Willow

by Amy Richie

  Chapter Twenty

  Normal is Overrated

  "Cheerleading tryouts are today, you nervous?" I stared at Gage in open-mouthed wonder.

  How could he possibly be concerned with something like cheerleading tryouts after the last two days we had had?

  The day before had been spent healing and having heated discussions on whether or not to kick Rodney out of the pack. Healing, I learned, took a lot longer when the bite was from another wolf.

  I was surprised at how little Gage had to say about Rodney's pack membership. He merely stood as a stoic statue not more than a foot from my side as Rueben grew angrier that Rodney was staying.

  "I can't believe you have nothing to say about this," he yelled at Gage.

  "I will stand by Willow's decision," he glared, "she leads this pack - not you."

  "He could have killed your girlfriend. He's unstable," Rueben continued with a red face. "He needs to leave this pack." He glared at Gage with narrowed eyes. "I say that anyone that can't be trusted around our female needs to leave."

  I had glanced to where Rodney cringed against the wall, too ashamed to look at me. It had been easy to make my decision. "He stays."

  "Do you realize what could have happened?" Surely Rueben would have bitten clear through his jaw, the way he clenched it in his anger.

  "As I recall, none of you obeyed her," Gage said, causing Rueben to pale. "She is a young leader and you are young wolves. That needs to be remembered at all times."

  "I wouldn't have hurt her," Rueben sulked.

  "What if it had been you she had attacked?" Gage asked. Rueben fell silent.

  "Anyway," I said with forced cheer, "no harm done." Several pairs of eyes glared my way. "No permanent damage," I amended. "Rodney is one of us. We stick together." I sat next to him on the floor and laid my head on his shoulder even when he tried to pull away from me. "No matter what."

  "Rueben's right," Rodney mumbled, "I can't be trusted. I can't believe what I did." His eyes filled with tears as he glanced down at my heavily bandaged shoulder.

  "I'm fine," I insisted - again. Gage had bandaged me up tightly and I really could barely even feel it afterwards. I was much more worried about seeing Carlie again. "We stick together."

  That hadn't been the final word on the subject but Rodney stayed with us. At first he tried to remain distant but as the day wore on and he realized that I would in fact be fine, he started to relax.

  He stayed close by my side - either for his own protection or to make sure I stayed safe - I wasn't sure which. Gage laughed along with me; both of us trying to cool the thick tension. Always just below the calm was a raging panic. What would Carlie say? What had she seen? What would we do now?

  "I can't believe you are worried about stupid tryouts." I flung my uneaten toast back on my plate. "I'm not even going to try out anymore."

  His eyes narrowed disapprovingly as he reached across the table and grabbed up my discarded toast. "You have to." He smeared grape jelly on it and handed it back to me. "It's up to you to keep us all normal."

  "Normal?" I shoved a piece of the toast into my mouth and was just barely able to chew it enough to allow it to slide down my throat. I had to wash it down with a gulp of OJ. "It's impossible."

  "Maybe." He shrugged.

  "We're going to have to move." His eyes narrowed again when I thought of throwing the toast back down so instead I took another bite.

  "We may have to. It's your decision to make, but … " he paused dramatically as he spread jelly on his own toast and took a slow bite.

  "But what?"

  "Would you like to hear my advice?"

  "Yes," I said through clenched teeth.

  "Go to your cheerleading tryouts. Shake your … you know, pom poms or whatever they call them."

  Any other day, any other conversation, I might have laughed at the way his face flushed red. I could only stare at him now. "Why?"

  "Isn't that what teen girls do?"

  "You know what teen girls don't do, Gage?" I stood up to empty my plate before he could make me eat anymore. "They don't turn into monster wolves and lead packs of other monster wolves."

  "Carlie knew about us." His voice grew pensive but his back was to me so I couldn't see his expression. "She didn't freak out as much as she should have."

  "That's a good thing - right?"

  "Just … different."

  I heard a car honk outside. "I have to go." I leaned over to kiss him quickly on the cheek but he seemed to barely notice.

  "Even when I morphed back and walked her home, she walked beside me; not behind me or running from me. She wasn't as scared as she was curious. She knows so much more than what she is saying. What does she want?"

  "I don't know, Gage, maybe a silver bullet?"

  He rolled his eyes. "No, she doesn't want to kill us."

  "Great. Maybe we can all cozy up and become BFFs. Paint each other's nails and have sleepovers." My voice dripped with sarcasm that finally made him look at me.

