by Reed, Zoe
“Welcome to true friendship.” Camille laughed and pretended to raise a glass to our accomplishment.
Friendship. I repeated in my mind as I smiled and faked raising a glass back. Something about the word left me disheartened, which in turn made me more confused than anything else. I wanted to be friends with Camille, and I’d wanted to get to the point where she would talk to me comfortably about her deepest secrets. We’d finally reached that stage. So what about the word friendship could possibly disappoint me the way it had? Something about the word reminded me of the girl I’d wanted to ask Camille about.
“Can I ask you something?” I started, unsure of whether or not Camille would be comfortable talking about it. She nodded and waited for me to ask. “I heard from someone about you and this girl from our rival school.”
She studied me for a moment, and then nodded as if she recalled the girl in question. “What about her?”
I hadn’t really considered what exactly I wanted to know, so the question got me confused. “I don’t know. I was just curious.”
“You want to know if it’s true,” Camille stated understandingly, to which I nodded. “Depends on what you heard. It was nothing serious.”
“There was a girl?” Again Camille nodded. “Did you guys?” I stopped, hoping Camille would understand the question without me really having to ask.
She shook her head. “No. We dated for about a week and that’s it.”
I nodded, but wanting more clarification I asked straight out, “You didn’t sleep with her?”
Camille shook her head, and an unexpected blush reddened her cheeks. She grabbed a pillow and stuffed it between her now pulled up knees, resting her chin on the top of it. “Kyla, I’ve never, you know, with anyone.”
“You’re kidding me,” I said as my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe it. Not because I saw Camille as that sort of girl, but she was so attractive that she had to have more than enough options if she wanted them. It was that she didn’t want them that surprised me. “Is that a werewolf thing?”
“Oh, no. Werewolves in general are pretty lusty.” Camille laughed and shook her head earnestly. “But it is in the wolf genes to mate for life. I guess I just never saw the point in it if she wasn’t the one.”
I nodded in understanding. I admired that about Camille. It was a tough feat to stick to those kinds of ideals, especially at our age. “But how do you know if someone’s the one?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, giving a small, dreamy smile. “Call me a romantic, but I think when I meet her, I’ll just know. Right away.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her optimism. We hadn’t known each other for long, but I wanted Camille to be happy. I could make her happy. I kept from raising an eyebrow at myself. That thought was out of place, but even though we were just friends, if I liked girls I knew I could make Camille happy, and some girl would be lucky to have her one day.
Not knowing what else to say on the topic I changed the subject. “Silver can really kill werewolves?” When I found out about Camille’s family, I’d assumed most of the stuff from the movies was Hollywood fiction. Apparently I was mistaken.
“Yep.” Camille nodded and unconsciously looked at her hand where she had gripped the silver fork earlier that night. The skin on her fingers was a little more pink than usual, like it was slightly irritated. I was shocked at that, considering how fast she said werewolves heal. “It’s kind of like an allergy. If it touches our skin too long it will blister a lot like a burn, nothing permanent. But if we eat it or it gets into our bloodstream it could be fatal.”
“What else from movies is true?” I asked. I heard someone walk by my door and put my finger over my mouth in a shushing motion, lest whoever it was should hear us talking about werewolves. Camille laughed at me but waited patiently until I was satisfied they were just passing by. “What about super smell and stuff?”
“Super smell?” she repeated with a chuckle. “Yeah, I have a really good sense of smell.”
“How good?” I challenged, curious about just how good was really good.
Camille closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath through her nose. “I can smell the spearmint gum you have in your backpack.” She pointed to my school bag in the corner of the room. “I can also tell that somebody’s in the shower across the hall. Washing their hair with the same fruity shampoo that you use.”
My jaw dropped in surprise. That was really good. Camille looked so normal, but nobody that was less than extraordinary could do that. Then I thought about who could be using the shower. My brother Scott was the only one who showered at night. “That jerk! I knew he was using my soap!” Camille laughed and shrugged, not knowing what to say. “That’s incredible. What about hearing?”
“Yeah I guess I can hear pretty good.” Camille shrugged like her abilities were nothing exciting, even though I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. “My hearing isn’t as good as my smell, but I can hear a lot if I try to.”
“What can you hear now?” I asked, extremely curious how far Camille’s talents could go, and just how well she’d heard my phone conversation.
Camille closed her eyes again and to help her concentrate I held as still and quiet as I could. After a few seconds she started tapping her hand in a steady rhythm against her knee. “Your heart.”
In the silence I could feel my heart beating, but I couldn’t even come close to hearing it. I grinned and shook with an excitement that was hard to contain. “That is so awesome!”
Another shrug as she tried to play it off, but her cheeks tinted red and she smiled a shy smirk. “Yeah, it’s pretty nice.”
“Did I ever tell you I saw your picture at the dental office?” I asked, and grinned as Camille covered her face with her hands.
“No you didn’t. That wasn’t me.” She took her hands from her face and set her mouth in a serious, straight line.
I almost fell for it before I remembered the picture exactly. It was definitely her. “Liar! I don’t know why you’re embarrassed about it, you were so cute!” Camille rolled her eyes as if to say yeah right, but smiled delightedly. “Did you guys have braces or what?”
