"Hey Carlos!" Hear someone calling his name amidst all the noise in the school hallway, Carlos looked up from his locker to find Briana, his best friend, calling out to him.
"Wass up" He asked, closing the locker.
"Nothing much." She replied, with a big wide smile at him. "Close your eyes," she demanded of him.
Briana is a bark skin girl with light brown eyes and purple and pink dyed hair. Today she is wearing long black jeans, a white tank top, a navy blue jeans jacket with ripped sleeves and black sneakers. However the smile she had on her face at that moment had all the alarm bells in Carlos' head going on.
"Why?" He questioned.
"Just do it." She stated. Giving in to her persistence, Carlos closed his eyes as was told. "Now put out you hand"
Carlos felt something being placed on his hand before opening his eyes. He watch the box curiously before asking
"What's this?"
"Your birthday present. Open it!" She stated a bit excitedly.
"My birthday present?" He questioned as he pulled out his phone from his back packet. "Oh shit! It is my birthday." He stated as he watched the date. "Thanks! I even forgot my birthday was today."
" Your mom or siblings haven't said anything." She frowned knowing how his family is.
"I slept in late today. By the time I left for school they already left." Carlos stated and Briana nodded in understanding.
"Anyway, thanks." He said, opening the box to find it filled with all his favorite snacks and a bralette with his man engraved on it in the midst of all the junk food. He tried it on and it was a perfect fit. Just that moment the bell rang indicating it was time for class.
~That afternoon~
"That's everything right?" Briana asks as she comes back from placing a few bags down on the front porch.
"Yh"
It was decided that we will be staying at home and getting drunk. Carlos has drank at parties and with family, however not to the point of getting hammered. That's why Briana, being who she is, decided this all on her own out of the blue.
Taking the keys out from his back pocket, Carlos opened the front door and shouted "MA! I'm home"
"SURPRISED! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Yamaira, Carlos's mother shouted alongside Crimady, his little sister, and Christopher, his little brother as they jumped out from behind a couch.
"Make a wish" Christopher impatiently insisted after they sang the birthday songs.
"You just want to eat cake," Carlos teased him.
"We all do, so hurry up!" his sister burst out.
"Ok! ok" Carlos chuckled and blew the candles out.
"I see you got some drinks, mind if I join?" Yamaira whispered into Carlos's ears as she eyed the things in his hand.
"I don't mind but Bri wants to get drunk. Hope you don't mind?"
"I was counting on it"she replied, leaving Carlos shaking his head at her words.
"Hhhh" both Yamaira and Bri exhale as they both drank half a bottle of beer in one go. They were currently on the back porch enjoying the chilly night breeze of October as they were reaped in blankets.
"This feels good! It reminds me of the time when your grandmother played domino's con los adultos (with the adults) in the neighborhood and we would all sneak off with a few bottles of beer and a speaker to boom music at the park!" Yamaira said. (Yamaira is pronounced with a J but spelled with a Y because its a spanish name)
"Ma! You were such a bad kid!" Carlos exclaimed.
"That's what happens when you're raised in an latinx neighborhood" she responded.
"OK! No more about the past. Carlos needs to get drunk!" Bri burst out of nowhere " Here. Three shots, and you must drink then back to back"
"You're a little too demanding, but I'll do it." taking one shot, then the second, and last "HHHhhhh" Carlos exhales with his tongue out trying to get rid of the burning sensation in his throat. Out of nowhere, Bri began smelling him for the millionth time today.
"By any chance there is a wolf in your family?" she asked.
"Wolf?" both Carlos and Yamaira ask her.
"I mean dogs. You know those dogs that look like wolfs" Bri clarify awkwardly
"No." Yamaira answered.
"Why do you ask?" Carlos curiously asked. Briana has been his best friend since freshman year of highschool and she should know that they didn't own any pets whatsoever.
"Nothing! What time is it?" She ignored his question.
"Two minutes till 11:30" Yamaira answered and Bri looked even more nervous. Ignoring her, both Yamaira and Carlos talk about her childhood a bit more until Bri stands up abruptly and looks at Carlos in shock.
"Are you all right?" she yelled at him.
"I should be the one asking you that," Carlos responded.
"I mean it!" She exclaim eagerly
"I feel a bit uncomfortable and sweaty but that should be from the alcohol?" Without giving him a reply , she stared out into space for a few minutes before saying.
"Help is on its way!"
"Help?" Both Carlos and Yamaira ask her in confusion.
"What time is it?" she ask again
"11:50"
"You will feel extreme pain in five minutes." Bri stated
"What! Why? What is wrong with you?" Carlos asks, questioning if she is sane.
"What is happening?" Yamaira said this time.
"It's a bit hard to explain this to you in five minutes but you need to take off your clothes!" Bri exclaimed.
"Are you drunk?" Carlos questions her.
"NO! NOW! do it"
"You want me?.....To take off my clothes?...... Here???" He gestured at their surroundings.
"Yes!" she then began pulling off my shirt."Do you want me to take off your pants too?"
"No!" Carlos stopped her. With no other choice, he took off his pants for some unknown reason. After being forced to take off his clothes, she drags him off the porch with a strength he didn't know she had and points to the floor.
"Sit."she commanded.
Shivering for the night cold air blowing against his bare skin Carlos snapped back "No! What am I a dog that your training?" Without warning, she kicked him in the back of his knee, forcing him to land on his knee on the moist cold grass instantly.
"What was that f-?!" Before he could finish what was being said, a pain shot through his back.
"What's going on?" Carlos heard his mom shouting
"This may come as a surprise but I need to help him. To do so I need to shift."
"Shift?" Yamaira question.
"I'm a werewolf." was the last thing Carlos heard as another pain shook through his body. Then it felt like a warm, fluffy blanket was wrapped around him taking the pain away slightly. But it didn't last long. The pain came back ten fold. Before he knew it, he could no longer feel the cold of the night on his skin, instead he was surrounded in more warmth. With his head now slightly relieved of the pain, he noticed that the fluffy warmth was coming from wolves that were surrounding him.
"Five more minutes and he will fully shift!" Carlos heard an unknown voice say.
'Shift? What does he mean? And why am I surrounded by wolves? What is happening to me?' Carlos thought in a panic.
Out of nowhere, a threatening low growl ripped through the air causing the wolf around him to run away.
"AAHHhhh!" he screamed out in pain once again. At once there was a huge blanket wrapped around him once again. The pain was way more tolerable now than earlier. Opening his eyes, there was a huge wolf wrapped around him but the funny thing is Carlos wasn't scared of it. If anything, he was more curious than anything. Looking around Carlos saw that there were about ten or eleven wolves around him and one person standing in between them.
"Two more minutes," the person said. Then what he saw scared the hell out of him causing him to stumble back. His hands and legs....was paws.....and fury? He couldn't think too long about it before the pain shot through his body once again and the wolf was surrounding him once again.