Eden and Betty's day was off to a fantastic start. Some people preferred coffee in the morning. Other people liked donuts. But Eden and Betty were more partial to headlocks.

Eden could smell the musk of the boy who had her in one now. She could even feel the hair in his armpits touching her ear. It went without saying that it wasn't her finest hour.

"Talk to me," Betty said, struggling to breathe with how tight his arm was around her throat. "You okay?"

"Awesome," Eden wheezed out sarcastically. "This is good practice if I ever run into a strangler."

"That would happen with our luck." Betty managed to grin despite their predicament.

The boy's grip around their necks tightened.

"Ow!" the two girls cried out.

The person currently torturing them in front of the school was David Stachowski, a star player at their school and team captain in nearly all of the sports he participated in. He had bushy eyebrows and a messy nest of brown hair atop his head. Plus, a blanket of hair covering his arms and legs. He had thick stubble that reach from over his mouth to all around his neck, too. He was rather hairy for his age, and even for a grown man some might say.

"Okay, okay. We get it," Eden surrendered. It was funny. She could face witches, vampires, and ghosts, but not one stupid athlete. "You're the alpha male. We're just the omegas."

Betty corrected, "We're not even that, Eden. We're more like the prey."

"Fair point."

The boy grunted as he released the girls from his hold. "Listen, geeks!" he shouted. "From here on out, we're best buds! Got it?!"

Betty and Eden looked at each other in confusion. Neither had been expecting to hear that, but it wasn't as though they could refuse him. That is, unless they really wanted to ride in an ambulance.

Betty was nodding. "Sure."

Eden did the same. "Yeah, yeah. Best buds!" She gave David a thumbs up.

"Awesome," he smiled, revealing sharp canines. "See you later Bro One and Bro Two!" he yelled their new found names in excitement before bestowing a punch to each of their shoulders.

Betty and Eden tried their best to man up and not whimper at the pain.

Then, he ran off.

"That was awesome!" Betty cheered.

"Which part?" Eden frowned, not understanding. "Because the only thing I found awesome about that was us surviving. I can still taste his deodorant."

Betty licked her lips and looked up in ponderment. "Hmm. . .Glide Stick. Extreme glacier ice. Two thousand and nine."

Eden stared at her as though she was absolutely crazy, which Eden could argue to be true.

Betty went to explain her defense. "Grandpa uses that deodorant, too. I even borrow it when I run out."

"Okay." Eden decided it was best to accept that explanation before things took a turn for the gross. Betty sometimes had a problem when it came to TMI.

"Anyway, the awesome part is us becoming friends with the David Stachowski. Our street cred just went through the roof."

"But why would a jock want to be friends with a couple of geeks?"

"How does that saying go? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth? Or in this case, I guess instead of a gift horse it would be a hairy jock. The point is, don't question it. Just enjoy it."

Eden wanted to, but it was weird.

"Hey," Betty said to a cute senior who was walking towards them. He threw Betty an annoyed glance. "You wanna go out? I'm friends with David Stachowski."

"Drop dead," he told her as he passed them.

She turned to Eden with a triumphant smile. "See? He actually talked to me. That would have never happened pre-headlock."

Eden shook her head, watching David talk to his jock friends. "There's something off about him."

David started growling and barking at a student to prove her point.

Betty denied the oddity of it. "It just seems off because it's hard for us geeks to understand the ways of the jocks." Betty scratched her head and pulled something out of her hair. "Is that a flea?" she cried in disgust. "I knew I shouldn't have put Grandpa's toad slime in my shampoo!"

"You did what?"

"It's supposed to make your hair silky."

Eden walked away. This was a prime example of Betty's trouble with TMI.

Two days passed since Eden had made friends with David.

Eden smacked a snack machine in the cafeteria, trying to make the candy bar she had bought with her dollar fall into the slot. It was unfair. That candybar was rightfully hers! Her dollar would not be given up in vain.

Sam came up from behind her and with one smack, six candy bars fell out of the machine.

