Half Bitten

The second tardy bell rang as I sat in the empty chair of the Principal’s office. It turned out that going into the boy’s bathroom was not the best routine to pull on the first day of school. My leg tapped nervously as I waited for the principal to walk in and give us permission to go back to class.
“What are you so nervous about?” Alec inquired, “We got to miss the last two classes, didn’t we?”
Lowlii rolled his eyes, “you’re still here, aren’t you?”
Alec tensed, “don’t think I’m going to just sit here and let you smack talk me.”
Lowlii turned his hands into fists and darted them towards Alec. After noticing, Alec decided to fight back. Sitting in between the two of them was a death wish. I put my arms out to create distance between them, “we’re in his office. Would you at least wait until the school day is over?”
Alec leaned back in his seat and ran his hand through his glossy black hair, still not yet calm. The last time I was in his presence I couldn’t remember how to inhale. Lowlii’s hands were still in fists, as he tried to handle his breathing. They made it seem as if the only objective behind their existence was to hate each other.
“Why am I even here?” I shook my head in disbelief. Closing my eyes I sighed exasperatedly, enjoying the moment of silence.
“I think,” Alec turned, bringing his body closer to me; he lowered his voice. “I think you’re here because you were the girl found in the boy’s bathroom.” Now Lowlii wasn’t the only one trying to control his breathing. Alec’s sweet breath seemed to anger me, yet I still couldn’t fight back or protest.
Lowlii saw how close Alec had moved and grabbed onto my shoulder in defense. Pulling all my weight towards him, he whispered in the opposite ear. “Just pretend he isn’t here.”
“I heard that,” Alec chimed bitterly, shifting in his seat. “Us Rolands have good ears!”
Lowlii seemed to huff, “I wonder why?”
A deep snarl seemed to answer. Rumbling from the core of Alec’s chest. I looked up to his face in an attempt to calm him down only to see that the golden brown color of his eyes turned fiery, like a burning sunset. His eyes seemed to be locked with Lowlii’s. They too had changed. Instead of a warm sea blue, they turned into a dark onyx color, like an eclipse. I could feel the air suddenly turn still as they continued making eye contact. Someway or another, I knew for a fact that they were holding a conversation.
“No fair, I wanna join.” I made an attempt to break the silence.
“That could be arranged,” Alec smirked back.
Lowlii still seemed to have a defensive tone, “don’t you talk to her like that.”
The door of the office flew open; no one needed to turn their head to know who had just come in.
“I could talk to her whatever way I want to talk to her,” Alec said, in a tone low enough only for Lowlii to hear.
“Okay, so let me get this straight,” the principal took his seat, facing all three of us with an unreadable expression. “All of you, including ms. Brown, were in the boy’s bathroom.”
The three seconds of silence was followed by our incoherent groans of agreement.
“So, what do you suppose I should do?” the principal asked ominously, searching each one of our faces for an answer. When he got to mine, I felt this urge to turn to Lowlii for comfort. How stupid would that have looked?
“No one has an idea?” the principal paced himself. “at all?”
I sulked down in my seat in an attempt to unnoticeably move closer to Lowlii. I seemed to feel the warmth of his skin more then usual this time.
“Okay, than. Detention, for all of you. Of course, Ms. Brown would have to serve extra time.”
Suddenly, I felt as if I had committed a felony. My dad would be more then furious, Bird would find out that Lowlii spent the whole day with me, and Alec had been swept into the situation. Who of which, was a family enemy to Bird.
“I trust you enough to inform your parents that your detention starts tomorrow.”
I bit my lip, “how long?”
“For you? Two weeks. Alec and Cole, one.”
I would rather have three weeks of lunch detention than my dad finding out. Lowlii seemed to catch the worrisome look in my eyes, “what if I’m busy after school?”
The principal sighed to the challenge Lowlii had brought up, “fine, lunch detention would do just as well.” Glancing at his watch he seemed to glower, “well, there’s only a couple of minutes before school finishes. You guys can leave the campus, there’s no reason to disrupt class now.”
