The Story of the Beast with the Four Dirty Paws

Chapter Two

England, 2010
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Have fun, kids!" Tala's mother called as her kids ran out the door.
Tala looked at her mother with a grimace, "I'll try to have as much fun as I possibly can, Mum." That most definitely was not true. It was kind of hard to have fun while you were training to fight in battles. Still, she gave her mother a small smile before disappearing out the door behind her brother.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"We're training with Caleb today, right?" She inquired, looking at Amo. Training with Caleb was the only thing she looked forward to when she was preparing to fight.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Yes we are. We're meeting him at the Clearing. And I think I might stop to talk to Elizabeth. She said she was gonna meet me by the Clearing before training," her brother responded, looking around. Tala knew he was probably looking for his girlfriend and didn't really want to talk to her, so she nodded before she turned her attention to her feet. She pulled the sleeves of her black sweatshirt over her hands as she walked.
⠀⠀⠀⠀They neared the small clearing of green grass that was surrounded by large pillars made of stone. Targets were positioned on each pillar. They didn't train to use their wolf abilities usually. They tried to stay human as long as possible nowadays. Caleb was standing in the center of the clearing, aiming his bow and arrow at one of the targets. Tala's first thought was how cute he looked when he was really focused. He had sweat trickling down his head, but for some reason it didn't seem as gross to her as it used to. His bright blue eyes looked really sharp and beautiful, too-.. Wait.. What was she thinking? This was Caleb. He was practically her brother.
⠀⠀⠀⠀That would be like.. incest. Gross!
⠀⠀⠀⠀She made a disgusted face to herself and shook the thoughts away before walking up to her best friend. She tapped him on the shoulder. "How's training going?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀He jumped in surprise when he heard her. "Don't scare me like that." Tala laughed a little, "Whoops, sorry. You never answered my question, though." Her best friend gave an exasperated sigh. "It was doing great until you decided to scare the shit out of me."
⠀⠀⠀⠀She stuck her tongue out at him before turning to see where her brother was. He apparently found his girlfriend, because they were 'talking' behind a tree. She scrunched her nose up in revulsion, "Ew. He's supposed to be instructing us, not snogging Elizabeth!"
⠀⠀⠀⠀Caleb laughed a little, "Let it go. He's having fun. Come on, let's just start training. Where should we start? We could practice knife throwing, shooting - guns or arrows, I don't really care - or hand-to-hand combat. Oh, or we could train to fight as wolves but.." He trailed off when he saw her face. "Alright, never mind then. What would you like to do?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Let's just practice shooting. Not guns, arrows. Guns freak me out, and I could use some extra practice with the arrows," she said, walking to the smallest pillar. It wasn't really a pillar, though. It was actually the cupboard that held their weapons. She took out her bow and her quiver of arrows. The bow was wooden and had pretty designs carved in it, and the arrows were similarly made. They had sharp points on one end, and small white feathers on the other. She'd made them herself as part of her training.
⠀⠀⠀⠀She walked back to Caleb, who was already getting ready to shoot at the arrows again. She positioned herself behind him, her back facing his. They always trained like this, as it was how they usually were in battles. He watched her back, she watched his. They didn't really have to watch each other's back right now, but she was used to it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀• • •
⠀⠀⠀⠀ After half an hour of training, Tala still hadn't gotten one bullseye while each shot of Caleb's was a bullseye. "Alright, if we were in battle, both of us would probably be dead thanks to me," she whined, lowering her bow and arrow in frustration.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Well, if you would hold the bow correctly.." Caleb teased, chuckling lightly at her frustration.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Haha, very funny. I am holding the bow perfectly fine, thank you very much!" She stated stubbornly. "Lowell, you know you're not," he responded with an amused grin. He always addressed Tala by her last name. It annoyed her.. a lot. "Alright, well if you're such a pro at holding the bow correctly, why don't you show me the proper way to do it?" She scowled at him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"If you insist. Alright, which is your dominant eye?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Um, I don't know. I don't really pay attention to which eye is more dominant than the other," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Why does that even matter?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"My dad taught me that your eye dominance is much more important than your hand dominance when it comes to archery because you've got to be able to determine your target," he said simply. He was quite used to her sarcastic remarks, so it didn't offend him much. "Which eye is better at aiming?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Oh, okay. Well, I guess my right eye is." He nodded as he observed that she had a right-handed bow. "Alright, then you've got the right type of bow at least. Okay, hold it with your left hand, not your right. That's one thing you were doing wrong." She nodded and obediently held the bow with her left hand, biting her tongue to hold back from making a snarky comment. "You're holding it wrong.. You're supposed to hold it like this," he demonstrated.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"I am holding it like that!" she exclaimed irritatedly. "No, your hand is supposed to go here," he said, standing behind her and wrapping his arms around to place his hand over hers. He moved her hand up on the bow to the proper position. She could feel her cheeks burning at his touch and looked down to keep him from noticing. "No, you've gotta pay attention to the target, Lowell." He didn't really seem to realize how flushed her face was, so she looked back at the target, avoiding eye contact.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Good, now pull the bowstring back with your right hand like this." He brought her right hand to the bowstring and made her pull it back. "Perfect. Now neck the arrow and use index, middle, and ring finger to hold the arrow on the string," he said, backing away from her. She let out the breath that she hadn't realized she was holding as she did what he said. If he noticed, he didn't really appear to be affected.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Raise and aim your arrow," he ordered softly. She did so and he said, "Now shoot."
