"The world needs more love at first sight."
-Maggie Stiefvater
“How much did you have to cough up to get this place?” I asked Aunt Theresa as we stood in front of her immaculate three-story beach-front house.
“It was just a few hundred thousand dollars,” she said. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Like it? Jeez, this place is freaking fantastic!”
She laughed. “Good, good.” She pushed me forward. “Explore a little bit, claim your room. My husband, Willis, doesn’t get home until late on weekdays, so there isn’t anybody else around. Dinner is ready at six every night, and that’s about it for rules. I don’t like parties and alcohol is a big no-no. But other than that, go crazy!”
It should have been every high school girl’s dream, right? Given such loose restrictions in a place where your family wasn’t present. But all I felt was this pit of loneliness deep in my stomach, because the people I had always had around me, my whole life, were nowhere to be found. I supposed it was just something to get over.
“You’ll be starting school at Poolside High tomorrow,” she voiced, entering the house behind me. I snorted.
“Poolside high? Why not beachside?”
Aunt Theresa shrugged. “I didn’t decide the names.”
Apparently the bedrooms were on the second floor, all accept for the guest bedroom, which was mine, which was on the first floor. The kitchen and the living room were also on the first floor, the study on the second, and various empty rooms through the rest of the beach house. It was homey despite the eccentricity of it all. There was nothing about it that resembled my pack, but I could feel it maybe becoming a second home.
“Who’s our neighbor?” I asked, referring to the only house for about a mile.
“The Landings,” she told me, and then lowered her voice, although I didn’t know who from since we were alone. “But they are weird people,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t get mixed up with them if I were you.”
I lifted an eyebrow and planted a hand on my hip. “Are they werewolves?”
Aunt Theresa’s brows furrowed. “Well . . . I don’t think so . . .”
“Then I’ve known weirder. Can I check out the beach?”
My Aunt opened her mouth to reply, but just then the doorbell rang. She walked over to it and peeked out the curtain. She recoiled, eyes wide. “Oh, God. It’s them.”
“Who?”
“The Landings!” she started biting her nail, glancing nervously at the door. “Or, at least, three of them.” I rolled my eyes and stepped forward, yanking the door open. In front of me stood a couple that didn’t look freaky or scary or weird. The father was in board shorts and sandals, and the mother wore a simple orange sundress, though oddly long-sleeved. There was a girl with them in a bathing suit that looked about fourteen.
“Um, hi?” I greeted awkwardly, never one for meeting new people. I twirled a strand of dark brown hair around my finger, a terrible habit I could never get over.
“You must be the new girl! We heard someone was moving in with Theresa, here,” the father announced. I cast Theresa a wary look out of the corner of my eye. She shrugged. “You can call me Phil.” I shook his hand.
“I’m Maria,” the mother stated, giving me a warm hug. “And this is our adopted daughter Gemini. Don’t be rude, Gem.”
The girl stared at me with a bored face. “Hi.”
“It was nice of you to come and greet me,” I smiled, but everything inside of me was either wishing they would leave or that I would get the hell away from them. I couldn’t explain it, but something about them made me uneasy.
Maria waved a hand. “Oh, pish-posh. We couldn’t just wait idly by for you to make an appearance! We love meeting new people!”
I laughed unsurely. They were frightening.
“We have an adopted son, too,” Phil began. “He’s a lifeguard so he’s still on duty, but I’m sure he’d love to meet you, as well! You’ll have to come over some time. He’s twenty, around your age.”
“June is eighteen,” Aunt Theresa declared, finally stepping up beside me. “She will be finishing her final year of high school with me and then moving back with her family.”
“Oh.” Phil’s face fell a tad. “Well, we’re glad to have you for the time being. Don’t be a stranger!”
“Sure won’t,” I replied.
“You have a nice day now,” Theresa said through gritted teeth, waving them off her property. We watched them until they were back on their side before she tugged me inside, slamming the door. “Weird, aren’t they?”
“A little bit.”
Aunt Theresa moved a hand through her golden blond hair. She was thirty-two, but she looked about twenty-five. Maybe the beach did that to you. “Just don’t interact unless it is absolutely necessary.”
“Okay, Aunty, I get it.” I moved into the kitchen, hopping up on the bar stool. “What’s for lunch?”
“Whatever Willis brings home.”
I frowned. “Won’t that be dinner?”
She shrugged. “We usually skip lunch. It just seems so insignificant. But dinner is always great, I can promise you that.”
My stomach growled loudly and I slapped a hand over it. Aunt Theresa laughed and tossed me an apple. I smiled gratefully and took a bite out of it.
“Why don’t you go down to the beach for a little bit?” she suggested. “Get to know your new home for the next year.”
“Okay." I tore off another chunk of apple and pushed off the stool. It was going to be weird getting used to being an only child. No Derek or Ashley or Solomon. Going off on my own and having no curfew would be a change.
They sky was beginning to darken since the absurdly long time it took for my parents to get me here. But I didn’t mind. I had always liked the nighttime more.
I slipped my sparkly blue flip-flops off and held them in my hands as I jumped the fence and landed noiselessly in the sand. I tossed the apple in a nearby garbage can. My hair was just too short to braid so I had it pulled up in a ponytail, the wind blowing wisps of it free and into my face. I stayed a suitable distance away from the rolling ocean waves, sticking to the beach. Just the thought of stepping into the water had chills racing down my spine. The beach was fairly empty at this time, save for a few scattered couples lingering down near the water.
