**WARNING: This story will contain mature subject matter. There will be some coarse language and sexual content. If you are offended by this stuff, please refrain from reading further. I won't be posting warnings at the beginnings of chapters in regards to sexual content, as I feel that it gives away what happens in the chapter somewhat. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Enjoy!**
When my alarm went off, I silenced it quickly. My heart pounded as I waited to see if anyone else had woken up from the sound. When I heard nothing, I let out a small sigh of relief. I gingerly got out of my bed, being careful not to aggravate the bruises on my body.
I made my way to the bathroom and I brushed my hair quickly. I couldn’t risk a shower right now, because I didn’t want to wake him up. I went back to my room and got dressed before heading to my brothers room. I knocked lightly on the door before entering. “Charlie, it’s time to get up.”
I heard a grunt from the vicinity of his bed and it made me smile a little. I walked over to the bed and nudged the lump that I knew was my brother. “Come on lazy bones. Time for your first day of high school!” I cheered with fake enthusiasm.
His head popped out from under the covers. He scowled at me as he pushed his unruly blonde hair, that was the same color as ming, out of his eyes. “How can you be so damn peppy? It’s your first day at this stupid school too.”
My smile faded. “I know. But at least we’re getting a fresh start. Maybe things will be different now.”
Charlie snorted. “Doubtful. Now, get out so I can get dressed.”
I walked to the door. “I’ll go make us some breakfast. Make sure you’re quiet when you leave your room, okay? I don’t want to wake Jason up.” Charlie nodded and I left him to get dressed.
A few minutes later, he came downstairs and I handed him his bowl of cereal. We ate in silence and soon we were heading out the door. I didn’t have a car, so we walked the ten minutes to school.
When we got there, Charlie stuck close to my side. I wasn’t sure if it was because he needed reassurance or because he was trying to reassure me. He was nearly three years younger then me, but lately he had been trying to act like my big brother. It was easy for him to do that, considering he was already quite a bit taller then me.
We both went to the office and got our schedules. We were happy to see that our first period classes were close together and that our lockers were just across the hall from each other. We walked to them and we both deposited our bags in our respective lockers.
The warning bell rang and I gave Charlie a reassuring smile. “Good luck, little brother. I’ll see you at lunch, okay?” He nodded and we parted ways.
I entered my classroom and quickly made my way to the back. There weren’t many students in there yet, but I avoided eye contact with the ones that were. I never used to be like this. I used to be bubbly and happy and I used to love making new friends. I also used to hate the people like me. But that all changed two years ago.
I sat down in the back right corner and put my binder on the desk in front of me. I kept my head down as the rest of the class slowly trickled in. I was aware of someone taking the seat beside me, but I refused to look up and see who it was.
When the teacher walked in, I finally glanced up. I noticed a few people looking in my direction, but I didn’t pay any attention to them. Instead, I focused on the teacher as he started the class. It was an English class, and I had always loved this subject.
The teachers name was Mr. Meyer and I immediately liked him. He was fun, but he didn’t let the class get out of hand.
“Okay class, I want you to pair up with someone and learn three things about them. This will give you the chance to get to know your classmates.”
Crap. Maybe I didn’t like this teacher so much after all. I remained in my seat as everyone shuffled around, finding partners. I was hoping that there were an odd number of students in the class and I could get out of doing the assignment.
But I wasn’t that lucky. Mr. Meyer approached me after everyone else had settled. “Ms. Olson, you can pair up with Mr. Macdonald.” He indicated the person in the chair beside me and then left.
I slid my gaze to the person beside me. The first thing I noticed is that he was large. Not in an obese way; on the contrary, he looked like he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. But he had broad shoulders and large muscular arms that were displayed by a black t-shirt. My eyes traveled up to see that he had very dark brown hair and hazel eyes that were currently glaring at me. “Are you done staring yet?”
I flinched at the harshness of his tone, but at the same time, it sent a pleasant shiver down my spine. I didn’t say anything, though. Instead, I looked away without meeting his eyes. I stared down at my desk, not sure what to do now and silently hating myself.
I heard him sigh beside me. “Do you not talk?” When I didn’t say anything, he cursed under his breath. “Look, let’s just get this stupid thing over with, okay?” I still said nothing and that obviously annoyed him, because he slammed his fist down on his desk.
I jumped at the loud sound and then cowered in my seat. I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for something to happen.
I was surprised when nothing happened. After a moment, I cautiously opened one eye and looked over at him. He was looking at me with an odd expression on his face. I couldn’t quite decipher it. There was annoyance, confusion and… pity? The first two I understood, but the third one I didn’t like.
I straightened in my seat and opened my other eye, looking down at my desk once again. But this time, I spoke. “S-sorry, let’s just do this,” I whispered. I hated myself for being so weak, but I no loner had control over it.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” the guy said, his tone a lot softer now. “My name is Ryan.”
“I’m Samantha,” I said quietly.
“Well, Samantha, can you tell me three things about you?”
I hesitated for a moment before speaking in a rush. “I have a younger brother, we just moved here and my favorite animal is a wolf.”
“That was quick,” Ryan mumbled. “Well, I’m an only child, I live with my mom and my favorite animal is also a wolf.”
I smiled a tiny bit at that. “They are majestic animals, aren’t they?”
I heard Ryan chuckle. “Yes, that they are.”
