Can't Love a Werewolf, Without Getting Fleas.

NORMAL POV.

I don’t care if the group I was recently welcomed into drops me on a street corner. You don’t treat someone like that.

As Blake took me home, we rode in silence.

“Look. I know my sister has her moments, but she’s not that bad.”

“Look” I repeated him. “I don’t know any of you, so I don’t think I should be trusting who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy.”

“Lees, don’t do this.”

“Don’t call me that. See you tomorrow for school.” I said, getting out of the car and shutting the door.

I went inside and found my dad up on the downstairs office computer.

“How’d it go?” He asked as I went in the kitchen to get some Kool Aid.

“It was fun. Made a bunch of new friends.” I lied.

“Good. Good.”

“Yeah, well I’m beat. I’m going to head to bed.”

“Okeydoke. G’night Shayles.”

“’Night Dad.”

I skipped every other step as I pounced up stairs.

I stopped by my little sister’s room and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

After I settled in my pjs and laid down in bed, I couldn’t help but be worried, how would tomorrow go?

I really didn’t care. After I started to nod off into dreamland, those beautiful happy brown eyes haunted my dreams.

*

First day of school. No biggie right?

Wrong. I’ve had about 14 first days of schools, but for some reason this one was even scarier.

I already went through about six different outfits.

But I finally decided on this one.

http://www.polyvore.com/first_day_school/set?id=17429116

I grabbed my ipod on my nightstand on the way out and hoped my mom made pancakes.

She did.

I ate them up in a hurry. It was never good to be late on your first day of school.

I stuck one earbud in my ear and hurried out the door. I ran into something strong and small.

I looked up to see Brooke smiling down at me.

“Hey. Need a ride?” She gleamed, like nothing last night had happened.

“Uh… sure.”

I awkwardly followed her to her car.

She started the engine and loud rap music blared through the speakers.

“I love Lil’ Wayne.” She said, rapping to the lyrics.

I nodded, and stuck in the other earbud. Annie by SafetySuit played in my ear.

She tapped me on the shoulder.

I took out my earphones and noticed the music was off.

“Hey. I need to tell you something about what happened last night.”

Utoh. Here it comes…

“You have to know. Nessa took these awful pictures of me while I was showering one night, and sent them to every boy at school; calling me a slut.”

My mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. So it’s not like I’m mean for no reason. She deserved it. But now she regrets it, because we’re the most popular people in the school.”

I repressed the urge to scoff.

“Well that was terrible of her to do and all, but I think you guys should make up. You know, forgive her.”

“Forgive?” Brooke looked up at me with a confused expression.

Did she not know what it was like to forgive somebody?

“That’s Blake’s Job. He’s the forgiving twin.” She giggled away.

Was that supposed to be funny?

Brooke jumped out of the car, and pranced up the parking lot to the front of the school with grace.

I found myself stumbling with all my new books, hobbling like a frog to catch up with her.

She was so fast…

“Welcome to Anderson High.” She sang, like it was the place she got married or some other memorable moment.

“This is smaller than my old school. But cleaner, much cleaner.”

“In fact I-.”

Ooof.

Something rammed my side from behind me. The jolt caused me to drop all of my books.

“Watch it.” I looked up ready to knock a bit*h out. But I froze. It was him.

The guy I saw in the woods. The one whose eyes haunt my dreams. It was him.

I just kind of stood there, starring after him.

“First day of school, and already I’m having to watch over you.” I turned to see Blake smiling like the little kid he was.

“Yeah. Some kid bumped into me, and I’ve never had to carry so many books around in my life!” I exclaimed.

“Here. I’ll walk you to your first class, that way I’m sort of like your body guard, and you won’t have to waddle down the halls like an idiot.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” I stated, standing up and looking around to see Brooke was nowhere to be found.

I wanted to frown. If Karla were here with me, she would have jumped on that guys back and demanded he help me pick up my books.

I miss her. I miss home…

“You should. You look lovely today by the way.”

“Uh, thanks.” I pulled my hat further on my forehead, pressing my bangs to my face; and hiding behind them.

“History with Ms. Appleman? Oh, I think Annie has that class.”

Lovely.

“We have second and third period together though, how awesome!”

“Yeah. I hate being the awkward new girl that talks to no one.”

I was truly relieved to have known Blake was in two of my four classes.

*

Ms. Appleman would be the death of me. Already, she assigned a project with partners, that’s due Wednesday.

Great trick to play on the new girl, who knows nobody, and is going to be stuck with some weird nerdy kid who picks his nose while he’s talking to you.

I buried my head in a book, hoping no one would notice me, and I could just do it all by myself.

“Hey. You’re new right?” I glanced up at a petite, short, blonde. She had almost white hair, with black skinny jeans, a white and gray striped camisole a big black bow in her hair that contrasted with her white locks.

“Yeah.”