  He smiled. "Just talk to her." He leaned forward to kiss my lips lightly.

  "I'll try." The horn blared again. "Gotta go."

  "Good luck," he called as I ran out the front door, my stomach still in knots.

  

  Lindsey and Aubrey were both waiting for us at the front door when we got to school. Rueben still walked close to me, but I was only searching for one person. And she was nowhere to be seen.

  "We missed you at the Lounge on Saturday." Aubrey slinked her thin body close to Rueben's side and turned to kiss my cheek.

  "We were busy," I snapped.

  "Oh." She raised her eyebrows knowingly.

  My mouth fell open while Rueben grinned. I slapped his chest until the grin faded. "Not like that. We just … hung out."

  "I'm sure you did." Her eye dropped into a slow wink.

  "Have you seen Carlie?" I blurted.

  "Carlie?"

  "Yeah. Brown hair, green eyes, about this tall." I held my hand up to almost my height.

  Lindsey's mouth fell open at the bite in my tone, but I was almost beyond caring. "Geesh, Willow, are you PMSing?"

  "She's just nervous about the tryouts today." Rueben snaked his arm around my waist.

  "Oh!" Lindsey clapped her hands together. "Did you practice this weekend?" No. "Show us!"

  "I'm not … " I was cut off by the first shrill of the morning bell. "I have to get to class." Carlie would be there. I shrugged away from Rueben and made a beeline for my locker.

  The door opened easier than usual this morning, or maybe I just used more force than I realized. I bent low to shuffle through the mess on the bottom for my copy of Pride and Prejudice, which I was way behind in. I groaned at the thought of failing the quiz this morning.

  "Hey Willow," said a soft voice next to my locker.

  "Carlie!" I stood up quickly, cracking my head on the top shelf. "Ow!" I clamped my hand on my forehead.

  "Are you ok?" she half chuckled. "I didn't mean to scare you."

  "You didn't," my voice squeaked, "and I'm fine." I worked to keep my eyes their normal size.

  "How's your shoulder?"

  "Fine." I slammed my locker closed and turned to face Carlie head on. Bad idea. I looked down at my books. "You going to class?"

  "Yep." She turned away but waited for me to fall into step with her.

  "Are you … "

  "I watched you, Willow," she said suddenly.

  "Watched me? Do what?"

  "This weekend."

  My ears burned hot. "Let's just kill her. We can dispose of the body and move on." Steven's calm voice came back to me. I had scoffed at his idea yesterday but now …

  "I don't mean to creep you out. I just wanted to see."

  "What did you see?" I asked around the lump in my throat.

  "Probably too much."

  My steps faltered. "Oh."

  "But I'm not going to tell anyone."

  "Oh."

  "You can trust me."
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  "Oh." Why couldn't I say anything else?

  "Listen." She stopped just outside our classroom door and turned to face me. Her face was only a few inches from my own. "I'm not going to tell anyone."

  "All those things you've been saying … "

  "I didn't really believe them. Now I know differently."

  "Carlie … "

  A small cluster of girls walked by us whispering and giggling. "Shh. Can you come to my house after school? We can talk then."

  "I have tryouts," I blurted quickly. No way was I going to her house.

  "After tryouts."

  "I … "

  "I'll be there, too; if you need any help."

  Of course she would be there - she was a cheerleader after all. "I … "

  "All right then, it's settled." She practically skipped ahead of me into English.

  I stood out in the hallway even after everyone else in the halls had scuttled to their classes. Long after the final bell rang I stood alone in the hallway, trying to be reasonable.

  I could call the boys to me and we could leave this town within the hour. I would just have to go somewhere safe and morph and they would hear me when I called. Maybe that would be the best thing to do. The most responsible. They wouldn't object. They would do whatever I told them to do.

  But maybe Carlie just wanted to talk. Gage did tell me to talk to her. He didn't seem anxious about her knowing too much. He just wanted to know what she knew.

  Most of me didn't want to leave Grover. If only …

  "Miss Bennett, what are you doing out here?" Miss Riley asked. I hadn't even heard her coming.

  "I'm just … nervous."

  "About what?"

  "Quiz … today."

  Well, there was a quiz. Before this morning, I had felt reasonably confident that I would pass it. After all, I had watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, which was practically like reading the book.

  "I'm sure you'll do fine, dear," she said kindly. "Now get in there."

  With a tight smile of my own I pushed open the door. The first pair of eyes that met mine were bright green and entirely too excited. Great, I huffed under my breath, now I wouldn't be able to read a single question.