The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5

by Stacy Claflin

  SIXTEEN

  We were sitting on the grass with Amanda and Mark, eating our subs and watching the competition. There were all kinds of divisions, mostly divided up by ages. They also had girls' and boys' divisions, there weren't a lot of girls but the ones that were competing could have easily held their own against the boys. I was really impressed with the girls who were gutsy enough to take on a sport that was considered only for boys.

  "How much longer until you compete?" Cliff asked Mark.

  "Probably another half an hour. Thanks for coming out, I know it was a pretty long drive."

  "It's been fun. I've never been to one of these before. I had no idea that there was so much excitement."

  "They're a lot of fun and you get to meet all kinds of different people," Mark said. "Last time, I met a guy in a wheelchair who used to compete all the time before he was in a car accident. He loves watching the competitions even though he can't be in them anymore. He was even joking about how dangerous it was to skateboard without a helmet, and then he got injured while driving a car. You just never know who you'll meet."

  "That's really cool," Amanda said. "I've already met a lot of interesting people today. One kid brought his dog that was doing all kinds of tricks."

  "Like playing dead?" I asked.

  Amanda and Mark laughed. "No, skateboard tricks," Amanda said.

  "Oh, right." I decided to let everyone else do the talking. I watched the skaters doing their tricks and stopped paying attention to the conversation.

  Something caught my attention out the corner of my eye. I saw a group of skaters standing in a circle. They were being loud, even above the thundering music. Several were smoking, and the discussion sounded like it was getting heated. Mixed in with the smell of smoke, I could smell the stench of werewolves. I didn't recognize any of them, and hoped that they weren't going to be up to any trouble.

  As I was about to return my focus to the competition, I made eye contact with Cliff.

  You're so beautiful.

  I couldn't help smiling. You're pretty gorgeous yourself.

  He smiled at me. He continued talking with Mark, but kept looking back at me. I started making funny faces at him and I could tell that he was trying not to laugh.

  Why are you doing that?

  Because it's fun and I love to see you smile. And squirm.

  He grinned and turned back to his conversation.

  "I see the way that you two are looking at each other," Amanda said. "I'm so glad to see you happy."

  "I could say the same thing about you. You're a completely different person than the girl that who went to that party. I'm so glad that you met Mark."

  "Oh, I know, right? We never would have even started talking outside of that party. I had all these stupid ideas about how skaters are and I never would have given him a chance. He's broken all of the stereotypes that I had—for skaters, anyway. I probably still have wrong stereotypes about other things. He's so dreamy…." I could tell that she felt the same way about him as I felt about Cliff.

  "I'm thrilled that we have both found love—and that they get along so well too. Look at those two. Who would've thought?"

  "I know!" she exclaimed. "Cliff is so…what's the word? Proper. He's almost, like, regal or something. Then Mark is the long haired skater." She sighed and stared at Mark.

  I caught Cliff looking at me and blew a kiss at him.

  I thought we agreed: no kisses.

  I can't even blow a kiss at you? It's not a real kiss; we don't even touch.

  You still ignite my passion, beautiful princess. I want us to stay pure for each other until we're married.

  Then we'd better start planning that wedding. I don't know how much longer I can keep my hands off of you. I am so in love with you. I hardly know what to do with myself.

  Don't tell me that!

  "Do you think that Mark feels the same way about me?" Amanda asked.

  "He keeps looking at you the same way that you're looking at him. I'd say that's a safe bet. You'd better not take your eyes off of him when he competes, because I'm sure he's going to do the whole routine just for you."

  She blushed and then sighed.

  Do you smell that? Cliff asked.

  Yeah, that's the werewolf smell. It seems like they're everywhere.

  Be prepared to fight. Just in case.

  They don't stand a chance against us. I smiled.

  I know that Tanner's here, so there are three vampires. Hopefully they don't feel like we're trying to infringe on their territory.

