CAN'T FIGHT THE MOONLIGHT

CHAPTER TWO-STRANGE BEHAVIOR

KEELY.

I had heard the howling last night. I yawned and opened my eyes. It seemed almost human, but then not at the same time.

I got dressed and quickly ate breakfast. I was eager to see if Phil or Gabrielle heard the howling as well.

Phil, Gabrielle and I met at Phil's house and then we walked to school.

"Did you guys hear that howling last night?" I asked stifling a yawn. "It kept me up for nearly 3 hours."

"I certainly did," Phil replied. "But what's more, I saw this beautiful gray dog sitting on its haunches on our lawn. It had amber eyes."

Gabrielle cleared her throat.

"It wasn't a dog," she said.

"How do you know?" I asked. "Did you see it too?"

"Erm, yeah I did," she said quickly. "It was a wolf…trust me."

"A wolf?" Phil asked confused. "There are no wolves here in Pickford."

"Maybe this one is rogue or something," Gabrielle said shrugging.

"It was so pretty," Phil said dreamily. "The eyes were almost haunting."

"Phil has a crush on a dog," I teased him.

"Stop," Phil said shaking his head.

"It wasn't a dog," Gabrielle insisted. "Trust me okay? I know wolves. I saw it too last night remember?"

"Right. But what we don't understand is why a wolf would be here? Aren't they supposed to be like up in British Columbia or something?" Phil asked.

"Maybe the wolf wandered down here," Gabrielle said thoughtfully.

"Maybe," Phil said uncertainly.

We entered the school and immediately headed over to Phil's locker.

"Tomorrow we've got a math exam," I said shifting the weight of my bag onto my other shoulder.

"Oh that's right," Phil said nodding. "Would you like to come over and study, Gabrielle?"

"Sure," Gabrielle said eagerly.

"Algebra," Phil said. "If you need any help, just let me know."

"Will do," Gabrielle said nodding brightly.

"Well, come on," I said linking arms with Gabrielle. "We've got Spanish class now together. We'll see you later, Phil."

Phil nodded and grinned.

GABRIELLE.

Keely and I entered the classroom.

We took our seats toward the middle of the class next to each other.

Mrs. Romeri entered the class and faced us.

"Today, we'll be learning level two Spanish," she said scanning each student.

She immediately went into the lesson.

"Maybe she knows you're new?" Keely whispered leaning close to me.

"Dunno," I said shrugging.

The teacher continued the lesson without even recognizing the fact that I was the new student.

Keely and I left the classroom when the bell rang.

We met Phil and headed to lunch.

"That's certainly strange," Phil said when we told him how Mrs. Romeri didn't even know that I was a new student.

"Yeah," Keely said. "Maybe she already knew?"

"It's quite possible," Phil said.

Just then, the "Fashion Zombies" began walking toward us. Pim at the same time sat down at our table.

"What are you doing here?" Phil demanded.

"Nothing," Pim replied innocently. "Just want to sit next to my brother. Is that a crime?"

"Knowing you?" Phil replied skeptically.

"Hello, Pimple," Candida, the girl with the blond hair said smiling at Pim.

"Hello, blood sucker," Pim responded quickly.

Candida's eyes moved onto me.

"Ah the new girl," she smirked.

She scanned my outfit. I was wearing light blue jeans with butterfly's embroided on them and a pink poplin shirt.

"I see your taste in clothes hasn't improved," Candida said cruelly. "Might I suggest the Bargain Barn on West Pentler Street?"

"Might I suggest sticking your head in a toilet and flushing it?" Pim suggested sweetly. "It might give you whole new outlook on life."

"Shut it, Pimple," Candida said shortly.

"Don't tell my sister to shut up," Phil said angrily. "Only I'm allowed to do that."

I slowly stood up, keeping the palms of my hands flat on the table. My hair fell over my face.

"Listen, Zombie," I said in a low voice, but it was rough and I knew something was happening. "Why don't you pick on someone of your own species? Maybe going to the zoo perhaps? I'm sure your relatives in the primate section would really love to see how their niece is growing up."

Pim, Phil and Keely snorted and kept their eyes on their lunches.

Candida bristled.

"Why don't you go back to your little town and be the scrub you are labeled?" she retorted.

My anger hit the boiling point.

I stood up right and walked around the table and got right in Candida's face.

"Don't mess with me," I said angrily as I pushed her backward.

From the force, she landed cleanly onto another table and landed but first into someone's sloppy Joe.

Laughter rang out.

I flew back inside the school and into the girls' bathroom.

Luckily no one else was in there because my eyes had changed again and I had felt my canine teeth growing a bit longer.

I leaned against the wall and tried to calm down.

Shortly, Pim and Keely entered the girl's bathroom.

"Are you alright?" Keely demanded anxiously.

"Fine," I growled.

I had hoped I didn't sound has harsh as I had.

"What's going on?" Pim asked. "That was awesome the way you pushed Candida."

"I'm not proud," I admitted as the anger finally ebbed away. "I could've really done damage to her."

"What do you mean?" Keely asked curiously.

I sighed.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything yet," I said quietly. "But trust me okay? I will tell you when the time is right."

"Sure," Keely said uncertainly.

We left the bathroom and headed back outside.

Phil looked up worriedly.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," I said smiling.

He smiled back and nodded.

We went to the rest of our classes after that.

Once again, Phil invited us over his house.

"Hello Gabrielle!" Curtis cried happily when he saw me. "Me wonder when you come back."

"Hello," I said smiling.

"Hello," Mrs. Diffy said kindly. "Mr. Diffy is out in the back. Phil? He's asking for you to go out and talk to him for a moment."