Alec was the first one to his feet, “good afternoon, Mr. Greene. We didn’t really intend for any of this to happen.”
I blinked aimlessly, a couple of moments ago he was full of nothing but witty remarks. Lowlii pulled me to my feet and dragged me out to the hallway.
“What were you thinking?” He whispered to me.
Matching his pace with ours, Alec swayed his head to the side. Letting his black hair glisten in the hallway light. For a second, I had to wonder how I made it through the day being around someone as good looking as Alec, and someone as entrancing as Lowlii.
“Do you really have to ask? It’s obvious.”
I gritted my teeth, “you should know when to be quiet.” Who knew such a godly creature had the ability to sound so acidic.
“Yeah, too bad I don’t” Alec retorted, “I’ll see you in detention.”
“God help us all,” Lowlii said, as he made sure Alec was far from hearing distance. Seeing as how we both couldn’t walk home, we stood in front of the school waiting for the bell to ring. He seemed to stare down to the ground, deeply in thought.
I bit my lip, “I really didn’t mean it.”
Lowlii jerked his head up after noticing that I had spoken to him. “Huh? Why are you apologizing?”
“For this. How pissed off is Bird going to be?”
His forehead started to crease, as the corners of his lips seemed to form a smile, “it wasn’t your fault. Besides us and Alec, no on else knows.”
I felt that Lowlii was saying the words I wanted to hear, “no, I have to make this up to you. In some way.”
He chuckled quietly to himself as I rambled on, “ you could count on me, for anything. I’ll even keep Kindle and Amber busy during soccer warm ups.”
“Jackie,” he intruded. Yet, I didn’t give him a chance to go on.
“I’m so sorry. I’ll even talk to Bird myself.” My mind didn’t want to stop working. There seemed to be no off button to my prolonging blabber.
He lifted his hand over to my face quickly, resting his warm palm against my cheek. Without a second, my mind seemed to stop working. He stepped closer allowing an excuse to whisper softly, “the only thing you need to promise me is that we get to meet again. Spend some time together, without public school bathrooms and detention.”
I had to laugh, “anytime. You name it.”
He smiled his warm smile, “Rain check, than.”
I couldn’t help but notice that the last time he had said that, all of Port Angeles was up in arms. The police cars ringing loudly, the sobs Amber had let out when she finally saw that Lowlii was okay. Stepping back I sighed, “We should probably make it seem like we just bumped into each other. Ya know? An alibi.”
His warm smile faded as he stuffed his hands into his pant pocket. Kicking a pebble at his feet he agreed, “you’re right.”
Making my way towards the parking lot I didn’t know where I was going to go or how I broke free from his trance, but I knew that standing next to Kindle’s pickup wouldn’t cause anyone to wonder what had just happened. I threw my bag on the hood of the car and leaned next to it. Angling my body away from the front of the school I crossed my arms impatiently. Hoping that it would seem as if I had been there for more then thirty seconds.
“Lowlii!” a frantic voice emerged from the main hall. Kindle ran out of the double doors faster then her high heels would allow. As she finally finished waddling to Lowlii, she threw her body against him with more force then needed. “Tell me everything. I’m here for you! I heard the principal wanted to talk.” Lowlii took a nervous glance back to me. It was obvious that he didn’t want anyone to know, I couldn’t agree more. Bird wouldn’t be riled up; my dad would have no clue. Looking back into Lowlii’s eyes gave me thrill. His hair, no different then he had worn it before, suddenly had a shabby like quality. His warm face still unchanged, yet his high cheekbones abruptly gave him an edge. Lowlii had turned into the bad guy every girl wanted in her life.
“It was nothing, really.” Lowlii’s voice turned sweet in her presence.
“Oh, Bird is going to be so happy when he finds out that none of this had anything to do with Jackie.” She threw herself against him one more time. Something told me that Bird wasn’t the only one satisfied with that false statement. Lowlii wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to hold balance.
Amber lifted her index finger in the air and twirled it in a circular motion, “ you know, I knew she was the girl from the legend as soon as I laid eyes on her.” my eyes glared as she went on. “You fought Bird on every word, but now you know how wrong you were, right?”
