The next day started out normally. Charlie and I headed to school together again. When we arrived, a few people called out greetings to him, and I encouraged him to go talk to some of his new friends. He did so reluctantly, after I practically shoved him in their direction.
I headed to my locker and was surprised to see Sarah waiting there for me. I smiled at her and she smiled shyly in return. “I think we have English together as well,” she said.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t really notice anyone in my classes yesterday.” Aside from one rather large exception, I thought ruefully.
“It’s okay, I know first days can be confusing. I only moved here last year for the second semester.”
“Being the new kid sucks, doesn’t it?” I asked.
Sarah nodded. “Yeah, it really does.”
I gathered the books I needed and we headed to our English class. When we got to the room, we headed to the back. Ryan was already sitting in one of the seats back there, and I hesitated for a moment. My first instinct was to sit away from him, but something was suddenly telling me to sit beside him. I bit my lip as I slowly moved to the seat next to him and sat down. He glanced at me briefly and the corners of his lips twitched a little, but it couldn’t be classified as a smile.
Sarah looked undecided as she looked between me and Ryan. She had obviously heard about his reputation. She finally decided to sit in the seat on my other side, so she wasn’t too close to him. I smiled. I was quite happy that I seemed to have made a friend.
The class started and Mr. Meyer called us to order. The next words out of his mouth caused me to go pale, however. “We’re going to start on group projects. A lot of the work will have to be done after school, and you’ll have a month to complete it. The project will consist of you choosing a play and doing research on it, as well as acting out a small part of it.”
I was really beginning to not like this teacher. He seemed intent on making me work with people, which made me uncomfortable. Especially because a lot of it needed to be done outside of class. He continued to tell us about it and ended by saying we could choose our own groups.
Sarah and I turned to look at each other immediately and I let out a sigh of relief. At least I would be able to work with someone I got along with.
I have no idea what came over me next. I found myself turning to Ryan and saw him watching me quietly. “Do you want to be in our group?”
I heard Sarah gasp from behind me, but I ignored her. Ryan regarded me for a moment before nodding. I turned to Sarah again and she was staring at me with wide eyes. I frowned at her. “What?”
She leaned forward to whisper to me. “You talked to him!”
I thought I heard Ryan snort, but I wasn’t sure. “How was I supposed to ask him to join our group if I didn’t talk to him?” I asked.
“Um, you just don’t ask him to join our group, that’s how. You do know he’s like, really scary, right?”
I barely resisted rolling my eyes. “Obviously. But he needs a group too, right? And if everyone is afraid of him, then no one will ask him.”
“I can hear you, you know,” Ryan said.
I blushed as I turned to look at him. “Sorry,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it. Thank you for asking me to join your group. You’re right in thinking that most people are too afraid to ask me to join them.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I’m not most people then,” I replied without thinking. Then my eyes widened and I slapped a hand over my mouth. I couldn’t believe that I had just answered him like that.
Amusement was evident in his eyes as he nodded. “Yeah, good thing.”
When I looked at Sarah again, I was surprised to see her smiling a little. I gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head at me. I heard a chair scraping across the ground from my other side, and a moment later, Ryan had placed his chair in front of my desk. Sarah also moved closer, although she was cautious about moving to closer to Ryan.
“Okay, so we need to set up a schedule for meeting after school to work on this. I mean, we can work during some lunches as well, but that won’t really give us a lot of time,” Ryan said, when neither Sarah nor I spoke up.
I pressed my fingers to my eyes briefly. “Well, I work at the library after school on Monday and Thursday, so I can’t do those two days. Other then that, I should be okay for any other day.”
“I babysit on Wednesday and Thursday, but I’m free other days,” Sarah said.
“And I work at the garage on Monday nights and sometimes Sundays. So we have Tuesday’s and Friday’s open, considering I don’t think any of us really wants to do this on the weekends.” Ryan said.
“Not particularly, but we may have to add in some Saturday’s when it gets closer to needing to be done.” I said as I took out a piece of paper. I quickly wrote down our schedule, with a question mark after the word Saturday. “Now, where are we going to meet?”
