High School Bites

by Rachael Alcobia

  I had no doubt in my mind who she meant. I probably couldn’t have been more obvious as I ogled him in the middle of class. I wondered if I could even take Simone in a fight, but I wouldn’t do anything unless she attacked me. Even then, I wasn’t sure I would want to get into an altercation with someone who was friends, or maybe more, with Kodi. Then of course I would get into trouble at the group home for fighting at school. Someone in the back of the class burst into giggles and I turned to find a group of students laughing at a piece of paper that Kendra was holding up so everyone could see. It was a picture of the male anatomy written in the invisible ink solution. Mrs. Barrett walked down an aisle of desks and grabbed the paper from Kendra’s hand, causing the girl to glare at the teacher’s back as she returned to the front of the class. From the front row of desks, I watched as Mrs. Barrett brought the paper up to her nose and sniffed it. I looked at Kodi and saw him watching his mother as if he were trying not to return my gaze. Before I could ponder that any further, the teacher’s sharp gaze shot to a football player three desks behind me named Kevin Daniels and said, “I’ll see you after class.”

  Kevin’s thick frame stood up and shouted, “You can’t do that, there’s no way to prove it was me!”

  She smirked back at the red-faced teen and replied, “Who said it had anything to do with the drawing?”

  The class broke into laughter again and the bell rang, causing everyone to disperse. I waited until only Kodi, Kevin and I remained before walking up to Mrs. Barrett. I think I was going to like her. “Mrs. Barrett, I just wanted to say that was an interesting first class. My last science teacher spent the year discussing and diagnosing plants,” I said and gave her a smile. She glanced up from her desk to smile back at me.

  “I’m glad you liked it. Meghan, was it?”

  Wow, that was a good memory.

  “Yeah, just Meg is fine.” Before I turned to exit, her gaze caught the paper in my hand that had Simone’s message on it and asked, “May I?” I handed her the paper and watched for her reaction as she read it and I grew curious when her face hardened, and her eyes darted to Kodi. This time I didn’t turn to look at him and just nodded politely before fleeing to my English class with Ms. Bliss before I died of embarrassment. The lady hated me for no apparent reason. I had her last year as well and even though my work had been better than a few other students’, she still failed me on pretty much every assignment. Jane hated the woman, but what could a group home staff do? The answer: not much. I made up last year’s English credits in summer school with Mr. Peters, my Algebra teacher, and flew through it with no problems. I took a seat in the very back corner of the room so as to attract the least amount of attention possible from the beast that called herself a teacher. Ms. Bliss sat at her desk and I tried not to glare at the woman who reminded me of a much heavier version of Cruella De Vil. I sat through class not really listening to her because I knew she was going to give me a failing grade anyway. Did Mrs. Barrett know that message was about Kodi? If not, why did she immediately look at him? Mentally giving myself a shake, I broke free of my pointless thoughts of Kodi. He was unattainable to me for more than one reason. I just wanted the last period of the day to end so that I could go straight to my after-school job. I worked at the Mountain Falls Veterinary as an assistant to Dr. James Thomas. A brilliant man, he was also Jane’s brother. He always said that I had a gift when it came to animals and I was inclined to believe him. I was rather good when it came to calming animals down, even the injured ones that were perceived as dangerous at the time due to their distress. I could never explain it but when I looked into an animal’s eyes, I could see them. Like, really see them. As if we were the same. I’d probably relate to the animals even more now that I was ailing as well. The hour dragged by slowly but, finally the blessed bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.

  Two

  The vet’s clinic was on the other side of the small town, so I had to use my city bus pass for the ride there. Twenty minutes later found me putting on my blue work vest with my name badge and walking into the back office where I usually found Dr. Thomas. He wasn’t there which meant he was most likely in the exam room already with our first victim of the day. I walked in to find a small, shaggy and unconscious dog getting his male parts neutered, the poor thing.

  “Hello, Dr. Thomas,” I greeted. He looked up for a moment with his surgical tools suspended above the unfortunate canine to smile at me.

  “Hello there, Meghan.”