Lowlii cleared his throat; “you know that’s nothing but gossip, Jackie’s a nice girl.”
She scoffed, “whatever.” The last bell rang untimely.
What legend?
I raised my voice, not wanting her to go on. If anyone was going to tell me what was truly happening, it was going to be Lowlii. “Hi!”
Lowlii was the first to turn his head, “hey, look! It’s Jackie.”
As spunky as she was, Amber scoffed again. Making her way through the busy blockade of students, while Lowlii trailed along. The school was starting to filter out as students rushed to their cars hoping to avoid traffic.
“So, I see your teacher let you out early too, huh?” she bitterly stated.
I smirked back, “what a coincidence.” After she didn’t care to reply I sighed, “nice conversation you had back there.”
Lowlii shifted his eyes away, looking for a distraction. Amber dumbly played the role of oblivion. I tried to stare her down for an answer, but it was a lost cause.
Steph threw her bag to the ground at my feet and waited for everyone to direct their attention towards her. “Why does school have to be so…” she huffed, looking up at the sky as if the correct word would fall from the clouds.
“School-ish?” I insisted.
She raised her voice, “Yes! Did you know that we were learning about the Heimlich maneuver in health class? Bobby Black asked me if I wanted to be the victim!”
Amber laughed mockingly as Lowlii looked over his shoulder to spot Nathan and Kindle making their way towards the car. It was obviously too late for questions.
“I’ve had it,” Steph shook her head in anger, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Nathan laughed as he approached us, Kindle under his arm, “all I know is I’m in the mood for 99 cent soda. Anyone wanna join?”

“I want pie!” Lowlii demanded to the talk box taking our order. We all had crowded into Kindle’s pickup with intentions of buying out all the soda McDonald’s had to offer.
“We’ll share a happy meal!” Quinn and Coco offered. Taking a sudden break from their wrestling, they chimed in from the cargo area of the car breathless. Steph, Kindle, Nathan, and I had piled into the back seat, fighting with our bags intolerantly. Lowlii managed to slip into the driver’s seat while amber took the seat beside him, and she was enjoying every minute of it. Occasionally she would glance to Lowlii and giggle sheepishly. It made me want to puke.
“I want a hamburger!” Amber yelled, fussing with her seatbelt.
“No, make it two.” Steph corrected, throwing her overly packed schoolbag to me.
Kindle scrunched her face unsurely, “can I have a hamburger without the meat?”
My eyes glared as Lowlii threw a pen to her edgily. “Why don’t you just order the salad without lettuce?”
Nathan smiled, cheering Kindle on regardless of Lowlii’s comment. “Way to go, babe!” he raised his fists in the air with pride, “Vegetarians of the world unite!”
Steph took her bag from my hands and threw it to his stomach. He caved in automatically, groaning at the miniature pain.
“I want the toy!” Quinn erupted from behind.
“No, I get the toy!” Coco snapped back. With angered expressions materializing the creases in their faces, they started to wrestle once again.
Lowlii smiled cunningly, yelling back to Quinn and Coco. “If you don’t stop fighting, I’m getting the toy!”
I smirked, hinting a tone of sarcasm in my voice, “that’s showing them.”
Lowlii tried not to let an affectionate smile spread across his glorious face, “I’ll show you something…”
Amber huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Are we going to just wait here, or stuff our faces?”
“Is there anything else?” the voice box grumbled unintelligibly.
For once, no voice overpowered another. All train of thought halted to a deadening stop. Quinn and Coco held their restless bodies still, as everyone breathed slowly. Lips quivered, as minds thought of one thing, and one thing only. All eight of us made eye contact at once.
“French fries!”
The voice box seemed to turn silent as we snickered. Lowlii pressed the gas pedal making the car accelerate further down the drive thru.
“Must you tire out my wheels, Lowlii?” Kindle scoffed.
“Well since I am your brother; bothering you should make me feel warm and fuzzy, so yes. I must.” He snapped.
“Here’s your food,” the girl behind the open window reluctantly mentioned. She tugged on her work cap, pulling it down further over her eyes. I figured that it was just a precaution due to how pale her skin was.
