Animosity

It wasn’t until Anna met Coach Smithers that she really wished she had listened to Julie. The guy really was a jerk. First he had told Anna that the track team wasn’t for girls. Then he had told her that she wouldn’t be able to make it through the season. Finally, just as Anna was about to storm out of the office (obviously rather peeved), he had told her to come by Monday and they would see what she could do.

Well then. Monday it was. Despite all the weak comments Coach Smithers had thrown at her, Anna was feeling rather confident about the whole thing. If anything, Anna could run. It was probably the only thing she could do correctly. Besides, how many other members on the team could run wolf fast? That would be zero. She had this thing in the bag. Now all she had to do was to prove it to that jackass of a Coach.

Julie met Anna near the senior parking lot like she said she would. The redhead had explained very carefully to Anna that she could not, for any reason, be caught in Coach Smithers’ office. That girl really did hate him. Anna wasn’t about to ask why. Mainly because she didn’t want to lose her only acquaintance in all of Prentiss High.

“Seriously Anna, you’re making a HUGE mistake.” Julie had stated for the third time as they gradually made their way to their cars. “Don’t show up Monday.” The redhead proposed. “Come my book club meeting instead. This week we’re discussing The Complete Works of Shakespeare.”

Oh yeah, that sounded like fun. But Anna had to admit, Julie did make it sound a little appealing. The brunette had never been invited to go with anyone anywhere. Well, with the exception of the past few months when she had been living with the pack. But the fact that a human, a normal high school teenager wanted Anna to hang out with her after school, even for a stupid book club meeting, well that was nice. But Anna couldn’t. She belonged on the track team where the only thing she needed to do was run.

“I’m not much of a reader. Shakespeare is like a foreign language to me. Trust me, you wouldn’t want me " “ But she stopped short, which caused Julie to stop as well. She seemed suddenly very alert. Perhaps because Anna was.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, and for the longest time Anna didn’t say anything. There was a certain scent in the air. Julie couldn’t smell it but Anna could. It wasn’t human. No, not human at all. “Anna?” Julie questioned. She knew this scent. She knew it, because it was something quite similar to her own. Anna snapped out of her gaze and saw that Julie was frowning now.

“You’re really starting to freak me out.” The redhead said, and Anna shook her head. “Sorry. Sometimes I…..” Pick up odd scents that regular humans can’t. “Zone out.”

 “Right.” Julie said, adjusting the shoulder strap on her messenger bag. Anna could tell that she had weirded the girl out a little. Perfect. The thing about being a werewolf is that there was no line. You couldn’t just be a normal human during the day and a wild beast at night. You were both. Maybe starting high school had been a bad idea. Anna didn’t even have all of her senses under control yet.

 “Well, I’m parked over here so I’ll catch you later. Think about the book club meeting. No really, think hard.” The redhead said, and Anna nodded, put on a fake smile and watched as the girl treaded off to her car located on the opposite end of the parking lot.

 Once she was out of sight, Anna’s smile faded and her nostrils flared as she caught the scent again. She sniffed the air. It wasn’t too far away. In fact, it wasn’t far away at all. What started out as a jog turned into a run as the animal-like instincts started to kick in. Then finally, a low growl escaped her lips when she spotted the male….searching through Wade’s truck.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” she shouted but she barely had time to react as her back hit the side of the truck, causing her to fall to her knees. Any doubts Anna may have had before were gone. There was no possible way he was human.

 

“I could be asking you the same thing.” He said with a snarl. Anna was shaking now. Not out of fear, but out of anger. Oliver had warned her of this. Because she was a new wolf, she had very little control over the transformations. The full moon wasn’t for another three weeks…..but that wasn’t going to stop her from shifting right here, in the Prentiss High senior parking lot. It was all based on emotional control. Right now, Anna didn’t have any.

The boy laughed as the first violent tremor shook through her body. “Guess Logan had it wrong.” Anna could barely hear what he was saying. She had to stay in control. She had to stay in control. “You? A threat?” A second violent tremor. Her hands fisted her hair. She couldn’t do this. Not now. Not here. “You’re just a puppy.”

