Chapter 1: Alex

Alex and Alessa first arrive in Wyoming.

We moved from North Carolina to Wyoming. The plane ride was awful. I got stuck behind a crying baby and I sat with a very flamboyant guy. I pushed him away and yet he tried to cuddle again. We landed with ease though. The drive from the Airport to my new home was tiring. My house wasn’t surrounded by any houses. We lived out in the middle of nowhere. There were many trees and bushes. The nice thing was that we had our own lake. Which many animals tend to live near.

            It was sort of like North Carolina, but I wasn’t surrounded with many familiar houses. The house that we lived in was a semi cabin. You had to walk up six steps to the door. The patio over viewed the lake more clearly and I could see the new scenery of mountains and trees. The mountains had a giant blanket of snow covering it. It looked peaceful; a little too peaceful.

            I didn’t like it. I wasn’t used to a peaceful life. I was used to hanging with my friends and just having a blast at down town parties. I guess I would have to get a used to it since I was the reason to our move. Well, it wasn't just me. My sister had a helping hand too.

            We unpacked most of the stuff and my mom started cooking for dinner. My aunt and uncle were coming over because they didn’t live far from us. Plus they needed to give us our new car.

             My mom was franticly rummaging through boxes to find the right spices for her special spaghetti. She burst open another box or two and couldn’t seem to find what she was looking for; not until my dad came in with another box that was labeled spices. My sister opened the box and grabbed the spice my mom was looking for.

She smiled at him and said, “Thank you.” My dad just smiled back and went out doors. I followed right behind him.

            “What’s up?” I asked. My dad looked worried about something or something was bothering him deeply.

            “Your mom, she asked me to talk to you and your sister about this whole situation.” He said.

            “That’s not what is really bothering you. I know that. Come on, mom doesn’t want you to talk to me about the move, about me losing my friends and starting a new life. Or why we fucked up everything for us in North Carolina. What’s really bothering you?”  I wanted to know. I couldn’t just let him not tell me that he was being bothered by something.

            “Language."  He said and continued, "She does want me to talk to you about it, but I guess you caught me. You’re a really great observer Alex. Well, what's really bothering me is the move. Don't tell your mother I told you this, but the company wouldn't transfer my papers over here. I have no job as of now."

            “Whoa dad, that's big. I wonder if you...” My aunt and uncle pulled up before I could finish my sentence. I waved and ran down to greet them.

            “Aw, Alex you’ve grown so big!” My aunt Mae exclaimed. She gave me a hug and Uncle Drake shook my hand.

             “It’s good to see you guys again. My mom’s cooking dinner.” I told them.

            “Rosie’s always cooking something isn’t she?” Drake laughed.

            “No doubt. She’s making her special spaghetti with Alessa.” Dad told him as he hugged his brother-in-law. When he said that Uncle Drake rubbed his belly and licked his lips. My mom’s spaghetti was his favorite. He raced inside. My guess was that my parents haven't told them the reason for the move.

            “Always thinking with his stomach.” Mae said. We laughed.

            We walked inside and Drake was talking with mom about her spaghetti. I went upstairs to my new room. It was a white colored room and it was big enough for me and maybe Max, our German Shepard. It was actually pretty roomy. I had boxes upon boxes staked in my room. It made it harder to get towards the bed.

I had a balcony just for me. It had a better view of the lake and even beyond that. I looked out in the distance. That’s when I seen them. For the first time I’ve seen wolves. Real wolves with my own eyes. Not just in magazines or on the TV, but in real life. I was curious now. More curious than I ever been about something in my whole life. One stopped and glanced at me. It felt like it was studying me. Who I was. It acted more human than wolf.

            “Alex!” I heard my sister yelled from the stairs. “Dinner time!”

            I sighed, “Coming!” I turned around to see if they were still there. They weren’t there anymore, must have moved on. I walked inside and went down stairs. Dinner was on the table. Drake was sitting at the table already fork in hand and napkin neatly tucked into his shirt. I couldn’t help but smirk at him. He smiled a hungry smile and I sat down joining my family. My father served dinner and I poured drinks. Unfortunately I was still under the age to have wine and so my parents kept it away from my sister and I. Drake snuck me a sip or two. We dug into the spaghetti. It was even more delicious as ever. Then my mom spoke up first to break the silence.

