Two Strange Friends

The foreign exchange student, Yana, has a secret to hide.

That following week seemed like a blur. An endless cycle really. Survive the morning, eat lunch, survive the afternoon, eat dinner, sleep, repeat. Every once and a while I squeezed in time to go play a round of Ping Pong in the game room or hang out in the common room.

    But finally it was Friday. I was excited, but not for the reasons of everybody else. The teachers gave no homework since we had a dance that night. All through my classes, I saw notes being passed and texts being sent. Plans being made.

    At dinner, Yana giggled happily as she ate her fajita and eyed a boy she obviously liked. I saw the appeal too, but wasn’t interested.

    “What’s going on between you two?” I asked, nudging her.

    “What you mean?” She asked.                      

    “That boy. You keep looking at him.”

    “Oh yes. Kim Kreesh, the most handsome boy I’ve ever seen. But he taking Laura Shein to dance.” She said.

    “But we aren’t going to the dance.” I whisper in her ear.

    “They do not know that.” She said, glancing at the other people in the room.

    I understood and grinned. “So, Yana, are you going to curl your hair for the dance?”

    “Yah. And I’ve already got my dress out and ready for me, right next to my makeup. It’s grey and is so beautiful…” She started prattling on about her imaginary dress throughout dinner until we dumped our trays in the sink.

    As we walked back to our dorms, I thought about how I was going to sneak out of my dorm without being noticed somehow.

        Three hours later…

    In the end I walked up the stairs to the topmost floor in the girl’s dorms.

    Almost nobody was up on the last floor. Maybe a couple girls, but most of the dorms were empty. So it was easy to pick room 510’s lock and sneak in.

    Slitting the door open slightly, I sprayed the area with hairspray. No motion sensors or alarms.

    Pushing the door open all the way, I stood on the sill and turned, now facing the wall. Grabbing the roof above me, I jumped and braced my feet against the window, slowly climbing up.

    Emily and Yana were already up there, flat on their backs. Yana looked up when she saw me.

    “Ah hello friend!” She said, popping a marshmallow in her mouth.

    “Evening Yana. Emily.” I say, and she flicks her hand at me before resuming texting her friend.

    “So when is it going to start?” I asked, looking up at the sky.

    “Any minute now. Sit down and eat cotton ball!” Yana said, pulling me down and shoving a marshmallow in my hand.

    But in the next twenty minutes, nothing happened. After another twenty, I got up.

    “Guys, I don’t think it’s going to happen.” I say.

    “Well, actually…” Yana trailed off.

    “What Yana?”

    “We didn’t bring you here to see Northern Lights. We brought you here to see else.”

    “What do you mean?” I asked.

    “I mean this.” Yana seemed to get smaller, and I blinked furiously, thinking it was my imagination. But then her long blond hair shrank, and the same time her body seemed to be covered in fur.

    Standing in front of me was a small wolf. She gazed at me with deep blue eyes that were flecked with gold.

    If you are wondering why I am not gaping at them, I wasn’t too surprised. After everything I’ve seen in my life, this was a cakewalk.

    Then she opened her mouth and spoke like she was still human.

    “I am Finnish werewolf. Emily and I are special because we monsters.” Yana said.

    “But Emily isn’t a…” I trailed off.

    Emily opened her mouth, revealing twin pearly white fangs. Suddenly it clicked in place. Why Emily was pale, why Emily was quiet, why Emily was distant.

    She was a vampire.

    “Wait, aren’t vampires and werewolves supposed to be archenemies or something?” I asked.

    “Not us. We’ve been besties since us babies.” Yana said. “Most vampires and werewolves don’t grow together, but we did, so we friends.”

    “So, is it true you drink blood?” I ask Emily, and she sighs.

    “So many things Hollywood got wrong. I drink animal blood, as in the animals that Yana kills to eat. I don’t sleep in coffins, and the fangs are permanent. Also, I don’t sleep. Ever.”

    “You don’t sleep?”

    “Don’t need to. Guess I could try, but it would be pointless. And no, I wasn’t bitten. My parents are vampires, so that passed on to me.”

     “So, is that all you guys wanted to show me?” I asked.

