Maddy
Maddy groaned as she heard her alarm clock blare. It was much too early in the morning to be up, yet she knew she had no choice. It was Monday, which meant she had to attend the most magical place in the world. School.
She lazily got ready, going through her normal routine before heading downstairs. When she got there, she gave her dad a smile, but ignored her mom.
Since the whole "Rhydian Fiasco," her mom and her had still been at odds. Her mom was still mad that Maddy had yelled at her betrothed, and denied their engagement. Maddy's dad was trying not to pick sides, but Maddy could tell he secretly supported her. She knew he really didn't want her getting married, almost as much as she didn't.
"Bye," Maddy grumbled, after she had eaten breakfast. "I'll be home eventually."
She quickly ran to school, and spotted Shannon and Tom, waiting outside in their usual meeting spot. She walked over to see that they were having a very animated discussion.
"What going on?" Maddy asked.
"Oh, hey Mads," Shannon smiled. "How was your weekend?"
"It's was fine," Maddy replied tersely, wishing she could tell her friends what had really happened. "Now tell me what all of the fuss is about! It seems like the whole school is buzzing."
"That's because we're getting a new student," Tom grinned. "Haven't seen him yet, but I've heard he's pretty cool."
"Well, at least the K's think so," Shannon snickered, and she and Tom laughed.
Neither of them had noticed that Maddy was frozen in fear. She now remembered her mom mentioning that Rhydian would be coming to school, but she didn't think it would be so soon. And she definitely hadn't expected him to show up after the huge argument they had.
"You alright, Mads?" Tom asked, finally noticing his friend's tense stature.
"Yeah, fine," Maddy replied, putting a fake smile on. "I guess I'm just a bit tired from the weekend."
"Oh right," Shannan said as they walked to class. "How did dinner with your family friend go?"
"We didn't exactly agree on...things," Maddy answered. "But it was okay. No big deal."
"Well that was a very vague answer, and we'll be getting a lot more out of you later, yeah?" Tom asked. "But for right now, lets not be late to Jeffries's class."
Despite how worried Maddy was, she grinned up at her two best friends and linked arms with them. Maddy truly believed that when it was three of them against the world, there was nothing they couldn't accomplish. The problem was, Maddy could never introduce them to her other world, so she was all alone.
They took their seats in the same way they had last Friday, with Shannon and Tom together and Maddy at the desk behind them. It wasn't till they had already sat down, that a thought struck Maddy.
"Tom," she said, tapping his shoulder.
"Is something wrong Mads?" Tom questioned.
"Switch places with me," she said quickly. She then caught a whiff of a familiar scent traveling closer through the corridors. "Switch places with me now."
"Sorry, I didn't realize you wanted to sit with Shan today," Tom responded apologetically. "I'll make sure you two can sit together in the next class, all right?"
"No Tom-" Maddy started to say, but she was cut off as Mr. Jeffries entered the room.
"Alright everyone, take your seats," Mr. Jeffries commanded.
A hush fell over the class as another figure stepped in behind Mr. Jeffries. Rhydian was wearing a uniform, with his tie haphazardly strung around his neck, and a small frown on his face. He didn't look happy to be here. Maddy suspected that he wasn't a morning person.
Rhydian looked out towards the class, scanning his new schoolmates, and Maddy waited for him to catch her eye. Instead, his gaze passed right over her, as if she were just another person in the crowd. She wasn't sure why, but the thought of him ignoring her made her blood boil.
"We have a new student today," Mr. Jeffries announced. "This is Rhydian Morris, and he will be joining us for the rest of the year."
"Hi Rhydian," Katrina called flirtatiously, and Maddy looked to see that all of the K's were gazing up at Rhydian with heart eyes.
"Well, Mr. Morris I believe there is a free seat over there," Mr. Jeffries said, pointing to Maddy's desk.
Maddy tensed as Rhydian's eyes finally locked with her own. They stared at each other for a moment, until unlike the last time, Maddy was the first one to look away.
Maddy gazed down at her desk, refusing to look at him as he sat down beside her. He said nothing to her as he pulled out his notebook and a pencil.
As Mr. Jeffries started class, Maddy felt that she had no ability to focus. She wanted to say something to him, she just wasn't sure what. Her mind was at war between wanting to apologize to him for yelling, or yelling at him some more.
Finally, her rational side won out, and she looked up at him to see that he was already gazing at her.
"Hi," she sighed, and he raised his eyebrows at her civil introduction. "Look, I just wanted to say that I'm...I'm sorry for my behavior the other night. I was mad at me parents, and at the situation. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"Apology accepted," Rhydian replied, though his voice was tense. She knew that he hadn't really forgiven her yet.
