CHAPTER THREE

Even less impressed by the end of the school day, she wanted out and she had a weird need to be back at the log home. People were friendly, but it seemed like a waste to live in a place so barren and boring. The day she figured out the appeal, would be a day she never wanted to see.

She couldn't blame her father completely, he had just taken the job for the money. It was the conclusion she'd drawn.

When the final bell of the day rung, she made a break for it.

Impatiently, she waited outside for her father and the police cruiser. She checked her phone as the minutes ticked, but she didn't have service. She lifted it up, patching in, out and dropping the signal.

“Great...” she breathed and put it back in her father's borrowed parka.

She became distracted, watching her breath crystallize in front of her and out of amusement, breathed out again to see if she could make the rings like they did in the movies. It didn't work out so well, but she kept trying.

“Hey.” Came his voice out of no where again!

Chloe snapped around to find Grayson standing behind her, “Ugh. What?” She wrinkled her nose at him.

“How was the rest of your day after pelting me in the back of the head?”

“Oh,” She smiled in triumph, “You felt that?”

He grunted, “Well, it's not like it was a real hit. It was only my ankle.”

She snorted, “Whatever.”

Diversion became him, “So, the rest of the day wasn't as eventful?”

“It was okay,” she said, turning back around and looking down the road for the police cruiser.

“Waiting for your dad?”

“Uh... yeah,” she buried her lips in the front of her jacket as it got colder.

He didn't seem bothered by the sudden dip in temperature like her.

Her phone rung in the pocket and she pulled it out, fumbling it between her freezing fingers to the ground, “Darn!” She swooped and picked it up, answering the call, “Hello?”

“Loe, it's Dad... I just got caught up. I'm hoping you can hang out there a bit?”

“Huh?” Chloe rolled her eyes, “What could possibly be happening in this town?”

Her father laughed at her, “I'll be there in a bit, Loe, go wait inside. We're supposed to have a snow storm coming in.”

“Really!” She looked up to the clouds and noticed Grayson still standing beside her. She whipped her auburn hair off her forehead and turned away, “Dad...”

“I have to go, see you in a bit,” he hung up the phone.

Chloe groaned and put the phone back in her pocket, “Damn.”

“Something wrong?”

Chloe tried to figure out why he was hanging around her like a lost dog. She didn't want to answer him so she questioned him back, “Don't you have better things to do?”
“No, not really. Need a ride home? I live past your dad on the highway.”

She laughed, “Yeah, right... I don't even know you!”

“Your dad does,” he explained with an obvious tone.

“What does he know about you?” Chloe looked up at him, raised eyebrows.

“I'm not going to bite, Chloe.”

Their eyes locked. He was a bit funny, but not funny enough to take her out of the mood she'd been in most of the day.

“Thanks, but I should really wait for my dad.”

“Are you sure?” He pulled his keys out, trying to tempt her.

Chloe began to entertain the idea and kicked herself mentally.

It got colder as the seconds passed. She glanced back at the school and thought of the somewhat warm house of her father's awaiting her. “Okay, fine,” she grumbled.

He smiled and walked forward, “My truck's over here...”

She followed, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. They came to the big, black truck awaiting them. She couldn't believe she was about to let him give her a ride home, however their Dad's did seem to be decent friends, so that settled her.

He beeped the truck open and climbed in.

Chloe groaned, assessing how she had to climb into the monster of a vehicle. She ripped open the passenger door and hauled herself up the steep incline of the raised truck.

She shut the door and the big diesel came to life after a few seconds of protest.

“Diesel trucks don't like sitting in the cold weather,” he explained.
Chloe nodded, whatever that meant. It was an older truck with one long lonely bench seat, that's all she knew.

He flipped on the stereo and some country music came on.

She wrinkled her nose, “Country?”
“You have a problem with country?”

“You strike me as a heavy metal type.”

He smiled, “What?”

She stayed quiet, the snow starting to fall, “This white stuff scares me.”

“You haven't seen snow?”

“From afar... I mean, I've seen it, just not on this level.” She explained.

He laughed, “Get used to it.”

His mannerism were unsettling, first grumpy, then pushy and now amused? He confused her.

“Was there a reason why you looked like you were going to kill someone in English, when I walked in?”

His face hardened, “I was annoyed with Mike.”

“Mike?” Chloe thought, no – she hadn't met anyone named Mike, yet.

“He's my friend, the tall, weird looking bleach blonde, sitting next to me in English.”

