One Foot in the Grave

School. It was just another institution of rules I had to deal with. St. Reynolds Private school was just like any other public school, except this one was full of spoiled brats. We had the jocks, the cheerleaders, the skaters, the rich druggies, the band geeks, the nerds, and then the outcasts, those that couldn’t really fit into a single clique. Pretty much me, Rafael, Dean, and Sam. We were the only lycan that attended this school because most of our kind couldn’t keep a job because of frequent absences and most people thought what we had was a disease. No one wants a diseased person working for them. Of course, no one knew I was a wereleopard, I was just another social outcast to them. And without a job that paid $100,000 a year, sending your kid to a school like this would be impossible. The werewolf clan in St. Louis were business savvy enough to build up a sort of clan savings account that was used to fund their young’s education. Werewolves didn’t mate frequently, John never told me why, but they just didn’t. So Rafael, Dean, Sam, and three others who weren’t old enough for highschool were the only young the pack had. John had convinced his alpha to fund my education as well, it had been a generous gesture that at first I hadn’t wanted to accept.

“Raf, you coming to watch the cheerleaders practice?” Dean asked, that stupid cocky grin of his pulling the corners of his lips up.

“Naw, I’ll catch up with you guys later,” Rafael said. Dean and Sam shrugged and hurried off to the foot ball field to catch the rest of the cheerleader’s morning practice.

“Why aren’t you going to join them?” I asked, having been hopping to get a moment by myself.

“I wanted to continue our conversation from the café,” he answered honestly. Sometimes I really hated his blunt attitude. “Would you come with me to the celebration tomorrow night?” he asked once more, walking alongside me with his arm still on my shoulder.

“And why would I want to go with you?” I said with a very unlady-like snort to show my slightly untrue distaste.

“Because you’re attracted to me,” he said, his voice suddenly very husky, “I can smell it on you,” he continued, backing me up to one of the trees that edged the small forest by the school. My back touched the warm bark and I was suddenly staring at Rafael from less than a foot away. Thankfully I was tall enough that I only had to tip my head up slightly. I saw his nostrils flare as he took in my scent and I flinched, I knew my herbs worked from a distance but I’d never had a lycanthrope up close and personal with me. “Did you get a cat?” he questioned, his nose mere inches from the soft skin of my neck.

I shoved him away, utilizing his moment of confusion to my advantage. “No, I do not have a cat,” I snapped and continued walking away from him at a brisk pace. Inside I was pleading to any and every God to give Rafael a stuffy nose right now.

“Sigrid!” He called out, hurrying to catch up with me. “Hey, I’m sorry alright? Doing that isn’t such a big deal in the pack,” he apologized. “Forgive me?” he questioned with his signature grin on his lips.

I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest, “Are you sure I’m allowed to come?” I asked, trying to ignore the sudden glint of triumph in Rafael’s eyes.

“John told us to treat you like pack and that’s exactly what I’m doing,” he reasoned, grinning widely.

“And you really have no one else you can go with?”

“No one else I want to go with.”

“Sweet talk will get you nowhere with me Rafael,” I muttered, walking away from him again.

“Wait, is that a yes?” he called out.

I turned halfway to face him, “yes.”

“See you tomorrow at seven then!”

The bell rang and as I walked to class I kept grinning despite myself. Sure Rafael was a lady’s man, he had an ego the size of Texas, and he always played pranks on me. But he was the only guy who had the balls to ask me out somewhere, I knew I should keep a low profile but I’m just a seventeen year old girl who wants to have fun in her senior year in high school.

My first hour was gym, my favorite class. I went to the girl’s locker room and popped open my locker and shoved my back pack into it. As I stripped down into my underwear and bra so I could change into my gym uniform I noticed the crude looks I was getting from the other girls. I found it stupid that they hated me because I was good looking, being a wereleopard just had that effect on me. I had the sun-kissed skin and golden hair similar to my golden fur, my eyes were the same fresh grass green and were very cat-like, my body was long and graceful, and my lycanthrope metabolism burnt up any calories I digested as quickly as I ate them. I just had the down side of being the last of my kind and having to hide every time I felt my body yearn to shift forms.

I tucked my uniform into my locker and when I straightened up with my gym clothes in hand I came face-to-face with the queen bee at St. Reynolds. “Hello Amanda,” I muttered, frowning at her.

“It’s Mandi you stupid bar bitch,” she snapped.

