George
"Hey," I hear my mother's voice. I see myself in the middle of an amusement park.
She hands me a cotton candy. Her smile is warm like a ray of sunshine. She holds my hand and spins me around.
"Viola!" she happily says. I find myself sitting on one of the horses of the carousel. I smile and touch the metal pole. My mother is riding one of the horses too.
"Aren't you busy? You keep visiting me lately," I say while looking around the empty amusement park.
She didn't answer.
"Visit me at the witch's forest after your class. I'll introduce my colleagues to you," she says.
"Sure," I smile. "Mom." I take a bite of the cotton candy. Though, I can't taste it.
We spend the few hours that we have in my dream. I feel free even though all of this is not real. I pull her to the pirate ship ride, literally pull. She keeps on refusing.
"Come on! We won't die here. It's just a dream," I say while laughing.
This is my first time laughing again.
"No!" she yells and gestures her hand. Sparkling dusts are released from her palm.
Everything stops except for the two of us.
"Why did you do that!?" I frown while looking at the roller coaster we're riding that stops from falling to the highest peak of its track.
"I'm not yet ready!" she yells back while she looks away. She scratches her neck and clears her throat.
"You're not yet ready!?" I exclaim. "This is the fun part!"
"How is this fun to you?" she stares at me with her confused gaze. "Look! We'll fall there!"
"That's how roller coaster works."
"I know that!" she replies in a nervous scream.
"Are you scared?" I ask in disbelief.
"No!" she glares at me.
"But why are we still–Aaaaaahhhhh!"
My words are cut when she snaps her fingers. The roller-coaster continues to fall.
"There! Let's go there!" I say while pulling her to the swing ride. I look at her and smile.
"Georgina."
"Yes?" I answer. But I frown after realizing it's a male voice. I look at my mother again with a frown across my face.
"Why?" she asks.
"Not–"
"Hey. George. Wake up."
...thing.
Who's that?
Am I waking up?
No!
I don't want to.
"Quickly, Mom–" I am shocked when a cliff is where we're heading instead of the swing ride. I trip on the rock and fall to the cliff.
My eyes quickly open.
No.
"Hey," Clarkson greets with a bright smile. "Why?" His smile fades as he looks at my face.
Our eyes met. I give him a glaring stare in exchange for his warm gaze.
"Don't you want to practice in the camp?" he asks as he tilts his head.
"Good morning! Good morning!" Cayden happily greets. "Come on cubs. Time for school!"
"We are not cubs," Clarkson says, sounding offended.
"How's your sleep, Miss?" Cayden asks while cleaning the counter.
"Great," I say while smiling. "But someone wakes me up," I say as I roll my eyes.
"You have a nice dream. I see," Cayden concludes.
"Is it Jared?" Clarkson seriously asks. "Are you...with Jared in your dream?"
"Meow," I hear Mr. Tuna from the bed.
"Tuna. I already gave you food," Cayden nags.
"It's my Mom," I chuckle. "What made you think it's Jared?"
"You keep mentioning him in your Morphe phase," he says. "Well...you're mentioning a lot of people. But it's mostly him."
"Are you jealous?" I jokingly ask.
"No," he quickly answers while chopping the steak.
A shiver runs down my spine. I suddenly get goosebumps.
"What's going on?" I blurt out while looking at my arms.
"He lied," Cayden laughs loudly. "She's a full werewolf now, Liev. You cannot lie to her."
"Oh?" I ask while raising my eyebrows. "This is what you feel when someone's lying to you?"
"Yes," Cayden answers as he continues to unpack our luggage. "You two didn't even bother to unpack, huh?"
"You're jealous?" I say while pointing the fork at him.
He didn't answer.
"They said, silence means yes," Cayden continues to tease his younger brother.
I smile at Clarkson while he can't lift his gaze anymore.
"What–Why did you put the pack of chips inside your luggage? They're empty. Why keep these?"
"I didn't eat any chips," I say. "Maybe it's Clarkson."
Clarkson finally lifts his gaze. "I did not," he says while staring at the chips with an offended gaze.
He's not lying tho.
Then, who is it?
"Tiny," Sophia greets.
Sigh.
Why is she my partner?
"Okay, face your partner, everyone," Fatima says. "Remember the stances I thought you?" she asks.
"Yes, Ma'am!" we reply.
"For today, we'll have different levels," she continues. "All of you have to follow the beat that I'll create. The pair who'll stay longer we'll have the highest rank, understand?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" they answer.
While I am in deep thought about how to be in the highest ranking, I'm pretty sure Sophia will get mad when we become the last.
"Okay, start," Fatima calmly says. She starts clapping.
The beat is slow as if we're just leisurely walking.
"We should make it to the top 10 at least, human," Sophia whispers.
I am the one attacking while she is the one defending. Our swords clash to the beat of Fatima's clap.
I step back.
It's her turn to attack now.
"Good, everyone was listening to the previous lesson. Excellent," Fatima comments.
The beat speeds up. We're now at a normal pace of walking. Sweats form around my forehead as I am slowly getting tired. I thought I wouldn't get tired when I became a werewolf. My breathing becomes heavy as I continue to attack. Sophia is now glaring at me.
"Don't tell me you're already tired?" she whispers through her gritted teeth.
Fine. I won't tell you.
It's her turn to attack now. However, my arms are slowly getting tired while my legs slowly become weak.
I have to exercise now. I note to myself.
"Great!" Fatima says as she walks towards our spot. The beat changes again as we switch roles. Sophia is the one defending again. The beat changes to as if we're marching.
"Great, Liev! As usual," she greets Clarkson and his partner.