Chloe nodded, “Oh okay.”

He pulled the truck onto the highway, “What did you think of Polar High?”

“To be honest... it was pretty boring.”

He grunted, “You don't like it here, do you?”

“Well, I got forced to come here. I have less than a year left till I graduate and my mom just couldn't deal with the fact that I killed her dog.”

Grayson smiled and looked to her, “You killed your mom's dog?”

“Well, kinda...” she rolled her eyes, “He committed suicide off the balcony.”

He laughed loud – one that twisted her nerves.

She looked down to her nails, “It was stupid dog anyway. I hate dogs.”

Grayson looked to her quickly, “You hate dogs?”

Chloe creased her brow at his mood shift, “I don't really have an opinion... Do you like them or something?”

He smirked, “Well, they're alright.”

“I'm not really big on animals in general.”

“Of course not. Well, whatdoyou like?”

It began to turn into a game of twenty questions.

“You don't like anything?” he pushed.

The snow outside started to white out the road and Grayson slowed the truck as it caught some ice.

She gripped at the door as the vehicle skid across the road, “Oh my god!”

He gained control, “It's alright. Don't worry... I'll put the chains on.” He pulled the truck to the side of the road and leapt out.

Chloe got a chill from the fresh air, “I knew I shouldn't have got in this truck with him!”

It disturbed her, how fast the sun set there.

He moved around the truck outside and she leaned forward to spy on him. The heater blasted her face and she pressed her cold hands to the dash. Her fingers were purple, not a good sign, she knew that much.

The door opened and Grayson jumped inside, “Alright.” His nose was red from being out in the cold for those few minutes, “Snowstorms, gotta love them.”

“Can we get home?” She still held her hands to the heat.

“Course,” he popped the truck in to four by four and it rolled forward back on the highway, “Are your hands cold?”

“I'm pretty cold all together,” she admitted.

He reached under the seat and pulled out some snowboarding gloves.

She stared at them, not taking the offer of warmth.

“What are you doing?” he laughed, “Take them.”

She snapped them from him, slipping them over her shaking hands, “Thanks.”

“So, I see you befriended, Annie,” he shifted subjects.

Chloe shrugged, “I didn't have much choice.”

“She's.... yeah...” Grayson's mouth twitched.

“You don't like her?”

“It's not that, per say. She's just immature,” he elaborated for her.

Chloe thought about what Dayna had said about Annie liking him, she knew not to bring it up though, under the girl-friend-act, “Well, she seems nice to me.”
Grayson shrugged, they reached her father's property off the highway.

She grabbed her handbag at her feet, the truck stopping in front of the log home, “Thanks.”

He looked to her as she went to open the door, “Have a good night.”

Chloe paused, “Sure, you too.”

“Hey... um...”

She swung the door open and jumped out into the knee deep snow.

“You should be careful around here.”

Chloe made a face, “Huh?”

“Yeah, I mean where you're from there isn't a lot of wild animals...”

Her feet were starting to freeze, “Okay, yeah, bears... got it!” Wanting in the house.

“And wolves,” he leaned away from the steering wheel towards her.

“Umm.” She didn't know what to say to that, “Cool? Thanks.” She slammed the door and trudged her cold self up to the warm house.

She shivered as she swung the unlocked door from the frame and pulled off the gloves once inside, the diesel truck fading away outside. She'd have to give them to him later, which meant she'd have to see him again. That made her think of him and the wolf-comment.

His last sentence had spooked her and she didn't really want to face a large Chihuahua. She was sure wolves had been known to hunt and kill people. Panicking, she snapped the lock on the door.

The house phone rung and startled her.

“Oh man, Dad!” she ran for it, knowing an earful was coming her way.

#

Chloe opened the fridge and ducked her head inside. It being so full of food, she couldn't focus on a single item.

She wrinkled her nose, “Nice, Dad...”

The kitchen's light were dim and the house silent.

Glancing out the window to the falling snow, her new state of being translated to secluded, “I went from hot heaven to glacier hell.”

Back on her goal of food, she heard a low, haunting howl. Her limbs stiffened and she shot up, staring straight in front of her. Another howl erupted, cutting through the other.

“Oh my god, he was right, what a freak!”

She slammed the fridge door and moved quick to the living room. Snapping on her Dad's stereo, she cranked the volume, wanting nothing to do with the Alaskan wildlife.

