J X K

The Fight

Jared's POV

"She friend zoned you." Paul snickers, waving back at Kim as she waves at our table.

"Shut up." I grind out through a mouthful of sandwich.

The cafeteria is nearly empty, but when there's not a rainy day in Washington State, everyone rushes to go outside. Paul and I are always in the outdoors now, patrolling in the thick of woods or the edges of cliffs, so we opted to eat in. For a full day of school it wasn't so difficult. Neither of us had to sneak in or skip, or were falling asleep. Everyone stopped whispering about us a few weeks ago, and the staring finally stopped.

It was feeling like a normal day, then Paul pissed me off.

"To her, you're just her buddy who holds her books and copies off her homework." Paul shrugs at me, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Shut up, Lahote." I nearly kick at his chair, but I stop myself, remembering what Sam always says about keeping control around the locals.

"You missed your chance with her alrea—"

"Paul, shut up." I growl, so deeply it is unmistakably inhumane. Monstrous.

"Is that a threat lover boy?" Paul challenges with a sick smirk. I should calm down. I should look around to see if anyone is in range of being mauled or if someone is recording us on their phone or something. I should take a deep breath, or leave the school while I still have some control.

I don't do any of that. Instead I charge at him and tackle to the floor.

"Take it back!" My voice is deafening as I roar, completely unrecognizable as it echos in the near empty cafeteria. Paul booms back at me, a disturbed and savage roar devoid of any words. I feel Paul's nails scrape across my skin, already sharpening into claws as they sink in, but I ignore it.

I think I hear someone scream or maybe somebody chanting fight. I can't see nothing else but red and Paul. I tear at him, not satisfied till there's nothing left of him. I can feel Paul's fists landing against me, but I'm too angry to feel the weight of the impact. Paul's too far gone to feel my blows either, but it doesn't stop either of us from throwing all of our monstrous weight into it.

"Hey! Hey! Stop it!" Something lands against me, but I shake it off. Or maybe throw it off.

I taste blood.

"JARED STOP!" Then ice cold water hits us. So frigid it completely shuts the wolf out for just enough for some of the anger to subside for a moment of clarity. I remember where I am, hearing everything all at once, from my harsh breathing to the murmur of the crowd. It immediately gives me a headache. The headache only gets worse as I force all what's left of my right mind into calming down enough to stop the phase.

I nearly loose my grip. Paul rages on, trying to shake off the principal, the gym teacher, Jacob and Embry off his back, who all hang on for dear life as they pull a thrashing Paul off me. One of them must have dumped the water on us. Paul and I are completely soaked, but it doesn't stop him. He swears at me, snapping his jaw at me like a rapid dog.

"Paul," My throat sounds rough, and I hope people mistake it for raspy instead of unnaturally deep. The whole school presses down on the windows, watching us like animals in a zoo. It makes me feel less like me and more like the animal I keep trying to fight for control. All the eyes practically burn against my tan skin, and all I want to do is bolt. Nothing would be safer than running so deep into the woods no one would be able to figure out if I'm in Canada or the US.

"Mr. Cameron! Lahote!" The principal booms, catching me about to make a run for it. "My office!"

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Kim's POV