The Girl with the Wolf Features

Chapter 9

-~†~- Lillia -~†~-

It's been a couple months since I first started at Silverbloom, since Amelia was the first student to talk to me, since we first started to be friends. She drives me to school every Monday, stopping at Cuddle Cup so I can get my morning coffee and a hot chocolate for Amelia.

This Monday morning wasn't all that different from the others, the halls were full of people. The usual cliques milling about as they waited for the first class to start.

There was one thing off though, almost all of them were staring at us, specifically our interlaced fingers, and whispering.

My blush deepened as we walked by the girls lacrosse team, the whispers reaching my ears.

"Are they? Together now?"

"It's been months, that would make sense."

"It's such a shame, she would have made such a cute girlfriend for Jackson."

I looked towards Amelia to see how she responded to the gossip, remembering the first time she had heard people talking about that possibility. She had stood in front of him with an angry look, pretty much yelling at them to 'mind your own goddamn business.'

The gorgeous forest green of her eyes had none of the usual sparkle, instead they were shadowed by a dark fog. Her lips pulled into a thin line, revealing a clenched jaw. I could tell that the words of our peers got to her. There was no way to hide the look in her eyes, one of barely contained annoyance. I froze like a deer in the headlights, my feet heavy. "Amelia?"

That startled her, the tension on her face easing up ever so slightly as she looked towards me. "Yes?"

I was unsure whether I should have brought it up, but with every passing second it became more obvious. The tension in her shoulders, the subtle twitch of her fingers as she clenched the strap of her bag. Her breathing was slow and steady as if she was purposefully making it seem like she's calm. Every instinct in my body was telling me to drop it, but my mouth moved faster. "You're angry."

She shook her head, adjusting the position of her bag with a calculated precision. "No, I am not angry, but I do need quiet." She pulled me slightly behind her, pushing forward through the crowd of students.

That was the only thing she said for the rest of the walk. Stopping in front of the door to the roof access, she scanned the area, ears flicking at some noises from down the hall. She crouched down, lifting up the plant pot and grabbing the spare key, unlocking the door. "After you Lillia."

This was the second time I was here, Amelia following behind, and with a soft click of the door locking we were finally alone. I sat down on the roof with my back to the building. "You are a really bad liar, I can tell you aren't okay."

She turned, the tension in her body seeming to melt away after seeing me. Her eyes sparkled again, her shoulders and jaw relaxing. "Lillia, I."

My eyebrows raised in question, "Yeah?"

She sat down next to me, our knees touching slightly. "I, you, so..." her left hand went up to her face, pushing back a bit of hair. "You already know I am a wolfkin, something I had learned about, is that wolfkin are sensitive to their other half."

I hummed as a response, she was clearly struggling to find the words, and as much as my curiosity was eating at me, I didn't want her to feel pressured.

Her fingers curled around the hem of her shirt. "Other half as in the other half of their soul. Some people call this bond a soulmate.... Two halves of the same whole." Her voice was barely audible, as she spoke she kept fiddling with the hem of her shirt, pulling the fabric taut before loosening her grip on it. "Lillia, I am pretty sure you are my soulmate."