I was waiting impatiently as the clock struck 6:00, my parent’s should be home any minute now, and the anticipation was killing me. What could they possibly have to say? I had no idea what was coming my way, but I had a feeling it was going to knock me off of my feet. I was worried, anxious, and nervous all at the same time, and on top of that I had to control it because the last thing I would want to do was shift in front of my parents.

Boy, how bad that could turn out. 

I was tapping my leg vigorously against the hard wood floor, listening to the ticking of the clock on the nearby wall. Everything was rushing through my mind like a freight train, I didn’t know what I was going to say to my parent’s because I had no idea what they thought I knew. 

They thought I had figured something out, and in reality I had no idea. 

Then I heard a car pull up into the drive way and the heard two people get out, I could hear their heart beats, they were rapid, but not like mine. My parent’s were nervous, just like I was, which made me even more nervous. 

I heard the key enter the lock and I tried hard to calm down, it couldn’t be that bad, right? 

The door opened, revealing my two confused and nervous parent’s, but I smiled, “Hey.”

My response eased their heart rates a little and I took in their scents without even realizing it, they walked up to me and hugged me, “Hey sweetie, how was your birthday?”

I smiled, “Awesome.”

They joined me at the counter and my dad spoke, “Good, sorry we couldn’t be here, but we got you something.”

They pushed a present on the table and I looked at them, smiling, “Thanks,” and I began unwrapping.  A new Mac book was staring up at me, and I couldn’t even tell you how much I had been wanting one, I smiled, “Thank you, so much, this is to awesome.”

My mom smiled uneasily and she spoke, “Kate, me and your father never really knew how to tell you this, but we knew one day we would have to. 

My father nodded, taking the stage, “We love you, and we hope you love us enough not to hate us when we tell you this.”

My heart hammered inside my chest, I could never imagine hating my parent’s… was it really that bad? I stared at them both with a horrified expression, not knowing what they were going to tell me.

My mom grabbed my hand, “Kate, you’re adopted.”

I felt a pain in my heart then, like I had been lied to for my entire life, which I had been. I blinked, trying to hold back threatening tears as I thought about other things they had to lie about.  I spoke, “When?”

They looked at me, “Since you were practically a baby, you were still in diapers.”

My mom looked at me, “We couldn’t conceive, and one night we were sleeping and we heard the doorbell. When we got to the front door you were there, in a carriage, silent and sleeping.”

My heart lurched at her words, my real parent’s… left me?

They just dropped me off at the front porch to some random family? Or did they know them? These people weren’t even my biological parents…

So who was?

And why did Michelle tell me to talk to them before she explained anything to me? What the hell was the connection?

I looked at them, “Do you have any idea who my biological parent’s are?”

They looked at each other and smiled weakly, shaking their heads, “No sweetie, we have no idea.”

I didn’t know how to handle this, I felt betrayed, I felt lied to, I felt confused and upset. How did I turn 18 and not know that these weren’t even my real parent’s? Maybe cause I actually resembled my parent’s, mom had blonde hair and dad had hazel eyes…

Anyone with a plain eye would make the mistake. 

I rubbed my eyes, trying to push the threatening tears back as I sighed heavily. It felt like I had been punched in the stomach, humiliated in front of millions of people.

Was this what Michelle was talking about? Me finding out that I was adopted? And why did that matter to her?

My mom grabbed my hand, “Sweetie, we’re sorry for waiting so long.”

I shook my head, smiling weakly up at my parent’s, my real parent’s, the ones that actually nurtured and took care of me. The ones who actually loved me, I smiled, “It’s ok mom, I don’t blame you guys. I love you.”

They smiled and I picked up my Macbook, forcing a laugh as I tried to escape this kitchen, “I’m gonna go set up this awesome gift in my room.”

They nodded, and I left the kitchen quickly, closing the door behind me as I put the laptop on my desk and rested my head in my hands. I didn’t understand anything that was going on, everything that I had to go through today was impossible…

Werewolves, me being adopted…

What else could go wrong?

I was afraid to think of all the possibilities, and then I thought back to Michelle, her telling me to find her when I talked to my parent’s. I didn’t want to find her, I didn’t feel like going through anymore stress today, and to be honest, I just wanted to shower and sleep.

