Trained

One

"Hurry up, Blakely! We are going to be late!" Ollie calls from my bed. My best friend is impatiently waiting for me to choose the perfect dress for tonight's Full Moon Bash.

"The boys aren't even here yet, chill out!" I call back to her. I can't decide between my black corset dress with a sequin skirt or my red silk dress with a plunging neckline.

"But we need to be ready when they get here!" She groans. I can just imagine her rolling her eyes at me right now.

"We will be fine, O." I laugh as I choose my black dress and grey, sequined pumps. When I walk out of the closet, her jaw drops.

"You look gorgeous! Why can't I be you? I always have to be the ugly friend. You and the boys are beyond perfect." She groans and kicks her feet.

"You are the most beautiful girl at school! Shut up!" I playfully smack her arm. "What else do I need?" I strike a pose and give my best friend my best seductive look.

"Umm nothing." She scoffs. I roll my eyes and pluck my lipstick off my vanity.

"You think you're hot stuff don't you?" An all too familiar voice smugly states just as I begin to roll the tube across my lip, causing me to jump and almost smear the red paste across my cheek.

"Who invited you up here?" I accuse, my hand on my hip.

"Your dad said y'all were up here so I came to get y'all." Buck shrugs.

"We could have been naked!" Ollie hisses and holds her chest with her hand.

"Nothing I haven't seen before, darlin'." He snickers and pushes off the door frame.

"Well we will be ready shortly." I turn back to the mirror to finish applying my lipstick.

"You look done to me." Buck comes into my room and leans on my vanity.

"You don't tell me what to do." I arch an eyebrow at him.

"Well hurry. We are already going to be fashionably late, ladies." Buck snaps his fingers, attempting to be funny.

"I think we will be fine." I roll my eyes and tuck my pocketbook under my arm and head towards the door.

"So you are one day away from turning 18 and you become bossy all of a sudden?" Buck and Ollie follow behind me, Ollie scurrying to keep up with me.

"No, I don't. I'm just ready to go now." I shrug and toss my long, curly hair over my shoulder. I can hear Buck mumble something under his breath, but I ignore it.

~~~

Music is blaring, the beat is shaking the whole house. Teenagers are already laughing and drunkenly falling into friends. Ollie and I grin at each other. We never drink when we come to these parties, but everyone is already having fun; therefore, we can have fun. Buck and Piper hang back as we all walk inside together. I glance over my shoulder to see they are swaggering closely together and making a point to talk only to each other. Shrugging the feeling that something is off, I hook arms with my best friend and lead us into the bevy of teenagers. 

Ollie finds the guy she is crushing on within twenty minuets of us being here. I encourage her to flirt her way into a relationship, but she is all too shy for that. It isn't until he staggers over to say hello that she even says anything to him. Giggling, I nudge her arm and she gives a shy hello in response. The smell of liquor rolling off this poor boy is pungent. His hair is ruffled and he has a lipstick stain on his left cheek. My smile soon distorts to concern as he takes a menacing pose against the wall next to us. All of my senses kick into high gear, zeroing in on every detail of this boy, the way he smells, and the way he sounds. Maybe I am just psyching myself out, but I swear I can hear his heartbeat. 

Just as my own heart begins to race from not understanding why I am taking so much of this situation in, I feel a larger presence behind me. I settle down knowing its just Piper and Buck, but I can't take my focus off the stranger in front of Ollie. He starts to lean in and my instincts kick in. I pull Ollie behind me and my fist immediately connects with the stranger's face. Not knowing why I did it, or what exactly is going on, I turn around to face my best friends so quick I almost lose my balance. Buck and Piper have already gone into action. Buck is pulling me away from the shocked crowed. Piper is giving the stranger an ass kicking nobody deserves. I think I ask about Ollie and get a muffled response when everything goes blurry. I feel arms wrap around me and there is no longer solid ground beneath my feet. Wind rushes past me. Bugs race up and down my arms. My blood boils. I can't get words to come out correctly. Scared, my heart races faster than it ever has before. 

A strange sound escapes my throat as I am soaring through the air. Loud pops and creaks and cracks sound through the air. Suddenly my sight is a thousand times better and my body feels fuzzy. I hit the ground with a hard, rolling thud. I feel groggy when I look up. My head feels like a ton of bricks and my vision is blurry around the edges. I try to ask what is going on and find Buck, but he is standing in front of me, shock covering his face. That only scares me more. What has happened to me? Why is he looking at me like this? No words roll off my lips, only whimpers. Leaves fall all around us. Birds screech and flee from the trees. Buck bites his lip and everything goes extremely still. 

Footsteps come from behind me. A loud, familiar voice fills my thoughts, "Blakely, listen to me. You're like us now. You are no longer human. You are a wolf. You must listen to me, trust me. I need you to concentrate really hard on being human. What did it feel like before you shifted? Concentrate really hard on the way things felt, the way things were. Concentrate really hard on being the human you want to be." Dad's voice fades away and I feel the extra bones melt away and pop back into place as a human. Fur sheds back to skin. My eyes shoot up to meet Buck's and his hand reaches out to point behind me. Dad's eyes lock with mine. "It's okay, Blakely. We are gonna get you home and explain things to you. You have nothing to be afraid of. We're here to help you. Just please don't say a word to anyone else about this." 

"What about Ollie? We just left her at the party." Tears begin to pour down my face. 

"Piper is taking her home." Buck's voice sounds softly from behind me. 

"Buck and Piper are like us, too. You can trust them with this. Once you learn how to control everything, you can talk to Ollie again. She cannot know about your transformation." Dad's voice is too calm for my liking. "Let's get her home, Buck." 

"Can you do that again?" Buck is standing next to me again, an excited look plays across his features. I feel myself go still and my eyes widen. "I take that as a no. Hop on my back and hold on tight." My human friend is now a gigantic wolf standing next to me. He lays down on the forest floor and looks up at me. His blue eyes are the same blue eyes as before, but his fur is a rich rust colored pattern. My heart almost races out of my chest, but I have no idea what to say. No words would even begin to make sense right now. My hands are shaking as I reach up to take fistfuls of his fur and climb onto his back. No sooner am I wrapped around him are we flying through the woods. My eyes squeeze shut so tight I start to see stars. I bury my face into the ruff of his neck and pray for this to be over. 

Everything suddenly stops. I am locking in my position, refusing to move. I don't even move when I feel someone trying to pry me off the gigantic wolf's back. Dad's voice ushers me off and I hear the same loud popping noise I heard when I changed back into a human. "Shower and meet us in the basement." Dad whispers to me as I'm pushed towards the house. 

"I'm not allowed down there." I do a double take as I look up at him.

"Now you are."