            “So, how does it taste?” My mom smiled.

I looked around the table. My dad was chewing a mouthful as he put a thumbs up. Aunt Mae looked at her plate that was nearly gone. Uncle Drake was taking seconds of spaghetti. While my sister and I just took in the view of faces eating.

 “It's so good!” Mae said.

            They started a discussion about the wild life here. We found out that there were moose, elk, bears, and foxes. They especially love coming to our house.

            “What about wolves? Do they live around here?” I asked.

            My aunt had a grim look flash on her face, “There are wolves around here. Three packs actually. We’ve named them to keep track, but it always seems like two of the three packs wonder off the grid. We don’t know where they’ve gone. It’s just weird for wolves to do that.”

            My aunt was part of the Wildlife refuge center. She'd been studying the wolves around here for quite sometime now. It was weird for wolves to do that. They never just leave their area.

            “Do they come by the lake often?” I asked. I wanted to take a risk and maybe go find them. They have me so curious. I just want to take pictures of them. I used to take a lot of pictures of things. It’s just that wolves would be my first animal that I had interest in.

            “Yes, quite a lot actually.” Drake said.

            I deviously smiled. My aunt gave me that look that I knew all too well. It was the don’t-go-looking-for-trouble look. I looked around the table as I ate.

"I know what your thinking young man, do not go looking for them wolves." My mom said.

"Chill, I won't." I lied. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. I might as well take a hobby in photography like I did in North Carolina.

"I know you to well, Alexander." My mom said. I shook my head and picked up my plate. I walked towards the sink and placed it in. I was done eating. I didn't say "may I be excused" or anything polite. My mom kind of pushed it to the limit. Thats like her though. I didn't mean for what happened in North Carolina. It wasn't entirely my fault.

I walked to my room. I went to the balcony and I heard the wolves singing to one another. It sounded melodramatic. I heard footsteps from behind me and then a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked at my sister who stared at me with a smile.

"They sound amazing." She said. I shook her hand off my shoulder.

"Yeah." I said.

I walked towards my bed without looking her in the eyes. I flopped down my head on the pillow, my eyes staring at the ceiling. She let out a sigh and looked down at me.

"You know, you can tell me whats up. It's not entirely you're fault for why we moved," she hesitated, "We're still best friends, right?" She tried to be sympathetic. She was right though, it wasn't entirely my fault. We both had a part in why we were in Wyoming. We both meddled in what we shouldn't have and Alessa was only trying to help this time and not get us killed.

She sat down next to me and poked at my leg. "Come on, I don't want to be here as much as you do, but I am trying my best."

I scoffed, "That's easy for you, but you're not the one who is getting hounded by mom and dad about how much of a bad kid you are. She looks at me because I am the boy, and I am the influencer." I finally sat up heated with anxiety. I stared at her waiting for her to make a snotty remark, but instead I heard the words I wasn't really expecting.

"You're right. We may be twins, but I see that mom treats me as the baby girl. She treats me as if I am the spoiled rotten princess, but I don't want to be. Do you see why I thrive for the lectures that I rarely receive. That's why mom and dad bicker." She lay down next to me.

I looked down at her this time and she looked at me. My sister was the only person I could confide in, but I could tell that since the move we we're going to drift apart. It bothered me that it would end like this, and deep down I knew that we needed some time to ourselves. We would live in this house together, but wont speak to one another.

"This is it isn't?" She begun to say, "We're not going to be as close as we were, are we?"

I had everything in my power to not shed a tear like a sissy boy. I did, however, nod in agreement as she got up and walked out the door with cheek stained tears.

 

A week and a half later...

 

It was the end of summer. We had one day left before my sister and I embarked on our journey through a different high school. We still hadn't talked since we first moved here. Even when we were supposed to do chores together we kept quite and it bothered our parents.

