I don't own Wolfbloods, Debbie Moon and the other writers and producers do.
Warning. I have always thought the characters were older than fourteen, so I wrote them how I imagined that they would act, just sixteen. Yes, this means snogging and swearing. Wolfblood is a kids TV show, and nothing like that would be included, so I did that here. I altered some of their interactions and created new ones.
Maddy's dialect: My is me; me, us; us, we; we, our, and our, oor. I won't use it all the time, because Maddy doesn't, but I'll try to keep it consistent.
This is kind of a stream of conscious, first person point of view sort of thing of the series. Each chapter is based off an episode, with some alterations, and extensions. It's the first time I've written like this, so any corrections or advice would be appreciated. I don't have a beta, and do all of my corrections as I write.
Wolf, alone
I wonder how long this will last? If I was lucky, it will be a few months. I made my way through the school, looking for room number 17, and entered the room.
The teacher was a middle aged man, with greying hair. "Welcome aboard. My name is Mr. Jeffries. I'm your head of year as well as your form tutor, so you will be seeing a lot of me over the next year. Everyone! This is Rhydian Morris who, I am guessing, is from Wales."
Three more students walked in while Mr. Jeffries was talking, a black boy, a red head girl, and a pretty brunette.
I had turned to face the class. The classroom looked like every other classroom in existence, desks in rows, the whiteboards, the teacher's desk up in front. The students didn't change, either, as there were the popular girls, gossiping to each other, the jock boys, talking about the most recent football game, and the nerds, sitting quietly, waiting for class to start.
"No." I glared quickly at the teacher, and then turned back to face the front.
"Ok, he's not from Wales, ok. Sue me." The brown-haired girl that was still standing, talking to her friends, from the looks of it.
"Baa, baa... Baa..," called one of the boys.
"Quiet, everyone," Mr Jeffries tried to call the class to order.
She turned to me. "You smell like my parents," she said, sounding very serious, and very weird. Everyone started laughing, and I couldn't tell if it was at her, or me, or both.
"Maddy, Maddy, sit down, thank you. Rhydian, you too." The weird girl sat down, still staring at me.
"Baa, baa," the boy continued, and Mr Jefferies called out, "Quiet everyone. Quiet!", still attempting to control the class. I started walking towards an empty seat.
"Jennie." "Wake up." At the sound of her name being called, and a nudge from her friend, a girl jerked awake. I went past them, and drew nearer these three girls, the ones that I could tell would be the pretty, vapid ones. They were all looking at me, and I focused on going towards an empty seat in the back.
"James. James. If I hear one more sheep noise coming from the back of the class. you will regret it."
The brown-haired girl, Maddy, was still staring at me, all throughout class.
As I hurried down the stairwell, trying to find my next class, and avoid being late on my first day, the weird girl came down and cornered me.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded angrily, blocking me from moving further along the stairs.
"What?" I questioned, confused, lost in a new school. "I'm looking for the physic -" "No, here, on out territory. Don't you know the rules?" What the hell is she talking about? Territory? Rules?
"You can't stay here. If me mam and dad get a sniff of you." "I don't even know you." Sniff me out, who does she think I am, and just who is this crazy girl, telling me what to do? Territory? Smelling? What is she on about?
"Exactly." What? What does that mean? "I don't care whose territory it is. I'm not sticking around, anyway. I mean, why would I, in this dump." Some of the anger leaves her face, allowing me to relax a little. "But no smelly girl tells me when to stay or go." I wanted to make it clear that she wasn't in control of me, no one was. I pushed past her, eager to be away from a girl that is clearly insane.
A break, finally. The classes were all on different subjects than my previous school, and joining three weeks after the start of the term. I just want the day to be over. I'm still tired from last night. I can hear that weird girl talking to her friends about me, all upset that I called her smelly.
I shook my head, removing her from my thoughts, and focused on my sketch of a wolf. I brought out my charcoal pencil and two smudgers, and started from where I had left off earlier, with shading the leftmost tree.
