A/N: Aren't I just so naughty, giving you lot a cliff hanger like that? If I could, I'd post a 'hurr' face on here that way so you guys could punch me. Only joking! I'm in a surprisingly good mood considering the dummies I have to work with tonight. Oh well. Here's another chapter! R&R. Enjoy (and please don't punch me)!

Chapter Ten

Lunch went by fast, and I was more than happy for the bell to ring. After Beth told me about Justin's dad, it remained quiet and tense all throughout lunch and it was way more than just awkward. Evan and Heath didn't come back, but Evan had been incredibly upset when he left. I just hoped that he'd be okay. He seemed like a really nice and sweet kid, and I hoped that things would start to look up for him soon.

After lunch ended, Justin and I walked in silence to our next class, History of the Wolf 101. This was the only class so far that had individual desks. We sat down by a pair of desks near the window. As soon as the bell rang and everyone was in their seats, the teacher entered the room. He wasn't very tall – five foot seven at the most – and he had black hair and blue eyes. I didn't see the wolf mark on his right hand like I had on my other professor who taught Werewolf Sociology, and I was wondering what he was when I spotted the four filled in circles on his neck and the vines and leaves that wrapped around his neck in an odd, yet intriguing fashion. I was so preoccupied by his markings that I didn't even realize he was speaking until he spoke my name.

"John Cena. It's nice to meet you. I'm Professor Stein. Welcome to Hell High. Grab a textbook and open it to page ninety-seven please."

Looking up at him, feeling like a complete idiot, I mumbled a quiet 'nice to meet you too' and grabbed a textbook and opened it up. The illustrations and titles that had been covered so far looked so fascinating and interesting that I found myself actually wanting to read the material. But I'd have to do that later, on my own time. Turning to the desired page, I read the title of the unit we were about to study: The Wolf in the Nineteenth Century. Professor Stein started the lecture once everyone had turned to the first chapter (The Ukraine Riots) of the unit, and we began taking notes. Although he was strict and right to the point, Professor Stein held my attention throughout the entire period, and by the time the bell rang, I was more than eager to read the sections I had missed. I mean, when he talked about what the citizens of Kiev did when they found out about the pack of werewolves that had taken up residency in the city – which involved a lot of blood and death – the whole class was on the edge of their seats, me included.

All in all, it was a pretty good class, and I was looking forward to actually writing the short essay that was due tomorrow. Justin and I left the classroom and I followed him down the hall, frowning at him. All through class, he had been tense and quiet, and he definitely hadn't been paying attention to the lecture or the chapter we covered. I felt bad; I mean, that guy, Punk or whatever, had really gotten to him and it didn't make things better when I asked about his dad. Before we made it out the doors to go to our P.E. class, I grabbed his hand and forced him to stop. Looking at him, his soft brown eyes finally sparked with signs of life and he gave me an incredibly brief, and incredibly fake, smile. Sighing inwardly, I pulled him into the nearby boys' bathroom, making sure that no one stopped to gawk at us like we were freaks or something.

"Hey, I'm sorry about lunch. I didn't know about your…," I paused, not entirely sure what to say. So, I decided to be honest with him. "I didn't know about your dad and what he did, and I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry." Justin sighed and hung his head, shaking it before he looked at me. Pain, anger, and sadness filled his soft brown eyes and I felt myself wanted to reach out and console him. I would have too had it not been for him crossing the few spaces between us and backing me up against the bathroom wall.

"It's not your fault, John. You have nothing to be sorry for. Punk's what upset me, not you, so don't worry about it. I'm sorry I freaked you out; I didn't mean to scare you and stuff."

He leaned in and nuzzled my neck, sighing against my skin softly. My heart jumped up into my throat and began beating rapidly. Part of me wanted to nuzzle back, to hold him, to do something, anything, to comfort him while another part of me was fighting the other part. After all, I didn't know him very well and, although he was attractive, I liked Dave. Didn't I? To be honest, I hadn't even thought about him since I left him last night, and I hadn't even bothered to check my phone for text messages or missed calls. Shit. But all thoughts of Dave were pushed out of my mind when Justin nipped at my neck softly, making my chest rumble with happiness and desire. And then, his lips found mine and we shared a soft, hesitant kiss that made me melt a bit and crave more. His lips were warm and soft, and when they touched mine I realized that he was trembling. Whether it was because of what happened at lunch or because of what was happening now, I didn't know, but I knew that, although I was starting to like Justin, I shouldn't have been kissing him. It was fair to Dave, to Justin, or to myself, so I pulled away, feeling oddly at a loss when I separated from him.

"We should get to class." Justin sighed and nodded before he looked up at me.

"I like you John. A lot. And not just because you're my mate. And I know you're hesitant and unsure, so I'm willing to give you all the time you need. Just note that it'll be hard for me. I haven't felt normal ever since my father…did what he did, and you're the only one who's made me feel entirely at peace for once." Not knowing exactly what to say, I nodded.

"Thanks. I do need some time. I'm not going to lie: I like you, but I don't know if it's like a friend or something more. I'm sorry." He nodded and backed away from me.

"And you still like that Dave guy right?" I heard the jealousy in his voice and it made me smile a little bit. It was cute, seeing him worked up over Dave, but I didn't say it out loud. The truth was that I did still like Dave, even though we haven't hung out or acted like friends in a while. His visit last night made me rethink everything about our relationship, and I couldn't just push my oldest and best friend out of my mind.