That was it. Anna didn’t even know what she was doing as she lunged for him, grabbing him by the knees and pushing him to the ground. A snarl escaped his lips as his head hit the pavement. If he were a human, he would have had a concussion. But he wasn’t, and he was quick to react. Anna had the breath knocked out of her as she hit the pavement. The male had her pinned down now, a line of blood drizzled down his neck. The back of his head was bleeding. A third violent tremor.

“Can’t even control yourself can you?” He mocked, and Anna kneed him in the groin. Then, as he toppled over Anna found her chance and put her weight on him, delivering a punch to the jaw, a punch to the cheek, a punch the eye. He didn’t even have time to react as she used her new found strength. She had too. She had to use this energy or else she would change. She couldn’t change. She heard a snap. A broken nose. A bleeding lip. Not bad for a puppy. Then finally, somebody had grabbed a hold of her and pulled her away, far, far away. But Anna wasn’t quite finished with him yet.

The boy scrambled to his feet, and spit blood from his mouth. Now that somebody was holding her back, he went to make his move but somebody stopped him too. A jock. Like it mattered. A large teenage boy wouldn’t be able to stop him, and a middle aged man mostly definitely wouldn’t be able to stop her. But they did stop. Humans were involved now. The principal held her back, and she could hear his heart racing.

“You two. My office. Now.” He said breathlessly. Anna jerked away from him. First day of school, and she was getting sent to the principal’s office. Great.

The boy growled quietly as Anna made her way past him. There was another boy there. Not a jock. He must have been the witness to the whole thing. Got scared. Ran to get help. Anna shot him a glare and he turned away from her. She took in breath after breath, not saying a word as she made her way up the stairs of the high school. She felt much more human now. What was she going to tell Oliver?

The worry started to kick in. What if she got expelled for this? That’d be just wonderful. Anna took a seat in the principal’s office and several moments later so did the boy who started this whole mess. The nurse had been kind enough get him an icepack for his head. He didn’t say a word to her, and she didn’t say a word to him until finally the door behind them closed and Principal Webbers appeared. He didn’t sit down.

“What happened?” His tone was strict, harsh. His breathing hadn’t fully calmed yet. Anna looked down at her feet, and the boy pretended to be extremely interested in a painting on the wall. Because they both knew that they couldn’t tell the truth. Or at least what Anna knew of the truth. She wasn’t even so sure why the guy had been searching Wade’s truck to begin with. It wasn’t like she could just say that she gave into the beastly side for just a moment or two either. So they stayed quiet.

“Fine. If that’s the way you want to handle it.” Mr. Webbers sat down at his desk, writing something on a slip of paper. “Both of your guardians will be notified and you’re to serve community service for one month every day after school.” He scribbled something else down, and Anna buried her face in her hands. Well, there goes the track team. Guess she could say goodbye to scouting too. Oliver was going to be pissed.

“You know, I should expel you.” He said, probably catching on to Anna’s vibe. What? Did he want her to get down on her knees and thank him?

“I would expect this from you, Scott.” He said, obviously gesturing to the boy.  Scott? That was his name? At least now she had something tell Oliver. “But you, Miss Bloom, are a new student. It’s a shame that you’ve decided to start out the school year like this.” Anna closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath. “You’re dismissed.” Anna was the first one out of the office, her head pounding. Besides all that, she was exhausted from the almost-transformation. Scott took an opposite direction.

Making it back out to the parking lot, Anna realized she had yet another problem. Wade’s truck was trashed. A crack windshield, ripped upholstery, broken window. What the hell had this Scott guy been looking for?

Wade was going to be broken-hearted. He had put so much time into that truck. Anna sighed, fished for the keys, and climbed into the driver’s seat. But just before she started the engine, she spotted a sheet of paper on the dashboard. She frowned, and reached for it. In messy handwriting there were two words ;

Amberstone. Midnight.

Reviews

[♥Dancing giraffe..]

interesting read so far, love to read more! :p