Being in jeans and a sweatshirt left me feeling a tad out of place, but from where I came it was always cold and since the wolves ran hot I was forced into heavy garments to survive. I was the only normal person, so my problems were cast aside in regards to the better welfare of the pack.
I slipped the sweatshirt over my head and balled it up, sticking it under my arm. The white lifeguard station was empty. Solomon and I would always sneak up those things in the night when nobody was looking. We’d only been chewed out and kicked off a few times, but that had never stopped us.
I left my sweatshirt and flip-flops on the sand at the foot of the station and climbed up, perching on the bench. The feeling of extreme power surged through me, and though I would never willy-nilly dive into those waters, it was fun pretending.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, eyes closed, feeling the sea breeze caress my skin. As the sky continued to blacken and the moon pushed its way in the place of the sun, the couples departed from the beach and left me alone. But strangely, it didn’t bother me. I had always had this sense of loneliness, and though most times it was easy to ignore, when I was by myself the thoughts resounded like screams in my head. I would never be like my family, not ever again. I would never be able to feel the sensations that becoming a wolf gave you.
My pack were really good sports. I knew I was a burden to them more often than not, and the simple fact they did not kick me out spoke volumes of their character. Our camaraderie as a whole was something you could not easily break apart, and for that I was thankful. My father was the alpha, so taking authority of the pack usually took priority over his family, and forcing me to leave would have been a pack-based decision. Still, me staying was contingent upon what I had to offer, and since I was a hell of a cook and my unintentional stupidity offered free entertainment, I was a necessary member.
But it was nice knowing they would always accept me. Unless of course I did something drastically stupid to sever that bond. As long as I didn’t, though, I would be welcome.
“Um, hey, sorry to interrupt whatever you’re doing and everything, but I have to ask you to come down from there.”
I grimaced. Well, good time ruined. I opened my eyes and stood to step down, but when I saw him the teenage girl inside of me faltered and made my feet trip up on the ladder. I toppled off, arms wind-milling and everything, and landed on my back in the sand. The air was momentarily sucked from my lungs, and when the guy leaned over me with concerned eyes to ask if I was okay, I was far beyond being able to form coherent speech.
Before I’m marked off as being a total loser, the reasoning should be explained.
Being affiliated with my pack and moving around from place to place did not leave room for any free time, so therefore, beyond seventh grade, I did not go to school. Nobody in our pack received schooling after the intermediate level, which was the major reason I was so repulsed about going back for just one more year. Since we were assembled in Nowhere, Minnesota, besides the fact that a good number of our pack had thick accents, the opportunity to date never presented itself. One did not simply date a pack brother; that was an act frowned and looked down upon. Besides, they all had their mates to spend their whole lives searching for, which I always figured to be a waste of time. Nobody was pristine, everybody would have their flaws. There would never be the "perfect one". There were six billion fucking people on the earth, anyway. What were the chances?
And along with my wolf leaving and turning me completely human, the subject of whether or not I would still have a mate was up for debate. Nobody had ever come across a case like mine before. For a while my father tried to find a way to get the wolf back in me, but it couldn’t be done. If it weren’t for my wolf, the poison coursing through my veins would have killed me. I really shouldn’t still be alive. But I digress; if I felt that telltale pull or whatever crap I was supposed to feel, I hadn’t ever felt it. And if that was because I was no longer a werewolf or not, well, I would never know.
So, as I stared up at the guy before me with light brown hair and sun kissed skin, a sleeveless white shirt with the red cross on it and red swim trunks, it was easy to see why I could not form a single word. My interaction with the opposite sex in a manner not with a pack brother was limited to three words at best. I’d always hoped I’d grow out of the socially-awkward stage. I never did get anything I wished for.
“Um, are you okay?” he asked again, ruffling his unkempt hair with his fingers. I gulped, wishing he would not do that because it was incredibly adorable. I pushed myself to my elbows and looked away, and once I had the air seemed to whoosh back into my lungs. My head grew light. Weird.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem.” He offered a hand and I took it tentatively. He helped me to my feet. “I see kids trying to sneak up there all the time, and while I couldn’t care less my boss has a coronary over it. Since I want to get paid I usually do anything he asks.”
I laughed, tucking loose hair behind my ear as I collected my sweatshirt and sandals. “I did all the time with my brother. The first time we were told to come down I threw my shoe at the guard and when we finally came down I thought he would run me over with his truck.”
“So you sneak up lifeguard stands regularly, then?” he asked.
I pursed my lips. “On a good night,” I murmured. “Of course, every night is a good night.”
“And it just so happens I work the late shift more often than not,” he remarked. He stuck out a hand. “I’m Parker.”
I shook it. “June.”
“June? Like, April and May?”
“Yes," I confirmed with a mild eye roll. "My mother and father happened to have met in June. Is that a problem?”
He chuckled, shaking a head. “No, I like it, actually. It’s different.”
That's one word for it.
We came to a stop in front of the lifeguard truck, and he hopped on. “Can I interest you in a ride home, June?”
I shook my head. “I live nearby, but thanks anyway.”
He shrugged. “Suit yourself. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
I nodded. I was actually hoping so. “Yeah, maybe.” And with that he sped off, kicking up sand behind him. I stared in the distance where he disappeared for a bit before turning to return to Aunt Theresa’s house.
I couldn’t name the feeling inside of me. We had had like a five minute conversation, and yet the only thing I could be sure of was that I wanted to see him again.