BLUE MOON
by khelana

Chapter One

Refresher:
Just a peek w/ Tyler. He goes to attack Matt over an offhand comment, only for "Keri" to show up and somehow get in between.

KERI PoV

"Looks like you and I have trig together," Matt says this after scanning my schedule. He hands it back to me with an easy shrug of his shoulders, "nothin' else, though."

"Bummer," I feign disappointment. Although... I wouldn't mind few more classes in common with someone I 'know,' since that would make it much easier to glean information about this place. Oh well. I'll find a way. I always do.

We werewolves don't have the smooth compulsion that vamps do, but a few of us, the ones who had been pathetic enough to practice for days on end, had learned how to "push" thoughts into others' minds. I can't force someone to do something they don't want to, but I can make them "remember" something they have never experienced, if I do it just right. As far as Matt is concerned, I'm his cousin, someone he hasn't seen since we were in elementary school. Works for me.

I can Push and I can Pull, both only to a certain extent. I can only read thoughts he doesn't subconsciously hold too close. His name is Matt. He is a senior and has lived here all of his life. I know the basics, nothing more. "How's Vicki been?" I put my hand on his shoulder, as if we are close friends. His gaze snaps to mine and I imagine a past that has never happened. We're preteens, sitting in the sun and on a fallen tree. Vicki and I are the closest of friends. You're always trying to separate us, because you'd rather that she hang out with you instead of me. He blinks and I can tell it worked when the slightest of smiles, nostalgic but pleasant, crosses his face.

But it's gone in an instant. He wrings his hands and frowns at me. "She..." He takes a deep breath and I pull my brows a bit closer together in concern. "She's dead."

I am genuinely surprised by this, as there had been little indication at the forefront of his mind. I shouldn't be, though, things that cut this deep aren't always readily apparent. "I'm so sorry," I say, moving my hand closer to his elbow than his shoulder. "I... I don't... I don't know what to say..."

"Neither do I." Before I can press any further, the bell rings. "Dang it! Uh... what's your first class again?"

"History," I wave the sheet of paper that is my schedule offhandedly. "I think I can find it on my own, though, so don't offer."

"But it'll offer such a good excuse!"

"Don't let me make you later than you already are, Matt. I'll see you third period?"

"Fine. And yeah, yeah."

"Alrighty, then." With a quick nod, I pivot on my heel, looking down the hall to glance at the numbered rooms and see if I am on the right track.

"Other way!"

With a grin: "Thanks!"

We go our separate ways.

"What the hell did you mean; 'not everyone is incredibly strong?'"

I'm surprised that I didn't see it coming - then again, the Lockwood line had always been rumored to be one of the strongest. As it is, I am pressed against the wall of a janitorial closet, cliche as that is. "Hello to you, too." I'm more thrilled than frightened at how impossibly fast he had been, perverse as that might be.

"That's what I said," he snapped. He is New, it's written all over his lowered brow and crazed eyes. I would bet that he hasn't Changed more than five times, even! The first couple moons are always the hardest. Your job is to observe, not sympathize, Keri. "Now, answer my question."

"I meant what I said."

"And what did you mean by it?"

"Exactly what I said: not everyone is incredibly strong. That is the truth, no?"

He tightens his grip on my wrists, which he has pinned above my head. Does this pup really think he can restrain me? I'll let him live in that silly little delusion for a while longer. The less he knows; the better. "Elaborate. What do you think you know?" I can't resist: I smirk. He really has no idea. Does he hold his breath? I can smell another of our kind a mile (or more) away. Perhaps it is a Pack thing. Perhaps rogues need to blend in with the humans so badly that they stop acting like werewolves. Fat chance. Maybe he just isn't too smart..

Before he can fully hulk out, I toss him a bone. "I know that you are like me."

"The fuck is that -"

"I think you know that."

"You mean you're a-" he jerks his face away as if I had struck him, but his grip remains firm. "You're a..." Rodrigo would be pissed if he knew I was revealing things so early, but... this is a rank amateur. Jumping to conclusions, a breath away from saying a word that should never be uttered when within a mile's radius of humans, everything about him screams pup, pup, pup. Every instinct in my body says to push and pull until he really is "like me." Under control of the Pack, that is, with the full weight of the Bond, that is. I am a Runner, nothing more. I do not have the authority, or probably even the ability, to tie another wolf to the Pack.

"Don't say it," I warn, tracing the edge of his face with my eyes, letting my gaze land on his lips. Yup, he's a pup. So easily distracted. I didn't even have to try to switch our roles.

"You bi-"

"Don't say it," I repeat, grinning cheekily. "I'm late for my first class and so are you. I'll talk to you later."

Tempting as it is to wait and admire my handiwork (his bulging eyes and look of utter disbelief), I really am late for class. So, without further ado, I disappear.