The Altering (Coywolf Series Book 1)

by Abby Tyson

"You'll never believe what happened!" Without waiting for Savi to respond, Hettie launched into an unintelligibly fast and high-pitched narrative.

  "Calm down, Hettie," Savi interjected. "I can't understand you. What happened? Are you okay?" A wave of squealing laughter made Savi put the phone on speaker and place it on the counter.

  "I'm better than okay. I'm giddy!"

  Savi laughed. "Then tell me what happened in a frequency I can hear."

  Sounding more like herself, Hettie tried again. "Someone knocked on our door around quarter past eleven this morning. When I answered it, Colby was standing on my front steps!" Hettie's grin was evident through the phone. "He said he'd been thinking about me all night."

  Savi's smile collapsed. Her stare fell on the packed camping gear by the front door. "Did you find your sleeping bag?"

  A beat of silence passed, then Hettie gave her an incredulous "What?"

  "You said last week that you couldn't find it. Do I need to bring my extra?"

  "Are you listening to me?" Hettie demanded.

  "Yes. I'm also making sure you won't sleep on the cold ground. Did you find yours yet?"

  "Savi! Stop thinking about stupid camping!" Savi stared at the phone. "Are you there?"

  Holding in her sigh, Savi said, "Yes. Sorry. Tell me what happened."

  Her enthusiasm significantly dampened, Hettie was much easier to understand. "I went to his party last night, alone." Hettie placed extra emphasis on her last word.

  "Alone? I thought Sara --"

  "She couldn't make it, but it's fine. It was pretty much what you said it would be. Everyone was drunk and rude. I found Colby alone on the back deck, but he didn't say more than two words to me. He hardly even looked at me, even though I wore that green dress that actually makes me look like I have curves. You know the one I bought last year but never wore?"

  Savi cringed, but smiled so Hettie would hear it when she said, "Oh yeah." Hettie usually didn't pay much attention to her appearance, but when she did, she always tried too hard. The dress she was talking about was indeed flattering on her bony figure, but it was more appropriate for a business meeting than a house party.

  "Anyway, he just drank his beer and stared at the pool. So I left. I was back home by 9:30."

  More guilt pricked at Savi as she pictured her naive, overdressed best friend standing awkwardly by Colby, surrounded by drunk former high school classmates.

  "But then this morning," continued Hettie, perky once again, "Colby said he'd been miserable when I found him -- which was obvious -- and that he's been depressed for a while but didn't know why. He said he spent most of last night by the firepit watching everyone else have fun, until it occurred to him that he doesn't have any real friends. Everyone just takes advantage of his empty house and his money -- except me. He said I'm the only true friend he's ever known."

  Flipping through the mail on the counter, Savi could tell from her best friend's tone that there was more. Her stomach sank with the realization that she was going to be hearing about Colby all weekend.

  Trying to match Hettie's upbeat attitude, she said, "Wow. I can't wait to hear all about it when you get here."

  Savi picked up an envelope identical to the one in her keepsake box, except that this one was sealed, and the return address was clear: Ready4U Gas & Convenience Mart. Savi ripped it open to find a money order for $700 made out to Savi's mom. As always, the "From" line was blank.

  "Are you still coming at three?" she asked.

  "Savi!" Even though the phone was no longer against her ear, Savi still recoiled at Hettie's shout. "He told me that he's had a crush on me since we were kids too, but he was too afraid!"

  Glad Hettie couldn't see her skeptical expression, Savi dropped the money order back on the counter and put her head in her hands. "Afraid of what?"

  "His stupid friends. But now he realizes how silly that was, and he asked me out!"

  "So he's all of a sudden going to stop hanging out with Tara and Eric even though they're going to be in Boston too -- along with half our grade?"

  "Why are you always so pessimistic? You know I've been dreaming of this moment my whole life, and it's finally coming true."

  "I'm sorry. It's just... surprising." Savi cut off Hettie's reply. "I want to hear all of it, I do, but can we get on the road first? You'll have my ear all weekend. Have you packed our food yet?"

