Hollow's Grove (The Revised Version)

Chapter Seven: The Encounter

The first night away from home is always scary, or so my brother would always say. In all honesty, I found it was a little unnerving. Before mum left, Ms. Wilson made sure to give mum and I a tour around Hollow's Grove. We saw the classrooms, the dining hall, the gymnasium, the kitchen, the library, the indoor pool, the school had every you could ever want. As we made our way through the halls Ms. Wilson would pull aside different teens and introduce us to each other.

She said that she was letting me know who I could go to if I needed anything. To be honest, I found these students were not polite in the slightest. They wouldn't keep eye contact with me or mum and they made sure that they mumbled, making it hard for us to understand anything they said. It was so rude, I couldn't believe it. Mum looked like she was ready to yell at them every time they acted improperly in front of us. Finally it was time for mum and I to go our separate ways.

Mum and I headed out to the car, where mum opened the trunk and handed me all my supplies. "Well, here you are Toby, I hope that you do well and have a good time." She handed me the last of my bags. I bit my lip, knowing that it wouldn't be a long and sappy goodbye. She was a woman of her word and she had done her job, she had got me to my new school. "Bye mum, I will see you in a couple of years." I reached out my hand, unsure if she wanted to hug me or not.

I had really never been her favourite, but what she did surprised me. She held out her arms and said, "Come here Toby, I really will miss you." I walked into her arms and was embraced. We hugged for a while before she pulled away and coughed, "Ahem, now you should go back into the school, get yourself settled in." I nodded, silently agreeing with her. She turned to the car and got in. "Bye mum," I called after her, watching as she started the engine and drove off. I was completely alone, I stood there watching the car fade into the distance.

Once the car was no longer in my sights I made my way back up to the school. The low rumble of thunder echoed throughout the sky, a storm was coming. 'Great, just great, I have to spend my first night away in a storm.' I thought to myself, my heart sinking. I was now at the doorway of the school, I pushed the doors open and entered the entranceway. It was a struggle to walk down the aisle, especially since I had to carry all of my bags and things all by myself. The teens who saw me struggling to get to the stairway made no effort to help.

They just seemed to watch me as I made my way toward the spiral staircase. Several of them whispered to one another as I passed by. I sighed, it was going to be just like my old high school, no one had ever liked me there and now I felt like I was having da-ja-vu. "Hey," a voice startled me, I turned towards the sound. Several older guys were standing across the hall, they were scrutinizing me, their eyes sparkled with amusement. "Hey kid, what do you think you're doing?"

They were snickering away at something. I narrowed my eyes and said slowly, "I am heading to my room, what does it look like I'm doing?" The guys looked taken back at my response, I didn't care I wasn't going to let them get to me. "Well, don't think you're going to get very far here with that attitude." One of the guys said, his voice snarky. I just continued on my way, ignoring the hushed comments.

I managed to get up the stairway, not before I had tripped several steps and heard the roaring laughter below me. I groaned, was this really what I would have to deal with for the next couple of years? Why had mum even sent me here, I hadn't wanted to go back to school, I was really nervous about my werewolf situation. I was now luging my bags down the second floor hallway. I grimaced when I saw how far off my bedroom was.

Teens headed right on by me, some smirked as they watched me, others just shook their heads. I sighed, so much for making friends. I got to the end of the hallway and placed down all my bags, I needed to get into my room. Once I had unlocked the door and pulled all my things into my room, I closed the door and headed over to the bed. I was exhausted, today had its toll on me. I lay back onto the bedspread, it was so comfy. I yawned and took a quick look over at the schedule on the far wall.

It looked as if dinner was at eight tonight, I had a few hours to rest. I remembered that Ms. Wilson had said that classes started at nine in the morning tomorrow. I decided that I would take the rest of the day to recuperate and relax. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my head, it wasn't easy. Visions of me transforming into a werewolf and destroying the school plagued my every thought. I suddenly felt a pang of fear in my heart, I would have my first transformation at the school next week.

I shuddered at the very idea, how was it going to work? I needed to think about how I was going to manage everything, but not right at the moment, I was too tired to think. Slowly, I let myself drift off into a restless slumber...

I awoke with a start, I could have sworn that I had heard a noise. I listened closely, sure enough I could hear something. Tap, tap, tap, I felt my heart leap into my throat. Something or someone was tapping against my window pane. I felt my blood run cold, I lay still hoping that it was a nothing more then my imagination running wild. The tapping didn't stop, instead it became louder and louder. I began to breath hard, whatever was out there was trying to get in! I lifted myself off the bedspread and looked cautiously over at the window.

That was when I realized in horror that whatever was making that noise wasn't at the window. Much to my horror I found that whatever it was, was standing right over me. I gave a yell and instinctively jumped off of the bed. Down I tumbled, I had managed to pull off my bedsheets, the bed was now a mess. A cold sweat broke across my brow, the figure's eyes watched me with curiosity. It seemed that the figure's eyes glowed a deep green, I shuddered at the eerie sight. "Don't hurt me, please." I cried, my heart skipped several beats. The figure stared down at me for a minute and then there came a sarcastic laugh. "What, seriously? Ha, ha, ha, ha, that's rich!"

I stopped hyperventilating, that voice it sounded familiar, where had I heard that voice before? Then it hit me, "You!" I spat, trying to straighten myself out of the tangle of bedsheets. The bedside light flicked on, there standing above me was Marcus, a smirk across his smug face. I felt a wave of humiliation and embarrassment sweep over me. Marcus just stood there, laughing away. "You are hysterical new kid!" He laughed, spittle flying everywhere. I could feel the rage slowly rising inside of me. "Get out," I snarled. Marcus stopped laughing, "What did you just say?"

His voice had become soft, slightly shocked, as though he didn't think that I would have the guts to tell him off. I locked eyes with him, "Get out of my room Marcus and stay out." My voice had become low, rough, snarly. The smug look on Marcus' face was gone, he was now staring at me with widened eyes. "Hey, no problem," He began to back away from me. I felt a growl ripple through my throat, I really didn't like this boy and I had just met him earlier today.

He held up his hands and headed for the door. "Right then, I'm leaving just don't go all weird on me." Just as he opened the door to my room he turned back towards me and said, "You know what, you're a freak, you won't last a month here." With that said Marcus left my room, slamming the door behind him. I gave a quick sigh of relief, I really didn't get a good feeling around him, I was glad he left...