Chasing the Moon

Chapter 2

            Volleyball teams were established and much to Eve's delight, Tristan was on her team. If ever a time for her to try and figure out what was drawing her to him, she decided now would be it. Tristan sat in the back of the group while the teacher started a “quick” lesson of the rules and proper way to play. Eve sat against the wall next to Tristan, staring forward as though she were concentrated on the lesson. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed him glance at her quickly before looking away.

            “Hi,” she said quietly as she turned to him and smiled. “I'm Eve.” Other students around the gym were having low conversations and she figured they could pull one off too. Tristan turned at the sound of her voice and returned her smile immediately.

            “I'm Tristan,” he said. Both wanted to say more but didn't know what to say. Eve openly looked over Tristan as though he weren't watching her and Tristan's eyes began to roam too. He stopped on her left arm, finding something he could ask her about. “That's a cool tattoo. Are you into wolves?”

            Eve stiffened at the mention of the tattoo and dropped her eyes down to her wrist. The image of the wolf's head howling at the moon suddenly felt like a neon sign screaming the words 'I'm not like you.' Everyone in her pack had that same tattoo on their wrist to mark them as being one. But as long as Tristan didn't see it on all of her friends she didn't see anything wrong in making up a story for it. “Yeah, I do,” she said, absently tracing the lines of the tattoo. “I think they're beautiful animals. And the way they live and protect each other is amazing. There's no boundary for how far they will go for each other. Especially family.” Eve stared at the tattoo dreamily before realizing she was talking to Tristan and snapped her attention back to him. Meeting his eyes, she laughed nervously as he watched her silently. “Sorry, I can get a little carried away sometimes when I talk about them.”

            “It's okay,” Tristan laughed. Eve couldn't help but smile at the sound of it. “I asked, remember? When did you get the tattoo?”

            “Um,” Eve hesitated. She'd had the tattoo since she was ten but she doubted that answer would go over well with anyone. “I got it when school let out in June.”

            “Where'd you get it?” he asked. “No place I know of around here will do it unless you're seventeen and that's even with parental permission.”

            “Well, that would make sense because I got it out of state,” eve lied. “A friend of mine uncle did it for me with my brother's permission.”

            “What about your parents?”

            “You ask a lot of questions,” Eve said quickly, trying to sound light.

            “Guess I'm a curious person,” he responded.

            “Well that makes two of us.” The two stared at each other in silence and just smiled. Before either one of them could think of something else to say, the teacher announced they had time for one game. Following the other students, Tristan and Eve got up from the floor to take positions on the floor.

            “What do you think our odds are of winning?” Tristan asked her as they stood next to each other. Eve surveyed their team in comparison to the other; the opposing team had Travis, Jose and Mia who were all competitive but their team had Eve, Chris and Lindy who had faster reflexes. With three wolves on each team they could be evenly matched but with other students in the equation there was no way of knowing for sure. Almost as if he knew what she was thinking, Chris turned to wink at her with a smirk that seemed to say 'We got this.'