The Heart of the Wolf

The rest of the school day wasn’t that bad. I had already made a small group of friends. The best part about that was the fact at least one was in each of my classes. I was stepping into the last class of the day, Creative Writing. Ellie was at my side and gestured toward a couple desks in the second row. I slung my bag over the back of the chair and slid into the desk. “Doesn’t look like many kids take this class?”

Ellie laughed,” Of course not. This class is way to uncool for most kids. I love to write and Mrs. Angela is great!” A blond woman walked through the door, her heels clicking across the floor. She stopped at the white board and carefully wrote Mrs. Angela. Then she turned and faced us, frowning as she realized it was literally just the three of us.

“Where is everyone?” Mrs. Angela strutted over to her personal desk and clicked at the computer. I’m assuming she was pulling up the class roster. Her face started too reddened as she spoke. “You’ve got to be kidding me. There are literally only three students registered for this course.”

Ellie stifled a giggle into her bag. I held back a smile and shook my head. Someone coughed which instantly gained my attention. Of course it was the same boy whose been staring at me all day. He hasn’t spoken to me once. He just bore holes in the back of my head every class. I remembered his name was Aaron.

Aaron shuffled through the doorway and placed a note in Mrs. Angela’s hand. “Sorry.” That’s all he offered as he chose a seat. She blankly stared at him before deciding to shrug it off which I’m assuming was the best thing to do.

Mrs. Angela pulled her projector screen down and pushed the on button on the actual projector. “Oh, well. Creative Writing is something not every person can do. You have to have an imagination and be good with words. I take my class very seriously so if you are just taking it for fun, now would be the time to walk out and get it changed with the school guidance counselor.” She turned and surveyed the room, waiting for any of us to get up. “Good. For my class, I like to have each student come up with a story and write their own novel. Here’s a brain storming sheet. Once you’re done, come up to my desk so we can talk about it.”

I looked at the sheet, the different bubbles tying in together and regretted my decision to take this class. I didn’t write stories. I was more of a poem kind of person. Ellie was already furiously scrawling around on the page. Lucky her. The emptiness of my own was patronizing. I bit down my pencil, waiting for any type of story to pop up. Mrs. Angela must have noticed my hesitation. “Diana, do you need help?”

I sheepishly looked up at her. “I’m not much of a story writer, Mrs. Angela. I usually stick to poetry.”

She smiled,” It’s always good to go out of our comfort zone. That’s how some of the best works are created. When you’re thinking of a topic, think about what you want to teach that reader. Usually picking a theme helps with the type of story.” She paused and placed a hand under her chin. “I think a good theme for you would be vulnerability of the meek mind. You seem like a pretty introverted person, although that could be just that you are new here.”

I thought about it, letting the theme sink in. I could almost picture the story playing out before me. A typical little romance story about a young girl and her first love. I started filling out the bubbles, carefully constructing. Mrs. Angela patted my shoulder and returned to her desk, clicking away at the keyboard. Ellie glanced over at me. “Finally got an idea, took you long enough.”

I stuck my tongue out at her, but kept writing. “Not everyone can be as perfect as you.” Ellie laughed as she stood up and moved toward Mrs. Angela. I glared at her, wishing it didn’t take me as long to think of a story. Within ten minutes, my own story had been created. I smiled at it proudly before going over to Mrs. Angela’s desk. “I’m finished!”

Mrs. Angela took the paper from my head, briefly scanning it before handing it back. “It looks good although I would personally spend some time on character development.”

I sulked back to my seat and stared at the paper again. What could I possibly add without basically writing the whole story? Ellie offered her advice. “Character development isn’t what you think it is. I personally like to make columns for each character and list their traits. It helps with creating your character and the conflict part of your story.”

Aaron leaned across his chair, his feet on another desk. “Character development is a load of crap. It’s so much easier to just start writing and see where it goes from there.”

Ellie bristled,” Character development helps avoid writer’s block. You already know how things are panning out and how your character should react to them.”

Aaron shrugged his shoulders, his blond hair sweeping over his brown eyes which weren’t staring at me for once that day. “I guess it’s all based on opinion. I personally would just start writing.”

Just as Ellie was starting to answer, the bell rang ending the class and interrupting her. Aaron chuckled as shoved his bag over his shoulders. “Guess that argument will be saved for tomorrow.” Then he swept out of the room, leaving Ellie angry.

Ellie practically growled at him as he left. I stifled a laugh and handed her the bag she left underneath the desk. “Why does he have to be so snide?”

I raised an eyebrow. “He wasn’t really being snide. I think it was just the way he said it. He probably didn’t mean to come off that way.”

