Behind the Lines

Of course, Caleb blind-folded me so I couldn’t see the big surprise, so it took a few minutes longer than usual to reach our destination. He did not want me to see the big surprise, as he stated. All the while, whenever I asked him what he had planned, his answer all the time was, “Don’t worry, you’ll love it.” I swear, if I heard that phrase for another time, I would make him pee in the dirt and then eat it.

“Caleb? Are we almost there yet?” I whine like a five year old.

Caleb chuckles before answering, “Trust me, we’re almost there.”

I groan, but nonetheless continue to follow Caleb into the woods. We fall into a comfortable silence and continue walking as Caleb holds my hand leading the way. The only sound is the leaves crunching beneath our feet.

After what felt like an eternity, Caleb stops walking and walks behind me. Untying the knot from the blindfold, he holds it in his hands over my eyes, counting to three in my ear and then letting it fall.

I gasp as my eyes take on the beauty of the meadow.

The trees surrounding the meadow have lights circulating around its trunk and on its branches. All these lights lead up to the very top of the tree, connecting to that one single gigantic tree in the middle of the field, creating a canopy of lights. Around the isolated tree are flowers. Hundreds of roses in all different colors surround the tree, except for a little pathway which leads up to a ladder built on to the tree connecting to the biggest tree house I have ever seen in my life.

The tree house is absolutely marvelous and probably big enough to hold at least fifteen fully grown men who work out every day. It is simply amazing. The base color is a laminated light brown, and to give it a more forest-y feel, it had vines all around it, looking as if the house is growing them itself. It is breathtaking.

“You like it?” Caleb nervously asks, scratching the back of his head as he waits with anticipation.

“No,” I tell him. A deep frown enters his face as his eyes dim with sadness.

“Well, we could always go—“

“I love it,” I cut him off, giving him a full blown smile. His smile reenters his face and his eyes fill with relief.

“You really had me there for a second, Journey,” Caleb laughs, wiping invisible sweat from his forehead.

“For a second? Boy, I almost made you pee in your pants!” I guffaw, slapping my knees in the process.

He rolls his eyes but takes the insult nonetheless.

“You wanna go up there?” he asks.

“Hell yeah!” I yell, pulling his arm with me as I run to the ladder. I climb up quickly, thanking the heavens I thought to wear shorts under my dress so I would not flash Caleb, right under me.

Pulling myself into the mini house, I take in what’s inside. There’s a DVD player on a mattress that is placed on the floor, along with blankets and pillows. Books line up the wall, and my eyes land on a picnic basket, located near the edge of the bed.

“Holy cow! Are we watching a movie up here!?” I shriek, not hiding the excitement seeping through me.

“Yeah. And eating dinner of course,” he points to the basket, smiling.

“Oh my god, Caleb. This is so thoughtful of you,” I sigh smiling.

“Well, I’m glad you like it,” he relaxes his shoulders I did not even know were tense before.

“Come on, I’m starving,” I grab his hand and head over the mattress, flopping down on it, only making me move more.

“No way! Is this a waterbed?” I scream, bouncing on it more, though it is probably not a good idea.

“Yeah, pretty dope, right?” Caleb smiles, sitting.

“Hell yeah!”

We snuggle into the blankets and pillows, and Caleb then takes out all the food. I’ve never eaten so much in my life. There is pasta, sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, brownies, cake, and cookies.

Caleb even pranked me. He put sand in the sandwich he made for me, and I all, but enjoyed it. It was disgusting. But I laughed about it, shrugging it off, but punching him in the shoulder for it.
Then, after eating, he took out a pile of horror movies, my favorite, so we could watch them on the mini DVD player. Caleb almost peed himself, and I almost threw up when watching the Human Centipede. Never have seen such a diabolical movie in my life.

Needless to say, the night was terrific. We talked, laughed, watched movies, ate, and pulled jokes on each other. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun in such a long time.

“Wake up!” someone yells in my ear. I bury my head deeper into my pillow, not wanting to get up just yet. I manage to blur out the person shaking me and go back to sleep.

It was not long after until I felt icy cold water splash onto my face, making me jump out of bed and shake my head.

“What the hell!?” I shriek, clearing my eyes of water, fully awake now. I look over to see Blaine full-on smiling, evilly might I add.

“What was that for!?” I scream at him, shoving him by the shoulders, furious that he woke me up from my beauty sleep. He barely budges and laughs at me.

Once he’s calmed down, he speaks, while I just glare at him. “Well, today, we need to start the training with our old pack. Rob told me to wake you up,” he explains, still smiling like the motherfucker he is.

“Well, he should have woken me up himself,” I fume, getting a towel from my closet to dry my hair.

“Oh well, be down in ten,” Blaine orders, waving and leaving my room. That fucker is going to get it. It’s been two days since the date, and everything has been going great. Pranks have been going on, and needless to say, not a single person was spared. Even my old pack joined in the festivities, pranking each other and some new friends from my new pack. The best prank I’ve seen so far is someone putting their urine with the apple juice and their friends drinking it, only to spit it out and throw up whatever was in their stomach. Good thing I hate apple juice. Blaine and Johnston were two of the five that drank it. Needless to say, they will forever be scared, but always will be remembered.

My old pack has avoided any interaction with me, and vice versa. I’ve grown a stronger friendship with Caleb and Blaine and Claire, and everyone else. Apart from not seeing Landon, who locks himself up in his room every day, everything is going great. My heart aches from the separation between us, but I’ve not yet forgiven anyone yet.

