MikasBlackCougar

by Marisa Chenery

  In the hopes that I could get Trent to flash me his crooked smile, I reached up to touch the bite mark. Trent’s gaze followed my movement. “I guess today wasn’t a complete bust. I got to have an up close and personal encounter with the mythological black cougar. And I have the love bite to prove it.”

  Trent’s face turned even grimmer. “See you later, Mika.”

  He shoved me into the car and slammed the door shut. “What the hell?” I shouted through the window as I watched Trent get into his father’s car.

  He didn’t so much as look back—simply started his car and drove away. Well, that was frickin nice. Nothing like leaving me more confused than ever. Now I had the added bonus of having to wait a day and a half before I could see Trent again on top of it all.

  I cranked on the car’s heater as I drove back home. Somehow I had to corner Trent and get him to talk. I knew it would drive me nuts until he gave me the answers I wanted.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Decidedly not in the best of moods when I arrived home, I slammed the front door closed behind me. Mom came out of the kitchen and confronted me before I had a chance to make it upstairs.

  With a look of concern on her face, she asked, “Did Trent find you? Why didn’t you call me?”

  I kicked off my soaked running shoes and pulled off my wet jacket. “Yes. I didn’t get a chance to call you. Things got…complicated.”

  “Did you figure out what the mix up was? I was really worried after he left here to look for you.”

  “Look, Mom, I don’t feel like talking about it right now. Okay? I need to get out of these wet clothes. All I want is a hot shower.”

  As I tried to walk around Mom to head up the stairs, she reached out and pulled the collar of my shirt aside. “What happened here? How did you get this? It looks as if something big tried to take a chunk out of you.”

  I brushed Mom’s hand aside. “It’s fine. I’m going to take a shower, then I’ll put a bandage on it.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to look at it first?”

  “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of it myself,” I snapped. I just wanted to be left alone to think through what had taken place at the clearing. If Trent wasn’t going to give any straight answers, then I was determined to figure it out on my own.

  “All right,” Mom said. She stepped out of the way, allowing me to get by her.

  After taking the stairs two at a time, I went to my bedroom and dropped my damp backpack on the floor. I took out some dry clothes and headed for the bathroom. Jared stuck his head out his bedroom door, but he saw my face and obviously made the smart decision not to say anything.

  I stripped out of my wet clothes and turned the shower on as hot as I could stand it. I tilted my head back under the spray, and the warm water took the chill out of my body. I reached for the shampoo and lathered up my hair. I sucked in a breath through my teeth when the shampoo came in contact with the bite mark low on my neck. It continued to sting for a few minutes as the water washed it out.

  My thoughts drifted to the clearing at Okanagan Lake. They kept coming back to the black cougar. The other cougar had been scary, but the black cougar seemed different, less frightening. He’d actually chased the other big cat away. Do wild cougars normally protect humans from one of their kind? I didn’t think so, which meant the black cougar didn’t act as a wild cougar should.

  My mind seemed to get caught on the fact that the black cougar had chased off the other big cat. I kept going over it, replaying it in my mind over and over again. Something about it nagged at me, as if it were connected to something else that had taken place in the clearing.

  Not until I finished washing my hair and picked up the bar of soap did it all click into place. It was something Trent had said to Craig. Didn’t he tell Craig he’d chased off one of Craig’s boys? It just seemed too much of a coincidence. But what really gave me that “ah-ha” moment was the way in which Trent had said it to Craig. He hadn’t spoken as if he’d chased off Craig’s boy in the distant past—to me it sounded as if he’d done it recently.

  Not sure if I wanted my mind to go way off left field with that thought or not, I stood in the shower with the water pounding on my back. It can’t be. Can it? Do I just have a wild imagination? I wasn’t so sure. Now that I’d come up with this possible explanation my mind tenaciously refused to let it go. Could there be a connection between Trent and the black cougar? Or more to the fact, did Trent somehow have the ability to shape-shift into the black cougar?

