Chapter 7: Wolf

Screaming

            Swearing.

            Crying.

            Beeping.

            Beeping?

            My eyes shot open as the alarm blared on. I swiveled my head to watch Jane clumsily get out of her bed and slam on the clock.

            "Mornin," She grumbled as she shuffled to her closet and pulled out a fresh uniform. "Showers are down the hall.  If you take one now, you avoid the lines." Then Jane left. I pushed the covers off my body and stared at myself in the mirror. I was quite skinny and tall with long blond hair about chest height. A claw mark snaked down my left arm. Dried blood was caked under my nails.  What did I do? I checked the sheets to make sure there was no more blood  and then shuffled to the showers as well.

            I couldn't remember exactly what happened in my dream, I just remember hearing the noises before, like I've experienced them before.  If it had came from my past, then I didn't want to figure it out.  I made it to the bathroom and it seemed different than I imagined. There were bird bathes and what looked like pools that could fit large animals.

            "Jane?" I called nervously

            "Yeah?" She came out from behind a curtain with a towel wrapped around herself. Her clothes were in her hands.

            "What type of shower is this?"

            "You have to change first.  Your human form still gets clean, believe me, but your other body doesn't unless you do this. Make sure you don't wear clothes when you do this, otherwise its just a mess." I nodded and changed out of my clothes and to my wolf.

            I felt fur cover my body and I fell to four legs.  Jane had already changed.  Her spots on her sleek coat were beautiful.  I followed her to a pool and we both ran in. The water soaked my fur and by the time we were done, we looked liked we were drowned.

            We hopped out and grabbed out clothes with our teeth and dragged them to a stall.  When we had finished changing, the bathroom housed many different animals.

            "So how long have you been here?" I asked as we walked back to our dorm room.

            "I've been here since 7th grade.  That's usually when the changes start happening. It goes along with puberty. My mom is a changer, but my dad isn't but he still associates with them. He picks up strays that don't know about the Academy plus he knows some wicked moves that could kill a demon in an instant. They even gave him a daggar!" She stopped as if the rush of talking about her dad had calmed itself down. "I don't understand why, but everyone calls him by our last name; Jacobson." I then remembered the man who was so nice to me that drove Raven and I here.

            When we got back to the room, Jane noticed the scratch on my arm, "What happened?"

            "I…Scratched myself this morning." I lied. I actually didn't know what happened to me. I grabbed the white sweater and slipped it on, hoping to cover it up so no one else asked questions.

            "Let's go get breakfast and then head off to Anatomy of Mammals With Mrs. Berlowski."
            "I thought she taught Bio and stuff like that."

            "She teaches a lot of classes." was all that Jane said. We left the dorm room and nearly ran over Raven and Flora.

            "I'll be taking her now. We don't need the babysitter anymore." Raven stated with a glare in her eye.

            Jane scowled, "You don't have any classes with her."

            Raven quickly changed the subject, "You're nothing like your father. Your father was really nice unlike you. You must get that feisty tounge from your mother."

            "At least I have a mother and father." It was Raven's turn to scowl.

            "I swear to god if I wasn't hurt-"

            "We were just going to breakfast, why don't you join us? We can bring Betty along as well!" I interrupted.

            "Sounds like a good idea." Flora chimed in and dragged Raven into their room for a second while we waited outside their door.

            "I don't understand why you hang around with her. She's just trouble."

            "I saved her life." was all I explained and Jane didn't pester me about it anymore. Raven and Flora came back out and we headed to the great hall.

                                   ***

            After eating, Jane and I headed to our first class. It was a typical classroom with a smartboard and diagrams of different mammals. Some students mingled around the classroom while others stared at me.

            "There's an empty desk over by the window." Jane pointed out and then glided over to some of her friends.  Seeing as I had no friends (and just not in the mood to make some new ones) I decided to rifle through my backpack for a notebook and pen.

            "h-hi." A voice came toward me.  I looked up to face a skinny, yet tall boy with freckles and rusty red hair. His eyes were a jade green that showed nervousness. His uniform was like mine, only maroon pants and tie.  His backpack was still on and he clutched a notebook that had probably seen better days.

            "Oh! Am I in your seat?"

            He looked shocked. He shook his head and exclaimed nervously, "No no! I've just never had someone sit next to me that is so pretty. Well nobody that sat here without being told to." I looked down and noticed that he had dropped his notebook.

            "Your notebook!" I picked it up and handed it back to him.

            "Thanks." He turned to sit in his desk, but someone came from behind him and swatted it out of his hands again.

