In Our Blood

Chapter Seven

        Head rested on the kitchen table, Beca was rubbing her temples and trying to cut out the bickering of Daniel and Emma as they cooked breakfast. Rhydian was supposed to show up this morning before school, but he has yet to arrive. To make matters worse, Maddy still hadn't woken up and Beca had a head splitting migraine working its way through her brain.
        After a series of feet stomping down the stairs that made Beca cringe, Maddy sat down sloppily in the seat across from her, groaning and rubbing her jaw.
        "You feeling confident?" Daniel asked suddenly, showing up right beside them.
        Beca answered with a stiff "no". She hated this time of the month, right before the full moon. Ever since she had turned sixteen, her body showed all signs of getting ready to transform; however, for the past five months, nothing has happened.
        Maddy just rolled her eyes and mentioned something about not being able to focus. She then said how she was incredibly sore, making Beca roll her eyes and scoff.
        "What?" The slightly younger girl looked over at Beca, obviously on the edge of snapping.
        "Now you know how I feel, Miss 'Oh, it can't hurt that badly. Exploring an abandoned house right now would be the perfect idea!'" She shot back, remembering how two full moons ago Maddy decided to drag Beca along in exploring a house Shannon was convinced that her beast lived in.
        Maddy tensed up, slamming her hands down on the table. "Let it go, Beca."
        "Maybe I'd let it go if--"
        She was interrupted by a bottle being slammed down on the table and instantly recognized it, reaching for the contents before Emma smacked her hand away. She shoved the bottle towards her youngest daughter. "You're going to need this today. It's the last bottle in the house, so do not lose it."
        "Why does she get it?" Beca asked, looking jealously at her friend.
        "Well, Beca, maybe if you hadn't stolen one last moon, you'd get one, too." Emma said.
        Maddy looked triumphant at Beca's frustration for a few moments. Then she glanced down at the small brown vial in her hands. "What is it, exactly?"
        "It's a rescue remedy," Daniel said, not bothering to explain.
        When Maddy shot her a confused look, Beca slumped down in her chair and grumpily crossed her arms over her chest. "It keeps you calm."
        The sound of the bus coming up the long drive hit her ears and she jumped up, swinging her bag over her shoulder, ready to get the day over with already. She just wished it were Friday already. They would be going on a field trip and she'd be able to blow off some steam by running.
        As soon as they arrived at school, Tom pulled Maddy over, asking about an english paper. Beca took that as her cue to leave and stormed through the front doors of the school, using all of her willpower to not growl at any student who got in her way. That willpower was lost as soon as a familiar blonde blocked the path to her locker.
        "Move, Rhydian," she said through clenched teeth.
        He stepped out of her way but stayed next to her locker, giving her a confused look as she shoved books into the metal trapdoor that contained old schoolwork and broken pencils. "What's wrong with you?"
        "Maybe it's the fact that you didn't even bother showing up this morning!" She snapped, causing a few other students to look there way before going back to their business.
        Rhydian looked taken aback. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Honestly, somethings up, and it's more than what you're saying."
        She sighed and slammed her locker shut. "You seriously can't feel the full moon? It's almost here, and it's excruciatingly annoying."
        After an odd look from Rhydian, she shook her head and began to walk to their first class, instantly feeling his presence beside her. After they got situated and Beca had her head on the desk with a pencil clenched between her teeth, Rhydian seemed to come to a realization. "You're about to transform, aren't you?"       
        She pulled the pencil out of her mouth and noticed the abnormally sharp teeth marks indented into the wood. "God, I hope so. I don't think I can take it if this gets any worse."
        Confusion covered his features once more. "What do you mean?"
        She sat up with her head now held up by her hands, knowing the Wolfblood beside her wasn't about to let this go. "Ever since my sixteenth birthday, every single week of the full moon has been terrible. Emma and Daniel first thought I was transforming, but then I didn't and it's just gotten worse since. They pushed it off as a family thing, but I don't think they know what's going on either."