"Defense," Sophia whispers to me.
I step back and use two hands to defend myself. My knees become weaker. The sword falls from the grasp of my tired hands. I fall on my back which makes my partner stop.
"No!" Sophia angrily yells.
"Georgina and Sophia, take a rest," Fatima says while clapping.
Sophia groans and angrily walks in front of the class. She crosses her arms over her chest and watches our classmates.
I bet Sophia is wishing me to die.
"Liev will be demonstrating how this activity works," Elis explains.
I watch how Clarkson aims for the target like a pro. He moves to the next target smoothly.
Well, he's a pro.
He starts with 10 meters.
Bullseye.
"You see," Elis starts to explain while Clarkson continues to aim the target. "You'll be graded according to the distance and number of hits. You'll move to the next until the arrow no longer hits the target. And that's when you stop."
Clarkson transforms into his werewolf form and runs back to the target.
"What's your record?" Elis asks.
"At the edge of 290 meters, Sir," Clarkson politely answers.
The arrangement of the platoon has changed. It's arranged according to height but the tallest fills the first row instead. We are arranged from tallest to smallest.
And where am I?
At the second to the last row.
Well, you might say it's not that bad since there are werewolves smaller than me.
But...
Teenagers and kids are standing in the last three rows.
That's why I have to stretch my neck just to see Clarkson. Surprisingly, I can hear them even though I'm that far away.
I guess this is one of the pros of being a werewolf, huh?
"Georgina!" Elis yells. "Your turn." I startle when Elis yells.
I'm a werewolf now. I'm a werewolf now.
I walk towards the target at different distances. My cold hands nervously grip the bow and arrow. My gaze lands on Clarkson. He waves at me and smiles.
I can do this.
I can do this. I repeat as I continuously convince myself.
10 meters.
20 meters.
30 meters.
40 meters.
50 meters.
60 meters.
70 meters.
80 meters.
90 meters.
100 meters.
120 meters.
140 meters.
160 meters.
180 meters.
200 meters.
230 meters.
260 meters.
290 meters.
320 meters.
350 meters.
My gaze scans the different distances of the targets.
"Go!" I startle when Elis yells.
I'm a werewolf now. I say in my head while pulling the arrow.
I stare at the first one. Slowly, I take a deep breath. My fingers released the arrow.
Please.
My gaze is fixed on the arrow which swiftly burry to the center of the target.
Yes.
I smile. "Bullseye," I mutter with a bright smile plastered across my face.
I moved to the next. My mind is only focused on the targets.
20 meters.
Bullseye.
30 meters.
It's a bit far from the center.
Damn.
My vision became clearer than before.
40 meters.
The arrow lands further to the center.
"The kid before you hits bullseye even in 100 meters," Elis whispers.
I don't care, Elis.
I never hit 40 meters using a bow and arrow before. I internally roll my eyes.
50 meters.
The arrow lands near the edge of the wooden target.
"Wow," I whisper in amusement. I should be crying right now if I care about the rankings. But I had never done archery before. And for me, seeing myself hitting 50 meters without any experience is amazing.
60 meters.
Right at the very edge of the chopped wood, the arrow lands.
70 meters.
No.
The arrow didn't land on the target. I turn around and look for Clarkson. He smiles at me.
"Our lowest rank so far, 60 meters," Elis announces. But, I didn't care.
"Next!" Elis yells.
I run back to my spot with a big smile on my face.
"Did you see that!?" I exclaim while we are walking back to our house. My gaze meets Clarkson's gray ones.
"Of course! You did well back there," he says with a proud smile.
"I know right? This is amazing. It's a bit new to me," I continue while smiling like crazy.
"The what?" Clarkson asks and tilts his head to the side.
"This! My eyesight is clearer. My sense of hearing is sharp," I quickly speak.
"60 meters? How pathetic," I hear a familiar female voice.
Sophia.
"She didn't even make it to 100," she continues.
I look behind to see her a few meters away from me.
"You actually hit 70 meters," Clarkson says once we step inside the house.
I frown and look at him.
"How's your class!" Cayden cheerfully greets.
"Oh my!" I hold my chest dramatically while looking at him with wide eyes.
"Sorry," he chuckles.
"What do you mean?" I ask Clarkson as I sit on the bed.
"The arrow cuts the edge of the wooden target," he explains. He removes the tie of his hair and lets his long, red hair dangle.
"It's not counted though," I chuckle.
"Tuna has been roaming around the village. So, followed him," Cayden butt in while preparing our dinner.
My gaze lands on the cat sleeping on the bed.
"And I think he doesn't like the cat food. I gave him some left-over food and he ate it," Cayden adds.
I nod and keep it in mind.
"How does it feel?" Cayden asks. "To be a werewolf?"
"Well," I pause and chew my food. "I feel like I'm a superhuman now. I can see clearly. Look!" I say while looking outside the window. "I even have a night vision! How cool is that?" I happily say.
"Eh," Cayden says as if I gave him a boring story.
"It's not amazing to us though," Clarkson comments. "It's just normal for us."
"The feeling is like when you receive your phone for the first time," I explain while looking at Clarkson. "It's something new, confusing, and exciting at the same time."
"Oh," Clarkson nods. "Now I understand."
"Have you seen my full form?" I curiously ask.
"Of course," Cayden nods while chewing.
"What do I look like?" I look at the two of them sitting in front of me.
"Red fur," Cayden describes.
"Green eyes and small physique," Clarkson adds.
"The moment you howl I said to myself," Clarkson starts.
"It's you, the Alpha," he adds.
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