There are only a few things in Spinelli's world that she did not want others to interrupt. Number one being her boxing practice. She fought her mother tooth and nail to sign up for those lessons, and she didn't want anyone to run in to the gym and pulling her away to do anything unless someone was dying or the world was ending. Number two being any future plans, be they two minutes or two years from now. When she has her mind set on something, it was going to happen, one way or another

Number three was her sleep, and it was currently being disrupted. She threw the covers off her (and the bed) and let out a furious huff. She wanted to sleep, dammit! Was sleep on school night to much to ask for? She looked over at her alarm clock. 2 am. 2 in the morning. Still enough time to get sleep before returning to the hell that is elementary school. But the noise coming from outside her window didn't seem to want her to sleep.

'Well then,' she thought. 'That's just going to have to stop.'

Spinelli got out of bed and grabbed the aluminum baseball bat that she kept under her bed. The noise was coming from outside, and from the sounds, near the trashcans. That meant that was those stupid dogs everyone was fusing about, and that they were in the trash. She didn't feel like cleaning up the mess in the morning before school. She made her way down the stairs quietly so that she wouldn't wake her parents. She then walked into the kitchen since she could see the trashcans from the window over the sink. She looked outside, but, unfortunately, the sound began to lessen, and whatever was causing it left.

'Should've left earlier,' She mumbled. 'Now I'm wide awake.' Angry, she walked back upstairs and into her room, dropping her baseball bat on the floor. She crawled (literally crawled) back into bed, and cursed who or what had the nerve to wake her up again before it was time for school.

ODAW

"Good morning Third Street. Continuing yesterday's report of property damage around town are even more reports. This time, the damage is much more severe, and there were also reports of sightings of what can only be described as 'creatures' causing the damage. We have one of the witnesses right here."

"It was huge! It had to have been at least nine, no ten feet tall! And strong! It flipped my car over! And I had paid so much for that car….It didn't see me, but it ran like a bat out of hell! Someone needs to take care of this! I'm not letting my kid go to school until those things are gone! Call the army! Call SOMEBODY!"

"Lucky kid. Doesn't have to go to school," Spinelli said as she ate her cereal. Her parents were paying close attention to the small TV they had in the kitchen, and she was paying attention to the homework she neglected to do last night. She yawned. This guy on the news was probably one of those people who wore tinfoil hats. Crazies.

"Alright, I'm off to school now," She said walking out of the kitchen. "Try not to get 'eaten' by the big bad dogs while I'm gone."

"Hold it right there, young lady," Her mother said. "There's no way I'm letting you go out there with those….whatever those things are out there!"

"You're going to let me stay home?" She asked eagerly.

"No. I'm going to drive you to school. Come on, we need to get moving before all the other parents get out on the road."

ODAW

After the event at school yesterday, Spinelli came to school expecting things to be much, much worse. And she was right to prepare. Before school even began, there was a crowd of students so thick, she couldn't see what they were surrounding.

"What's going on, now?" Spinelli asked the others as she approached.

"A couple students came in with scars like claw marks," Vince told her. "Everyone's panicking."

"Where's Gus and Mikey?"

"Their parents kept them at home today," said TJ. "A bunch of kids didn't come in today. Why didn't they just cancel school if things were getting this bad?"

"Because they're all a bunch of idiots," someone from the crowd yelled.

"I saw one of them! I saw one of those….THINGS!" Everyone turned to who spoke up this time. It was Randall. His clothes were torn and tattered, and he was out of breath from running. "I saw one near the abandoned playground! It was huge! It had to be ten feet tall! And whoever said it was a werewolf was right!"

"If you need me, I'll be inside, AWAY from the insanity that is suddenly Third Street," Spinelli said. She walked past the crowd and went into the school. She felt like she was the only one left with any common sense. She just wanted to get through the school day, go to her boxing lessons, then go home, but all of those looked like they were going to be filled with people talking about the same thing.

"Hey Spinelli! Wait up!" Sighing, Spinelli turned around to see TJ catching up to her. "Is something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine. Minus the fact that everyone's gone crazy," She said, folding her arms. "It bad enough when everyone thought it was dogs, but now its werewolves! Can you believe that, Teej?"

"Nope. I have no idea where they're getting that from," He laughed.

"At least there's one other person in this town that agrees with me," She said. "What are they gonna do next? Point at each other and accuse them of being a werewolf?"

"I feel bad for those kids who got scratched. They're gonna get it the worst," TJ said. "Hey, you're not wearing that necklace I gave you."

"It's at home, on my dresser."

"…Oh. I thought you would wear it every day…"

"It's just a little plastic necklace, Teej. No reason to get upset over it," Spinelli said. "Besides, I didn't wear it today because we have a physical fitness test today in gym. I'm gonna wear it tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that was today…."

The bell rang, and the sound of every student rushing to get to class after spending their entire time outside. Luckily for them, they were already in front of their classroom, and only had to walk two feet forwards to avoid being stampeded. And they did, then turned around to see students rushing to their seats.

