Coyotes and Wolves, Milo Manheim Original Story

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POV: Third Person

It was the first day of Football practice, the season had officially begun. Things were still tense between Milo and Estella. They agreed to drop it for now, and just work on figuring things out when they were ready. Neither would give up the other. They were in too deep now. But Milo noticed quickly, some regression to Estella's confidence.

The next day at school, the dark lines of eyeliner were back, along with her purple and black striped hoodie. She'd worn cargo pants and sneakers, no sign of her combat boots and only one shirt under the hoodie. But still, he knew that this is how she dressed when she was feeling insecure. Or worse, unsafe. The dark eyeliner acted as a warning that she was unfriendly, and to stay away, and the hoodie to hide her body from wandering eyes.

Milo assumed that today, it was hiding more than her curves, but a yellowing, dark purple bite on her neck. The bite he'd given her during a psychotic freakout that he'd had yesterday. The shame was still crawling through his abdomen and pulling at his heart. He didn't know that he could get so angry. This was so new, and he hated it about himself.

Milo hadn't met her at her locker before homeroom as he usually did. He saw her and turned around before she could spot him. He had no clue what to say to her. He was pissed. Pissed at himself. Pissed at her. Pissed at the asshole who hurt her. But mostly, he was scared to face her.

Eventually, after homeroom, he had to meet up with her, they both had Chemistry. It would be pretty obvious if he avoided her now. He came up behind her at her locker, and tapped her on the shoulder.

She jumped, and turned around, but her face wasn't flooded with relief as it should have been. She breathed out a calming breath, but her face only softened a fraction.

"Hey." She greeted, sliding her bookbag over her shoulder, and looking down and away from his face.

She's scared. Milo said to himself, sadly. She's scared of me. Maybe she should be.

He sighed, and replied.
"Hey."

"Where um...where were you this morning?" She piped up, awkwardly.

"Oh, yeah. Overslept. Got here a little late." He lied.

"You know, you could've texted?" Estella expressed, in a calm but challenging tone.

"Yeah. I know. But I was in a rush." He continued to lie, unemotionally. "Sorry."

"It's fine, Milo. It's whatever." She murmured, turning to walk towards Chemistry.

He followed her, but lagged back a little. As they took their seats in class, Milo learned over and whispered in her ear,
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Football practice starts today."

"Yeah? I know. So?" Estella answered, lowering her brow.

"Yeah, but...look, some of us are skipping lunch to get an early start on stretching and work outs for later." Milo continued to lie.

"Oh. That's...yeah, okay." Estella replied, taken aback, hiding her disappointment.

Despite the awkwardness, she still wanted to be with him, and was hoping they could fix things.

"So, don't eat in the Cafeteria today, okay? I just don't want you having to deal with Julian and Bryan with me not there." Milo instructed.

Estella huffed an angry sigh, but remained silent.

"You good?" He challenged bluntly, waiting for her to argue.

She smiled at him with a big, fake, grin.
"Peachy." She chirped, through her disgust.