The Hale Pack

Family, Friends and Good Old Enemies

“Alright everyone, have you all got everything?” Derek asked the kids as they made their way out of the minivan. He was met with a sea of yes’s and excited babble. After 5 years of homeschooling the pack decided it was a good time for the kids to experience blending into the world. The pups were starting their first day of 6th grade school today, at Beacon Hills Elementary, and the excitement blended with their nerves at the same time.

“Have a great day kids!” Stiles yelled out of the driver’s window as he and Derek watched the pups make their way into the school.

“God, they grow up so fast” Stiles said, still staring at the pups lovingly. The minivan engine started up again as they snail trailed their way out of the busy parking lot and away from the school.

As the kids made their way into the school, they made sure to stick together. “I wonder if they have a sports team!” Justin said to the pack, jumping excitedly, met with a glare from his twin. Laura rubbed the vine ring around her finger nervously, it was the only thing that helped her keep her magic under control, but even it couldn’t completely contain her ever-growing power. Grasping the necklace hiding beneath her shirt she squeezed her eyes shut and breathed in slowly…

“You’ll be fine” Abbey whispered reassuringly, taking in her sister’s stiff posture.

“Just enjoy the day!” James added wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Being a head and a half taller than her; she was James’ favourite leaning post.

The three of them had grown quite close, and were virtually inseparable, the twins, Justin and Callum; and Adrian generally stuck together, and Lyra was usually off with other friends. Lyra had a strange knack for meeting people; it seemed that everyone she spoke to instantly fell for her charismatic personality. Being the only non-supernatural child, Lyra tended to like being around others like her. However, if one pup ever needed help, the other six would be right there behind them.

When the bell went, the nerves overflowed, drowning out the excitement. As they followed the other students into the main hall, the looks of terror on their faces were identical, well, all except Lyra, who already had a group of people surrounding her and laughing about something she had said. Each of the pups still wore their necklaces, but tucked them under their shirts to avoid drawing attention to them. Laura looked down and saw the blue light shining through her shirt. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, the necklace slowly faded. Lyra turned slightly to look back, concerned. Abbey, who noticed this, nodded slowly to Lyra and took Laura’s hand softly as they sat down to be sorted into their classes.

Abbey, Callum and Adrian were put in the same class. Lyra, Justin and James were together. This left Laura all on her own, in a group full of people she had never met. As they all walked off, they shared a nervous look at each other, mainly directed at Laura, her face lowered to the ground. They all knew how she could lose control if she was scared… and she was ultimately terrified… they could smell it.

“Hello children, my name is Mrs. Beady, and I will be your teacher for this year!” an excited teacher told her class. She seems nice… Laura thought. But what would they do if they knew what I was… Laura tried not to think about it. The day was going ok, like when it’s overcast but not quite raining…yet. They worked on the basic math problems from the text book, attempting different solutions as Mrs. Beady assessed the student’s skill levels. Laura was mediocre at maths; it was definitely not in her top 5 skills… probably not even in her top 10. Adrian is going to be in heaven here, Laura mused quietly to herself. All the pups knew how much Adrian loved maths, loved learning in general, she had the skill down to a T and often expanded on her many theories to the rest of the pack, whether they wished it or not! They moved onto art class and worked on some painting. Laura’s painting was quite good, her love for art showed through her work at a much more advanced rate than all the other kids. She had painted a single lone wolf; standing at a precipice as it howled at the moon, above it a fairy twinkled, reaching out as if to touch the wolf, the painting was cold, and melancholic in its representation. As the teacher inspected them all, she made positive comments about each one. Yet when she got to Laura’s, she paused for a moment, her face unreadable, pursed lips that seemed to take in each factor of the painting.