"Wow," Eden said, looking at the stash. "I guess that's one of your fledgling powers." Eden bent down to grab the one candy she had initially bought and left the rest on the floor. She could only eat so much chocolate in a single day.

"More of a perk. So. . .where's your new jock friend?" he asked, walking with Eden to a table.

"It's so weird. It's like the lions have started hanging out with the zebras. And it's almost like he's inserting himself into my life."

Sam pulled out a bottle of water from his book sack and started to drink. When Eden told him, "He actually came over to my house yesterday," he noticeably gagged on the water.

"You okay?" Eden asked him, patting his back.

"Fine," he insisted. Once his coughs began subsiding, he asked her, "What'd you guys do?"

"He ate all our food while we watched a football game."

He smirked. "Bet you couldn't understand a thing going on."

"You win that bet."

Eden saw Betty enter the cafeteria and make her way over to the table Sam and her were at. "David gave me a high-five, and I think I saw his friends look at me."

"Who wouldn't look at such a rare sight?" Eden joked. She turned back to Sam. "He's a little weird, though."

"Weird how?" Sam questioned.

"He howls."

The exact jock they were speaking of suddenly yelled, "Free candy bar!" Eden saw he was picking up one of the candy bars Sam had made the vending machine spit out. "Oooooow!" he howled in excitement, serving to prove Eden's claim right.

Betty was unperturbed. "So? A lot of guys howl. Right, Sam?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't do it too often."

"It's a jock animal thing," Betty explained as they all watched David chest bumping two of his teammates in the cafeteria.

"I can't be the only one who's noticed how hairy he is," Eden contended, remembering the crazy amount of hair in David's brush. He had asked Eden if she could clean it out for him when she passed by in the halls. It looked like a small dog had been trapped in that thing.

"A lot of guys are hairy," Betty continued to argue. "It's a hairy guy thing."

"I'll tell you what it is. It's math. Howling plus hair plus this town equals—"

"Awesome!" Betty finished.

"Stupid?" Sam proposed.

Eden filled in the blank for them. "Werewolf."

Sam sighed and shook his head in clear doubt. "Eden, not everything weird is supernatural. You're obsessed."

"Yeah," Betty agreed. "Maybe he just wants to be our friend because he has a crush on one of us."

"Betty," Eden said, "think about it. What's more likely? Him having a crush on one of us or him being a werewolf?"

Eden could see that Betty was thinking long and hard about that one until finally she answered the question. "Dude's a werewolf."

"I say we prove he's a werewolf, then find out what he wants."

"I'm in."

"What about you, Sam?"

"Seems dumb, but somebody's got to keep you out of trouble. Sure."

Sam was at his locker, saving up his books from last class.

"Hey," Sam's friend, Eric, greeted.

"Hey."

"Any plans?"

"Actually, yes."

"Really? I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the arcade or something."

Sam smirked. "I thought you were too cool for that."

"I'm still young, aren't I? You really won't come?"

"Sorry."

Eric frowned. "What's so important, you'd bail on your friend? You just don't want to hang out with me, huh? What? Am I too much of a bad influence now that my teeth are sharper?"

"Chill out, Eric. You know that's not why. My teeth are just as sharp as yours."

"Then, what is it?"

"Well—"

Before Sam could explain, David Stachowski suddenly walked up to them. "Hey," he said to Sam. "I'm David, which you should already know. I saw you talking to my buddies. And since you're buddies with my buddies, that makes you my buddy."

Sam was just about to decline that ever-so-generous offer when he thought of something better to say. "Alright. Since we're buddies now, maybe you can tell me why you're so interested in Eden and Betty."

Sam noticed David tense up. "Sorry, I gotta head to football practice."

"Wait!" Sam said, stopping the jock before he ran away. David was hiding something. Although Sam doubted his big secret was being a werewolf like Eden believed, there was something he didn't want to share. Sam was tempted to press David, but thought better of it. Instead, he said, "When you went to Eden's house, was it just you two?"

"Nah. Her parents were there."

"Okay. I was just curious."

