After a little while of keeping his changes hidden as much as possible, it gradually got out that somebody in class had gone pink, and Timmi was subject to a lot of staring. Not a good situation to be when you're embarrased about something you can't do anything about. He was followed, pulled aside, even picked on, and it rose to the point where Timmi dreaded returning to school at all.

But Timmi has friends. Good friends. Friends who play with him, mess with him, and are not afraid to rib each other a little because they know and trust that it's all good fun. It wasn't anything preplanned, it wasn't a result of necessity, it wasn't because they were rich or famous. It was simply a couple of kids with the common interest of wanting to have fun that they joined together and developed a bonding relationship.

And they were all he had as a line of defence at school.

So he pulled them aside and, risking the very essence of their friendship, showed them properly what had happened to him. How he was made into a human mew amalgamation.

Did they judge? Well, yeah, of course they did. There was some laughter, some touching and feeling of fur, and some grossing out and stuff, but they weren't just going to provide nothing but reassuring thoughts and kind words to help Timmi get through this anxiety. No, they were his friends. They joked with him, teased him a bit, and made him start seeing the humorous side of things.

They inadvertantly wound up turning such a dire, depressing situation into that of a consentually funny one. Timmi looked ridiculous, and even Timmi himself had to agree. Pink fur all over his face, pointy claw-like hands, a tail that could make him technically 11 feet tall... it was actually pretty silly!

And just like that, the whole situation of becoming an outcast and wanting to avoid returning to school was all but forgotten. It was just another day of screwing around. Neither of them even mentioned his changes the day after because, quite frankly, it was old news. Instead, they chatted video games, comics, some sports, and possibly edible cafeteria food.

Those are good friends, in my opinion. The kind who don't make a big deal out of a crippling situation that one struggles through. Because those usually involve a lot of change, and if folks are all surrounding you saying "we're here for you" and "thoughts and prayers etc", that's like a whole happy-face masking of folks' personalities and is yet another change to add to it. Quite often folks feel like they need that sort of treatment because of how well it works for others, but do they really?

Instead, the friend simply schedules another playdate, they give you that genuine smile of one who's having a good time, and they royally roast you at ping pong because they practice in secret. They, like you, don't want things to change, and are gonna do their darnest to make sure it doesn't. It seems a bit heartless, but it's still very powerful because it helps to show that some things don't have to change. It lessens the blow of a powerful dynamic change by subliminally hinting that it's not the end of a world.

Of course, I'm not saying this is how everyone should behave. I'm merely telling a story that one may glean an idea from. If the happy-face mask doesn't work, then there's always a fallback. Just keep having fun!