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3| Changes

"I'm heading out, Mom," I announced as I raced down the stairs.

"Try not to get into any trouble today and be nice to Eliana!" she yelled from the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered under my breath as I walked out of the house. Good thing she couldn't hear me. She probably would've thrown a skillet at me.

The sound of a door opening and closing several feet to my right caught my attention. A familiar scent hit my nose, which let me know Eliana had left out of her house too. I lifted an eyebrow at her outfit choice for today once I saw her walking down the sidewalk in my direction.

She had on black overall shorts with one strap secured to her shoulder while the other hung freely near her waist paired with a white crop top that showed off her toned stomach, and a pair of low-top black Vans. Her light, brown curls bounced freely as she walked while her skin glistened in the sunlight.

Meanwhile, I went for a more laid-back look today. I had on a plain white T-shirt with a red jersey shirt with white bands on the sleeves and the buttons left undone, gray sweatpants, and a pair of red and white Jordans.

I strolled off the porch to meet her, shoving my hands in my pockets.

"Hey," I said plainly as I started walking next to her.

"Hey," she replied with a small smile.

Neither of us said anything during the walk to school. The sun was out, and it was slightly breezy. It was a contrast to yesterday's rainy weather. We made it to the final crosswalk we had to cross before we were officially on the school grounds. Other students were crowded near the crosswalk either looking still half asleep or way too energized.

"Ready for your second day of hell?" I asked Eliana as we crossed the street.

"As ready as I'll ever be. All that homework kept me up late," she answered, yawning afterward.

"I got it all done in less than an hour."

"Not everyone is a brainiac like you."

"Hm, I won't argue with that."

"Do all werewolves have big egos?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I wouldn't know. I haven't met any others."

After we had our talk last night, I had laid in bed and wondered why Eliana was so adamant about proving that not everyone has ill intentions. I could tell she had a good heart and genuinely wanted to help me. I was still a bit weary of her, but I could at least try getting to know her. I couldn't sense not one bad thing about her. We continued to make small talk and eventually got back on the topic of homework. We were discussing the math homework when I heard Hunter shout my name.

"Jesus fucking Christ," I muttered. "He always has to be loud in the morning."

"I'm sorry," Eliana said sincerely. "I know that hurts your ears."

I don't get a chance to respond. Hunter caught up with us, slinging his arms over our shoulders.

"Good morning, ladies," he greeted cheerily. "How are we feeling today?"

It wasn't even eight 'o'clock yet and I was already starting to get a headache.

"You have three seconds to remove your arm before I detach it from your body," I growled.

"Sheesh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed again," he mumbled under his breath as he removed his arms.

He remained silent as Eliana and I went to our lockers to grab our books for our morning classes. We head to English with a still silent Hunter trailing behind us.