The Reluctant Luna

Chapter 23

It's been a couple of weeks. It's been a bit of a grind. But I'm keeping up with it. Bob- I mean Oliver is still on the hunt for his missing mate, and it's unexpectedly endearing. Alexander is a man of his word and that's uplifting also.

I feel like I'm getting to know them better. There hasn't been a new event for a while. But I hung out with them this Wednesday. Just a casual thing. We played video games, which was a novelty to me. We each took turns selecting a game, and I... well it was my first time playing, so I wasn't much good, but it was fun. It's important that it was fun, and it was ...comfortable being with them. I felt like I could laugh again.

At one point, in a racing game, my car flew off the rails and exploded dramatically in the void beyond the cliff. I said, "Whoops, I.. ah I meant to do that." I said it in a natural way, without thought... I mean to say that I just said what I was thinking rather than thinking so much to figure out the right thing to say. And Oliver laughed. 

Lol, I must sound like such a schoolgirl but... it was .... a new thing for me. It was touching. 

I should mention what happened before that though... where to start. I was practicing my shifting... aka my sitting in my undergarments in a cold clearing of the forest... you know as I do... minding my own, and thinking about stashing a plush cushion and blanket for next week...

Well, to jump to the chase Juniper got her revenge. At least she tried to...

Mila, my other cousin helped me out. It was so unexpected. She apologized. She said she felt bad for all the cruel things that had been done to me. And I... well what do you even say to something like that? I said thank you, and something about how it's behind us now.

 I've been doing better about letting go of the things my aunt says. Not letting them bother me. I want to move forward with my life and... I think I can only do that if I work on letting go of what's been done, and focus on being happy in the present moment.

Well as happy as I can be when I'm shivering a bit sitting against a tree and counting blades of grass between my would-be shifting attempts. I think I felt something the last time, but it might have just been hunger.

Turns out Juniper got one of her cronies, who happens to shift into a mole, to follow me. And her crony saw me attempting to shift (aka sitting and looking like a nutter) in my skimpies in the forest clearing and... well Juniper combed the woods for stored clothing, and took mine. 

I noticed it missing about 10 minutes to the end of the class. I was feeling kind of disappointed having not been able to shift yet again. To be fair, it's barely been a month, but still... I'll work on being more patient.

Anyway, Mila came then and told me what Juniper had done. She said... um, it's not very nice, but Juniper has decided that I'm some kind of whore I guess. As if that was the only excuse she could think of for the Alpha and Beta talking to me at the party.. greeting me like an old friend.

She's decided that because the Alpha's made it MIA, I'm ... She thinks I'm sleeping with him to help stave off his desires. Maybe she thinks that where I got the money for the dress I was wearing at the last party... 

Well... it's not very flattering, but the idea is isolated to her and her entourage. And besides that... I can't control what others say or think about me. I can just try to do the best that I can do, and take solace in knowing it's not the truth. 

"I didn't hear about Juniper's plan for today until I got to school," Mila said as she removed her top. "I would have brought some of your clothes from home otherwise."

Giving me the clothes she had been wearing, she said, "I'll run home in my wolf form. I could use a break from being human for a while anyway."

I kind of wonder about that. A break from being human... I always thought I'd just be me whether shifted or not. I wonder if shifting is different in more ways than I thought.

Mila said that Juniper hired a student to photograph me as I exited the forest. I guess Juniper planned to post the picture with the story that I slept around. 

It's all rather surreal still. I've dealt with a lot from my aunt and cousins in the past but this plan of Juniper's was so ... malicious. I guess I feel disappointed in Juniper. I didn't think that was possible.

But that said, I think her revenge backfired. Mila is about my size but her style is ...  well, it's different. Some might call it skimpy ... Others might call it something else hahaha. 

At least the lacey halter top and too short, short skirt covered more than my undergarments did. Maybe when I've managed to shift I'll understand how other students wear that kind of thing in the middle of winter.

I went to check on the Halloween dress I'd hidden and found that Juniper had missed it. Granted it would have been hard to find so far into the forest, and buried under a layer of dirt, and several layers of plant life. I thought briefly about wearing that, but I wasn't ready to give myself away.

I had a nice pose ready for the camera by the time I made it to the edge of the forest. The rest of the class was packing up. I tried to slip away unnoticed but Oliver um... saw. lol. I must have been so red. He did a double take, and kind of froze, and I... went to my next class and avoided eye contact.

I was complimenting myself on my tactful evasion when I remembered that I'd be going to the Alpha's house when biology ended. I was ruby red when the black SUV pulled up after school. 

Alexander and Oliver, who were already inside, were quiet as I climbed in. The time it took for me to get in seemed unnaturally elongated.  And the short skirt didn't make it easy to maneuver to the free seat close to Oliver in a graceful way.

When the strain in the car hit a peak I started laughing. I couldn't help it. it was just too tense, and Oliver had yet to say anything, Alexander, who, as usual, was occupying the entire back seat to push me to sit by Oliver, was no doubt enjoying the situation.

When it seemed clear that I needed to say something I said, "I lost a bet." And that seemed to be all there was to say about it.

And outside of being hyperaware of my movements, and my risky skin exposure. And apart from the amusing effects, the clothing seemed to have on Oliver, nothing more was said about it.

When we got to the Alpha House, I convinced Alexander to give me a loose sweater. He was understandably reluctant, but he relented when I said I was cold. Besides Oliver wouldn't have been able to focus on the games if I was sitting half naked beside him. 

On the whole, it's been a fun time. I'm grateful that I can be myself more.

Don't forget to smile today!

Your friend,

Evelyn

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