ODAW

` "As many as you all already know, todays the day of the physical fitness test," The coach announced proudly. The class didn't share his enthusiasm (except Vince), and let out a collective whine. "By the time you're all done, there won't be enough strength left in your bodies to cause any trouble. That is, if you not physically fit, which is unfortunately most of you. Now, I want everyone standing on the line of the basketball court."

All the students reluctantly stood on the line at the top of the court. A few of them hoped that by some small chance that the test wouldn't actually involve much physical exertion, while the others hoped that it would be over with soon.

"Now this test will measure your durability. You all will run to the halfway point, then back to where you stand, until you can no longer keep up. The key is to pace yourselves, not run like your lives depend on it. You'll start off with thirty seconds for each run, and slowly, that time will decrease. Once you're out, you're out. And don't try to act like you can't keep up when you can. I've had this job for years, and I know how to spot fakers. Alright?"

"Vince, if you go as fast as we KNOW you can, we're not going to be your friends anymore," Gretchen whispered to him.

"Relax. I'm not going to run as fast. I'm going to pace like Coach said to," Vince told her. "You all should be able to keep up."

"On you mark, get set, GO!"

Everyone ran (read: jogged) to the middle line, and back. It was easy at first, and then the pace increased. One by one, the Coach called students to stop running and stand next to the court. They were lucky, as it became harder to keep up with the limited time. The amount of time given to them went down, and so did the number of students who were able to keep running. Within three minutes, the number was down to 7, including Vince, TJ, Spinelli, Gordy, Ashley B., Hustler Kid, and Swinger Girl, and it continued to drop.

First Swinger Girl was called out,

Then Gordy, then Hustler Kid, and then Ashley B.

And then Spinelli was called to stand out. She didn't expect to last as long as she did, but was happy to stop. Out of breath she made her way over to the group before sitting on the floor next to Gretchen.

"How was it?" Gretchen asked her.

"Hard," She breathed out. "I didn't know I was going to last that long. The boxing lessons probably helped."

"Have you decided to enter the junior tournament?" Gretchen asked her.

"Yeah, but it's gonna be cancelled because everyone scared of those things around town," Spinelli said. "How long do you think Vince is gonna last?"

"A couple more minutes at the least," She told her. "I'm more surprised TJ's lasting this long. He's about as fast as you, normally."

"Yeah, that IS a little weird."

Meanwhile on the basketball court, Vince was beginning to feel the pangs of exhaustion, which was fine, because normal day to day playing usually didn't bring him to the point of exhaustion. No, this whole exam or test or whatever it was called was good for a growing athlete such as himself. And he had company too.

But he didn't know whether or not to be happy about that.

"Didn't know you have it in you to keep up with me, Teej," Vince said.

"Me neither," TJ said. "But competition is a good thing, right?"

"Sure," He said. "Ready?"

"LaSalle," The coach yelled. "You're out!"

"What?!" Vince, shocked that his name was called, tripped over his own feet and hit the floor, hard. "What do you mean 'I'm out'?"

"I mean you're out. You can't keep up," The coach told him. "Get off the court and stand with everyone else."

Vince clenched his fists and, after looking back at TJ who was still running on the court, walked over to the others.

"Can you believe that? The coach called me out! Me!" Vince said, folding his arms. "He must be crazy."

"You still did better than the rest of us," Spinelli said. "What? Can't handle getting beat at your own game for once?"

"I have no problem with losing," He said, catching his breath. "It just never happens." He sat on the floor with them and looked at TJ as he kept going. "How is he still going? I was already out of breath when I was called out!"

"You can ask him when he stops, whenever that'll be," said Spinelli. "I wanna know, too."

They, as well as the rest of the class, watched him for a few more minutes until the Coach blew his whistle, signaling for him to stop.

"You can stop now, Detweiler," The Coach said. "You've reached the timing limit. Congratulations. Everyone over to the ropes!"

"How are you not out of breath?" Gretchen asked when TJ joined them. They and the class began to walk towards the two most dreaded things in the gym: the two ropes hanging from the ceiling.

"I'm gifted?" He tried.

"Yeah right," Vince mumbled under his breath.

"We can only go two at a time," the Coach said. "This is to test physical strength. Who wants to go first?"

"I will, Coach!" Vince said, stepping in front of one of the ropes.

"He's only doing this for his own ego," said Spinelli. "Don't let it get too or we won't be able to fit in the room."

"We have one. We still need one more volunteer," Said the coach.

"….I'll go," TJ said. He stepped up and stood next to Vince and in front of the other rope. The kids left standing around them gave a collective 'OOHHH'.

"All you have to do, if get to the top as fast as you can, and ring the bell," The Coach instructed. "It's not a race, so pace yourselves. I don't need anyone getting rope burn. On your mark, get set, go!" The two of them jumped onto the rope and began to climb. The crowd below began to cheer, rooting for one or the other to get to the top. They were still reeling from Vince, the, now-supposedly, best athlete of the school was beaten, and wanted to see if it would and could happen again. It looked like it would be a tie at first. Neither boys were able to get a ahead for the first half, but then….

