A/N: I don't own Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart and I don't own the mentioned characters of J.K.R's Harry Potter books. Threw that in there for kicks, but don't worry it's just a reference. This isn't a crossover. Again I want to urge you guys to review. Tell me what I'm doing right, tell me what I'm doing wrong, just tell me something XD Thanks for the follows and favorites. You're appreciated. -Bre
I was furious. No, it was more than fury. I was outraged and Qhala wasn't helping.
The more time I spent with Qhala the more upset I got with my mother. At first I only blamed Lissa for a portion of the bad things that happened to me, but every day my disdain for her grew into hatred. Qhala was loving and attentive which I found both sweet and annoying at times, but annoying in the way that teens were supposed to find parents when they hovered. Lissa was terrible and I never wanted to see her again.
The more I thought about Lissa the more temperamental I got. I often started screaming matches with Paul because he gave as good as he got and sometimes managed to give better. He'd always storm off shaking after our arguments and the fact that I could piss him off gave me some strange satisfaction. I was lashing out on strangers and picking fights with people that I knew would fight back. More often than not I would come back to Qhala's place with a scratch or scar that made her worry more than she needed to. I knew I was causing her stress so when she asked me to attend regular sessions with the school counselor I agreed to relieve her of her anxiety.
The first meeting was awkward at best. To start I didn't know there was going to be a meeting, but Qhala called up to the school and they agreed to the arrangement easily. Apparently the school knew what I had been through and was looking to help. I thought it was bull that they knew my business without asking my permission first, but I didn't say anything for Qhala's sake.
At the end of my third class a boy who looked like a senior came to the room before the bell rang and told my teacher that I was needed in the office. At first I thought I was in trouble for arguing with an idiot that almost ran me over earlier today, but I was reassured by the guy. When I got there I was directed to the counselor's office. She was pretty and looked way too young to work in a school, but she also seemed like the no nonsense type.
"Close the door please." She asked politely. I did what was requested of me before I plopped down in one of the chairs across from her desk. When I was comfortable enough to stop fidgeting she started speaking again. "Hello Madison. My name is Ms. Clearwater. I wanted-"
"Wait Clearwater like Seth Clearwater, the freshmen?" I interrupted.
She laughed. "Exactly like that, he's my younger brother. I don't want you to worry though. What happens between us when that door closes stays between us, even the walls are soundproof. I mean unless you're a threat to someone's or your own safety, then I'm required to report it to the principal. So let's hope that isn't the case. Let's talk about you. How have you been dealing with the move from Illinois?"
"Fine, the flight was fine. I was a little uncomfortable on the plane, but that's about it. Qhala's nice so there are no problems there." I tried to keep my answers generic so she would dismiss me as an untroubled child.
"So where is the problem?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well you said the problem wasn't Qhala. So I'm asking where the problem is."
"Oh. There isn't a problem. Everything is awesome here." I said.
"Look Madison, Qhala is like a second mom to me and we're very close so when she called in and asked me to council her granddaughter I couldn't deny her. I really want to help you work through these issues. Sometimes just talking about what happened can really help. It doesn't have to be with me or Qhala, it can be with a friend or you could call this hotline if you want to talk to a stranger." She ripped off a piece of paper from the pad on her desk and scribbled a number 1-800 number down before handing it to me.
"Thanks." I looked at the number and folded it up before putting it in my pocket.
"So we've got a half an hour. I hope you don't mind I pulled you out during your Calculus class. Your grades are best in math and science and after talking to your teachers Mr. D said you can spare thirty minutes of his class."
"Its fine that class bores me anyway," I reassured her. She nodded in response and then asked me about Chicago. I wasn't as comfortable talking to her about the situation as I was with the social worker. So I told her about my best friend Shay, who I had neglected for the three weeks that I've been in La Push. The more I talked about her and our less than stellar adventures I realized that I missed her annoying presence and promised myself that I'd call her when I got to Qhala's.
At the end of the session Ms. Clearwater (it felt strange to call her that) wrote me a pass to Calculus and told me we'd be meeting at the same time, on the same day once a week. I thanked her for her time and scribbled a note on my hand reminding me to call Shay.
When I got home Qhala wasn't there so I didn't bother taking the wireless phone up to my room. I dialed up Shay's familiar number and after a few rings she picked up.
"You've got Harry's Horny Hoes Hotline. You're lucky enough to be speaking with Luna LovesGood, how can I hex you today?" She asked in a terrible British accent.
"You can start by being less disturbing ya weirdo." I answered in a fit of giggles.
"Well this can't possibly be my ex best friend Madison Monroe Montgomery? She died in a plane crash three weeks ago. It's the only explanation for her not calling me in all that time. No it cannot be, my Madison would have called. Who is this impersonating poor, poor, late Madison?"
"I see you haven't gotten less dramatic in the time that we've been parted," I said with an eye roll that she couldn't see. "I am sorry I haven't called, though. I've been distracted with learning this new place."
"I'll forgive you if you give me the name, address and social security number of whatever lucky girl you've replaced me with."
"If that was your less-than-subtle way of asking me if I've made new friends then the answer is yes. Only two girls and they haven't replaced you, but this boy in my Government class is cutting it pretty close." I teased her.
