Beyond The Forest's Edge (IN PROGRESS)

two

I woke up with a crick in my neck. Sleeping was a quite literal nightmare. I tossed and turned just imagining what could happen today. My anxiety levels were through the roof and nothing I could do would stop it. I'm usually level-headed and can handle stress relatively well, but today for some reason is just hell for me. That just makes this situation that much more ominous. Maybe i'm just being dramatic, but... maybe i'm not? What if my Dad is wrong? I mean, he doesn't know everything about my life. I keep a lot from him and I think if he knew that, he'd be cautious too. He doesn't know that Sanguines literally have us surrounded at the moment. He doesn't know how secretive they can be.

     Anyways, it's nearly Six AM. I need to get ready for school and make sure I don't miss my bus. It's never acceptable to start the year off like that.

     I got up out of my bed and stretched my back and arms. I felt groggy still since I only slept but 4 or 5 hours. I don't usually become overwhelmed by sleep, but when it's school time, that's the exception.

     I then got dressed and brought my backpack down stairs and tossed it next to the door as I made my way towards the kitchen where my Mom had been cooking eggs and bacon. The aroma of the breakfast filled the air around me and drew me in.

"Hello, sweet heart! It's the first day, Ezra, you need to eat a good breakfast so you can focus in class." She smiled, handing my a plate to fix my meal.

"Thank you, I appreciate it a lot." I grinned back and took the plate from her.

"Your father told me you're nervous for school. Why is that?" She asked me, laying down the spatula by the sink.

"Oh... uh... he told you that?" I asked, scratching my head. "Well, i'm just nervous for school because what if someone attacks me."

"Ezra. Why would they?" She asked me.

"Because! I'm not just a normal kid, tons of people are after me for being...ya know...." I said to her, then leaning in. "A werewolf."

"Oh! No one's gonna hurt you for that.. How would they even know?" She asked me.

"Ugh! I don't know okay! Dad keeps asking me the same thing and I just... Nevermind, okay." I said, throwing my face into my hands.

"Oh hon," My Mom said, placing her arm on my back. "You're just nervous and your mind is racing. Try not to overwork yourself, you usually are good with this."

"I know I am, I don't know why today's suddenly different." I said, looking out the window.

     Just then, the bus braked outside my house.

"Oh no! My bus!" I quickly scrambled to shovel food into my mouth and grabbed my backpack.

"Love you guys!" I said, slamming the door behind me.

     I got on to the bus and sat down in the first seat.

"Well someone's organized." The driver told me.

"Yeah... for sure..." I said, still catching my breath.

     I placed headphones in my ears and then looked outside the window. The trees looked like smears of greens, yellows, browns, and orange as we zoomed by. Each stop, more and more people packed into the bus and we were on our way to school. I don't know why I don't just drive, I have my license but no car. This ride isn't that bad though, however sometimes it does get a bit noisy. The sound of people screaming and yelling is much louder to my sensitive ears.

     Finally, we got to my school. Sevenbrick High School. It's extremely old and hasn't been updated much since it opened in 1968. Other than adding new technologies and repainting the old pealed walls, sometimes. By the time I got to school, the bell was going to ring soon so I just walked to my first block class. Human Biology. Fantastic, the werewolf is going to learn about human biology, thats rich.

     Suddenly, the first bell rang, signalling that class was about to begin.

"Hello class!" A beaming voice poured into the room like molasses. "I'm Mrs. Bolington or Mrs. B. This year, I will be teaching Human Biology to each and everyone one of you." She went on talking about the syllabus, the purpose of the subject and basically what we should expect to learn this year. Then, a knock hit the door.

"Yes, come in!" She said, peering at the door for a moment. It opened with a creak and a blonde haired boy walked in wearing a denim jacket and jeans.

"H-Hello. Sorry i'm late, traffic was awful." He said, handing her a tardy slip, he had a slight accent but I couldn't decipher what origin it was from.

"Don't worry about it, darling. Take a seat next to... Ezra. The boy in the middle row." She said, making eye contact with me.

He reluctantly walked over and layed his backpack next to me and sat down.

"Now, for the rest of the year, these will be your seats. Your table neighbor is your assigned lab partner." She informed us.

"So... I guess, now we're partners in this class." The boy looked over at me. "I'm Fuller, an exchange student from Norway."

"Oh, hello." I said shyly. "I'm... Ezra."

"So have you gone to this school very long?" He asked me.

"All four years." I sighed. "Unfortunately."

"Oh man, all my years of highschool have been at different schools all over the world. This school can't be too bad. I've been to schools in Japan, Switzerland, Ireland-" He began to say.

"Fuller! I'm reading the syllabus right now, surely your conversation can wait?" She asked of us with an artificial smile across her face.

"Right, sorry, Miss." He apologized.

I have a feeling that this isn't the last time Fuller and I are going to talk this year. Hopefully, our friendship will be somewhat normal and not based on lies.