I woke up the next day, expecting a sore back and rocks underneath it until I felt the soft sheets, tangled around my legs. I was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, my t-shirt wrinkled, my pants too tight. After I changed, I opened the door and immediately took a step back. I'd forgotten the guards. They were still standing there, the same as yesterday, as if they had not slept at all.
''Have you been standing here, all night long?'' I asked. They looked at me as if I were crazy. ''Of course not,'' the one in the middle replied, ''the sons of Abby took over.'' Another one finished. ''And what are you planning to do?'' the third guy curiously asked. I smiled. ''Guess I'll go back inside, sit in my room for a couple of hours.'' They all grunted and I couldn't help but laugh. ''Are you guys that bored? You make a terrible guard. '' The middle one sighed and leaned against the wall. ''What do you expect? We've been standing here for over eight hours yesterday, five today. It's utterly and completely boring, all we do is stand. '' I looked at the trio a little better. I hadn't realised it before, but they were just teenagers, young adults. I guessed between eighteen and twenty. Their muscles and hooked jaws made them look older. ''Well, '' I started, '' what can you do around here?''. One glance was enough to see I had made them excited again. After a quick breakfast, we went outside and I got a tour from the boys. The one who had spoken first this morning was Rickon, twenty-two years old. Even though he was the oldest of the threesome, he acted like the youngest, which was Brandon, eighteen years old. In the middle, there was Amon, celebrating his twentieth birthday in a couple of days. They had a little band they called R&B, R for Rickon, A from 'and' for Amon and B for Brandon. They played a song they had written but afterwards I wished I hadn't asked them to perform. The lyrics didn't always rhyme and the music didn't feel right. I even got a headache and I swear I heard a mirror break somewhere. Mental note: never ever ask Rickon to sing again. At noon, Annabelle brought us pancakes which we ate at a river nearby. The weather was beautiful, the sun warm on our faces. My feet were cooling down in the cold water when someone pushed me in. I screamed but didn't get out, the riverside was too slippy. ''You ruined my pancake!'' I yelled at Brandon. The pancake was slowly sinking to the bottom, wasted. The two sons of Abby found us all splashing in the river, soaking wet. Before a word was said, they jumped right in beside us and we played games with the ball they later got. I didn't think of Jake most of the day, I didn't have time to. And for once, I actually thought about nothing but how to keep my balance in the water. It felt good, a careless day, even though it was with people I didn't even know. The day was soon over and I'd almost forgotten where or why I was where I was, until we went back inside Abby's house. It gave me a reminder of yesterday, when I was told this house was going to be my personal prison for a while. The table was set with four plates. ''There's one missing,'' I pointed to the table. Abby shook her head and smiled. ''Dani will not be joining us for dinner, she's with a friend.'' Her brothers exchanged a quick glance, but I'd seen it. I had wanted to get to know Dani at dinner, she was the only one I hadn't spoken to. Well, I'd be here for a long time so I'd probably get the chance some time. Abby had made the best spaghetti I had ever tasted. It's my favourite dish from now on, I told myself. After explaining the recipe, I just told her to teach me and she agreed. ''The best way to learn, '' she said, '' is to do. '' I smiled and thanked her. Rob and Seth took out pudding and ice cream, as a dessert and offered me some but I refused. The three full plates of spaghetti made me feel like I was about to explode any minute. In the middle of Rob's tale about a creepy guy living in the woods, Jake walked in without so much as a knock. I pretended to be busy with scraping my fork over the plate while I could see Jake taking something out the fridge. The boys greeted him, so did Abby who offered him help, which he politely refused and left again, without a glance at me. ''That was cold.'' Seth said. ''Like ice cold.'' Rob added, holding the cup of his ice cream up. Seth grinned at the joke, Abby looked at them with a raised eyebrow. ''What do you mean? He was very polite.'' Seth sighed and exchanged a look with Rob. ''Mom,'' he started, ''you're blind sometimes.'' I took the plates and formed a pile, taking it to the kitchen. ''Where's the dishwasher?'' I asked Abby, and added to Rob, ''Mind your own business or do I need to tell your mother about Sh-'' I was immediately interrupted by the oldest with a loud ''No!'' and smiled, happy about my victory. I could tell them to shut up about Jake, but I couldn't control my own thoughts. Why hadn't he spoken to me? Why hadn't I? Was he mad? I should be the one who was mad. I didn't do anything wrong, did I? ''We don't have a dishwasher.'' Abby took the dishes out of my hand. She put them in the sink to soak in the water and smiled when I offered to help. ''That's something I've never heard. Someone who offers to help.'' She gave a sideways glance at her sons who were punching each other to see who was the strongest. ''So, tell me about what exactly?'' Even though she had whispered it, Rob heard and gave me a warning look. I shrugged and turned to Abby. ''Nothing important.''
