Hunter's Moon

The Tour

The next morning I had to drag my butt out of bed. Even after taking a shower, the grogginess didn't leave me. Mom didn't look any better. We had a nine a.m. orientation planned and we both thought 7:30 was too early to get up. Mom didn't even bother to suggest making breakfast. She said we'd just get McDonald's—yuck.

Don't get me wrong, I used to love Mickey D's. That is, until you eat it so much it is literally your breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a whole week straight. You'd think a grandmother would want their grandchildren to stay healthy. Not mine. Grandma had given me fifty bucks and had told me to "go for it." McDonald's was the closest to the house that was cheap enough I could make that money last a week.

I told Mom to order me the hotcakes but she argued they weren't edible when riding in a car and bought me a sausage McMuffin instead. Well, it wasn't like I was going to use the syrup. I could eat pancakes plain. She made me eat the sandwich though, telling me I needed the "energy." If anything, the sausage patty was so greasy I was going to gain twenty-five pounds just by staring it.

Finally arriving at the high school, I jumped out before the car was even in park, much to Mom's displeasure. She crabbed at me for not being careful enough until we were through the doors and greeting the front desk lady, who kindly told us where to find the office, or, what they called, Student Services.

The principal was waiting for us and asked us to step into his office. He introduced himself but, honestly, I forgot his name right after he said it. Mom was nodding along with what he was saying—probably bragging about the school—and I tuned them out, choosing to take in the bland office that lacked anything to make it more personal. I guess he didn't want troubled teens to be checking out pictures of his family.

"I'm sure she can shadow a student if she likes," the principal said, looking at me expectantly.

"I'm sorry. What?" I asked.

My mother sighed. The principal smiled tightly. "If you would like, I could call a Student Council member up here for you to shadow for the day. Learn the school's layout and how classes are set up. If you would like," he repeated.

Mom looked at me and seemed to be probing me with her eyes, demanding I accept the offer. I sighed and leaned back in the chair, crossing my arms. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever."

"Excellent! I'll call Sophie Klemings. I'm sure she'll have no problem. She's great with new students. She would love to have someone shadow her. And she's great with kids."

Kids. Did I look young or something?

My mom asked what time she should pick me and took her leave, shaking the principal's hand before walking out without looking back. What was with her? I hoped it wasn't about what I said yesterday about Dad. I felt bad about it, but there was no way I was apologizing.

Sophie came up a couple minutes later, bouncing with excitement, her black curls going every which way. Her hazel eyes shone as she asked, "Are you Elizabeth? I'm so excited you're choosing Caledonia. You're going to love it here! You'll fit right in!"

I really hoped not. I didn't want to be all bouncy and ditzy like her. She was almost an overload of excitement, but it was also kind of uplifting—a nice change. I followed her back to her classroom as she chittered away about the school, the students, teachers, and the overall culture of the area.

The teacher asked me to sit in the chair in the back and I happily complied. Sophie said she'd meet me outside the door when it was done and I nodded in response. I sat in that chair for a grand total of thirty-four minutes before the entire class just got up and left.

Slowly, I made it out of the classroom. Sophie stood outside and grinned when she saw me. She told me each class was normally seventy-two minutes, but second macro was always longer to compensate for "CHS News." She went on to explain how lunches worked and said second lunch was her favorite only because it split her class.

When we were at her locker, two students walked by with snarls on their faces. The weirdest part was how everyone seemed to move to the edge of the hallway to let them pass. I looked after them and wondered what their problem was.

Sophie noticed. "Oh. Those two are Jason and Kat Faelen. Well, I guess its Katie now. If you call her Kat she flips out."

"Why do they look like that?"

Sophie shrugged. "There's a rumor going around saying their brother's missing or something. I don't know. I don't really get into gossip." She reached down to grab her history book. "Lincoln was cool, too. Super cute, funny, with the cutest dimples ever. Seriously, every girl who knew him wanted him." She sighed and I arched a brow. "Sure, Jason is good looking too, but he's no Linc. Jase seems more senile where Linc is nice."

"Are they triplets or something?"

Sophie laughed. "No. Lincoln's the oldest, and then Katie and Jase are twins. They're a year younger, not even. They're really only like eight months apart."

I nodded and we headed across the school to go to her history class, which was also upstairs. The stairs were so crowded I had to stay a step behind the person in front of me and had to squeeze over to the railing so no one would knock into me. Mercifully, we got to the classroom in one piece, after walking through a particularly stinky hallway.

"Freshman," Sophie whispered, wrinkling her nose. "None of them shower regularly so their B.O. lingers in the hallway."

"That's gross." At least freshman in Oklahoma didn't smell that bad. Then again, if you didn't shower twice in one day, it was kind of disgusting, unless you never went outside.

The teacher asked me my name, welcomed me to the school, and invited me to sit at the empty desk in the middle of the room. I felt exposed, so Sophie asked the guy who normally sat next to the desk I had taken if he wanted to swap. He accepted and immediately chatted it up with his desk buddy. Sophie handed me a pen and paper and suggested I take notes, even if I already knew it. It made the teacher feel better when his students looked busy. An agonizing half hour later, it was lunchtime.

Sophie informed me to leave my stuff on the desk and led me back across the school to the cafeteria, staying upstairs so I could survey the open room. I felt like an odd princess descending the stairs as I ran my hand along the railing.

I picked a few things from the snack corner and brought them to the lunch lady. She kept looking at me expectantly. Luckily, Sophie was behind me and told the lady she would pay for me before punching in and swiping her student ID. I tried handing her a couple dollars but she waved it away, telling me to keep my money. I thanked her but felt awkward.

Halfway through lunch, a huge commotion started by the front desk. A group of students were gathered around, all smiling and chatting. A deep rumble sounded from the middle on the crowd and I realized it was a guy talking.

"Oh, my God," Sophie breathed. "He's back!" She dropped her sandwich and got up, moving toward the crowd.

"Who?" I asked, but she was already out of hearing range. I followed her sheepishly, standing back a little from the group. I tried to look at the guy, but there were too many people. Then, the crowd separated to let the guy out and I froze. So did he.

Dark hair cascaded down his face, obscuring half of it. Green eyes narrowed as they saw me and his lush lips parted in an O. His nose flared and his muscles locked up. He was built, too. More than a normal junior in high school should've been. He stood at least six feet tall, which made him look like he was at least in his mid-twenties. He had a couple cuts on his arms but they didn't look major.

"There you are!" Sophie exclaimed as she grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the mysterious boy. She waggled her eyebrows. "Getting the hots for Lincoln all of a sudden, Elizabeth?"

"That was Lincoln?"

She laughed when I turned around to try to see him again. But he had vanished. "Uh, yeah. Who else could look that devastatingly gorgeous?" She laughed again when I tried to find him among the crowd. "Come on, girl, or we'll be late for class."