  I don't know how eager he'll be to fight werewolves again. It almost cost him his life.

  He'll fight if they go after you. I can tell by the way that he looks at you.

  Do we have to have this conversation again? You have nothing to worry about. Nothing. I winked at him.

  He doesn't respect your feelings for me. Not to mention that you still have feelings for him.

  Stop worrying about him and start trusting me. Or I'll go over there and kiss you right now! I only want you…a lot. I blew him another kiss.

  He shook his head and turned his attention back to Mark.

  "They just called your name, Mark!" Amanda shrieked.

  Mark turned around and gave Amanda a quick, but passionate kiss. "That's for luck." He grabbed his board and ran to the judges' booth.

  Amanda started clapping and screaming his name. We all moved closer so that we could have the best view possible. Cliff held my hand.

  I looked at him and smiled. "Are you sure you want to hold my hand? Is it worth the risk?" I smirked playfully.

  He squeezed my hand and kissed my forehead. We turned our attention to the competition and watched in awe as Mark zipped through the course as if he owned the place. He was doing many more tricks than any of the other skaters had done before him. Even the two other guys skating around him paled in comparison. When he went into "the bowl," which was basically an empty, curved swimming pool, he flew at least three feet into the air every time he came up.

  He was a crowd favorite; everyone kept shouting his name and clapping. He must have picked up a lot of fans from all of the other competitions he'd been in. Just as the announcers had them stop, it started to rain.

  "It's so cold, it might turn to snow," Amanda said.

  "At least it waited until the end."

  "It's not over yet. There are still some other guys who have to skate first. Mark's division is the biggest by far, there are so many skaters!"

  "So if it rains hard enough, then the almost-pro guy won't be able to skate?"

  She smiled. "Then Mark would win first place!"

  Three more skaters started competing and Mark attempted to make his way over to us. Everyone along the way was stopping him. When he finally reached us, he hugged Amanda and swung her around in a circle.

  "You were awesome!" she squealed.

  "That was amazing!" Cliff said. "You were so much better than anyone else who's competed."

  "Thanks, dude. They do tend to make the better guys wait to the end. You won't be as impressed with me after you see Parker, the guy who's about to go pro. They just need to make it official already. He shouldn't be at these amateur competitions."

  "Looks like he might get rained out," I said.

  "That would be tight," Mark said.

  Amanda kissed him. "It doesn't matter if he competes or not. I think you're the best one out there."

  He kissed her back and they forgot about us.

  "Want to walk around some more?" I asked Cliff.

  He looked at them. "Yes, let's."

  I grabbed my purse and we started walking around the booths again. Some of the booths were closing up since the competition was coming to a close.

  "Did you guys get your raffle tickets yet?" someone asked.

  "What's the prize?" Cliff asked.

  "There are a lot of prizes. Clothes, shoes, boards, the bigger stuff like that."

  "Sure, we'll take some." Cliff bought several tic
kets. We continued to walk around holding hands. I saw Tanner and his brother watching the competition. I wondered what kind of report he was going to give my parents. He wasn't happy about being sent to watch Cliff and me, especially since we were being so affectionate. If he told them about that, they might not let Cliff come over to study anymore.

  "It sounds like they're starting the last round," I said. "Should we head back over to Mark and Amanda?"

  "Yeah, let's go." We had walked to other end of the park so by the time that we got back to them, the competition was over.

  "Are they going to announce the winners?"

  "First they're going to do the raffle while the judges discuss who places," Mark said.

  Cliff held up the tickets. "I got some tickets. Let's see if any of us win." He handed each of us a ticket.

  The announcers started calling numbers. After they said the third one, Amanda started shrieking. "That's me!"

  "Well, go get your prize!" Mark said, laughing.

  Amanda ran off and came back carrying a skateboard. "Now I have no excuses. You'll have to teach me how to skate!" She kissed him again.

