Discovering Wolves

Chapter 2

“Sorry I’m late!” I said barely above a whisper, looking down at the floor, now horribly embarrassed. The class probably thought I was crazy. Let’s not even get started on what the teacher must be thinking.

“What caused you to be late Ms. Benson?” The teacher asked me quietly so nobody else would be able to hear, even though the whole classes’ ears had eagerly perked up trying to catch some of our conversation. I handed her the note from the office and she quickly read it.

“Is everything okay at home?” She questioned a little more powerfully this time. I just nodded, not able to force words out of my mouth. How she had known about that was beyond me.

“Alright then, just remember in this class you can tell us what is bothering you. Whatever it is I promise the class will understand!” She told me still looking at me like she was terribly worried, like she knew I would never share what was wrong in the class. “Now go take a seat next to Mathew in the back and we’ll get started.” She finished giving me a little push towards the desk I was supposed to be taking my seat in.

I walked to the back letting my legs carry me and dropped into the seat, joining the rest of the group in their silence. Nobody was discussing their summer, or trying to hit on one of the guys in the class, which there were plenty of. We just sat there elapsed in silence, occasionally shuffling through our papers to occupy ourselves. It seemed as if I wasn’t the only one freaked out about being in this class because none of us even dared to look at each other; we just stared helplessly at the teacher, who didn’t seem to realize we were all acting strange for a group of 16 year olds. She just started class like she would start any other class.

“Welcome to homeroom! I’m Ms. Wolfe and I will be your teacher!” She paused looking at us for any sign of reaction, but nobody snickered like a normal person would have. What was happening to us? The last name Wolfe should have made us burst out in laughter. Instead we rewarded it with complete silence.

“So as you must have noticed your homerooms were switched up. This is because the school board has decided that every student needs to be placed into a confidential group of students, who they can share ALL their problems with.” Again she ran her eyes around the room glancing at each of our faces separately.

“You will have to choice to discuss these personally with me, or openly with the class at first but by the end of September this choice will end. From then on everybody will tell the whole class their problems.” Mrs. Wolfe paused to see if anybody was going to object, but nobody did. We didn’t have the guts to, though it was clear that it wasn’t like anyone would be pouring their heart out or sharing their problems in front of a bunch of people they don’t know. Not unless we went completely whack.

“It will be crucial to this exercise that you do share your problems because if you don’t then it won’t end up pretty. I’m not stupid! I am able to tell when something is bugging someone.” She said and everyone stared at her in shock. Like we actually believed that! How stupid and gullible did she think we were? We might have been too freaked out to say anything, but it didn’t seem like we were out of our minds.

“Let me give you some examples. Mathew is being overwhelmed with things that have happened to him recently, but he still doesn’t understand them.” Mathew’s face burned from utter shock as she said this proving it had been true, but she continued, as if this wasn’t enough for us yet, though it was clear that we believed her.

“Kristina has gone through many, many hardships but never got a true explanation for it and this bugs her. She also will probably be the first one to solve her problems out of this class and get used to everything happening so suddenly.” A girl, who was most likely Kristina, let her face drop as she started to blush. She even opened her mouth to protest before thinking better of it at the sight of Mrs. Wolfe’s frown.

“Ashley just went through something this morning and doesn’t know what to think of it. She’s still waiting for answers and many other things, like the most of you are.” She said addressing me and I felt my face start to burn. How had this teacher found out, when I hadn’t even spoken of it? Why was it that this class had the right to know before my friends? Why did she have to tell everyone about my personal issues? Especially ones I hadn’t wanted anyone to know about!

“Alex just moved for no true reason and he is furious for having to leave his friends behind. Next to this he’s been going through things that are hard enough on their own.” She said as a brown haired guy I have never seen before covered his face with his hands, embarrassed. It was clear he hadn’t wanted anyone to know this either.

“Max was living the dream life till last week. Weren’t you Max?” Mrs. Wolfe continued, now questioning too. The blonde boy up front numbly nodded his head.

“And what happened to ruin all of that?” She continued, and the boys’ eyes widened with protest, almost begging her to shut up.

