ARIANA

The bell for lunch rang and I basically flew to the cafeteria, my stomach growling in pain. I needed food and I needed it now!

"Slow down!" Jen yelled, out of breath, dramatically as she tried to catch up to me.

"Lunch. Eat. Hungry." I said like a caveman making her laugh.

"You're so weird."

I gave her a smirk and stuck my tongue out. It's crazy how fast we became good friends. I felt comfortable around her. I would definitely say that she was my best friend.

I smiled. I've never had a best friend before.

We walked into the cafeteria and everybody literally stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I guess no one was over the incident that happened this morning.

I just rolled my eyes and got into the lunch line. After paying for my food, I turned around and bumped into giant wall-like body.

All the food I was holding fell to the ground with a loud crash making everybody stare towards me...again.

I looked up with a glare, my body shaking. Alex's dark blue eyes were shining with mischief, his lips formed into a smirk. Nate and some other guys, all of them very tall and muscular, were standing with him. Nate gave me an apologetic smile. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I do that?" Alex said smirking at my pissed off face. He stomped on my food, laughing with his friends. The smile on his face, even though it was an evil smile, made the inside of my body tingle.

I gasped all of sudden and then, an image popped into my mind. I closed my eyes and let the scene wash over me.

It was Alex and I in an open field, there were a few people standing close to us all of them looking at us with sadness in there eyes. I looked down on my lap to see Alex smiling, looking at me with so much love in his eyes. His face pale and bloody and yet he looked absolutely handsome. He also seemed older somehow. He then reached forward and touched my face.

I gasped again which brought me out of my thoughts. Alex was wearing his smirk thinking he got to me.

I stepped away from him slowly, the image of his bloody beautiful face in my hands kept popping up in front of my eyes.

Alex laughed at me, his friends joining in. Actually everyone was joining in. I guess horror on my face looked funny to them all. I ran out of the cafeteria, not sure why I had that image flash into my mind.

I was out of breath when I reached my locker. I leaned against it trying to catch my breath. What the hell was that! The image was so real, like it was a memory or something.

My heart fluttered when I remembered to look of pure love shining on his face for me. Nobody has ever looked at me like that.

"Ari?" My mothers worried face came into view when she noticed me standing next to my locker panting.

"Oh my god, is it happening already? It's only been a week since your last turning!" She said whispering. She dragged me into her office.

I sat down heavily on the chair, my mother grabbing my hand and squeezing it. "We have got to teach you how to control it!"

"I'm not shifting mom, relax. It's just that I was-" I didn't want to tell her I was basically bullied right under her nose and honestly, I think I could handle it without my mother being there to stand up for me. "-thinking, uh, about a test!" I said a little too loudly. "Yeah I was stressing over a test I have soon."

She gave me a suspicious look but then her features softened. "If it's too much stress, then I can go back to homeschooling you again?" She offered. I was tempted to take it but I could tell she was happy with this job.

"No, mom. I'm fine, I promise." I smiled to sell my act.

"The last time you said that, you turned into a giant dog." She said with a small smile.

I chuckled. "Good times? Right?" I said jokingly, internally cringing with the memory of my worst and most painful day.

Her eyes glazed over probably remembering that day, she shuddered all of a sudden. "Yeah, good times." She said sarcastically.

"Do you want to stay here until your next period? I have sandwiches!" She said showing me a beautiful turkey sandwich stuffed with lettuce, cheese and...pickles.

"Yes!" I grabbed the sandwich from her and munched happily on it.

"Okay, let's discuss a few things. We need to do some kind of training with you, especially if we want to survive out in public without being caught. So everyday around 4 o'clock we are going to train in the backyard until you feel you could control the wolf." She was sitting behind the desk now, her elbows on the table and her fingers clasped together. She was pursing her lips in thought.

"What kind of training exactly?" I asked, taking a sip of the water bottle my mom had.