    “No actually…”

    Thirty seconds later, due to Yana and Emily’s super speed, we were standing in a cave. Yana’s pack (mainly consisting Yana’s family) roamed here, so we were okay.

    “Hello dear.” Yana’s mother said from the kitchen. In the surprising large cave, Yana’s mom was making meat-lover’s stew on the stove. She wore a skirt and blouse, making her look like a normal mother.

    “Who’s your friend Yana?” A guy asked from the kitchen table. I tried to keep my heart from pounding when I saw his obvious hotness.

    Dark blond windblown hair that framed a perfect pale face. His features were perfect deep blue eyes, full pink lips, and muscles I could grate cheese on. And he was shirtless. My god.

    “This is Argentum, but you call her Silver.” Yana said, gesturing to me. “What’s it to you John?”

    “Nothing really.” He said, his eyes roving over me again before he turned back to his paper.

    “Anyway, is Dad out with Simeon?” Yana asked her mother.

    “Yes dear. They’re on the cliff.” Yana’s mother placed a bowl of stew in front of John, who immediately pulled out a spoon and began digging in.

    “Come on.” Yana said, and we walked back out the cave. Outside the entrance were stone steps that lead upward, and the three of us slowly began walking up.

    At the top, we collapsed on our backs and stared up at the sky, where a billion little sparks gleamed.

    “Hey, what’s your name?” A voice said behind me, and I looked up to see a small boy, probably around nine, looking down at me. He too had the pale blond hair and blue eyes that was a trademark of Yana’s family.

    “Argentum Sharpe, What is your name?”

    “I’m Simeon, Yana’s brother. You are very pretty. No wonder my-

    “Hey Simeon, can you help me unload these fireworks?” A deep voice asked, and Simeon dashed off.

    “Coming Dad!” He said, and I sat up to stare at Yana.

    “What’s with the fireworks?” I asked.

    “We do an annual celebration of the day we all turned werewolf. We all turned wolf on the same day when we turned six, on this exact day, at midnight.” Yana said.

    “Wow. So no wonder why you invited me over.” I say, and Yana’s mother and older brother emerged and sat down beside us. John stretched out and placed his muscled arms behind his head.

    “So, Ms. Silver… do you believe in daemons?” He asked.

    “I believe in all creatures that are real.” I say, and he grins.

    “Were you surprised when you found out what we are?”

    “I was for a little bit, but mostly because I could not see how a sweet shifter like Yana could be a wolf.”

    “You knew she was a shifter?”

    “Of course. It made sense, hearing about the strange myths in Finland. I had been suspecting for a while now that she was some kind of creature, and werewolves are the most common.” I admitted.

    “And what led you to believe shapeshifters existed?” He asked.

    “I saw the next door neighbors outside when they became beautiful birds and flew away. They didn’t return for months, and I soon thought I imagined the whole thing. But then they returned, and we became good friends.”

    John grabbed my chin and turned my face to his. I stared into his beautiful blue eyes before he stroked my cheek.

    “Silver…do you believe in dragons?” He asked bringing his face closer.

    “Ohh! Somebody is getting cozy!” Yana said, giggling as John flushed scarlet and turned away.

    “Yana, be nice.” Her mother said, and I heard the soft fizzling of fire behind us.

    Simeon and his father crashed beside John and we waited. Then bright colors shot up and let out a series of bangs and whistles, screeching and shouting. Purple, white, green, red, yellow, silver, blue…

    “Wow…” I was speechless as I watched the colors spark and crackle in the sky. John snuggled in close to me so I was trapped between him and Emily.

    He snuggled in, watching the fireworks out of the corner of his eye as he turned to face me. Nuzzling my hair, he brought his lips close to my ear.

    “You do know that you are very pretty.” He whispered.

    My heart raced. Being so close to him was making my pulse raced, and it seemed like nothing else in the world mattered.

    “So beautiful…” He murmured, kissing my cheek softly before pulling away.

    We continued to stare at the sky as Yana’s father got up to light another batch. As he did, Yana bubbled to her brother as Yana’s mother texted her friend while Emily remained as silent as ever. But if you were there you would’ve seen the grins on Argentum and John’s faces, you would’ve realized there wasn’t a more perfect night.

Author's Note

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