FoxTails

Chapter Four

Vanessa hadn't noticed how much her arms and back ached until now, in biology class. She rolled back her shoulders, once, twice, until she felt some sort of relief.

She sat behind a microscope on a tall grey seat with no back rest and only a small surface to sit on. Vanessa stared at where the window would have been if it had not been covered in a layer of thick concrete.

"Ms. Tails?" The biology teacher, Mrs. Vanderbelt addressed her.

"Yes ma'am?" Vanessa replied, startled.

"Would you answer the question for me?" Mrs. Vanderbelt pointed to the board. A powdery what is a crossbreed? covered the board.

Vanessa sighed in relief. She had studied up on this topic a day before.
It wasn't because she was some sort of nerd, but with all the stress her mother had already been burdened upon, keeping her grades up was the least she could do.

"A crossbreed is an organism with purebre-" Vanessa started.

"-d parents of two different breeds, varieties, or species," someone cut her off.

"Ms. Carmen. It's a nice thing to know an answer to a question, but it's another thing to interrupt. As you can see, Ms. Tails has a mouth, just like you, and she is fully capable of answering the question herself!"

Vanessa shot an angry glare at Marissa who sat in the row behind her. To her annoyance, Marissa just shook it off with a strug.

"Why'd you do that?" Vanessa hissed at her in a low voice and Mrs. Vanderbelt turned around to discuss why humans would purposefully crossbreed animals.

"What? Helping a friend out?" Marissa shot back.

"I didn't need help. And whose this friend? We. Are. Not. Friends." Vanessa seethed quietly.

"Ms. Tails! Is there something you and Ms. Carmen would like to share with the class?" Mrs. Vanderbelt said with a raised to and a slamming of her ruler on the wooden desktop of her desk.

"If we could. It would be a pleasure," Vanessa began. Quick thinking came easily to her, she could get herself out of nasty situations in the blink of an eye and could get away with anything, "me and Ms. Carmen we're just discussing whether it is right for humans to interfere with nature and crossbreed animals." Marissa nodded meekly behind her.

Mrs. Vanderbelt raised an eyebrow, but just shook her head, "very well, but I expect you to be paying attention during further lessons."

Vanessa nodded in agreement.

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(Guess what? It's Enzo's point of view!)

The pretty red head from gym still lingered in his mind. There was something unnerving a out her. Too agile, reaction speed inhumanly quick.

He combed threw his messy red bangs with his fingers, breaking past tangles of tiny knots.

It wasn't her physical abilities that scared him the most though. It was the fear that took her eyes when he looked down at her ankle. She shouldn't have anything to hide, unless she had some sort of embarrassing birthmark.

To be honest, he had chosen her to play because he was hoping to embarrass her. She looked so uptight like she thought that she was better than everyone else, but in the end, he had earned a new respect for her.

Enzo was just casually skipping class with James, Will, David, and Gabriel. It wasn't like they only participated in gym or that they were one of those "rebel" students who didn't show up to class consistently, it was just because they disliked algebra.

James looked a bit more tense than usual. He squirmed to reposition himself more, flipping the pages of his book scarcer than ever. It was strange to see him so restless, coming back through his hair and clicking his heels against the rough hallway floor.

"Hey, you OK, James?"

"Fine," James snapped back harshly, his wolf eyes flashing yellow and forming slits.

"Chill man," Enzo responded, throwing his hands in the air.

"You know how when we met each other, we could all feel a tightening in our chests that signaled we were pack members?" James mused loudly.

Enzo and the rest of the group straightened themselves and nodded in unison.

"I sort of felt that when the girl came over. It was just tighter, it hurt more. I wanted to topple over."

Enzo raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Will spoke, "I felt a tug too, but it wasn't that bad."

"What if," Gabriel said, joining in, "if the harder the tug, the closer they are too you? Maybe it's like your soulmate tug?"

"Shut up, Gabriel," Will snapped, "that's stupid. You can't be soulmates with someone you just met."

Enzo nodded with him,"Will's right." Then he spoke quieter, "for the first time."

Will grabbed him by his collar and pulled Enzo up to face him, "Hey, say that to my face, you limp noodle!"

Enzo bursted out laughing, "limp noodle?! Is that the best you could come up with?"

Will's cheeks reddened, "you try coming up with something."

"You guys fight like two circus monkeys battling over a washing machine!" David informed them.

Will and Enzo turned. "Huh?" Enzo questioned.

"You're fighting over something useless to yourselves," David explained to their confused expressions.

"But why specifically "circus" monkeys?" Will said.

David frowned, "I don't know," crossing his arms, "but that's not the point."

"Why a washing machine? Why not candy wrapper?" Enzo said, smiling cheekily, exposing dimples, at David's enraged look.

"You know what?!" David grumbled, "forget it. I'm not going to try bestow my wisdom on you oblivious mortals again."

"Wisdom?" Gabriel chuckled.

David was about to answer when a holler startled them.

Feel the burn......of a cliffhanger.
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