Chapter Three:
Merton was lost, hopelessly lost. Lori was supposed to have shown him to his first class, but she had entered the surge of students, and disappeared.
His paper told him he was supposed to be at Rm. 115, but the rooms around here were 3, 2, and 4. Someone caught him across the back and shoved him into a locker.
"Well, hey, there, what do we have here?" The figure was huge, and did not relax his grip on the back of his neck.
"Fresh meat." A twin figure appeared beside the first, and Merton wondered vaguely if he had hit the locker hard enough to see double.
"Well, then he should know who's in charge around here." His head hit the locker again, and the hand raised him up, about two inches into the air.
"Who would that be?" A new voice spoke, out of Merton's line of sight.
Merton found himself on the floor.
"I can see I didn't make myself clear enough, Travis. This school is mine. You leave Gil alone, and you leave the freshmen girls alone, and you leave the new kid alone."
"Sure, whatever, Dawkins." The twin mountains lumbered out of sight.
Merton looked up into the eyes of his saviour. Far up. He was tall, lean, and broad shouldered. Adonis. Wavy brown hair, and deep brown eyes.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Merton picked himself up, and dusted himself off, resentful of this white knight who had come charging to his rescue. "I'm peachy."
"Don't take it so hard." Dawkins smiled. Oh god, it was almost blinding. White teeth, Merton had never seen such white teeth. "Tim and Travis do this a lot. I think all that weight goes straight to their brain."
"Yeah, well, whatever." Merton looked around for the piece of paper that had escaped his grasp.
Dawkins bent over. Ohgodohgodohgod. Merton thought he might just die right here and now. "Is this yours?"
"Wha – "
"Is this what you're looking for?" He held out a wrinkled white paper.
"Yes," and then grudgingly, "Thanks."
"No problem. It looks like you've got History first. It's just down this hallway and to the left. You can't miss it."
And Dawkins was gone, the sea of students parting for him as completely as if he were Moses.
Lori was in his class. Which pissed Merton off, but was fairly effective at reminding him of his place in the grand scheme of things.
"Hey, Lori."
"Hi, Tommy." Her eyes were wary, the subtle shift in her body language an obvious sign to him. He was no longer her chosen. He was an unwelcome challenger, and she would be just as happy to remind him of his place as Chuck would be.
"The new guy. What's the story?" Casual, softly, it could have been covered over with the sound of students changing classes, and opening lockers. Except, he knew that it wouldn't be.
She relaxed. "My parents were hoping he would be one of us. The lines and times were about right. But it's obvious he's not. We'll have him out of here as soon as the paperwork goes through."
"Yeah," Tommy walked back in his memory. There was something off about that boy. Some trace of something that nagged at him. He had been deep in the Heat, Tim and Travis had been his favourite targets as of late. They were big enough to take it, and the fact that neither of them were werewolves made it easy. They were really just bullies and easy enough to put into their place. Like the coach would put it, a relaxation exercise.
But the Heat had somehow faded as he looked into those deep blue eyes. Senses that had been loose, lost among the circus that passed itself off as a high school, had abruptly pulled back and focused themselves. He had felt normal, for the first time. . . He forgot how long it had been.
"Tommy!" The growl was low.
He growled back, he couldn't help it. "Never mind. Sorry, I bothered you."