The next morning, I got ready for school quickly. It wasn't because I had slept in, but for once I was a bit excited for having a friend to walk to school with. When I raced down the stairs to the first floor, my mother chided me, "Slow down, child! You are going to slip and crack your head open!"
I skidded to a halt in front of her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Mom?" I asked, "I know it's not safe to get close to other people, but..."
"That is not a sentence I want to hear the word 'but' included in." she stated.
"The guy I am talking about, would be very hard not to make friends with..."
My mother's eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline. " What exactly do you mean, 'very hard not to make friends with'?" she demands to know.
I poured myself a water and took a sip. "He is the student who was chosen to orient me with the school building, rules, extracurriculars, and all that; as well as being a student volunteer helper in the lunch period math help group." (I was lying through my teeth).
"Hmm." my Mom said noncommittally.
"I can't exactly ignore him every time I see him outside of the math help group, or he might not help me anymore. He is very knowledgeable about math."
"Please, at least tell me this guy is human." mom said.
"Yes." I lied to her, making sure to avoid eye contact while answering. As I ate it, I packed my lunch and put it in my bag.
My mom sighed. "Just please, be careful."
"I will, Mom." I promised.
"I have such a bad feeling about this." Mom muttered under her breath.
I ignored her comment and made sure I had everything I would need for the school day. I was missing my cell phone.
Ring, ring. Hearing my phone, I raced back upstairs to my room to find it. Once located, I looked at the screen and saw a number that I didn't recognize had texted me. The text said: Meet me in five minutes ~ Kyle.
I went back downstairs with my phone, grabbed my backpack, and put shoes on. Mom handed me a jacket which I shoved in my backpack.
"I love you; please be careful!"
"I love you too Mom!" I called as I left.
By the time I reached the end of my driveway, Kyle was already standing there.
"Hi." I said.
"Hello." he replied. "You ready?"
"Perhaps?" I answered slightly confused.
"You don't have to meet Serina if you're not ready to." He told me, "I know I described her as a firecracker yesterday, but I know she won't be mean to you."
"Oh," I said as I understood, "No, I am fine with meeting Serina."
"Okay." He smiled.
We started the walk to the school. We mostly chatted about the town. He knew the layout well, and most of it was still a mystery to me. He led me down another way, to point out where the drugstore and a used clothing store were. I peered into the still dark interior, through the window of the used store; when I heard a girl's voice calling to Kyle.
"Hey!" she called, "Kyle!"
"Hey, Serina!" he called back.
I turned away from the store to see who exactly Serina was. She turned out to be a feminine brunette of five foot three.
When the road was clear, she ran across, and up to Kyle, before giving him a hug.
"This is Sam." Kyle said gesturing to me as Serina let him go from the hug. "And, Sam, this is Serina; she's been one of my best friends since I was little."
We said hello to each other and shook hands.
"Hey, so I have to go to the next store over and grab some toothpaste." Kyle said as he pointed to the drugstore, "My mom made it a point of reminding me. Do you two want to come in with me?"
"Sure." Serina answered.
"Sam?" Kyle asked.
"Um, no thanks." I said. "If you two don't mind, I am going to stay here and see what I can see inside the used store from the window. Plus, I want to take a picture of the hours of operation sign."
"Alright," said Kyle, "We will meet you right back here."
They left and entered the drug store.
I wanted to see if there were any items that I should tell my mom about. Although we had all the basic necessities, our furniture was very sparse. As I peered in the window, I tried to see what there was for side tables, coffee tables, magazine racks and general storage.
It wasn't until the last moment that I noticed the reflections in the glass. There were three guys standing behind me. I whirled around.
The three teens stood in a line, facing me. It was the one in the middle who was the only one I recognized. He was the Beta werewolf who had tried to beat me up yesterday. The other two guys with him were also werewolves, Betas at the very least. I was sure to get hurt this time; three against one was not a fair fight.
"Did you think you could escape from me so easily? he asked.
I didn't answer. I honestly didn't know what to say to that.
"Tell him what's going to happen to him this time, Nick." The werewolf on his left snickered.
'Wait! What?' I thought, 'What is with the masculine pronoun?'
"This time you have no buddies around to fight your fights for you." Nick (the Beta in the middle) said.
'This is really bad.' I thought.
"Grab him!" ordered Nick.
I dropped my backpack off my back as quick as I could, to make myself lighter. As Nick's two cronies made a jump at me, I kicked the one in the stomach and then threw him into the other.
I heard Nick shout angerly behind me that I couldn't escape. I ran and ran, but I didn't know where I was going. I sprinted around the corner of a building. I knew Nick was chasing me. I couldn't outrun him forever, and I didn't have enough distance between us to hide somewhere successfully. I saw an open dumpster on my left. I unzipped my sweater and wrapped my cell phone in it and dropped it beside the dumpster.
'This way no matter what happens, my cellphone will be safe, and that as well as my backpack will give Mom a way to start tracking me if necessary.' I thought. 'I'm glad mom has as good a sense of smell as me.'
If Mom didn't come for them, I would track them down later.
I could hear Nick's curses not far behind me.