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Wolf's POV:

The New Girl

The creaking sound of the door opening wakes me up from another fitful sleep, but I don't move.

There is a click as the light turns on, followed by a voice.

"C'mon kid, breakfast is in the meeting room. There's bacon if you want it."

I give no indication that I heard him, or even that I'm awake. This happens every morning, ever since the police found me seven years ago and brought me to the station. Officer Grant would come into my room to wake me up and I'd offer no reaction.

Grant sighs and I listen to his receding footsteps as he leaves the room.

Finally, I open my eyes and swing my legs out of the bed. I stretch and rub the sleep out of my eyes before heading over to my wardrobe. I open the doors to reveal black and grey T-shirts hanging from a metal bar crossing the wardrobe and neatly folded jeans sitting in the cubby holes. No bright colours, no slogans, no patterns. That's the way I like it. I hate being noticed. Nearly everything I do is to try and make me inconspicuous. Not an easy task, given that I usually stand out easily in a crowd.

First of all, there's my height. I'm taller than all the police at the station and I'm about a head taller than all the kids in my year. Not exactly helpful when your objective is to blend in. Second, my scars. Most of them were from fights and scrapes I got into back home, with a few new additions from small accidents since I came here. I've lost count of how many times I've been asked if I'm a street fighter because of them. Third, I got held back two years at school. When I arrived in the Commonwealth, I knew how to read and write and could do basic maths, but science? History? Forget it. I had to repeat the year twice to learn it all. Being the only nineteen-year-old in school generally attracts one or two stares. Fourth, I'm muscular. Very muscular. It's not like I lift weights or anything, I just put on muscle really easily. Still, it's not exactly common. Finally, I have a tattoo on my left forearm. I don't even know what had been going through my head when I got it, but I'm the only kid at my school who has a tattoo, or at least a tattoo everyone can see. Put it all together, not being noticed is just about impossible for me, though it doesn't stop me from trying.

I pick out a shirt and pair of jeans at random and pull them on before heading out to the meeting room for breakfast.

When I enter the room, I'm met with several "good mornings" from the police officers already there. I nod at them in reply before grabbing a plate and piling slices of bacon on it.

"You've got an appointment with Dr Pine this afternoon." A policewoman, Jane, tells me as I grab a slice of buttered toast. "Do you want any of us to drive you?"

"No thanks." I reply, "I can walk."

And that's the end of that conversation.

Suddenly, the door to the meeting room opens with a bang, causing everyone to jump. The boisterous voice of the chief soon follows.

"Here are my protectors of the city! And here," He adds, ruffling my hair, "is my favourite orphan! Sleep well kiddo?"

"Fine." My reply feels ridiculously quiet and flat after the chief's big greeting. Then again, most of my replies are flat.

"Atta boy! Oh, and before I forget, I just got a call from the school. There's a new kid starting today! Maybe they'll manage to finally break that shell of yours, eh?" The chief chuckles and takes a seat. I decide not to voice my doubts about this new kid "breaking my shell" and leave him to his enthusiasm. For me, all a new kid means is a week of wearing hoodies and long-sleeved shirts to hide my tattoo until they inevitably hear about it from someone else.

I push open the double doors of the school and walk inside. I keep my gaze trained on the ground and pull the black hood of my hoodie over my head. I know it doesn't do all that much, but it makes me feel a bit safer.

I block out the shouting and laughter all around me as I open my locker. I toss in my books haphazardly and forcibly tug out the volumes I need for my morning classes. Several teachers have told me that I should try to be more organised, but I can't really be bothered stacking all my books and binders neatly and colour coding them. It's a locker, not a filing cabinet.

"Hey Wolf!"

I suppress a sigh and turn around to look at Kai. He offers me a grin that I don't return.

"So, anything interesting on today?" He asks me.

"No."

"Well then, any plans for the weekend?"

"No."

"You know, I hear Thorne's throwing a party. I can ask him if you can come if you want?"

"No."
"Right, right. Have you heard about the new kid?"

"Yes."

"Apparently their coming here from France. Can you imagine coming here from someplace so far away? It must be super weird for them."
"I guess."

Kai glances at the floor awkwardly and shuffles his feet.

"Well… good talk Wolf."

He waves at me and hurries off, probably to talk to someone who gives full sentence answers.

I sigh and shut my locker. Every day, Kai tries to make friendly conversation with me, to be nice. And every day I deflect his efforts. I appreciate the fact that Kai's trying to be nice and all, and it's not that I don't like him it's just… I can't have friends. Friends tell each other things, make each other laugh, hang out. I can't do any of those things. It's better if I don't become a friend, than be a completely shoddy one.

My first class is English. I sit down heavily at my desk in the back row and pull out my books, dropping them unceremoniously on its wooden surface. The teacher hasn't arrived yet, so the classroom is alive with chatter and talk. I tune out the noise and stare out the window, counting the clouds as they drift across the sky.

By the time I get to thirty, I realise that a hush has fallen over the class. I glance up at the front of the room to see the teacher, Ms Hoshi, smiling at us.

"Good morning class! As you all know, you have a project on Shakespeare coming up, so today we will be doing an analysis task on Romeo and Juliet meeting for the second time at her balcony. First, I'll put you all into partners. In your pairs, I want you to act out the dialogue of Romeo and Juliet's meeting. Then, I want you to annotate the text, highlighting key language and structural features. Finally, I want you to complete two analytical paragraphs on the text: one about the language features used, and one about structure. If you don't finish these paragraphs, that will be your homework for tonight, due tomorrow."

