Daunting Time

The Time When Claire Stalled

(Claire)

I spun my pencil around on the tabletop, watching it twirl out of control. I mentally calculated the amount of time it took, for it to make it all the way around five times, and attempted to beat my record of four seconds. I patiently waited for it to come to a rest, so I could repeat the process over again.

A pair of hazel eyes peered at me from across the table, full of amusement, before they glanced over my shoulder. A warm hand ran across my back, and I knew it was my aunt Emily without even looking up. I had felt that warm embrace many times, since moving in with her and Sam two years ago.

My mom remarried when I was fourteen, and planned on moving us to Salem where her new husband's company was based. I was under the impression that I would be moving there with them, until I was promptly informed two days before the move, that hence forth, I would be living with the Uleys. I still don't understand how that decision had been made, but I had heard quite a few hushed arguments behind closed doors. They all seemed to end with Uncle Sam stating, "you can take her, but she will come back."

"Claire," she cooed breaking me out of my memories, "are you having trouble with your homework?"

Ellie, the owner of the hazel eyes across the table, looked over at me and snickered. She knew I was stalling, but I didn't really care.

"No, I'm fine," I smiled up at her, picking my pencil back up, pretending to study the math problem in front me.

"Okay," Emily smiled, patting me on the shoulder and returning to the stove.

Ellie was now covering her mouth, to hide her smiles. I stuck my tongue out at her, and returned to my pencil spinning challenge. Ellie was used to my antics by now, she'd been my best friend, ever since our very first day of kindergarten. She understood that I wasn't a normal sixteen year old. Normal sixteen-year-old girls spend hours putting on make-up and fixing their hair. They pass notes in class, and go out on Friday nights, scoping out the hottie from fifth period.

I'm not that girl. I don't wear make-up, and for me, fixing my hair consists of simply grabbing the nearest ponytail holder I can find. My Friday nights were spent at my aunt Emily's house, because no boy at my school, could even compare to the hordes of man meat, that passed through this house on a regular basis.

That horde of man meat, was exactly the reason why I was wasting time. If I finished my homework too early, I would miss the blissful experience of my daily tutoring session with my favorite wolf.

Yes, I said WOLF.

It's just one of the many other reasons, why I am not a normal sixteen year old. Ellie had not the slightest comprehension, of the secrets that surrounded my make shift family. But I knew everything. The legends of the Quileute tribe, were never just legends to me. It's kind of hard to deny their truth, when you learn how to walk, holding on to the thick fur of a wolf. I understood that my life was protected by warriors, bound to this land through blood and their love for its people. I respect these warriors. I admire these warriors. Above all, I love these warriors.

It were these warriors, whom I so anxiously awaited. My weekdays came and went like clock work. I went to school in the mornings, suffering through the busy work and making small talk, with people whose names I still couldn't remember. After school, I met up with Ellie. Ellie's aunt drove her down from the Makah rez, almost every single day. It was our good fortune, that her aunt had a Quileute boy toy, that she couldn't do without.

We always came to my house, or well, Emily and Sam's house, to do homework. I always stalled, having an average of solving one problem per twenty minutes, until about twenty minutes to six. That was the key moment. It was at that moment, that our now quiet and calm kitchen, would be bombarded with nine over grown wolf boys, who were usually covered in mud, and ready to scarf down anything eatable in a two-mile radius. It was without a doubt the absolute highlight of my day.