thought his tires could handle without skidding out behind him. Once he "landed," as he sometimes called it when he left a ramp, on 40, he hit the gas and the engine roared from 50 miles per hour back up to 65. He was passing the airport. Kody did not feel comfortable speeding around the airport, especially in seven lanes of traffic where a cop could pop up almost out of nowhere. From behind a grove of trees to his right, Kody watched a large jet plane suddenly roar into view, and take off from the runway that nearly collided with the interstate. Kody grinned as it flew directly over him. He loved jet planes for some strange reason as much as he enjoyed driving through city traffic.

As Kody walked into the small, private school, which really was a church building that housed some classes a few times a week, he was greeted by some of his fellow actresses. They were all female because Kody was early and none of the males would arrive for another twenty or thirty minutes. His best friend, Kierra, ran up to him and hugged him. Kody smiled as he breathed in her grape smelling perfume. "Hey! I'm really glad you came early again! Did you bring the hairspray and the gel for the guys?"

Kody rolled his eyes. "Yes, I did," he said as he unzipped his bag and tossed Kierra the hairspray. "I just want you to know it's kind of sad that the only wolf that remembered hairspray was a guy. Second night in a row too. You're letting your entire gender down!" Kody smiled poking fun at female stereotypes.

Kierra rolled her eyes back. "Ugh! You're such a diva."

"I know."

Another female wolf ran by. It was Jamie, the female lead and main hair stylist for the male wolves. All males but Kody. Nobody touched his hair but him. "Did you bring the gel?" Jamie asked frantically.

"Yep," Kody said tossing the sticky gel bottle to her. "Use it sparingly. There's not much left!"

She ran off to the kitchen.

"Can I go back there and start getting ready? I mean, I don't want to walk in on a bunch of girls dressing," Kody said to Kierra.

"Oh yeah you're fine! They've all been dressed for about twenty minutes," Kierra replied.

Kody wheeled his bag back to the hallway behind stage, Kierra following close behind him. As he opened the door to the hall, a girl ran up to Kody. "NO! Kody! Go away! We're dressing!" It was Marilyn. She sounded sarcastic but serious at the same time. A she wolf was pulling on a dress over her underwear in the background.

"Oh gosh I'm sorry!" Kody yelled as Marilyn pulled the door shut again before Kody had a chance to close it himself. He turned to Kierra. "I thought you said everyone was dressed!"

Kierra shrugged. "Uh I don't know." Then she squeezed past Kody and let herself into the back hallway. Thirty seconds later, she opened the door wide. "Okay, it's safe now."

Kody shook his head as he ran inside and to a large storage room where he could change safely and hopefully uninterrupted. Kierra was so funny. She always had everything together and was completely organized. Except tonight. Tonight she was running around like dead wolf meat that still had its nervous system twitching and intact. But she was the assistant director. Basically her job was… everything. Except being on stage and acting. Kody kind of had a crush on her too. She was super smart, funny, organized, fashionable, and an outside-the-box thinker. She did not care how society told her to live her life or what the social norms were. She did whatever she knew was best for her and her family. And, within reason, she did what she wanted. Kody knew her mom had taught her to live that way. Kierra's family struggled financially for several years before she met Kody. They had been just above poverty level, lived in a house far out in the country where the taxes and house payments were low, and hardly ever took a vacation. But a few years ago, Kierra's mom was so fed up with both parents working and the family of seven still living paycheck to paycheck that she did something crazy. She quit her job. Then she used what little savings they did have to start a business. She created her own magazine and an entire series of curriculum and self help books that focused on an ideal way of family living. The business grew into a company, fueled by the internet and modern day marketing techniques. Kierra's family then moved from their small house to a much larger house in the suburbs of Nashville. They traveled all the time, vacationing and promoting the company simultaneously. Judging from their current lifestyle, Kody guessed Kierra's mom's net worth was somewhere in the mid or low seven figures. But Kierra never talked about her family's finances to anyone. She was a mysteriously wonderful girl.

Kody walked down the hallway towards the makeshift makeup station, where Annette was working on makeup for the actors. Annette was a member of the church, a real professional actress, and now Kody's acting coach. She preferred to be referred to as an "experienced" she-wolf. She had auburn fur and hazel eyes and she was sixty something years old. She was a judge when the school first had auditions for the school play. That's how she met Kody. She gave every wolf that auditioned a certificate for a free acting class out at her studio. It was a one on one class, tailored specifically to each wolf's individual strengths and weaknesses. Surprisingly, no one wanted to take her class. No one except Kody. Kody drove to her studio one day after school and worked for almost three hours learning about camera acting and even a little more than he expected on acting as a business. He left the class with a new light and a new love of acting. Annette told Kody he should have headshots taken, which he did, and look for a talent agent in the Nashville area that might be able to find him some professional, and even well paying gigs. She even told him how to go about doing it and what to say should he ever be contacted from a real entertainment group. Kody considered doing it, but he did not really expect to get anywhere. At least not for a while. He was too busy with school and play rehearsals.