  "Well, that's why I called you. When Colby was here, he asked me out."

  "You said that already."

  "He asked me out to dinner... tonight."

  Savi looked at the bin by the door, packed with beach chairs, blankets, and more. "And you responded with a resounding no, right?"

  Hettie's voice dropped to an almost inaudible whisper. "He kissed me."

  "So? I've spent the last hour packing gear because you've been begging me all summer to go camping. This is our last chance to do that. Besides, you and Colby can go out and make out as much as you want next week. You're going to be twenty minutes apart; you and I are going to be two hours apart. I won't see you until Thanksgiving."

  "Please, Savi. I know you don't think guys matter, but this is a huge deal. My life will never be the same."

  Luckily Hettie couldn't see Savi roll her eyes.

  "And we're both going to be so busy with school," Hettie continued, "who knows when we'll be able to see each other next."

  Still staring at the door, Savi asked, "What if he came with us?" She could almost hear Hettie sucking on her hair as she considered the proposal.

  "That's a sweet idea," Hettie finally said, "and we should definitely do that at some point -- maybe next summer -- but I think it would be kind of an awkward first date with all three of us there."

  "It's supposed to be just me and you. Colby's the third wheel, not me."

  Hettie raised her voice to match Savi's. "Can't you be happy for me?"

  Savi picked up her phone and started pacing. "I'll be happy when he proves that he's being honest. Since fifth grade he's been just another lemming jock Monty. How could someone like that like you?"

  "You mean how could someone as hot and popular as Colby like me -- a geek with the body of a twelve-year-old boy?"

  "That's not what I meant," said Savi, shocked that her best friend would say that about herself.

  "Just because I don't have big boobs or wear a ton of makeup doesn't mean that Colby can't like me."

  After silently screaming at her phone, Savi said, "That's not what I mean and you know it. I mean that someone who's obviously too concerned with what other people think can't just change his ways overnight."

  "So you think he's lying? Playing a joke on me?"

  "I don't know, I wasn't there. I hope not. It's a Monty kind of thing to do, though."

  "Stop calling him that -- he's not a Monty!" Hettie snapped. "Colby said you were going to give me grief about cancelling our trip, but I told him you would understand. I told him that you'd be happy for me. But instead you're just jealous that someone likes me. You pretend that you don't care about meeting the right guy but deep down you want attention from them like any girl."

  "I'm not jealous, I just don't want you to get hurt."

  "Then stop being so selfish!"

  "I'm the one being selfish? Something really crazy happened to me today too, but you don't hear me cancelling our camping trip -- especially for some Monty."

  "He's not a Monty!"

  Savi stopped herself before her temper took full control. "Are you going camping or not?"

  "No," Hettie said without hesitation.

  "Fine. Have fun on your date."

  "Savi --"

  Savi hung up and dropped her phone back on the counter and glared at it. She spun around to go to her room, but stopped when she saw her mom in the hallway, wearing clean clothes and drying her hair with a towel.

  "Hettie dumped me for a guy," said Savi, before realizing that her mom had probably heard the whole conversation.

  Her mom gave her a sympathet
ic look before saying, "Did I hear you say Colby? The boy Hettie's always talking about?"

  "Yeah, Hettie believes that he's transformed into a decent human being overnight."

  Chloe looked like she was about to say something, but pursed her lips instead. Savi went to her bedroom, but when she got there, she just stood in the middle of the floor.

  "I made plans with Dave for the weekend," her mom said from the doorway.

  "That's nice," said Savi, not listening.

  "He's staying here."

  That got her attention. "For the whole weekend?"

  After a moment, Chloe said, "I'll call him and cancel. I don't want you to have to jump in the deep end like this."

  Savi stared at her closet for a few heartbeats, then walked over and grabbed her mini cooler. "You don't have to do that," she said, walking past her mom and back into the kitchen.

  "You're still going?" her mom asked, following her.

  "Why wouldn't I go?" Savi pulled out the bread, peanut butter, and jelly, muttering, "Hettie was supposed to pack the food."

  "Is this because of Dave?"

