A/N: See? I don't neglect my stories! For very long...

And if it seems like it's going too fast, read more slowly.

It was settled. Brandon would stay home from the pack meeting ("Dad, can I skip the meeting?" "You know you won't be able to-" "Yeah, I know."), Sarah would go to the tribe meeting as usual ("Are you sure you can get through a conversation about Friday night?" "Hey, I can always say I'm putting in a contact!"), Brandon would come over to the junkyard ("It's next to a Walgreens and a Taco Bell, across the street from a Sherwin-Williams store." "So over by Main and Tenth Avenue?" "Yeah, but if you hit Lucky's, you went too far."), and Sarah would sneak away as soon as she could ("Can you get away without them noticing?" "Hey, I am a cat, right!" "That's what I'm afraid of."). Then he would whisk them off to wherever they felt like going.

Of course, there was still a whole day before the full moon. And, moreover, it was a school day. School had just started for the fall at the local high school where Sarah and Brandon were both juniors. They only had one class together, and in that class, they sat across the room from each other, but that didn't stop them from hanging out at break and lunch, sometimes accompanied by either of their groups of friends.

"Are you all right?" Brandon asked Sarah that Monday morning as he came upon her at her locker after fourth period.

"Yeah! Why shouldn't I be?" she said, pulling out her lunch and her chemistry book. "All we did was watch a movie in history, though that geometry test was kind of hard..."

"No, that's not what I meant," said Brandon. He looked furtively around the hallway to see if anyone was listening to them. "I mean, about tonight..."

"I can't wait!"

"Well..." Brandon was still hesitant. "Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything."

"Why? Do you wanna call it off?"

"No! No, I really want to do it!"

Sarah looked confused. "Then why do think I might not be okay?"

Brandon smiled, a little embarrassed. "Well, I thought it might be a bit awkward, running off with me into the night, doing things ... that we wouldn't ever do if we weren't..." He gave her a pleading look. "You know..."

He was able to count to five, slowly, in his head before Sarah finally said, "Oh! Oh, I get it!" Then she brought her fist to her chin in a "thinking" motion. "Well, it's kinda weird, yeah, but I really wanna do it!"

"Do what?"

Sarah spun around and Brandon looked up to Madeline and Hannah standing right there, looking at Sarah expectantly. (Hannah also looked a bit shy; she was a freshman this year, and even the ever-popular Jemima had the right to be a little nervous, especially around older guys she didn't know.) "Do what?" Madeline repeated.

Sarah's eyes got really wide, and she stood dumb-struck for a moment, but Brandon stepped in with his awesome excuse-making skills: "Have lunch with me! It seemed a little weird because the cafeteria is closed today, but I thought we could eat on the grass, instead. Would you two lovely ladies care to join us?

Madeline and Hannah, flattered by the compliment, forgot any curiosity they might have had over Brandon and Sarah's conversation, and the four of them headed out toward the lawn. On the way, they chatted: "So what happened in Mr. Vizanko's class, Sarah?" Madeline asked (she was also a junior).

Sarah shrugged. "We just watched a movie. But then he gave us a quiz on it, and I probably didn't do too good, because I was kinda falling asleep." She stuck her tongue out for emphasis.

"Yikes, thanks for the warning," Madeline muttered. She'd have that class later that day.

"So, I never really got your name," Hannah said to Brandon while Madeline talked to Sarah.

Brandon smiled in a friendly manner. "I'm Brandon. I'm going out with Sarah."

"Oh!" she said. "So, did you just move into the city, and that's why I don't know you?"

Now he frowned. "No, I've lived in this city all my life. I know Sarah through the knitting class we both took this summer." (What! Guys can take knitting classes!)

Hannah frowned, and her eyes darted around as she thought aloud: "Oh! So she hasn't – and you're not – and you don't know -!" She clasped her hand over her mouth all of a sudden, her eyes grew to the size of saucers, and she gave a muffled gasp. "Oh!"

Brandon's frown deepened. He was willing to bet he could guess what Hannah meant by "you're not," and "you don't know." But he wasn't about to let Hannah know that. He quickly plastered on a fake smile and innocently asked, "Hmm? Is there something I should know?"

Hannah, her hand still over her mouth, looked up at him, shook her head fervently, and quickened her pace so as to catch up with Sarah and Madeline. Brandon shook his head and caught up to Sarah. Grasping her hand in his, he whispered in her ear, "Can I talk to you alone for a second?"

