Bloodlines

Part 8

Xxx

All my friends are heathens. Take it slow

Life as a werewolf was overwhelming.

Not only were you already feeling ninteenhundred and one emotions at once, now each and every one of them was multiplied to the power of fifteen. You were never one for math, but of these numbers you were certain.

School was a fresh hell, filled with bells that sounded like the screams of the damned, lockers slamming shut sounding like thunder right outside your door, and locks spinning sounding like an electric drill bit at full speed. Pens clicking, gum chewing, zippers zipping, pencils sharpening, papers jostling- You were lucky all you did was crack the desk you sat at in the back of the class in half.

The splintering of it's faux wood composition the only sound left before perfect silence surrounded you, making you smile softly, and you almost got lost in the blissful peace before pounding heartbeats bombarded your surroundings. Whispers filled the air, one by one, all pointed at you. Talking about the freak, asking what was wrong with the new girl, what was her problem, how long had she been a student here, and where could they get some of what she was on?

Whispers curled around you until they all abruptly stopped with one sound, a voice directly in front of your desk, er, what was left of it.

"What the hell- You kids break more- How am I gonna-" Coach mumbled to himself, rubbing the back of his neck as he crouched in front of your desk, before abruptly standing with his war face once again painted on his features, glaring daggers at the other students. "The rest of you! Shut it!"

Only one sound was left, which was your own heartbeat pounding in your ears. Glancing around some looked back at you unabashedly, while others quickly averted their gazes. It was all too much. You could smell it all - fear, disgust, intrigue. The weight of the remaining gazes felt like a thousand pounds on your shoulders, and the fact that you could hear things meant to be left hushed, smell things left to be unspoken, and see things meant to go unnoticed.... Looking back down to the splintered pieces of the desk in front of you, you couldn't help but feel a lot like that desk.

Broken, and ragged at the edges. Sharp, and unavoidable pain from being handled too heavily. Ripped in half from too much pressure on opposing sides.

Torn at the seams, you felt exposed and vulnerable, not knowing which threads needed to be cut, and which needed to be mended.

Wait for them to ask you who you know

Your parents knew about the pack, and about your involvement, but they didn't know you had shifted.

Despite one being a werewolf and one a hunter, how are you supposed to tell your parents, "Hey! By the way, I get extra hairy sometimes, too!"?

You felt different, like there had been a shift in your personality. They were suspicious that something was going on, but they just didn't know what. For some reason your father didn't smell the change, and it wasn't like your mom kept wolfsbane, mountain ash, or mistletoe just laying around the house. Not that you really knew exactly what any of those things did, just that they were werewolf no-no's.

Regardless, the full moon was coming again soon, and you still couldn't find a source of control. The mantra Derek had taught you worked just a little, but only if you started it in time, and even then, your eyes still stayed yellow, and you felt your claws and fangs poking painfully from the inside just itching to come out.

If you couldn't find an anchor in the next few days, your parents were about to have all the dots connected and shoved into their faces, snarling and all.