As days planned out, tomorrow will be interesting. We now had two cars, one for my sister and I to share, and the other for my parents to share. My dad finally found two jobs that he took on the spot, just in time, cause mom was asking questions. My mom was a waitress at a locals coffee shop. In the mornings they would take turns driving, but in the end it was always dad driving home. Mom would drive to the coffee shop at 8 o'clock, then dad would drive from there to his first job which was at 9. They both would get done at twelve and dad would have a little time to grab a bite to eat before 2 o'clock. Then he would finally come home at six and be so dog a*s tired he'd fall asleep in the chair, and sometimes on the couch. It was like this almost everyday. It all sounds like a waste of time having two low-cut jobs, but to dad it kept him busy and he liked being busy so he didn't have to think about what his children had done to ruin his daily routine in North Carolina.

I had to keep busy myself as well, so I wouldn't talk about what happened. I grabbed my camera and set out to find the wolves, under the noses of my parents.

The night before school I had ran into them. I stood from a distance and watched them. They acted so different than I expected them. I sat in the shrubs and watched them for hours. I guess my sister had the same thought cause I'd seen her in a nearby bush snapping photo's. She was also a photographer. We had taken the class together, but there was a difference in our photo's. Mine were okay, but her's always turned out fantastic. I couldn't be compared to that. She was practically good at everything, art, basketball, and even chorus. I had all I could do to keep up.

When we bumped into each other we startled the wolves. I was surprised that they didn't run away like my aunt tells me wolves should. They could be hybrids, wolf-dogs. I guess they were as intrigued by us as we were to them.

One of them was so close to us we could almost touch her. I even reached out my hand, but she nipped at it and ran away with the rest of the pack.

"Are you an idiot." It was the first few words that I have heard from Alessa all week.

I got up and brushed off, "Must be." I started heading towards the house. I had to keep going otherwise I would have turned to talk to her fully and I can't give in now.

That's when I felt her hand on mine, "Wait."

She was out of breath and couldn't get the words out that she wanted too. "I-I can't," Deep breath in, "I can't stand this, not talking to you. It's killing me, and how am I going to go to school with knowing no one, but my brother?" She finished speaking and I gave a sigh.

"Alessa, I hate not talking to you too, but every time we talk to one another something happens. We get into trouble, and I don't want trouble here. Not anymore. It's either you coming up with some brilliant plan or me. I just don't want that anymore." I told her my true feelings. I could see the tears wielding up, but I didn't take note of it. I walked away and her hand let go of me. I didn't let it get to me. I didn't cry either like I once would, like when we first arrived here. I didn't want to show that side, not anymore.

I returned to the house and went upstairs. My parents haven't arrived home yet and I wanted to download those pictures I had. My room was finally unpacked, and I had set up my laptop on the desk. I had one picture in mind that I wanted to print. It was of the black wolf. It seemed like she was the only black one and she had my heart. I am not saying I am in love with a wild animal, but she stood out to me. It was her human like blue eyes staring at me. It wasn't like she wanted to eat me, but get to know me as well. Maybe I'm thinking it's like that, to have a wolf as a dog. I have Max though, and he's a great dog, but there was something about that wolf.

I finally sat down at the computer shifting through the photos that had finally downloaded. I shifted though them and then I stopped at the one photo with whom I am going to call Luna. She was pretty, her ebony fur shined under the sun, and her eyes. At a quick glance it looked as though they were really human. They seemed to pierce my soul. I couldn't look at them any longer. Instead I took notes on them.

There were two big brown males. One of them was a darker shade of brown than the other. I named them all. I couldn't just leave them unnamed since I named Luna. The dark brown one was licking Luna in one of the photos I had. Maybe that was her mate, though they look young. Then there was the white one and the light gray one next to him. Then there was the gray one who seemed as though he was alone, but he had the runt next to him.

I then heard the door open down stairs and slam hard. It was enough to shake the windows. It was 12 o'clock in the afternoon my guess it was my parents coming home, but they wouldn't slam the door. I rushed to see who was the cause of the noise, maybe it was Alessa.

I came down and found I was right. She stood by the door frightened as all hell. I ran down the stairs to get a better look. There were three wolves that I haven't seen before circling our front porch smelling. She looked up at me.

"What the f**k were you doing?" I had to ask her.