  "I'm glad I gave that ticket to you," Cliff said. "It's fun to watch, but I don't want to skate myself. Nor do I want Alexis to skate. It looks so dangerous."

  I raised an eyebrow at him. I'd killed vampires and escaped werewolves—he was worried about me climbing on a skateboard. "I can think of a few other things that are a lot more dangerous than a skateboard."

  "As can I, but that doesn't mean that I want you to get on one."

  I laughed out loud. You don't want me climbing on a werewolf or a skateboard?

  Either!

  "Dude, they're not that dangerous," Mark said. "Also, if you tell a girl not to do something, that's the first thing she's going to do!"

  I smiled. "No worries. I'm not very athletic. I don't think I'll be getting on a skateboard anytime soon." I'd rather get on—

  "Alexis!" Cliff exclaimed. What has gotten into you? Stop!

  Mark and Amanda looked at each other in confusion.

  "It's an inside joke," I said quickly. I was going to say a scooter!

  He tried glaring at me but it was obvious that he was trying not to laugh.

  "Hey, they're announcing the winners! Let's go to the booth since we all know that Mark's going to win," Amanda said.

  "No, we all know that Parker is going to win." Mark sighed.

  "No way, not this time," Amanda said, her hands on her hips. "Didn't you see him? He was having an off day and you were soooo much better than him!" She looked at Cliff and me to back her up.

  "Sorry. We stopped watching after Mark," I said. "But you were definitely the best one that I saw!"

  We all walked to the announcer booth and waited as they gave awards and prizes to the winners from all of the other divisions first.

  "You're going to win! You're going to win!" Amanda squealed when they got to Mark's division. Sure enough, some other guy got third place and Parker was second. "I knew it!" Amanda was about to jump out of her skin.

  They called Mark's name for first place. Amanda started shouting and jumping up and down. Mark looked like he was half embarrassed and half proud to have someone so excited for him to win. He walked up to claim his medal and prize package, with Amanda screaming the whole time.

  "I've never seen such a dedicated fan," the announcer said to Mark. "We have an extra prize pack, because there weren't enough girls in that division. Your screaming groupie can have it."

  I didn't think that it was possible for Amanda yell any louder, but she did. I started laughing. When she finally calmed down, she and Mark both looked at their prize packs. They each got a new skateboard without wheels, a hoodie, gift cards, and some other stuff.

  "That's a lot of swag! Now I have two skateboards, but why doesn't this one have wheels?" Amanda asked.

  "It's called a deck," Mark said. "You can build your board any way you want. We can really trick it out for you."

  "Yay!"

  "You guys want to go grab a bite to eat?" Mark asked us.

  "I wish," I said. "I'm grounded and I have to go home after this."

  "They won't know that you didn't go straight home."

  "Yes they will. My spy will tattle on me."

  Amanda laughed and then stopped abruptly. "Oh…you're serious. Who's spying on you?"

  "Tanner," Cliff muttered.

  "That's not awkward or anything," Amanda said.

  "Nope, not all," I said. "Not for anyone."

  She pouted. "We'll miss you. I wish that you could go with us."

  "Me too. I hope that I get un-grounded soon. I've never been grounded before and I have to say that it sucks."

  "You've never been grounded?" Mark asked.

  "She was too busy being a goody two shoes her whole life," Amanda said.

  "Dude, that's twisted. Never grounded. I get grounded about every month."

  After we said our goodbyes, Cliff and I began walking across the park to go home when a group of skaters stepped right in front of us. They reeked of werewolf. They must have noticed our lack of heartbeats, or maybe they somehow knew I was Mr. Foley's TA.

  "Can we help you?" Cliff asked.

  "You need to stay out of our territory."

  "I didn't see you marking your territory," Cliff said. "What makes it yours?"

  "It's where we hang out. We don't need any of your kind disturbing us."

  "When exactly did we disturb you? We were invited here by the competition winner and we didn't go barking up any trees that you peed on."

  I covered my mouth before I laughed.

