by Yara Gharios
We’re already an hour late because she took her sweet time pulling out of bed and getting dressed. Our parents gave her a good scolding, but she responded with an indifference that puzzled even them. I have no idea what to say to make her feel better, and now we’re going to be late for first period.
Cade squeezes my hand from the driver’s seat, silently telling me to drop it. But it’s not in my nature to let things go; I’m headstrong, and when I set my mind to something, I don’t stop till it's done. And I can't watch my sister be miserable without trying to cheer her up.
"Zo, I just want to know what to I can do," I insist. "How can I help if I don’t know what’s bothering you?"
"God, you’re relentless! I don’t want your help," she snaps. "All you’re doing right now is annoying me more."
I’m shocked into silence for a moment. Zoey has never yelled at me before. We may have our differences but she is my sister, my only full sibling. Our mother got engaged to our stepfather Joseph when Zoey was in the womb. They knew each other years before that, although she never knew he was a werewolf until after Trent died and they fell in love. Zoey was born a couple of months before they were married.
Joe is a pretty amazing father, and Zack is the funniest little brother ever, but there's still a bond that only Zoey and I have due to us sharing a biological father. I may be difficult at times, but we’ve always been able to get along in spite of that. Whatever is bothering her must be more serious than I thought.
She takes advantage of my shocked silence to block me out by plugging her earphones in and playing music on her phone, loudly. This is the first barrier she's ever placed between us. I’m hurt by this. For obvious reasons, she and I never had friends we could share everything with, so we always confided in each other.
"Don’t take it personally, Sade," Cade tells me. "Listen to your parents’ advice; give her time. She’ll come around on her own."
I sigh in surrender. "I don’t like feeling useless."
"I know," he says. "But I think this is one of those times where you have to learn not to push her."
I nod wordlessly. I’ll live with Zoey’s silence, but I definitely won’t like it.
"Hey," Cade calls my attention. I look at him. He’s still driving, but his eyes are on me, and his entire face is smiling. "I love you."
My heart flutters happily hearing the words, and I beam. I’m still not used to the effect he has on me, or how deep my feelings for him are. It always takes me by surprise that I can still smile like an idiot whenever he tells me he loves me, even though I have been hearing it for years now.
I say it back to him, knowing he likes hearing it as much as I do. When I first said it, he was shocked for a whole minute. Initially, I thought he didn’t feel the same, because I was the first to say it. But it was just because he was happy, and it was proven when he smiled wider than he ever had before and kissed me for the first time.
Sometimes, I can’t believe my luck. I’ve always been mesmerized by him; he’s a natural born protector, and I’ve always felt safe with him. It took me years to get the guts to finally tell him how I feel, even before having any certainty that he would feel the same way. It turned out even better than I imagined. His only flaw is that he gets jealous easily, and when he is, he becomes over-protective. He’s not controlling or anything, but he gets irrationally angry and possessive, and threatens whoever he’s jealous of. It’s kind of hot to think about, sometimes.
Minutes later, we get to the school. It’s very orderly looking, with surrounding brick walls that make it resemble a military academy. As soon as Cade stops the car, Zoey rushes out in a direction I’m sure won’t lead her to her classroom, but I don’t say anything about it.
"See you after you’re done," he tells me.
I lean over to kiss him. It’s a quick peck, but it has a little stomach-flipping impact. When I start to pull back, he suddenly holds my waist and pulls me to him again. This kiss is more passionate, and I’m immediately lost in him, tangling my hands in his hair and pressing my body into his. Images of this morning flash in my mind, and I start to feel hot.
He pulls away after several seconds. I take a moment to catch my breath, resting my forehead against his with my eyes closed.
"What was that for?" I breathe out.
"My way of saying good luck," he says back hoarsely.
Somehow, I doubt it. This is what he usually does when he’s jealous, in front of the guy he's jealous of. But there’s no one to make him feel that way here, so I can’t really make sense of why he would do this now. I don’t question it, though. I can’t complain when he kisses me like that. I can’t do anything other than wonder when he will do it again.
With effort, I remove myself from him and get out the door. I walk up the steps of the building slowly, forcing my heartbeat to calm down. Once at the top, I turn around and wave at him, and then he pulls out of the school’s parking lot.
Just as I predicted, I’m late for class. The hallways are completely empty. I take out the piece of paper where I wrote my classes. Unfortunately, I’ve never been in this building, which means I have no idea where the classrooms are. There aren’t any students for me to ask, and I have no idea where the administrative office is, either. Looks like I’m going to have to walk around to find my way.
I sense that this might take a while, so I take out my iPod and plug the earphones in, playing whatever song was on last. Then I start walking. The rooms are labeled, which is lucky for me, but I don’t see the one I’m looking for. However, I do find a pattern, and I presume that I’m supposed to go to another building, to the second floor. There are only two others, thankfully, so it will be easy to deduce which is the right building.
The one I go in first turns out to be the right now, and I smile in victory, although I might have already been smiling anyway, since my good mood hasn’t died down. I find the cafeteria on the first floor, which means I won’t have trouble finding it during lunchtime. On the second floor, I also find the girls’ bathroom just at the end of a hall.