I change into some shorts and t-shirt, and brush my hair and teeth, not bothering to shower, knowing I’ll have to take one after training anyway.

I can hear people already gathering outside, waiting for me to show up, since I am in charge for training.

I stop on my way to the kitchen and grab a water bottle and apple, greeting some of the pack members as well. Today is going to be a pretty easy going day. For my pack at least. I’m not too sure about the other pack though. They never did a lot of grueling training, so this should take the energy right out of them.

I step into the back yard noticing my small group of friends at the top of the little hill, and then a huge group of people just talking and mingling with each other. I walk over to Rob, Gavin, Xavier, Bryn, Mason, and Kyle and greet them all a good morning and give them a hug. I am in charge of training, but these guys always help and make sure the people are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Soon enough, I put two fingers in my mouth and blow, producing a loud noise to echo in the backyard to gain the attention of the other pack. I see Landon in the front, looking miserable as ever, and my heart aches to see him like that. I turn away before he sees me looking at him and notice I now I have everyone’s attention.

“Okay. Today is going to be fairly simple. You are supposed to sprint 10 miles in under ten minutes in human form. Anyone who goes over ten minutes will do one hundred push-ups, understood?” I go straight away into the training, not pausing to say hello or anything. They don’t deserve that.

“Are you out of your mind?” a girl shrieks, followed by other girls. I identify that girl as Macy, one of the girls who went to the laser tag arena.

“No. But I see you are, already objecting to such a little task,” I retort, eyes narrowed.

“Well excuse me, but ten miles is a lot, especially in ten minutes,” she huffs.

“Well, you are a werewolf, so it should be no problem.”

“Who do you think you are, ordering us around like that?” she sneers.

Smirking I walk right up to her and glare vehemently, “I am your boss. You listen to me. I don’t care if you fucking break a nail or if a hair extension falls out. You will do what I fucking say and you will do it right. Besides, my pack didn’t get attacked, now did it?” I sneer, my eyes so deadly and demanding, she lowers her gaze and cowers.

I look up and glare at the pack in front of me, “Anymore objections?” I question angrily, Royal Wolf power seeping through the atmosphere, much stronger than Rob’s authority right now.

No one answers, all afraid and timid.

“Good. Your time starts now.” At once, they start running and I walk back to my group, all of them sporting proud smiles on their face.

“Never have I ever seen you that angry, Journey,” Gavin gushes, truly shocked, but proud.

“Well, that bitch should have known better than to open her mouth. She’s the one in danger since she doesn’t know shit except how to look like shit,” I vent, still a bit angry.

They all laugh at my statement and pat me on the back, muttering “Good one.”

We all take a seat on the grass, waiting for them to come back from their run. Gavin ran with them, just to make sure they didn’t take a short cut and took the right route. All of us just lounge around and make small talk, taking in the nice morning breeze.

Ten minutes seem to go by fast and Gavin is the first one back, not even tired, followed by Landon and my brothers and some other teens that look out of breath. They are in really bad shape. A few seconds later, bordering eleven minutes, the rest of the pack come into view, huffing and puffing. I stand up from the ground and walk towards the pack that came late.

“Drop and give me one hundred,” I order.

“What? It was ten minutes!” Macy shrieks tiredly.

“I’m sorry; I thought I made myself clear. I said in under ten minutes, not ten minutes and forty-five seconds,” I glare at her.

She backs down and glares at the ground, not questioning authority even though she wants to. Smart girl. Not…

“Drop. Now,” I scream. Each member of the pack, except for the few that came behind Gavin, drop and start doing push-ups. I tell Bryn and Xavier to start setting the obstacle course, the ones you would see at a boot camp. There is already a fifteen foot wall on the other side of the backyard, which they need to climb over. Rob and Gavin help set up the tires and cones, and I set up the ladders on the ground.

I know, this may sound easy, but to do this for an hour straight, repeatedly, is quite hard, even for a werewolf. But my pack can do it for two hours straight. So I’m sure this pack can handle an hour. It’s for endurance and stamina. They need that if they are going to fight

Once we finish setting up the stations, they group finishes doing the push-ups, some faster than others. I order them to come around here so I can tell them what to do, and they listen without any hesitation.

“Okay guys, you are going to be doing this obstacle course for an hour straight. You may not change pace or take any breaks. No water and no talking. If you trip you add five minutes extra minutes to your hour. We will be monitoring you, so you better not leave before your time is up. If you do, well, let’s say we won’t hesitate being here the whole night. Capiche?” I explain.

Everyone nods their heads and this time, no one objects. “Your hour starts now.”

They all run to a station, starting at different ones so there isn’t a huge line on just one of them. They start their exercises and I start my timer. My boys all spread out, monitoring everyone, as do I.

We all yell at them if they are doing something wrong, congratulate them if they are doing a good job, scowl at the people we don’t like, (okay, so that is just mostly me), and sometimes, when we get bored of supervising, we join in on one of the obstacles, doing it with them.

The group that came running in first before, were the first to finish having no trips at all. They all ran inside as soon as they were done, probably to grab some water and to take a shower. We were done with training in about three more hours after them, when the last person, being Macy and her weak group of friends, finally finished after falling only a hundred times. I roll my eyes at them as they glare at me, and slowly walk back to the house.

This is going to be a lot of work.