A bright rush of cool air filled Stephanie's lungs with much needed oxygen. The unrest that had spread itself like an illness through her body subsided, leaving her broken and withered and very, very bone tired. This little town was so easy to be attached to, but so difficult to live in.
Just behind her, the bell rang, and people streamed out into the hallways, plain to see over her shoulder through the glass floor length windows. One would think that this town was wide open, calm and friendly- and it was, the people just weren't. Not that that made any sense.
Stephanie turned her attention back ahead of her as she walked, resolving that she couldn't go back after such a dramatic exit. It had been a rushed decision, fueled by tiredness and hunger and overall was just bag judgment. Whatever. It couldn't be changed.
"Hey Stephanie! Wait up!"
Stephanie turned to see Kirsten jogging down the walk toward her. Bringing her walk to a stop, Stephanie turned to greet her. Why was Kirsten still trying? Most people stopped after the first rejection. Hope rekindled in Stephanie's chest.
"Hey Kirsten, what's up?" she asked casually, camouflaging her fatigue with the tone.
"Alright, look," Kirsten said. "You have this weird force field around you, that you don't seem to want people to pass, but I know that it's not what you want."
Stephanie took a surprised step back, at a loss for words.
"This whole 'woe is me' thing is getting really irritating, and I understand pushing Aaron away, but me?" She carried on, her voice leaving no room for argument. "There's no reason for it." Kirsten shrugged and stared Stephanie down, daring her to speak. "Now, this is my last offer. You're coming with me to a football game at seven, and you're going to speak to people and at least act like you're having fun. Okay?"
An overwhelming need to smile pulled at the edges of Stephanie's mouth, but she kept it under wraps as tightly as she could as she nodded. "Okay," She answered.
It was Kirsten's turn to look taken aback, but she stifled it quickly. "Okay," She affirmed, before spinning on her heel and trotting away to class.
Only then did Stephanie allow herself a little smile, but it quickly spread and it didn't fade until she got back to the hotel.
Closing the black out curtains, Stephanie sat down on her bed. The overpowering need to sleep descended over her, a soothing blanket for a worn out mind. She didn't fight it, in its place she gave in and fell asleep.
Stephanie sat in the social worker's car, her skin against weathered, unkempt, cold leather seats, unable to move or speak. Everything had happened so quickly, too fast for her to get away. Stephanie was hardly prepared to live by herself. What could she have done? It was too difficult to get her mind out of the past long enough to see ahead, which had landed her here in the first place. Stephanie knew that this wasn't right- she needed to leave. She couldn't be taken into a human's care but what then? If she managed to escape she'd have to evade the police and social workers, as well as gathering enough money and resources to live on, and find a place to live. The list was dauntingly impossible. So, Stephanie did nothing.
When she woke up, her mood had plummeted and the remnants of sharp edged dreams still clung to the periphery of her conscious. It hurt, to relive the details of things in the past, but the real hurt only came after a good dream of the past. The raw feeling of longing and disappointment was much worse.
Even with the interruption of the dreams, Stephanie felt ready to be awake, and everything was clearer in her head. Sleep was all she had needed. The tight pain in her stomach reminded her that it wasn't quite the only thing that she needed. Rolling over, she glanced at the clock; it was six o'clock. She had an hour until the game.
In half an hour, Stephanie was showered, dressed and for all intensive purposes, ready for the game. Besides the fact that she didn't understand football, as she'd had a little too much in her life to handle without worrying about attending games, Stephanie was actually happy to be going out to do something normal.
To kill time before going to the game, Stephanie decided she might as well get some food. Grabbing her backpack from the corner of the room, Stephanie left the building, using the side entrance to leave. It was difficult to ignore how much her store of cash would be depleted after the short stay in the hotel. Just fewer than two hundred dollars would not be enough to find a place to rent.
Shoving the money problems back into a dark closet in her mind, Stephanie headed to a corner store to get a sandwich. The streets were busier than normal, no doubt from the rush of spectators from the city's team. From what Stephanie had gathered, the rivalry was something they took quite seriously.
