Monica stumbled out of the forest and back up to the house. Pale grey clouds had rolled in, promising light rain.
What was that?
Who could she tell?
Her papa would scold her for going into the forest, and her grandmother would shake her head at what she thought was a girl’s wild imagination.
What, a whole pack of wolves were scared away by a domesticated dog that’s half a poodle? Please. They had funny looking eyes? Who’s this Isaac? Is he your boyfriend?
She knew it would go down like that. No, she shouldn’t tell them. Anyways, maybe it wasn’t so weird. Maybe they were just very rabid wolves, and maybe they hallucinated when they saw Rhea and maybe in her moment of delusion and fear she saw Isaac because she had been thinking about him before.
Yes. Yes that made sense. She would go to school tomorrow and sit next to Isaac and nothing would’ve changed.
Before she went inside, Monica gave Rhea and Faber a good scratch.
“Good girl, good boy.” She whispered.
She reminded herself to give them extra portions for dinner.
The next day, Monica met Stephanie at the benches near the entrance. She was grinning.
“Guess what?”
“What.” Monica said, drearily.
She had not gotten much sleep the night before.
“Tom Kenner asked me out!” She said, clapping her hands.
Monica’s eyebrows rose. Tom Kenner, not the most popular guy but in that general area. Stephanie had been infatuated with him since ninth grade, and it had paid off.
“Wow, that’s fantastic.” Monica said, sitting beside her.
“I know it fantastic.” Stephanie said “He asked me yesterday in a text.”
“What did you say?” Monica asked, “Please tell me you said yes.”
“Darling, I’ve been planning this for an age. I had a very complex plan made up for when this day came.” She grinned, “I said I’d think about it.”
Monica laughed, a nice, healthy one that made the tiredness go away. Of course Stephanie would have a plan, and of course she wouldn’t say yes straight off the bat. She controlled herself, and made people halfway beg her for an answer.
And then she’d simply answer it and walk away. It may have been cruel, but it had been going on since Monica had met her.
“You’re terrible.” Monica said, giving her friend a gentle shove.
“I know.” She said, “It’s what I love about myself.”
Monica slumped into her chair in English, her eyes drooping. Miss Scorch handed a book to her.
“ ‘The Case of a Furry Figure’?” Monica said, “What kind of literature is this?”
“The cheap kind, so you kids know what bad writing, and aspire to be better than it.”
Monica looked down at the book. Furry Figure.
Ugh.
She flicked to the first page.
Ruby Anne stood once again at the window…
Four typos, seven characters, three chapters and an awkwardly written make out scene later Monica was ready to drop the book and search for a shorter version on the Internet.