"Wow, that looks incredible," a boy behind me said. I didn't care to look and see who it was. And now that he came and started talking to me, I can't work. What does he want?
"You're really good, you know." Why are you here? Go back to your weird friends. Deciding that he wasn't going to leave, I turned toward him. Recognizing him as the black boy from Mr Jeffries class, and friends with the weird, smelly girl, I asked him pointedly, "What do you want?" Just tell me, and then leave me in peace.
"Just wanted to know if you liked football."
"Not really." Now please leave, I want to get back to my food, and my sketching.
"Because, you know, it's a really good way to make friends." Why won't he leave? I'd best make him, then.
"I don't like football, and I don't want to hang around with you and your weirdo mate. You got that?" Leave. Me. Alone. I turn back to my sketchbook, and hear him say "Yeah, I got that."
Finally, I can sketch, in peace. When will today be over.
"Obviously they don't teach manners in Wales." I'm not Welsh. Do not hit annoying boy. I would have been a little nicer if you hadn't come over and started annoying me. I'm going to ignore him, and his weird friends. Shaking my head to remove him from my thoughts, I focus on my drawing again, wanting the break to be over.
Ignore the annoying people. Today is almost over. I hope there's some meat in my dinner, but it's doubtful, as the Vaughns are vegetarians. All I had was a stick of celery and some more vegetables with what looked like hummus. I need to find a way to eat some meat, I can't live off of vegetables. Ignore the annoying people. I could feel the heat rising inside me, as I grew more irritated and angry. Do not hit the annoying people. Do not hit - fine, I'm going to hit him, and enjoy it.
I threw the celery of the annoying boy, Jimi. He turned and started to walk toward me.
"Got a problem, Bleat boy?" He came up to me, and shoved me, so I pushed him down, grasping him by the front of his shirt, and growling. I can feel the anger pull more fiercely at me, trying to take over.
I noticed the veins on the back of my hand were turning black, and in shock, I released Jimi. I could hear someone approaching, and Mr. Jefferies' voice called out, "What on earth is going on here?" Maddy then grabbed me from behind, muttering a quick "Come on," and being too stunned to move, allowed her. I could see Mr. Jeffries stalking toward the group, continuing his inquiry into what was happening "Huh?"
Maddy turned and locked the door of the darkroom."What are you doing? Get out, you have to get out." I was backing away from her, and the door putting as much distance between my secret and the world. I can feel the anger pulling at my veins, and I felt hot all over. I could feel a Change coming. I backed into a bookcase, and it collapsed on me. "Argh!"
I was now trapped! I need to get out! I shoved the bookcase off of me, but it was too late, I couldn't stop the Change. "I'm so sorry." I was sorry that she was going to see this, and was going to either get bitten or killed. I changed, and she looked scared. She was backing away from me, slowly. I need to escape, I need to get out, before I hurt her! I jumped past her, toward what looked like the safety of an area underneath a table.
Maddy started moving towards me. I growled at her, hoping to get her to stop it, but she didn't listen. She kept moving towards me, so I snarled at her, and tried to escape, jumping up onto the tables against the wall, knocking over the one I had hidden under in the process. As I ran over the tables, I knocked stuff off of them, making loud noises as they fell.
Maddy stepped forward, and I started to growl again. She began to kneel down on one leg, lowering her arm at the same time, and as she did, I grew calmer. When she was fully on the ground, I sat, wondering what she would do next. When she raised her head, her eyes were glowing yellow. She's like me! I'm not the only one! She's like me!
As I was swept with relief, I Changed back. She started cleaning up the room that she had shoved us in. I was too excited to help. I needed to tell her how amazing this was, I thought I was the only one.
"I knew there was something about you. But when your eyes went - it's true isn't it? You're like me. You're like me." She turned towards me, furious. "I'm not like you. I don't show off, pick fights, invade other pack's territory. You're a danger to us all." She started to move towards me.
There's packs of people like us? "And the sooner you leave the better." Is she threatening me? Just then, the black boy from earlier entered the room, looking at the mess I had caused due to my panic. The red headed girl followed behind him, asking cautiously, "What happened in here?" Knowing that I couldn't answer, I just started to leave, feeling guilty, and alone.