“Thanks Roland,” Lowlii mumbled under his breath.
She scoffed, “my name is Becca. You don’t hear me calling you by your last name, do ya?”
Nathan laughed, “Just hand us the food, Bec.”
Becca seemed to scoff again, “make me.”
Amber, as food deprived as she was, raised her voice. “Bite me!”
Becca seemed to chuckle, smiling more widely then normal. “That could be arranged.”
I appeared to be the only one giggling in my seat; everyone glanced back at me sternly. Due to the grave look in their eyes I shook my head in disbelief. They weren’t serious, right?
“Can I just have my food?” Kindle asked, leaning lazily in her seat.
“Yeah, we can settle the two hundred year old feud in another fifty.” Steph agreed. I rolled my eyes as my head decided to sling back. There must be at least one Roland in all of Port Angeles that wasn’t loathed by the Hopi tribe. Regardless of where we were; my mind was still back at school. Amber and Lowlii’s conversation played continuously in my mind.
“Here’s your food,” Becca lugged the bag of French fries over to Lowlii, then the hamburger bag, and then the happy meal. I watched closely to see if either of them dared to make eye contact. Not one glance was given. Even as Becca passed the bags to Lowlii, there would only be one pair of hands holding onto it. Becca, raising the bag higher then required, would let it slip through her fingers slowly. Lowlii, in return, would catch it. Such an act wouldn’t be taken because of hatred; hatred would cause haste, the process was done too calmly for that. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else than an insignificant feud prohibiting the Whites and Rolands from getting along. I took a look around the car; there was no one who would answer my question truthfully. If I wanted answers, my only option was to find them.
The car gathered speed down the road as flying French fries made their way into the air. Fulfilling her Big-Sister duty, Kindle made sure Quinn and Coco had stopped fighting. They both sipped on their sodas as the car swerved down the lanes leisurely. Nathan’s mouth had stayed quiet, due to the fact that he had a partially unrecognizable burger stuffed into it. Amber was still giggling, looking at Lowlii once in a while, afraid to touch her food in fear that she’d forget how to swallow in his gracious presence. Kindle seemed to smirk every time Amber giggled; Steph shook her head in embarrassment. I knew I wasn’t the only one that had figured out what was going on. In some way I was content, happy that Amber wasn’t giving up on Lowlii. In another way, I was filled to the brim with jealousy. I had to focus on slowly raising each fry to my mouth instead of flexing my arm and flinging it to her face. I tried to conceal the fact that I was bothered but seemed to be sloppy at my job in doing so. I glared at Amber while her head was turned the other way. Lowlii, keeping gaze with mine through the rearview mirror, snickered in response.
Why don’t you just whack her already? The intriguing voice came back, this time more confident than whiney. I’m sure Lowlii is just waiting for that.
I cleared my throat lightly, I’m not even supposed to know he’s around, Amber would tell Bird. He was definitely smart enough to put two and two together.
My eyes darted towards the review mirror. Once again, the warmth that had been so absent from my body was beginning to burn.
“This is your stop,” Nathan incoherently mumbled, pointing dumbly towards my dad’s house. The car had already pulled into the muddy backyard. Lowlii patiently waited for me to stumble out of the truck before speeding away. Amber watched him closely as I made my way towards the backdoor. She was obviously still curious about our parking lot scheme. I heard the tires pull back onto the road and sighed. Closing my eyes I tried to keep the warmth still, trying to make my body remember how great it felt.
“Squeak,” the back door flew open. I stepped in expecting to hear the continuous rumble of the TV belting out scores and game schedules. I braced myself, crossing my arms over my chest. I had to be on my best behavior due to what happened today.
“Hey, sweetie,” my dad dully spoke, keeping his eyes pinned to the TV. “How was your first day of school? Helga wants to know.”
Helga? Mom hired a new maid? That would’ve been her 6th one this month.
“It was fine,” my voice peeped.
“Really?” he spoke again, monotonous.
