Chapter 2
As soon as Carmen dropped me off, I went around back so I could sneak in without Dwayne seeing me. I glance at Adams’ house next door as I cut across the patio; his truck wasn’t in the driveway so he’s not home yet. Dang it.
Once I’m in my room, I toss my backpack on my bed and tare the hair tie out of my hair. I throw my leather jacket on my beanbag on top of my pajamas from last night and sit in front of my make-up table. My blue-gray eyes looked misty against my cascading brown hair. Same old Tess.
“Theresa?”
I jump when I see my mom appear at the door in the mirror “Don’t call me Theresa anymore. My name is Tess.”
“No, your name is Theresa. I’m glad you’re home; we need to have a talk about colleges.” She folds her slim arms over her chest and looks around my room, her eyes lingering at the few piles of clothes on the floor and the papers strung out all over my bed. “And about cleaning your room.”
I mentally roll my eyes. I’ve already applied to Portland State. She knows that. Or at least I thought she knew that. “I have to do a project with Adam. It’s due tomorrow.”
And like I summoned it or something, my phone beeps with a text from Adam. I jiggle my phone at her, already taking my cardigan off.
She sighs heavily, looking disappointed. “Be home before dark. Three girls have disappeared in Portland now. Dinner’s at five with the family,” she smiles at the last part but I’m too busy digging for my red Portland State sweatshirt in my hamper to really take notice to what she’s saying. Yes, I’m messy, but really: who cares?
I pull it out of the bottom and shrug it on, sticking my phone in the back pocket of my jeans. I fly past my mom, who just stares at me while she follows me down the stairs.
Family dinner. What is she thinking? Dwayne is not my family.
I throw open the back door just as Adam is getting out of his truck. Anker is with them, and I can tell that they’re arguing: Adam only slams his door that hard when he’s angry.
I decide to but in. “Hey,” I say, walking up to his driveway.
He turns, startled, but calms when he sees it’s me. “Hey. Is it cool if Anker works with us? His partner bailed.”
Anker gives me a cold look. My first instinct is to say no, but he’s kinda already here. “I guess.”
We get settled in Adams’ living room on the floor in front of his makeshift coffee table (made of two crates and an old window. Creative, right?)
He turns his stereo on to break the awkward silence. “Ok, so, what do ya want to do the project on?” he asks, looking at both me and Anker.
Anker grunts. “World War 2.”
“Everyone does World War 2. We should do like the assassination of Kennedy or…” I look around the room trying to come up with something else. I snap my fingers, “The Salem Witch Trials.”
Adam scrunches his nose. “Shay won’t like that.”
Oh. I forgot. Shay was one of the 7 witches that went to our school. She was in our history class.
“Well then, we’ll do the assassination of Kennedy,” Anker says, and his eyes flash a weird color of red but they’re back to his normal sea-green eyes a second later. I wonder briefly if he’s one of the werewolves. I don’t know where that thought came from.
Adam nods and sets in laptop on the floor in front of us.
“I’m gonna use the bathroom first,” I get up to head to the bathroom door behind the couch.
“Good to know,” Anker sneers.
I roll my eyes even thought he can’t see. Once in the bathroom, I splash cold water on my face. I don’t like being here with Anker. It makes everything feel contaminated. I dry my face on my sleeve.
I was about to leave when I hear them talking, in hushed voices.
“Human? Really Adam? You can do way better than a human.” That was Anker.
“I’ve known her since 3rd grade, before the shift.” Adam says. Something clinks on the glass of the coffee table.
“So? You need to get rid of her. Riordan will be pissed when I report to him. This is exactly why he asked me to go to school with you so we can keep an eye on you,” Anker snaps, his voice low and angry.
“I’m not 8 anymore, Crank. I can handle myself.”
The coffee table thing creaks. “Whatever. That’s a conversation you’ll have to have with Riordan later. You better be there tonight.” That was Anker. Sounded like he was leaving.
“I’ll be there. I always am, aren’t I?”
Ankers’ answer was the slamming of the front door. I wait a few minutes then I come out of the bathroom, trying to put on my poker face so he know I didn’t hear them, even though he owes me some answers now. I’d like to know who Riordan is and who Anker really is. And why Adam called him Crank.
Adam sees me and his angry expression softens. “Anker had to leave. Looks like it’s just you and me.” He smiled at me, but it really doesn’t reach his eyes. I decide to play dumb for a little bit until I can come up with a plan to get him to talk. I know I’m being nosy but that’s just my nature. I mean, I tell him everything.
“Oh ok, that’s fine,” I sit down on the carpet next to him, my shoulder brushing his shoulder. He’s tense; I glance at his hands which are shaking slightly. He gets this way when he’s nervous, or if he’s hiding something big. I know him.
I sigh. “I heard you guys talking.”
He looks at me with wide blue eyes, which I can see because he’s not wearing is hat for once.
“What did you hear?” he demands, turning toward me.
I hesitate, wondering if I should say nothing or if I should really just tell him the truth. “Someone named Riordan, something about me being human is bad, you called Anker Crank, um…the shift, you not being 8 anymore, and Anker going to school to keep an eye on you,” I say truthfully. He face goes from angry to confused to scared in a matter of seconds.