Stephanie pushed open the door, a bell signaling her presence in the store. A group of kids her age were paying for whatever they were buying at the counter, joking and bantering loudly as they went. Keeping out of the city kids' way, as judging by the smell of smoke and expensive clothes, she took a bottle of water and a sandwich from the fridges and stood in line to pay. What seemed like an eternity later, the loud group moved on and Stephanie paid for her things.
On the way to the field, she ate the sandwich- more like inhaled it. The school grounds were buzzing with activity and life; it teemed with people. Trepidation tightened her stomach when she realized just how many people there were. Calming herself with a deep breath, Stephanie sucked up her worry and squared her shoulders. Why should she be afraid of crowds?
Still, rather than venture out into the bleachers, Stephanie headed toward her spot underneath the oak tree. Dusk was approaching fast, casting a cooler air over the rowdy group of people. It was a good thing she'd opted to wear her leather jacket. Under the oak tree sat an assembly of teenagers, and from the way they weren't familiar to Stephanie they were probably from the city.
Discouraged by this, Stephanie awkwardly stood on the lawn of the school, hoping that Kirsten would arrive soon. Checking her watch, she noted that she was fifteen minutes early. Stephanie hoped that Kirsten wasn't the type to be late.
***
Almost three hours later, after seemingly endless plays that Stephanie didn't understand in a game that she couldn't get her head around, the football game finally ended. Luckily, Stephanie knew numbers enough to take notice of the fact that the city team had won by three points. To her surprise, there wasn't any anger or disbelief swirling in the air around her. No one seemed that bothered by the loss; in fact, it was like the town was almost victorious. Stephanie looked over at Kirsten, perplexed.
Kirsten smiled and shrugged. "We always lose, but we got closer this time than we ever have before."
Stephanie wasn't going to pretend that she understood the whole thing, but she smiled anyway. "I suppose it's a step nearer?"
Nodding, Kirsten tugged her cardigan closer around her, smiling at the tall guy beside her, fresh out of the locker room. He glanced over her shoulder, straight at Stephanie before redirecting his attention to her only friend.
"Hey, you coming to the party tonight?"
Stephanie was still trying to get her head around the whole not-quite-victory thing, so it was amusing to hear about a party for the losing team. Her smile apparently translated to an acceptance of the invitation.
Kirsten pretended to think about it for a second, before nodding. "Of course I am, as long as I can bring Stephanie too?"
Trying not to butt in and opt out, Stephanie looked away, keeping herself separate from the whole thing. She felt the football player's eyes on her for a moment, even as she pretended to be absorbed with something on the field.
Reluctantly, he answered. "Yeah, sure, she can come too."
"Great, we'll be there."
When the player moved away, Stephanie put her hand on Kirsten's shoulder. "I think I'm just going to head home, but thank you for bringing me here and getting me invited to that party."
"Just wait a second," Kirsten halted Stephanie with her tone. "You have to come to this party. Everyone's going to be there, and you need to be, too."
Stephanie sighed, having made her decision already. She nodded. "Is it in walking distance?"
"Isn't everything?" Kirsten laughed, taking Stephanie's hand and leading her through the crowd easily.
Further toward the back of town, in a sprawling two story house, Kirsten and Stephanie arrived at the football party. The easy sound of chatter and laughter floated out of the house, increasing as more people arrived, having also walked. Stephanie wrung her hands, struggling to keep her nervousness under control.
"I feel like you're expecting to be shot, or something." Kirsten said. "Just calm down."
Stephanie forced a shaky smile onto her face, clenching her fists at her side and attempting to relax. "Sorry."
"Try to have fun tonight, okay? Lighten up."
Stephanie nodded and took a deep breath, releasing her tension with her breath. "I will," she promised, urging calm into her demeanor. Amazingly, it worked, and Stephanie felt able and willing to socialize at the party, at least for the moment.
Kirsten weaved through the crowd, picking out people to greet and talk to as she went. Silently, Stephanie followed, picking up names and stories as she went and cataloguing them for her own reference later on. Finally, Kirsten called her out on it.