  “You can’t fool me, I know Jane told you.” I watched the smile transform into a look of sympathy and it annoyed me. “Dr. Thomas, if you’re going to pity anything, it should be the poor mutt you’re currently slicing into.” He gave a chuckle and got back to work. I left him to go back to the office and read the schedule for the day. Two feline spays, and one dog’s eye infection would be on the agenda before the end of my shift. Two surgeries later, I was instilling antibiotic drops into Rex’s eye. The Rottweiler was reluctant to let anyone touch his face, but I looked into his good brown eye and basically tried to telepathically tell him that he would lose his other eye unless he let us treat him. I looked around to make sure I was alone before I gave the top of his head a light scratch and said, “Hey Rex, I’m Meg. If you let me put these drops in your eye, it will heal, and you can probably avoid coming back here. Mind you, the next time, if your owner Tammy brings you back in for your eye, she could just set out to kill two birds with one stone and have you neutered while you’re here. I’m really trying to help you, buddy.” He looked at me as if he knew exactly what I was saying, which would be ridiculous, and he held still while I instilled the two drops.

  I patted his head, “Thank you, Rex.” I expected him to jump off the table but instead he slowly rose to his feet and licked my cheek twice before hopping off and he even waited for me to grab his leash before escorting him back to the waiting room to Tammy.

  She rose with a smile and looked a bit nervous, “Thank you, Meg. He didn’t give you too much trouble, did he?”

  I smiled at her. “He did great, Tammy. Just don’t have him neutered, we kind of made a deal back there.” She shook her head and gave me a look that was a mix of “you’re wonderful” and “you’re crazy”. I’d gotten the look from Jane many times. Tammy and Rex left, and I handed their chart to Dr. Thomas to sign off on. He scrawled his signature and filed the folder away before standing and retrieving his coat from the back of his chair. “I’m headed out for the night, Meghan. Corrine says it’s going to start raining any minute now. Could you lock up for me?” Corrine was his wife and she must have called to warn him because of his car. Dr. Thomas owned a convertible with a cloth top and rain tended to leak through onto his leather seats, so he was no doubt going to try to beat the rain to park it in the garage. It’s happened before. “Sure thing, Dr. Thomas. See you tomorrow.” Thanking me, he clutched his keys between his teeth while he put on his coat and hurried from the building. The sun began to set, and I sat at the desk answering phone calls and editing the week’s schedule for Dr. Thomas. Jane had gotten me this job during the summer because I hated being at the group home after school. At the time, I didn’t know I was sick. A local clinic just told me that I had bad acid reflux, so I amended my diet only to keep having episodes of vomiting, stomach pain and sweats. I was extremely grateful for the distraction of the job and my love for animals made it the perfect job. The girls hated that I had money all the time and it was basically the same issues as when the group home let me save up for Remy. I take a non-drowsy medication for pain and nausea. Though I fought the radiation and chemotherapy, I gave no resistance to the suggestion of the pills. I was even told that I didn’t have to go to school anymore, but I made sure everyone knew that I wanted to keep doing everything as if nothing had changed. Thankfully, nothing had so far. The office was officially closed so I turned the telephone switchboard off so that all the calls during closing hours would go straight to the answering machine. I turned the lights off in
the examination room along with the back office and headed to the front door. Before I touched the lock, the door handle rattled and startled me, causing me to jump a step back. I waited but no one entered. I heard a whine that sounded like a wounded animal and there was no hesitation as I swung the door open to find a large dog in the pouring rain. I looked down at the beige welcome mat on the doorstep that was now stained with blood and gazed into the eyes of the animal, trying to decipher whether or not he would attack if I attempted to help him. How on earth had he known to come here? Maybe he was injured close to here and it was the first door he came across. Either way, he was a smart animal. I slowly reached out a hand and the dog gave my hand a quick sniff before licking it. The dog had no collar and I didn’t want to grab him until I knew where he was injured, so I held the door open for him. “Come on, boy. Can you walk?” The dog limped into the clinic and under the light I could get a closer look at him. I froze. This wasn’t a dog at all. It was a wolf. There shouldn’t be any wolves in this part of town. If there were any at all they’d be in the wooded areas on the north side of Mountain Falls. This wolf was a lot bigger than the ones I’d seen. Refusing to let the distinction between dog and wolf cloud my judgment regarding his care, I searched gently through his fur to find his wounds while he sat quietly. As I did this, I battled with myself on whether or not to call Dr. Thomas. There. The open wound that was bleeding was on his left hip where he must have gotten struck, perhaps by a car? I placed one arm under his chest and another under his lower belly and hefted him onto the exam table.

