Chapter Three

That night Gladys didn’t show; I’d made dinner, but August and I ate alone, with the exception of Demon noisily destroying his kibbles and bits. She texted me and said that one of her co-workers had invited her to dinner after work. My question was what place was open in Maine after eleven ‘o’ clock at night. I put August to bed around midnight and began cleaning the kitchen. Leave it to a Power puff marathon to tire him out. As I cleaned the kitchen I heard Demon growling out into the garage.

“What is it boy?”

          He was posted at the open door in an attack stance. His teeth were bared, his ears pulled back and his hair rose on his back. I heard the trash can make a loud thunk sound. To my knowledge it was a rat or possum; until I heard it growl. Compared to Demon’s growl it was like comparing a mustang motor to a Volkswagen; no contest. It sounded vicious, wild, threatening. I gasped at a set of eyes that flashed in the light that poured out of the door behind me. I reached beside the door panel and flipped on the light switch. I jumped back and gasped once more. It was the biggest wolf I’d ever seen; it looked more like a bear than a wolf. It was too big. It was charcoal black; slim, with a very bushy tail and a slightly white tip on the end of its muzzle.

          Although, it snarled threats at Demon, its eyes said different. Its eyes said fear, timid, they almost begged for help.

“Demon back down” I whispered, patting the dog on the head.

          Demon turned and shot me a look that was nothing short of ‘are you insane?’

“its okay boy trust me” I whispered.

          I stepped ahead of him. The wolf took two steps back his teeth slightly bared, but he didn’t growl.

“its okay” I said softly, extending my left hand.

          The wolf drew back his neck and turned his head to the left and cocked an eyebrow. His brown eyes looked with confusion. It was at this point when they looked human. Like he had once walked on two legs. I kneeled down slowly, one hand out to comfort him and one out to restrain Demon, who was still growling behind me. I leaned forward to him. He craned his neck and sniffed the air to get my scent. I extended my arm a little more until his muzzle and my finger tips were a hairs length away.

“Jesse?” August called from somewhere in the house.

          I turned for a second to locate him in the house, and then turned back…the wolf was gone. He’d made no noise as he departed, showed no implication that he had even been there. I blinked a few times out into the moonlit night of the open garage door. The black wolf was gone. Then it dawned on me, when I thought about the wolf in my dream….interesting.

          “Girl you are like totally psycho I would have ran for the hills” Bethany exclaimed, as we made our way to our usual table in the cafeteria.

“It was not that bad.”

“Not that bad, there have been several wolf attacks around here; you would have been number eight.”

“But think about it Beth, if he had wanted to attack me he would have. Wolves usually don’t attack unless they feel threatened.”

“Whatever well you will never catch me getting close enough to one to see how threatened he does or do not feel.”

“Have you ever tried being a risk taker?”

“Hell no, that’s how people in horror movies die they try to go outside and investigate a noise and end up gutted or some crap” Bethany said, as she began eating her pizza.

“Are we talking about wolves or horror movies?” I laughed with confusion.

“Either or, you’re a piece of work Jess.”

“I’m a piece of work?” I smiled with disbelief.

          Just then David and his teammate and best friend Charlie came up to our table. Charlie, as usual, didn’t eat the cafeteria food, so he sat on the top of the table, spinning a basketball on his finger tip.

“What are you two over here fussing about?” David smiled, sitting in between us.

          He took a carton of milk off of my tray and replaced it with a citrus vault. He knew I was lactose intolerant and always had a juice or a soda waiting on me.

“We’re discussing your girlfriend’s obsession with wolves.”

“I don’t have an obsession” I protested.

“Yes you do. You have a poster of a wolf on your wall and your dog is practically a wolf.”

“That means nothing.”

“Not to mention the dream.”

          I cringed and shot Bethany an acid look, as I shook my head for her to shut up. But it was too late; she’d already opened her big mouth. David turned and looked at me; I hadn’t told him about my dream yet.

“Babe, what dream?” David asked.

“Nothing it was nothing” I muttered softly, shaking my head.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” David shrugged.

“Because it was nothing.”

“Then if it was nothing you should have told me, I thought we weren’t going to keep anything from each other.”

“I’m not keeping anything from you; it was just a stupid dream.”

“Okay it was stupid, but you told Bethany, but you didn’t tell me.”

“Can we not talk about this please?” I demanded, giving him a threatening look.

David gave me a sigh of pity and softly rubbed my back.

“Never mind I’m not hungry” I growled.

          I slid my chair from the table, picked up my backpack and swiftly left the cafeteria.

“Babe, don’t get upset” David called after me.

          I walked faster; I turned the corner and headed down the freshmen hall. For some reason lately things made me more mad than usual. It was always the littlest things that set off my temper, and now here I was heated up, storming down the hall. I could feel the heat of my anger radiating through me, as my hair bounced behind my on the blades of my shoulders. I turned the corner in the math hall, one fist clenched at my side and the other around the strap of my backpack. I adjusted the strap as I turned another corner and rammed shoulders with someone.