        Just as Beca finished, the familiar rank smell of a certain calming solution filled her nostrils. She looked up to see Maddy sitting in her chair, to which she grabbed her arm and yanked her back. 
        "You used it all already?" Beca hissed.
        Maddy yanked her arm away and glared back, taking her seat and ignoring the look from Tom, who had taken the incentive to sit with Jimi today. "I didn't use it at all. Shann ran into me and it broke."
        "You broke it?!" She shouted in a hushed whisper. "Mads, that was our only chance at being able to get through today."
        Rhydian looked on at the two with an amused wisp melting in his eyes. "What are you two going on about?" 
        "Some mix of herbs Mam and Dad bought that helps a Wolfblood stay calm." Maddy explained.
        "It's not just 'some mix of herbs'. It's a miracle remedy and Mads here broke it!" Beca said, throwing her hands up in frustration before realizing she'd been a little loud and was earning herself some glances.
        Maddy clenched her fists and turned around to face Beca. "It wasn't my fault! There'd be more if you hadn't stolen a bottle."
        She narrowed her eyes at the girl. "And wolfed out in the middle of class last month?" She took a deep breath and unclenched her jaw, leaning back in her chair with a hand over her face. "I should've stayed home."
        "And leave me here alone?"
        Rhydian shot Maddy a look at that, to which Beca replied, "Chill out, Mads. Getting upset over nothing will make it worse."
        "Chill out? How am I supposed to chill out a week of exams, Tom on my back, and I feel like I'm out to explode?"
        "Maddy!" Jeffries called, taking attendance.
        "What?" She shouted back, before realizing her mistake and quickly apologizing. She turned around and rested her head on the wall as Jeffries went on about when exams were this week. The bell rang and the three Wolfbloods quickly got out of the stuffy classroom as soon as possible. When they were outside, Rhydian turned around and starting walking backward, reminding Beca much of herself earlier in the month.
        "Do you know what helps?" He asked.
        "Tell us," Beca demanded before he'd even taken a breath.
        Maddy nodded. "I'll do anything at this point."
        He grabbed both of them, a wrist in each hand and dragged them to start walking towards the field with him.
        Skeptical, Beca raised an eyebrow. "What are we doing?"
        "Best way to get rid of pre-transformation blues? Move!" With that the boy turned around and took off towards the whole in the fence that led into the woods. Maddy and Beca shared a look, both reluctant to admit that the blonde Wolfblood knew more about this subject than them. However, they had nothing to lose at this point. Their minds were not capable of revising and studying at the moment, so they took off in the same direction as Rhydian.
        When Beca stepped through the sharp metal wire that blocked off the outside world from their school, the scent of pine piercing her nose. Everything that she normally felt was amplified by the feeling of the full moon so close by. When she found Rhydian waiting for them amongst the trees, his veins were already darkened and his eyes held their supernaturally golden shade. She didn't have to ask to know that he was struggling to keep himself from fully transforming, wanting to make this a fair game for the three of them.
        She found herself wondering if it was going to be harder to control the wolf in school after she had transformed. Her worrying thoughts of having to stay away from Tom and Shannon, and her good friend Callie took over her mind. Her heart filled with guilt as she realized she hadn't even talked with Callie since Rhydian had come into the picture; though, Rhydian's sudden take off with Maddy on his tail caused her regret to dissipate. 
        She lost sight of the two quickly, but easily followed their scent trail that laced through the trees and undergrowth. When she found them, they were both laying underneath a pine. She followed quickly and took up the small space in between the two, just now realizing how long she must have been running. Her heart was pounding and breath heaving and when she looked over and met Rhydian's eyes, he was in the same condition. The satisfied smile on his lips caused her to take noticed of her own lips forming a similar shape.
        "Better?" He asked.
        "Better."
        Maddy's voice rose up on her left side. "I know I've got Mam and Dad and stuff, which is a lot more than you have, but--sorry," she said, cutting herself off as Rhydian let out a sigh and glanced over at her.