Right as I’m turning the corner, I collide against someone coming from around the hall. My bag and books drop from my arms. The other person staggers while I yell in surprise and almost fall, if not for the fact that whoever it is grabs my arm to steady me.
"Whoa," I say. "Thanks."
The other person is not much taller than I am, so I don’t need to look up to get a look of his face. It’s a boy, around my age, which is kind of hidden by his baby features, but it’s obvious that he’s older than he seems at first sight. He stares at me with puzzlement as I pick up my stuff.
"Hello?" I say. "Are you alright?"
At the sound of my voice, he jumps a little. "Yeah, I'm fine," he says dismissively.
There’s a strange quality to his voice that makes him sound young. He clears his throat and speaks again, with more politeness this time, since the first time, he sounded kind of rude.
"Sorry about running into you like that."
That’s a bit better. I pause my iPod and tuck it with my earphones into my back pocket. Still giddy from Cade’s kiss, I smile widely at him
"It's okay," I assure him. "It's partly my fault; I didn't think anyone would be here, so I just amped up the volume."
He seems surprised by how casually I’m talking to him. This is how I usually am with everyone, even new people I meet, but it’s kind of amplified because I’m in a good mood right now.
I chuckle. "What? Not used to having pretty girls talking to you?"
He grins to one side. "Actually, I'm used to pretty girls nagging until my ears bleed, so this is a nice change, hearing an apology for once."
The joke takes me by surprise, and I laugh louder than I intended. Then I remember we’re in a deserted hallway, and if someone walks over, they’ll think we’re skipping class. In a childish moment, I clamp my hands over my mouth.
The guy seems amused by my reaction. "You can stop suffocating yourself; I don't thin
k you're in danger of being heard here."
Pretending to be suspicious, I narrow my eyes. His easy-going manner is encouraging, and I find myself joking back effortlessly. "So you plan on torturing me where no one can hear me scream?"
"Oh, I don't need to torture you," he says, his face completely normal. "You're going to tell me all your secrets without me doing anything about it."
One of my eyebrows shoots up. "Really? How do you figure that's going to happen?"
He taps the side of his finger against his lips and whispers, "It's a secret."
When I laugh this time, I don’t hold it in. I’m enjoying myself too much. I extend my hand out toward him. "I'm Sadie."
Smiling back, he shakes it. "Dylan," he says, and then seems to backtrack. "But everyone calls me Michael."
His reaction puzzles me. The names have nothing to do with each other. "Why?"
"That's my first name," he explains. "Dylan's my middle name."
"Then why did you say Dylan first?" I wonder.
He shrugs, looking at a loss himself. "I don't know," he admits.
I stare at him for a moment, trying to make sense of his character. Then I do what I always end up doing; I roll with it. "Alright, well that's what I'll call you," I decide. "So what are you doing out in the hallways during class, Dylan?"
Falling back into a light mood, he grins. "Why? Are you going to rat me out?"
I make a sound of mock-indignation. "For your information, I have a very valid excuse for being here at this time."
"And what's that?" he humors me.
"I was lost."
Dylan is surprised at first, but then he realizes that I’m new, and that it’s normal for me to be lost.
"Maybe I can help you," he suggests. "Where are you going?"
"I’m not really lost anymore," I tell him. "It’s not hard to conclude where each classroom is. I’m going to BA217."
"That’s not far from mine," he reveals. "Why don’t we walk together?"
I smile. "Sure, Dyl. Thanks."
The nickname takes him by surprise. "You're calling me Dyl now?"
I begin walking in step with him, a smug smile on my face. "Yes, I am. You better get used to it."
He seems really cool, and I really want to have at least one good friend here. Even if I won't be able to tell him all my deep dark secrets, I'd still like the company.
"I have a feeling I'm going to have to," he plays along.
I sure hope so, I think.
Chapter 5
Michael
It took me a while to figure out what’s odd about Sadie. When I first bumped into her in the hallway, I was worried she was a teacher, or worse, the principal. But then I looked closely and realized she was definitely a student. Probably my age or a year younger.
She's beautiful, too, which is all natural; big brown-colored doe eyes, long dark hair almost reaching her waist, a heart-shaped face with round cheeks and cute features. She's almost my height and seems pretty athletic. She was dressed very simply, in dark jeans, a white flowing shirt and flats, which I found reassuring, for some reason. At least she's not a walking candy stick like some others.
But then it registered what's strange about her, and the reflexive question I was about to ask her to make sure she was fine died in my throat; she gave off a werewolf scent. Not just any kind of scent, the kind I only come across on people like Marianna and Andrea, and sometimes, to my horror, on My mom.
People around us obviously catch a part of our scent on their skin and clothes, but to leave a mark this strong requires direct exposure to a werewolf for several hours, with skin to skin contact included. And from the smell of her, Sadie's had plenty of that this morning. It wasn't any of my brothers' scent, which can only mean one thing; she knows one the werewolves from the other pack very intimately.