"Yeah, I do. But right now, I just want to make it through my first day, get my homework done, and try to fit in here and get back to normal as much as possible." Opening the bathroom door, I walked out into the hallway with Justin behind me. We made our way out the doors and to our P.E. class, talking about the homework that was due tomorrow and wondering what was going to be made for dinner.

Professor Skyle, who was an adult werewolf with markings that looked like swords wrapping around his arm all the way up to his shoulder, made us do warm ups for a good twenty minutes before he had us start on archery exercises. Justin told me, as we were doing figure eights on the field and track bleachers during warms ups, that they started the archery unit last week. He told me that the next unit we'd start would be soccer and I nodded, feeling more normal than I have been all day. Yes, all of my classes thus far were interesting, unique, and totally cool, but gym class made me feel as though I were back home and at my old school. So I was liking gym class a lot by the time Coach – which was what Professor Skyle told me to call him – told us to go back to the locker rooms and change before class ended. A few students who were looking a little under the weather stayed behind to talk to him after he told us to hit the showers, some looking incredibly worried, even frightened. Nudging Justin, I pointed over to them as we headed back towards the gym.

"What's up with them?" Justin looked over at them and frowned.

"Looks to me like a few of them are sick."

"So they're getting permission to go to the nurse's office?" We entered the gym and turned right, heading towards the boys' locker room.

"Not quite. Usually when a student starts getting sick and out of shape, it means that their body is rejecting being Selected and if they don't start getting better, they die." I felt my face pale. The entire world knew that not everyone who was Selected made it to Completion; some, mainly those Selected as seers, shape shifters, and morphers, died before making it that far since their change was more mental and stuff than the change made by werewolves and vampires. But still…

"How many students have died while you've been here?" I asked Justin as we entered the locker room and grabbed our clothes before changing.

"None that I can recall. Although I was a bit preoccupied with…a lot, so I really didn't notice anything like that for a few weeks."

Once we had cleaned ourselves up and changed, we waited for the bell to ring before leaving the gym and heading to our fifth and final class: Sociology. I had a feeling that it was going to be a mixed class, like Folklore, and I was hoping to see some familiar faces. When we walked into class, Beth waved at us from her seat in the second row and we made our way over. Like the first few classes I had, there were tables instead of individual desks, so it was the three of us at our table in the second row. As students began filing in, I recognized a few of them, including the Barbie blonde who had ticked Justin off earlier. Groaning, Justin banged his head on the table while Beth snorted and shook her head.

"Some people just can't reject being Selected, can they?" Beth asked as she shook her head when Barbie sat down at the table beside ours. Justin turned his head to face Beth and I could hear the pout in his voice as he replied.

"Kelly was bein' all flirty and stuff with John earlier and the skank just won't go and blow up. Beeeeeth, you need to kick her." I tried, and failed, to hide my laughter at Justin's whiney tone of voice.

"Kick her were, Justin?" Beth smirked at him and he lifted his head off of the table.

"Kick her in her nasty spider web."

"I hope you mean the one between her legs."

"I do." At that moment, the bell rang and the teacher walked in, closing the door and turning to us. Her thick black hair fell in waves to her waist and her right eye had a blood red spot over her eye that had three wing-like curves steaming out from it. She looked at me and nodded.

"Welcome to Sociology, Mr. Cena. I take it you have a book?" Beth handed me a book and I nodded, sending her a brief thank-you smile.

"Yeah. I'm covered." The teacher nodded and move to her desk.

"Good. I'm Professor Hasannova. Now, class, let's begin today's lesson."

Out of all of my classes, Sociology was the most boring, and it wasn't really that boring. The thing was that I had already taken Soc my freshman year in high school, so I already knew the material. But I still paid attention to what we were going over, and mainly because Professor Hasannova scared me. Seriously, she was nice, but she looked like she'd have no problem biting my head off if she caught me drifting. Towards the end of the lesson, Professor H started explaining how everything we covered in class related to the five different species. That was when things got interesting, and I was kind of sad to go by the end of it.

When the bell rang, Beth, Justin, and I walked back to the dormitory areas, talking about anything and everything. It was nice, walking with them and chatting on the way; it felt normal. Eventually, we parted ways with Beth and walked to our dorm, going to our room to drop off our bags before dinner. As soon as we walked into the common area of our dorm, however, we noticed that everyone was crowded around the TVs, watching the news. Heath spotted us and waved us over, looking pale and uncomfortable. Justin looked over at me and shrugged and we made our way over to him.

"What's going on?" Justin asked. Heath pointed to the news broadcast and we both turned to watch the headlining story.

"I repeat, the decapitated body of Michael Vasel has been found by Coal Creek a few miles away from the high school. He was identified by his varsity jacket and drivers' license found in his wallet. There have been no leads to who could have committed this heinous crime and the police have yet to name any person of interest thus far…"

"Damn…That's a shame. He was kinda cute, in a white hick sort of way." Justin and I both sent Heath a pointed look, which he ignored.

"He was on the football team. Michael was Dave's friend…" Oh. My. God. The realization suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. Michael, Dave's friend, had just been murdered. Oh. My. God.