  I knew if I said any of what I thought out loud to anyone they’d think I had completely lost my fricking mind. But the more I thought about it the more logical it sounded. For one thing, I’d witnessed Trent’s eyes change from a rich brown to gold, not once but twice. Well, three times if I counted the split second change I’d seen during the first week of school. Trent’s gold eyes and the black cougar’s happened to be a match. And the way the black cougar had acted, purring and snuggling into my neck before he bit me, could easily be taken as a way of showing affection. I knew male cats gave females of their kind love bites.

  I gently touched the mark on my neck. It could have been a love bite. If the black cougar had wanted to do more damage, he could have torn my throat out instead of giving me a little bite as he had. Was it possible that Trent, in his cat form, wanted to show me I had nothing to fear from him? I knew I’d drive myself crazy with these absurd thoughts if I let them obsess me.

  Turning off the shower, I got out and quickly dried myself off. I pulled on my dry clothes before I collected up my wet things and returned to my bedroom. Not wanting to explain to Mom about the forged note that had led me into the clearing in the first place, I decided to stay in my room until dinner time. This would be one of the rare occasions I wouldn’t be able to tell Mom everything that had happened.

  * * * *

  By Sunday afternoon I knew I’d gone past being a little crazy to most likely being labeled as certifiably nuts. Thoughts of Trent, of the possibility that he and the black cougar were one and the same, swirled around and around in my mind. I’d reached the point where I wanted to talk to someone about it so I could get their take on the whole thing. Only one name came to mind—Cathy. She would be the only person who wouldn’t outright call me insane for even thinking of the things I’d been pondering.

  After I had Dad’s permission to make a long distance phone call, I went back up to my room and dialed Cathy’s number. She answered after the third ring.

  “Mika, I thought I was supposed to call you the next time we decided to talk on the phone.”

  “I know, but I really needed to talk to you.”

  “Is that so?” Cathy asked with interest sounding in her voice. “Well, I’m all ears. Go for it.”

  I took a deep breath. “Okay, before I start, I want you to promise you won’t laugh.”

  “Why would I laugh? You know I’d never do that to you.”

  “If it were something everyday I know you wouldn’t, but I don’t know if I’m losing it here or not.”

  Cathy huffed into the phone. “I promise I won’t laugh at you. Now what’s this all about?”

  “You know how Trent and I have gotten closer?”

  “Yeah. Did he kiss you again?”

  “Yes, but that isn’t what I want to tell you. It’s what happened before the kiss that’s bugging me.”

  “Fine. We’ll get to the kiss after then.”

  “Okay. I’m going to try and make this short and sweet. I found a note in my locker that told me to meet Trent yesterday at the reservation at Okanagan Lake. That was fine. I hiked through the bush to a clearing and waited for him.”

  “Oh, man,” Cathy said with a laugh. “You really must like Trent if you actually went hiking in the bush.”

  Even though she couldn’t see me, I rolled my eyes. “Ha ha, very funny. Can I finish now?”

  Cathy stopped laughing. “All right, I’ve got myself back together.”

  “Anyw
ay, I was in the clearing and it was pouring rain. When Trent didn’t show up right away, I thought of going back to the car. That’s when I heard the first cougar roar.”

  “What do you mean the first cougar?”

  “Cathy, if you keep interrupting I’m never going to finish what I have to say, and then my dad will kill me for the big phone bill I’ll rack up.”

  “Sorry. No more questions for now.”

  I took a deep breath. “I might as well make this even shorter. Before the first cougar could jump me, a black cougar came out of nowhere and chased the other big cat off. After he did that he came back to me, purred and licked my face before he gave me what I think is a love bite on the lower part of my neck. Now here’s the freaky thing, Trent showed up right after the black cougar left. An Okanagan boy named Craig showed up as well and basically told Trent to get out his territory. I swore it would have come to a fight, considering how both of them growled at each other. I mean they literally growled like cats. I didn’t want to end up in the middle of it so I tried to leave, but Trent came after me.” I stopped talking and took another deep breath before I finished the story. “Cathy, his eyes had changed to gold. They looked exactly like the black cougar’s.”

