Chapter 12: Healer Wynter

Summary: Within the pack, there are many different 'jobs' that help keep the pack strong, safe, and healthy. The positions in the pack—besides alpha—are ones that are chosen and not assigned through lineage. However, Wynter decides to follow in the footsteps of her mom to be the healer for the next generation of the pack.

Word Count: 2338

Wynter, like Wyatt and many other teen members of the pack, was incredibly excited to be able to join Seabrook High. Sure, Willa was a bit more reluctant and the main reason the teen werewolves left the Forbidden Forest to begin with was to try and find the Great Alpha and save the pack, but being in the human world was actually fun. Since venturing to Seabrook, Wynter had learned numerous new things like football from Zed, cheerleading from Addison and Bree, computers from Eliza, and different types of art from Bonzo. However, the thing that interested Wynter the most that she'd learned about from her new human and zombie friends was cheerleading. It was exciting the way people flew through the air.

Over the summer after the werewolves first decided to leave the Forbidden Forest, Wynter learned more about the human world and especially cheerleading. Addison and Bree were more than willing to teach her about it and teach her different routines, moves, and stunts.

"Is it fair for the co-captains of the cheer team to help coach me and not other people who might want to join the team?" Wynter questioned one afternoon after practicing with Addison and Bree.

"Maybe," Bree spoke, suddenly feeling a little guilty.

"Bucky and I practiced together last summer before I was on the team," Addison replied. "This isn't really any different than that. Besides, you asked for help because you want to learn and haven't gone to any cheer camps or anything before. If anyone else wanted help and to learn more, I'd gladly offer the same thing to them too."

Bree nodded, clearly feeling better about coaching Wynter over the summer. "Thank you," Wynter spoke, grateful that her new human friends were both willing to help her learn and didn't treat her differently for being a werewolf.

CHCHCH

The remainder of the summer, Wynter continued learning more about cheerleading. She'd heard that it was really competitive in Seabrook, so she wanted to be ready so she could make the team even if she wasn't a starter.

On the first day of school, and before cheer tryouts, Wynter heard people talking about how rigorous and intimidating cheer tryouts under Bucky had been. Everyone seemed to expect them to be just as bad with Addison as cheer captain since Bucky was her older cousin.

Most people seemed surprised that as co-captains, Addison and Bree didn't demand perfection the way Bucky did—though of course they'd want to be as good as possible for competition. Addison had said she'd make cheer about bringing people together if she was cheer captain, and she and Bree worked together to do that. There were a few people who had to be cut from the team, but nothing close to the extent that Bucky did nor in a way that made those people feel bad about not making the team. Addison and Bree made sure to encourage those people to keep practicing.

Wynter was over the moon to be able to join the team. "We're happy to have you," Addison spoke at the end of their first practice.

"You and all the other wolves who joined the team really are naturals," Bree added.

"Thanks. It's been fun getting to learn so far and I can't wait to learn more," Wynter smiled.

CHCHCH

As the school year continued, Wynter learned even more about cheer. She could see why Addison and Bree loved it so much when they cheered at the football games. The energy was amazing and exciting. The cheer team got to help everyone have a good time and stay in a good and positive mood even when the football team was down—although with Zed on the team, that never seemed to last long.

CHCHCH

Wynter quickly learned after joining the cheer team that practices were intense. Addison and Bree weren't like Bucky in the way they lead the team, but Seabrook had a reputation for its cheer team being the best and the two wanted to continue that tradition. However, no matter how tiring the practices could be, they were always fun as well.

One afternoon, the main focus of practice was practicing and perfecting extensions. Everyone was paired with people they were comfortable working with as they went over executing the extensions to make sure they were done properly so any mistakes could be rectified.

"Caleb, that's not right," Addison spoke. While the group Wynter was working with had a few minutes to take a quick break, she found herself listening to the conversation. "I'm going to have to ask you to sit out for a little while. Even with the mats out today, we can't risk any mistakes like that that could lead to you dropping Anna."