I cleared my throat, what was I supposed to tell him? The first class was a bore, didn’t listen for a moment. Probably don’t even know what subject it was, but the room was very pretty. Turns out that amber thinks I’m quite the pianist in second period, but never mind third and fourth. Why don’t you ask me about the good stuff? Ya know, the chasing Lowlii down the hall and intentionally bombarding the boy’s bathroom—huh? You’re just happy that I had a great time? Thank you, so much.
“Yes, dad. Really.” I smirked falsely.
He shrugged as his eyes locked in a trance with the TV set. “Okay, why don’t you go do your homework, I’ll order some pizza in a few.”
I glared, why was that so easy?
“Don’t you want to ask me about the friends I made?” I asked, astonished.
“No, I trust you sweetheart.” As the TV sequentially went onto a commercial he turned his head towards me with a loving smile. “I’m just happy I could call you my daughter.”
My heart sunk. In fact, it sunk so fast that I heard it thump to the ground.
“I know you were upset about Bird and his actions, but he’s a good man. I’m glad you didn’t try and yell at him senseless.”
No problem, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.
“Okay, then.” I dragged my feet up the stairs, looking back to my dad. His eyes were pinned to the TV as his body laid lazily on the recliner. I shook my head in disbelief at the fact that he had no idea. The gears in my mind slowly started to churn, thinking of ways that would preserve his oblivious state. As clueless as he was, coming home late from school would make him interested and ask questions. So, clearly, lunch was my only option. I cringed at the thought of not being able to talk to Lowlii. I had promised that we would see each other again. Spend some more time together. It won’t help if I just decided to fall off the face of the earth. I quickly unzipped my bag and dumped the four textbooks I had been given in class out. I needed to keep myself busy until tomorrow. Over planning every little second of every minute would not be healthy. Even for someone like me.
The bell rang as I stepped into the detention room. My mind had been twisting and twirling due to the lack of amusement in first period and trained me to expect prison bars on the windows, while escaped convicts were sharpening their knives in the back corner of the room. Nothing but empty chairs stared back to me. The teacher’s light snoring was the only thing keeping the abandoned classroom alive. I tiptoed quietly towards the end of the room and sat down in a chair with as little noise as possible. As soon as the bell would ring, I would be out the door. I couldn’t handle not talking Lowlii. After all, I did promise him more time with me. I looked towards the teacher as his chair was tilted to one side; it’s front two legs hanging in the air. The teacher’s chin, suspended by his chest as the snoring continuously droned on. I rolled my eyes coming to the realization that it was my English teacher, Mr. foremen.
I sulked further down my seat. One more bell would set me free, one more bell.
“Well, if it isn’t Jackie.”
Footsteps approached in the classroom accompanied by an overly cocky egregious voice. I winced in response. Alec plopped down onto the seat in front of me. Carelessly, he bobbed his head to the side and smiled. For once, I remembered how to breathe.
“Nice meeting you here, huh?” he spoke chime-like.
I cleared my throat softly, “what do you want?”
His eyebrows rose in shock, “most girls would faint if I talked to them.”
I glowered, “I’m not like most girls.”
“I’ll say.”
Mr. Foreman caught his breath and rapidly snorted.
“Seems like he’s having a long day.”
I lowered my gaze down, “so it seems.”
The three seconds of silence was followed by Alec’s decision to fling a pencil in the air with intentions of hitting Mr. Foreman.
“Stop it,” I demanded.
Alec’s eyes lit up at the chance of defiance, “someone’s grumpy. Where’s your lover?”
My eye twitched in anger as I raised my gaze back to his. Alec’s golden brown eyes kept perfect hold with mine.
“He’s not my lover. Lowlii’s my friend.”
His forehead lined in compassion, “Aw. Well, don’t worry. There are more fish in the sea.”
I scoffed, “who said I wanted to fish in the sea?”
“Well,” he sighed, still his eyes kept with mine. “You could try a swamp. I doubt you’ll find any there, though.”
My eyes fought themselves to blink, “who said I was looking for someone to begin with?”
Two more seconds of silence slipped through, “oh, you’re right. All girls wake up in the morning and wish that they aren’t swept off their feet.”