"Alright. See ya," he told Sam, nodding his chin up at him in a way that ticked Sam off.

Once David was gone, Eric spoke up. "Why'd you ask that?"

"I already said why. I was just curious."

Eric rolled his eyes knowingly. "Sure. Anyway, back to what we were talking about. Why can't you hang with me?"

"Eden thinks our new buddy, David, is a werewolf. And I said I'd help her prove it."

Eric cracked a grin at that. "Random. Do you think he's a werewolf?"

"I doubt it. But in this town, I wouldn't be surprised."

Eric looked to the side for a minute in what seemed to be deep thought.

"What is it?" Sam asked him.

"I wonder if he has a sister."

Now, that was random. "David? Why?"

"If he's a werewolf, dating a werewolf chick would be kind of hot."

Sam didn't understand Eric's thought process here. "You want to date a girl with more hair on her back than you?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it doesn't seem so hot anymore."

Betty and Eden met up after school. Sam had said he'd wait for them at the football field where David and the rest of the team were practicing.

Betty had a camera ready for their mission. "I found a spell that will totally prove David's a werewolf. One hit with my magic, and he turns. And when we get it on video, we'll post it, score a billion views, and BAM! Fame, fortune. . ." Betty trailed off, a big grin on her face as she drifted off into her own world.

"Yeah," Eden began nervously, "just make sure no one gets mauled, and we'll be all good."

"Which is why Sam's coming. He'll be there to protect the weak and defenseless."

"Like us?"

Betty frowned and crossed her arms. "I'll have you know that I'm not defenseless. I have my spells to protect me."

Eden scoffed. "Um, no offense, Betty, but I don't think your wizardry skills are enough to take on a cat, let alone a werewolf."

Betty didn't offer up an argument for that. "Let's just do this."

"Should we be exposing him in a public setting? I mean, everyone's going to freak out."

"Do you want to know if you're right or not? It's better to find out now, especially on camera. David may be part animal, but he's all money."

"Hey, guys!" Rosy said excitedly as she walked up from behind Eden. "Who's a party animal? Me, right?"

"No," Eden said. "It's David." She shook her head at herself when she realized David being a party animal hadn't even been what they were talking about. She could have explained, but it was too complicated. Besides, this information wasn't safe with Rosy. "Don't worry about it."

"Well, are you having a party? Cause I'm not doing anything this week. Or next week. Or the week after that."

Eden felt bad, but she'd have to lie. One, to spare Rosy's feelings. And two, to spare Eden and Betty the trouble. "Sorry, Rosy. We're visiting a garlic factory. We'd love it if you came, but you know. . . you wouldn't make it out. Maybe next time."

"Yeah," she said, trying not to look disappointed. "For sure. I'll see you later, then."

Betty and Eden started to leave Rosy, both wincing with guilt.

Eden blew out a heavy breath as Betty whispered to her, "That was harsh."

"It had to be done," she whispered back. "If David is a werewolf, he'd tear Rose apart. Werewolves and vampires are mortal enemies. Kind of like you and boys."

"Oh, and your so smooth with guys," Betty retorted, rolling her eyes.

Betty and Eden went to the football field. There was Sam, waiting for them by the benches.

"One spell, and David's gonna be hairier than ever."

"That's definitely saying something," Sam smirked coolly.

"Hey, Sam, what's the bet that this is a big waste of time," Eric spoke up.

Betty groaned. "Why's he even here?"

Eric had been with Sam when the girls arrived, debuting his new sunglasses. He was of no help at all so far, only serving to tease Eden and Betty.

"Eric thought this would be fun to watch," Sam answered.

Eden rolled her eyes.

"Besides," Eric said, "I had something I wanted to ask David."

Betty said, "What's that?"

Instead of replying, he yelled, "Yo, David! You got a sister I can date?"

David stopped mid-throw, holding the football in his hands, to stare at Eric weirdly. While he was distracted, someone tackled him to the ground.

"Oof. Bad timing," Eric said to himself.

Eden corrected him. "No, great timing." She turned to Betty. "Betty, zap him now! While he's still."