"I went to look for the wolves again, okay. Then I found them, but they were fighting with six others, two of them spotted me and chased me. I barely made it inside when one of them ripped a piece of my shirt." She said short of breath. Then we both looked out the window, they were gone. Until one jumped up barking and growling. We locked the door and bolted upstairs.

"Did they bite you?" I asked her looking at her shirt.

"No, not even a scratch." She said lifting up the ripped part. She was right, no wounds on her perfectly skinny side.

I sighed a relief. Then went back downstairs. The wolves had gone, hopefully, away from here. It was confirmed when my parents pulled up to the house and got out. I held my breath every step they had took just in case the wolves were out of eyes view. When mom unlocked the door she asked me what had me so worried. Before I could speak my sister fabricated a lie. She had told mom that she was tanning on the patio when she heard a notice from under her. She quickly put on her pants and shirt and walked off the patio to see what it was. Then she said it was a wolf and it spot her and chased her into the house. Where she then yelled to me for back-up.

My mom believed her lie and simply stated how we're not aloud out of the house unless it's upstairs in our balcony. Alessa sighed a deep long, why me, sigh. Then we parted our separate ways Alessa went to her room and I went back to mine, scrolling through pictures of the wolves I took.

I had almost a hundred pictures I took and they all had one particular wolf I was looking at. Luna. It turned to 10:13 pm when I was finally done looking at them and colliding them. I was tired, but a part of me wanted to go outside and look for them. That wouldn't be feasible at night. I got up and went to the balcony for one last look out. I heard the, in the distance. There song they had sang was a majestic type. I went to bed listening to that song.

 

The next morning, I woke to the annoying song of my alarm clock. I was practically groggy from lack of sleep. I groaned as I got up. It was the first day of our new school. I didn't want to go, but it had no choice. I had to finish school whether it's my junior year or not. It was my moms rules and I had to stick by them to please her, and make up for what we've done in North Carolina. So, there I stood at my dresser contemplating which shirt to wear on this glorious morning. It was a toss between my normal gray v-neck or the new faded glory tee my mom had gotten me. I wasn't the one to pick out cloths. Usually my, overly perky, sister would help me, but that wasn't the case today. We hadn't talked much after the wolf problem and I wasn't going to break my promise in not talking to her.

I went down stairs, backpack in hand and looked out the window. I was cautious of the other pack. I didn't know if they where some rabid wolf trying to eat us. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around to face my dad.

"Hi." He said smiling. "I heard that your sister had a run in with a wolf?"

"Yeah, I was just making sure that wolf hadn't come back." I said to him and smiled a half a*s smile.

"Have you been talking to Alessa, other than yesterday?" He asked my abruptly.

"No, not really. Why?" I confessed.

"Just wondering. Usually you two are inseparable. What changed?" He questioned me like a drill Sargent.

"Just needed space."

"Well, you two need each other. Remember that." He said as he walked away to grab his coat. He yelled to my mom and then they were off.

After that Alessa and I had gone too. Alessa managed to squeeze a few words out of me throughout the whole drive to school. Darn dad and his talks. We reached the school a little after 7. The bell hadn't rang yet and we had time to go to the office to get our schedules.

As we walked in I felt like time stood still. All the students stopped and looked at us with their gawking eyes. There faces mesmerized by us. I can't ever recall whenever I had been looked at like this.  It was a weird feeling, but I glanced at my sister who looked as though she was ravishing in their eyes. I shook my head at her as we walked in the office.

The lady at the desk smelled of over powering cheap perfume. Her face seemed to shined as if she didn't have anything better to do, but help us out. She wore the practical old lady's cloths; the cardigan buttoned to hear chin, a beaded necklace, and glasses down on the very tip of their noses. She looked up at us and put in a fake smile.

"You two must be the new kids." She said.

My sister gave her a look that could cut glass. I bet she was thinking of a snotty response, but she wouldn't have say it. Instead we both nodded giving her a smile.

"Anderson?" She asked looking through the papers she had on her desk.

"Yes, I'm Alexander Anderson, and this is Alessa." I said to her as she handed us our schedules.

"Do you want someone to show you where your lockers are and your first class?" She asked us.