“You went through what everyone is going through in this class. That’s why you were decided to be put in the came so called ‘community’.” She finished, allowing the boy to let out a sigh as he calmed himself down that everybody wasn’t going to find out his secret.

“And I know so much more that I could continue with, but I don’t think you doubt me now. If you try to keep your problems from me I WILL make them public so I assure you, you will be better off just telling me. Now please get out a pencil. We have some very important paperwork to fill out!” She finished ending her horribly embarrassing talk and passing out papers. This was weird because we never had to fill out paper work in the past years, and I had been here since 6th grade.

“Please do not leave out anything on the paper. It is important that you write something everywhere. If you can’t relate then put that! It is an answer! I’ll even count a line if you’re so helpless.” She said sending a glance at some of the boys up front.

Slowly she went around placing sheets on each table. The last piece ended up on my desk, proving that there weren’t any other students in the class besides us. Looking up at Mrs. Wolfe I realized she was looking at the class approvingly since we were still staring at her. “You can start now!” She called giving us all a wave with her hands. Instantly all our heads dropped down to look at the papers and we started writing with rage. This teacher controlled us easier than our own parents did.

Name: Ashley Benson
Mothers name: Natalie Benson
Fathers name: Thomas Benson
Siblings: (Please put older or younger) older, John Benson and Josh Benson
Birth date: (No year needed) September 1st
Any weird changes lately? (Check yes or no) I checked yes.
Any things happen lately that you still don’t know the reason to? I checked yes.
Any visits to people you never knew your parents knew? I checked no.
Any unusual explanation from your parents? I checked no. (Though I hoped to get some kind of explanation later that night)
Have your friends been acting differently lately? I wrote can’t relate to this.
Have new people tried making friends with you? I wrote can’t relate to this.
Do you feel any strange pulls shocks when you’re around a specific person? I wrote I can’t relate to this.
Comments: I left it empty.

I looked over the sheet a few times wondering why the school needed to know this. Wouldn’t it be personal information if I visited people I never thought we knew or if my friends started acting differently? I couldn’t grasp why this would be important to a school.
Unconsciously I covered my paper so nobody could read what I had written, and most of my classmates were doing the same. Some were writing so franticly I could only wonder what was so important. A few had even written notes into the comment part, or more specifically Kristina had who was now waving her paper in the air trying to get someone’s attention. Of course everyone was staring at her, just not communicating.

“Alright, please pass your papers to the front. Don’t forget to return the school discipline packets by tomorrow. These last few minutes I will allow you to just chat with your class mates and get to know each other! I will see you tomorrow.” Mrs. Wolfe told us before going to sit at her desk.

The whole class sat there in silence not daring to speak. It wasn’t very easy making friends on command. I started shifting uncomfortably in my chair and many other students followed my example. This was just too awkward for me. I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t stay in our normal classes and I bet the others couldn’t either.

Mrs. Wolfe was about to speak when someone raised their hand. It was the blonde girl with brown eyes that Mrs. Wolfe had called Kristina. All of our eyes turned to her and she looked horribly embarrassed for raising her hand.

“Yes Kristina?” She called out to the girl, with a gleam of pride that someone had been convinced to speak up.

“Well I was wondering why these groups couldn’t stay the same as before. I mean we already know all those students in our past homeroom classes. It would have been easier for us.” Kristina asked Mrs. Wolfe as the whole class called out in agreement. It was something completely new for us to speak in this class, so this was pretty rare.

“You’ll find that out very soon!” Mrs. Wolfe told us right when the bell rang piercing the silence with a loud screech. At the sound of this wonderful ear piercing noise we all jumped out of our seats like we had been sitting on hot coal and ran for the door trying to escape from the room as fast as possible. Everyone was fighting their way out the door. People were pushing and shoving each other with all their might, out into the hallway. I was one of them. There was not one person in the class who wasn’t trying to run to their friends and escape the grasp of this nightmare. I actually think we set a new record for clearing out of a classroom. It stood totally empty and sole less just a minute later.