“Not my house,” Sarah said quickly. “I have two younger brothers that are little terrors. We won’t get anything done there.”
“My mom works on Tuesday nights, so we can go to my place then,” Ryan said. “Friday nights will be a little iffy though. My mom works every other one. She won’t mind us being there when she is, but she’s the kind of mom that will be constantly asking us if we need anything.”
I smiled a little when he talked about his mom. You could hear the affection he had for her in his voice. My smile dropped when they both turned to look at me expectantly though. Crap, what was I supposed to say? “We can do some Fridays at my place,” I said, thinking fast. Jason was almost never home on the weekends, especially Friday nights. “My brother might be around, but he’ll leave us alone.”
“Okay, well we can use my place for this Friday. We can pick a play and start from there,” Ryan said.
We both nodded and then the bell rang. I grabbed my stuff and hurried to my next class. It went by quickly, and then it was time for lunch.
Charlie met me at our lockers, and so did Sarah. I introduced them to each other and we all headed to the cafeteria. I had made lunches for myself and Charlie today, so we went to a table right away and sat down.
“How was your morning Charlie?” I asked.
“Boring. I thought high school was going to be more fun,” he complained.
I chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll get more interesting eventually.” I started to eat my sandwich, before I remembered about the project. “Oh, we’re doing a project in English, and Sarah and I are paired with Ryan. We have to do a lot of it after school, so Tuesdays and Fridays we’ll be working at Ryan’s. But we might have to do some Friday’s at our place.”
Charlie frowned. “You know that’s not a good idea. And I don’t want you hanging out with Ryan.”
I rolled my eyes. “Get over it, it’s for school. And Friday’s should be okay, don’t you think?”
He thought about it for a few moments before nodding. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Will you be using our place this week?”
I shook my head. “No, we’ll go to Ryan’s. You going to be okay on your own?”
He snorted. “I’m a big boy now, Sam. I can fend for myself for a night.”
“Just don’t try cooking, okay? I really don’t want to have to deal with the fire department.”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Just because I set the stove on fire once, doesn’t mean I’ll do it again.”
Sarah cut in. “You set the stove on fire?” She asked incredulously.
“Yeah he did. And get this, he was making toast when he did it.”
Sarah giggled. I looked over at her as her giggles turned into full-blown laughter. It was contagious and I started laughing as well, while Charlie crossed his arms and glared at both of us.
When we finally calmed down, the bell rang. We all gathered our stuff and headed to our classes. I told Sarah that I would see her in gym and she waved as she walked away. I went into my Geography classroom and once again, Ryan was already there.
Just like in English, something told me to go sit beside him, so I did. We didn’t talk during the class, though. We just sat beside each other in silence and it was surprisingly a comfortable one, not an awkward one.
I was dreading my next class. I knew that I wouldn’t be lucky enough to get out of changing today and I started getting stressed out, as the class got closer. I started fidgeting nervously and I caught Ryan looking at me oddly a couple of times. I struggled to remain still, but as soon as the bell rang, I leapt out of my chair and raced out of the room and towards the gym change rooms. I was hoping that I could get there before everyone else.
I got to the change room and let out a sigh of relief when I saw that I was the only one there. I ripped off the shirt I was wearing and very quickly replaced it with my gym shirt. With that done, I relaxed a little. I changed into my shorts as other students started coming in and getting changed.
Sarah came in and headed over to me. She gave me a surprised look when she saw that I was already changed. “What are you, superwoman or something?”
I shook my head. “No, I just got here quickly. My last class is fairly close to the gym.”
She nodded and proceeded to get changed quickly. When she was done, we walked into the gym together. My eyes automatically scanned the area until I found Ryan leaning against the wall on one side, talking to one of the other guys. He was facing me and he caught my eye for a moment before returning his attention to his friend.
Sarah and I found a quiet spot to sit and wait for the teacher to arrive. When he did, he announced that we would be playing dodge ball today. Most of the girls groaned while the guys cheered. The teacher quickly divided us into groups and I was glad to be on Sarah’s team.
