Flames and Starlight

2🌘

Ruben

"Alright, class," Coach Patterson bellowed, his voice echoing off the gym walls. "That's enough for today. We'll pick up tomorrow, and hopefully, you all will know what you're doing and not waste an hour and forty minutes of my time."

I couldn't help but smirk as I watched the other shapeshifters groan and shake their heads. Honestly, they really shouldn't have signed up for this course if they couldn't take all the brutality Coach dissed out. This course was not for the weak, and, not to be rude but it was the way it was, a lot of them were pretty weak, at least compared to the standards of this class.

A movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked over and noticed a scrawny, orange-haired guy bent over at the waist in the corner, sweat glistening his skin as he tried to catch his breath. I couldn't help but shake my head at him. What was he thinking, signing up for a course like this? It was ridiculous. In the three weeks we'd been in this class, I noticed him struggling immensely and I thought about encouraging him to take another class that was more for him, but it was his choice and I didn't care. As long as I was passing and doing a great job here, then that was all that mattered.

I walked over to the small, square purple lockers that sat near the entrance, dialed my combination, and pulled out my bag and water bottle. I greedily chugged down the liquid. My skin was covered with sweat after managing to shift into three new predators today and I'll admit, I was a bit tired but mostly satisfied and pumped. I'd hit the gym near the school before heading home to work off some of the leftover energy.

I waited until the other shapeshifters filed out. Coach stood by the doorway, hands on his hips, shaking his head as they walked out, disappointment and contempt blatantly evident on his face.

He clapped me on the shoulder as I walked out. "Great job today, Erikson. You showed the others today."

"Thanks, Coach."

"I expect even more progress tomorrow."

"You know it."

He gave me a salute before closing and locking the door behind him and heading back to the main school building.

The class taught shapeshifters how to shift into larger, advanced animals. In a shapeshifter's younger years, they learn how to shift into smaller, nonpredatory animals, then to small predatory animals in their preteen years, then to big nonpredatory animals in their early teens, then to big predatory animals in their late teens. To put it in simple terms, you unlock new animals the more you practice shapeshifting as you get older. You were supposed to be able to shift into the big predatory animals by the time you were in your fifteen, and I was well past that stage. It was a matter of time before I'd be able to shift into people - something that even the most advanced shapeshifters could do and struggled with, but I felt ready and had no doubt I'd be able to do it by the time the month was over.

A lot of the shifters in my class were struggling to even shift into a horse - I shifted into a huge elephant and almost couldn't fit inside the building and nearly crushed everyone. I was tempted into turning into a creature that was mythological and not real, but Coach always wanted real animals, so an elephant it was. 

I threw my duffle bag over my shoulder and walked towards the gate of the school towards the student parking lot. My steps faltered when I saw who was standing there and I inwardly groaned.

My girlfriend of three weeks, a fae named Rosie Davis was standing there, arms crossed over her chest, her brows lowered in a scowl as she waited for me.

I'd asked her out a few weeks ago and was regretting it big time. She constantly had to know where I was, what I was doing, who I was with, why I wasn't texting her every five minutes. We hadn't even been dating for a month and she was driving me crazy. She was annoying the hell out of me and I dreaded being around her more than enjoying her company.