Chapter 11

Our first month of high school was officially over a few days later, and we celebrated with a day in town (Once a month the high school kids were allowed off campus to shop for clothes and such). We played, had fun, laughed a lot, and pretty much just bonded. It was like a clichéd, cheap day in a bad family movie. Which, knowing my karma, had to be ruined. So of course right when Dimitri and I are having a moment (the clichéd type where we both reach for the same thing at the same time and our hands touch for a few seconds longer than necessary) , she comes into the store and says, very loud, "OMG it's my bestie, Rose!"

Let me tell you something right now. We were not besties. Over the weeks, we had name calling, rumor spreading, and general typical girly-behind-your-back-cattiness. So when she said this, she was being over sarcastic and letting her disgusting perfume spread over everyone like a gas cloud. I told her so, and she stormed out of the store with a huff.

Dimitri was across the store by this time (he didn't like to get involved), and the moment had been totally shattered. All thanks to Mia and her bitch gene. I'm not saying I don't have one, because believe me, I do. But I'm not that bitchy all the freaking time. Seriously, it was like she was permanently PMSing.

Other than that, October went great. My team had one all of its battles, putting us at the top of the standings. We had gotten better at flowing together, due partly to the practices that I held, and partly to the experience and bonding going on. All of us were gaining new skills, the most important part being the addition of two new members to our Pack. The twins had each gotten a pet to tame and then train to do battle. Right now they couldn't fight because they weren't trained well enough, but Kylie said that her bear (that's right, she had a bear) Bowser would be ready by the end of October. Nick said that his wolf, Boo, would be ready around the same time. I intended to use them well. We had battles once or twice a week, adding up to a total of 5 battles by the middle of the fourth week. We only had one more battle that month, but it was a big one.

At the end of each month, the top four packs in every class had a sort of mini tournament, as a test of what we had learned. We had already made it through the first round, and were going into the finals tomorrow. Kylie and Nick both agreed that their pets would be ready by then.

It was a day battle, something that no one was very accustomed to, but no one was complaining. When everyone was ready and in one of the planning rooms at either side of the Arena, I went to get the map and our assignment. Coach Dargan was completely stone faced when I asked him about the weather, so I just shrugged, took my paperwork, and went back to the room.

Our objective was to destroy the enemy's base after retrieving the data (flag) and then returning safely with the flag to our base. Simple enough. Their objective was to 'kill' all of us before we got the device and destroyed the base. Also simple. The map was set up so that our base was a hidden camp somewhere in the area (their map never told them exactly wher they were, and we were never told exactly where they were), and theirs was an elaborate fortress. The field on there side was completely open, with short, trimmed grass, and our side had thick forest in which we hid. I had a plan in my head already, bu knew that they weren't going to like it very much.

The battle started, the whistle was blown, but there was no movement whatsoever from either side. My plan was simple: we were going to wait them out, 'kill' them all, and then take the flag and destroy the flag, maximizing our points.

It happened slowly, over hours and hours. Most of the audience left by the time we had killed their third member, and were now watching the filmed version in their dorms on the T.V all Packs were issued. It had been five hours when we finally killed their fifth member. After another two hours, when no one had emerged, I realized that they were going to try to wait it out. They couldn't afford any more deaths when, to the best of their knowledge, we still had everyone alive. We did, and I called everyone into the biggest tent in our camp. It was time to act. I sent out Sam and Paul to infiltrate the east side of the base while Dimitri, Nick, Abby, and Jean attacked the west side, and Kylie, Matt, Lissa, and I provided the big bang on the front door.

We moved out, Dimitri and my groups charging loudly while Sam and Paul went slowly and cautiously. Dimitri's group got to their side first, and we heard shouts of surprise when they made the first attacks on the building. "Alright guys. Our only objective right now is to be louder than them." They all nodded in agreement, and we went full force at the door. Matt propelled me to the top while Bowser attacked the door, and Kylie and Lissa backed us all up. Once on top, I found that the building had no roof. I smiled, jumped down, and had made two kills before even opening the door for my friends. We had rounded them all up, killed them, checked in with the Diefs, and trashed the place beyond recognition within an hour.

It had been the longest battle so far, but we had won. We celebrated, and Dimitri and I again met on the balcony when the beer appeared, playing music. The next day was the big Halloween Party, and everyone was giddy with anticipation. They separated the classes by grade, and then put them in different quadrants of the school. Each part was filled with mazes, horrors, ghouls to chase you, and of course, carnival games and food stands.

In fact, the only thing that felt wrong throughout the month of October was a sensation slowly building in my gut, like something big was about to happen. But nobody else knew what I was talking about, so I tried to dismiss the thoughts.