  “Oh goodness, you’re heavy.” The dog made a small snorting sound at me and I laughed. Under the better lighting, I could see that the cut was about four inches long but under a centimeter deep which was good news. It meant that I didn’t need to call Dr. Thomas because I didn’t need any surgical tools, just some butterfly stitches. I grabbed cleaning supplies and gently blotted the wound clean before cutting a long strip of the tough adhesive. I was incredibly careful to separate his fur before lightly applying the stitches. I finished putting all of the supplies away and came back to my stool to sit and pat the wolf. “See? That wasn’t so bad. You were an exceptionally good sport.” The wolf licked my inner wrist and I continued to pet him. I suddenly realized that I was petting a wolf, which was probably the dumbest thing I’d ever done, but I didn’t care. The wolf heaved a big sigh and just kept his gaze attached to mine. He had beautiful silver eyes and his fur was a dark brown that for some reason reminded me of Kodi’s. That guy really needed to stay out of my thoughts, or I was going to drive myself crazy. I’m guessing at this point that a palm tree might remind me of Kodi as well. I looked at the clock and if I didn’t want to get into trouble with staff, I had to get back home. Worried that I wouldn’t be able to monitor the wolf’s wound, I pondered the possibility of infection. Although the chances were slim, I was determined not to risk it while also refusing to lock him into one of our crates. What could I do? I’m pretty sure even my roommate was smart enough to figure out that a wolf didn’t belong in the group home, especially in our room. I called the only person I could think of. Jane folded her sopping wet umbrella as she walked through the door. “Alright,” she gave a weary sigh, “where is the dog?” I pointed to the wolf resting on the table and her eyebrows rose before she sent a mock glare at me. “Meghan Carter, my brother is a veterinarian. Did you really think I would mistake this for some type of mixed breed?” I gave her an innocent smile and shrugged before she continued her lecture. “That is a wolf, Meg, and I know that working with James would have taught you a thing or two about the differences between dogs, wolves, and coyotes.”

  I lowered my head. She was right, he had. “Will you still take him? Just for the night, I promise.” Giving her my best pout face, I watched her expression for signs of success. Her grim expression watched me back for a moment, and then turned toward the patient who was currently watching the exchange between us. She exhaled sharply, signaling that she had reached her decision. “Alright, Meg. Next time, no bull. You be up front with me. The wolf seems like an ok sort. When I come on shift tomorrow, I’ll let you know how it went. Now come along, I’ll give you a ride back to the house. This is no weather for waiting at bus stops.” I tried to contain my joy but launched at the woman with a hug. “Thank you, thank you!” She laughed and patted me on the back. I grabbed a blanket from a cupboard and after locking up, followed her to her car. I chose to sit in the back seat with the wolf so he would hopefully be more compliant and was surprised when he rested his head on my lap and just lay there staring up at me for the duration of the ride. I got out of the car and when I saw that the wolf intended to follow me, I put a hand up to stop him. “No, boy. Stay here. Jane is going to take you home, just for the night. She’ll let me know that your cut is okay and by morning, you’ll be out traipsing through the woods once more.” He looked at me with something akin to panic and I grew nervous at the prospect of leaving him. I bent down so I was eye level with him and spoke in a soft but firm tone, “Hey. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. You can trust me.” I gave him a soft scratch behind the ear, and I could swear that I saw his eyes calm. He licked my hand and settled back into his seat and I let my surprise show. Gently closing the door, I waved goodbye to Jane and my wolf and…my wolf? When did he become mine? I shook my head and went inside the house. I had missed dinner, but they had left me a plate of food in the microwave. The staff knew I didn’t eat much because of my constant nausea so I was relieved to see that it was just a chicken breast with a small pile of steamed broccoli. I ate half of the chicken and did the dishes for the night that had been waiting for me because the kitchen was my chore of the week. Phil, the overnight staff was on the phone, so I just waved to him on my way to my room. Sarah had fallen asleep with the television on again, so I clicked it off before changing and heading to bed. That night, my dreams had nothing to do with nightmares of hospitals, sickness nor death. They were of my wolf. Yes, he was mine I’d decided, for now at least. I was in the woods with him and it was dark with a mysterious fog surrounding the trees. He seemed different tonight. I studied him and found that his eyes were not silver, but a green brighter than any leaves from the plant life surrounding us could ever hope to be. I looked down at myself to find that I was still wearing the shorts and tank top that I had put on before bed, but I wasn’t cold. I would never be in the woods wearing so few clothing items and though I now knew for sure that I was dreaming, I didn’t snap awake like I did every other time I realized that I was stuck in a dream. I tried to think if that happened only when it was a nightmare, but I couldn’t remember when my last normal dream was. The wolf ducked his head at me and began a slow trot further through the woods, so I began to follow him, surprised that the leaf, rock and stick covered ground didn’t hurt my bare feet. We didn’t walk very far before he stopped in a small clearing and I watched him in expectation. He looked at me and turned his eyes to a stream that ran about twenty feet from us and I saw that there was someone there. Panic caused my heart to beat faster and before I could take off running, my wolf bit the hem of my black shorts and pulled me toward the stranger. I couldn’t explain why I trusted the wolf, but apparently my dream-self did so without hesitation. Letting him pull me steadily toward the man, I got close enough to see that it was Kodi. He looked as bewildered as I did and squinted in the dark at me.

