Chapter 2
My alarm went off and I quickly shut it off. I was already awake so it served no purpose.
Last night was horrible. Never had any of my dreams been so vivid. I could have sworn that I was actually there at one point. Looking acorss the room I saw Ryder staring at me. My eyebrows crinkled. "What?"
"Was there another wolf in here last night?"
Did he mean the white wolf that my mind had conjured up as a method of keeping me away from any further contact with wolves? "I don't think so . . .I mean I saw a white one but that was just my imagination being cruel." I said with a shrug. He walked the length of the room twice before looking at me again. He seemed unsettled.
"Hey Ryder, you wanna follow me to school today? I'll need all the company I can get."
"Hell no, the last thing I need is to have humans staring at me and pointing out the obvious. Oh look it's a bloody wolf---they should try being more original. It's clear I'm a wolf so why can't they move on, plus your principal's a bitch, and not the good kind either."
I sighed. "Fine, leave me to suffer with the cheerleaders today. When I die it will be on your head."
"No it will be my doing." He corrected before walking out of the room. What a loving animal he was.
At school I was constantly reminded of the impending doom I would have to face at the end of the day. Every girl, be she freshmen or senior, was buzzing about the tryouts after school. What was the big fuss about being a cheerleader anyway? You had to wear revealing outfits and smile all the time. That just seemed like too much to ask of anyone. I bet half of them were only going because they knew that Damen would be there. How pathetic. If it weren't for my darling mother I would't have had to go through two hours of girls giggling excessively because they knew some guy would be watching.
Now normally I prayed for the final bell right after I heard the first bell and time would never seem to work for me but today it was like time was sprinting.
I sighed, closing my locker as the last bell of the day rang. Here went nothing.
My eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as I walked into the gym. Girls as far as the eye could see. Half of them didn't even know what they were doing which confirmed my suspicion; they were here for Damen. I rolled my eyes as I walked into the gym and took a seat on the floor by the stands. Maybe if I stayed out of their way they would forget that I was here and simply skip my audition. I loved wishful thinking.
My eyes glanced to the side and for a split second I could have sworn that the jerk was staring at me. I dismissed the thought almost immediately, afterall, he had no reason to be staring at me and there were like twenty other girls on the floor beside me. He was probably thinking my head was blocking one of them.
That one glance left a whole image in my mind. I could still see his liquid brown eyes, staring with such intensity. His jaw seemed clenched but that was probably just me over thinking his expression. I never noticed the colour of his hair before today as the dirty blonde colour stained my mind. I guess I never really had an opportunity to before. The image quickly left my mind as Amber, the head cheerleader, and her croonies walked in. They had a particular walk about them that told me they thought they were better than everybody else. Granted they could perform herkies around these wannabes but what ever happened to all being equal?
Damen walked over to her and she gave him a one hell of a long kiss. It was like she was making a statement; he was hers and no one elses. A few of the girls must had felt awkward but I just felt disgusted. They needed to rent a room and get out of my sight as soon as possible. From where I sat it looked like she instructed him to sit at the judges table and like the dog he was he did. However while he walked over to it he didn't take his eyes off me. What the hell was he staring at?!
His gaze reminded me of a . . .a wolf's in a way. It held that same serious intensity that made me want to look deep into them. I turned my head away hoping he would take the hint and stop staring.
The place quieted down as the first girl stepped out unto the plateform.
"Okay so this was a routine that I took really long time to work on--"
"Nobody gives a shit." Amber said coldly. "Start the routine and quit wasting our time. If you wanted to give a speech then the Literary Society is right down the hall. I watched the girl go red. How could Amber have said that, I mean wasn't the girl nervous enough without having her say that. Gosh she was such a bitch. I couldn't wait for my turn because I didn't have a routine planned at all and I just wanted her to say one thing and I would mess her up. I had a low tolerance for stuck up people; a really low tolerance.
Half way the girls routine she was stopped. I wasn't trying to me mean but what the hell was that?! Did she even remember that she was trying to be a cheerleader? There were little pockets of laughter which only made her feel worse.
"I've seen a rock more flexible and creative than you, get the hell off the platform and let someone with talent go ahead and try." Amber said. Her little croonies, as expected, began laughing. I felt bad for the girl, there were tears in her eyes and she ran out. That only made everyone laugh louder. I rose indignantly.