Several students cast uneasy looks at me. I just take out some highlighters from my pencil case and pretend not to notice. I can hardly blame them for looking at me like that. After all, who would want to be partnered up with the weird quiet kid covered in scars?

"But before we get to all of that," Ms Hoshi continues, "we have a new student joining us today!"

She gestures to the door and a girl steps into the classroom. She has bright red curly hair that clashes with her red hoodie. Her face is covered in freckles and her eyes are the colour of tree bark.

She stands facing the class with her arms folded, chin jutting out, as if challenging everyone in the room.

Ms Hoshi places a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Everyone, this is Scarlet Benoit. She's come here all the way from France. Make sure you give her a nice, warm welcome, okay?"

"I'd be more than happy to Ms Hoshi." A boy named Thorne in the front row leans forward on his desk. I can imagine him looking Scarlet up and down with a lopsided grin on his face.

Scarlet rolls her eyes. "Don't you have a blonde to chase after?"

Thorne barks with laughter. "Ooh, a feisty one! Tell me mademoiselle, are all French girls as gorgeous as you are?"

"Are all the boys in this school as idiotic as you are?"

The class oohs in unison and Thorne barks in laughter again, obviously heavily enjoying this conversation.

Ms Hoshi clears her throat loudly and the class reluctantly turns their attention back to her. She gestures to the desk next to mine. "Scarlet, for now, I'll seat you next to Wolf."

"Ooh, very clever Ms Hoshi!" Thorne calls out.

Ms Hoshi raises an eyebrow at him, obviously not following. To be honest, neither am I. Thorne usually protests when a girl gets sat next to me (or anyone that's not him). What's with the sudden turnaround?

"I'm not sure I know what you mean Carswell." Ms Hoshi says, frowning. Scarlet snorts at Thorne's first name.

"Well come on!" He exclaims, apparently not noticing Scarlet's amusement. "You've gotta put Little Red with the Big Bad Wolf!"

I suppress a groan. I should've seen that coming.

The whole class erupts into laughter and I resort to staring out the window again. That's generally my default whenever something like this happens: stare into space, and try to forget where you are.

Ms Hoshi claps her hands furiously and shouts at the class, but it still takes several minutes for noise to finally die down. She rubs her eyes with one hand and points at Scarlet's new desk. She plops down into the chair next to mine and scatters all her school stuff onto the table top.

Sighing, Ms Hoshi begins assigning partners.

"Carswell, you go with Iko. Kai, you're with Cress. Wolf, you can be Scarlet's partner."

I glance at my new partner. She scowls back at me. Okay, so she doesn't like me then. What else is new?

Once Ms Hoshi finishes assigning partners, she hands out script sheets with the lines written on them.

"You have thirty minutes. Please begin."

Scarlet turns in her chair to face me and gestures to my script. "Alright Romeo, you start."

Obediently, I look down at my script and read aloud.

"But, soft! What light from yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."

Scarlet sniggers and I stop, waiting for her to finish. Still sniggering, she gestures for me to continue.

"Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,"

This time, Scarlet snorts loudly. Chuckling, she wipes a pretend tear from her eyes.

"Well," She sniggers, "I hope you're not looking for a career in acting."

I shake my head wordlessly.

Scarlet takes a deep breath, obviously trying to collect herself, only to break out in muffled laughter again.

"Sorry, sorry." She manages, sounding not at all apologetic, "It's just, you're saying these poetic, loving words, but your tone… well, it sounds like a rock is speaking. It just sounds so weird and funny! Here, like this:"

She picks up her script and finds a line said by Juliet.

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

The words are longing and desperate, but Scarlet's voice as she says them… it sounds completely empty, like she's reading a business contract. And, hearing it, I can't help but agree with what Scarlet was saying earlier: it is actually really funny! I feel the corner of my mouth twitch into a brief smile.

And then comes the pain.

Needles pierce through my skin and tear at my muscle. My blood feels as though it is boiling in my veins. A headache builds behind my eyes and my lungs squeeze, cutting off my air. My heart pounds in my chest so fast and so loud that I swear it will burst. My stomach roils and I swallow back the flood of bile that suddenly rises up my throat.

I clench my fists and feel warm blood drip onto my fingertips as my nails pierce the soft flesh of my palms.

The pain is fleeting, only lasting a few seconds before fading to nothing.

I wipe my bloodied hands on my pants and pick up my script again.

"Let's just get this over with." I tell Scarlet without looking at her. I imagine her frowning at me as I continue to read my lines as Romeo.

The seizure hadn't been too bad this time, then again, the one's caused by amusement generally aren't. Happiness, sadness, anger, those are the bad ones. The ones that feel as though drills are shredding apart my bones from the inside out, where my blood becomes acid burning its way through my system. Where my skull feels as though it's being smashed open with a mallet, and my tears feel like liquid fire.

This is why I can't have friends. Friends make you happy, sad, angry. For me, they'll only bring seizures. There is only one bigger reason why I can't have friends. The kids in this school, the cops at the station, they're all human. And I'm not.

A/N: Thorne and Scarlet's conversation was so fun to write!

As you can see, Wolf's got a lot of stuff going on. Why does he have seizures? What does Wolf mean when he says he's not human? Why was there no Wolflet in this chapter (or at least a much to small amount of Wolflet)? Well, the first two questions will have to wait, but the third question is because there will be more Wolf/Scarlet interactions in chapter 2! Please review!