My sister agreed. I guess she was hoping to get a handsome guy, cause when a girl came in she frowned. On the other hand, for me, she was cute. She was tall, but not tower my 6" 2'. Probably 5" 3' or 4'. She had gorgeous, long, wavy auburn hair. Her skins was partially white, but it looks like she's been out tanning. She wore a tribal red and black dress that came up to her knees. Her face was heart shaped and held no makeup. She looked at if she ran track or played a sport. She was perfect in my eyes.

Alessa walked up to her and greeted her before I could get a word out. She smiled at my sister and I nearly melted. Is this what crushing on someone feels like? My thoughts began to wonder in a mystical dream. I walked up to her and held out my hand.

"Hi, um," I couldn't breath, I nearly choked out the words as they got all mixed up, "I'm your-your beautiful." I sounded really lame. I wanted to kick myself. If only I had Alessa's charmed outspokenness.

"Thank you, my name is Shiloh Thomas." She said her voice sounding like harps playing above.

"If I were you I'd stay away from him," my sister said laughing at me, "he's trouble." I shot dangers at her.

"My name is Alex." I finally said. We started walking out of the office and down the hall. Towards a set of stairs. Alessa chatted with the her new friend while I just stared gawking at her. I couldn't get her voice out of my head. I had to tell myself to chill, that this is the first day of school. I didn't know her, but I wanted too.

"So, why did you guys moved here?" She asked in a perky tone.

"Let's just say, a whole lot of s**t went down back at home." My sister smiled. I grew sad.  I didn't know how to put what we had done into words. I had to think about it myself, and to think about it would mean to relive it, and I was not ready to relive that. So, I just nodded in agreement. We did technically f**k things up.

"Seems like you've guys been in a pickle. How are you liking it here?" Shiloh asked as we rounded the corner to a long hall full of lockers.

"Its okay, I mean, the wolves behind our house are just amazing. We took pictures of them yesterday." I said my words spilling out.

I seen Shiloh face grew red, and then she swung around to face me. Her eyes showed something I couldn't quite put my finger on it. My sister turned to her staring.

"What's wrong?"Alessa asked.

"It's just that, the wolves are scary creatures. I live deep in the forest my self, and one time they came, and they attacked my father and mother. My mother died because of them." Shiloh said through clench teeth. Her story sounded made up, but I didn't bat an eye about it. She could make up anything and I would go along with it. Alessa looked at her with shock in her eyes.

"I'm sorry he brought up the wolves." She said.

"It's not a big deal. So, your schedules. Let me see them?" Shiloh asked and Alessa and I handed ours over. Shiloh looked down at it and smiled.

"Your in quite of few classes of mine," Shiloh smiled at Alessa, "Your lockers are next to each other too." She laughed.

I was trying everything in my power to avoid talking to my sister. Now, I had a locker next to hers? This is going to be difficult. I just wanted this year to go away, fast. I sighed and grabbed my paper. Shiloh led us to our lockers and other students stopped, stared, and whispered. My nerves were shot and I had lost all feeling in my hands. I was anxious to get to class.

"Alessa you have 1st period with me."Shiloh mused as I fumbled with my locker. I punched it cause I kept getting the numbers wrong. My sister looked at me as I grew more pissed off. I let out a growl. Then someone was on my other side laughing.

"That's not how you open a locker." The voice was feminine. I looked to see who was there. She looked almost cat-like with her narrow eyes. She smiled and showed perfect pearly whites. Her hair was a dirty blond, pin straight. She pushed me out of the way and it felt like I've been pushed with something hard. I grunted.

"Oh Sarah. You don't have to be so harsh." Shiloh gritted her teeth, and under her breath I swear I heard a growl come from her pretty little lips.

"Oh he's a big boy. He can handle a little girl like me." She laughed and grabbed my schedule. She unlocked my locker for me and I glared at her.

"There." She said and then another person came over towards her, well, not just one other. There was a smaller boy, who looked to be 15, and a quite muscular boy who was about my age. He looked at me and grunted. He was almost taller than me weighing about the same. His hair was a a lighter blond than the Sarah chicks. My sister gawked at him. The 15 year old was dirty blond and held the same features as Sarah.