"Listen to you guys! She gave her all out there and all you can do is ridicule her when three- quarters of you aren't much better! You guys are just as awful as the she-devil holding these damn auditions!" They stopped laughing as they looked at me. I could tell that Amber was pissed but then again so was I so I didn't care. I stormed out of the room to go find the girl. I found her crying in the bathroom down the hall.
"Hey . . .you okay . . . ?"
"I worked really hard on that routine and--and she hates it!"
"Well don't worry about her, believe me being a cheerleader sucks, especially under Amber's regime. Trust me, it's not worth crying over. I wouldn't even be here if my mom hadn't begged me to try out. You have to admit that you feel sorry for the girls forced to put up with her." She looked up at me trying to blink back. I could see a small smile. "That's it now let's get back. I don't want to miss anyone else making a fool of themselves becasue I wanna laugh at them just as hard as they laughed at you." She looked at me with wide eyes. "Yeah I'm gonna laugh, even if I'm the only one doing that now let's go." I helped her up.
"Thanks, I needed that. I'm Annie."
"Cool, I'm Maia but the school records and my parents say I'm Alexandra." I would have stuck with Alexandra but Ryder got me into the idea that it was Maia and I hadn't changed it ever since. Somehow that name spoke to me more. I looked it up once, the meaning was Great Warrior, or something like that. "Now hurry I don't want to miss the comedy show." She giggled then we both walked back to the gym. As I stepped through the door a voice in my head told me to look to the table. When I did I caught Damen staring at me as if he heard something about me. If this continued I would go over there and give him a piece of my mind.
"Good to know our little spokesperson is back." Amber said sarcastically. Oh great. "We all waited for you to get back because we figure that with all your big talk you must have a banging routine behind it."
"Um . . .actually, I don't have a routine. My mom forced me to show up."
The room broke into some vulgar laughter as everyone looked down at me. What? It was the truth. "Then why don't you just leave?"
"Believe me I would if I could but I can't so I won't. Just give me a routine and I'll run with it."
All the cheerleaders exchanged this wicked stare. I wasn't so sure anymore. I never trusted a cheerleader's smile. It held nothing but deceit. Amber pushed away from the table and walked over to me with a smirk.
"I'm gonna run a simple routine, just try to keep up."
"Yeah yeah, just hurry up. I do have a home I'd like to get to." I said impatiently just so I could tick her off. She scoffed at me then walked out unto the platform. She glanced over at me once before she starting the song and beginning.
Okay, so the routine seemed simple enough---wait what was that?! How the hell did she---whoa was that even possible. I watched, my eyes twitching the whole time as she contorted her body in ways it wasn't meant to be bent. She ended with a bridge kick-over that finished with a split. My groan suddenly hurt. She wasn't human. . .I was sure that my mouth hung open but what else could I do. I hated to admit it but she was awesome! I was ready to go home. Glancing to the side I saw Damen taking in my expression. I could see a smirk o his face.
"That is what 8 years of gymnastics can do for you." She bragged as she walked over to me. "Your turn."
I sighed then walked out unto the platform. Okay, so . . .the first thing she did was . . .Ah screw it. "I have my own routine, yours was kinda lame." I lied. She stared at me in shock. I deliberately looked over at Damen this time because I just knew that he would have been staring at me. As expected he was. I had to think quick, everyone was waiting on some super cool routine that would blow Amber's off the stage. I got it! I pretended I was ten again, playing with Ryder. We used to have play fights all the time.
I hit the play button then did a back flip, swerved as if he had lunged at me before I spinning twice just for effect. I moved into a double jumping then did a drop and roll that landed me in a bridge at the end. Next I bounce up from behind did a one handed cartwheel that set the motion for an invisible tree swerve, that is, I pretended there was a tree and did a swinging motion so as to 'avoid Ryder'. I wanted to end bigger than her so I did two front tucks which landed me on my hand where I did another one handed cartwheel before ending in my own split.
I was breathing hard as I waited for a reaction. Who knew that would have been so tiring? The gym erupted with cheers. Everyone seemed impressed---except Amber ofcourse. I found myself smiling, that actually wasn't so bad . . .
"I've seen better---next!" She called. Oh yeah I sucessully managed to piss her off. My day was officially made.
True to my word I sat diligently and laughed every single one of those wannabes off the stage. After awhile they were afraid to go on because they knew I was going to laugh and there was nothing they could do about it except maybe cry. I probably would have stopped if they started crying.
"Alright so the list will be posted by tomorrow, Friday being the lastest. You guys can leave." Amber said. She had taken on a bitter tone right after I performed.