For the rest of the night we talked until we were each too tired to hold ourselves in a sitting position. At which point we lay facing each other from opposite ends of the bed and talked until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. In the middle of the night I woke up shivering, but there was no way I could get under the covers without waking up Camille. So instead I scooted closer to the warm werewolf until our backs were pressed together, and then fell back asleep. The next morning the alarm woke me up, and I almost fell over when I got up to turn it off, my legs sore from hanging over the end of the bed all night. Hitting the ‘off’ button I looked around the house for Camille, who I eventually found downstairs in the kitchen.
“Pancakes?” she asked, smiling when I walked in. She held a spatula in one hand and the pan in another. All she was missing was an apron that said ‘kiss the chef’.
I sat at the kitchen island and yawned as she placed a plate in front of me. “Chocolate chip?” She nodded, put the pan in the sink and sat down across from me with only a glass of orange juice. “Aren’t you going to have some?”
“I already had like eight of them.” Camille laughed as she took a sip of her drink. I raised my eyebrows in shock. The pancakes weren’t small, and I myself would only be able to polish off two. “We eat a lot.”
After nodding in understanding, I forked in a mouthful and leaned back blissfully. “Oh my God, best pancakes ever,” I praised with my mouth full.
“Thanks,” Camille smiled happily, gulping down more juice.
“What time did you get up?” I asked, stuffed my mouth with another bite, and rolled my eyes in euphoria.
She glanced at the clock on the stove. “Around five I think. Your dad and uncle were down here getting ready for work and I couldn’t get back to sleep.”
I nodded, and enjoying my breakfast too
much for words, finished it, happily patting my stomach before I spoke again. “Are you spending the night again tonight?”
Camille laughed and teased, “Why, you want me to cook for you again tomorrow?”
I smiled but shook my head. “I was just wondering.”
“No, I have patrol tonight. Tomorrow night too.”
“What about tomorrow day?” I asked thoughtfully, and she shook her head again. “Then can you come over before you have patrol?”
“Why? What’s up?” Camille finished the rest of her orange juice and got up to set the cup in the sink.
I got up to put my empty plate in as well and then turned to lean against the counter. Camille’s eyes lifted to meet my own as I turned, as if she had been looking me up and down. The thought was amusing and I would have teased her about checking me out, but I couldn’t be sure that’s what had happened, so I ignored it.
“I’ve got to bake some cookies for history. We’re having a first day of fall party or something like that. I was wondering if you could help me?” I asked with the cutest smile I could manage. “Since I can’t cook for the life of me.”
“Yeah, I can do that, but I have to be out of here by seven. Julian will have my head if I’m late for patrol,” she told me, to which I exaggeratedly nodded my head in understanding. “How come you get to have a party? We never did that in history.”
I laughed and shrugged. “I don’t think Mr. O’Leery likes teaching at all, so he uses any excuse he can to get out of it.” I watched Camille make an ‘oh that makes sense’ face. “Okay, I’m going to get dressed so we can leave.” With that I headed back up the stairs to change while Camille waited patiently for me in the kitchen.
As I finished dressing and looked myself over in the mirror I couldn’t help but wonder if Camille had really been checking me out. It was rather flattering if she was. But wouldn’t most girls be uncomfortable if their lesbian friend was doing the exact same thing? Why wasn’t I weirded out? Because Camille is different, that’s why. But what was different about her? I shook the thoughts away as I looked myself over again. Those kinds of questions were territory I didn’t want to catch myself in. It was something I didn’t want to think about.
When we pulled into the school parking lot thirty minutes later, a small pinch of nervousness rooted itself in my stomach with the reminder of my classes. Fourth period was chemistry, and the thought of being around Jonathan without Camille there was terrifying. I pushed the thought away and switched out some books in my backpack for the ones I needed in my locker. Once my locker was closed, instead of saying bye and leaving for class, I waited for Camille to finish getting the books she needed. I didn’t usually wait for her to be done, but this time it seemed like the right thing to do. We did come to school together in the first place.
She closed her locker and smiled at me, and then turned the direction of my first class. “I’m a little nervous about seeing Jonathan today,” I confessed to the girl, who now walked beside me down the hall.
“You’ll be okay,” Camille told me with a confident and comforting smile. As we came to a turn in the hall I expected her to say bye and keep going straight, but instead she turned with me to walk me to class. “Just act normal and he won’t be able to tell you know anything.”
I smiled to a guy in one of my classes who passed us by and waved at me, and then sighed as my thoughts returned to Jonathan. “I hope so. I don’t think he’d be happy if he knew I teamed up with you guys.” When Camille raised a curious eyebrow at the tone of my statement, I felt I had to give an explanation. “He asked me on a date last week.”
We stopped outside of my classroom and I could see Camille’s jaw clench angrily. Because Jonathan had asked me out? She was probably just being protective. When she still didn’t say anything I dropped my jaw, faking shock, and took a sarcastic breath. Since I truly believed she had been checking me out this morning, I couldn’t pass up another opportunity to tease. “You’re jealous aren’t you?”
