The Moonwalkers

A narrow shave

A month passes and I guess I can say that things are looking a lot better. We're spending more time as a family, as werewolves and humans both. I guess we've finally started to accept that Charles would never be the father figure in this family now.
The full moon is tomorrow, on Saturday, much to everyone's delight. A Saturday. Great! We had plenty of time to sleep in later and plenty of time to play around that night.
I grin to myself as I get ready for school and went downstairs for breakfast. I guess everyone realised that I was bursting with excitement, seeing how everyone gave me an amused look.
"Good morning, Charlie," Mom smiled as I sat down. "Excited for something?"
"For tomorrow," I grinned. "I can't wait for the full moon!"
"Let's just hope you don't freak out like the last," Chris teased. "Seriously... you would've broken the whole room."
I nodded, a slight frown on my face. "I'm actually surprised I didn't break anything. Not even the bed even though I practically fell onto it."
"Never mind, you can enjoy the full moon properly tomorrow," Charlene chuckled. "We might need to stay indoors if one of us goes out of control."
"Namely you," Chris added sneeringly.
"Stop that..." I groaned.
"You too, Chris," Mom added. "You aren't any better."
Immediately, Chris scowled like a little boy, sending me into fits of laughter. We finished our breakfast and set off to go to school.

Mom dropped Chris off at his school before dropping me at mine. There was a slight skip in my steps and I was humming too. I guess I was bursting with excitement because of tomorrow, even those who walked past me gave me strange looks but I didn't care.
I'm happy and that's the only thing that mattered.
I went to class and saw Barbara sitting at the table beside mine, scrolling through her phone. I sat down on my seat, still humming, and took my phone out to read my favourite book.
"Hi, Charlotte," Barbara greeted.
"Hey, Barbie," I cheerfully greeted back with a wave.
"You seem happy, anything special up?"
I just shrugged. "Just woke up on the right side of the bed."
Barbara nodded and went back to her phone. I decided to take my earphones out and listen to some music instead. I had to put my phone away, however, because the bell rang and the first-period teacher walked in.
I could hardly concentrate in class, feeling excitement surge within me for tomorrow's full moon. The teacher suddenly called my name to do a Maths equation on the whiteboard. Seriously, whose idea was it to put Mathematics as the first period early in the day? Most of us would be too sleepy to concentrate. Well, in my case, I'm too excited.
I stared at the equation and tried to process it as I took the marker that the teacher handed to me. I began with the equation and to my surprise, it was actually quite easy. I soon solved it, with little difficulty and grinned at the teacher.
Miss Nettle suddenly pointed to my mouth. "Charlotte, there's something on your teeth, dear."
I swept my tongue between my teeth and gasped. I excused myself and ran to the bathroom, dropping the marker in the process.
WHY ARE MY FANGS SHOWING?!
Now, of all times, now when I'm at school. The full moon isn't even tonight, why is my body transforming? This didn't even happen last month, I didn't even have any symptoms then that even my entire werewolf family doubted that I would actually came out a wolf like them.
The bathroom was thankfully empty so I locked the main door and stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes were glowing, just the slightest, and my nose had started becoming a little black. My ears were slightly pointed too and my teeth had become fangs. My nails were darkening into claws!
DARN IT!
I immediately took my phone out and called Mom, my claws making it a little harder to dial her number. I hope she isn't too busy to answer because if she is, I have no clue what I'm gonna do besides hide in a corner or sneak back home as a transforming werewolf in broad daylight. Definitely a bad idea, but that's the only thing I can think of for now.
Fortunately, Mom picked up after just a few rings. "What is it, honey?" She casually asked. "Why the sudden call?"
"Mom," I said and noticed how my voice was changing too. "Mom, I'm... I'm changing! Why is this happening?!"
"Okay, Charlie, where are you now?" Mom asked. "Is there anyone about?"
I looked around and shook my head. "No, Mom. I took cover in the bathroom as soon as my teacher saw my teeth. She saw it Mom, my Maths teacher saw my teeth." I couldn't help but sob in panic mode.
"Honey, that's alright," Mom calmly said. "Was it just your teeth?"
"I think so," I nodded. "What do I do? Do I hide until it disappears or do I run home?"
Mom sighed. "Charlie, don't worry. This is totally normal! Stuff like this always happens."
"Yeah, but I'm at school now," I pointed out. "I don't want my classmates to know that I'm..." I stopped there, knowing full well that she already got the memo.
"No one is gonna know, okay?" Mom said, sounding amused. "Charlie, I managed to hide this from your father for two decades, it's not impossible."
"But I'm not you!" I protested.
"Just stay calm, take a deep breath," Mom said. "Splash some cold water onto your face and get ahold of yourself."
I put my phone down on the countertop and did just as she said. I took a deep breath to calm down and splashed some water onto my face, running my fingers through my hair to get rid of the excess. I looked at myself in the mirror again and saw that my eyes were no longer glowing and my ears and nose were back to normal. I opened my mouth and checked my teeth too and my canines were back to normal.
"How are you now?" Mom asked from my phone. "You okay now?"
"Yeah," I said, nodding towards my phone as I fixed my hair. "Yeah, I'm back to normal."
"Great," Mom sighed. "Remember, Charlie. Just be sure to stay calm. Especially if the full moon is nearing."
I secured my ponytail and picked my phone back up. "Thanks, Mom. You're the best."
"I dealt with this stuff far longer than you have, and I guess I learned a thing or two throughout the years," Mom said just like the experienced werewolf she was. "Some say that Lycanthropy is a curse, but it really isn't. It's a blessing."
I nodded to myself. "You're right, Mom. It really is." I looked at the time and realised that I've been here for like ten minutes. "Anyway, I gotta go back to class. I'll text you later, okay?"
"See you after school, Charlie!" Mom said before hanging up.
I put my phone away and heaved a sigh of relief before making my way back to class. My classmates and Miss Nettle gave me a strange look but I just grinned at them and went back to my spot beside Barbara. She spared me a friendly smile and went right back to her classwork.
School went on with no other signs of my werewolf form.