We fell silent after that. I was too scared to actually say anything else to him, so I didn’t attempt to start a conversation.
The rest of the class passed without us speaking. As soon as the bell rang, I leapt out of my seat and hurried out of the room. I found my next class, which was History, and I quickly went to the back corner again. I prayed that the teacher didn’t pair me up with someone in this class as well. My nerves could only take so much.
Luckily, this teacher had no desire to pair us off. Instead, she had us do a quick worksheet so she could see what we all knew. She explained that this way, she could plan the lessons around how much we already knew. It seemed like a smart idea to me, and I did the worksheet without complaint.
When the bell rang, signaling that it was lunchtime, I went looking for my brother. I found him waiting for me by my locker and I breathed out a sigh of relief. At least I would have someone to sit with at lunch.
I put my books in my locker and then Charlie and I headed for the cafeteria. We bought some food and found an empty table. After sitting down together, Charlie turned to me. “So, how were your first two classes?”
I shrugged. “They were okay. My teachers both seem nice, so that’s always an advantage. How about you?”
“I like my classes. I talked to a couple of guys who seemed pretty cool.”
I smiled. “Good, I want you to make friends. Why aren’t you sitting with them?”
It was his turn to shrug. “I would rather sit with you.”
“That’s sweet, Charlie, but I don’t want to hold you back from having fun.”
He put his arm around my shoulders. “You’re not holding me back. If I make any good friends, then they can join us for lunch. But I’m not leaving you,” he said firmly. “I just wish you would make an effort to make some friends.”
I lowered my eyes. “I’ll try,” I said softly.
He gave me a squeeze before removing his arm. “I know it’s hard for you.” He leaned back in his chair a little, munching on his chips. “So, are you going to tell me why Ryan MacDonald keeps looking over here?”
I looked at my brother in surprise. “How the hell do you know who he is already?” I asked with some of my old fire.
He smirked. “The people I met gave me the rundown on the school. Ryan is the school ‘badass’. Apparently everyone in the school is terrified of him. And of course, girls love that badass attitude, so even though they’re scared of him, they still try and get with him.”
I snorted. “Doesn’t surprise me.”
“You didn’t answer my question though. Why is he looking over here?”
I shrugged without looking on the direction my brother was indicating. “I don’t know. He’s in my English class and we got paired up, so maybe he’s a little curious.”
Charlie narrowed his eyes at me. “There’s something you aren’t telling me, Sam.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”
He rolled his eyes. “I know you too well. What happened?”
I sighed. “Nothing. He’s just a pretty big guy and it makes me a little nervous, that’s all.”
Charlie scowled. “Did he do something to scare you? Because I don’t care who he is, I will take him down if needed.”
I chuckled. “No, Charlie. He didn’t do anything to scare me. You don’t need to go all protective big brother on me. Especially considering I’m older then you.”
“Older yes, but bigger, no. Hate to break it to you, sis, but you’re kinda short.”
I made a face at him. “Just because you had a random growth spurt doesn’t make me short.”
“No, but the fact that everyone is taller then you does.”
I decided to ignore that comment and concentrated on finishing my lunch. When the bell rang, I gathered up the garbage and headed to the door with Charlie following behind me. I threw the trash out and turned to the door. I took a few steps and then suddenly slammed into someone.
I staggered back a step and Charlie steadied me. My eyes lifted and locked on a pair of striking hazel ones. I felt a pull towards the owner of the eyes, and it scared me enough for me to break the eye contact. When I took in the rest of the face, I inhaled sharply.
Ryan was still staring at me with a slightly dumbfounded expression on his face. Finally, his eyes snapped to something over my shoulder and he scowled.
I turned to look behind me and realized that Charlie had both of his hands on my shoulders and was now glaring at Ryan. I returned my gaze to Ryan, but he was still watching Charlie and his whole body was tense. I don’t know why, but I had this sudden thought that I needed to introduce them. “Um, Charlie, this is Ryan. He’s in my English class. Ryan, this is Charlie, my brother.”
As soon as I said the final word, Ryan visibly relaxed his stance a little, which completely confused me. Why would that make him relax? I was jolted from my musings when Charlie spoke. “You should watch where you’re going.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Your sister is the one who ran into me, not the other way around.”
“Only because you came barreling around the corner without stopping to look,” Charlie spat out. He removed his hands from my shoulders and stepped beside me, angling his body so that I was slightly behind him.
I frowned at the action and his tone of voice. This wasn’t like him. Charlie was normally friendly to people. I opened my mouth to say something, but Ryan cut me off. “Look kid, I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t want to mess with me.”
His tone of voice caused me to grip Charlie’s arm tightly. “Charlie, come on. It was just an accident. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” My voice was soft and it trembled a little, which annoyed me, but I couldn’t help it.
Charlie turned to look at me, and his expression softened when he saw the apprehension in my eyes. His arm went around my shoulders again and he gave me a sideways hug. “Sorry,” he murmured.
I gave him a half smile. “It’s okay. Let’s just get to our classes.”
He nodded and started leading me away. I looked over my shoulder once and saw Ryan watching me closely and he was frowning, looking like he was deep in thought.
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So, this is my other shifter story. I uploaded it and I'll be uploading the first chapters of my other three stories as well, to see what kind of reaction they get. I won't be uploading more chapters until I'm done with Shifters, but this way I can decide which one to work on as well. Please let me know what you think :-)