  "No. I reserved the site. Who knows if Hettie's going to pay me back, and the weather won't be this nice for much longer." Savi began slathering peanut butter onto four slices of bread.

  "I don't like the idea of you camping all by yourself," said her mom.

  "My site's surrounded by a dozen others. And I'll have my phone with me."

  Savi stayed silent as her mom mulled it over. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mom pick up the money order. "About time," Chloe mumbled, and put it in her purse by the door.

  Savi had just finished making the last sandwich when her mom said, "How about I join you? I'll tell Dave we're having a girls-only weekend."

  "You don't have to babysit me. I can handle a day and a half alone."

  "Parents don't babysit their own kids," her mom said, sitting across the counter from her. "It'll be fun. We haven't spent time together just the two of us in a long time."

  "We live in the same house. We're together all the time." Savi gestured back and forth between the two of them with the butter knife. "We're together right now." She put the knife down and continued scrounging for food. "Besides, you detest camping."

  "Living together and being together aren't one in the same."

  Her mom had started dropping sage phrases such as this one into conversation more often lately. Savi suspected Dave was the origin of these little chestnuts.

  "And I like camping," Chloe continued. "I went to October Mountain and Beartown a ton as a kid. You and I used to go camping all the time when you were growing up."

  Savi dropped a box of granola bars into the cooler. "But then you stopped wanting to go."

  "That was my own baggage. Instead of living in the present, I was dwelling on the past. I'm sorry for that." Savi sensed Dave's hand in her mom's new self-awareness as well.

  "I think that would be really nice to do sometime, Mom, but just in case Hettie changes her mind and joins me, I should probably just go by myself." The excuse was hollow even to Savi's ears. She glanced over and saw her mom's disappointment. "We'll definitely plan for a bunch of trips next summer, though. I promise."

  Her mom didn't say anything, just watched as Savi put some ice in the cooler and grabbed a jug of juice. Savi felt bad for turning her mom down, but being alone with her always devolved into an interrogation about Savi's hopes and fears and plans for the future.

  "What happened today?" her mom asked.

  Savi closed the cooler. "What?"

  "You told Hettie something crazy happened to you today. What was it?"

  Savi's hand unconsciously went to her neck, which was still sore but hadn't bruised, at least not yet. There was no way her mom would let her go away for two days if she knew how close she'd come to being strangled just a few hours earlier. "Oh, uh, it was just a work thing."

  Her mom opened the front door for Savi and walked with her as she carried the cooler out to her car. "What was crazy about it?"

  "Just some troublemaker kids coming in. You know, the unsavory types. It wasn't a big deal."

  Chloe raised an eyebrow, but didn't press. Savi opened all four car doors to let the sweltering air out, then unlocked her hatchback.

  "You should take it easy on Hettie," said her mom.

  "What? Why?"

  "She's been dreaming of Colby for as long as I can remember. It can be pretty overwhelming to have a dream like that come true. I'm guessing Hettie's equal parts ecstatic and terrified."

  "She didn't sound terrified." Even as she said it, though, Savi remembered Hettie's thin voice when she had asked if Colby might be tricking her. "And our friendship is more important than some guy who hasn't looked at her for a decade."

  "Hettie knows that, but she also knows that she could be on the brink of something life altering with Colby, and that's hard to turn away from."

  "She chose him over me! How can you be siding with her?" Savi stormed back toward the house and dragged the camping bin through the front door.

  Her mom came up beside her and grabbed one end of the bin, helping her carry it to the car. Her voice was as calm as Savi's was frustrated. "I'm just trying to get you to see this from her perspective. If your friendship is as important as you say, then she deserves that."

  A small part of Savi knew what her mother was saying made sense, but the majority of her was too upset to succumb to logic, and lugging heavy gear under a hot sun didn't help.

  "Let's see," said Savi, shoving the bin across the backseat. "It's summertime, Hettie's eighteen with a promising future ahead of her, and a guy she barely knows comes in and sweeps her off her feet. Sound familiar?" She marched past her mom toward the house. "You're the one always reminding me not to lose myself," she shouted over her shoulder, "not to make the same mistake you did." She grabbed her backpack and purse from the doorway and walked back to the car. "But when I try to stop Hettie from making it, now I'm the one who needs to alter my perspective?"