They moved to stop me from leaving, but I wasn't really listening to them at this point, but one thing that Maddy said pierced through the haze and struck me to my core. "Let him go. He doesn't belong here." I turned slightly, catching a glimpse of her face, still furious.
Another place where I can't leave, or stay. Brilliant. It's just a matter of time before I get chucked out of the Vaughns as well. I can't stay here. I need to run.
Just run. Leave behind the anger, and the pain. I'm not good enough. How long before I have to leave? Weeks? Months? Or days? Forget it, just run.
As I got farther from the school, I slowed my pace, the anger still inside me, but not as violent as it was earlier. I hear someone run up behind me, only to hear Maddy call my name. "Don't worry, I'm out of here." I assured her, still walking, and still angry.
She caught up with me, tugging at my arm. My anger kept me from reacting from the foreign touch. "Don't! I was stupid. I'm sorry. Don't go, we can help you."
Hearing her say that made me angry all over again. "Help! I've had help. Counseling, Ritalin." "We really can help." That's what they said too. There's nothing wrong with me! "You need to learn to control your wolf-self before someone gets hurt. Probably you." She pushed herself in front of me, forcing me to stop. "You're just like the rest of them." And with that, I took off running.
I didn't hear her follow me, so I slowed down, only for her to come out of the trees, ahead of me. How did - "I know about the Vaughns. I know you're alone." I've always been alone, what does that matter? "So?" "I'm like you, you saw that."
Years of anger and frustration just poured out of me. I needed her to know. "You may be like me. You think the same as them. You're just trying to make me better. But you know what? What I am, what I turn into, that is better. It's better than anything I've ever known, and i'm not going to let anyone take it away from me."
"I'm not going to let you go." "Go ahead, chase me. Stop me. Use your wolfy powers and see how long it takes for someone to find out what you are. Because none of your mates know your little secret, do they?" Judging by the look on her face, the answer was no. "Thought not. I've got nothing to lose here, unlike you." And with that, I turned and ran into the woods, only for her follow me. I ran as fast as I could, but every time I looked back, Maddy was behind me. I changed direction, and climbed up a tree. Maddy looked so confused when she couldn't find me, and I laughed, jumped down, and took off running again, enjoying being chased, knowing she was only a few steps behind me. I couldn't stop smiling, and she caught me as I jumped off of a tree stump, making us roll down the hill. After we finished rolling, we noticed the group of people, including Maddy's friends, staring at us like they've never seen us before.
We got up quickly, brushing off leaves and stepping away from each other. "Sorry we're late, everyone. Seen any badgers yet?"
"No. You two have scared off any animal for miles" The teacher was angry, to say the least, and turned to address the class. "I'm sorry everyone. We'll have to come back another day."
The redhead frantically asked the students as they were leaving, "Come join a photography club." The other boy just said "Anyone?" The redhead turned to us, saying "Well done, Mads." "Yeah, we were so close to getting new members, and then you two had to show up and mess everything up." He said, angry, moving towards Maddy when she spoke.
"There was something important I had to -" "What, more important than the Photography Club, yeah?" He sounded disbelieving, like there was nothing more important. "Yeah, actually." Maddy was getting annoyed as well, and - "Rhydian is more important than the club." Wait, what? Where are you going with this? "The thing is, Rhydian and I... are related." She looked at me, as if asking for help, but I didn't know what to say. "Distant cousins." Maddy sounded more enthusiastic, more believable in her lie. "He's the black sheep of the family, and I didn't want him here." I tried to look like what she was saying wasn't news to me, trying to figure out how I could make it sound more believable. "So I treated him badly, which is why he lashed out and trashed the dark room. You don't have to be best friends, but Rhydian is part of my life now. And that's that." They just looked at each other, deciding to believe Maddy, I guessed. "Ok. Sure" The redhead nodded. "Welcome to Stoneybridge, mate. You really don't like football." He's still on about football? "No." I shook my head, to emphasize the point. "Right. Well, I am frozen. So, can we just go?" The redhead announced. "Yeah." The two turned around, and started walking.
