I stood in the gym as our teacher Mr. Phillips announced that we'd be starting a unit on soccer today. Some people groaned but Mr. Phillips quieted them all with a glare.
When he separated us into teams I picked up a familiar scent and swore under my breath. I was being put on the same team as the werewolf pack I had ran into last night.
"Thanks for signing my death warrant Mr. Phillips," I whispered.
"What was that Liebe?" Mr. Phillips asked.
"Nothing, sir," I said.
Once we started to play, I let myself go forgetting about the fact that the pack was tailing me every second they got and played to the best of my ability. I loved sports so gym was one of my favorite classes.
Ubel was pretty athletic too but he didn't like gym as much as I did. He preferred to take the more scholarly route and only really got into sports if it was one that he liked. Most of his favorites were hand on ones that you definitely didn't want to play with a vampire.
As I was playing however the ball suddenly came down hard on the back of my head making me yelp in pain and surprise.
"Leo, watch where you kick that ball!" Mr. Phillips said.
I turned around to look at this Leo person who had just given me a brand new headache.
His thick golden hair was like sunlight and his eyes were like the sky on a warm summer's day. He was tall almost the same height as Ubel, and had a good body from what I could see.
I would have been drooling over him if it wasn't for the smell I picked up from him.
He wasn't just part of the pack—he was their leader. It was little wonder then how he had known to kick the ball at the back of my head since he was the one who had bashed my head off that damn rock last night.
"Sorry coach, won't happen again," Leo promised. He smirked at me once Mr. Phillips had looked away and I rolled my eyes back at him before turning around.
It was then that I felt something warm and wet trailing down my head and my eyes widened. The ball had hit my head so hard that my wound had started to bleed again.
Mr. Phillips noticing I had stopped paying and was clutching my head came up to see what was wrong. His eyes nearly budged out of his head when he saw the blood.
"Liebe you have to go to the nurse's office immediately!" He said.
"No its fine," I said, trying to wave him off. "It's just an old wound from yesterday. It's no big deal."
"I don't care your going to nurse's office whether you like it or not," Mr. Phillips said. He looked out at the rest of the class who had stopped playing to all stare at me and called, "Clara!"
"Yes, sir?" called back a girl. She had red hair pulled back in a pony tail and emerald green eyes.
"Take Liebe to the nurse's office," Mr. Phillips said.
"Okay!" Clara said. The look on her face told me she was more then glad to get out of doing gym.
"Can I go too?" asked the girl on her right. She had long black hair pulled up in a ponytail much like Clara's and sapphire blue eyes. "You know how Clara can get with blood."
"Fine, Nicole you can go too," Mr. Phillips said. From his exasperated tones I gathered that these two girls liked to fine anyway they could to get of gym.
Clara and Nicole exchanged huge grins before leaving with me for the nurse.
"So why did Phillips send you out?" Clara asked.
"I have a wound on the back of my head that the wound opened up," I said, taking my hands away from my head so they could see.
"Oh!" Clara exclaimed, backing away from me.
"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly. Her face had lost all its color and she looked more than a little queasy.
"Sorry," She said. "I don't like blood." She bit her lip. "Now I think I might throw up," She added.
"All the more reason to go to the nurse," Nicole said.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked concerned.
"Sure as long as I focus on something other then your head," Clara said. "So let's start with the introductions. I'm Clara Matthews."
"And I'm Nicole Prince," Nicole said.
"Nice to meet you," I said. "I'm Liebe Watson."
"That means love in German, right?" Clara asked.
"Yeah," I said. "My older brother's name is even weirder though. It's Ubel which means evil."
"That's not weird!" Clara grinned. "It's really cool!"
"Yeah it is," Nicole smiled.
"Thank you," I said unable to help grinning back at them.
"So how did you get such a nasty wound?" Nicole asked, peering curiously at my head. "If you don't mind me asking that is."
"Slipped and fell on some rocks," I lied.
After awhile I've gotten use to lying so much. Ubel has always been great at it but I hate lying and don't like doing it even though I don't have much of a choice.
"Oh, ouch," Nicole winced.
"Why didn't your parents take you to the doctor?" Clara asked.
"Well they don't really no its there," I said sheepishly. "I got it well I was sneaking out.."
"Ah," Nicole said understandingly. "And you patched it up all by yourself?"
"Yep," I smiled and gave a nod that I instantly regretted. It made my head spin and suddenly I could feel the aching pain even more. "Oh not doing that again," I said, clutching my head.
The girls looked worriedly at me before hurrying me through the last few hallways to the nurse's.
Once there Clara had to run to the bathroom and throw up because she couldn't stand watching them fix up my head.
The nurse told me I had done a very good job of fixing myself up but that I should have told my parents about the wound even if I had snuck out.
I smiled as I remembered how I had learned to patch up my head injuries.
I was five and had been playing on some mossy rocks when I slipped on them and bashed my head on one. I had gone running right past our foster mom at the time to Ubel who had gathered me up and wiped away all my tears before fetching the first aid kit.
Ubel was always looking after me and although I was grateful for it I felt kind of bad about it too. It was like he had taken over the job of parenting me since our parents died and that wasn't really fair in my eyes. He deserved to have the chance to be a normal teenager too or at least as normal as either of us could ever me.
The nurse must have caught sight of melancholy expression because she asked me gently, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled.
The nurse smiled back at me and after asking if I wanted ice to which I replied no to she wrote us all passes and sent us back to class.
The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully until it came time for what I had been dreading all day.
Lunch.
I know that sounds like a stupid thing to be afraid of but I was new so I didn't have any idea where to sit after I got my food.