"Zap him?" Betty repeated, looking as though Eden had said something crazy. "This is magic, not Star Wars. Totally different geek universe." Betty referenced her spell book. "Quae tibi. . .exponere. . . homini lupinotuum pectinem."

A spark of yellow light flew from Betty's hand. It started for David, but then redirected its course for Eden. Eden was hit square in the chest and collapsed in a stinging pain. "OW! Betty!"

"Sorry, Eden! I got nervous."

Sam came to her aid. He grabbed her arm and gently helped her up. "Are you alright, Eden?"

Eden's heart was doing leaps inside her. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He glared at Betty, and growled out, "Betty, is that spell going to do anything to Eden?"

"Relax. Eden's not a werewolf, so that spell shouldn't have any effect on her."

Betty cast the spell again, and this time it hit her mark. David dropped to his knees. Betty hurriedly reach for her camera and turned it on. Alas, nothing happened.

"He's so not a werewolf," Betty sighed in defeat.

"He is," Eden insisted. "Cover me. I'm going in."

"How am I supposed to cover you?"

The moment she ran into the chaos of football players, a football was flying towards her face. Luckily, all of Eden's athleticism was summoned forth, and she was miraculously able to catch the ball. "Whoa! Betty, I caught it!"

A second into her victory, Eden found herself being tackled to the ground. She couldn't breathe for a minute. When she could, she noticed that David was on top of her. She grabbed hold of his arm to push him off, but then her sight blurred over as a vision hit.

There was a wolf howling in the dark. A full moon hung ominously in the sky before fading into a weird symbol.

Just as quickly as it had come, the vision was over.

"Get off of her already!" Sam was yelling, yanking David off of Eden. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry, bro. I see a ball, I go for it."

Sam sent a glare at David, even harsher than the one he had given Betty not long before. For the second time within the last three minutes, he helped Eden to her feet. "You act more like a dog than a football star."

David didn't say anything to that.

Sam took Eden back to the benches. "Be more careful next time!" he yelled at her.

"Sorry."

"You alright, Eden?" Betty asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, cause that was hilarious. What makes it better is that I got it on camera!"

Eden ignored her. "David is definitely a werewolf."

"What? No, he's not. The spell didn't work."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "You're too paranoid. He's just a hairy idiot."

"Trust me," Eden told them. "He's one hundred percent a wolf. I had a vision."

Betty suddenly went from looking doubtful to concerned. "Then, you've got a problem." She pointed at Eden's arm.

Eden gasped, seeing that David had scratched her. It wasn't bleeding, but it was long and had a yellowish color to it.

Sam took her arm in his hand to get a closer look. Eden's heart might have been doing more leaps if she was not so focused on the current situation.

This wasn't good. Definitely not good.

"Please, tell me I'm not going to turn into a werewolf!"

"Um. . .I'd tell you that," Betty began, "if I was sure that was true."

"Come on," Sam told her. "You'll be fine. Let's just go to the nurse's office and get that bandaged up."

"But what if I turn into a werewolf?" Eden was not at all afraid to show her panic right now.

"We'll figure something out," Sam replied, calm and cool, the total opposite of Eden. "Let's go to the nurse for now."

Eden eventually consented, and Sam escorted her to the nurse's office.

A day had passed since Eden had been scratched. "Betty," she yelled, running to meet her friend in the cafeteria. "I think I'm changing. I chased a car seventeen blocks this morning. I lost it on the freeway."

Betty was shocked that Eden of all people could run for so long, but she assured Eden that it was fine. "Relax. It's all in your head. I checked it out. You have to be bitten by a werewolf when it's a wolf to become a werewolf yourself. You weren't bitten. You were scratched. And that was when David was in his human form. Hey, Sam," Betty said, seeing him at one of the tables.

"Hey. You know, you should really think about staying away from that buddy of yours. He causes nothing but trouble."

Eden felt angry for some reason. "Of course you'd say that. He is your ancestral enemy."