Maddy turned to me. "You might want to stay here and warm up. It's a long walk back to Wales." "I'm not even Wel-" And then I saw her smile. She was teasing me. "Oh."
I finally learned her friends names. The girl was Shannon, and the boy was Tom. We arrived at Bernie's and ordered hot chocolate.
"Here's to the late, great, Bradlington High Photography Club. It was fun while it lasted, yeah?" Tom said, raising his mug in tribute. We all murmured our agreement, and then the bell over the door chimed.
The three vapid girls from school came over to our table. The blue one in the middle said, "We have a proposition for you." Maddy looked incredulous, "You have a proposition for us?", making sure that we all heard correctly. "It's a competition," she announced, "It'll cost too much to get our photos done professionally." The pink one added, "And we need a phorotolio.""Portfolio," the orange one corrected. "Both." "So, it you take our photos, we'll join your photography club, and everybody wins." At the distrusting looks shared among the three friends, the blue one sneered, "Were not actually going anywhere near your monkey darkroom. We'll just put our names down so Jefferies keeps it open. Do I have a deal?" Maddy looked at her friends, and seeing their agreement, and amusement, stood up, and spat into her hand to seal the deal. The three girls looked horrified. "Please!" "Ew!"
The orange one asked if I was joining. I had no idea how to respond appropriately. I was slightly scared by their interest in me. The only thing I wanted to do was run, fast, and far away from them as possible, but I couldn't, so I looked to Maddy and her friends. Tom barely hid a laugh, as did Shannon. I settled for the always reliable monosyllabic answer: No. And with that, I returned to my drink. Maddy laughed.
Soon after finishing our drinks, we decided to part ways, Maddy heading of with her friends, and I had just started walking away from Bernie's, when I heard Maddy call out.
"Rhydian, I'll walk home with you." As she ran to catch up, I kept walking. When she was at my side, I told her, "I never said I was staying." "That's a pity. You got a fan club." I could tell from her voice she was teasing me, again. She gestured back to Bernie's, where I could hear the three girls talking about me. It was flattering and scary. "If that doesn't scare you off, nothing will." She nudged me, and then started walking.
After walking a little while, we found ourselves in the woods. I was walking, thinking about school, and the Vaughns, and the girl walking beside me. "So, if you're not from Wales, how did you get named Rhydian?" I could tell that the rest of this conversation was going to be about me, so I kept my eyes on the ground, pointedly ignoring her eyes. After a moment or two of silence, I answered her. "My mom was Welsh, I think." I don't know her name, but either her, or my father, or both were Welsh, and my names were Welsh. "How long were you in foster care?" "Since I was two." "And nobody knows what you are?" I just shook my head. "So, what did you do for the full moon last night?" This time I looked at her, trying to make a joke to make it not so bad. "I couldn't stay in my bedroom, now, could I?" I sighed, and then gave a better answer. "I climbed out my window." "So it was your paw print that Shannon found." Her tone was pleased at finding a possible answer. I didn't really know, so I just shrugged. "Was it your first Change?" I took a deep breath, looked at her, and answer her question, "Second." I returned to staring at the ground. I knew what was coming next. I figured I had best spare her the awkward questions. "My first got my chucked out of my last foster home." "What happened." "Don't know. I went to bed and woke up in a ditch. Turns out I had trashed my bedroom so they kicked me out." Remembering what had happened made me happy they were out when I had changed, and upset that I had been removed, again. They weren't bad people, just kind of nosey, strict, and in-your-business, which I hadn't appreciated. "That must have been hard." And I'm done, new topic.
"Anyway, what about you?" When she turned to look at me, I clarified. "I mean, the full moons must be epic out here."
"Well... I haven't started transforming yet." She sounded nervous. "So I know more about this stuff than you do?" We reached a creek, and Maddy climbed down to the bank. "Yeah, you're the expert. That's why you lost it with Jimi in front of 'alf the school." She gave me a sneer, "I didn't know that could happen. I thought werewolves only went hairy at the full moon."
