Chapter 10 - The Call of the Wild

I got into school the day after me and Rhydian had been in the cafe when his mam had arrived. Rhydian wasn't there and I was starting to get worried. I couldn't help myself from telling Tom and Shan.

"So why was he talking to her?" Tom asked.

"She's Rhydian's mam." I had to do something.

"The homeless woman?" Tom clarified.

"He hasn't gone off with her has he?" Shannon asked, that was what I was worried about.

"I don't know." I said. Just then Rhyduan walked into the class and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"How's your smelly friend Rhydian?" Liam teased him. He came and sat down next to us, stony faced.

"You alright mate?" Tom asked him.

"We were worried about you." I said.

"Is your mum ok?" Shannon asked.

"You told them?!" He avoided Shannon's question.

"I had to tell someone, I was worried about you."

"So what happened?" Shannon asked.

"Got home about 1am. Mr Vaughan went ballistic and I'm grounded for about a hundred years, but everything's all right."

"And your mam?" I questioned but Mr Jeffries walked in and told us to be quiet before Rhydian could say anything.

I opened my locker and tried to stuff my rucksack inside but it wouldn't fit, so I removed my sleeping bag from inside and put that in separately. Just as I was doing this thou, Maddy walked up and saw the bag.

"Rhydian, what are you doing?"

I turned to her and then looked down.

"I'm going with her," I put the rest of my rucksack in the locker.

"What?!"

"She's my mum. She can teach me things."

"You can't just run away!"

"Wouldn't be the first time," I shrugged my shoulders, "it's just the first time I'm sad to leave people behind."

"I'll tell Jeffries and...I'll...I'll ring your foster parents!"

"You won't!" I told her, "Tom and Shannon would, they'd think they were doing the right thing, saving me from a hopeless mother, but you know the truth. I'm going to live the life I was born for."

Maddy looked distraught and I was touched

"And what if it's not? What if you get there and you hate it?"

"Well maybe I will...but you've got to let me try." I walked off down the corridor to find the next person I needed to talk to.

"Tom! I owe you an apology."

"Are you feeling alright? Should I get the nurse?"

I chuckled, "no, the football team, all that stuff, I let you down."

"Nah, it was stupid, thinking you would be brilliant when you don't even like football."

"So, what can I do to make it up to you?"

"Is this a wind up?"

"Why'd you say that?"

"Because you're acting all cuddly."

"No, I'm being serious. I just want to leave with a clean slate."

"Leave?!" Whoops. I quickly searched around for and excuse.

"This issue. No bad feelings."

"All right. Well, you could join the team again."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I don't belong."

"Mate. Look, you belong where you want to be, and if you want to be on the team - just got one game - then make it happen."

"Can I do that? Just for one game?"

"This is the biggest game of the season! The one everyone wants."

I nodded in thanks.

As soon as I walked into the changing room, the excited chatter went flat. I walked over to a free space and put my stuff down.

"He can't play!" Sam insisted.

"Miss Graham ok'd it."

"He doesn't even have any boots!" Sam was still protesting to my being there. Jimi picked up the boots that I had practiced in and handed them to me.

"You're on Welshie, let's get out there and win!"

I took the boots and nodded.

I watched as the boys warmed up and then ran onto the pitch in a line. Rhydian was at the back, being goalie and he looked very nervous.

"Go on Rhydian!" I shouted to him.

The whole ninety minutes were pretty uneventful but I got some good photos for the school website. Nobody scored and the teams were evenly matched. The ball only went to Rhydian a couple of times which was good but he started to look bored towards the end and started daydreaming. Shannon was looking at her watch every five minutes and she did not understand one rule of football.

"The ninety minutes are up," I said to no one in particular.

"Then why are they still playing?" Shannon moaned.

"Injury time."

"Are we winning?"

"It's nil-nil! Are you even watching?!"

A few minutes later the referee blew the whistle.

"It's a penalty kick!" I told Shannon.

"Is that a good thing?"

"No! Baron's Mill should score and then they'll win the match."

"Right. Penalty kick. Bad."

The guy from Baron's Mill stepped up to take the kick. He placed the ball down and then took a few steps backwards. I could feel Rhydian concentrating, with all his Wolfblood senses, on the ball. The kick was taken and Rhydian leaped into the air in a inhuman feat and grabbed it. Then he chucked it over the other team's heads to Tom. He dribbled it right down the pitch, past the goalie and then into the goal. Everybody started screaming in delight and even Shannon had realised that we had won. I stepped out in front of them and took a photo of Rhydian and Tom together with the rest of the team behind them.

We all went inside and got changed, the level of excitement set to high.

"Burgers at Bernie's. You coming?" Jimi addressed me from behind.

"Maybe later."

"Great save. Great throw." Jimi could be really nice when he wasn't being an annoying twat.

"Thanks, Jimi."

They all walked out an Tom said, "I'll see you in a bit, yeah?" I just nodded and looked down, not meeting his eye.

I walked outside and Maddy was waiting for me there.

"Hey, it's the man of the match."

I smiled at her antics and leant down to kiss her gently.

"Tom scored the winning goal, I've never seen him so happy."

"I've never seen YOU so happy. Well, not in human form, anyway."

"It was a buzz. Winning. Being part of a team."

"Belonging somewhere."

"I guess."

"You know, it's not too late to change your mind," I looked up and there was Ceri, waiting for me round the corner, "or is this where I say goodbye?"

"It's my choice, Maddy."

"I hate goodbyes, anyway!" She shouted at me and stormed off. I sighed and walked up to Ceri.

"We should've gone by now." She said.

"I said I'd see you once I'd finished," I warned her.

"Finished what?"

"Playing football. Did you watch?"

"I don't watch humans, playing their games."

"Well you should have. Then you might understand...why I can't come with you." I had changed my mind just seconds before.

"You want to stay here?!"

"It might have been a game, but I was part of something. Something that I was good at, something I wanted - not something I was born into. It was my choice."

"I'm offering you freedom! The Wolfblood life!"

"There is no Wolfblood life! Everyone gets to choose how they want to live, and I can't live like you! If you stay around then, we can see each other."

"Did she make you do this? Your tame wolf friend?" Ceri's eyes were yellow by now and the veins on her neck were visible.

"Don't you ever call Maddy tame!" I shouted at her. Ceri growled.

"She's corrupted you! I'm your mother!" She shouted back.

"Who wasn't there!"

At this Ceri started running towards me and I took a small step back, surprised and a little scared. At the last moment, she jumped to the right, over the wall and ran off. I took a couple of deep breaths, then from behind I heard, "Rhydian!" Tom rounded the corner, "who were you just talking to?"

"No-one. I thought you'd gone to Bernie's?"

"I thought I'd come back for the man of the match." I smiled and walked over to him, "Shannon said she'd meet us up there, so..."

"Cool." I replied an as we walked off I turned to see any trace of Ceri left behind. She had gone. We carried on walking until we heard a shout from behind.

"Rhydian!" Maddy called the. She ran over.

"We're going to Bernie's, you coming?"

She got to us and linked her arms through Tom's and mine. When she got close we both saw tear tracks down her face. Tom caught my eye in a silent question but didn't say anything. Only I knew what they meant.

A/N: Thank you

I am going away for four days on Wednesday so I will try to get series one finished by then :)