The 'Shifters

Chapter 2

    "Are you kidding me?  He is such a nerd!" said a girl to her friend.  She flicked her bleach blonde hair to the side as nonexistent wind blew into her face.  "I would, like, totally stop being your friend if you liked him."

    Two girls were walking side by side down an empty street.  It was late at night and the lamp posts made an eerie glow as the girls walked along the sidewalk.

    "I never said that!" the other girl said.  "I was just mentioning that it was a little rude of you to knock Ryan down like that."  She remembered how her friend had shoved the boy earlier that day.  It was during lunch and he had landed on his lunch tray. He had gotten covered in spaghetti.

"You need to be a little nicer to people, Britt."

    Brittney rolled her eyes. 

“Whatever,” she muttered.  Her gaze traveled down to her friend’s neck. “Hey Shae, can I see your locket?” Shae touched the locket protectively.  “Come on, I just want to look at it.”

“Okay,” Shae muttered unsurely as she pulled it over her head.  A key rocked against the heart shaped locket as she dropped it in Britt’s opened palm.  She held it to the street light, making the gold surfaces gleam. 

“This would look fantastic with the dress I bought the other day,” she said.

“Britt, you can’t have it.  It has sentimental value.” Shae said.

“yeah, yeah, I know.”   She pulled a small make-up kit from her purse.  Snapping it open she re-applied some lipstick.  Into the tiny mirror, she winked at her reflection.  It was her Shae's turn to roll her eyes.  Britt looked at her friend, and turned her head slightly to the side.

    "You really need to use some Proactive, Shae," she said.  She turned and continued walking as Shae touched her face self cautiously.  Suddenly, Britt paused and nudged Shae.

    "Hottie alert," she hissed.  Shae looked up.  Sure enough, a teenage guy was leaning against one of the brick buildings, looking straight ahead.  He didn't seem to notice the girls, and if he did he wasn't showing any sign of it.  As they walked a little closer, Shae noticed that he had a scowl set on his face.

    The boy had messy red hair that came down to his neck and uneven bangs that partly covered his eyes.  They appeared to be an amber color, but it could have just been the light.  Britt looked at Shae with an I'm-going-to-go-for-it look and sashayed over to him. Shae followed behind, not bothering to make a move.  Britt always got first dibs.

    "Are you lost?" Britt asked.  She tilted her head slightly and brought her shoulder up some.  The boy blinked and looked at her.  His scowl didn’t even waver though.  Something about the way he looked at Britt made Shae think that he looked even more agitated.  She pushed that thought away.

    "No," he said simply.  Britt's flirty grin wavered slightly.  She batted her mascara thick eyelashes.

    "I'm Brittney," she said, her voice slightly higher.  She had a habit of doing that when she was nervous.  Whoever this was didn’t seem interested in her, despite her attempts.  She wasn’t used to being turned down and it was affecting her.  The boy’s eyes traveled from Britt to Shae, making her shutter under his intense gaze.

“Cool,” he said lamely, looking back at Britt.

 Shae looked a little closer at the boy, now noticing some odd things about him.

    What she had thought was a tan now looked like dirt.  His clothes were dirty too, not to mention ripped in a few places.  Also, to her horror, were two large scars running one shoulder, partially hidden by an old black hoodie.  They looked recently healed, but there was still a little bit of muddy black residue around them that looked shockingly similar to dried blood.  Shae's eyes widened.