“My Name is Leslie.” She held out her hand.

“Shaylee.”

“That’s a wicked name.”

“Thanks?”

“You got a partner?”

“No.” I answered, looking over to see Annie flirting away with her boy-toy partner.

Of course, she wouldn’t acknowledge my existence.

“Of course you do. Hi. I’m your partner, Leslie.” He held out a hand for me to shake it with a playful smile.

I shook it eagerly.

Leslie was really nice. She didn’t slack off on the project either. She helped me out, and started telling me that I could eat lunch at her table, with her friends.

Six people: Her, Violet, Harrison, Luke, Brian and Colton. The “pack” she called them.

Colton. The name flashed through my head like lightening.

The brown eyes appeared, and I suddenly hear laughter. Laughter of a young boy, giggling away at something or someone.

Could they be the same person?

*

Second period was much better. I saw Blake and he kicked some girl out of the seat next to him so I could sit with him.

“How was Appleman?”

“There is not a word to describe her.” I sat down sluggish in my chair.

He laughed.

“That bad?”

“She gave us a huge partner project due Wednesday.”

“That’s not too bad. Annie doesn’t really help much in projects though. Learned that freshman year.”

I looked at him weird. Why did he assume I was partners with Annie?

I decided to just let it go. “Yeah…”

A man walked into the room, relatively young.

“Let’s talk Pre-Calc.”

The whole class groaned, as well as me.

Math was never my forte’.

I was lucky to have Blake next to me, and have such a chill teacher. He let us talk to one another, and Blake explained things as best he could.

Any help was better than none at all.

*

Third period: Gym.

Finally something fun.

Blake and I walked together, him explaining every unfamiliar face and the school, until we split for locker rooms.

“I’m so excited to be on track this year. It’s almost not even fair how good I am at running.” Brooke’s high-pitched voice echoed the locker room walls.

I noticed she was talking to Rachel. Rachel was just smiling and nodding eagerly.

I tried to avoid them, not really wanting to talk about track team right now. They would probably want me to try out, and honestly I just wanted to settle down and understand whatever the heck was going on in Pre-Calc today.

Being three weeks late in the school year is never fun.

I spotted Leslie and some other girl at the opposite end, near a row of lockers.

I ducked behind girls changing into proper PE attire, and found them.

“Hey! Project partner!” Leslie chimed, smiling away.

“Hey.” I answered kind of quietly. I wasn’t ready to face Brooke right now.

“This is Violet, remember me telling you about her?”

I turned to a girl with jet-black hair and a white bow, the polar opposite of Leslie’s hair.

The two of them together kind of looked like yin and yang.

“Utoh. What’d she say?” Violet asked, her voice raspier than I imagined.

She smiled at me.

“Good thing. Promise.”

“Good.” She sighed, changing shirts.

I didn’t have a change of clothes, but between Violet and Leslie, I got a black cami and gray shorts.

It may have looked weird with my converses on, but I could really care less.

“Cute.” Leslie said, giving me a one-over. I nodded, and hid behind them as we made our way out of the locker room. Brooke was still chatting away with Rachel, as a few other girls followed them, hanging on her every word.

“Hey Vi.” Leslie turned to her black-haired friend.

“Doesn’t Colton have this class too?”

“Maybe.” Violet rubbed her chin as if deep in thought. “But he’s probably skipping it.”

“Yeah, probably.”

That name. It was him. Dare I ask questions about him?

“Who is this Colton person.” I asked the two of them, trying hard to hide my feverish curiosity.

“He’s kind of the leader of our little ‘pack’.” Leslie said, and exchanged a look with Violet.

“Yeah. Only because everyone in the whole school is afraid of him.” Violet laughed.

“Why are they afraid of him?” I wondered. He didn’t look that scary to me.

“He’s just like that. Gives you the cold shoulder, skips class, smokes cigarettes, gets drunk, has sex, beats people up for fun.” She went on and on in a bored tone.

I felt sick to my stomach. Why was I so curious in him, if he was such an awful person?

“You know Vi, they say he wasn’t always like that.”

“HA! Right, Colton act like a good kid, yeah sure.”

“No Seriously. Brian said he grew up with this chick, that it was love at first sight. He like protected her, and cared for her.”

“So I take it this is before we moved into town?” Violet said, thinking in depth.

“Yes.”

“So what happened?” I asked Leslie, wondering maybe just a little, if that girl could have been me.

“She died.” I gasped.

Nope… definitely not me.

*

The huge gym was bustling with tons of highschool students.

I tried to debate all of my options.

If I stayed with Leslie and Violet, then I ran the chance of having an awkward introduction with that Colton guy.

If I stayed with Blake, then I ran the chance of a unwanted welcome with Rachel and Brooke.

Which to choose…. Hm, which to choose….

“Shaylee!” I winced at the recognition of that voice. It was Brooke.

