Shifters - Animal

- 8 -

Just so you know, GCSE's are exams in high school in the UK. You get to choose 3 subjects to take as well as the core where I live.

I was dreaming again, running. I was at the clearing when I looked behind me and there was the black wolf again, it prepared to pounce. My heart started racing and my breath became ragged. The wolf pounced... I was shaken awake breathing rapidly.

"Jay, are you alright? You looked like you were having a nightmare." Rhys asked

"Yeah," I breathed in deeply, "I'm alright just a bad dream that's all, did I wake you?"

"No don't worry, I was going to the toilet when I saw you tossing and turning," he responded, "We should probably get ready now, we have class in an hour and we still have to get breakfast!"

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We got ready and headed to where Rhys said the canteen was. We entered and for the first time I saw most of the people at this camp. Rhys and I went to the queue and I grabbed a bowl of Weetabix whilst Rhys just grabbed an apple.

"Hey, guys!" Rhys greeted as we approached Clara and Josh

"Hey!" Clara replied happily

"Hi" Josh mumbled, I don't think he likes me too much. I wonder why?

"What do you think of the camp so far?" Clara asked, "Are you enjoying yourself? Ooh! I bet we have most of our classes together!"

"Clara it's early give him a break!" Rhys warned, I gave him a grateful look but still answered

"It's great here so far! It's really beautiful AND they have Weetabix!" (I love Weetabix)

"Nice to hear." Josh butted in bluntly, "Why exactly are you here?"

"Uh, I got lost and Rhys found me-"

"I know that. Why did you stay?" he pushed further

"I don't know, I guess I want to control my wolf and there's no point going home," I replied

RIIIIING RIIIIING

"Let's go to class Jay, I made sure you were put in all of mine for now until they can tell which sets you should be in," Rhys explained as we walked to our first class of the day, Geography.

"Alright everyone we have a new pupil so be nice," Mrs Dowell shouted above everyone's chatter, "So open your booklets to page twelve and start the recap exercise please!"

"So Jay what were you doing in geography before you got here?"

"Um, I didn't take geography for GSCE's so I wasn't learning it," I established

"Oh ok, we don't do GCSE's here so everyone does all subjects, at the moment we're doing the layers of the Earth, did you do that before?" she asked

"Yeah, I remember that,"

"Right then, try to do this exercise and if you have any questions let me know" Woah, she's nice, I hope all the teachers are this nice and stay nice!

I actually enjoyed geography, not only because I sat next to Rhys but the teacher was lovely and it was relatively easy! I had done all of this in year 9.

"Are all the teachers that nice?" I asked Rhys at break.

"Not quite as nice as Miss Dowell but yeah they're all pretty nice," he replied as we entered maths, yes we have double maths now! I can only hope this teacher is as nice as my geography teacher. 

The day went past quickly only having 2 more lessons after maths before the end of the school day. For some reason, our lunch was after fourth lesson which is quite a long time to wait, but that means we only have one lesson before the end. 

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 Rhys and I entered our tent and got changed into casual clothes, for the school day we had to wear a certain set of clothes consisting of a green hoodie, and black trousers, a white polo shirt and black shoes. 

"Now we have progress lessons, don't worry it's fun and it's doesn't feel like a proper lesson," he explained

"Ok, where do we go for this lesson?" I wondered

"Oh, we don't go anywhere," I looked at him with a questionable look as he said this, "we don't have this together as you're a beginner and you're a wolf, not a fox. We might at a later date though, I'll have to ask,"

"Ok, so where do I go?" I asked

"Go to Matt's office, he'll be the one leading your progress lessons," he clarified

"Ok. See ya later!" I waved whilst leaving.

I took the familiar path to Matt's office and reached there in minutes. I knocked on the door and heard him yell "Come in!", I walked in and as soon as he noticed me he exclaimed, "Jay! Ready for your first progress session?"

"Sure" I answered with a smile.

"Ok, let's go to the woods then! This lesson is to help you control your inner animal and learn to have fun safely whilst in animal form," he explained happily

"I haven't worked with a wolf before so this'll be interesting! So how many times have you shifted?" he questioned

"Uh, four I think, I'm not sure could be more or less," I answered, "Is it normal for your animal to be your favourite animal?"

"It's not uncommon but it's not always what happens, it just makes you drawn to that animal a bit more," he confirmed, "right then, why didn't you lie down in the clearing and try to shift? I want to see how fast you are already,"

I followed his instructions, lying down and focusing on the nature around me and my breathing. Within seconds I shifted looking up at him with my wolves eyes.

"Right, very fast then! Well done, it's normal to lose control when you first shift but you look completely in control" he clarified, I cocked my head and nodded towards him trying to give him the hint I wanted him to shift, "You want me to shift?" I nodded, "Okay then".

He then closed his eyes and shifted instantly into a golden cheetah. Woah that's so cool! A cheetah, I bet he's fast! I once again had the urge to play so I did. I hesitantly moved into a playful stance which Matt reciprocated. He was the first to move, he jumped at me and made me rollover. We then started to wrestle. A few minutes later he got free of my grip and started to run, I followed as fast as I could. He really was fast but I knew he couldn't keep it up for too long, I would eventually catch up.

After a little while I did catch up and we both fell to the floor exhausted, he shifted back first and I followed about a minute later after, focusing on my breathing. 

"How come we shift back into our clothes? Shouldn't we be naked or something?" I asked

"Uh, no one really knows, the most accepted theory is that it's our mental image of ourselves or that we just revert to what we're comfortable in," he explained

"Fair enough, what's the time?"

"It's, OH SH- Shoot, we've been out here for over three hours! it's 8:43!" he exclaimed

We ran back to camp where we said our goodbyes before parting as I ran off to Rhys and I's tent.

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A/N 

So what'd ya think? I think I'm improving but I'm not sure. I have an idea for a character but I'm not sure whether to include him or not. Leave a comment if I should or not, I won't tell you my idea it'll just be a random guess thing.

Hope you enjoyed!

- J

1153 words