"Or maybe I'm saying that because he's a jerk."

"Oh, Mr. Neck Biter doesn't believe in werewolves," Eden practically growled out.

Sam stood up from his seat. "Eden! What's your problem?"

"Yeah!" Betty exclaimed, holding Eden back by her arm. "What's gotten into you?"

Eden rolled her eyes. This anger and frustration inside of her kept building up. "Don't get your fangs in a twist."

"Did I do something to you?" Sam was clearly angry himself. "Because if I did, you could just tell me instead of acting like a brat."

"Anyway," Betty interrupted. "I looked up that symbol you saw in your vision. And get this, it's for a reversal cure."

"A cure?" Sam echoed in disbelief, his face filled with excitement and hope. "Would it work on my curse?"

Eden opened her mouth to fire another insult. "Why? Did you figure out the school has a no blood sucker policy?"

This time, Eden was the one on the other end of Sam's glare.

Betty dived between the two before a bloodbath broke out. "It might work on your curse. David's probably trying to find it before the full moon tonight."

"Then, I'm going to find it first," Sam said. He turned to Betty. "And you're going to help me. We're ditching class. But before we go—" He looked to Eden "—you and I need to talk."

"I like to limit myself to five minutes of chat time with things like you per day," Eden told him.

He didn't pay that comment any attention and yanked Eden over to the side. "Why are you acting like this? Are you okay? Did something happen? You've never treated me like this before. Not even when I was throwing your stuff in the garbage or spilling food on you."

Eden knew he was right, but she didn't care. She didn't care that Sam was her friend or that she had a huge crush on him. Her feelings of love and her loyalty had diminished. Now, she mostly held disdain and irritation for Sam. More than anything, she wanted to punch his face in. "You had a different appetite back then."

"What are you saying? Me being a vampire has never bothered you before. What changed? Tell me."

"It did bother me. I was just too nice to say anything, but I'm done being nice."

"I don't believe you. Come on, Eden we're friends. Tell me, what's wrong."

"I just realized that I don't like being friends with someone who can't even have garlic on their pizza."

"Is this because I didn't believe you when you said David was a werewolf? Maybe it's because I keep bad-mouthing David. Are you that close to him now?"

Eden didn't reply. She settled for shooting Sam fierce glares that rivaled his own.

"Fine," he gave in. "Act however you want. When you feel like apologizing, come find me."

Apologize, she inwardly scoffed, As if.

David had been opening his locker when Eric came up to him. "Hey, you never answered me," he said.

"Answered you?"

"You got a sister or what?"

"Yeah," he replied, confused at why Eric was asking.

"How old?"

"One's three."

Yeah, that was too young.

"My other sister's ten."

Getting warmer. . .

"And the oldest is seventeen."

Perfect! Around Eric's age. "Does she go to school here?" Eric asked.

"Yeah. She's talking to her friends over there." David pointed to a pretty girl with long, brown hair. This girl had a great smile and flawless skin. She was wearing a purple tank top, a violation of the dress code but then who cared aside from the teachers anyhow?

"What's the name?"

"Uh. . .David Stachowski."

Eric let out a sigh of annoyance. "I meant her name."

"Oh. Diana."

Diana, Eric thought.

When he saw her friends were leaving, Eric decided this was his chance. He strutted over to Diana with coolness and confidence. "Hey," he said to her. "My name's Eric. I was just about to head to class, but when I saw this cute girl, I had to stop and talk to her."

She giggled. "Oh. Really?"

"So. . ." He gave her his million dollar, cool-guy smile. "Any plans after school?"

Diana lifted her arm to lean it against the lockers, and Eric saw something that would be etched into his mind for a long time.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, unable to help himself.

Under her armpits was a bird's nest. It was nearly as hairy as David's back. And, needless to say, it wasn't the most attractive thing Eric had ever seen in a girl.

"Um. . ." How could he put this nicely? "You ever think about shaving?"

She frowned, not understanding what Eric meant by that. "What are you talking about? I shaved my legs yesterday."

