I didn't realize how unready I was for my first day of my sophomore year. In the midst of scores of college students, I was bombarded by a maelstrom of scents and sounds with no way to filter them.  My nose told me who used to much body spray.  Who didn't use enough.  Who had embraced whom, or more.  Who was horny.  Who was PMSing.  

Who really needed to wipe their bums better.  I mean, eeww!  How did they not get the itchy bunnies?

A heavy. constant buzz of sound assaulted me, punctuated by occasional snippets of gossip I didn't care about and wish I hadn't overheard.  

Since I became a were-cougar, I hadn't been in any crowds.  At most, I was in a room with a dozen or so mature professionals, all focused on the problem at hand.  When I was getting breakfast, I was surrounded by hundreds of 18 to 22 year-olds with their emotions and hormones running high.

The worst part is this would trigger my new feline instincts, which I didn't really have full control over yet. 

When someone 6' 4" and full of muscle comes around a corner and almost crashed into you, a growl is not the socially appropriate response, even if he did smell angry.  Chances are he wasn't angry at me.

A couple times, I crossed the scent trail of the mystery catgirl from the dining hall, but, as Murphy would have it, never when I had time to follow it.  Sigh.

By the time my last class of the day started, I was mentally and physically exhausted.  I just wanted - no, desperately needed - to get through it and find some peace.  The class was Dynamics - an engineering class about the physics of moving objects.  I had my head on my arms, just trying to relax as the last few students filtered in.  

I heard and smelled a girl pass behind me, then pause.  She touched my shoulder,  and said "Hi, Zach!  You look great!  Have you been working out?" It was Julie, who I had been struggling not to crush on all of the previous year.  Her scent  - scents, really, different ones from different parts of her body -  told me she was healthy, attracted to me, and fertile.  I could take her, and she'd have healthy kittens...

No! Bad cat brain! Bad!

"Nope, just jobs with some physical labor."

"Oh? What did you do?"

"I had an engineering internship, where I helped with construction inspection and surveying, and job that included building maintenance and upkeep."  I couldn't exactly say it was a side effect of what I had become. 

"Well, whatever it was, keep it up!" She smiled and continued, "Hey, want to get together later?  A bunch of us are going to the RIverwalk."

"I'll think about it."  

She smiled again, said, "Good, catch you later!" and took a seat down the row.  Great.  Now that I she was way off limits for me, she was flirting.  FML.

When the hour was up, I quickly threw my notes into my bag and took off.  As I passed through the door, I heard Julie yell, "Zach!"  Sorry. Julie.  I just had to find a place that was quiet, not smelly and free from pretty humans I couldn't have.