WOLF

Poison

"And why are you late, Ms Prince?" Mrs Dwan sighed irritably at the small girl standing in the doorway. Her brown curls had been pulled behind her thin shoulders into a tangled ponytail, exposing her slightly Asian face, which never seemed to fit into the complexion of her family members. Her eyes were cast down as she held out the small slip of paper and muttered "Slept in" in a timid voice.

Mrs Dwan sighed, taking the slip and directing the girl into the classroom, "Seeing as your usual partner is absent today, you can sit next to Rosco Hopper, and copy your notes off him. I trust that you two get along?"

The girl followed her teacher's gesture, and her eyes sparkled with a dark pleasure at the lean, pale boy as though she'd just been given blackmail material. The distinct differences between her attitude to the boy and to her teacher seemed as though there were two different people within her small body. She took only a few strides to reach the boy's desk, where she confidently placed her books and sat down.

"So..." She muttered, "Hopper, huh?"

"Shut up, Tat," Ross sighed, but she could see that he wasn't as annoyed as he sounded.

Tatiana pulled open her book, and copied down only three words, before the teacher's words sunk in.

"Wait..." She cast her eyes across to Kanon's empty seat, and felt her heard drop like a stone, "Where's Kanon?"

Ross shrugged, not fazed by her absence in the slightest.

Tatiana felt her pulse quicken, as she tried to think of a reasonable answer, other than 'she's in trouble'.

She didn't write another word for the rest of the class, or the next.

By the time lunch break came around, she felt like an emotional wreck. She was aware that Ross didn't understand the danger, and wished that she could explain it, but that would involve telling him of every lie she'd ever said to him, and she couldn't handle losing him as a friend.

She turned to corner to find Ross in their usual spot, leaning against a brick wall. He quickly flashed his phone behind his back as she approached him, fearful of a teacher. He chuckled as she sat down beside him, pulling his phone out again.

"Why're you so stressed? D'you forget about an assignment or something?" He mocked. When Tatiana failed to reply, his grin faded and stowed his phone in his pocket, "Hey... What's up?"

Tatiana was about to reply, when she heard a cheery voice call to her.

She slowly turned to see Kanon strolling over, her bag slung over her shoulder as though nothing was wrong.

"Oh, hey, K," Ross called casually, still frowning at Tatiana.

"Where have you been?" Tatiana snapped, racing towards her friend, "I've been so worried!"

Kanon shrugged, "I dunno. Not sure how you got here before me, I tried taking the shortcut."

Tatiana paused, and stepped back, "So, you didn't go home, or..."

Kanon shook her head, "No. I ran into that weird guy though. You know, the eavesdropper. He helped me up when I fell over, but he didn't say much," She seemed to think for a moment, "He wanted me to tell you something... Kind of odd, really... He said to tell you that "Badger did it". He said that you'd understand," She looked up at Tatiana expectantly, surprised to see that all colour had drained from her face.

Tatiana didn't know much about Badger, but she recalled that he was the one that wanted Vic dead, and wasn't scared to hurt others to get to him. She was sure that her heart stopped for a moment as the words sunk in. What had he done? Had he been the reason Kanon went missing? Why couldn't she remember it?