"You have to understand," Maddy continued, "that for my whole life, I thought I was free to make my own future. And then I'm told that I'm betrothed, and you show up completely okay with it-"
"I'm not completely okay with it," Rhydian interrupted. "It took me months to be alright with this whole thing. I know it's hard for you, and that you'll need time to accept it. In the meantime, I think we should start to build a relationship-"
"You mean start going out?" Maddy asked, her eyes filled with anger. "Haven't you heard a word I said? I don't want this."
"No, not a relationship like that," Rhydian replied, quickly. "In fact, we don't even have to be friends. I don't really do the whole 'friend' thing. I just think that we could try to get to know each other, so we could at least have a conversation without fighting."
Maddy thought about Rhydian's proposition. On one hand, she had already decided that she would have nothing to do with him. But getting to know each other didn't seem too detrimental to her plans, in fact it might benefit them. If she could sway Rhydian to her side, and convince him to help her, she might have a better chance of getting out of this betrothal.
"Okay," Maddy finally replied, and Rhydian smiled a bit. "You can start by eating lunch with me and my friends today."
"The same friends that are desperately trying to listen to our conversation right now?" Rhydian asked, nudging his head towards Tom and Shannon.
Maddy looked to see that neither Tom, nor Shannon were paying attention to Mr. Jeffries, and we're trying to subtly lean their heads back, and listen to the conversation. Maddy knew that they wouldn't hear anything, because her and Rhydian had been talking much too quietly.
"They're my best mates," Maddy replied. "So if you want to get to know me, you'll be getting to know them as well."
It was later, at lunch, that Maddy finally received the barrage of questions she had been expecting from Tom and Shannon. They had watched carefully as her and Rhydian had sat together and talked in all of their classes, but it seemed that they hadn't wanted to say anything with Rhydian right there. But now, they had arrived to lunch, and Rhydian was nowhere in sight.
"Maddy Smith," Shannon stated as she smacked down her lunch tray onto the table. "I demand you tell us everything that's going on."
"I demand it too," Tom said. "As long as you want to tell us, that is."
Maddy sighed and looked around for Rhydian, but he was still nowhere to be seen. At least it would give her some time to talk to her friends.
"You remember that family friend we were having over for dinner?" Maddy asked, and both Tom and Shannon nodded. "Yeah, well it turned out to be Rhydian. He just moved here, and he'll be attending school with us."
"Well obviously we've realized he's attending school here," Shannon rolled her eyes. "But why didn't you tell us this morning?"
"I didn't know he was coming," Maddy replied. "He didn't mention it at dinner."
Just then, she sniffed the air and smelt Rhydian approaching. He walked into the cafeteria a moment later, looking around before smiling when he spotted Maddy.
"Is he going to sit with us?" Shannon asked, looking at him curiously.
"Yeah, if that's alright," Maddy replied. "My mam asked me to look after him."
"It's fine," Shannon sputtered. "I just thought he'd be the kind of guy to sit with Jimmy. Or maybe the three K's since they seem to like him so much."
Maddy's head immediately whipped over to see that the three K's were in fact waving and giggling at Rhydian. She felt a growl unwillingly escape her lips, and she clamped her hand over her mouth to muffle the noise.
"You okay, Mads?" Tom asked, looking at her in concern. "You look like want to murder the K's."
"I'm fine," Maddy muttered. "Just, really hungry."
Rhydian had now made it over to their table and he looked down at Maddy, smiling at her.
"Can I sit?" he asked.
"Of course," Shannon replied before Maddy could. "Take a seat."
Rhydian sat next to Maddy, and Maddy scooted over as she felt his shoulders brush against her own.
"So," Tom began with a curious look on his face as he gazed at Rhydian, "you're a friend of Maddy's family?"
"That's right," Rhydian nodded, not even hesitating to go along with story Maddy had made up. "The Smith's and my family go way back."
"And how long have you known Maddy?" Tom asked, his eyes slightly narrowed at him. "Cause we've been best mates for years."
"I just met her this Friday," Rhydian said, giving Tom a slight glare in return.
Maddy looked back and forth between the boys, confused by the tension. She knew why she was mad at Rhydian, but Tom had no reason to be. As far as she knew, they had just met.
"Well it's nice meeting you Rhydian," Shannon finally said, trying to dissolve the tension. "So, Mads, what do you say to some beast hunting tonight?"
"Uh, I don't know Shan," Maddy replied. "It's a school night, and my parents are expecting me home."
"Beast hunting?" Rhydian asked, looking between Shannon and Maddy. "What are you talking about?"