Ellie rolled her eyes and motioned for me to follow her. We walked to the end of the hallway and out to the school parking lot. “I know it’s just he’s usually such an asshole, know it all.”

I stopped in front of my baby. “He’s seemed quiet the whole day.”

She pursed her lip as she opened the door of the yellow bug next to me. “I noticed that. He’s normally not like that. I don’t know if you were paying attention or not, but he was staring holes into you all day.”

I blushed,” I thought I was imagining it.”

She shook her head. “You sure weren’t! Alex had mentioned it at lunch when you went to the bathroom.”

Speak of the devil, and she will appear. Alex jumped on us as soon as she saw us. “Hey! How was your first day? Want to go to the diner? I’m so glad the day is finally over!” She rambled on and on.

I interrupted her, placing a hand over her mouth. “ALEX!”

She mumbled,” Sorry.”

I removed my hand. “Slow down.” I laughed as I continued. “Of course I’ll come with you to the diner. Do you know of any places hiring here in town?”

Ellie chimed in,” I think IGA is. It’s just behind on the diner. Mr. and Mrs. Highlander own it and they’ve been searching for cashiers forever. All the old ones have moved off the college. If you go in, I’m sure they’ll give you a job.”

I gestured toward my baby. “Climb in, Alex.” She pulled the passenger door opened and slid into the seat. I called to Ellie as I went to get in. “Hey, we’ll meet you there.” The door closed on my arm, causing so many swear words a Sailor would blush.

Alex giggled," You okay?"

I glared at her as I shoved the key in the ignition. "That was so not funny."

She grinned at me and pulled the stick in drive. "Come on, let's go." The school wasn't that far from the grocery store. I carefully pulled into one of the parking spots close to the front.

Ellie slid her car in the spot next to mine. Alex popped out of my car, singing to some song on the radio. "HEY YOU, YOU I LIKE SEE YOUR GIRLFRIEND. THERE'S NO WAY, YOU KNOW IT'S NOT A SECRET." Ellie and I busted out laughing, my arm folding in over my stomach. She looked over at us in confusion and then slapped her hand over her mouth, horrified. I smiled at her and walked through the automatic doors.

There was one cashier and a handful of people actually at the IGA. Ellie tiptoed to see over my shoulder. "Mr. and Mrs. Highlander are usually in the back. Let's try there." So we walked through to the back, eyeing the ice cream as we went. We passed through some mats that separated the front from the back.

A woman with graying hair and a very small figure stopped us. "Girls, this isn't for customers."

Alex intervened," Mrs. Highlander! How are you?"

Mrs. Highlander's lips turned up. "Well, hello. I'm doing great how are you, Alex?"

Alex said," I'm doing good. This is my friends, Ellie and Diana. Diana is new in town and needs a job. I told her you were hiring so we came to see if you could possibly hire her." Alex's eyes widened to look innocent.

Mrs. Highlander pursed her lips, gently tapping against them with her index finger. "Well... I do need the help."

"I have experience as a cashier." I offered as I silently pleaded for the job.

She analyzed me from head to toe, taking in long dark brown hair that waved to the small of my back and my simple blue shirt matched with a white-blue floral skirt. She took a moment and then decided. "Alright. We really do need new cashiers. Missy is leaving us in a few weeks. Other than that, all we have is the Echos' kid. Alex, do you and your other friend want to work? If you do, you have a job here."

Ellis spoke up instantly. "I would absolutely love a job here."

Alex followed with," Heck yeah I would!"

Mrs. Highlander smiled at all of us. "Well then the jobs are yours. You can all start this weekend. Saturday morning, 9 am."

We all agreed, though I was thinking to myself that 9 a.m. was pretty early for a Saturday. Ellie, Alex and I grabbed a couple things we need. I personally purchased another binder for English. I had a folder to begin with but Mr. Laster obviously expected us to keep all of our assignments. I groaned as I saw the price. That's three dollars I could have used on something else, like food.

After stocking up on our supplies, we drove to the diner. Mrs. Bitch face wasn't there today. Some really hot blond boy was. Can't say that I missed Bitch face. Hottie was pretty quick with our orders, flashing a winner smile every time he left. Ellie was complaining about English. "I can not believe we have to read The Outsiders. It's such a stupid, boring book."

Alex took it personally. "I think it's a great book! How can you call it boring? It literally has a fight scene. People getting stab, etc, etc."

I rolled my eyes and diverted my attention outside. The same group of boys from Chemistry were out on the street playing basketball. Aaron was on the side lines, gulping down some water. He must of noticed the stare because he quickly met my eyes before looking away. Weird.