"Come on, Stephanie, you have to talk to someone."
"I was going to..." Stephanie began, her mind whirring for an excuse that was plausible enough to be used.
"But?" Kirsten prompted; eyebrow raised and hands on hips. When Stephanie didn't answer, Kirsten spun her around and pushed her forward. "Go make some friends without me."
Reluctantly, Stephanie put her hands in her jacket pockets and headed toward the house, hoping to get something to drink and happen upon someone who wasn't too judgmental to talk to. It was a tall order, but hopefully high expectations would get her somewhere. Inside the house, music was playing, overshadowed by socialization and noise.
Even so, Stephanie recognized the song as King of Broken Hearts by Carolina Liar. The temperature was higher inside than outside, helped by the amount of people standing in the room. Light cast shadows across the room, on the floor. Travelling against the universal movement of people, Stephanie threaded her way into the kitchen, traversing the large rooms with awe.
Her family had never been able to afford extravagant things, but they had managed well enough, and since then, Stephanie had been living on an even smaller scale. It was strange to think that people lived like this everyday; that it wouldn't all slip through their fingers suddenly.
"Nice house, isn't it?"
Stephanie jumped, bringing her gaze down from the second floor and to the hazel-eyed gaze of someone that she'd never met before. "Yeah," she answered, studying his face. Instantly, the smirk in his eyes and his imposing manner put a bad taste in her mouth.
"My name's Derek." He offered a huge hand, his tone smooth and unassuming.
"I haven't seen you around here before," Stephanie replied, failing to hide the accusation.
"You haven't? Well that's a shame," Derek answered. "What's your name?"
It was then that Stephanie realized that Derek was from the city, and not from here, because everyone knew her name, whether they wanted anything to do with her or not.
"You're from the city." She dodged the question, the hair on her arms standing up on edge. Stephanie didn't like him at all.
Derek cracked a crooked smile. "Oh, so you are smart. I was just starting to wonder."
Stephanie rolled her eyes and shouldered past him, heading toward the kitchen again. Hearing his footsteps behind her was irritating, but as long as he wasn't talking, she could deal with his presence. She stepped into the kitchen, heading toward the granite island in the middle where assortments of bottles were located. She reached for the Sprite bottle, but before she could get a hold of it, Derek picked it up, sliding a plastic cup toward her and pouring it.
"I could have done that myself, you know." Stephanie leaned against the counter, meeting his gaze evenly.
"I know." He replied, unfazed by her less than conversational tone.
"What are you doing here?" Stephanie asked, quickly tiring of Kirsten's version of fun.
Derek shrugged with huge shoulders. He was no doubt one of the football players from tonight. "Crashing the party, what else?"
"Derek!"
Though Derek himself didn't look for the source of the voice, Stephanie snapped to attention. A slight edge lilted on the edge of the girl's voice, sharp and raspy against the part of Stephanie's brain that was wired to her other self. Out of the crowd emerged a fiery redheaded girl, the color stark against her smoothly tanned skin. She moved with the grace of a predator, easy and fluid. Her vividly enchanting green eyes flashed in the lighting of the house.
Stephanie's breath caught in her throat when she realized what she was looking at: a werewolf. That quick understanding threw her off guard, because she was so painfully aware of the fact.
Those green eyes slid over Stephanie coolly, untroubled by the presence of another werewolf, as if it happened all the time. Stephanie knew that it couldn't be the truth.
"This is boring," the redhead stated, flicking her wavy hair over her shoulder. "Whose idea was it?" Again, her eyes strayed over Stephanie, appraising her disinterestedly.
"Mine," Derek answered, turning his attention to the girl hanging on his arm.
"We should head back, anyway," She said and let go of Derek's arm.
She gave Stephanie one last glance before she strode away, disappearing into the crowd once more. Derek shrugged, and without a word of goodbye, headed out after her.
Stephanie's mind ran, overwhelming her. She looked at her worn little Nokia to see the time and decided that it was late enough to go home. Parties really just weren't her thing. Muttering polite goodbyes to various people on her way out, Stephanie stepped back outside and went back to the hotel.