Forever Young

Chapter 19

"I won't," I promised, not even allowing him to finish. "I promise. I don't want to hurt anybody. And I'm sorry your dad died. I really am."

He was quiet, and I felt bad for saying that last part. But finally, after a long silence, he mumbled, "Thanks. And... sorry your Dad sucks."

I burst into laughter. He couldn't have explained my situation more perfectly. Mato tried to fight a smile, but eventually gave in, looking down as he chuckled. Glancing back at Takoda, I saw him still standing stiffly on the porch, staring at me. I waved him over, and he sprinted across the yard, reaching us quickly.

Mato rolled his eyes as Koda made a show of  making a face at him and wrapping his arm around me. "Chill out, Runt," Mato said lazily. "We're good."

Takoda's arm shook a little bit around me. "Do not call me runt," he warned. "It doesn't even make sense coming from you. You're hardly older than me."

"Yeah," Mato laughed. "But I'm way bigger. At least I hit puberty before I shifted."

Before Takoda could say something rude back, I intervened. "Can we do something? Like play soccer or marbles. Or anything?"

Koda glared at Mato for a few more seconds and then sighed. "Fine," he mumbled, turning back towards the house. I followed after him, glancing back to see that Mato hadn't moved.

"Come on," I called, gesturing for him to follow. He rolled his eyes, but slowly began walking after us. Even if he did have a bad temperament, at least he didn't seem to be looking for a fight. Now he was just being a little rude and bored.

Takoda was more so the problem now. He was being mean to Mato, even though I had made up with him. Mato never let on that it bothered him, though- it seemed that he had a sarcastic remark at the ready for anything Koda may say to him. Eventually, Takoda gave up, and settled for just sending Mato glares every now and then.

Mato was actually sort of fun, when he let his guard down. He had a lot of brothers- he was the oldest of six. He spent most of his time watching them, and had to come up with games to occupy them. One of the games he had created was called "Knocker ball". We put a soccer ball up on a treestump, and took turns trying to knock it off by throwing a football. Mato was significantly better at it than Takoda and I.

After we had been playing for a while, Mato looked up at the sun. Cursing under his breath, he turned towards the forest. "I have to go," he mumbled, dropping the football. "My brothers get out of school soon. My Mom won't wake up to let them in."

He shifted into his wolf form, seeming to have little concern over his shorts being ripped, and sprinted off into the forest without saying goodbye.

"Aunty will be mad," Koda said. "He's not supposed to go into the woods alone."

I hoped she wouldn't be too mad. Mato was already sore, and it sounded like he had a legitimate reason for leaving so quickly. "Why won't his mom wake up?"

Takoda picked up the football, throwing it towards the stump again. "She's always had a drinking problem. It's just gotten worse since Mato's dad left them. She'll sleep through anything," he told me casually. "That's why he comes around here so much. He brings his brothers, too. Uncle Sam gives them clothes, and Aunty gives them all food every day. She even tried to get them to move in here. Their Mom didn't care at all, but Mato said no. Thankfully. He's scared his Mom will forget to eat if he isn't there to force her."

That sounded hard. But I also didn't know much about the human and werewolf world, so maybe I was overthinking it. Maybe that was normal.

It wasn't too much longer after that that Nessie came out to play with Koda and I. As usual, they fell into their usual teasing and bickering until it was time for us to go home. Takoda walked with us to the car, chattering excitedly about how he would see me at school tomorrow.