        "It's fine."
        She nodded and tried again. "What I meant was, it's nice having someone my age to, like, share stuff with."
        "Just act like I'm not here," Beca said jokingly, to which Maddy shoved her side.
        Rhydian chuckled and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Beca didn't like the inferior feeling that it gave her, so she sat up and leaned against the tree, which Maddy soon followed in suit.
        "I've always hated it, keeping it a secret from my friends," Maddy said.
        "Everyone has secrets," Beca pointed out.
        Rhydian nodded. "I'll bet Tom and Shann don't share everything with you."
        "They won't have secrets like ours." Maddy sighed and looked straight ahead. "Sometimes I wonder if it's possible to stay friends with them. I mean, how well do they really know us?"
        Beca's friend's words caused a lump of regret to reform itself back into her throat as she thought of a stubborn brunette that was sitting down in the hallway about now, outside of her next exam's room, last-minute studying. "I have to go," she said quickly, standing up and brushing off her uniform. She ignored the looks of question from Rhydian and Maddy as she took off back towards the school.
        She slipped through the fence and ran across the field, Jeffries yelling at her to get to her class before exams started. She ignored the get-to-class portion of his command and followed her friend's familiar scent of raspberries covered with pine. 
        She caught sight of Callie as soon as she rounded the corner of the hallway she was sitting in. Her friend's hair was tied up and her shirt was unbuttoned slightly, trailing Beca's eyes downward and making her have to gulp and jam her fingernails into her palm to refocus herself.
        Callie lifted her green eyes and met Beca's, entrapping her and making her memory suddenly reintroduce herself. She remembered that she was avoiding her friend for a reason: they had kissed. And it wasn't just a truth-or-dare "we'll laugh about this later" kiss. It was an "I've liked you for way longer than I should and I'm going to pretend that you're not straight for a second" kiss. 
        After what seemed like an eternity of Beca staring blankly into those mossy green orbs, she offered up a small smile and walked towards the girl.
        Callie studied her for a moment before raising a critical eyebrow. "Where's your stuff?" She asked with her extremely american accent.
        Confused, Beca reached up and touched the strap of her bag--at least, she tried to. She blankly touched her shoulder and sighed, way too annoyed with herself for her own good. "I must've left it in the woods."
        The words slipped out of her mouth before she caught them, her brain still trying to accept the fact that she and Callie were talking like friends. "The woods?" Callie questioned.
        "Yeah, I went running with Rhydian and Maddy and I must've--" she stopped herself. "This sounds really weird, doesn't it?"
        Callie shrugged and shoved a few books into her own bag before standing up. "Coming from you? I've heard weirder." The words may have seemed like an insult if it weren't for the smile splitting Callie's face and the playful shove she landed on Beca's shoulder. "So I've heard a lot about this Rhydian kid, what's she like?"
        Beca bit her lip to attempt to stifle a laugh, but failed miserably. "Um, Rhydian... he's a guy."
        Callie looked flustered for a moment. "Oh, I just figured, since you seemed to have taken a liking to him..."
        And cue the awkwardness, Beca thought as her laugh subsided. "We're just friends, Callie. I only met him a month or so ago."
        She rolled her pink lips into her mouth and released them, a nervous habit of hers. Her green eyes glued themselves to the floor. "How convenient that he came around just in time for you to avoid me."
        "Callie, look, I'm really sorry. It was... that night was a mistake. I didn't mean to, I just..." At the look of Callie's expression falling even darker, Beca quickly reevaluated the situation. "It was a mistake, wasn't it?"
        The bell's ringing speared through Beca's eardrums, making her flinch. Callie just readjusted her bag and licked her lips. "It clearly was to you," she muttered before walking into the classroom door beside her.
        Teenagers started racing through hallways to get to their next exam in the allotted five minutes surrounded Beca. And just like that, after convincing herself that she and Callie were just friends, she wasn't so sure anymore.