Undercover Panther

Chapter 7. New cat on the block

The amazonian princess stood before me, she was exactly my height so neither of us had the advantage there. Now that I could see her features more closely, her cheek bones were a little too high and square, along with a nose that protruded, stemming down to a large chin. She was still incredibly beautiful but in a... feline way.

"Lion I presume?" I queried with my hip cocked and a hand resting on it, trying to show how unphased I was.

She tilted her head back and maliciously laughed.

"Why yes. You know, when me and my pride moved here, we never thought we would come across a legendary panther!" She cackled.

I wasn't concentrating on her bitchiness though, more along the lines of legendary panther. And what does pride mean?

"Pride? And what do you mean by legendary?"

"Oh poor little thing. You really are clueless aren't you?" She leaned against the counter and examined her nails. When I didn't reply, she huffed in annoyance and continued.

"Sheesh! A pride is my family, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, mom, dad. All together. Lion! Duh. And you my kitty cat, are the last Panther. Ta ta for now!"

And with that she sauntered off, leaving me with the new information. I followed numbly behind, not caring about the teacher who was harshly berating me about being late. The game we were assigned was netball, not one of my favourites but I was too spaced out to care. The girls went into one court and the guys in the other. The year group was too small for separate gender classes.

As the game started to commence, I stood at the back lost in my own thoughts.

Was what she said true? It was obvious that she wasn't going to be my best friend so perhaps she was lying? Sure we panthers didn't form packs like wolves, or prides like lions apparently did, hell, I don't even know what's out there. But I never once considered that I would be the last. Technically I wasn't just a panther, I was many, I just happened to love being in panther form. Although a panther was the first thing I shifted into. Could the new lion shift into any big cat species like me? I reminded myself to ask her.

As I became more aware of my surroundings, I noticed that Gabriel was staring at me quizzically from across the court and I smiled at him and gave him a wave, managing to get hit in the head by a ball. Regardless of how cliche the moment was, it hurt like a mother. I could sense someone watching me, and when I looked around, found that she was watching me intently. Giving her the evils, I immersed myself in the game, finally showing off my cat-like reflexes and to the amazement of my peers, winning the game almost by myself.

Again, I was forced to shift in the toilet stall, and luckily nobody noticed me exit the cubical empty handed. I combed out my hair after releasing it from its rubber hold and let it pour over my shoulders. I never bothered with makeup, I had a naturally pale face and any shades tended to clash.

The bell rang just as I finished getting ready and headed over to meet with Cassidy at our spot. To my complete and utter surprise, I found Gabirel casually talking to Cassidy, who looked uncomfortable yet happy to be talking, like per usual.

"Don't know if you got the memo Gabriel, but this is mine and Cassidy's place." I told him as I sat down on the bench

"Really? Because I sent one out of my own. It read 'Gabriel is a free person and can go anywhere he wants to' but I guess you couldn't read it since you're missing this"

With that, he pulled out my battered old phone along with its charger. I held my hand over my mouth and gasped.

"Where did you get that!?" I tried to grab it, but he stood up and held it out of reach.

"Uh uh uh. Someone has been a bad girl." Gabriel smiled evilly and Cassidy sat watching the confrontation, trying not to laugh.

"What are you talking about?" I asked confused, retreating from the failed attempt at grabbing.

"Didn't you know? I'm the new security guard at the library. Working every Monday and Tuesday night. You pack quite punch ya know."

My face drained of what little colour it had left, and my legs started to buckle. So many thoughts were racing in my mind. He wants money, oh god. He's going to call the police. Even worse, call the pack on me. I'll have to move, maybe to Canada, somewhere the American packs can't find me. I can't go back to England he'll be looking for me... He'll...

"Earth to Juliet?!" Gabriel was suddenly in my face and the shock sent me flying backwards onto my backside. I looked up angrily to Gabriel who could hardly contain his laughter. So I got up and pulled Cassidy to her feet.

"Come on Cassidy, we can go find a better hangout. With people who appreciate us." And I started walking with the little dignity I had left.

We had gotten a few paces away when Gabriel came running and halting in front of us. Raising my eyebrows at him, I showed that I wasn't impressed.

"I'm sorry Jules, forgive me?" He pouted and put his free hand that wasn't holing my phone over his heart.

"Jules?" I questioned.

"Yeah, it's your new nickname." He retorted.

"I kinda like it." Cassidy finally spoke up.

"Look, here's your phone. I don't know why you were in the Library after hours charging it-" He paused and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "but whenever you need to, you can come by during my hours.

I stopped and looked at Gabriel. He could have so easily turned me in, but instead there he was, risking his career and himself just so I could do some petty job.

"Suuure." I said with narrowed eyes, not quite trusting his sincerity. 

"Look, we have art next, let me walk you." He offered, ignoring my suspicious tone.

I searchingly looked at Cassidy and she told me to go, that her class was at the other end of the school and would start walking anyway.

Art flew by too fast for my liking. Gabriel asked me all sorts of questions, less personal ones this time, and I found myself laughing at everything she said. We got scolded more that a few times for not concentrating on our portraits, but Gabriel sill managed to pull off a masterpiece. 

That was how the rest of the day went by. I bought mine and Cassidy's lunch, with only minor objections, and found Gabriel sitting in our usual spot. I gave up on telling him to go and ended up facing the fact that he was now a permanent member of our trio. I noticed the pack giving him estranged looks, which he glared back at. He caught me looking and shrugged his shoulders, carrying on with his current drawing of the day as if nothing had just passed. Looking around, I also noticed the lion, who's name I found to be Savannah, sitting with the people higher up on the social quotas. For someone who had started school a few hours prior, she was doing good.She spotted me from the distance and even had the audacity to wink at me.

As I trudged out of biology, Gabriel offered me a ride since it was pouring down with rain. At first I refuse dbut he pointed out that I wouldn't make it far without getting severely ill so I begrudgingly accepted.

We rode in silence, neither one of us talking until I had had enough and broke it.

"I'm, uh, sorry about last night. You could have turned me in." I fiddled with the seat belt, not looking him in the eye.

"Something tells me you've never had someone look out for you." He guessed.

"Something like that.." I grumbled

"Well that's what people do. They look out for each other. And besides, it must have been important, breaking into a public building to charge your phone."

"Yeah, my... electricity ran out."

"Fine, tell me when you're ready." I smiled at his uncanny ability to read me.

"Stop!" I shouted, unclasping my seat belt.

We had braked on the small rode, me having to give him directions along the way.

"Thanks!" I shouted behind me as I ran off into the woods. Leaving a very confused Gabriel in his SUV.