Ryan was on our team as well and he moved to stand near us. The three of us stood together until Mr. Kasper blew the whistle. Balls started flying across the gym and I let out a squeak when one headed straight towards me.
It never hit me though. Ryan intercepted it and winged it back at the person who had thrown it. It whacked the guy in the legs and he was out.
That was how the rest of the game went. Anytime a ball came near me, he deflected it and caused the person who had thrown it to be out. As soon as Sarah realized what he was doing, she stood right beside me. This way, she was protected as well, because it was impossible to tell who the ball was actually being thrown at.
When Mr. Kasper blew the whistle, signaling the end of the game, Sarah, Ryan and I were the only three people left. The other team had been wiped out and everyone else on our team had been taken out. The teacher was regarding us with a slightly amused look on his face.
Ryan turned to face Sarah and I, and I raised an eyebrow. He gave me an innocent look. “What?”
I rolled my eyes. “Should I ask what prompted this knight in shining armor routine?” As the words left my mouth, I was a little surprised. I couldn’t understand where this confidence was coming from. Normally I was too intimidated to talk to anyone, let alone a massive guy like him
Ryan smiled. It was the first time I’d seen him smile and I couldn’t help but admire how it made his eyes light up and it made him seem more approachable. I shook the thoughts from my head as he responded. “I’ve decided that we’re going to be friends, and I don’t like my friends getting hurt,” he said with a shrug. I wasn’t sure, but I could almost swear that there was a double meaning behind his words.
I ignored that thought. “What makes you think I want to be friends with you?” I asked cheekily, shocking myself again. I really needed to get a filter for my mouth if I was going to be like this around him all the time.
Ryan chuckled softly. “Oh, you want to, believe me. Plus, I won’t give you a choice. I’ll charm you enough that you’ll want to be best friends with me.”
I pretended to think about it, while inside I was almost quivering in excitement. It had been so long since I had had any friends, and now it seemed I had two. And that made me think of something. “Fine, but if you’re friends with me, then you have to be friends with Sarah as well. And you have to convince my brother to like you.” I ignored Sarah’s squeak of protest when I mentioned her.
Ryan glanced at Sarah quickly and then returned his gaze to mine. “I can do that. From what I saw of your brother yesterday, he’s just protective of you. I just need to prove to him that I won’t hurt you.”
I was surprised at how perceptive he was. “You figured all that out in the two minutes you interacted with him?”
He nodded. “I’m good at reading people,” he said with a meaningful look.
My brows furrowed as I thought about what he meant. My eyes widened briefly when I thought that maybe he knew about what happened at my house, but I quickly shook that thought away. There was no way he could know; he had only met me yesterday. I made sure my face was neutral when I responded. “That’s good to know.”
It was only then that I realized no one else was talking around us. I glanced around and saw nearly every person staring at us with shocked expressions. We had been talking quietly, so I knew no one had heard us, but they were still staring. I looked at Sarah and she was looking at us too, but she was smiling slightly again. She had heard the whole conversation, since she was standing right beside me, and she obviously though it was amusing.
I looked back at Ryan and was surprised at how close he actually was. I hadn’t noticed him moving while we were talking, but now I had to tilt my head back a bit so I could see his face. “Why is everyone staring at us?”
His head snapped around to where everyone else was standing and I watched in fascination as his whole demeanor changed. He drew himself up to his full height and his eyes turned hard. His body was tense as he spoke. “What the hell are you all looking at?”
I found it very amusing when everyone immediately pretended to be doing something else, including the teacher. When Ryan looked at me again, his eyes softened and his lips twitched a little, obviously in response to my own amusement. “What are you smiling at?” he asked.
I shook my head. “That was fun to watch. You just went from being approachable to if-looks-could-kill-you’d-all-be-dead in like, two seconds flat. And back again,” I added as I indicated his relaxed posture.
“There’s a reason that most of the people in this school are afraid of me. I’ve been in a fair amount of fights before and I probably will again. But when I decide that someone is worth getting to know, then they only see that side of me when necessary. I hope you’re okay with that.”
