Part of the Pack (Daniel Sharman)

Odd Day Out

I slammed my diary shut, clasped the pad lock, and three it down my chute. "Going to school!" I shouted, running out the front door. Like always, no one responded. Like always, I had been completely forgotten. Like always, Tessalyn Thalia Tucker didn't exist. But there was no surprise there.

I waited at the campus bus stop, leaning against the parking lot sign. It was Monday, June 15, and I was finally in my last week of school. No more idiot seniors, waiting to graduate. No more insignificant freshman pretending they're cool. Just me and the end of my sophomore year of college. At last. Summer.

The bus pulled up and I hopped on, smiling at Miss Mavis, who just stared at the road ahead and ignored me, for the umpteenth time. Sitting in the very last row all by myself, the bus lurched forward and I slipped in my headphones. When would all this misery end? Was it even worth smiling anymore?

When I walked into my first lesson, Shakespeare Lit, I knew that it was going to be a very interesting day. From the fact that there was no teacher in the room. To the fact that everyone turned and looked at me. Everything silenced. And everyone stared.

*****

I ran to my dorm room after school, trying to get back as fast as humanly possible. My classes had been eight hours of pure weirdness. Everyone had stared at me when I walked into a room, everyone silenced, and then they all gaped, their jaws dropping. No one would tell me what was going on. So I was gonna have to find out on my own.

I arrived at my dorm and sprinted through the door, dropping my back pack down my chute. I jumped down after it and slid down onto my top bunk. I hopped down and plopped into my desk chair. Checking my phone, I had two new messages.

Maya: I stayed after for track practice. Don't forget to do my laundry.

Yea, okay, she wishes, I thought. The second message was a number I didn't recognized. I never got texts from anyone except Maya. And sometimes from her boyfriend, Carter.

15164929492: watch the Wolf Watch interview from Saturday, June 17

I frowned at the message. Not knowing who it was, I deleted the number and the message, thinking it must have been a wrong number.

I finished up my homework, just as Maya bursted into the house. "TESSALYN!" She screamed. "MAKE CARTER AND I SOME SANDWICHES! NOW!"

I groaned and climbed up the stairs, leaving my textbooks open on my desk. "Hello, Tessalyn." Carter said, smiling brightly.

I grinned at him. He may have been the only person in this world who treated me like a human being. "Hey, Carter."

"How was school?" He asked, his British accent radiant in his cherry voice.

"Weird, everyone-"

"No one cares how your school day was." Maya glared at me, then smiled cheekily at Carter. "Let's go into the basement common room, baby."

I frowned at her. "The basement common room is my bedroom." I muttered, forcing a glare in Maya's direction.

"Let's go into the backyard." Carter suggested. "I want to shoot some hoops."

She smiled at him. "Okay, munchkin." She turned on her heel and strutted out the door. Carter winked at me, causing me to smile a little at him. Thank God for Carter, I thought.