  Savi tossed her stuff on the passenger's seat.

  "You are well aware that this is not the same situation," Chloe said. "And Hettie's smarter than you give her credit for."

  "The whole town knows Hettie's a genius," said Savi, closing the car doors and walking to the driver's side. "But when it comes to guys she's as gullible as you were. And look how well that worked out for you."

  "Hey," Chloe said reproachfully, blocking Savi's way. Savi stood in front of her, arms crossed. Her anger shriveled a little under her mother's baleful stare, but she tried not to show it.

  Her mom's expression softened. She put her hands on Savi's shoulders. "Of all the things I would have done differently, having you is not one of them."

  Savi's anger deflated further, but she kept up her thorny exterior. "You have to say that."

  Chloe let out a breathy laugh and crossed her arms, keeping her slight smile. "Even knowing what a disrespectful, overly dramatic, and underly ambitious teen you'd turn out to be."

  Savi cringed. "Underly?"

  Chloe laughed again and stepped aside, but as Savi got in her car, she asked, "Do you have your phone?"

  After patting her shorts pockets and checking her purse, Savi went back in the house. She stopped just inside the door and scanned the entry, then grabbed her phone off the kitchen counter and returned outside.

  "You must be the only teenager on the planet who isn't surgically attached to your phone," her mom said. "And a flip phone, at that. I must have done something right."

  Savi started to walk past, but Chloe stopped her.

  "Hey, come here," she said, wrapping her arms around Savi. Still unwilling to release her anger, Savi silently endured her mother's lemongrass soap-scented hug, then got in her car.

  "You're mad now," Chloe said, leaning over to look at her daughter, "but you're still going to call me before dark tomorrow, or else I'm calling the police to check on you. Understand?"

  Savi pulled on her sea
tbelt and nodded.

  "Understand?" Chloe repeated, louder.

  "Yes," Savi groaned.

  "Be extra careful," Chloe said as Savi started her car and backed down the driveway.

  Chloe took a few quick steps to chase after her daughter before stopping to wave. "I love you, Savannah! Don't lose yourself!"

  Before she could remind herself that she was too angry to respond, Savi shouted her half of their standard goodbye. "Love you too. I'm right here!"

  Chapter Six

  All the pumps at the Ready4U Gas & Convenience Mart were empty when Savi pulled in. She swiped her card and waited for the transaction to be approved. Her usual parking spot was one of many taken up by two police cruisers parked sideways. The windows and doors were covered with posters advertising slushies and ice cream, so she couldn't see inside.

  She hoped everyone was okay. Savi and her mom had come here all the time when she was young, and they'd become acquainted with the Korean family who owned and ran the store. They'd watched Savi grow up, while in turn Savi and her mom had watched Yejoon, the son and only one who ever wore a name tag, grow from a quiet kid to a quiet adult.

  Savi's mother had stopped coming years ago, but this was the first place Savi had driven to after getting her license. She still didn't know the parents' names, and she'd only seen the father a few times at night, but they always smiled when she came in. Between coaxing Savi to buy a lottery ticket, the mother would brag in her broken English about Yejoon's grades at night school, while Yejoon stood red-faced and silent.

  Savi glanced at the pump. The transaction still hadn't been approved. Her sense of foreboding grew as she walked across the small lot.

  The heavily air-conditioned store was refreshing, but by the time Savi was standing at the counter, the chill bit uncomfortably at the back of her neck and bare shoulders. In the corner by the potato chips and pretzels, standing on either side of Yejoon, were two police officers. They spoke too low to understand, ignoring Yejoon's mother, who was yelling at them in Korean from behind the counter. She didn't stop yelling until Yejoon, who was staring at the floor with his hands flat by his sides, translated. She nodded her head approvingly when one of the policemen wrote something down, then acknowledged Savi with a grim expression and her standard greeting.