“It doesn’t really matter to me what you do. As long as you aren’t like that to me or anyone I care about, then you can go all badass whenever you want too.” I said truthfully. “But I really hope you aren’t the type to start fights for no reason.”
Sarah, who had been quiet this whole time, finally spoke up. “He always has a reason, or at least it seems like it to me.” When both Ryan and I looked at her in surprise, she blushed, but continued. “I remember last year, you beat the crap out of one of the jocks because he was bullying someone else.”
Ryan’s eyes clouded briefly as he thought back. Then his expression cleared. “Yeah, I remember that. I don’t remember who he was picking on, but I remember the guy I beat was Seth. He had this kid cornered and I pulled him off. Seth then made the stupid mistake of swinging at me.” Then he smirked. “He won’t be making that mistake again,” he said with an evil glint in his eyes.
“Remind me to never get on his bad side,” I said to Sarah and she giggled. I was beginning to realize that she seemed to giggle a lot.
Mr. Kasper chose that moment to get the classes attention again. “Okay class, let’s play another game. Same teams as before.”
The rest of the gym class went by easily after that. At the end, I purposely lingered behind and helped Mr. Kasper clean up as the rest of the class headed to the change rooms.
When enough time had passed, I went to get changed. I was surprised to see Sarah still there waiting for me, and I quickly decided to stay in my gym shirt. I changed back into my jeans and shove the shorts into my bag, then zipped it shut and headed to the door with Sarah following. She didn’t ask why I didn’t change my shirt and I was again grateful for her not prying.
Charlie was waiting at the lockers and he raised one brow at my shirt, but he didn’t say anything. He knew I would explain it to him when we got home.
After I had gathered everything that I would need, I shut my locker door and the three of us headed to the front doors. When we reached the sidewalk, Sarah said her goodbyes and Charlie and I headed to our house.
We were both relieved yet again when there was no vehicle in the driveway. We put our bags away and I decided to take a quick walk before I made dinner. I grabbed a few things and told Charlie where I was going. He told me he’d make dinner, so I could take my time.
I headed outside and took the same path that I had the day before. When I reached the clearing, I spread out the blanket I had brought and sat down on it. I opened my book and was quickly engrossed in the story.
It wasn’t long before I sensed that I was no longer alone. I looked up and saw the same wolf from yesterday watching me again. I didn’t scream this time, I just moved over on the blanket a little. The wolf padded over and stretched out on the blanket beside me.
I rested one hand on his side as I continued to read my book. He seemed content to just lay there with me, and I was happy for the company.
After about an hour, I set my book down. “You know, I think I’m going to call you Fluffy. If you’re going to keep coming to me, I need something to call you.”
At the sound of my voice, he raised his head and regarded me over his shoulder. I ran my hands over his soft coat, studying the different shades of gray that made up his fur. “You’re really quite a handsome boy, aren’t you?” He made that same almost purring sound as he had yesterday and it made me giggle again. “You like it when I call you handsome?”
I heard my brother calling me from the house and I stood up. The wolf followed suit and I gathered my stuff. “That’s my brother Charlie. He’s making dinner tonight, so he’s probably letting me know that it’s ready. Either that or Jason is home.”
We walked down the path and we stopped at the end again, just out of sight of the house. I looked down at him. “I have to work tomorrow,” I said. “And on Friday I have to work on a school project, which should be interesting. But if you’re around on Saturday, I’ll probably see you.” I bent down to hug his neck. “See you later, Fluffy.”
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Since you wonderful people have caused this story to rocket up in the What's Hot list, here is the next chapter as promised. If the story moves up more, I'll post the next chapter tomorrow, otherwise it'll be the day after that. I can't believe how quickly this story is becoming popular! It makes me extremely happy :-). Still looking for someone to do a cover and possibly an editor, although I'm managing the editing by myself okay so far. Hope you enjoy this chapter! So everyone knows, this shifter story is very different then most of the others that I've read on here, and you'll find out why when Ryan reveals what he is to Samantha.