"Well, hello new comers." The blond hair guy said voice deep with enthusiasm.

Sarah looked at him and smiled. She looked at the 15 year old and rolled her eyes.

"Tanner, listen, stop following him like a lost puppy." She growled.

"I am not a puppy!" He scoffed.

The guy came closer to Alessa and Shiloh. He did a weird hand gesture to Shiloh and she nodded. Then two others came over to join the conversation. One of the boys had text books in his hand. He would have fit the bill with the nerds without glasses. He smiled at me and tried to hold out his hand to gesture a hand shake. I took it, shook, and released.

"James is the name and reading is my game." He laughed at his little joke and the blond guy pushed the books out of his hands.

"Whoops." He laughed and I glared, bending down to help James with his text books. One of the books read, "How to Get The One You Love Most Fall for you?" He quickly snatched it back and blushed.

I couldn't help but chuckle a little, "So you like to read. I do a little reading myself." I told him.

"At least there is someone in this bloody school who enjoys reading a good book here or there." James said and glared at the blond hair boy.

Alessa stepped forward to get a better look at James. She smiled at him as she picked up the last text book. She took his hand and shook it, "I'm Alessa. It's nice to meet you." She gave one of those smiles that I knew well. After that she turned to blond hair boy.

"As for you, that wasn't nice. Apologize now." She only used that tone of voice when she got real angry. The man grew red as if he was the victim. He stretched and a smile rose. I quickly rose and stood in front of her making sure he wasn't going to hurt her.

Then the other boy who was with James said, "Nick, enough." It was more of a demand than a playful gesture.

"Oh I was fooling. Sorry, James. You know me, and how we roll. Are we cool brother?" He said to James. James got off the floor and brushed himself off. He nodded not saying a word. I could see now that James was his brother. His hair was similar to his and so wasn't his eyes.

The other boy who chimed in got next to Shiloh and looked at her with such love. I grew cold, Was this her boyfriend? I thought. Then I looked away as he touched her face. She turned away from him and smiled at me.

"Sarah, Nick, Tanner, and James. Get to class." The other boy said to them and as if they were under a trans they followed his order.

"Clayton, you don't have to make them leave. The bell has't even rang yet." Shiloh said to him and she pushed him away. He let out a grunt.

Shiloh moved towards me. I smiled at her and looked at Clayton. "Go." She ordered him and he closed his eyes.

"As you wish." He said and left. My sister and I looked shocked. They behaved like a pack of wolves. I could only guess they were family members, or something of the sort.

"I am sorry, they are all just too friendly." She said and looked up into my eyes.

"Well, that Nick guy is..." Alessa couldn't even get out the words.

"I would just leave him be if I were you. He's been with more girls than I can count." Shiloh laughed. The bell rang and she covered her ears. "I get bad headaches cause that bell." She exclaimed.

I looked at her as she led the way my class. I stared down the hall trying not to look as though I was staring at Shiloh. Alessa was still talking to Shiloh about her fashion since and I didn't really want to pay attention to that. They were girls obviously they were going to talk about that sort of thing. Did I care what cloths they got at Rue 21 or some Dress Barn. No. I was more focused on how I am going to survive this ear. I already made some sort of friend. Even though that Nick guy got on my nerves I could see there was some potential friendship we could build on. Who am I to say I actually need friends? I could live the rest of the school year not having one if I really wanted too. I just need to focus on something other than what I had done wrong, or will do wrong. I am not saying that is going to be my goal, I have other plans in mind, for instance, Shiloh. I would like to get to know her better. I could feel that there is something between us.

Shiloh looked back at me while she led me to my first class. She smiled a light smile and I realized the topic had changed between them. Were they talking about me while I was in la la land? I was probably wrong. Maybe I had hoped they were talking about me. When we had reached I said my "see you laters" and walked in. There sat none other than Clayton in the corner of the room.

Author's Note

This is actually my first Chapter type book that I have shared. I usually never share my stories cause I am afraid of criticize, but now that I am older I have come to realize that not everyone's going to like your stuff. So, why not?! P.S. There might be a lot of grammar, so sorry!