  Cathy didn’t say anything right away. When she did, she asked slowly, “So what are you trying to tell me?”

  “I know it’s crazy, but I think Trent was the black cougar.”

  “Are you sure the sun wasn’t in Trent’s eyes, making them look as if they’d changed color?”

  “Hello! It was raining, remember?”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot.”

  “His eyes really were gold, Cathy. It’s the second time I’ve seen them change like that.”

  “So what are you going to do? You can’t just go up to Trent and say ‘Hey, can you shape-shift into a black cougar?’ He’ll think you’re nuts.”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ll wait and see what he does tomorrow at school. If he doesn’t say anything about it, I guess I’ll have to wait until it happens again. I won’t let him fluff me off like he did yesterday when I confronted him about it.”

  “I think that would be for the best, Mika.” Cathy stopped talking and groaned. “I have to go. My mom wants me to help with something. I’ll email you later.”

  “That’s okay. I can’t talk for much longer, anyway. I feel better now that I had the chance to talk to you.”

  I heard Cathy’s mom call her. Cathy covered the mouthpiece of the phone and shouted back she would be down in a minute. Then said, “I’ll talk to you later, Mika.”

  Cathy hung up after that. I put down my phone and sat back on my bed. From the sound of things, Cathy didn’t seem as convinced as I about Trent being the black cougar. Not that I could blame her.

  At least she hadn’t called me a nut job.

  Chapter Fourteen

  When I arrived at school Monday morning I half expected to find Trent standing by my locker, waiting. When he wasn’t, I felt a tiny bit disappointed. The weekend had taken forever to end, or so it had seemed from my perspective. I’d also missed seeing Trent. Other than that I liked him, he’d turned out to be just as good a friend as Cathy.

  On the way to math I had to walk by Silvia and her crew. Both Silvia and Rachel started to giggle the closer I came. Their giggles turned to outright laughter as I walked past them. I knew they were laughing at me for some reason. Out of the corner of my eye I saw they were looking in my direction. The big question had to be why were they laughing. Not that I really wanted to know or anything.

  Sitting at my usual desk, I waited for Trent to show up. The other kids arrived in groups or by themselves. By this time, Trent still hadn’t made it to class. I wondered if he was sick. We’d both been drenched to the skin on Saturday. He could have come down with a cold.

  A minute before the bell rang, Trent finally put in an appearance. I smiled at him as he headed for the row of desks next to mine, but my smile slowly fell away as he ignored me and walked to the back of the classroom. I quickly turned around in my seat to stare after him. He sat at the last desk in the row and refused to look my way. He took his math books out of his backpack and kept his gaze on the top of his desk.

  The bell rang just as Mr. Morrison stepped into the classroom and shut the door. I turned back around to face the front of the class. Trent’s behavior sat heavily on me. It didn’t make any sense. Okay, Saturday had been a little strained near the end, to say the least. I’d honestly thought Trent would have gotten over it by now. Maybe I’d pushed a bit too hard for answers, but who wouldn’t have if they had been in my place?

  A couple times during class I thought I felt Trent staring at me, but each time I sneaked a peek behind me he had his head down, working. I wanted nothing more than to get up, go stand in front of his desk and demand to know what the hell was wrong with him. Of course I didn’t do any such thing, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try to talk to Trent before I left to go to my next class.

  Once the bell rang I quickly shoved my books into my backpack before heading outside to the hall. I wanted to be out ahead of Trent so I could corner him before he had a chance to get away. He ended up as one of the last ones to leave the classroom. I shifted to block his path before he could walk away.

  “Hey, Trent, what’s up?”

  Trent didn’t stop nor did he answer me. He brushed past me as if I didn’t even exist. He didn’t even as much as look me in the face. Not a glance. Nothing. As he walked down the hall I called his name, but he kept going as if I hadn’t shouted for him.