"We feel the urge to change whenever we feel threatened or angry, too. Ye learn to control it, and you can transform whenever you want." She turned to face me, a grin on her face. "How do you know all this stuff?" "Me parents taught us." She crossed the creek, and climbed up some rocks. "You have parents like us?" "Yep. And it's Wolfblood, not werewolf. We're not monsters" "The weird thing is, I don't even remember getting bitten." "Bitten?" She scoffed, and then started giggling. "You don't get bitten." I felt another flood of anger, and snapped at her, "Don't laugh at me!" She laughed again. "Sorry. It's just, you really do have a lot to learn." She turned, and started to climb the rocks. "Well, teach me then, smelly girl."
She gave me another sneer at the nickname, and shook her head, deciding that I wouldn't get her sidetracked. "You were born this way. You're normal." She sighed, and looked around, trying to find a better way to explain, I hoped, because what she said meant nothing to me. "Look around." I took in all the details of the trees and the water falling over the rocks, and the wind moving. "Everything you thought made you a freak, sight, hearing, speed, sense of smell, they're all completely normal for a Wolfblood." Everything that made me different, made me unwanted, was normal. The relief was staggering. It wasn't me that was wrong, it was the doctors and therapists.
"So, say I did stick around, uh, only for a bit, no promises." She started to smile, even before I finished talking. "You'd have a pack, at last. People to teach you." When she mentioned teaching, my mind went to boring lectures and essays, nothing fun at all. "Oh, no. No rules, no lectures. You can keep your group hugs in your big furry family. I'll do things my way," "Lone wolf, huh?" Maddy sounded amused, as if she didn't believe that I could be a lone wolf. "So the next time you lose control of your wolf self, what happens then?" Now that I know what to expect, I can control the transforming. "Well, uh, that'll be an interesting day, won't it?" I walked further along the creek, away from Maddy, but she moved ahead of me, again, and turned to face me, forcing me to stop.
"And one more thing." Maddy grabbed my shirt, yanking me towards her. "Don't ever expect me to submit like that again. I only did it so you would calm down, so don't go around, forcing dominance on everyone." I forced her to release her grip of my shirt, angry again, and extremely confused, at her sudden mood swing from happyish to angry, and by her words.
"What the hell are you talking about? Submit, dominance, what does that even mean?" "Urrg! Right. Not raised by Wolfbloods. Right." She released me, pacing furiously. "We act a lot like real wolves do, including the power structure. Wolves live in packs, and so do we. My pack consists of my parents, the Alpha's, and me, and possibly you, if my parents accept. Do you remember how you pushed Jimi down?" Remembering the fight, I nodded. "That was a show of dominance, how you pushed him down by the shoulders, wolves do that in the wild. I submitted to you, in the Dark Room, remember how I got down on one knee, and bowed my head? I was submitting, and I'm not a submissive. It was only to calm you down, and to keep you from destroying everything."
That had explained a little of what I wanted to know, but I could tell there was a lot to learn. "How do Wolfbloods differ from humans? I mean, I know some stuff, but nothing compared to you." Her face lit up with a smile at my complement. "We develop like wolves do, with nose, ears and eyes. Humans develop eyes, ears, nose. The sense of smell is the most important sense to a Wolfblood. You didn't smell me in greeting, so I know more about you than you do me. Just by catching your scent in the school, I could tell that you were a wolfblood, male, a teenager, and new to the area." That's interesting.
"You smell like my parents because you've changed, and I haven't. I'm basically at a fifty-fifty split between human and wolf, you're at twenty-five, seventy five human to wolf split. I have better senses than humans do, and they'll get better after the change. Also, body language and touch are very important, as most of our communication is nonverbal."
"Maddy." I could feel a headache coming on from all the extra information. "What?" She had a confused look on her face, as if she had no idea why I said her name. "I thought I said no lectures." "Oh, yeah, sorry 'bout that." "What's it like, living in such a small village?"