“Lees!” Blake’s voice echoed his sister’s.

I stood up and turned around. They were making their way over to me.

“How do you know the Cunningham twins?” Violet’s voice was disgusted.

“Uhm. I guess I knew them when I was younger. Plus they’re my next door neighbors.”

“Sucks.” A guys voice came from behind us. I turned around, expecting to see dark black hair. But this guy had short-ish brown hair.

“Brian.” Blake’s voice was plain, uninterested.

“Blake.” Brian’s seemed angry, hateful.

Blake, pulled me into him, and Brooke stood beside us, a little bit in front of me.

I struggled to break-free of his tight hold.

What the heck was he thinking?!??!

“Let go.” I whisper-yelled at him.

He let go, and I stepped away.

“I wouldn’t go near those smelly things.” Brooke said, eying Leslie and Violet.

“Whatever! Shaylee can do what she wants!”

Brian’s eyes darted to me; interested.

“Your name is Shaylee?”

Brooke shot her head at Blake. Blake’s breathing became quicker.

“Yeah.”

“What’s your last name?” He seemed eager to find out.

But before I could answer a whistle blew.

The coach asked us to form four columns of ten on the hardwood floor.

Blake stayed with me, telling me it was because he didn’t want me to be alone when we were paired for partners.

But I couldn’t help but feel the reason why he never left my side wasn’t that simple.

I glanced around the gym, looking for a head of black hair.

He was nowhere to be found.

“Alright, class. We’re going to do a quick stretch, and then I want you to pair up for baseball.”

A cocky sophomore led the stretches, and I felt kind of embarrassed that I wasn’t that flexible.

Brooke on the other hand was practically doing splits, while eyeing down some of the boys in our class.

I felt so awkward, that I couldn’t move like some of the kids in this class. Back home, I was considered rather coordinated compared to the kids at our school. But here, everyone was all loosey goosey.

I could faintly hear Blake chuckling behind me.

I shot him a death glare.

He smiled innocently.

They led us through multiple stretches. I was glad to know one thing I could do was touch-my-toes. My mom said it was always an accomplishment because I had such long legs.

My least favorite was the back bend. I felt all the blood rush to my head, and my sweaty palms slid against the hardwood, causing me to almost fall a few too many times.

I felt like such a scrub when the coach announced that there was a ‘new student in the class’, and by the way everyone looked around at one another, I only had to assume I was the only knew kid. Or maybe I should have been sad that no one recognized me as a new kid…

“Shaylee Turner.” I felt my face heat up like lava and I managed a small nod to all the heads that had yanked my way.

My eyes jumped to Leslie who was smiling encouragingly up at me, and violet who looked like she was about to laugh at my face, and as my eyes found Brooke, I was expecting her to be happy-go-lucky like always. But she was staring at something, and as I followed her gaze, I noticed it was that brown-haired kid, Brian.

His face was pale, and extremely confused. His blank grey eyes just stared gaping at me.

I was happy once the whistle blew. His stare was sort of disturbing. Like he was seeing a ghost.

When we finally paired up, we were each given a glove and then we were allowed one ball to pass back and forth.

Soon the gym was filled with the loud thumping noise as the balls either hit the other person’s glove, or the floor, or occasionally, another person’s body.

My throws were pretty spot-on. I played softball for a little while in middle school, and I felt pretty confident.

Blake didn’t even give me instruction. He just kept smilling saying I was so good at everything I did. I had to refrain from rolling my eyes.

“Coming from the guy who has never missed a strike in his life in bowling.” I said, swinging my arm back to throw the ball.

He let out a hard brief laugh. “Just practice. And genetics.”

“No. I think it’s just this town.” I told him, remembering how everyone seemed to be excellent at bowling, and whatever else their hearts desired.

“Your good at things too, you’re just being modest.” He stated as he returned the ball. I kept my eye on it as it fell into my glove. But just as it hit it, it fumbled out, and I went into klutz mode trying to catch it mid air. Thankfully, I retrieved it before it hit the ground.

Not a complete and total fail… I guess.

“Please. I might be pushing it by saying I’m a little below average.” I said, examining the ball and wiping it on my shirt, trying to pretend the reason I missed it was because it was sweaty or something.

I gazed over to Leslie and Violet, who were playing that game where once you both catch it, you take a step back and keep playing. They were giggling away as they got further and further apart.

Brooke and Rachel were showing off, and throwing it behind their backs. It was bizarre to me, because I figured Brooke as a girl who was too scared to break a nail.

“So Shaylee, Turner. Is that your real last name, or does it stand for something else?”

I kind of jumped at Brian’s voice. I hadn’t even noticed that he was only two people down from us. He was throwing it slowly back and forth with some nerdy kid who missed the ball every time, and had to go off to retrieve it—every time.

