Bared

III

I climbed back through my window around midnight. I hadn’t left the cave until everyone else had cleared out. Amazingly, Ben was the last to leave. He muttered,”I need to check in on her. Dad said to. My job… My duty. Pack rules over all else... ” Then he left, still muttering. My memory was fogged after that. That boy just gets weirder and weirder.

I collapse onto my bed an hour later. I don’t take off my clothes and jump into a tank top and shorts like I usually do. I wonder aloud to the crescent moon,”What’s the connection between this boy and me?” I burry my face in my pillow. The only thing I noticed before I fell asleep was a dark shadow on my open windowsill. A human shadow, clearly staring at me as I fell into the world of dreams.

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of Austin getting ready in the room across from mine. I growled. I hated how loud he was in the mornings. I took a quick shower, threw on a white T-shirt and jeans with holes in the knees and legs, and swept downstairs for breakfast. I got the silent treatment from both Kit and Whitney as I made toast, and got it from Austin while I put grape jelly on it. I left around seven-fifty. As usual, I turned into my wolf. I only had to think of my brother’s argument, and poof.

I ran all the way to school, keeping to the trees. The few people who do notice me run across the road in front of the trailer park wave, because I usually show up there every day. A few people call out,”How’s your morning, White?” That’s what they call me. I ignore them. Usually. This time, because I was in the mood, I barked to a few of them. The little terrier outside one house growled at me as I passed, and I paused. I bared my teeth at him, and he cowered back to his wooden post.

I hide behind the side of the school, where a few trees flank the side door to the gym. I turn back into human, and step around the corner. I almost collide with someone, who seemed to be coming around the corner the opposite way. I stumble backwards, and hit the hard ground. I growl,”Thanks for watching, you idiot!” I look up, and none other than Ben stands there. He wears a bewildered expression on his face, and stretches out his hand to help me up. I ignore it, and get up by myself. I wipe the dirt from the bottom of my shirt and jeans, but traces of it remains. I shrug, and continue walking.

I hear footsteps coming behind me, and breath next to my ear. I snap,”What?” Ben doesn’t flinch. He mutters,”Why were you behind the corner?” I said sarcastically,”Oh, I don’t know. I just wanted to hide from everyone and everything for the rest of my life!” Ben looked wondrous, and muttered,”I wouldn’t doubt that. Not with who you are. What you are.” He picked up the pace, and moved past me into the double brown doors leading into the entrance hall.

I shake off the feeling that Ben has been stalking me, and move to my Ford truck. It was a white 1994 Ford F-150. My dad’s old truck before he got an SUV. I grab my bag, my bow, and my fallen Harry Potter book for my book report, and march through the doors.

Some of the tiny sixth graders flinched as I walked past. Others stared. Heck, even the teachers and older students flinched and stared as I passed by. I turn into the cafeteria, and all conversation stops as I walk past to the very back table. Whispers and mutterings appear in my wake, but I ignore them. I sit down, and open my book. I had barely read a paragraph before two thumps on either side of me signaled that Jonathan and Quincey were here.

I turned to my left, where Quincey sat. I asked him,”What’s everyone muttering about now?” Quincey looked around, and lowered his voice. “Everybody’s sayin’ that you were the one to attack Austin.” He rose his hand before I could protest that I was. “Everyone’s coming up with stupid theories of how you did it. No human can leave marks like claws on a man’s chest, or survive a gunshot with no bleeding. Or, might I add, break his arm with little force.” I was silent.