My frown deepened, I kept my night job a secret because I didn’t want to get busted for working in a bar when I wasn’t old enough to. “Well, you’re getting creative with the nick names aren’t you?” I replied, my voice staying at a level purr. I wasn’t going to take her bait.

“I know you work at that run down bar down town, Full Moon” she continued, putting her hands on her hips and assuming stuck up stance number one. “And I’m going to tell everyone,” she continued, enjoying her little evil villain speech.

I knew Amanda would never admit it but she had a thing for Rafael, rumor was she liked him because he was a werewolf. One of her blabbermouth friends had let slip that Amanda had always wanted to know what it was like to do it with a werewolf.

“What do you think you’ll gain from spreading that around? You’ll just give Full Moon more business,” I shot back, pulling my gym shirt over my head. “You’re the one who gives a crap about social status, not me.”

“Oh yeah? So what would you do if I sent this picture of you at work to everyone in this school?” She said in her smug little voice of hers as she held up her pink cell phone, I could make out the picture easily, it was me pouring the man from last night his shots.

“Why are you so threatened by me?” I asked, pulling my shorts up and sitting on one of the benches to pull my running shoes on.

For a moment she was taken aback, her blue eyes wide then she let out one of her stupid giggles and rolled her over made-up eyes. “I’m not threatened by anyone.”

“Oh really? Is that why you constantly try to tear me down so you can get at Rafael?” I asked, grinning when I saw her blush. I pulled away from the lockers and advanced towards her, something in my expression must have made her back up because she took steps away from me and when I snapped my hand out to grab her phone she had a moment to be surprised before she was yelling at me.

“Give that ba-” I cut her off by shoving the phone back towards her, after deleting the picture of me of course.

“Quit trying to prove you’re better than me Amanda, I’m sick of it,” I said, closing my locker and leaving the locker room. I grinned; I loved putting that spoiled brat in her place.

“Are you and Amanda fighting again?” It was Rafael; this was the only class we had together. Usually he spent it with Sam and Dean, but I guess me accepting his request to take me to his pack’s celebration had sparked a new interest in him.

“She started it,” I muttered, grinning despite myself.

“What’s her current scheme?”

“She found out I work at Full Moon.”

“And now she has you working as one of her little followers?”

I frowned at him, “I’d choose the social death sentence over that.”

Rafael laughed; it was a wild laugh that reminded me he could never be tamed. It reassured me that Amanda could never handle Raf. “I’m glad, I don’t think I could take it if you started acting like them,” he said, a laugh still bubbling through his voice. He slung his arm over my shoulders like he always did but his arm slipped when Amanda shoved past me. Rafael just laughed at her behavior and replaced his arm across my shoulders. “Why did she even bother with the picture, what did you do?”

I had a moment to contemplate whether or not I wanted to tell him the truth, I didn’t. “She just doesn’t like me Raf,” I lied.

Rafael gave me a look, one that said “I don’t believe you”. “Sigrid, did you forget that I can smell it when you lie?”

Actually, I hadn’t, I was just hoping I could have done a better job at lying. “Alright, alright,” I gave in, “she’s mad that you’re always hanging out with me and not her,” I admitted, not bothering to look at his expression. I had a feeling it would be smug.

“I bet I could figure out a way to make her even more jealous,” he said, that wolfish growl of his tainting his words. He leaned closer to me, his arm tightening around my shoulders so that I was pulled closer to him. In a situation like this I realized how frustrating it was to keep my true self a secret, I was jealous that Rafael and the others didn’t have to hide themselves all of the time. Rafael, frowned at me, his smug grin disappearing. “What? No snappy comeback?” Rafael questioned, pulling me to a stop before we entered the gym.

“Sorry, dazed off,” I replied, slipping from under his arm and entering the gym. Raf was only a few steps behind me.

Dean and Sam rushed over to us, and once they were a mere ten feet away Sam threw a red, rubber ball at Rafael. Raf took the hit square in his stomach and the air rushed out of his lungs, the guys never really held back with each other. “Dodge ball today bro!” Sam yelled, grinning wildly. I sighed, any excuse for violence had these guys cheering.

“Good, I guess that means I can kick your ass and I won’t get sent to detention,” Rafael said and threw the ball back at Sam. Sam stumbled back a step as he caught the ball.

“Alright class! Settle down, I need to take attendance and then you can split into teams!” Our coach yelled, clapping his hands to catch our attention.