Camille opened her mouth and shut it like she was looking for something to say. After a few seconds of silence she chuckled, smiled and took a step back as she started to leave. “I got to get to class. See you at lunch.”
“Yeah, yeah get out of here,” I laughed and turned to enter my own class. I didn’t know what that chuckle was all about, but at least she didn’t seem to take the accusation too seriously.
“Kyla,” a short, thin brunette said as she followed me to my seat and sat in the desk next to mine.
“Sarah.” I turned and smiled in response as I set my backpack on the floor and took my book out.
“What are you doing this weekend?” the girl asked excitedly, pulling self-consciously at her too-short cheerleading skirt so it would cover more of her thighs.
I looked toward the ceiling thoughtfully. For some reason I felt like something important was happening this weekend. Oh yeah, Aaron. “Um, my boyfriend is coming into town. Why?” The bell rang for the start of class and the girl stood up to go to her normal seat a few rows over.
“Party at my house on Saturday night. I’ll text you the address later?”
I smiled and nodded. Parties weren’t high on my to-do list, and I hadn’t yet been to one the whole time I’d been in high school, though it was mostly because I always had too many chores. I started to wonder if it was anything like in the movies. From what Aaron had described about his recent activities it sounded like he’d been going to a lot of parties, so I might as well go and see what all the hype was about.
***
The thought of Jonathan had successfully been pushed away until I was confronted by it on my way to chemistry. Since we weren’t doing a lab that day he was already at his desk in the middle of the room when I walked into class a few minutes before the bell rang. As a werewolf and since Camille told me his real age, I couldn’t imagine he really had any interest in schooling, and it didn’t seem like he’d been going to any other classes. The only reason he would be here today, especially after what had happened, was to see how I felt about it.
He stared at me, unwavering, as I made my way across the room to my seat near the front of class. “Hi.” He had made his way up and sat in a desk next to me. While he turned toward me his gaze remained fixed on my face, studying me keenly. “How you doing?”
I glanced up awkwardly, looking around the room, at his desk, toward the door, anywhere but into his eyes. “I’m fine.”
“You’re friends with Camille?” he asked monotonously.
It was surprising to me how his attitude could have gone from having a crush on me a couple days before, to the trace of hostility in his voice. It made me wonder if he really did have a crush on me, or just known I was friends with Camille all along and was trying to use me for whatever evil plan he had. At least that’s what I would have thought, if out of the corner of my eye I couldn’t see him continuously looking me up and down. He still found me attractive, only now, though I didn’t know for sure, he saw me as an enemy by association. The polite Jonathan was gone. Now he was just watching me with a lustful eye, and combined with his perceived hostility toward me, I couldn’t deny it frightened me.
“Um, I guess I know her. We just have a class together.” I remained facing the front of the room as I could feel him studying me. Pull yourself together, Kyla. In an effort to rid the growing nausea in my stomach I took a deep breath, willing myself to stay strong under that spiteful glare.
He leaned forward, putting an arm on my desk and getting into my face, forcing me to make eye contact. “She thinks I stole her mp3 player. Threatened to smash my car windows if I didn’t give it back.”
That’s what he wanted. As his eyes scanned my face after everything he said I realized that he was gauging my reactions, testing my knowledge, trying to find out what I knew. So far I didn’t think he knew the extent of my relationship with Camille. The sudden remembrance of him wanting to turn me into a werewolf and punching Camille caused an angry heat to flare in my
chest. Gaining a spark of courage I turned to look directly into his eyes, and as he leaned back I leaned forward.
“She hadn’t mentioned it.” The testy tone of my voice made him smirk, and without saying anything he got up and walked back to his desk.
I turned forward and took another deep breath. I couldn’t tell if I’d given anything away or not. He seemed neither frustrated nor satisfied with our conversation. Despite my best efforts to pay attention in class, I couldn’t shake that intimidating gaze I felt boring into my back. The entire time I could feel him staring at me. It took every ounce of restraint not to give him any satisfaction in making me uncomfortable, but I had to fidget, shake my leg, stretch, anything to feel free of that awful scrutiny.
Finally freed by the bell, I all but ran out of the room, but it still didn’t liberate me from worry. For the rest of the day I was plagued by doubt at how I’d dealt with the situation. The only thing that would make me feel better would be talking to Camille, and the day passed agonizingly slowly until sixth period, where I was forced to stare at Camille’s back until the very end.
“I thought the day would never be over,” I complained when we finally left class together, turning down the hall our lockers were in.
“Yeah, it has been a long day,” Camille agreed nodding, and yawned. I felt bad that she wasn’t sleeping as much because she was always out patrolling. It couldn’t help having to be at school first thing in the morning either.
“Jonathan talked to me in chemistry.” I watched her face twist in a flash of anger again, but I couldn’t say I minded it. Having someone care that much made me feel more involved in the werewolves’ affairs than I really was.
She clenched her jaw like she had earlier this morning, and took a deep breath before responding. “What did he say to you?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “But I think he was trying to figure out how much I knew about what happened yesterday. He fed me some crap about you thinking he stole your mp3 player. Now that I know the truth about him, he’s actually kind of really creepy.”
