Wild at Heart (In Major Editing)

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Chapter 1: The Beginning

May's P.O.V

I opened my eyes and sighed. Another boring day in the life of me, I thought. After a nice, long, luxurious stretch, I climbed out of bed and looked in my mirror, flinching and turning away from the hideous monster that greeted me. I jumped as my Mom came in.

"Sorry honey, I just wanted to know what time to take you to the school for practice?" My mom asked.

I took a deep breath. "Eight o'clock so we can stretch before we start sprints." I said. I was in track but I hated it passionately. It was my dad who made me do it, convinced that he had to have at least one athletic child.

"Okay, well hurry up and get ready if you don't want to be late. I still have to make sure your brothers and Layla are ready to go, too." My mom replied.

"Alrigh-" I started to say, before I was interrupted.

"I'm sexy and I know it!" John yelled as he flung the door wide open. I sighed. John was my brother, two years younger than me and I swore that his life mission was to drive me crazy. That being said, I loved him dearly. He was easily my best friend, despite our normal sibling rivalry.

"You nutsack." I scoffed jokingly as I pushed past his huge frame. Despite his age, my brother was built like a brick wall. He had gotten most of the power in our genetics while I had gotten more of the grace.

I had a total of four siblings; John was sixteen, Ben was twelve, Layla was four, and Rob was two, while I was about to turn eighteen in a day myself. After throwing on my track clothes, brushing my teeth, and quickly fixing my light brown hair into a low ponytail, I went to eat breakfast in the family room.

"So May," Dad said as I walked in, "this year your birthday will be a little different from the last couple of years." I looked at him, half excited and half wary.

"Why? Do I have some sorta special surprise?" I asked, a bit hopeful.

"Well, you're half right. It's a surprise for sure and when you get it, it will require some explaining but I'm sure you'll love it!" Dad said, practically beaming. That man could change moods in a millisecond.

"Um, okay?" I said through a mouthful of cereal, not very ladylike but hey, I like my cereal.

"Let's go, May! We're going to be late!" My mom yelled from the other room. I sighed, picking up my bags and giving my cereal a longing glance.

"Okay, mom! I'm heading to the car now!" I yelled before whispering to my cereal, "I will come back for you...", running out the door, Dad saying something about one strange child in my wake.

****

"May! Wait, I need to put my stuff in my locker!" One of my best friends, Rue, yelled.

"Well hurry Rue! If we're late to the track again, Coach will kill us!" I all but snapped back. I loved her but I was too lazy to run an extra lap.

"He will kill you, not me. He loves me!" Rue shot back, enjoying my pain. I sighed and rolled my eyes, mostly joking.

"That is because you're so crazy fast." I grumbled, giving her a soft glare as she came to walk beside me through the halls and out the doors of the school.

Rue was a slightly short girl with tightly curly hair that went to about mid shoulder. She also happened to be a star when it came to running, soccer, or pretty much anything to do with athleticism. Or, more accurately, anything that one could possibly be good at.

She had just moved to America from England a year ago but we had become close instantly. Rue had just fit right into our little group of friends and now we did just about everything together.

"Did Annie and Elena leave us again?" Rue ask, cocking her head slightly.

"Of course they did, they like to show off their speed dressing!" I chuckled, thinking of the two girls.

"What about Cassie?" I said, beginning to jog.

"I didn't see her in the bathroom." Rue replied, keeping my lazy pace easily.

Annie, Elena, and Cassie were my other three best friends. People always called our big group a 'gang'. One day, Annie had the crazy idea to use the first letter of all of their names to try to make up a 'gang name' as she called it. It failed because it ended up being 'CARRM' and none of us could justify it making any sense, despite how funny we had found it.

"Let's just go, she'll make it." I said. Rue nodded and we both took off at a faster pace towards the track.

At the track, Coach was standing at the gate taking role of everybody who ran in.

"May! Have you seen Cassie?" He called out, his deep voice cutting through the chattering of the other track girls.

I stopped at the gate, huffing a bit from the half mile jog, "Nope, Coach, we thought she would already be here." Coach looked down at his clipboard thoughtfully.

"I'll keep an eye out." He said with a frown. "Meanwhile, you get on that mile. You're still late." Coach added with a slight smile, quite evilly in my opinion but I knew it was not personal.

I groaned, "Yes, Coach."

By the time the third lap rolled around, I was mind numbingly tired. Why was this so hard? I mean, I'm normally a bit of a lazy person but distance was what I did best. Endurance was my strong suit when it came to track since I was not very fast. Yet for some reason, today I was struggling to finish even a simple mile.  My whole body seemed to ache and felt as though it's every bone was made of steel, weighing me down.

I stumbled to a halt, hardly hearing my coach's protests across the field. My head pounded and my eyes fluttered, feeling like they were made of lead as my body crumpled to the ground. The last thing I glimpsed was Rue sprinting towards me as I faded out of consciousness.

****

When I woke up, it took me a moment to realize I was in my bed, and another moment to notice Dad looking at me. Then it all came flooding back to me and I kind of panicked.

"What's wrong with me, dad? I've never passed out before! Ever!" I said, sitting up quickly. Bad idea. My head swam and my stomach lurched uncomfortably, making me groan.

"Calm down. There's nothing wrong with you. But I'm not very good at explaining it and your Mother is out, so I'll let Rue explain it." Dad said.

I opened my eyes in surprise. "Wait, Rue? Why is she here? I'm so confused!" I said to his retreating back, just as Rue squeezed past him and into my room.

She gave me a awkward smile. "Hey May, I'm sure you don't get what's going on but it's going to get way more confusing in maybe a couple of minutes so j-"

I didn't hear the rest over the blinding pain that cracked through my bones. Through the pain, I heard people yelling and someone screaming, the shrill sound piercing my ears.. Was that me? I hadn't even known I could scream like that.

When finally the pain receded, I opened my eyes slowly to see grass and trees around me. Then, when I looked at where my feet were supposed to be, I saw tawny paws....

Rue's voice echoed sharply in my ears. "Well May, it looks like you're a were-cougar!" She exclaimed brightly.

•••••••••

OMG I MANAGED TO EDIT THE FIRST CHAPTER!!! *dances in excitement*

-Mo