I glowered once again, “buzz off.”
Alec seemed to inhale another hearty breath, “I didn’t want to continue this conversation anyway.” He spun his body around to face the front. I tapped my feet nervously in anticipation; Alec was not the type of person to give up so quickly, he was planning something.
“Well, regardless of how you feel about him…” his voice had turned smooth and effortless. Still facing the front of the classroom, he spoke soft enough for my ears to hear. “Do you know where he is?”
I shook my head as if he was staring right at me. Alec scoffed and turned his body back around.
“For god sakes, Jackie. I can’t hear someone shake their head.”
I raised a brow, “how do you know I did that to begin with?”
He sighed impatiently, “ do you know where he is, or not?”
“What? You haven’t seen him today?” I tried to keep my voice from turning into a worrisome tone. What if he was with Amber? What if she forced him into the corner and said that if he didn’t kiss her she was going to beat him senseless until he did?
Alec bit his lip quietly, shifting his eyes back to mine once more. “ Or Amber. I’m assuming he talked to you last…”
“Well, it wasn’t really me.” my mind quickly thought back to the conversation I had over heard. “He talked to Amber. She seemed all riled up about this… legend. Do you think that’s why he’s gone?”
He chuckled quietly yet the happiness didn’t reach his eyes. “And do you believe?”
I shrugged, “in what?”
His lips turned into a tensed line, “imagination—what do you think? Do you believe in The Legend?”
I sucked air through my teeth, “The Legend? The stupid legend that goes back two centuries ago about this girl who was torn between following traditions of her tribe and following the desire of her heart?”
He chuckled again, this time in a mocking manner. “Wow, seems like you’ve been looking into this a lot more than usual.”
I groaned, “It’s stupid. Everyone should just forget about the legend.”
He raised his finger up to his lip and rubbed slightly, “what exactly did amber blurt out?”
I closed my eyes trying to urge my brain not to twist the words I had heard into false assumptions. “She said that she knew I was the girl from the legend as soon as she laid eyes on me.”
Alec fell silent. His eyes, still keeping contact with mine, seemed to dim down. For once, his mind was not boiling up a witty remark for his mouth to utter. He just stared blankly, as if he didn’t comprehend. My mind seemed to be locked with his. I was aware of every action, yet couldn’t control myself. My breathing started to slow down more then usual as my eyes were compelled to stare deeper into his. Slowly, everyone and every other thing in the classroom fazed away. I waited for the warmth, yet it didn’t arrive. My body just felt numb, completely pulled by the electrical pulse that seemed to occur between us.
The corner of Alec’s mouth started to turn up, making a deep dimple crease his flawless skin. “That dang dog figured it out.” He blinked, turning his head away from mine.
I gasped for air, reminding myself not to make eye contact with him anymore.
“Figured what out?”
His laugh echoed against the empty chairs around us, “You really don’t know, do you?”
Before answering I made sure that my mind was clearly functioning. His tone of voice made me shake my head in disbelief.
“You—wait, so everyone thinks that I’m the girl from the legend?”
He laid back lazily, looking off into the distance of the room. “Why not? You’re half Hopi blood, right?”
I nodded my head dumbly, “so? That doesn’t mean anything.”
Alec hummed with poise, “or it means everything. Port Angeles has been calm for the last 20 decades, and then you arrive.”
My body tensed, “how do you know that Port Angeles has been calm for the last 20 decades. You’re only sixteen.”
He blinked dully, seeming to whisper to himself. “Such a thing doesn’t rise because it wants to. It is forced to. There was nothing new until you came along.”
I raised my arms into the air dramatically, “well, if everyone wants me to leave that badly, I’ll just pack my bags and go!”
His golden brown eyes swung back to my tinted hazel eyes with such sternness that made me want to cower in my seat.
I looked down to my desk, “well if I am the girl from the legend, who’s the werewolf and who’s the vampire?”
Alec suddenly shifted his eyes to the ground. With one brisk movement, his body was facing the front. His mouth fell open as I wishfully hoped his answer would rid me of any uncertainty.
“Looks like you’re going to need to do some more research.”