The next day Oscar and Alex stayed with our group at school. To me, it didn’t seem like a very huge event but must have been important to the others. Seen as there were no tables out at break we stood in a corner uncomfortably close to the boy’s toilet, Alex looked slightly uneasy as they walked up.
“Do they know?” she whispered in Oscar’s ear, having to stand on the toes of her Doc Martin boots to reach it.
“Know what?” belted out Mia, so harshly Mia shied away. Even I flinched a bit; I was not expecting that tone of severity. Mia stared Oscar down.
“Oh god. Oscar you stupid arsehole! You told her!”
“Yeah I did. It’s my right to tell Alex and she didn’t freak out. Plus, in case you didn’t notice, she didn’t kill me!”
“I guess you do know then.” Said Alex matter-of-factly, I guess she was trying to stay calm. “How did you find out?”
““Same way as Oscar,” sighed Mia, “You might as well know.”
“Wait,” Alex looked to Oscar and back to Mia, “Does that mean that you--”
“Yeah it does,”
“Any others I should know about?”
Mia tapped the silver badge that was pinned to her hair band.
“Anyone you see wearing this. The silver one”
“Hang on…does that mean all of you?”
“All except Ester.”
“That’s cool then. It’s nice to know there’s a small werewolf pack in my school. Anything else? Coven of witches perhaps. ”
As I didn’t know Alex very well, I didn’t know if this was sarcasm or not. Either way, I was surprised about how calm she was.
"Anyway, I always wondered why you always wear those badges. It's a pretty cool design." I had noticed that Mia had button badges on her backpack; they had the names of bands I didn’t listen to and an eclectic mix of skulls and butterflies.
“I can get hold of a black one for you like mine.” said Ester, "you know, if you want to show support for werewolves."
"That's pretty cool." She said as the bell rang.
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Five minutes later I was on my knees in the school library, searching the bottom shelf of the fiction section for a decent silent reading book for English. It reminded me, in a way, of the trips to the library with Josie. There was the same modern metal shelves which seemed to be standard issue for new or refurbished libraries and much of the same books. The thing was, it seemed lacking in personality: the large, school standard pin boards above the computers sat empty bar a couple of sad looking posters stating "It's cool to read" or similar rubbish. In addition to that, it was deserted. Only me and Lana had came from the class to check out books and according to her, outside of classes you where only allowed in if you entered through the door in the ICT corridor, gave the librarian a detailed explanation to what you had to do and if it was over 15 minutes into lunch.
"This library kinda sucks" I whispered to Lana after she had explained this.
"You’re telling me and you've not even seen the genre stickers." She pointed to a copy of the book Twilight; a sticker on the spine marked it as horror.
As we laughed a thought came to me; I thought back to a thing Dora had casually mentioned the day before
“Lana, what are hunter’s”
“Shadowhunters?” She pointed to one of the books on the shelf.
“No, the real life kind”
I was confused by how she enjoyed reading fantasy books when her real life was so similar to what she read. Maybe, she could forget that one of the fantasy worlds was actually real, I don’t know.
“Oh yeah. Well the short explanation is that they want us dead. But don’t panic, they’re honestly not that dangerous I bet some couldn’t tell the difference between a Werewolf and a Chihuahua. Anyway, it’s Scotland, they’re Werewolf Hunters aren’t much of a problem in a country that supposedly has no wolves; it’s the Loch Ness Monster that they’re real into.”
“So, the Loch Ness Monster’s real then.”
“Of course not! As far as I know anyway. Just don’t tell the hunters.”
“Yeah! The next hunter I see I’ll just talk on about Nessie theories.”
In the end I grabbed one of the “Harry Potter” books –I had seen a couple of the movies and had been recommended the series several times– and when we got back to class I glanced over the pages. It wasn’t that entertaining, the kid blew up his aunt or something, but it was better than having a proper lesson. I remembered what had turned out to be my final day in Dally Academy when Mrs Rhode had given work. On the inside I smiled, I had found one of the few benefits of Lycanthropy –no more Mrs Rhode.
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“Hey Dally Girl.” Patrick greeted me in the corridor on the way to Chemistry. The name was surprisingly starting to grow on me. He was missing his hoodie today so all that he wore on the top half of his body was a slightly see-through white shirt and a low knotted tie. The bright sunlight shining through the windows made his hair seem more brown than black.
“Looking forward to a fun lesson with Brown Owl?” He asked. I assumed he was referring to Mr Brownlee.
“Actually I kind of am.” I had actually been looking forward to another lesson sitting beside Patrick –not that I would dare say that to him.
A couple of minutes after we entered the class a girl I didn’t know walked into the class. Her shirt looked too tight in too many places and her top few buttons where undone; she had. In my opinion, too much make up on for school; and she was blonde, like me, but unlike me her hair was severely straightened and bent outwards in stiff flicks. She was walking straight up to our desk. Staring me down, she spoke.
“Excuse me can you get out my seat.”
“I was sitting here yesterday.” I replied.
“I was here before summer, where were you then?”
A better school than this, I wanted to reply shyness crept over me and I remained silent.
“Darla,” Patrick addressed the girl in a calm manner. “Look around, Mr Browns seating plan went down the drains after the holidays. And also, Sandra doesn’t really know anyone else in the class yet, leave her be.”
I almost pointed out that I did know Ester who was sitting diagonally in front of us but once again I remained silent. Darla, it seemed could not be bothered thinking up a good reply so sighed and sat up the back.
Not much happened within that class, there was little opportunity to talk from writing notes. God I was getting bad, worrying about chatting more than my work, this was supposed to be my year of working hard. However I do remember turning back a few times and receiving death glares from Darla. Time seemed to stretch out like broken elastic but finally the bell rang. As I packed my bag Patrick leaned over to me.
"Erm...I don't know how to say this."
"Say what?"
"Well, are you doing anything this weekend?"
"I've barely lived in this town a week, I've not really that socially active.”
“Good point, anyway. I know it all gonna be different for you. I was looking up some figures, Barrglen alones got a larger population than Dally and it’s only a teeny part of Glasgow! For you Dally would have been the largest town for a while.”
“Yes, why do you know so much about me and my hometown anyway?”
“Geography’s my thing.” I found this surprising, there was an aura around Patrick, maybe it was his smile or his use of nicknames but he just didn’t seem like someone who’d be interested in the study of maps and rocks. “Anyway I just don’t want you to think that it’s all bad here. We could meet at Colkirk Train Station on Friday morning.”
“Okay then.” I said as I put my bag on my shoulder, then a thought came to me. “Hang on, are you asking me on a date?”
“I am if you want me to, Dally Girl.”
I didn’t answer.
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Sorry that this is pretty uneventful and has a crummy title. Hopefully the next chapter will have some cuteness. Anyway, sorry about the slow update I've had tests the last fortnight.
Anyway, where do you think Patrick will take Sandra? It's a real place but it's pretty unknown (unless you live in the area you won't know it).
Please vote/comment