Shuddering, she sat on the sofa and curled up with her cell phone in her hands. She busied herself in a world of internet extravaganza. Annie had found her in the social networking pit and she accepted the friend request. Stalking her profile, she got lost looking at pictures of the brunette at local parties with all the people she'd seen earlier in the day.

“These kids don't get out much.”

Her eyes flashed across a photo of wolf-boy, stopping, she stared at him. Taller than most, well muscled, likely close two hundred and fifty pounds judging by the magnitude of his presence.

“He's totally gigantic!”

She hit on his tagged photo and it brought her to his profile. Not presenting much of anything, other than a few photos of him and his buddies with muddy trucks.

“Chloe, why is the music so loud!”

She snapped up to her feet and spun around to see her Dad in uniform, gun securely at his side. He turned the stereo off.

“I heard real wolves!” she exclaimed.

He smiled at her, his unshaved cheeks moved with his expression, “Lots of wolves around here, Loe.” He took off his jacket and threw it to a near chair and then his trooper hat.

Chloe grumbled, that hadn't made her feel better.

“How was school?”

She rolled her eyes, “Why did you leave LA, Dad? It totally sucks here!”

“Chloe,” her dad stared at her. “It's a nice town, full of good people. Plus Polar, Alaska is beautiful and your mother... Meh.” He wasn't impressed.

Chloe sighed, “Yeah, she's uh...”

He smirked, “Thank god you finally killed that mutt, because I wanted to kill it up until the divorce. Loved it more than she ever loved me, that's for sure.”

Chloe had to agree.

“Alaska is nice, Chloe, you have to give it a chance.”

“Except for wild vermin that can kill me,” she pointed out. “And annoying boys.”

“I'll take care of those boys,” he grunted.

She smiled at her father, “What about Grayson Holtz?”

“Well, he's an alright kid.” He shrugged, “Plus, his dad would kill him if he tried anything. And Roger and I have a good shot.” He chuckled, “So, caribou roast for supper?”

“Huh!” Chloe's eyes flew open and she clambered after her Dad as he headed into the kitchen, “Caribou? Like santa's reindeer?”

Henry laughed, “No, Chloe, these are of the non-flying variety. Sound good?”

She gulped, “Uh...” Vacant for words.

#

Chloe should have been catching up on her class work, but her laptop had distracted. With one of her friends back in Los Angles chatting, she lost track of time. In the midst of type fest with Stella, a new message appeared on her screen.

She clicked down on the bright red notification.

“Wolf-boy!” Chloe locked in on his name as the message appeared in front of her.

Grayson Holtz

Hey Chloe,

Hope your night is going well. If you need a lift to school or after school in the future, I can give you a ride. I live really close.

By the way, there's a friend button on my page. Press it if you want to be friends...?

Gray.

Chloe blinked, “What the...” she wasn't sure if she wanted to be friends with wolf-boy.

Chloe Pryce

Thanks for the offer but I'm good. I'm going to be getting a car soon.

She didn't know about that, but she planned on asking her dad for a vehicle. Grayson's offer was enough to push her to it sooner than later. Taking a break from wolf-boy, she busied herself for bed. Once her teeth were brushed, her hair combed and her face scrubbed clean, she headed back to her room.

Her dad was climbing the stairs and she stopped in the hall.

“Oh, Dad.”

“I was just coming to talk to you... ” He yawned, the long hours taking care of Polar, Alaska wearing him.

He went to speak, but she interrupted, “Dad, could I get a car?”

“Uh...” he lifted an eyebrow, “It's not easy driving around here, Loe.”

She let out an annoyed breath, “So, you're going to take me to school every day and pick me up?”

“Well, actually...” he started, “I was talking to Roger, he said Grayson could give you a ride from now on. Never thought of it before.”
Chloe's mouth dropped, “Huh? What? No! Dad, come on!” She had just turned wolf-boy down and now she had to accept! Her stomach turned with disgust, “Dad, no.”

“The bus then?”

Chloe's brow creased, “A bus? Here?” Being stuck with a bunch of rural crazy kids did not appeal to her either.

“Thought so.” Her father smiled, “He'll be here at seven thirty.” Disappearing into his bedroom. She groaned, returning to her room, “Great.” Rolling her eyes as her laptop pinged.

Her inbox was red, she huffed and tapped the message open.

Grayson Holtz

See you tomorrow, bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Chloe stared at the screen, her eye twitching. The guy knew how to get her, it was just another hit against Polar, Alaska. Creepy boys.