Caleb sighed, but nodded his agreement.

"No, it's fine," Anna spoke suddenly, turning to face Caleb.

Addison raised a brow. "It's really not. You and Caleb can pick this back up tomorrow."

"No, I trust Caleb. We've been best friends since we sat next to each other in Kindergarten. I trust him not to drop me."

Addison pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't know, Anna. That's dangerous. What if you get hurt?"

"I'll be fine," she insisted.

"Okay," Addison agreed after several long moments. "But if anything goes wrong, it's on you. I still don't think this is a good idea. Caleb?"

"If Anna wants to keep practicing, then I'll keep practicing with her."

"All right," Addison reluctantly agreed, briefly talking with Caleb and Anna about what Caleb had done incorrectly and hoping that he would be able to correct it this time around. She stepped back and went to talk with another group that'd been practicing their own extensions and checking how it was going with them.

As Caleb and Anna began practicing again, it seemed that everyone in the room was suddenly watching them. Most everyone else was taking a break, so they didn't have anything else to do. Lifting Anna up and over his head went fine for Caleb. Anna struck a pose as he held her feet high about his head but firmly in his hands.

The stunt was executed properly until it came to bringing Anna down back to the ground. Wynter must have blinked and missed what went wrong, because the next thing she knew, a sickening crack filled the room momentarily and was quickly followed by Anna screaming out in pain.

Addison and Bree were immediately by her side as Caleb also kneeled next to her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he repeated the manta.

People soon began to crowd around. "I'll call 911," Bree spoke, standing and going to get her phone.

"Everyone, get back," Addison instructed. "She needs air."

"I can help," Wynter spoke, quickly making her way beside Addison.

"What?"

"My mom's the pack's healer. I know how to set a bone and make a splint."

"I totally forgot. What do you need?"

"Well, we usually use sticks from the forest and some plain bandage material to give it padding," Wynter spoke after taking a minute to look at Anna's leg. "I think we'll just make a splint and let the human doctors set the bone. I just need stuff to make the splint."

"So, something like yard sticks and maybe towels?" someone asked.

"Yeah, that can work for now," Wynter replied.

The girl who'd suggested it turned to a couple others and they quickly went to retrieve the needed materials. A minute later, they returned with two yard sticks and a handful of towels.

"Thank you," Wynter spoke. "Will anyone be too mad if I break the yard sticks. They're a little too long," she noted.

"We'll worry about that later," Addison spoke.

Wynter nodded and snapped off part of the yard sticks so they would fit on either side of Anna's legs better. As she began wrapping towels around the first one and Addison copied what she did with the second, Bree came back to report that an ambulance was on the way.

Once she and Addison had a couple towels wrapped around the yard sticks, Wynter ripped apart the other ones to use to tie the make-shift splint around Anna's leg. "Careful not to move her leg too much, but we need to tie two strips of the towels around Anna's upper leg and two around her lower leg so it doesn't move too much, but not so tight that it cuts off circulation."

Addison nodded as she helped Wynter finish splinting Anna's leg.

"You don't feel any tingling, do you, Anna?" Wynter questioned.

"No," Anna shook her head.

"I'm so sorry," Caleb continued to apologize.

"It's not—your fault," Anna spoke, grimacing in pain. "I in—insisted."

"Anna's right, Caleb. I warned her that if anything happened, it would be on her. You may have made the mistake and dropped Anna, but she's the reason you were still practicing," Addison reasoned.

Anna nodded. "My responsibility," she spoke, taking deep breaths and trying to keep her mind off the pain in her leg.

In the distance, the sound of the approaching ambulance grew more clear. Bree and Bonzo went to meet the paramedics. A minute later, the two returned with the paramedics right behind them. Anna was placed on the stretcher after the paramedics did some quick checks. "Can I come?" Caleb asked.

"It's up to you, Miss," one of the paramedics spoke as he got ready to take the stretcher out of the school.

"Yeah," Anna replied.