Sarah looked confused (as per her usual persona), but nodded hesitantly. Brandon raised his voice and said to the other two girls, "Why don't you guys go grab a spot the grass? I think I left my lunch in my locker." And without waiting for a reply, he steered Sarah back toward the main school building.

Once inside, they ducked under a stairwell. "Sarah," Brandon whispered bluntly, "Are Madeline and Hannah Jellicles?"

Sarah nodded ingenuously. "Yeah, they are." Only then did she stop to think. "Oh!" she gasped. "I shouldn't really have told you that!" she said grimacingly.

"No, no, it's okay, I won't tell anyone," Brandon quickly reassured her. "I just sort of wish you'd told me sooner. It means I have to be more careful around them."

Still grimacing, she muttered, "But I'm really not supposed to tell anyone about any of us! That was really dumb of me!" And she gave herself a little knock on the head for emphasis.

Brandon grimaced now. "Bunches," he whispered, "It's really important that you tell me who around us is Jellicle."

"Why?" she murmured.

"So I can be more careful!"

"Oh," she mumbled dejectedly. But then she perked up. "Can you tell me who's Pollicle?" she asked perkily.

Without thinking, Brandon hissed, "No! Of course not!"

Sarah pouted, put her hands on her hips, and said, "Well, why not? If I have to tell you, why can't you tell me?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but his words died in his throat. Why couldn't he tell Sarah? Obviously, because he couldn't betray the pack by handing such valuable information! But then, why did Sarah have to do the same to her tribe for him? It made no sense, and yet, it did to him. It only seemed natural. But it still wasn't fair to her!

He'd have to think about it.

"Just don't worry for now," he said, taking her by the shoulders and giving her a quick kiss to reassure her. "It'll be fine. And tonight," - he gave her a longer kiss - "You and I," - another kiss - "Are going to have," - one more - "A blast."

As he drew away from her mouth, Brandon looked into her eyes, and was slightly alarmed to see that they had all of a sudden rolled almost all the way back into her head. She was slack in his arms and a bit pale, too. "Sarah?" he said, and shook her a bit to get her out of her stupor. "Sarah, are you okay?"

"Hmm? What?" she mumbled as she seemed to regain consciousness and stood on her own feet.

"Sarah, are you all right?" he asked with genuine concern. "You didn't look so good for a minute there."

"Mm, I'm fine," she mumbled. "But I'm hungry. Let's go." She took his hand to lead him out from under the stairs.

But he held her back. "Sarah, are you absolutely sure you're all right?" he asked. "You looked really sick."

"Really, I'm fine! Let's go!" she said, almost dragging him out towards the lawn. Reluctantly, he came along.

As they got outside and were walking out on the grass toward Hannah and Madeline, Sarah mumbled, "So, how're you coming to the 'yard tonight?"

"Hmm?" Brandon mumbled, confused.

"I mean, how are you going to get to the 'yard? Are you gonna walk?"

He shook his head, understanding now. "No, I'll drive. Then we can go wherever we want without getting weird looks on the street."

"Oh," she mumbled. "But, you know I'll be ... you know, changed, right?"

"Oh!" it was his turn to mumble. He thought for a moment, then said, "You can duck in the back seat. How's that?"

"Sounds okay."

Just then, Madeline and Hannah caught sight of them. "Hey, Sarah!" Hannah called, and jumped up to run over to them. But when she was only a few feet away from the couple, she tripped on a sprinkler head. She stumbled, losing her balance. Brandon, ever the chivalrous guy, stretched out his arms to catch her. She fell against his chest.

"Gotcha!" he cried, triumphant.

"GAH! OW!" Hannah cried, backing away as soon as she regained her balance. "What the heck was that!"

Sarah stared, at a loss as to why Hannah was crying out. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Hannah looked at Brandon accusingly, rubbing her shoulder where it had connected with his breastbone. "You shocked me!" she hollered. "That hurt! How'd you do that!"

"What's the problem? Are you okay, Hannah?" Madeline, asked, running over to where the three of them stood.

Brandon looked down at his chest, remembering just what he wore there so he wouldn't ... go primal. Was it his medallion that had hurt Hannah so distinctly, even through his shirt?

"Hey, it was probably just a little static electricity, nothing to worry about!" Brandon called, trying to let the whole thing blow over (not to mention ward off the weird looks they were getting from the other people seated on the grass).

Madeline looked at him funny. "Static? Out on the lawn?"

Brandon shrugged, to convey "anything's possible!"

Madeline shrugged, put her arm around the weirded-out Hannah, and led the way back to their spot to eat lunch.