  “It’s you,” he said in surprise. I briefly wondered if the lack of light caused him to falsely recognize me as someone else. Instead of correcting him I asked what should have been obvious.

  “What are you doing in my dream?” I asked.

  He looked taken aback for a moment, before angling his head in a suspicious gesture and he said, “What makes you so sure that it’s yours?” Before I had a chance to think of an answer, the woods began to quake.

  I blinked open my eyes and saw Jane shaking me on the shoulder saying, “Get up for school, Meg. Goodness, you were sleeping like you were drugged. You didn�
�t stay up late, did you?” Still disoriented, I just shook my head and slowly sat up. I scooted up as Jane sat on the end of my bed. She looked like she had bad news and my heart skipped a beat as I remembered my wolf and I grew worried that something had happened to him.

  “I woke up early to check his wounds, and it was the darnedest thing. There was nothing there but dried blood, I couldn’t find a cut there to save my life. Either you put the bandage in the wrong spot, which I doubt, or that little guy heals quickly.” I watched her and knew there was something else. “When I came back downstairs after getting ready for work, he was just gone. I don’t know how he got out, but my back door was just open slightly.” I sighed with relief that the wound had not gotten infected but how had it disappeared altogether? I gave Jane a smile and told her it was alright. I was sure the wolf had gotten back to the woods ok, but I couldn’t help feeling sad that I wouldn’t see him again. Jane also informed me that she’d called Dr. Thomas to let him know all that had happened last night, and he was apparently very proud of me. A few hours later, I was halfway through the school day and had just finished playing with Remy. I wasn’t feeling well today, but I refused to use it as an excuse to go home. I skipped the pool and lunch, instead grabbing a bottle of vitamin water from the snack stand before returning to Remy’s pen. I sat in my usual corner and let Remy crawl over my stretched-out legs to press his wet snout against my cheek before he left to roam the enclosure with Jellybean. Chemistry class wasn’t quite as fun as yesterday, our assignment being to read chapters one and two of our books then write down the definition of each key term. Kodi had not been in Algebra class but he had attended Chemistry and I found it difficult to concentrate on the words in the book with his eyes on me. He was looking at me so intently that I couldn’t tell if I’d done something to offend him or not, for his expression showed no emotions that I could decipher. The staring grew to the point where I was beginning to get angry and would probably have confronted him about his rudeness had the bell not chosen that moment to ring. I took a moment to cool down before standing to put my book back in my bag. Sensing someone standing over me, I looked up to find the teacher standing over me with a polite smile. I glanced behind her to see that Kodi was still at his desk, still watching me with those very green eyes. Mrs. Barrett spoke, drawing my attention back to her.