The Wolf

Ch. 7: Nico's return

~Alex~

I got to school and I was pretty giddy; I wanted to tell Nicolas the good news as soon as possible. So, when first period started and Nicolas wasn't in his seat, I was disappointed; was he sick? With my spirits dampened I continue through the rest of the day.

In each of my classes I start mingling with the other students, learning their names, and eventually they start speaking to me on a regular basis. I made some new friends and even sat with them at lunch. It felt good to converse with so many people.

***

After school I had football practice. I turned in my form and money to the coach; he was glad to see I joined.

We started off practice by stretching then running some laps. The other members welcomed me and patted me on the back as we ran together. I saw a familiar person, the boy with brown hair and hazel eyes that was messing with Nicolas on my first day. I run over to him.

"Hey, would you happen to know where Nicolas is?" I hate to ask him, the one who was harassing Nicolas, but I had no other leads.

"Nicolas? Nicolas..." He seemed to wonder who I was talking about, "Oh! He's at home sick today." The guy said, shifting his eyes.

I was suspicious at his reaction, but I just ask, "So are you guys close? How do you know each other?"

"Um, what's it to you? Who are you anyway?" The guy was giving me a guarded look. I guess he didn't know that I was Nicolas' friend.

"I'm his friend and I just wanted to know how you knew so much about him, despite you harassing him in the hallways." I say calmly, looking ahead as I jog.

"Oh, so you're his friend? I doubt that, Nico- Nicolas doesn't have friends." This guy was getting on my nerves more and more.

"Why are you so mean to him, saying he doesn't have any friends, what do you know about him?"

"I'm his cousin, and I go to the same school as him, I think that I'd know whether he has friends or not." The guy says pointedly.

"Oh, so you're his cousin." I remember the way Nicolas acted when he was talking about his 'family,' he hated him. "So you live with him, so how's he doing?"

"He's sick, how do you think he's doing?" He says haughtily.

I just stay quiet, I guess he has a point.

"So what's your name anyway? Where are you from? I haven't seen you around the school before." He directs us from the topic of his cousin.

"My name is Alex. I'm from this town, I just went to a different school. I transferred schools because I got expelled from my last one."

"Ah, I see. My name is Kyle. Why did you get expelled anyway, what did you do?"

"I, ah, don't want to talk about it." I don't want to go telling people I beat up a bunch of people; the tough guys may think I am bragging and try to pick a fight with me.

"Okay, then." Kyle just shrugs his shoulders.

We finish running our ten laps. Kyle grabs my shoulder and leads me to a group of guys. "Hey, guys, this is the new guy, Alex." He introduced to me to a really tall person, a fat person, and a dark-skinned guy. There was so much diversity on the team.

"Hey, Alex, I'm Blake." Blake, the tall person, held out his hand and I took it in mine. He squeezed his hand tight, but I squeezed mine tighter making him smile.

"I'm Jerome." The dark-skinned guy held out his hand, I shook it.

"And I'm Evan." The fat guy offered a sweaty hand and I took it, I didn't let my reluctance show.