Anchor | Rafael Waithe [1]

02 | mundane

two
mundane.

HALF AN HOUR later, Isabelle gingerly knocks on the hard oak door of Dr.Saltzman's office. Most students are currently at the fields, watching the Wickery game. She's on the team, but she decided to skip today's game.

She waits patiently for him to open the door, bouncing on her heels gently as he opens the door. He looks at her like he's been expecting her and opens the door wider, motioning for her to come in. She does so, taking a seat in the chair by his desk. He closes the door firmly behind him before sitting in the rolling chair behind his desk.

She crosses her arms across her chest, sitting back in her chair to get relaxed. She then raises an eyebrow at him, slowly taking in his appearance. He looks a bit disheveled, like he's been thrown off guard by something. "How'd it go with the mundane, Landon?"

"You shouldn't call humans 'mundanes,' Isabelle," he reminds her, not liking when she calls humans by that word, especially when he's human himself. "It has a derogative tone."

"Right," she nods, giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry, Dr.S."

He shrugs, rubbing his temples tiredly. "And not good. MG tried to compel him, but it didn't work."

"He's on vervain?" The blonde infers, growing amused. Vervain isn't easy to get ahold of for humans in this state, because it doesn't grow in Virginia anymore. Not naturally, anyway. But the town sheriff, Matt Donavan, sometimes finds a way to slip it into some of the town's town's drink supplies. That must be how Landon got it into his system.

"That's what I'm thinking," Alaric answers, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "He's in the cellar. We have to wait until the vervain leaves his system. MG's gonna try again tomorrow."

Isabelle scrunches her nose, having a special hatred for the cellar. It's where the school's werewolves get locked up during the full moon. She's been down there before with her ex-boyfriend, Jed, and it's not exactly somewhere she wants to be willingly. It's cold and claustrophobic. Isabelle knows deep down that if she ever triggers her werewolf curse, she'll probably find herself down there a couple of times a month and the thought of it makes her anxious.

"Okay, well, I have homework to do, so I'm gonna go," she lies, the false words coming from her her lips with ease. She forces a smile before standing up and excuses herself, shutting the door gently behind her.

She then goes to her room and changes into a white sweater and a dark miniskirt. After pulling on her Dr.Martens, she trudges through the woods in search of the party Josie told her about earlier.

A grin finds its way to her lips once she hears the familiar sound of a bad rap song and she knows she's in the right place. She follows the sounds to an old abandoned building in the middle of the woods and sees some of her classmates already partying. They all have drinks and Isabelle doesn't hesitate to grab one.

She begins to dance along to the music, putting her hands above her head and swaying. She makes her way around the party alone for a while before running into Rafael. He's by himself, which makes sense since he's new.

"Hey, Raf," she greets him, biting her lip nervously. Lizzie had a breakdown earlier, because she likes him and accidentally made a remark about being glad he's single. That wouldn't of been a bad thing if his girlfriend hadn't died in the car accident that he accidentally caused last month. "So... I heard about what Lizzie said to you earlier, and I just wanna apologize. We're both really sorry about what happened to you."

"Thanks," he sighs, appreciating her words. "I had gotten a track scholarship to UVA. She was gonna follow me after graduation. She was the best person I knew. Pretty much loved her the way that they say only exists in movies."

At this, Isabelle frowns, finding herself glancing in the direction of the school's pack of werewolves. She looks somberly at the alpha werewolf, thinking about all of the memories she'd shared with him, good and bad. "I loved someone like that once, but it was a long time ago. I'm trying to move on, you know."

"How's that going?" He questions, catching her off guard for a moment. She gives him a sideways look, as if silently asking him to elaborate on that. "Moving on?"

"I've tried," she admits sheepishly, feeling herself blush. "Sorry, it's just... nobody's asked me how I'm doing with that. Not until you, anyway. Here, everybody have their own problems. They don't have time to worry about how I feel, especially since I'm always worrying about other people."

"Well, it's good you're trying," he insists as the pair exchange troubled glances, like they both know how having a broken heart feels.

"You should try to move on, too," Isabelle suggests, breaking eye contact with him, ignoring the fact that her heart flutters when he looks at her. She knows Lizzie likes him, and she'd never do anything to hurt her friend. "Maybe with Lizzie?"

UNEDITED