Eric blinked. "I wish I could see it was nice meeting you. But it was mostly weird."

Eric left Diana after that, regretting the last two minutes of his life.

It wasn't long before he ran into Rosy.

"Hey, Eric, are you going to the big party tonight?"

"What party?"

"Well, Betty and Eden were talking about how David was a party animal, and Friday is when Eden's parents have their date nights."

Eric was shaking his head, mad. "They're having a party, and they didn't bother inviting me? Sam's their babysitter, so I'll bet he's going, too. What? Does he keep forgetting I exist?"

"Well, they didn't invite me either."

"Shut up, Rose."

"Hey, that's what Dorothy always says on Golden Girls!"

Eric rolled his eyes and walked away. He had no idea what Rose was supposed to be talking about.

Eden looked at her calendar. It was Friday, the night of the full moon.

She tried to remember what Betty said, that she couldn't have the curse when she hadn't even been bit. But Eden couldn't shake off the worry.

Her back suddenly itched. Eden went to scratch it, and felt something alarmingly furry. She pulled her hand back to see that she was holding a hairball. It was the same color as the hair on her head.

"Hey, Honey," she heard her mom say.

Eden panicked, and threw the hairball into the refrigerator before her mom could see it.

Eden's mother was wearing a flowy red dress while her father dawned a fancy suit. They were dressed for date night.

"Guess who showed up to help you watch your little brother?" her mom asked.

Eden rolled her eyes at the thought of that pathetic vampire. "Sam?"

"No, David."

"What?!" she wailed.

"Yeah," her dad was grinning as David walked into the kitchen. "Great timing, champ."

David and her dad did a chest bump. Her mom was shaking her head at their behavior.

Before Eden could protest, her parents gave her quick hugs, and went out. It wasn't as though Eden knew what she could say to stop her parents from leaving anyway. Wait! Don't go! David's a werewolf!

Eden seriously doubted that her parents would buy into that excuse, even if it was the truth.

"Listen," Eden began, not wasting any time in getting to the point. "I know you're a werewolf, and I know you're looking for some cure."

Eden was half-expecting David to deny it, but instead he said, "So you do have the gift. I knew it."

"That and you're the most obvious werewolf ever."

"Let's just cut to the chase. I became you're friend because I'm hoping your second sight might help me find the cure."

"You are putting way too much hope in my power. All I saw was a symbol, but I don't know what it means or where to start looking."

A whine, which sounded very similar to a dog's, escaped David's throat. "Tonight's the full moon, bro! You want me to turn into a snarling beast? I'm tired of having to hold it in."

Eden was suddenly itching like crazy, and it grew harder to listen to what David had to say. She scratched at her neck and head, but it was as though the more she scratched, the more the itch became unbearable. It felt like there were a thousand mosquito bites all around her body.

"I want to be me again. The me that doesn't hurt people! Or rip them apart."

Eden had to stop him there. "Hold that thought, okay!"

She ran into the bathroom, slammed the door, grabbed the back brush, and rubbed it against her back. It brought immediate relief. "There it is!" she said to herself.

She heard David knocking. "You good in there?"

No, something was wrong with her. And Eden knew it. She wasn't good at all.

"Did you figure out what this means?" Sam asked Betty. They had been looking into this symbol for the past four hours. . .and nothing.

"I called every nerd I know, and no one can figure out how to decipher this symbol. Do you know how much geekitude that is?"

"Betty," he groaned. "I need to find this cure."

She nodded. "Okay, let's call Eden. Maybe she can help."

"You can call her."

"Are you two still mad at each other?"

Sam didn't say anything.

Betty sighed and called Eden. She put her on speaker phone, so Sam could hear her. When Eden answered the phone, she didn't say anything at first. All that could be heard was loud breathing on the other end.

Sam and Betty looked at each other, concern on both their faces.

"Are you okay, Eden?" Betty asked worriedly. "It sounds like you're having an asthma attack. But then, you don't have asthma. Are you running? Is someone chasing you? What's going on?"

More heavy breathing before Eden answered, "I'm fine."

