Dark Moon

Chapter Two

For Dune, school the next few weeks were rough. The class periods seemed to drag on for an eternity each, and nothing to entertain himself with. He would stop by Caitlin's locker occasionally during the passing periods to say hello, and they'd walk to their next class. Caitlin was a lot nicer to him than when he'd met her again for the second time. Dune felt the stares on the back if his neck, prickling with the awareness of the surrounding jelousy. He watched the people passing by, and yawned. She glared at him throwing an elbow into his gut.

"At least act like I am amusing." She said, turning to him with a confident smile. Dune rubbed his stomach absent-mindedly.

"I just have to watch you reject about every guy that talks to you, and I am plenty amused." He mused, closing his eyes and grinning stupidly. The minute bell rang, and Dune poked her shoulder before bolting off before she could retaliate, and off to his own class. She growled, and lurched forward as if to chase him, then remembered her schedule, and retreated into the room. She walked in to receive a bunch if glares, from who were mostly female. She ducked her head and retreated to her usual far corner.

Dune was physically present in the room, but paid the teacher no mind. His head wandered to trying to decipher Caitlin. She doesn't smell like a wolven, yet she acts like an alpha and definitely has the attitude of one. He frowned at the desk top. Could it be she was a hybrid of some sorts? He sighed deeply, shaking his head and trying to focus. An existing hybrid is against all laws of nature. He huffed. I was a borne hybrid, but turned out to be Pure, until that. The bell rang, and Cable had to smack Dune across the shoulder blades to snap him out of his thoughts.

"Dune, you okay?" Cable asked, concern framing the large boy's face. "You were making sounds as if you were in pain." Dune blinked and nodded.

"I'm fine Cable. At the moment at least." Cable snorted, and began laughing.

"Yeah, you being so accident prone and all."

"I'm just thinking, got it?" He let his head fall into his arms at the desk, and Cable's laughter increased.

"Uh oh, Dune and thinking, there's a deadly combo." Dune replied with a menacing glare over his shoulder and a loud growl. Cable immediately shut up. He flopped his head down between his arms again, letting his mind wander.

Is that even biologically possible, to be a halfbreed? Dune looked up, eyes peeking over his crossed forearms. He made a mental note to go ask the council. He looked across the room, gaze pinning the door. But halfbreed of what? The bell interrupted his thoughts. Cable clapped him on the back once more forcing Dune out of his seat. Dune pulled himself upright, walking to his next class in silence. In the hallway, a group of girls had formed a circle, raising Dune's curiousity. He walked over, and saw a much smaller girl at the center, cowering against the lockers. Dune's face fell in disappointment. He pushed his way through the crowd, coming into the center, standing between the girl and the mob.

"Is this really how you filth like spending your time? Picking on other girls?" He growled, slitted eyes passing over every face. They shrank back, not want to reply to this. The minute bell blared, sending them scattering. Dune turned around to face the black haired girl. She looked up with bright green eyes, and a slim face. She was beautiful, yet looked incredibly tired and scared. "You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks." She nodded, giving him a small smile. She ran a hand through her hair to push aside the loose strands. "I'm Avana. I'm guessing you're the big-shot, Dune?"

He was baffled for a second. "Ah-I-I don't know if I should be considered a 'big-shot'..."

"Point and case." She said. Dune smiled, chuckling a bit, bending over to help pick up her scattered papers. He handed them to her, and she performed a little curtsy, then ran to her class. Dune blinked in utter confudlement. Walking into class, Cable gave him an odd look, Dune shrugged.

"Girls." He sighed, leaning back into a chair.

"Don't see me denying anything, do you?"

"Guess not." He agreed. Dune thought about how green her eyes were. "Something about that one bothers me."

"She gives me the chills. Kinda like how Caitlin did at first until you actually got her to be nicer." Dune gave a defensive warning growl and Cable threw his hands up in immediate submission. "Just saying how it was on my end." Dune gave a gruff snort. How was it that when Caitlin had showed up that everything seemed to take a turn? For better or worse, he couldn't tell. It had been almost two, no, three months since he'd shown Caitlin who he was. He still had learned nothing new about her. He found himself staring at a sketch of her; Caitlin in a short dress, running off into the forest, looking back with her dazzling wolf eyes. He slid the bound sketchpad closed and shielded it in his backpack. The teacher hustled into the classroom, hair strewn across her face as if she'd just ran a mile with it down. Her plump cheeks were rosy to suggest she did indeed run, and eyes flickering wildly.

"SORRY I'M LATE!" She exclaimed, her pitch irritating Dune's ears. He spotted Cable flinch. She gulped down air, fixed her hair and thick-rimmed glasses. "Alright. Let's get started." She spoke the words that so many teachers use that put so many students to sleep. For Dune however, he put his head in a hand, and stared out the window.

Classes went slowly, and Dune was not any more patient than he usually was. He rejoiced to himself as the last bell of the day rang clearly. Dune waited by Caitlin's locker, the questions rising in his mind. A flash of burned gold hair caught his eyes, and he looked up at her. He opened his mouth to speak, and she covered it with her hand.

"Later." She said softly. He tilted his head to the side, and she removed her hand. The pair walked in silence until they reached the edge of the forest. She nudged him using her hip, indicating for him to follow. He did, and once they'd come across the small shack, she pulled out a key, and opened the door. "Here. This conversation is better off inside." Dune dipped his head to her and went inside. The shack's contents included a small bathroom that was off to the side, a single bed with a red vertigo bedspread, with a small dresser and desk. "Nothing like home." She huffed softly, stepping in behind him. The door shut with a slight rattle and click. He frowned watching her.

"Isn't this... A little unsafe?" He asked. "Considering it consists of two rooms." She blew his question off with a shrug, and sat on the edge of the bed. He took off his shoes, and walked over to the desk, pulling out the chair to sit. "Where do you eat?" He asked, noticing there was no kitchen. She gave him an incredulous glare, and he nodded. "Outside. Right."

"Enough about the housing. What were the questions you were so eager to ask?" Dune paused for a moment, trying to remember where he stowed the list of questions in his inner thoughts.

"I have one more question about the housing." She rolled her eyes in response. "You live alone?" She nodded.

"You see, my dad didn't accept me for who I was... So he kicked me out. I didn't have any source of money, and had to figure out how to survive here." She explained, raising her arms to indicate the tidy room. "Next question."

"Ah-right. Deeper one."

"Shoot."

"How're you only partly Pure?"