Tusks

Chapter 1: Tusks

"Hey wait up!"

Erin's feet slowed as he stepped up to his locker and began taking out a few books he needed for his first three classes. He already attached a face to the voice that had called out to him, and knew that his friend, Wolf, would be by his side in moments.

"Hey man, did you see the new kid?" Wolf asked as he stopped next to him.

New kid? It's already March. Who the heck would transfer here, first of all, and why after midterms?

"No, I haven't." Erin replied.

"He's freaking tiny! He's a senior but like, five foot nothing." Wolf said.

That was a bit weird, but he didn't think that it was a big deal.

"He probably is just a small animal shifter or has stunted growth. It happens." Erin replied with a shrug as an image of Arron flashed into his mind for a moment. He hoped that everything was going well and that Rylan was treating him right. He'd been keeping up with him and their kid, Roan, but school had kept him quite busy.

A hand settled on his shoulder as he shut his locker, making Erin roll his eyes. Wolf leaned in and whispered in his ear with a smirk. Incoming poor joke.

"What if he's a mouse?" The guy said.

That had Erin shoving him away with a grunt of annoyance.

"He's not going to be a darn mouse!" He grumbled.

Erin wasn't one to bully because there really was no reason for such things, but he just couldn't stand mice. He was ashamed to admit that he had killed a few in his life time. No shifters, though, of course.

As Wolf leaned in again to pester him Erin allowed some of the skin around his eyes to crinkle and flare grey, warning him to back off with the mouse jokes that were surely waiting on the tip of his tongue. Wisely, Wolf figured out that he wasn't in the mood to joke around and quickly disappeared back into the crowd.

I don't want to be an ass to him, but I just don't feel like being picked at right now.

By the time Erin stepped into his first period English class he noticed that he was late.

Crap.

"Hello Erin. While I know that elephants enjoy taking their time on things, I suggest that you make getting to class before the late bell rings, a priority." His teacher said sarcastically.

Blowing out a sigh, Erin shrugged and sauntered to the back of the class to sit down. He knew that ignoring the teacher would probably make him his target for the mday, but at least he'd remembered to study his notes the previous night, just in case. As he began getting out his notebook and pencils, he heard the door open and grinned.

Good, another late student. Maybe the teacher can just take out his PMS on them.

Grayson's body was literally shaking as he stood, stock-still, in front of the door to his English classroom. It had taken him a good twenty minutes to find it, but now that he was there he wanted to run away. His mother had said that starting public school after being home-schooled for so long would be frightening, but she hadn't told him that there would be so many kids. He reached up nervously to tug at his small black collar, calming slightly when he heard the faint bell ring.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. The little voice in his head squeaked over and over until he finally bit his lower lip and reached toward the door. The second he stepped inside he wanted to run again, but instead he straightened his shoulders and shakily walked over to the teacher.