I grabbed up my stuff and headed for the door. Right as I was about to leave I caught the two love birds in another disgusting make out session. I would have turned back to tell them how disgusting it was to watch but I had to hurry home. Dad didn't pick me up because he left worked late so I would walk through the forest to get home and I liked to get home before the wolves were on the move.
By the time I got to the edge of the woods I realized that the sun was about to set. Great. I took a deep breath then went on walking hopefully I would make it home without any hinderances.
I got to the clearing by the creek signalling the half way mark. I sighed, it was already getting dark . . .
What was that? My head whipped around as I heard the distant howling of a wolf. This wasn't good. I had to hurry. My pace picked up as I manuevred around the fallen tree trunks that led to the other side of the track. I stopped short with a gasp as I saw eyes that shone in the dim light of the now rising moon staring up at me. If one looked hard enough you could swear that Damen had the same eyes . . .but these fit the wolf better than they fot him. His eyes made him look too cool for his own good but the wolf's made him look mysterious---though this was no time for such a thought. I almost couldn't see him because of his jet black fur that blended in with the darkness.
I began stepping backwards until I was back in the clearing once more. The wolf just kept stepping forward and growling at me.
Damn it, I hoped my mother was happy. I was about to be maimed or even killed and all because she wanted me to run around doing cartwheels!
"N-nice wolf . . .good boy--or girl" It snarled at me. "Boy! I meant boy go-good boy . . ." Ryder where were you? "S-stay away from me!" It wasn't working--he--he just kept coming closer.
From the edge of the clearing I could hear more growling. Oh great . . .this was just my luck.
"Get away from her!" Ryder! Thank God. He rushed over to us and grabbed the wolf by his throat. The wolf flashed him off then jumped on him and began snarling at him.
"No! Leave him alone!" Before common sense had time to kick in I hurried over to the two and tried helping Ryder. As I reached over to grabbed Ryder the wolf turned to me. I saw this coming long before it was set in motion but for some reason I wasn't responding. The wolf reached over and held unto my hand. I cried out. Ryder esccaped from under the wolf and tried pulling him off but he just held on tighter.
My hand felt weird. I looked down at it and saw a samll almost transparent glow swirling around it. I managed to grabbed my hand away. In the split seond that I looked away before turning back to the wolf I was shocked. The . . .the wolf was gone. . . and . . .Damen was standing before me with a smirk on his face. I sucked in a deep breath and started stepping back while holding tightly to my hand that was now throbbing. What was going on . . .? How was that even . . .possible. . . ? The blood on his mouth told me that I wasn't imagining things. My throat went dry and my voice was caught in my throat. He--he bit me . . .
I watched in horror as he took on the form of a wolf once more and ran off.
For moments I stood there, speechless. That was't supposed to be able to happen. It wasn't supposed to be real . . .but how could I deny it when I now had a bleeding hand . . . ? Never had I felt so afraid in the forest as now . . .I wanted to hurry out of it. I looked over at Ryder who was now pacing back and forth while growling.
"C-can we go p-please?"
He looked at me then began walking towards home. His grey coat was stained by the blood that was made visible by the light of the moon.
Stepping from the trees I saw mom and dad standing on the porch looking out. They ran over to me as they saw me. Mom pulled me into her arms and began talking. She sounded like she had been crying. "Thank God you're alright, what took you so long?" She asked as she squeezed me tighter. I winced. She drew back immediately. "What's wrong?" I looked down at my hand and they followed my gaze. Mom gasped as she saw it.
"Where did you get that?" Dad asked.
"I-I ran into a wolf by the creek." I saw the look that appeared on Dad's face and it scared me. He was going to go looking for it. "Um, it was totally my fault though---I thought it would have looked cool up close so I kept following it until it must have gotten fed up of me." I said, trying to pass it off as no big deal. I didn't want Dad putting himself in danger.
"Alex you know how dangerous that is." Mom said with a frown.
"I know that now, look. . .I think I'll turn in early." I said before walking by them and going up to my room. My first order of business was to take a bath. Once I got the excess blood off I took another look at my hand. What an odd shape . . .
"Ryder will you stop pacing, you're making me dizzy." I complained from my bed.
He stopped dead in his tracks. "Do you even know what that mark means?" He growled.
"No . . ." It had a meaning now . . .?
"That bastard . . .you're his---" He paused and shook his head as if a thought had thoroughly disgusted him. "You're his mate."