"Oh," Phil said nodding. "Right mom."

He headed into the backyard.

Keely and I sat down on the couch. Curtis plopped down across from us.

"Curtis see gray dog on lawn last night," Curtis said. "Did Gabrielle see?"

"Yeah," Mrs. Diffy said thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, the howling woke us up."

"Oh yeah," I said nodding. "I saw it. I think it was a wolf though."

"Wolf? There no wolf in Pickford," Curtis said.

"He's right," Mrs. Diffy said frowning. "There are no wolves here. Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," I said nodding. "I've studied wolves and recognize them."

"Weird," Mrs. Diffy said. "It just stayed on our lawn and then took off about 4:30 AM."

"Weird yes," I said thoughtfully.

Just then, Phil and his father entered the house.

"Hello! I'm Mr. Diffy," his father introduced himself to me.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Gabrielle."

"Nice to meet you," Mr. Diffy said. "Curtis? Pim is asking for you. What are you two up to?"

"Nothing," Curtis replied as he hurried up the stairs.

"I swear those two are definitely up to something," Mrs. Diffy said shrewdly. "The question is what?"

"Not sure," Mr. Diffy replied. "I'm going to keep an eye on them though."

"Would you like to stay for dinner, Gabrielle?" Mrs. Diffy asked gently.

"Erm, sure," I said. "Just need to let my Dad know."

"Here," Keely said handing me her cell phone.

"Thanks," I said gratefully.

So I called Dad. He said no problem.

So that night we all sat around at the table and helped ourselves to chicken, peas and potatoes.

"So, Gabrielle, can you tell us about Maine?" Phil asked eagerly spearing a baked potato.

"Sure," I said. "I lived in a small town. Everyone knew each others' business. It was annoying at times, but it was good at the other times. I went to school there since I was 4. I had a bit of trouble at the school so Dad and I had to move here. Don't worry," I said seeing their concerned faces. "It had nothing to do with the law."

They relaxed.

"What sort of trouble?" Keely asked.

"Well, someone accused me of doing something that I didn't and they made it so bad for me we couldn't stay," I said.

"That not right," Curtis said. "That mean."

"Very," I agreed. "So we came here to Pickford."

"She totally kicked the Fashion Zombies but," Pim said happily.

"What?" Mrs. Diffy asked alarmed.

"There was a slight…confrontation at school today," Phil explained carefully. "Gabrielle handled it nicely."

"Oh," Mrs. Diffy said relieved.

Pim, Phil, Keely and I looked at each other and winked.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Pim asked.

"Nope," I said shaking my head. "I'm the only child."

"Lucky," Pim muttered under her breath but I heard her.

"Actually, I wished I had siblings," I admitted. "It gets lonely."

Pim sank in her chair.

After dinner, we sat around talking for a bit.

Then, it was time for me to head home.

The next morning, Phil and I were walking down the stairs to English when Candida came along and roughly jostled me to the point that I fell down the stairs, but landed gracefully crouched on all fours. I glared up at her.

"Nice reflex," Phil said awed.

"She's in for a huge surprise," I muttered as I got to my feet again.

"Someone should teach her a lesson definitely," Phil agreed. "She's been picking on Pim since we first started here."

"Oh man," I said rolling my eyes. "Poor Pim."

"Yeah," Phil agreed. "Say, why don't you come with us to the Spring Dance?"

"Dance?" I asked uncertainly. "I'm not so sure."

"Why?" Phil asked as we met Keely and headed to Social Studies.

"I'm not a good dancer," I said quickly. "Plus I don't do well in crowds."

"Oh," Phil said nodding. "What if we stayed toward the back of the gym?"

"That might be okay," I said smiling. "Sure."

Phil beamed.

"Then it's settled,"

"When is it?" I asked.

"Next month on the 16th," Phil replied.

"Great,"

We headed to our classes and had a pretty good time.

I headed home after that.

I realized I began liking Phil. I thought he was really cute.

I glanced over at my wolf calendar hanging on the wall. I flipped to April 16th…there was a full moon that day.

I realized I wouldn't be able to go.

I slinked downstairs. Dad was eating in the kitchen.

"Hey," he said looking up. "Why the long face?"

"There's a dance next month but I can't go," I said plopping down at the table.

"Why not?"

"Full moon," I muttered letting my forehead hit the table with a 'thunk'.

"So? You know the rules…just be home before 9. There's no reason why you can't go," Dad said.

"What if…during…" I asked.

"I doubt it," Dad said. "The only time is when you get really relaxed or angry. You know this."

I sighed.

"Yeah I guess you're right,"

"Listen, those two you made friends with? Phil and Keely? They seem like good people…and I've heard nothing but good things about their families," Dad said putting a hand on my arm.

"Really?" I asked.

Dad nodded.

"Don't worry," he winked.

Feeling much better, I headed back up to my room.

Shortly I dozed off.

The next day was Saturday. Phil, Keely and I decided to hang out at the local burger restaurant.

We sat in a booth. Keely was sitting next to me and Phil was sitting across from us.

"This stuff tastes wonderful," I said digging into my rare cheeseburger.

"Oh yeah," Phil agreed. "This place is legendary."

Keely smiled.

"You like Pickford so far?"

"Love it," I grinned.

Keely grinned too.

"But," I said sadly. "I'm going to tell you something but I want your promises that you won't breath a word of this to anyone at all."

Phil and Keely looked at each other. They both had grave expressions on their faces.

"We promise," Phil said earnestly.

"There is a wolf here in Pickford," I said.

"Well where is it?" Keely asked.

"You're looking at it,"