            "Oh, did you drop it again horn head?" The person sneered. This guy was quite buff and had just about all the girls (Even Jane) drooling over him.  He had short brown hair, like a buzz cut and his muscles rippled through his white button down shirt. His tie was surely undone and his pants (which were probably two sizes too big) hung halfway down his butt. How could the girls be drooling over this jerk?

            "Here, let me pick it up for you!" The bully said mockingly. He grabbed the notebook by the cover and threw it over his shoulder like a dirty shirt.  The pages rattled and then splattered on the floor.  The small boy stared horrified at what happened.  His bottom lip quivered.

            "Get out of my way pip-squeak. Let the man talk to his lovely lady." The boy scooted off, leaving his backpack on his desk. The bully sat down in the desk and stared at me.

            "Hello there miss, What's your name?" He pushed the bag off the desk. It hit the floor with a loud thump.

            "Whitney," I said blankly. I had no interest in this guy at all.           

            "What a hot name for a hot girl like you." He flexed his biceps in front of me. A couple onlooking girls swooned and I just sat their unimpressed. "I'm Bradon."

            "Well Bradon, if you can't tell, I am clearly uninterested in you or your biceps and I'm asking you kindly to leave me alone and drool over someone else." A couple of girls gasped.

            "You little b***h! I just got rid of pip-squeak  here and now your shooing me away like a child?!"

            "Yes. Now leave me alone." I was not in the mood for this.

            Bradon fumed, "Your going to hell for that." I stood up, eagerly determined for a challenge.

            "Come at me a*****e." I said cooly. He eyed me down with a cold gaze and then let the change happen to him. He still was on two legs but his hands had turned to paws. Thick brown fur covered his body. He was a big teddy bear.

            "Is that all you got?" I teased harshly. I calmed myself down and let the change happen to me as well. Girls screamed. I growled at them and the scurried into a corner. Jane was the only one who had the courage to talk to me.

            "Whitney! Stop!" She yelled but I blocked out her voice.  Bradon roared and charged at me, but a grey mass got in between us. Claws scrapped down the side of the mass.  I looked up and it was a Rhino. A large horn stood as a weapon on its snout.

            "Enough!" Someone shouted, a woman's voice over the chaos. All three of us looked up to see Mrs. Berlowski standing there in tall heels with a cold look in her eyes. We all changed back to human form.

            "Bradon, go see Principals Williams." She ordered. He grunted, grabbed his backpack and left. He gave me a harsh glare as he walked out.

            "Are you hurt Rhett?"

            "I'm fine Ma'am." He said, clutching his arm.

            :Are you sure?" Concern filled her eyes.       

            "Yes Ma'am." Mrs. Berlowski turned to me.

            "How about you?"

            "I'm fine as well," I told her. She sighed and told whoever was in the class they had 5 minutes to use the bathroom. All the girls filed out with little bags in their hands. I just rolled my eyes. I turned to the boy who I knew his name was Rhett.  He was fumbling with his backpack.

            "Let me," I unzipped it for him and he thanked me, taking gauze out.

            "I'll go get your notebook." I stood up and searched for it. Jane swooped over to me, gripping my arm.

            "What the hell were you thinking." She hissed

            "Speaking the truth."

            "Stop trying to be Mother Theresa. Its bad enough for your image and besides, he's a nerd." You shouldn't be hanging around him."

            I ripped my arm out of her death grip, "Listen, I don't care who he is but he's a nice kid and he protected me from that a*****e." I stopped to pick up the notebook. "And I don't care about my image here. I've been through a lot of crap and have given a lot of crap to people as well so I know how it works.  I came here to learn, not worry about what someone thinks about me." I stopped to let the words sink in before I left her standing, flabbergasted at what I said.

            I sat back down next to Rhett, "Thanks."

            "For what?" he muttered as he taped up his arm.

            "Sheilding me." I stopped, "You must've gotten a lot of crap from him"

            "I get a lot of crap from everybody." he said very softly.

            "I've gone through a lot of crap as well. I know how you feel." I then noticed his wrists; scars and fresh cuts. "Have you been cutting yourself?" I whispered.

            He stopped wrapping and looked at his wrists. He rubbed them like it would make them go away. He didn't answer so I changed the subject. "Do you have any friends?"

            "No." he mumbled.

            "I'll be your friend!" I smiled. He looked up, tears glistening his jade eyes that made them look like water on a gemstone.

            "I'll only bring trouble to you. Especially since you're so pretty. All the guys will be tripping to just talk to you."

            "I really don't care." For the first time, he smiled. "What class do you have next?"

            "Intro to art." I grinned. Before I could say anything though, Mrs. Berlowski cleared her throat and told everyone that class was starting. I smiled at Rhett and then faced the front and I saw a grin on Mrs. Berlowski's face that was intended just for me.

 

Author's Note

ignore grammar