  A couple of the guys looked at each other. "Just go back home before there's trouble."

  "Why would there be any?"

  "We know your kind, and they've done nothing except give us grief."

  "You're in luck because we have no intention of bothering you. But you need to leave us alone when we visit this park."

  "We'd rather you just leave."

  Cliff folded his arms. "What if we don't want to?"

  "Then we'll have a problem. We refuse to mingle with the enemy."

  "You needn't mingle with us. Leave us alone and we'll leave you alone. If you don't leave us alone, I guarantee that there will be trouble. We didn't come here because of you."

  "Are you threatening us?"

  "Look, just leave us alone," I said. "Do you know Mr. Foley?"

  All of their eyes widened. "You know him?" one asked.

  "Yes, and he's working with me. He wants my help. I know that he's one of your leaders. I can either give him a good report or a poor report when I talk to him next. Which would you prefer?"

  They looked at each other and spoke in very low tones, which of course Cliff and I could hear. They were debating whether or not to believe what I had said.

  "Look," I said. "If I didn't know him, would I really even bring his name up? Think about it."

  "You could hear us talking?"

  "Of course. You know what we are, right?"

  "I don't know who you two are, or why you know Mr. Foley, but I think it would be best for everyone if you just went home."

  "We don't take too kindly to being threatened," Cliff said.

  "We're just asking if you would please go home. We didn't say anything during the competition, but we're asking now."

  "You were fully capable of seeing that we were in fact leaving when you confronted us."

  "What exactly are you trying to say? Are you looking for an apology?"

  "That would be nice, especially since the lady here knows your leader."

  "Dude, we're not apologizing. No way. This is our territory."

  "If that's the case, then I fully expect all of you to leave us alone every time we come here. Understand?"

  They all clenched their fists. I almost expected them to turn right there.

  "Do we have a deal?" Cliff asked.

  "Fine. Unless we find out that you don't really know Mr. Foley.
"

  "Are you questioning this fine lady?"

  "Let's go, guys." The group of them walked away.

  "What's with Mr. Foley?" Cliff asked.

  "He's the new teacher, the one that I'm TA'ing for."

  "You're a TA for a werewolf?"

  "I didn't know that when I agreed to it. I didn't know the smell any more than you did before today. The only reason I found out was because I followed them into the woods."

  "Why did you follow them into the woods?"

  "I knew something was up. That smell didn't sit right with me, and when his Wilderness Club students were with him, most of them looked at me like they wanted to tear me apart. So I wanted to find out what the club was really all about."

  "What if you would have been bitten alone in the woods?"

  "Wouldn't Brooke's visions have gone off like crazy if that were the case?"

  "They were going off, as you put it, that night, but she couldn't make any sense of it."

  "What do you mean?"

  "She could vaguely see you running, but she couldn't make out anything else. She had no idea where you were, who you were with or anything. She couldn't even hear."

  "I thought that the only time she couldn't hear was when I wasn't in danger."

  "That's because her visions have been so erratic since your transformation."

  "We'd probably better get back to the car so that I can get back home. If we get home too much after Tanner does, I'm probably getting into more trouble. We might not be able to study together."

  "That can't happen. Let's get going."

  SEVENTEEN

  I woke up around 3:00 AM and got up, listening to make sure that my parents or sister weren't up. I had to be extra careful about sneaking out in the mornings while I was grounded. I could hear all of their slow, rhythmic breathing. They were fast asleep. I got dressed and brushed my hair as quietly as possible.

  Clara showed up just as I was getting ready to go through the wall. "Got special plans tonight?"

  "Not really. I just told Tanner that I'd meet him. Even though I'm still annoyed with him."

  "He didn't want to spy on you guys, you know."

  "How do you know that?"

  "I was here when your parents were discussing it with them. But his mom told him that it was the only way that he would be able to get himself out of being grounded. She even threatened to ground him from football if he didn't go."