Wolf's Creek (Book 1 of the Wolf's Creek Trilogy)

Chapter 11: Homecoming

Chapter 11:

Homecoming

            The week leading up to homecoming was one of the most stressful weeks A.J had ever experienced. That Monday she traveled with the school orchestra to a town nearby for a competition and they returned just as the sun was going down. She sighed with relief when she got off the bus and saw her brothers parked there waiting for her. It was a close call her parents had given her a talking to about. Now she was unable to travel on the bus to the competitions with the other orchestra members, something A.J had always enjoyed in the past and was very angry to have taken away from her. It was another reminder that her life was not what it used to be, dug into her and screamed at her she didn’t belong with normal people anymore. She’d shook that feeling away, pushed back where it had been before in the dark recesses of her being.

            Then, on Tuesday, it seemed things had gotten better. She had gone to the DMV with her mother to take her permit test which she passed and was very excited about. However when they entered the car and looked to her mother her good mood went south as she recalled what she had yet to tell her. As they drove home her mother was all a glow about her daughter getting her permit and was excited to tell the rest of their family. It seemed like as good a time as any to tell her about her plans for Friday.

            “Heather and I are goin’ dress shoppin’ tomorrow,” A.J informed her mother as they were leaving the DMV in the next town.

            Upon hearing the words “dress” and “shopping” in the same sentence from her tom boyish daughter Eliza Smith glanced over quickly, a look of surprise on her face, before quickly looking back to the road. “What for?” she asked trying to act as if she had been told her daughter was going hunting with her brothers.

            “Homecomin’,” A.J replied cautiously, waiting to see the look on her mother’s face.

            That caught Mrs. Smith by complete surprise as she looked at her daughter again before turning her attention back to the road. “You’re not playing some cruel joke on me are you Artemis?”

            A.J shook her head. “No I got asked ta homecomin’.”

            “By a boy?” Eliza pressed, her brain not completely comprehending what she was being told.

            “Yeah,” A.J confirmed with a gulp, not sure how her mother was going to react once she was told who she was going with for she had yet to tell her family the other reason why Darren Alaric had suddenly taken an interest in her.

            “Who?”

            A.J took in a deep breath. “Darren Alaric.”

            The smile that had been forming on her mother’s face slowly morphed into a scowl as she glanced at her daughter from the corner of her eye and then continued driving home. “A.J this isn’t a good idea,” she chastised with a sigh and a shake of her head.

            “Look there’s more to this than you and dad know,” A.J tried explaining earning nothing from her mother other than a shake of her head as they pulled up to the house and entered, a heavy atmosphere falling upon them. A.J and her mother said nothing as Mrs. Smith began cooking dinner and A.J sat there, Marrok at her side, thinking of how to explain everything to her family when she herself wasn’t sure what was going on. She was disturbed from her thoughts when the sound of her brothers arguing and her father yelling at them to be quiet filled the silent house. Soon they were in the kitchen inquiring why it was so quiet to which Mrs. Smith replied without wasting a second.