⠀⠀⠀⠀She released the arrow and it flew right into the center of the target. "I did it!" she said excitedly. "Did you see that!? I did it!" He laughed a little, "Yes I saw it. I'm the one who taught you to do it." As he spoke, Amo came to view. "Hey, guys. Sorry, I got.. distracted."
⠀⠀⠀⠀"You mean you were snogging your girlfriend," Tala started blunty.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Behind a tree.." Caleb continued for her.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Amoux. We raised you better!" The two said together. Amo rolled his eyes, his face even redder than his bright, fiery hair. "Yeah, yeah. Shut up. Nice job shooting, by the way, Lala. First time getting a bullseye, wasn't it? Thanks for teaching her, Cal. I was beginning to think she was impossible."
⠀⠀⠀⠀Both boys laughed while Tala glowered at them. "You're not very nice, you know that?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"You've only told me a million times," said Amo with a chuckle. "C'mon, let's just continue training."
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀• • •
⠀⠀⠀⠀Later, after training, the trio made their way back to Tala's house for dinner. Caleb always joined them for dinner on the days he trained with them, because Mrs. Lowell always insisted.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Hey, kids! Did training go well?" Mrs. Lowell asked as they walked inside. She wore an apron on over her mom-jeans, and her hair was up in a sloppy bun. She appeared to have just finished cooking, as she was setting the table.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Training was decent," Tala said with a small smile. Caleb knew Tala really hated talking about it, so he spoke for her, "She shot her first bullseye today."
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Oh, that's fantastic, Lala!" Her mother exclaimed with a cheery smile. Tala returned the smile back, "Yeah, I guess it's pretty good. I don't mind shooting nonliving targets very much. I'm not ending someone's life that way.." Her smile vanished for a second, but she quickly disguised it by talking, "I'm gonna go change out of my gear." She disappeared down the hall and into her bedroom.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Good idea," her mother nodded, knowing her daughter was upset. "Amo, why don't you let Caleb here borrow some of your old clothes?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Aye-aye, captain," Amo saluted jokingly before walking to his room, Caleb close at his heels.
⠀⠀⠀⠀About two minutes later, Tala walked out of her room wearing a pair of light-washed skinny jeans and a loose white t-shirt. She wandered into the kitchen, "Need any help setting the table, Mum?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"No, I'm good. Everything's on the table already. Could you go wake up your father, though? And tell your brother and Caleb to hurry up?" Her mother asked with a small smile. "Oh, sure," Tala said. She headed down the hall again as her brother and her best friend came out of Amo's room. Caleb was wearing a black sweatshirt and a pair of loose, ripped jeans. "Mum says to hurry up. Dinner's set," she stated as she walked by. She knocked on her parents' bedroom door before opening it. Her dad laid in the bed, snoring loudly. "Dad?" He grunted in response. "Dinner's ready."
⠀⠀⠀⠀He sat up with a yawn. "Alright. I'll be there in a moment. Go away."
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Okay. See ya soon," she murmured before walking away. When she arrived at the dining table, she sat in her usual spot, between Caleb and Amo. "Dad says he'll be here in a moment." Just as she finished her sentence, her father walked into the room. He glared when he saw Caleb, but said nothing as he sat down. "Alright," her mother smiled, her optimistic personality apparently keeping her from getting tired.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Let the feast begin!" She cheered with one of her small, motherly giggles. "Aye," cheered everyone in response before digging in.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀• • •
⠀⠀⠀⠀When dinner was over, Caleb and Tala walked outside. They decided to hang out in the square, so they were sitting on the ledge of the water fountain in the center. The fountain was wolf-shaped and made of marble, the water spitting out of the wolf's mouth. Tala observed it for a bit before curiously asking, "Do you like being a werewolf?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀Caleb looked at her, "What a random question." He grinned at her. "I was just curious," she murmured.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Ah, curiosity. Your besetting sin," he teased with a chuckle. "Alright. To answer your question, yes I do. It's who I am, and I refuse to be insecure of that. Besides, tons of girls find it hot."
⠀⠀⠀⠀"I don't," she pointed out with a laugh. "You don't count as a girl. You're my best friend." The smile that was on her face dropped, "Oh." She couldn't help being a bit wounded by that. That was all he thought of her? His best friend? Ouch.
⠀⠀⠀⠀A pair of girls walked by arm in arm, their heads dropped low as if they were gossiping. They snuck some glances at Caleb and he grinned at them in response. They looked at each other before making their way over to Caleb. "Hi, Caleb," said one girl with a flirty giggle.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Tala rolled her eyes, feeling a small, jealous pang in her chest. But she couldn't be jealous, it's Caleb, for Luna's sake! She was just annoyed. Yes, that's it, annoyed. The girls were awfully annoying. It made sense, didn't it? "Hey, Caleb? I think I'm going to go.." She waited for his response but he didn't really seem to hear her. He was too busy checking out the two girls.
⠀⠀⠀⠀She frowned a little, "Alright.. Bye, then." She stood up and walked back to her house.. Alone. Wasn't he supposed to be her best friend? You don't just ignore your best friend to talk to some girls. She looked over her shoulder, but he hadn't even noticed she was gone yet.
⠀⠀⠀⠀When she arrived home she went straight to her room. She wanted to cry, but she wasn't quite sure for what reason. Was she crying because she was jealous? Or because she was losing her best friend?