"Okay. . .well, do you have any ideas about how to decipher that symbol you saw in your vision?"

"I don't know. It's a reversal cure. . .maybe read it backwards."

Sam grabbed the picture Eden had drawn of the symbol. She had given it to Betty to figure out, and Betty still had it with her now.

Sam held the drawing up to the mirror. The letters on the symbol backwards spelled out a weird word. "Baharoth?" Sam groaned. "Great. That makes about as much sense as it did before."

"No!" Betty cried, opening a book and swiping through the pages. "No, it does make sense. A baharoth is like a magic circle of stones." She showed Sam a picture of a baharoth in her book.

"A circle of stones?" Eden's voice said through the phone. "I've seen something like that. In the park behind your house."

"Tell Eden not to say anything to David about this." Sam was addressing Betty, but he spoke loud enough for Eden to hear.

"David really wants that cure. He's not into the whole werewolf thing," Eden said, actually speaking normally without the attitude she had with him before.

"Whatever. I need to get to that cure first." Sam hurriedly left to find the circle of stones. He was already at Betty's house, so he was pretty close to the park they were talking about.

Betty was annoyed that after all of her hard work, Sam had gone off without a word of thanks.

He should have said something like, Gee, thanks Betty for helping me. You're so awesome.

Then she could have said, Oh, anytime, Sam. Anytime.

But she supposed that was asking too much from Sam.

"Is Sam gone?" Eden asked Betty.

"Yeah."

"Okay. FaceTime me."

Betty shrugged. "Okay."

When she pressed at the screen to FaceTime her friend, she had been expecting to see Eden's normal face. But instead, she was met with the sight of Eden with a uni-brow and hair growing out of her face. The hair on her head was a hot mess.

"Whoa!" she yelled. "What's wrong with you?"

"I can always count on you to make me feel better, can't I?" she smiled ironically. "I thought you said I wasn't going to turn."

"You shouldn't have!" Betty was suddenly hit with realization. "Oh, wait! This might actually be my fault. Remember how you were hit with that spell I cast? What if that's what's making this happen?"

"Did you say it backwards!?" she shouted. "Again?"

"Oh, no! I turned you into a wolf! I'll be right over!"

As soon as she ended the call, Eden heard her doorbell ring. "Whoa, she is fast!"

Betty wasn't the one to ring the doorbell. Instead, it was random students from her school showing up to a "party." Eden had no idea it was happening, but it was happening.

James was opening the door for everyone, not sure what was going on. Eden wasn't one to throw parties. She wasn't popular enough, and James knew this.

Rosy and Eric had come. Someone was playing music. People were dancing and chatting. David had rushed down to the basement with chains for reasons unknown to anyone.

When Betty walked into Eden's house, she was immediately confused. "Eden's having a party, and she didn't tell me?"

She went stomp up to her room and found Eden pacing. "Betty! I need you to tie me up!" she said as she handed Betty some duct tape.

Betty looked at her like she was crazy. "Why?" she asked, dragging out the word.

"Because. . .the full moon. . .I'm changing." Eden was taking deep breaths in between her explanation. Her skin, teeth, ears. . .everything was stinging.

"Relax! I did this. I can fix it." Betty threw open her spell book. "Normalis. . .ad se. . .reverti."

There was a purple light.

Eden inspected her arms. "I'm still hairy!"

"Don't you trust me, Eden?"

"No," she answered immediately.

"Well, that's hurtful. Trust me, Eden. You're cured. The hair will fall out. Now let's go downstairs to the party, so we can find the real werewolf."

"What? Who's having a party?"

Sam was digging up the center ground of the circle of stones. Eventually, he found a burlap sack and inside was a small, fancy chest. He opened it and saw a vial labeled with that same symbol. It was filled with a glowing, blue liquid.

Sam was prepared to drink it and become human again when his phone started to ring. It was Betty.

"What is it!?" he chided.

"Um. . .we have a situation." There was a scream.

"What situation?"

"Well. . .Eden's kind of werewolf."

