Lunar

Roman turned around at the sound of Alaric’s voice. He saw that Rick was walking towards him with Ariel and Kimberly. Ari, Kim, Rick, and Roman had been friends since they were born, as their mothers were all close friends. They grew up together, living on the same street, carpooling together, and eating together. They always stood up for one another, and were almost always together. Rick and Roman didn’t have any siblings, but Kim had two younger siblings; a boy and a girl, twins. Ariel had an older sister, but she was already out of the house. Their moms had met at a yoga class when they were all pregnant with us, and realized they all lived on the same street. They were pretty much inseparable since then.

Lately though, Roman was drifting away from his best friends. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he didn’t belong there anymore. Whenever they were all together now, he wanted to tell them what was going on with him, but he was afraid of what they would think. That had never happened before. He NEVER used to care what they would think; he would just blurt out whatever was on his mind. Like when he told them all in 7th grade that he had kissed Lizzie Jenkins, and he never wanted to do it again. They had teased him relentlessly, but they were laughing WITH him, not AT him.

This was different, he could feel himself changing, but there was nothing he could do about it. He woke up in strange places with no recollection of how he got there, he was always hungry, and he couldn’t stand to be in Kim’s vicinity for too long because of the smell of her perfume. He couldn’t even talk to his mom about this. He tried to find answers online, but that didn’t get him very far, there were a million things that could be wrong with him. But right now, he just had to focus on passing this Geometry test.

“Hey, Rick. Kim, Ari,” Roman greeted them as they came to walk with him out of the courtyard and into the dark, crowded hallways.

“What are we doing after school?” Kim asked, pushing her blue glasses up her freckled nose. Kim had long red hair, that was naturally curly, but she got up at five in the morning every morning so that she could straighten it. She always wore jeans or sweats and always had a hoodie or jacket close by. She had brilliant blue eyes that were crystalline in the sunlight, and like the ocean when the sun went down. She was almost 5.4, with most of that height coming from her legs. She always wore this ring that her father had given her right before he died. It was the one thing that she wouldn’t let anybody touch. Not even her best friends.

“I don’t know, but we can’t go to my place, Beth is back for the weekend, and I’m not going to be there to do everything she wants me to, so I’m staying with one of you,” Ari told them. She looked them over with her light brown eyes. Her lightly tanned skin was always practically glowing, no matter where she was. She had dark brown hair with bits of blonde streaks in it. She was 5.2 and always wore the latest fashions, though she couldn’t stand the pops. She had a bracelet that her mother had given her two years earlier that she never took off. Her mom wore one too, so everyone thought it was a family thing, like when you get a certain age, you get a bracelet. Even Beth wore one. But nobody knew for certain.

“You can stay with Roman,” Rick suggested, that was what usually happened. Rick didn’t have many people stay the night, his parents were always making these weird foods that nobody actually liked, but when people ate it they were only being polite. Rick had black hair cut short; he almost always wore it up in a quiff. He had olive skin and an athletic build. He wore t-shirts and jeans mostly, with the occasional pair of cargo pants and shorts. He always wore a necklace that he had gotten when he was 13; it looked like something you would get from a shaman. His eyes were a dark brown that seemed to look into your soul.

          “Yeah, sure,” Roman mumbled, distracted. He had green eyes, forest green when he was worried about something or thinking about something that he couldn’t quite grasp, but when he laughed his eyes lit up and shone out a beautiful meadow green. His hair was a sandy blonde color that went perfectly with his tanned skin. He wore what was in fashion and had almost every girl in school fawning over him. His mom and dad had divorced when he was only six, and he had been raised only by his mom. People were always saying how much he looked like his dad, even his mom said it, but Roman hated his dad. His dad had abandoned him and his mom. There was no way in hell he would admit to having anything in common with that man.

            It wasn't unsual for any of their parents to find out they were having someone over that night on short notice. In fact, it was pretty much something that happened daily. Roman was usually the one who had most people over. And most people would say that a guy having a girl spend the night could 'taint the girls purity' but in reality, the one who's purity would be tainted by having Ari or Kim over would most definatly be Roman's. Alaric had disposed of his purity at age 14 and said he would be damned if he ever missed it, which caused a ton of teasing on Romans part, but in reality, Roman could see why he didnt want it.

            The farthest he had ever gone with a girl had been when Becky Strumheller Had tried to give him a hand job in ninth grade and he had freaked oushing her away and driving her home in awkward silence.

Yeah.

           Now, Roman was thinking of the strange things that had been happening and only barely listening to the conversation going on between his best friends. He thought about the lastest incident. He had been in the woods yesterday night with Makayla Jenkins and they had accidentally sumbled into a wolf den. With a wolf inside. And several baby wolves. Him and Makayla had been terrified as the creature stalked towards them, but then, just out of nowhere, the wolf had stared Roman in the eye, then crouched down and whimpered. THE DAMN WOLF WAS SCARED OF ROMAN! Roman hadnt waited another second and had grabbed Kayla's hand and they beat it out of there before the wolf could change her mind.

           And that was how he realized he wasnt just a normal boy anymore.