Now Humphrey sat in the makeup chair, unwillingly letting Annette work her showbiz magic on him. "Ugh!" he groaned. "Do I really, really have to have mascara? I only have like five lines!"

"Oh come on!" Annette said stepping back rapidly brush in paw, her long necklaces and earrings jingling. "You may feel ridiculous, but to the audience you'll look great! And that's what matters tonight!" She laughed and then started coughing heavily. Recovering, she picked up an eyeliner pen, which she was using for lip color. As she leaned in to Humphrey's muzzle, she spoke, narrating everything that she did. "Okay, now when you're doing your lips… Wait!"

Humphrey sat in the chair with his lip bitten under his fangs.

"No no! Stretch your lips out like this!" Annette said demonstrating the proper way to pose for a makeup artist.

Humphrey complied.

"Now, when you're doing your lips," Annette continued, "you wanna start with the top one by making an 'X' from corner to corner…" Annette paused as she drew an "X" on the helpless wolf's lip with a darker shade. "Then you just gently fill it in. This keeps you from missing spots in the corners and in the very middle." Annette finished off Humphrey's lips.

Kody snickered to himself. "Humphrey, look over here!"

Humphrey turned to Kody, who snapped a picture on his Samsung phone.

"DUDE!" Humphrey yelled out.

Kody laughed evilly, checking the picture on his phone.

"Give me that!" Humphrey reached past Annette and took the phone from Kody. He looked it over before saying, "We'll just delete that!"

But Kody quickly tapped a button on the corner of the phone, locking the screen before Humphrey deleted the picture. Of course Kody had the phone locked with a passcode. The picture was safe… for now.

Humphrey growled, his face blushing even more than the blush he already wore. "I swear if you post that anywhere…"

"No no I won't post it…" Kody began. "…I'll just make sure Kierra gets it for when she starts on the yearbook next week!"

Humphrey covered his face with his hand-paws and lowered his head to his lap, feeling the humiliation already. "Ugggh!"

"Humphrey! You'll ruin your makeup!" Annette exclaimed.

Humphrey jolted upright. He did not want to go through that again! Without wasting a second, he ran off down the hall towards the kitchen to get his fur slicked back with Jamie and Kody's gel.

"Oh darn it… I'll have to make sure he looks okay. When does he go out?" Annette asked.

"Not until the final act. You've got time to catch him," Kody said.

"Okay. Who's next?!" Annette smiled looking for someone to pretty-fy.

As a girl sat down, Kody's slightly overweight friend Natasha came up to him. "Are you hearing Miss Annette?"

"Yeah, what about her?" Kody asked turning to look at Natasha.

"She keeps repeating everything she says… like it's the same thing over and over. It's kinda creepy."

Kody looked to Annette.

"Now when you're doing your lips," she took out another pencil for the female wolf, "you wanna start with the top one by making an 'X' from corner to corner." Annette continued on, saying the same thing as before.

"Well, she's been teaching for years now," Kody whispered to Natasha. "I mean, at a school that's what teachers do: they say pretty much the same thing to every class that comes through. I imagine it gets repetitive and they find a routine."

"I don't know… her perfume bothers me. Does she smoke? She's got a bad smoker's cough," Natasha asked.

Kody shook his head. "Nah but her husband does smoke inside the house. I'm sure she's had years of secondhand smoke and she uses lots of perfume to cover it up. It doesn't bother me very much. She's really nice… and yeah she is a little eccentric I guess."

"Who's next?" Annette smiled looking up.

Kierra ran back to the group just then. "Okay guys! Mister Ron is opening the house up to the audience! Thirty minutes till curtain!"

"Yay!" Annette cheered. One would think she was the star of the show from her excitement.

"We don't have a curtain!" Humphrey shouted out sarcastically. And it was true. The stage was fairly small and there was no curtain. Scene changes were done in the pitch black dark.

Kierra gave him a funny look. "Well okay then smart a-" she stopped herself in front of Annette. "Uh, smarty pants!" Then Kierra ran off to go do assistant director things.

"So who's next?" Annette asked.

"I think I'm the only one who hasn't had makeup," Kody said.

"Okay we'll do you and then get the show on the road! Come sit down!" Annette made a large gesture towards the chair. As she was making up Kody, she said, "Kody is actually now one of my acting students at the studio. We're looking into getting him an agent!"

Kody could not help but laugh. Annette liked to brag on everything: herself, wolves around her, her experiences… But she was never condescending. She was always upbeat and encouraging to everyone and wanted everybody to have a great time around her, no matter what they were or where they came from.

As she brushed powder onto Kody's face, Annette smiled. "Okay! I think we're ready. If you guys need me, I'll be out in the house on the front row! Ah! So exciting! Break a leg everyone!"

Author's Note: Well I hope you guys enjoyed that. It was a lot of fun to write. I didn't expect to put this much detail into this chapter! But hey! I had coffee and a creative station set up and it just started coming and coming! WOO!

Once again: 75% of this is true. Yep. I really do have an hour long commute to school. Obviously the Humphrey part was added in. I don't even know of someone named Humphrey at my school. :P

Please leave a kind and generous review in exchange for reading a kind and generous update. :3