Ubel was fine with stuff like this. He'd just sit down wherever he wanted without caring what the people there thought. He was the one who had inherited the outgoing gene not me.
So where could I sit?
Suddenly I heard my name being shouted across the cafeteria. I snapped my head towards the voice and saw Clara standing up and waving her arms well calling out my name and a very embarrassed Nicole still sitting down at the table next to her.
I grinned gratefully at her and walked over to her table to sit down. "Hi!" I said. "Thanks for letting me sit with you. I had no idea where else to sit."
"Anyone would have let you sit with them," Nicole said. "You're the talk of the whole school along with your brother Ubel."
"We are?" I asked surprised.
"Well of course," Nicole said like I should know why. "You're the new kids so everyone wants to know everything about you plus your both doing really well in the looks department and you have really cool accents."
"I have an accent?" I blinked.
"Yep," Clara said. "But I can't really place where it's from. It's like a mix of all different kinds."
"Well I'm originally from Germany," I said, "but I've been around nearly the whole world."
"Really?" Clara said. "That's so cool! Is your family super rich or something?"
"No," I said feeling a sharp pang in my chest as I explained. "I don't have any family expect for Ubel. My parents died in a fire when I was three and Ubel and I have been moving from foster home to foster home ever since."
I bit into my hotdog, trying not to think of the real story. I'd scare the hell out of everyone if I blurted it out right now and it wasn't a very pleasant thing to remember.
Nicole and Clara stared at me with matching faces of shock and pity.
"I'm really sorry Liebe," Clara said softly.
"Me too," Nicole said.
"It's okay," I was all I could think to say even though it sounded so stupid.
I felt the strong urge for a change in subject so I decided to try and find out so more information about the pack.
"So who are those guys?" I asked pointing towards the table where the pack was sitting.
"Oh those guys are jerks," Clara frown. "They're super popular so they get away with kinds of stuff. Leo Lupus is the one that hit you with the ball and he's like the ring leader. Then there's Derek Jones, Dustin Jones—Derek's his twin—, Kyle Matterson, Dylan Clark, Fred Peterson, George Lilemen, and Robert Lewis."
"Ah bunch of jerks," I said. "First lesson of the school groups learned."
"Yes indeed, you learn quickly young grasshopper," Nicole said and we all laughed.
Without wanting me a strong urge of loneliness and need washed over me and in an instant I was submerged in it.
I couldn't understand where it had come from. There was no point to feeling lonely because I was with Clara and Nicole. And as for the need…what did I need so badly it hurt right now?
Suddenly a hand slid onto my shoulder and all the feelings warring inside of be were replaced with a strong sense of safety and warmth.
But both of the girls were glaring at the person who the hand belonged to although I couldn't understand why. Then I looked up and understood why they looked so annoyed.
Leo Lupus was the one with his hand on my shoulder.
I shrugged out of his grip instantly and glowered at him with Clara and Nicole.
"What do you want Leo?" Clara demanded.
"Chill out, Matthews," Leo said. "I was wondering if Liebe would like to sit with us instead of with you."
"And why would he want to sit with you?" Nicole asked coolly. "Your probably just going to bully him some more."
"That's not true," Leo said. "I'm just lending out a hand to a lone wolf to come be among those who share his…heritage." He put a unique emphasis on the last word.
"He's not a lone wolf he has us," Clara said.
Leo's eyebrows rose slightly. "Sorry Matthews but your not the kind of people I'm talking about," He said and although I didn't like it I had to agree. Clara and Nicole weren't werewolves so they couldn't really properly be my pack.
Leo's eyes moved back to me. "Liebe come sit with me," He said. "Your isolation has to stop now."
I wanted to tell him to screw the hell off and leave me alone but much to my horror I found myself nodding instead.
"Sorry guys but I don't have much of a choice here," I told Clara and Nicole. "I'll catch up with you later alright?"
"Fine but be careful," Nicole said.
"I will be so don't worry," I promised..
Then I picked up my tray and followed Leo over to his table. As I sat down I expected to be greeted with hostile feelings but instead I was welcomed like a long lost friend.
"Sorry for what I did to your head," Leo said.
I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that.
"Its okay now," I said. "The nurse fixed it up better then I did."
"You fixed up that wound all by yourself?" Dustin asked eying me.
"Yeah," I said.
"Good job pup," He said with a proud smile.
I blinked. "Pup?" I echoed.
"Yep," Fred grinned. "You're young and innocent."
"Not to mention very naïve," Derek added, taking a sip of his soda. "Didn't you ever think there were others of your kind out there?"
"Of course I did," I said "I've met them a lot of them already and mostly all of them are trying to convince me to join one of their packs."
This admission made everyone at the table go quiet and stare at me in amazement.
"You mean you're a…" Kyle began.
"A lone wolf by choice," I said, finishing for him.
"But why?" Dylan asked. "Why not join a pack? Get protection? Friends? Surely your family would want this for you?"
"My family is dead," I said. "We angered a wizard and his companion for refusing to become their consorts so they cursed me to become a werewolf and my older brother Ubel a vampire. Our parents tried to hide what we were but they were discovered what we were and killed our parents before setting fire to the house. Ubel and I hid out in an orphanage that sent us into foster care to protect us. I don't want a pack because I have already sworn my alliance to Ubel."
"Holy shit," George gaped. "You're that Liebe?"
Ubel and I had become pretty infamous amongst supernatural community which could be good…and bad.
"Yeah," I said. "That's why I'm not in a pack."
Not wanting to meet their curious stares I returned to my food, finishing my hotdog and downing the rest of m milk before getting up to throw it out.
I could feel the eyes of the pack burning holes into my back as I moved toward the trashcan and I sighed.
This was going to be one heck of a long lunch period.