"Well, the kind that will protect you from harm I guess. Plus, with you getting a new ability today, I kind of want to test it out." She said a creepy smile on her lips.

Hmmm, I did need some training. I don't know how far my body could reach anyway, like how fast I could run, if I broke any large bones in my body, how long would they take to heal, all that kind of shit.

The bell rang and I jolted up opening the door to the office. "Bye, mom! See you after school!"

"No running!"

I rolled my eyes, already out the door.

I opened my locker to grab my English textbook when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Jen. Her face was twisted in pity and I wanted to roll my eyes at her.

"Hey Jen." I said casually, closing my locker and walking to class.

She followed me silently.

Curiously, I looked over my shoulder to see her biting her lip.

I stopped in my tracks and she bumped into my back.

She gasped from the sudden impact.

When she still didn't say anything, I spoke. "Okay, what's wrong."

She looked at me and me being the impatient werewolf I was, I growled in frustration.

"It's just, I'm sorry about what happened at lunch and that I wasn't there to defend you or something." She said, looking ashamed.

I laughed. That's what was bothering her?

"It's fine Jen! I can take care of myself." I smiled, letting her know I wasn't upset.

She smiled in return and then we headed to class.

***

The bell rang and I jolted awake. I can't believe I fell asleep in class! I checked the time. Two o'clock! That's it! I groaned and wiped the drool off my face. I had one more hour of school to go.

Jen dragged my body to gym after I was done changing in the required uniform. Either a pair of black shorts or sweats and a white t-shirt.  I chose my sweats mostly because I wasn't comfortable showing my legs.

I started to struggle in her arms, whining. She let me go all of sudden and I face planted on the floor.

I shot up from the ground, almost too fast to see, when I heard laughter coming from my classmates. I found Jen leaning against some bleachers, talking to a guy as tall as her.

"Jen! What the hell!" I yelled in anger. I stomped to her, fuming with humiliation. I can't believe she dropped me for a guy!

"Miss Peterson!" I stopped in my tracks and turned around to see Coach Clapp.

I sheepishly waved at him and then went to stand in my spot while he took role alphabetically.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I looked around trying to find the reason when I locked my eyes onto Alex who was staring at me so intently, I had to look away.

He was standing in his spot talking to Nate and apparently gawking at me. I smoothed my hair down feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

Five minutes passed and I could still feel his eyes!

I turned around glaring a him but all he did was smirk.

That stupid little shit! I can't believe I think he's hot. Screw that shit. If he was going to play this stupid bully game then I was too.

I was staring at him for, I don't know how long, until his arm shot up making me flinch even though he was a couple of feet away from me. He frowned at first but then burst out laughing.

I glared at him until he stopped and was glaring at me too.

"EVERYBODY LISTEN UP!" The coach broke me out of my concentration.

"Today we are playing dodgeball. The rules are-"

I tuned out the coach and thought about how awesome this was because of my super strength and speed.

I almost cackled out loud but instead had a wide grin on my face.

I looked to Jennifer who stared at me with a scared face. I was confused why until I remembered I still had the wide, probably creepy, grin on my face.

I burst out laughing, Jen laughing with me.

"Is there something you would like to share with the class?" Coach came up to me, crossing his arms.

"No, coach, no!" I stood up straighter, saluting making the whole class laugh.

I peeked to the side where Alex was standing and saw a lopsided grin. After seeing that, I couldn't help my smile.

The coach was not laughing though. He stepped closer to me putting me on guard.

I put my arm down, pinning both of them to my side so I wouldn't overreact if the coach pissed me off.

"I don't know how they did things in whatever backwards country place you came from but here in Littlefalls, we respect our elders and not mock them." He peered at my eyes probably realizing the anger I held in them.

For a minute he stepped back confused and then shook his head as if he was seeing things.

I dug my nails into my palms, trying to make the pain a distraction. I really needed to learn how to control myself.

Unconsciously, I looked over at Alex who was laughing with Nate.

I really didn't want to hurt anyone.