"I don't know, Lindsay. Maybe he just wants you to tell him first," I sighed, leaning against my locker. I shifted my textbooks in my arms and looked over her shoulder, where he stood. Staring at me. "Maybe he's nervous you won't say it back."
"Well, dang then, Akina," She groaned. "I don't know how to make it obvious that I do love him."
I looked her in the eye. "You tell him. You say, 'Everett, I love you,'" I said simply.
"Ha. Haha. I'm serious, Kina!" She exclaimed, sagging against her locker door. "I'm the woman in this relationship, shouldn't he be the one to tell me first?"
"I thought you said that men and women were equal in relationships," I reminded her, and shoved my AP Biology book into my locker.
"I did, but I do want him to be bold and courageous sometimes; not always leave it up to me. Sometimes I want him to be chauvinistic,"
"Chauvinistic? You don't mean chivalrous, do you?"
"No, I mean that I want him to think he's more powerful than me and make the dang move first!" Lindsay squealed.
For such a little ball of fire, I had never once heard Lindsay say any words harsher than 'dang' and 'crud'.
"I don't understand you, Linds," I admitted.
"You don't have to, Akina. You just have to support me and tell me I'm right. You wouldn't understand anyway, you've never had a relationship more serious than Phineas and Isabella from Phineas and Ferb. By the way, did that ever play out?"
"I don't know, I never liked that show," I said, and closed my locker. "We were older when it came out."
Lindsay shrugged, and turned to look over her shoulder. "Jeez, that creep is staring at you again," She hissed under her breath. "Why doesn't he just lay off?"
"Be nice, Lindsay. We don't know what's going on with him. He could be mute, or abused or something," I said.
Lindsay stared at me, her eyebrows raised and an unamused look on her face. "Or he's a creep." She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'm going to Algebra. Have fun in English with that weirdo."
"Be nice, Lindsay Drew!" I called, as she sashayed down the hallway.
"Nice is not in my vocabulary, Akina Webb!" She replied. I laughed, and turned back to my locker.
He was still standing there, just slightly down the hallway, one hand in his pocket and one holding onto the strap of his plain black backpack. I took a deep breath and locked my locker, sparing him one last glance before turning to walk into the classroom. I still didn't know his name. No one did.
At my desk, I pulled out my notebook and a black pen, checking my phone and pretending not to notice as he walked by and sat at his desk, one to the back and one to the right, hesitating for a millisecond beside me.
Kelly Dames, Blue Woods High School's most popular junior girl, walked in, right past her desk and right up to his.
"Hi," She squeaked, pushing her shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair behind her ear. "I'm Kelly Dames. I know almost everyone here, and I just realized that I don't remember your name."
He looked up at her blankly, his bright eyes boring into hers. "You don't remember it because I never gave it to you, Kelly Dames," He told her, his voice deep and quiet.
Well, he's not mute.
Kelly smiled, not at all discouraged by his hostility. "Well, what is it? You look like a Daniel. Or maybe a Ryan?"
"Tell me, Kelly, why do you think it would be an ordinary name such as Daniel or Ryan? Maybe Max, or John? Justin?" He didn't at all sound rude. He sounded honestly curious. "Why would I be named a name as popular as those?"
He looked like a Goliath to me.
"I don't know, honestly. Maybe it's just because someone as inordinate as you can't have it all, you know?"
"I don't, I'm sorry."
"Okay, well then, are you Beowulf or Balthazar or Decimus or something?" She asked, obviously beginning to become irritated.
He looked over at me, and upon being caught staring, I quickly looked away, blushing. "Akina knows it," He said. "Ask her."
I froze. "What?" I asked, not looking up from my notebook. "Excuse me?"
"You know it, now don't you?" He asked, staring at me with a daring look.
I faced him, staring back at him curiously. "How would-"
Like a fallen leaf caught in the autumn breeze, there was a whisper of a voice across the back of my mind.
Calix, Calix, Calix, it said. Calix.
Involuntarily, my mouth opened, and my lips formed the word. "Calix," I said, and saw him smile.
"See, Akina knows." He winked, and turned back to Kelly. "Maybe she's more popular than you. I mean, she knows the new kid's name."
With a sour look turned my way, Kelly turned back to... to Calix, and smiled sweetly, leaning forward and shrugging her shoulders. "I'm sure that's not the case. I know you now, and I'd like to get to know you better."
"I know you better than I ever thought I would, Kelly Dames," Calix told Kelly, and sighed, turning to his backpack to pull out his notebook and pen. "I think I will pass on that."