I walked to my bathroom, seeing my reflection in the mirror, almost startling myself. I looked normal, I looked myself, but there was something different about me… it was like I was flawless. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was a good looking person way before this happened, but Emma was right today, I did look slightly different. 

Maybe it was my aura, maybe I gave off some weird vibe now that this curse was inside me. Maybe that’s another thing Emma had sensed, that there was now something off about me. 

I thought back to Collin, Stiles and Tess, how I had thought the same thing only days ago. Were they like me to? Did they know Michelle? 

And were they all like me?

I showered, studying my wrist as I tried to find a trace of a scar or anything to prove what had happened last night, but there was nothing. It looked normal as can be, no sign of a rabid bite anywhere on my body. 

Which freaked me out.

So what, we healed a lot faster than normal humans could, what else did I not know about this stuff? I finished showering and thought more about it, and figured, maybe I could research and find something on the internet to help me out. 

There had to be answers somewhere besides Michelle.

I began setting up my laptop, and eventually I was searching the web, hoping something would help me out here. 

I typed into Google because that’s all I could rely on, and things popped up but nothing that I didn’t already know. I continued to search until the next morning, realizing nothing on the internet was going to help me with this so I knew the next step to fill me in.

I would need to talk to Michelle.

~ ~ ~ ~

I had managed to ignore the constant nagging of a particular thought the rest of the weekend and was now making my way towards school. I really didn’t feel like going, but I figured it could possibly get my mind off of everything that had happened this weekend. 

And maybe seeing Miss Riley would help.

I parked in my usual parking spot, getting my stuff and stepping out of my car, slinging my booksack around my back. The bell rang, letting us know it was time to head to homeroom, so I started down the hall and to my class. 

The smells were enhanced, and someone near me was wearing a little to much cologne. I sneezed, rolling my eyes as I turned into the class of half asleep kids, seeing Miss Riley sitting casually at her usual desk. She looked up from her book and I saw her icy blue eyes, I could smell her perfume, and her body soap…

And I could hear her heart beat, which grew just a little when she saw me.

And suddenly I remembered the night of my birthday, and how we had danced together… I had completely forgotten about that!

She probably expected me to say something sexual or immature to her about it but to be honest, I had way to much on my mind to even bother with it. I  could feel Miss Riley’s eyes on me as the rest of the kids filed in for our usual homeroom and I knew she could feel there was something off about me because I wasn’t acting my usual. 

Usually I was staring at her and smirking at her, checking her out and making inappropriate comments, but not today.

Emma took her sea next to me, her curly blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders, to happy for my liking. She looked at me, “How was the rest of your weekend?”

I shrugged, “It was um… usual, I guess.”

She noticed there was something else off about me to and I knew I would have to get better at hiding this. She spoke again, ignoring my unusualness, “These homerooms are so pointless.”

I smirked, knowing I would have to play along if I wanted my secrets to stay hidden, “I don’t mind them.”

She looked at me, shaking her head, “Of course you don’t.”

I shrugged it off as I heard Miss Riley stand from her desk and shuffle some papers in her hand, “Ok so I’m gonna pass out the senior bulletins that your counselor had made and make sure you go over it.”

She walked around the class as I eyed her legs in those tight skinny jeans, her blouse was hugging her torso and I studied her chest, realizing that she was perfect. I had finally come to the conclusion that my Math teacher was a super model/angel.  

She walked in front of me, setting down a packet and papers and locking eyes with me. I felt something between us then, in that split second of eye contact, and when she pulled away it felt as if something inside me broke. 

Emma nudged me, “You should totally ask her about Thursday night!”

I watched her make her way through her classroom and finally take her seat again, letting us have a slight eye contact before the bell rang to dismiss us. I shoved the packet of papers into my booksack, letting the class empty before I stood and walk towards the door. 

Her eyes found mine and something came over me, a sense of confidence, and I knew I was going to say something I was going to either thank myself for or regret later. I smirked slyly, catching her attention, “You dance really good,” her face was taken back in surprise when I turned over my shoulder, “See you in second.”

Then I walked out the door without another word, knowing that this time something was going to come of the stupid thing I had just let come out of my mouth.