"I'm impressed that you're able to climb rope after that run," Vince said as he gripped the rope after pulling himself up. "But I think you're pushing your luck, TJ." No response. He opened his eyes and found that he was alone. Then the bell above him was rung. He looked up just as the crowd below gave a collective gasp. Above him at the top of the rope, TJ was looking down at him and the crowd.

"Did you say something, Vince?" TJ asked after he climbed back down to Vince's height. "I couldn't hear you up there."

"How did you get up there so fast?" Vince angrily asked. "How did you get up there before me?!"

"LaSalle, what's the matter?" The Coach yelled up at him.

"Nothing, Coach."

"Then keep moving! Detweiler, get down so someone else can go!"

Vince held in the urge to yell out his frustrations, and he climbed up as TJ climbed down. About two thirds of the way down, which was still quite the distance above the floor, he let go of the rope and opted to jump to the bottom out of his own curiosity. He didn't stumble or fall and break anything. Instead, he landed on his feet. Of course, he had to bend his knees like anyone would, but the jump didn't appear to hurt. He walked over to the rest of his classmates as Gordy stepped up to the rope and began to climb. He stared at his feet as he walked, and when he looked up, found everyone staring at him.

"What?" He asked.

"How did you do that?" Spinelli asked, just as surprised as the rest.

"….I don't know."

ODAW

"Well, Vince is off to restore what remains of his ego," Spinelli said. She sat at the steps of the school door with Gretchen and TJ as the rest of the student enjoyed their recess. "Looks like it's just the three of us."

"Two," Gretchen corrected from behind a very big book she was reading.

"Two?" Spinelli asked. "What happened to TJ?"

"He said he was going to the library."

"What's he doing in the library?" she asked. "You don't mind if I….?"

"No, go right ahead," Gretchen assured her. "It's give me time to do some research on what's been happening around town.

"Thanks," She said as she went inside the school. Nearly everyone was outside, save for a few teachers and the pale kids, making the halls eerily quiet. It wasn't a creepy 'school should never be this quiet' you find when you go inside school at night quiet, but more like 'so this is what the school is like without people in it' quiet. After walking a path she wasn't too familiar with, Spinelli found herself in front of the two door leading into the school library. Inside, the walls were covered in book shelves, and she didn't know where to begin her search, but it looked like she would be able to get some help.

"Hey Library Kid," She said approaching the bookworm where she sat on an oversized beanbag chair.

"Hello, Spinelli. I haven't seen you or your friends in a while," She said without looking up from her book.

"Yeah speaking of which, did TJ pass through here? Gretchen said he was going to be in here."

"He went into the row at the end of the left wall. I haven't been down that row yet," She said. "It's dark down there, so I gave him a flashlight."

"Thanks, Library Kid," She said before walking down the column of bookshelves. The lights became increasingly dimmer until there couldn't be more than one struggling to stay on able her head. When she reached the end, she saw a flashlight shining through a few bookshelves. There, she found TJ sitting on the floor with is back against the wall and a book in his lap. He didn't notice he was being watched until Spinelli walked up to him.

"What'sha readin'?" She asked sitting down next to him. "Another Barnaby Boys book?"

"Nothing," TJ said. He closed the book at sat it on the floor, away enough so Spinelli couldn't see the title. "It's nothing. Today's physical exam was crazy, wasn't it?"

"Yeah it was," She agreed. "What was with you today? When did you become faster than Vince?"

"I have no idea," He said. "I'm thinking it was just a one-time thing. How's Vince handling things?"

"He's running laps outside so he can 'catch up' to you. It doesn't help that people keep comin' up to him and asking how it feels to be beaten for once."

"I hope he's not mad at me."

"He's not mad at you, Teej. He just wants to beat you."

"Right. Typical Vince. Maybe he's just having an off day and everyone's overreacting. At least I hope that's what's going on. There's enough weird things happening around town."

"Speaking of which, I think one of those 'things' was in my backyard last night," Spinelli told him. "It woke me up in the middle of the night."

"What? Did you see it? You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"I'm fine, TJ. I said I think I saw one, think. It was gone by the time I went downstairs to get a better look."

"I wonder what they're going to do about it. Somebody is gonna get hurt if they don't."

"I just wish everyone would stop going crazy over it. Werewolves? Really?"

"…..Yeah, crazy."

The bell rang, and their conversation was ended. They picked themselves off the dusty floor and dust themselves off. While Spinelli wasn't looking, TJ picked up his book and hid it under is jacket.

"Ready to go?" He asked walking up to her.

"I'll never be ready to back to class," She said. "But we don't have a choice, do we?"

"Nope." They laughed and said goodbye to the library kid as they left.

We get some action in the next chapter, everyone! I can't wait to write it!

Please Review!