  Feeling hurt from Trent’s rejection, I turned around and headed for my next class. I ended up making it with just seconds to spare before the bell rang.

  Science passed in a blur. I couldn’t stop thinking about Trent and how he’d acted as if I hadn’t even been there. If he continued behaving like that because of what had happened on Saturday, then at lunch I’d tell him I’d forget everything about that day. It would drive me a bit insane from not knowing, but I’d willingly sacrifice my sanity if it meant Trent would stop ignoring me. I just wanted things to be as they had been.

  I arrived at English prepared to spend most of the class watching the clock. I couldn’t wait for lunch period to start. I had it all planned out. If Trent ignored me, I’d somehow find a way to make him pay attention. I wouldn’t give up on our friendship that easily.

  Rachel gave me a smirk as she walked past my desk and sat at the one directly behind mine. I didn’t give her the satisfaction of showing her I saw her. She was the least of my concerns today.

  “Did you enjoy your weekend, weirdo?”

  I didn’t bother to turn around, and I sure as hell didn’t answer her question.

  “Oh, come on. You can tell me. Didn’t you enjoy your little nature hike on the reservation?”

  I spun around in my chair. “What?”

  Rachel smirked again. “Did you have fun walking around in the rain on Saturday? How long did it take you to finally realize Trent wasn’t going to show up? I bet you stood out there for hours.” She laughed as if what she’d said had been a hilarious joke.

  Obsessing over Trent for most of the weekend, I hadn’t given the note leading me to Okanagan Lake much thought. Somehow I didn’t find it all that surprising to learn Silvia, and most likely Rachel, had been responsible for putting it in my locker. It was right up their alley. Both could be vindictive witches at the best of times.

  I plastered a smile on my face as I seethed inside. “As a matter of fact, Saturday turned out to be a great day. You can tell Silvia her plan backfired. Trent came looking for me when he showed up at my place and found I’d gone to the reservation supposedly to meet up with him. He managed to find me and we spent the rest of the day together.”

  Rachel’s face fell but she soon pulled herself together. “So Trent and you spent Saturday together? If what you say is true, how come I didn’t see you with him before first period, huh?”

  “He showed up
late this morning.”

  A condescending smile spread across Rachel’s lips. “Is that what he told you? If he did, he lied. I saw him near the cafeteria way before homeroom started. Hmm, I wonder if he’s finally come to realize how much of a freak you really are.”

  Not going to dignify her comment with an answer, I turned back to face the front of the classroom. Just as the teacher arrived, Rachel tried one last time to piss me off.

  “Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll find out for myself when lunch comes around and you’re sitting by yourself in the cafeteria—like the loser you are.”

  Even though I tried not to let Rachel get to me, her words took hold and wouldn’t let go. What will I do if Trent doesn’t show up at the cafeteria? He wouldn’t actually leave me to the wolves like that, would he? The seeds of doubt spread before I could stop them.

  * * * *

  After a quick trip to my locker to get my lunch bag, I hurried to the cafeteria. I tried not to think of the possibility of Trent not being there. I wanted to believe he’d be sitting at our table as he waited for me to arrive, just as he’d done for the first two weeks of school.

  I had myself so convinced when I stepped into the cafeteria and he wasn’t at our table—which had been taken over by a bunch of grade eights—it felt as if someone had dropped a great weight on top of me. My steps slowed as I looked to see if Trent sat at another one. Much to my utter disappointment I couldn’t see him anywhere.

  Feeling as I had on the very first day of school, I kept my gaze in front of me and sat at an empty table close to where Trent and I usually sat. Same as the first day, I didn’t have a book to read so I focused on eating my lunch and not observing the other kids around me.

  Someone knocked into my arm just as I went to take a sip from my juice box. It slipped out of my hand and landed on the table, shooting juice out of the straw. I quickly stood it upright and looked over to see who had knocked into me.