As Anna was wheeled out of the school, the rest of the cheer team stood to the side watching. Addison, Bree, Bonzo, and Wynter stood around the spot where the accident happened.

"At least the bone didn't break her skin and there's no blood," Bree spoke.

"Za," Bonzo agreed.

"I'm sure Mr. Zeck wouldn't appreciate having to clean that up," Addison spoke. "I never should have let them keep practicing."

"Are you blaming yourself now?" Wynter raised a brow. "You already told Caleb it wasn't his fault really because Anna's the one who insisted on practicing. It's not your fault either."

Addison took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks for being so calm and taking the lead on getting the splint. I would have had no idea what to do."

"It comes pretty naturally. I mean, my mom's the first one in our family to be the pack's healer, but I've always been interested in what she does and thought it might be important to know how to take care of injuries. And I've spent enough time around Willa and Wyatt to know how to take charge in an emergency."

"You really did great," Bree agreed.

"Hey, Addison, Bree," one of the other cheerleaders spoke, approaching the four. "What are we going to do about the rest of practice?"

Addison and Bree met each other's eyes. "That's it for practice for today," Bree spoke.

"We'll pick back up with this tomorrow," Addison added, already deciding that the next time she had a feeling someone should stop practicing any sort of dangerous stunt for the day, they would be done. The remainder of the cheerleaders retrieved their things and headed to the locker rooms.

"I guess we should take care of everything and talk to Principal Lee about the stuff we needed to break to make the splint," Wynter said, looking at the few extra towels and broken pieces of the yard sticks.

"I'll take care of it," Addison offered. "So, I know you've talked about it before, and how your mom is the packs' healer, but the way you've mentioned how your mom is the first healer in your family. It's not a family thing?"

"Sometimes it is, but not for us," Wynter admitted.

"Then what made you want to learn?" Bree questioned. "I hope we're not pressing."

"No, you're all essentially part of the pack," Wynter offered a smile as she briefly paused. "Okay, don't tell them this, but I decided to at least study what my mom did since Willa and Wyatt have always been my closest friends in the pack. From when we were little, everyone knew Willa would take over as alpha someday and I figured if I knew the things my mom did about healing, I'd be able to help in case anything happened. The pack needs our leader."

"Aww," Bree gasped. "That's really sweet."

"Don't go around telling people I'm a softie," Wynter teased. "But the pack needs to watch out for each other. We're a family."

"Thanks for having our backs," Addison said. "I don't think I could have been as calm as you were without you here. Thank you," she repeated.

"I'm glad I could help."

"Maybe you could help us learn more in case this happens again," Bonzo suggested.

"That would be amazing," Bree voiced her agreement as Addison nodded.

"You're all part of our extended pack, so I'd love to," Wynter offered. The group shared a few more words before taking care of the broken yard sticks and towels then heading to the locker rooms themselves.

After leaving the locker room, Addison made her way to Principal Lee's office to make sure she was aware of the accident and what they'd used to make the splint. A couple of the other cheerleaders had stopped by on their way out, so Principal Lee was already aware of what happened and assured Addison that there was nothing to worry about.

Anna ended up needing to sit on the sidelines for the remainder of the football games that season. When her time with crutches was up, she still wasn't able to do anything in cheer practice for most of the remainder of the school year. While it was a disappointment for her, it served as a lesson to her and others not to take risks that could result in injury. However, if anything did happen, Wynter helped prepare Addison, Bree, and Bonzo to be able to help and know what to do in those situations.

A/N: In real life, I'm pretty sure there would have been a coach involved somewhere in an emergency like this, but since we don't see a coach in either of the movies, they must not really do anything, so they're not included here either.

I debated on whether or not the breaking of an arm or a leg would work better, and setting a leg seemed more logical to have Wynter doing what I wanted her to do. Also, I'm not a trained professional and just watched a couple YouTube videos about how to splint a bone, so not everything is totally accurate.

Anyway, thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. As always, I'm open to requests and I'll do my best to try and make it into a story but I make no promises. Until next time,

-CrazyHayniac