“All that, huh?” he mumbles so quietly I almost don’t hear him. He rubs his forehead with his hand, thinking.
“Yeah, all that. Care to explain? I mean, you don’t have to tell me everything. I was just wondering what it was all about,” I say, cutting him some slack.
He looks at me with sad eyes and sighs. “You probably should know everything. I don’t want anything to happen to you, but I don’t want you to be in the dark. You should be prepared if anything does happen to you.”
I squint. “Um, ok,” I really don’t know what to say.
He looks into my eyes, determined. “I’m a werewolf.”
My jaw drops.
His mouth twitches but he doesn’t smile. “Before you say anything, I need to explain from the beginning,” He stops, obviously waiting for my conformation.
“Ok, well go on,” I say. Werewolf? Really? Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. Jumper, my old Jack Russell Terrier, never liked him.
He takes a deep breath. “Ok, so you know my mom left when I was 8, a couple weeks after I met you, Carmen, and Deon. Well a couple weeks after that, I was in the woods behind my house; I was upset about something I don’t really remember. I was walking and then I saw something, like a shadow of some sort of animal, run past me and a branch snapped in front of me. I got scared and started running toward my house but I didn’t make it. The wolf tackled me from behind and I fell to the ground, it on top of me breathing stale, hot breath into my face. I screamed and it dug its canines into my neck. It was this hot white pain that I’ve never felt before and I passed out. I woke up 3 hours later in that exact same spot. I was still bleeding when I got back to my house to see my dad was gone, never to be seen again. I turned into a werewolf that next night on the full moon. That is a story we’ll save for later. Hunter is the wolf that bit me. Hunter Riordan. He’s the leader, or the alpha, of the pack. He calls us The Drifters,” He stopped, his eyes flooding with pain and regret. I went to talk but he silenced me. “I’m not done. Let me finish before I can regret this. Anker Creed is Hunters’ second in command. He’s been a wolf since he was 12. We call him Crank because he’s on way too many drugs. Then there’s Hunters’ girlfriend Mercedes Rayne, who’s been a wolf since she was 11. She used to go to school with us but she dropped out sometime in middle school. Then Blaine Woodruff, he was bitten when he was 13. I don’t know him very well. Then there’s me, and this girl named Victoria Winters. I don’t know when she became a werewolf. And then there’s Deon. Deon Sawyer.”
I gasp. “Deon’s a werewolf? How?” There’s probably a whole a fleet of people I know that are supernaturals.
“Yeah, Hunter bit him 2 years ago. It’s gonna be interesting have him and Anker at school this semester.” He looks down at the floor.
“So, who are the two registered werewolves at school then?” This is insane. I can’t believe I’ve know about werewolves all my life and I hadn’t realized by best friend was one.
He glances back up at me. “Me and Anker. Deon isn’t registered. His dad wouldn’t allow it.”
We’re silent for a moment, and Adam starts to tare up paper into little tiny pieces that flutter onto the carpet as he drops them.
“That secret has been clawing at my insides all my life.”
I nod, watching him rip the paper. “So, you can only shift at the full moon?”
He drops the remaining paper and brushes it off his lap. “No, but the first shift is always at the full moon. I can shift any time if I get angry enough. I can shift deliberately but it’s harder. The others can too.”
I’m sort of intrigued. I’ve always wanted to know more about the werewolves and the other supernaturals but they don’t teach it in school because of “racism issues”. I heard a story once about this kid who got turned into a vampire came back to his middle school and killed the teacher that failed him. “What’s happening tonight?”
He looks at me again, and it makes my heart leap. “Well, it’s sort of confidential, but since you’re here and I’ve told you everything else…it’s a meeting. Hunter wants to discuss “assignments,”” he finger quotes assignments, “That’s all you should know. I’m surprised you believe me.”
I shrug. “The Adam Foster I know wouldn’t lie to me. He just wouldn’t tell me so he didn’t have to lie,” I tease, smiling. He smiles back, looking a little relieved. “Plus, I’ve always known werewolves exist. It wasn’t that too big of a shock.”
“You’re amazing you know that? Just like your eyes,” he says, and I feel heat rush to my cheeks.
I shove him playfully. “Oh, stop it.”
We’re interrupted by phone buzzing. I pull it out of my back pocket to see my moms’ picture blinking on the screen.
“Don’t tell anyone, okay? I mean it. I don’t want anybody else to know,” Adam stands up, a serious look on his face. He helps me up, and I get lost in his eyes; the ring of my phone completely blocked out.
We stand there until my phone beeps, letting me know I have a missed call. “I…better go.”
“Yeah. Tell Dwayne and your mom it’s all my fault, okay?” he holds his front door open for me and places his hat back on his head, backwards this time.
I laugh. “Okay.”
I’m halfway across his lawn, heading to my house, when he stops me. “Tess, wait.”
I turn around and all of the sudden he’s kissing me with such force and warmth I lean into him, kissing him back. His arms wrap around my waist and my hands find his neck, his hair and the tip of his hat brushing against my wrists. Then just like, he pulls away and flashes me his crooked smile.
“See you tomorrow, Tess.”
Today’s the day I realized I’m in love with my best friend. And that I love the way he says my name.