The next day was pretty much the same as the first one. Only today, we went to other places and met other people from the camp. I got to know the boys a little bit better, as good as you can know someone after two days. I saw my chance of talking to someone when the boys were busy daring each other to see who was the strongest. While watching them, I sat on a tree trunk with a little guy named Rogan. He was there yesterday, when we played football in the river. ''Hi, '' I greeted him, ''Rogan, right?'' The wolf smiled and nodded, his attention still on the battlefield in front of us. He seemed rather shy. Since I couldn't just ask about the borders , Conchobar and how things worked around here, I needed to seduce him, make him trust me, even though I hated to misguide someone. So, I inched closer, sat next to him with no space between us. It wasn't until then, I noticed he wasn't really looking at the game, he was perfectly aware of how close I was. ''It's cold here, don't you think?''. Original, I knew, but still. ''Yeah, the wind is strong. Want to sit somewhere else?'' He finally looked me in the eyes. I smiled and nodded, gesturing to the woods behind us. ''Maybe I just need to walk a little to get warm.'' As I said, I felt a little stupid because yesterday was hot enough to swim, so was today except for the wind. He fell for it anyway and agreed to walk. ''Tell me, do you like it here?'' I asked and gave him a sideways glance. ''I've been living here my whole life, it's my home. I can not not like it. '' Rogan seemed to relax a little, his steps getting slower. ''I mean, I'd like to get away sometimes, but that'll probably never happen.'' I frowned. ''Why not?'' He sighed and pulled a hand through his hair. ''Conchobar doesn't like people going out of the woods. He prefers us being here, where he can see us.'' Without him knowing it, he had given me the perfect opportunity for my plan. He looked surprised when I stopped and turned him to face me. ''So, you want to explore a little?'' I asked and inched closer, our faces almost touching. Rogan was dumbstruck and could only nod, so I grabbed his hand and pretended to know where we were heading. Really, I had no idea where the border was and how far it was but I let him go first but we didn't go far. After he told this joke I had to laugh so hard with, I tripped over a tree trunk I hadn't seen. Of course, Rogan hadn't seen it either and fell right on top of me. I smiled at him, thinking I kind of liked him but when he moved closer to kiss me, I turned my head. ''I-'' but I couldn't finish because in one second, I was pulled away and lying in someone's arms. ''What were you doing?'' Rob almost growled at Rogan, who was now crawling up. He put me down but kept a firm grip on my arms, pushing me behind him. ''What do you mean? We were just walking, man.'' Rogan wiped the dirt of his clothes, so did I, with my free arm. ''It's not…we fell, I mean, I fell and then he fell.'' Rob looked at me, from head to toe, and turned back to Rogan. ''Don't Elena, just go back to the others, I'll handle this little fellow.'' He pushed me away but I resisted until the two boys turned their heads in the same direction. I followed their gaze and saw Jake standing a couple of feet away from us, looking mad and tense. He strode over, took me by the arm but not before giving the two boys a nasty look and together, we walked away. At first, there was an awkward silence but after a while, he talked. ''What was happening?'' He asked and I was glad he at least asked. ''Nothing! I was talking to Rogan when suddenly Ron appeared and…well, I don't know why he was there but he apparently was..'' I looked at Jake. ''Why were you there?'' Jake just turned his head and sighed. ''I was walking around when I saw you struggling with Rob. It looked like you two were fighting. What were you fighting over?'' He seemed to calm down, becoming the Jake I knew before everything got complicated. ''Rob and I were lying on the ground-'' I stopped when I saw the look on Jake's face and smiled before I went on, ''- because we tripped over a tree lying on the ground. Rob must've thought something else because he grabbed me and told me to go away.'' After looking serious for at least ten seconds, we both burst into laughter, realising how stupid the situation was. It was nice to feel like I had my friend back. ''So, Rogan is your type, is he?'' Jake winked and I knew he was being sarcastic. I punched him on his arm as hard as I could but he just shrugged and pulled me closer. We were standing against each other, faces only inches away, his hands wrapped around mine. I was thinking about before, when Rogan's face was just as close but this time, I wanted the wolf to come