His once pale face seemed to have gained some color. “No. It’s always been Turner.”

I gave Blake a… “What kind of question is that” look.

“Really? Didn’t there use to be a Shaylee Turner that lived here about seven years ago?”

I looked at him quizzically. “Yeah… I mean I lived here about ten years ago, then I moved to New York.” I stated, watching the ball come at me with a keen eye.

Blake was staring holes into Brian like he wanted him to just melt under his gaze.

I mean, I didn’t mind being talked to; in fact it was kind of refreshing to get a break from talking to Blake and Brooke.

“Ten? Are you sure? I’m pretty sure the way I heard it, you lived here seven years ago.”

I gave him a “You honestly think I don’t remember my own childhood” look. But the truth was I didn’t….

Either Brian was bad at math… or three years of my life seemed to have vanished in thin air.

“Yes I’m sure… I mean, I don’t remember really living here much, but I everyone told me I left when I was seven years old…” I couldn’t shake my confused look.

My mind kept flashing back to that memory of my parents in the car with me. So many memories… but they’re all bits and pieces. Like I’m missing vital pieces to a puzzle, and it’s hard to see the big picture, if you don’t have the little ones.

“Brian.” Blake’s voice was short and to the point. Brian squinted his eyes at Blake like he had just killed his mother.

“Don’t forget the contract.” Was all he said. I couldn’t help but giggle.

Contract? Really? What are we, Donald Trump?

Are we going to all tell each other we’re fired next?

“I haven’t forgotten anything Cunningham, but you know once Colton finds out, your little ‘treaty’ is not going to mean anything anymore.”

“Well. We will have to wait and see then.”

Blake’s voice tried to stay smooth, but you could tell the worry behind it.

“Either this is a lie,” he said pointing to me, “Or you’re hiding something. Something big. And we’re going to find it out.”

Just as Brian walked off away from his thankful partner, who looked like he was about to keel over from an asthma attack, Blake turned back to me and smiled.

I was stunned. What did I have to do with they’re little Donald Trump pow-wow.

I’ve been here for like three days, and already people assume things of me.

If there’s one thing that I cannot stand, and didn’t have a problem with till I moved to this freaking town; is the fact that people act like they know more about my childhood than I do.

Do you know how unfair that feeling is? How much it drives me crazy?

I began tossing the ball angrily at Blake. He looked like my throws were hitting him in the heart each and every time.

It made me feel almost bad, but there was something he wasn’t telling me.

“What is he talking about with a ‘treaty’ and what do I have to do with it?”

I asked Blake, not caring who over heard.

“I don’t know why he dragged you into it,” he stated it like it was a boring weather forecast, “but it’s just a neighborhood treaty. Our group of friends doesn’t really get along, and we made a peace treaty to settle all the fights we use to have.”

“Like fist-fights?” I wondered cautiously.

“Yes.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“What?” He asked, reading my face expression.

“Like you could throw a punch.”

He put his hand over his heart. “I’m hurt. You think I’m a pansy?”

I laughed and held my stomach. His expression was priceless.

“I didn’t-say-that.” I said between laughs.

“No… no you didn’t, but I feel as though it was implied.” He said, still looking at me like I was a naïve little child.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just because you’re so nice to me. I couldn’t imagine you or even Brooke hurting anybody else.” I said, still feeling like I was going to have another fit of giggles.

I didn’t even hear the door at the far end of the gym click shut.

The whistle blew to put everything up, and Blake ran over to me.

He pulled the glove off my hand slowly, exposing my palm and finger to the cool air-conditioned air. He lightly grabbed my hand in his and looked down at me.

“I wouldn’t ever hurt you Shaylee. Please, please know that.” He said and I couldn’t look him in the eye. A blush was creeping up my neck, and I felt like if my face was in plain sight he’d be able to tell.

That’s when I saw him.

Colton. I think that’s what his name was.

He was dressed in dark skinny jeans with a studded belt and a loose red shirt with Volcom designs on it.

His black hair was straightened and dangling in his face. But nothing could make me forget his expression.

One of the few times I get a clear view of him, and his face looked like that.

Brian was up next to him, whispering something in his ear.

His face was whiter than Brian’s had been. His eyes—two massive circles. He looked like he had seen a ghost as well, maybe even the dead walking.

He was looking dead at me, and I wanted to pull away, but the way his eyes were scrutinizing me, almost as if he were comparing me to something.

Blake squeezed my hand and I tore my gaze away.

“I know.” I answered quickly, not sure why I felt like I had to pretend like I wasn’t staring at another guy in front of Blake.

“I know you wouldn’t hurt me.” I said, grabbing my glove from him and emptying it in the box with the rest of the class’s.

I didn’t want to look at either boy, so I ran with my head down to the girl’s locker room, and changed as fast as I could.

Something about the way that kid was staring at me… it was something I couldn’t get out of my head.