I chuckled under my breath, attempting to stifle my laugh.
"You really think that Akina is more popular than me? This Akina? Akina with the lisp and the scarface? Crazy Akina who claims she was attacked by a wolf in a place that wolves are nonexistent? You know she hasn't worn shorts in two years because she's afraid people would stare at her scarred-up legs? As if anyone would actually look at her legs."
I froze, and felt my face pale. I turned back to my desk and folded my hands, looking forward at the white-board and biting back tears.
"I do not see anything wrong with a little uniqueness, Kelly Dames," Calix said. "Maybe hiding the less attractive parts of your body is better than showing off the attractive parts over-excessively."
"Whose side are you on, Calix? Mine, or this freak's?"
"You are right, I am sorry," Calix said. "I do not know why I ever gave you the impression that I was on your side, or wanted to be on your side."
Kelly scoffed, and stood up straight. She pulled down her denim skirt and spun on her heel, walking to the front of the classroom to plop into her desk with a 'humph' and swish her hair over her shoulders again.
I slightly pivoted in my seat, looking over my shoulder shyly at Calix. "Thank you," I said quietly, forgetting for the moment about his name muttered to the back of my mind.
"For what?" He ran his hand over his curly, nearly black, long hair, and looked me straight in the eye.
I shrugged, and looked down at the floor. "Defending me, I guess. Against Kelly."
"It was no big deal; I have never been a fan of the ordinarily beautiful girls. Always too happy with themselves," He told me, and leaned forward in his seat. His hand clasped over the back of my chair, pushing aside my black hair softly. "I like the idiosyncratic types."
"Idiosyncratic? How old are you, 68?" I chuckled.
"Sixteen, thank you very much. I plainly like big words."
"Obviously. You don't even use American English."
"American English?" Calix's voice was traced with amusement, and I sighed, and swiveled around in my seat to face him another time.
If I had to turn in my seat one more time, I was sure to get whiplash.
"American English. You know, 'don't', 'ain't', 'tryna', 'kinda', 'imma', all those? You speak, like, proper English. 'Do not' and 'am not' and 'I am', never even 'I'm'."
"I was taught that way," He told me. "I have always been told to speak properly and proudly, or not at all. It will slip out sometimes, though. I will say 'I've' or 'I'll' occasionally."
"And what kind of accent is that? I've never heard it before."
"You are not quite shy, are you?"
"Nope," I said, as the bell rang. "I like to get to know those whose name I know without anyone ever telling me. Don't think I won't ask you about that, Calix. I will."
"I am looking forward to it," He smiled a sly smirk, and turned his attention to the front of the classroom, but I knew he was still focused on me. Under his plain grey tee, there was the glimmer of something metal, and around his neck hung a leather chain.
I have quite a few questions for you as well, Akina.
My eyes widened, and I stared him down, but Calix's face was blank as Mr. Walsh walked to the front of the room.
I must be imagining things, otherwise I'm going crazy. It was possible. People like Kelly already thought I was.
"What Kelly said," Calix muttered to me, quiet enough that no one could hear it. "She was wrong. You are not crazy."
Just different. In a good way, possibly.
I faced the front of the room, unknowingly biting at the scar on my lip and running my fingers over my jean leg, where the claw and teeth marks would be.
I could swear that the voice inside my head was his.
Something about Calix was not right. Something was off. Maybe it was the way he spoke, maybe it was the look and the color of his eyes, maybe it was the way I heard his name in my mind, when I was sure I had never heard it before. Or maybe it was the way my heart beat when he was around.
And I don't mean that in a cheesy way. Yes, he was absolutely gorgeous and had a way with his words and was smart and quiet and mysterious, but it was something else. It was the way my body seemed to sense when he was coming near, and how my heartbeat slowed to deeper, slower beats.
Then again, it also happened when the wolves would howl outside my room at night. My heartbeat would slow and become more of a deep thud in my ears, and my whole bloodstream would heat up 10 degrees.
It was like my heart was excited, and it was like my body was excited, but my mind and I didn't know why. It was similar to the feeling before I ran my race at cross country meets; exitement and nerves and a yearning to go and run and be free.
And I'll be damned if I wasn't going to find out why.
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Aloha!
Thank you for reading the first chapter of "Wolf's Heart"! I appreciate it so much! Please leave a comment below telling me what you think and whether I should continue or not on writing this. Even if you're not a fan, a comment would seriously mean the world to me!
I'll update at 10 reads:)
Thanks again!
<3 Libbi Lace