APUI: Volume 1 - My Life as a Werewolf

Chapter 29: I was Always Told I'm Socially Awkward

< 💣 B POV 💣 >

This was the reason I liked what I had scheduled on Sunday's. I enjoyed participating in dangerous activities such as today's rock climbing. If I fell off the wall here, no one would have any idea where I was, until I mindlinked them, and you can't mindlink anyone when your dead.

Out of the small backpack I was carrying, I grabbed my climbing shoes and a bag of chalk. I couldn't be stuffed to bring a harness and rig up a pulley and rope system, let alone buy them in the first place, so there wasn't any support system if I was to slip and fall to my death.

It surprising how many people think I'm utterly mad because climb unharnessed... my counter argument is that the danger helps me to focus my attention only on the task on hand, and gives me no room to think about other distracting topics part of everyday life.

I approached the wall and looked up the face. This cliff was approximately 20m high which meant I would get pretty tired near the end. However, it didn't overhang and had some easy resting places along the climb so it should be as easy as pie or Pi. And Pi for me is pretty darn easy.

I put my right hand on a hold and my left hand on a side wall that was on about a 60 degree angle to the main face. Next I jumped my feet on the wall and begun climbing.

About three metres off the ground I reached a tricky part in the wall and was forced to toe jam my right foot into a crack in the wall before using my left hand to bridge and free my left foot to push my body up the wall to reach the prime handhold for my right hand. I swung my left leg, grounded it on the wall, next to my hip, and pushed upwards, forcing me to release my right foot. Toppling over to the left now I reached and grabbed the gold for my right hand, badly grazing my palm in to process. Wincing, I heard Emmy shout 'I got it' before beginning to heal the cut. Unfortunately, due to Jackson's rejection Emmy struggled to heal larger injuries but this cut was healed in about three minutes while I continued climbing.

The rest of the wall was relatively easy, simply needing focus and strategy to get me up. A little over half way up I was bored so I bridged my two feet and leaned my shoulders against the side wall. I pulled my phone out of bikepants and checked my messages. Don't judge - I had no pockets so I just stuffed my phone down my pants. And if you're thinking its a cancer risk, you'll be glad to know that Emmy could probably heal that. All I would have to do was accept the bond between Jackson and I and then I would recover the strength I had lost during the past few weeks and I could also steal energy from Jackson to kill all the cancerous cells. But that would only happen if the situation became life threatening on my own.

I had messages on my phone asking about my wellbeing after last night. Abbey had asked
A- 'Were u all cool after I left last night'
B- 'I'm all cool :) 😊'
I replied.

I also got a message from Lora saying
L- 'So hun u and jack huh? ;) 😉 Are u ok?!?!? U got pissed drunk last night did anything shitty happen?'
I laughed at this portraying of the events and replied rather sombrely
B- 'I did didn't I? He marked me! I don't really remember wat happened but I did not give him fucking permission!!! Ugh I'm just pissed now, not pissed drunk, just pissed ;) 😉'
I sent that off and Lora immediately replied
L- 'Aww hun :( 😒 R u sure ur ok? That sucks... U hav a notoriously bad taste in dudes... How's headache ;) 😉'
B- 'Thnx babe ;) 😉 Lol, I didn't pick either of my guys! And yeah, I'll get over it, shit happens... I can't feel the headache - I hav experience with liquor remember ;) 😉 anyway exercise is getting it out of the way I didn't even notice it til right now'
L- 'Oh yeah, forgot ;) 😉 Lol we need to stop winking ;) 😉 '
B- ':) 😊 ;) 😉 :P 😝 ;P 😜'
L- ':O 😱'
B- '>:( 😡'
L- ':* 😘'
After I didn't reply for about 30 seconds Lora texted me again
L- 'Hun?'
L- 'Come on don't ignore me :( 😔'
L- 'Fine! Sorry!!! What type of exercise r u doing?'
B- 'Climbing'
L- 'Oh I should stop chatting with u then don't kill urself ;) 😉'
I smiled and laughed, knowing my prediction of a good day had definitely rang true.

I 'pocketed' my phone again seeing as I had not received a reply from either abbey or ash both of whom had inquired about my health, Ash's text being a particularly long and onerous message to read. She had been my closest friend for years and really cared about me, but we had grown apart due to her still being in her 'honeymoon stage' with her mate. I didn't really mind because I kind of replaced her with Lora but I must admit I was rather jealous of how simple her life was with mate.

Continuing climbing again I reached a stalemate about 2m from the top of the cliff. 18m off the ground, perfection was critical to my survival. I adjusted my position so I could move sideways. I traversed the cliff face to the left so I was now climbing the corner (I think it's called the 'ireet' however you spell that) effectively hugging the wall. Totally stuck, I made made a rash decision and decided to use my favourite move in this situation. To free up my right hand, I hooked the heel of my right foot onto a protruding rock to keep me from swinging to the left and being unable to grab the hold with my right hand. I f you haven't already noticed, I'm right handed and favour my right side to perform risky moves while climbing.

Hyperaware of my higher off the ground I did multiple nervous tests of my right foot's anchor point. Finally feeling confident and ready to get over this wall, I sunk my weight into my left foot before quickly and thankfully grab- "Hi" -bing the right handhold.

"Hold shit fuck oh my god" I cursed at the unwanted guest. "You don't talk to me while I'm doing a move like that!!! I could've fallen and DIED!!!" I scolded the intruder while adjusting my grip so I could see who had almost killed me.

To my unsurprise, it was Jackson smiling sheepishly up at me from the bottom of the cliff. From the bond I could easily detect nervousness, guilt and... pride? "You're good. You know that right?" He complimented me. "I was aware" I said rather coldly watching him flinch slightly from my tone "If I wasn't good I wouldn't be climbing a 20m cliff with no backup or harness" He rubbed the back of his neck and the nervousness increased.

"Umm" he started. I gave him my 'really' look. "I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed. "It wasn't my fault or Luke's!!!" I laughed. I should be mad. But I wasn't mad. I still couldn't seem to get particularly angry. Annoyance was there but anger... - I was more amused with the fact that people actually thought I would be super angry. I just wasn't. Turning back to the wall I shouted down to Jackson "it's cool" before beginning climbing the final couple of metres to the top.

I could feel Jackson's astonishment at my reaction and I chuckled. After the truly part the end of the climb was ridiculously simple. I was reaching over the top when I felt a shift in the atmosphere and the bond but I shrugged it off. I freed my feet and used my arms to push me over the top of the cliff. When I was about to put my first foot on the top of the cliff, Jackson or should I say Luke blurted something totally unexpected out.

"I LOVE YOU!"
My elbows faltered.
My concentration shifted.
My leg slipped.
And I screamed as I fell 20 meters down a cliff I had spent the past 20 minutes, including breaks, climbing up.

Luck was not on my side when it came to cliffs. In fact, I don't think it had ever been.

The last thought I had before landing on the ground, feeling my leg snap in half underneath me, was:

Okay, maybe today isn't as good day as I thought it was going to be.

-/:;()$&@"

A/N

I'm on a plane :)
✈️plane
💺seat
🌇City at sunset
🌆City
🏯temple (T&J)
🏭factory(T&J)
🗻mt Fuji (j)
🌄mountains (j)
🌅Ocean (t)
🌃City at night (I think it's supposed to be New York...)
🚊🚉🚞🚆🚄🚅🚈trains (j)

Bye!!!!!
<3 Grace

Right now I'm at Kuala Lumpur airport