“Whoa, where’s the fire” they giggled.

          His voice was deep and husky as he looked down at me. He shifted his weight on the other leg from the impact.

“Sorry about that.”

“You cool?” he asked.

“Yea” I lied.

          I didn’t realize how hard I was breathing, or which hall I had wandered down until Koda crashed into me.

“You sure?” he asked, looking at me with concern.

          My face must have looked horrible to him, because I still felt hot, dizzy and I felt like my entire shape was trembling. I stumbled slightly and leaned against a set of brown lockers. I could feel the sweat developing on my brow now, and I couldn’t get my breathing to decelerate as my mind wandered. It finally occurred to me that I was having a panic attack. I allowed myself to slide slowly to the floor as I held my chest my heart beating rapidly.

“What’s wrong, should I get someone?” he asked, kneeling down beside me.

“No, it’s…its…p…panic….panic…”

“Panic attack?” he asked.

          I nodded trying to slow my breathing, but it turned out unsuccessful. So much for a first impression on the new guy.

“You just need to slow your breathing, I have a method that helps” he insisted.

          He sat down beside me and pulled me into his side, my back practically in his armpit. He wrapped his arms around me, taking my hand. He laced our fingers together and put one of our hands on his chest and one of our hands on my chest.

“Close your eyes and just breathe with me” he instructed.

          I closed my eyes and breathed in and out as he did, matching each inhale and exhale to his. My mind began to wander as I listened to his heart beat slowly, and incessantly underneath his cotton t-shirt. My breathing began to slow and become more normal, as he and I both breathe together. I was no longer thinking about how upset I was at Bethany for talking so much and I was no longer thinking about the look on David’s face as I retreated out of the cafeteria. I thought about the warm feeling of Koda’s breathe, as it made my hair dancing silently behind my ears.

          I was thinking about his smell, it was something I’d never smelled before. He smelled of grass, pine, the air and the earth and he felt warm, warmer than any usual human being. Lying up against me he felt like an electric blanket, or a snuggled fire, but still warm, with his big hand pressed against my chest. Suddenly I could hear clearer; I heard his every breath, even as it rolled across his tongue and broke free from his full lips. I was back to normal, but I felt like I was becoming something else, something different. He finally leaned me forward and I opened my eyes. I turned around to thank him as I took another deep breath.

“See much better right?” he smiled, looking down at me.

          His eyes were amazing; they were a very beautiful dark chocolate color. I couldn’t help, but think that his eyes looked very familiar to me. But where I’d seen the eyes, it was impossible for the pair to even be similar. I shook off the thought as I still leaned into him, lost in the smoothness of his features.

“I’m Koda Ateara” he said.

“Jesse Larocque” I said softly.

“Jesse? Is that short for something?”

“No just, Jesse” I blushed.

“Interesting. Hey what tribe are you from?” Koda asked.

“Well I was told when I was little that I was from the Nez Perce’ tribe, but I was also told that my tribe went extinct” I explained.

“I’m from that tribe too” Koda nodded.

“Really, are you serious?” I gasped.

He nodded.

“Wow, it feels good not to be the only Indian kid in this school for once.”

“Tell me about it” he smiled.

“What the hell is this?”

          I spun my head around to see David and Charlie storming in our direction. It hadn’t occurred to me that I was leaning so close under Koda and his arm was still around me. If anyone didn’t know what was really going on, they would have easily mistaken the situation as Koda and I about to sneak a kiss. I leaped up to my feet and held out an arm to restrain David.

“David no, you’re reading the situation all wrong.”

“What that this face muncher was all over you?”

“We weren’t face munching.”

          David was enraged with anger and Koda seemed to not be afraid at all. Most of the guys in school were frightened of David, but Koda got up casually and turned to face us.

“First of all dude, I don’t want your girl I was trying to help her.”

“Help her do what, test out her lip gloss?”

“What you thought you saw, was not what you saw okay?”

“I should sock you right now” David snarled.

“No David” I groaned, pushing on his chest.

It was like trying to hold back a bull, but I didn’t give up.

“Dude, your girl is not all that okay, so chillax.”

“Excuse me?” I said looking at him now offended.

          Suddenly David shuffled around me and grabbed the collar of Koda’s shirt. Koda grabbed David by the wrist and suddenly David dropped to his knees, pleading in pain. Koda looked up at me, peering through his black bangs, a devious, but satisfied smile on his face. I looked at him with wide eyes, as he smooched at me, with his lips and then released David. He turned on the heels of his feet and started down the opposite way. His feet made no sound as he turned the other hall. David blinked a few times in shock and then slowly got up from the floor, rubbing his wrist.

“Dude, that kid is strong” Charlie implied.

Reviews

[lawrence bear]

this was an interesting chapter, but is it suppose to be chapter 2 ? anymore coming soon, you have my attention.