Sam stood up in panic, ready to run to Eden's house. "What?!" he yelled. "How?!"

"It's my fault." Sam could hear growling and more screaming over the phone. "It was because of a spell I was trying to do."

"Did you say the spell backwards? Again?" he shouted at the screen.

"Just get over here before Eden eats me!"

"Unbelievable!" Sam hung up and flew to Eden's house. When he arrived, he was confronted with people dancing and having fun while music played. What was going on?

Sam heard a sudden scream in the basement. He ran in, shut the door, and rushed down the stairs. There was a huge wolf growling at Betty.

"Eden, I know I did this to you, but don't you think eating me is a little overboard! Can't you steal my comic books or put hot sauce in my ice cream for revenge instead?"

Sam threw himself in front of Betty and hissed at the wolf. There was a shirt and pants still on it, but they were ripped and torn. Yep, this was Eden. "Eden," Sam tried to reason in a soothing voice, "It's me. It's Sam. Calm down. I just want to help."

Eden's growling only increased in volume and ferociousness.

"Eden!" Sam said again, louder this time and more insistent. "Come on! It's me. Sam! The guy who bullied you all throughout middle school? The guy who called you 'loser' and 'nerd?' The guy who still calls you 'loser' and 'nerd?' Let me help you."

Sam slowly approached her, hands up. Eden, still growling and looking ready to tear Sam apart, sniffed his palm. Suddenly, she settled down and her growls turned into whines. Sam patted her head hesitantly. He was afraid for the safety of his fingers but whatever it took to keep Eden calm. . .

"Here," he said, as he held up the vial. He poured the cure into her mouth. Soon, her tail disappeared. Her fur receded into her skin. Her ears lost their triangle shape, and her teeth lost their sharpness. Sam caught her before she hit the floor. She was holding her head, disoriented. Her clothes were stretched out and ripped in several different places. She wasn't wearing shoes.

"You okay, Eden?"

Eden nodded. "Yeah," she mumbled.

"Wait, where's David?" Betty asked.

They all turned to see a huge dog panting in a corner of the basement. There were chains over his back and a dog bowl with the name David across the front.

Betty sighed, taking out her camera and filming David. "Yep, just what the internet needs. A cute animal video. Not like it's oversaturated with that anyway."

"Why didn't you just film me?" Eden asked.

"It was a little hard with you trying to bite my head off."

Sam scoffed. "Like you didn't deserve it."

"Hey, Sam," Eden said, looking at the school floor nervously. Sam and her were standing in front of his locker. Once everything had calmed down and the party had ended, Eden remembered how mean she had been to Sam. She stayed up all night practicing her apology, but now that she was here, with Sam, she forgot her speech. "Um. . .I'm sorry for the way I acted before."

Sam stared at her in silence, his poker face on. Eden was so anxious, she didn't know what to do with herself. At last, Sam smiled. "It's fine. I get that you weren't yourself."

"But I must have hurt your feelings." No matter how tough Sam pretended to be, he was still human. Well. . .he still had emotions.

"Not really," Sam replied.

Eden was a little disappointed that Sam didn't seem to care, but she guessed she should have been happy he wasn't upset. "I still feel bad, though."

"You should."

Eden winced.

She heard Sam let out a short laugh. He was smirking. "If you feel so bad, then make it up to me."

"How?"

"I want to watch a movie, but my DVD player's busted. Let me watch it over at your house."

Eden fumbled for an answer. "Uh, yeah. Sure."

He started to walk off. "I'll see you tonight," he called over his shoulder.

Betty crept up from behind Eden, who was still fawning over Sam, and did her best Sam impression. "I'll see you tonight," she said, much more flirtatiously than Sam had. Betty stopped her act to laugh. "He so has a crush on you."

Eden jokingly punched Betty's arm. "He does not."

Hey! I know it took me forever to update. Sorry. The next chapter will come out much sooner.

God bless!

If any of y'all want to ship Eric with either Betty or Rosy let me know. Or if you think Eric is better off alone, leave a review telling me.