closer, I wanted to kiss him, I felt weird tingles, things I hadn't felt before. I almost got dizzy, it was so overwhelming, I was aware of his hands touching mine, his stomach against mine, his arms against mine and most of all, his lips now fully on mine. I kissed him back and when we stopped, I was out of breath. We just stood there for a couple of minutes, looking at each other, not knowing what to say or what to do. But it didn't matter at all, I still didn't know how to handle all of this. It was the most intense thing I had ever experienced. Still standing there with our hands tangled, I heard Keenai, one of the guys from yesterday, shouting my name. Jake and I grinned and I quickly gave him a little kiss on his lips to say goodbye before I ran off. I really loved what just happened but I also needed a little time to recover, to get my act together again. A quick glance over my shoulder showed Jake's back, he was walking away as well and I wondered how it had felt for him. Keenai came closer and gave me a hug. I was still smiling and excited from the kiss and Keenai must've noticed because he stopped and crossed his arms. ''So, what happened? Don't think I didn't see the two of you there.'' I smiled and got shy. ''We kissed. I mean, we kissed. Yeah, we kissed.'' I wanted to scream, to jump around the place, to do anything but stay cool, which was the thing I did. Keenai's mouth dropped and gave me a pat on my shoulder, saying ''Well done, girl, well done.'' Without knowing it, I considered Keenai as the only one who came close to a best friend on this little isle of wolves, except for Jake, obviously. He was around my age, maybe two years older and we had the same kind of humor, I found out yesterday. I'd already met him at the bon fire, back at the party and today had been fun too. ''I promise I won't tell anyone.'' Keenai winked and threw his arm around my shoulder. "So, it's dark now and we always make a bon fire on the beach, you coming?'' I nodded and let him guide me through the dark. ''I need to tell you something else.'' I said as I almost walked into a bush and Keenai pushed me in the other direction. ''Rob tried to kiss me earlier.'' Keenai didn't seem surprised at all. ''Yeah, I expected him too, I was already wondering why it took him so long, Rob's-'' I interrupted him. ''Did I say Rob? I meant Rogan, I'm sorry.'' But then I realised, Keenai was talking about Rob. ''Wait, what? Why would Rob try to kiss me?'' Keenai chuckled. ''Why would a boy want to kiss a pretty girl? Let me think. '' He pretended to think for a while before he went on. ''Maybe because he fancies her! And he wants to make little babies.'' I slapped him but had to laugh anyway. We were almost there and I saw Rogan sitting right across Rob. They didn't speak to each other and I felt ashamed I had used Rogan like that. But now Keenai told me he wouldn't be surprised if Rob had any feelings for me, it felt a little awkward to sit with him so I chose a trunk in the middle. Seth and Keenai next to me. I hoped Jake would show up as well but didn't dare ask anyone since they thought we were still fighting. Keenai poked me in the side, while he whispered ''Awkwardness arriving at three 'o clock, be prepared.'' I looked to the right and saw Rob walking in my direction. A couple of people talked to him on his way over but he was too soon next to me, pushing Seth away. ''Hi.'' I gave him a quick smile. ''Are you all right?'' Rob sat a little bit too close to my likings, his hand was almost over mine. ''I'm fine.'' I coughed from the smoke and subtly shifted a little more to Keenai's side who gave me a quick confused glance. ''You seem a little distracted and at unease. Did Rogan did anything to you?'' I was actually shocked he even asked it. ''No! Of course not. I tripped, so did he. That's all. I swear.'' Rob nodded, seeming not totally convinced, so I added ''It was a little cold and I asked him to take a walk with me, so we got some exercise. We talked, we tripped, you were there.'' He just padded my head and left to go and talk to Rogan, who shot me a worried look. I poked Keenai with my elbow and asked him to listen to what they were saying. ''It's hard to listen with everyone talking and the noises of the fire. '' He pricked up his ears and listened intensely while looking at the pair. "Elena…woods…wrong…worried…mate, that's all I can hear. '' Keenai said as he shrugged and went away to get us some drinks. I sighed and leaned back, still looking out for Jake, when finally, I saw him standing at the edge of the woods, looking at me. I smiled, slipped of the trunk and ran towards him. Since I didn't know what the kiss had meant, I just stood in front of him, letting him decide what we'd do next.