I'm used to forcing people out of my way without thinking twice about it, but I needed to find out more about this other pack, so I made an effort to be nice to her. It worked, she even smiled, and not the flirty kind that makes me nauseous or the polite kind that is to be expected between strangers. An honest to goodness smile, like we're old friends suddenly meeting up again. From there, we seemed to click.
I was surprised when she said she was lost. Then it registered that she might be someone's mate, and if so, if she came with the pack, she's probably new. Completely ignoring the fact that she might very possibly be aware of the existence of werewolves, I wondered how anyone could transfer schools so late into the semester. I guess if you're an old pack that has connections in the area, you can have anything you want.
While we walked to class, I barely learned anything substantial, other than the fact that she's a senior and she just moved here with her family. I do learn, however, that the move is permanent, which I accept calmly and without overreacting this time.
By the time we’re going our separate ways to our classrooms, I’ve pushed aside the fact that she’s from another pack and decided to just enjoy her company. Sadie's kind of fun to be around, and I really hope I meet her again.
And I do, at lunch. While I join my brother and his friends, I notice her sitting two tables away with a couple of other girls I've seen around school before. I know the kind of backstabbing people they are, and from the look on Sadie's face, she's realized that too, so I decide to come to her rescue.
"Hey," I say when I'm close enough.
She looks up and a relieved expression crosses her face when she sees me. "Hi Dyl!"
"Want to have lunch together?" I suggest.
She nods at the same time that the one of the other girls starts gushing. "Oh, my God, for reals?"
I give her a stone-cold stare. "I wasn't talking to you."
The girl looks confused. "What?"
I roll my eyes and turn my back on them. "Come on, Sadie."
Danny's friends are staring with their eyes bugging out of their sockets when I casually sit at their table with Sadie next to me. I exchange a quick look with Daniel, and I can tell he's caught the remaining traces of werewolf scent on her. His expression is quizzical, but I give an imperceptible shake of the head to let him know that I would explain later.
"This is Sadie; she's new," I simply tell everyone.
"Hey, guys!" Sadie greets them all brightly, not the least bit fazed.
"Hi, Sadie. I'm Nell. It's so nice to meet you," Nell replies a little too cheerfully. I recognize something devious in her eyes.
"You too," Sadie answers genuinely.
"So how do you know Michael?"
Sadie quickly recounts how we met before asking the others for their names. When it's Danny's turn, I step in to add how we're related, and she seems to find that interesting. For some reason, when people hear the word "twins", they automatically expect two people physically identical. When I say that's what Daniel and I are, some get surprised, since we look nothing alike except for our hair color. Sadie is the exception to that, because her surprise is due to an entirely different reason.
"Twins?" she repeats excitedly. "That's awesome! My boyfriend Cade has younger brothers who are twins, and they’re identical."
"We have an older set of twin brothers, too, and they're identical," I share.
Her eyes widen in shock. "Four boys? Wow, holidays must be interesting for you guys."
"Actually, there's five of us," Danny informs her.
If possible, her shock increases. "Five boys? My God, your mom must be one tough cookie."
Danny and I laugh together. "Oh, she is," I assure her. "I mean, there's also Dad in the picture. With that many guys around, she's bound to be tough, and she's kind of scary sometimes, but she's still very gentle and motherly."
Sadie smiles softly. "Sounds like you guys care a lot about each other."
It makes me uncomfortable how girly the conversation is becoming, so I put on an indifferent mask and just shrug.
Danny comes to my rescue. "We're family," is his explanation.
"Oh yeah; I don't kno
w any family that's closer to each other than the Connollies," Nell interjects. "They've been here for like, forever, and they always do everything together."
How would you know? I want to snap at her.
"My family's like that, too; we've always been there for each other," Sadie says, her voice taking on a very affectionate tone. "I mean, we may seem a bit crazy to people who don't know us, especially since there's a whole bunch of us, but anyone can feel the love and loyalty between everyone."
Neither Danny nor I miss the loud clues she's giving; she's definitely a werewolf's mate, and from the way she described it, it sounds like she's been living with them for quite a while.
"So what's it like living with a big family?" Nell asks, obviously forcing interest.
"Insane," Sadie replies with a grin on her face. "I mean, there's my immediate family; my parents and my little brother and sister. But a lot of my dad's family has also been around since I was three, and a lot of friends too. We'd always go to each other's houses and stuff, until it got to a point where it felt like we were all living together."
"Wait," Nico suddenly pipes up, breaking off my confused thoughts about Sadie's childhood and family. "Are you the guys that just moved in?"
"Yeah, actually," she confirms, sounding surprised. "How do you know about that?"
"I saw the U-Hauls yesterday," he replies.
"Wait, that's your family?" Danny asks with fake curiosity.
She nods. "Yeah."
"Didn't you say there was thirty-five of them, Nico?" Nell asks.
"We're eleven," Sadie corrects her. "At least, that’s how many there are in my family, under one roof."
"Whoa," Brad finally speaks.
"Why did you all move in at the same time?" Nell wants to know.
Sadie starts to look uncomfortable at the other girl's prying questions. "Originally, the place we moved into belongs to us, so technically, we're moving back."
"Still, I mean..."
I cut her off right there. "Back off Nell. It's none of our business."