Maddy sighed as she explained to Rhydian. "Shannon believes-"
"Maddy, I don't believe," Shannon interrupted. "I know."
"Right," Maddy rolled her eyes before starting again. "Shannon knows, that there is some type of beast on the moors. She's being trying to track it down, and get some proof for years."
"What type of beast?" Rhydian asked Shannon, but his eyes were focused on Maddy.
Maddy could see the wheels turning in his head, and she nodded to confirm his suspicions. The beast that Shannon thought she was hunting was indeed a wolfblood.
"I don't really know," Shannon responded. "But I know it's out there, and I know I'm going to be the first to find it!"
The rest of the school day passed quickly, and after classes, Maddy was walking outside with Tom and Shannon.
"So," Shannon said. "I know you said you weren't up to best hunting tonight, but how about burgers at Bernie's? Do you think you have time for that?"
"Um…" Maddy trailed off as her eyes scanned the school's courtyard. She spotted Rhydian, standing far away, but she could see that he was staring at her. He jerked his head as an invitation, before running towards the forest.
"I think I'll have to catch up with you later," Maddy responded. "There's something I need to do."
Without another word to her friends, she took off across the field, running towards the forest. She hoped she would be able to catch up to Rhydian before he got too far ahead.
She soon picked up his scent, and she raced through the trees with a smile on her face. She could tell that Rhydian was trying to lose her, and he had weaved around trees to try and make her mess up. But her wolf senses were keen, and she never faltered. Finally, she got to and area of trees, where Rhydian's scent ended. She looked around confused, as she was able to smell him but not see him.
Then, Maddy heard a noise behind her, and before she could blink, Rhydian jumped down from a tree and grabbed her shoulders.
"Ah!" Maddy screamed in surprise and Rhydian laughed at her.
"You really need to work on your wolf senses," Rhydian smiled. "You should have been able to find me."
"Yeah well, it's not as if I get a load of time to practice with them," Maddy defended. "I'm sure you use them all the time out in the wild."
"I did," Rhydian said, smiling as if he was remembering a fond memory. "The wild was...amazing!"
"Oh yes," Maddy said sarcastically. "I'm sure it was great. Spending time hating on humans and tame wolfbloods. What could be more fun?"
"That isn't what the wild is about," Rhydian growled. "At least not for me."
Passion shone in his blue eyes, and Maddy found herself curious to what the wild was really about to him. Even after her parents had finally told her about wild wolfbloods, they hadn't been very forthcoming with details. In fact, other than knowing that they were dangerous, Maddy really knew nothing about them.
"Explain to me then," Maddy breathed, staring up at Rhydian. "Tell me what it's about."
Rhydian took a deep breath, before looking around at all the trees and wildlife. Maddy followed his gaze, staring at the sunlit forest around her.
"Just look at where you are," Rhydian said. "The trees, the fresh air, the wind. Don't you feel like you belong here?"
"Yes," Maddy murmured as if she were in a trance.
"All of this," Rhydian continued, gesturing to their surroundings. "This is what being wild is about. It's about finally belonging somewhere. Somewhere you can completely be yourself, without worrying what others think about. In the wild, you're normal."
Maddy gazed around, imaging what it would be like if Rhydian's words were true. She could run all day, her hair blowing in the wind, and no one would ever stop her. She would never have to worry about keeping secrets from her friends, because everyone would accept who she truly is. It would be paradise.
Maddy broke out of her daydreaming as she realized that everything she was thinking was wrong. The wild would never be perfect, because it would never have Shan and Tom. The wild wolfbloods hated humans, and that wasn't right.
"That sounds quite nice, Rhydian," Maddy said softly. "But I think you're forgetting all the prejudice and fear that goes along with living in the wild."
"I haven't forgotten Maddy," Rhydian sighed. "I want to fix it. That's what our union will do. When we're married we can begin to show the wild wolfbloods that we can get along with tames. And after that, they'll realize humans are okay as well!"
Maddy backed up from him, glaring. He had gone the whole day so far without mentioning their betrothal, but now that he had, Maddy remembered her mission to dislike him. She couldn't believe she had even come out here to talk with him! And they had been chasing each other through the woods, almost as if they were...friends.
"I have to go," she said sullenly, as she continued to back away from him.
Rhydian seemed to immediately notice the change in her demeanor, and sadness flickered in his eyes.
"I'll see you tomorrow then?" he asked.
"You kind of have to," Maddy replied. "Since we have class together."
Rhydian frowned, seeming displeased by her answer, but nodded his head.
"Till tomorrow then," Maddy heard him mutter, as she ran off towards her home.