"You are allowed to have boy best friends, because they can't replace girl best friends. Unless they're gay I guess and then it depends on the kind of gay. He isn't like Project Runway gay is he?"
"Umm… I don't know what Project Runway gay means, but no. I'm pretty sure he's straight. What's going on with you?" I changed the subject before it turned into an hour long lecture on what was deemed as an acceptable boy best friend.
"Nothing much," She answered. "I transferred schools. I'm actually at an all-girls boarding school. My dad got remarried to some stuck up floozy that he met at the business trip he went on before you left. She didn't like me and I didn't like her and there wasn't anything for me at that school besides you anyway so I didn't protest when she recommended I be sent away. I figured they'll be divorced in six months or maybe a year, so you know. I'm not sweating it. How's grandma?" She asked.
"Oh she's awesome. She bought me new clothes and shoes and school supplies. She cooks every night and she's so sweet about me staying here. I'm just waiting for it all to go to hell."
"Well enjoy it while it lasts. You've got four more years before you can technically be fully responsible for yourself. If you start getting into trouble or something you can always hide under my queen sized bed, I'm sure you can stow away for a while before you get discovered from your loud ass snoring."
"I don't snore." I said out of habit. According to Shay I snored like a bear during the hibernation season.
"Sure ya don't sweetie," I could practically hear her roll her eyes. "It's din-din time at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart so I got to go. Is this Grammy's number?" I told her it was. "I'll call you soon since you obviously can't be trusted with the simple task of dialing ten numbers. Later loser, love you lots."
"Love you too crazy person." I hung up the phone and worked on my homework after grabbing a snack from the kitchen. It felt good to talk to Shay and it relieved me of some of the anger I had because she reminded me that it wasn't all bad in Chicago. She was a positive and I didn't have to give her up, but that didn't mean I wasn't still pissed when I went to bed that night.
I was woken up by the sound of a single wolf, but that didn't startle me. What startled me was when more howls joined in on the chorus and rang through the sleeping reservation of La Push. Playing it by ear I assumed that there were at least five of them out there. And they sounded so close. I swear I could feel the little house shake from the vibrations of the wails coming from the pack.
I felt a small pull leading me out of my room and towards the kitchen and out the back door. I was barefoot in thin, short shorts and a cami so it was needless to say that I should have felt cold, but oddly I didn't. My feet were leading me through the forest on their own accord and for a moment I forgot about the wolves. I was quickly reminded of their presence when I stumbled across an injured one in a clearing. My feet planted themselves to the ground for a moment before taking off and running towards the silver-grey wolf that wasn't too far from me. It was lying on its side looking all vulnerable and defeated.
When I was only a few foot steps away I realized that I was barefoot. In my pajamas. In the middle of the night. In the forest. With a large bear sized wolf that could easily devour me, even with its injury and it was looking straight at me. I'm sure it could smell my fear because it made a strange mewling sound too similar to a cat. It was probably from hunger, who knew how long it had been out here.
When I was done mentally mulling over the possible escape routes I realized that I was already on my knees in front of the wolf. What the fuck was up with my body and it doing shit without asking me or my brain first?
"Easy there… girl?" I asked hesitantly not at all expecting the quiet growl I got from the wolf. "Ok, boy then?" He whined in what I assumed was agreement.
"Ok boy, it looks like your leg is broken. My mom dated a vet once and he showed me something pretty cool about resetting bones after he broke one of mine." The wolf growled menacingly and I shivered with fright. In response to my shiver, or at least I think it was in response to me, the wolf settled down and seemed content with baring his fangs.
"I'm going to touch your leg ok?" I didn't wait for him to respond, because clearly that would be crazy, and ran two fingers along his leg, trying to feel how clean the break was. I was as gentle as possible and luckily wolf appreciated that. "It's a pretty clean break. What were you doing that broke it?" I asked.
I rubbed his stomach with the palm of my hand, scratching every now and then. His big tongue lolled out of his mouth and landed on the grass underneath him. His tail started to wag and without a warning I realigned the broken bone in his leg. He howled in surprise and looked at me in a way that almost seemed accusatory. "It's ok guy. At least you'll be able to walk better when this heals up than you would have if you had just left it to heal the way it was going to."
I swear he rolled his eyes.
"You're a pretty smart wolf, but a smart ass too." I said. I tore of the bottom half of my shirt so it was now a crop top. I took the strip of cloth and wrapped it around his leg to keep the bone in place while it healed. "I don't know if you're colorblind or not, or if wolves even care about the colors. Either way I'm sorry about it being pink and I hope the other boy wolves don't give you slack if you're one of the wolves in the pack."
The wolf let out a series of short barks that sounded something like a laugh.
"I'm not a huge fan of pink either, but Qhala loves it and bought these pajamas because she doesn't think I dress girly enough. Personally I think black is a timeless color, but ya know…"
I stayed and talked to wolf until I noticed the sun was starting to rise, which meant I had to get ready for school. I gave wolf a final once over and would have been sure that his bone was healed if that was possible. Before I left I scratched wolf behind his ear liked he liked and kissed his wet nose before running back in the direction of Qhala's house. After a while I managed to find my way back home and into my room before Qhala was up.
Wolf was… interesting and I wondered if I'd ever see him again.
A/N: Was that a long chapter? I had those two scenes that I thought were to short for their own chapters so I just put them together. Remember to review. -Bre
