"Hey, girls ",Christophr says casually, walking over to us. "Hi Christophr! What do you need? ",Clove asks him.
This monster goes to my school! How can i be safe now? Maybe Liam is right. Maybe it is safer away from civilization. "I just need to talk to Star alone, please ",he says gently to Clove. "Oh okay. See you in class ",she says to me ,wide eyed. I stare after her as she walks away.
"What do you want, Hunter? ",I ask Christopher harshly. He looks taken aback by my tone.
"You need to know that I wont hurt you. Not here. Not at school. As long as you don't hurt me first", he says.
"Because there would be witnesses!", I snarl at him.
"That, and my father doesn't want me to kill you", he says coolly.
"Why the hell are you telling me this?"
"Because I don't want you to attack me, duh. We are at SCHOOL. I cant carry weapons around here. Though, I do anyways ",he boasts.
"Oh, well aren't you a bad boy", I say sarcastically. "Stay away from me and my friend".
I walk away smoothly, hoping he sees the strength in my stride.
I go to my classes for the rest of the day, all the while watching out for Christophr. We have one class together: P.E. I'm not sure why, but it paranoids me that he can see everything that i excel in.
"Clove, can you come to my house for a while?", I ask her. She looks at her phone and nods. "Yeparooni ",she says. We both get off the bus at my stop and cut across the grass to the front door. I have to ring our doorbell because my mom keeps the door locked 24/7. Me and Clove listen as the doorbell plays 'Someone is at the door' in a singsong female voice. That's right, I got a cool doorbell. The door opens and my mom appears.
"Hey, girls. Did you have a good day at school? ",she asks kindly. "Its a Monday, what do you expect?", Clove asks.
We stroll inside and set our stuff on the kitchen island. My mom is wearing a lime shirt and kakis splattered with royal blue paint. Her hair is up in a bun. "Whoa, mom, what's with the paint?", I ask. She looks down at herself and shrugs. "Oh im painting the whole house new colors. The blue is for the living room. What color do you want your room to be, Star? ",she asks. I light up with excitement. "Could i have purple with blue polka-dots this time?", I ask. "Sure, baby ",she says with gentleness. No one is more gentle than my mom.
When I think about it, my three favorite people in the whole word are my mom, Clove, and Cali.
"I'm going to the store in a few minutes for more paint, do either of you girls need anything while I'm out?", my mom asks. We shake our heads no. My mom I just so generous. Always using her time to make things more beautiful, to make people happy, or to do good. Never a minute wasted. Even when she is sleeping,thats doing good. Because in the morning she has energy to keep up. When she isnt at work and has nothing to do, she sometimes volunteers for picking up trash in the woods or in lakes. And when she is done, she paints a picture of the landscape she cleaned.
Clove and I go up the stairs and in my room. Clove is usually at my house because her parents fight allot. They always start a divorce then stop it, like they don't know what to do right. I make sure I shut my door completely and sit on my bed. "Do we nave homework in Math today?", Clove asks. "Clove, I have to tell you something", I announce. "Oh no. We had homework in Math? Could I use your book? I left mine at school", she says sadly. "No, we don't have homework. But remember this morning on the bus when I was telling you that I was at my cousin's house and I met Liam there? I was lying", I admit. Clove doesn't look surprised.
"So where were you?", she asks.
"I was in the woods...with 15 other people. Its sort of like camping but...but they never leave. And I have to tell you what I am. I'm a werecat ",I say almost confess. Clove looks around the room.
"Are you doing a play?", she asks.
"No, Clove. I'm not doing a play. I'm a werecat. I can change my shape into a snow leopard".
"Your joking right? Am i supposed to ask 'Where are the cameras'?"
"There are no cameras. This is not a joke. I'm a werecat. Watch, and you will believe me", I say. I shift into my snow leopard form and sit on the ground, expecting Clove to scream or faint. But she just stands there. I start to worry that she had a stroke or something, but she walk over to me and touches my nose.
"I knew there was something up with you, lately. I wanted to ask you but i knew you wouldn't . When did this happen?", she asks. Now it was my turned to be shocked. She wasn't scared or surprised? Even I was scared of myself in the beginning!
"It uh... happened when you, my mom, and me went camping. Its weird cause that's where most scary things happen in movies. In the woods, at night, while camping".
"Yeah. So you can change shape? How is that possible? And aren't your clothes supposed to be ripped and on the floor. Where did they go?", she asks. "I don't know. I barley know anything right now. Sorry", I apologize. I start explaining to her what I can do and everything about me.
"So...you can see really good, hear really far, and smell things well? That's awesome!", she exclaims. I smile at her enthusiasm. I shift back into human form and sit on my bed. "Yeah, well we have to hide those things. My eyes look like a cat's", I take my contacts out and show her. "Whoa! That's so cool. They look like footballs!", she gets close to my face to see them better. "My teeth are sharper and longer and my ears are pointed", I show her my canines and ears as well. She examines them closely.
"I just don't see how its possible! Your clothes stayed on you. On your human form. Its like you have two different bodies! That's not possible. Not logical. No one would ever guess this is how you change-I mean shift. Everyone thinks of werewolves as changing the way they look. Not their bodies. Its so strange", she thinks aloud. She reasons too much. Why cant she just accept that we will never know the truth? Because she's stubborn like that. She normally isn't like this. She normally just has fun and jokes around. But when something scientific pops into her world, she cant resist. She likes stuff like that. Aliens, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster. She eats that stuff up.
"Could you shift back into your kitty form again, please? ",she asks. I shift forms and lay on my bed. Clove starts checking every part of my body. Tail, ears, eyes, paws, legs, stomach, head, nose, back. Everything.
"What are you looking for?", I ask her.
"For some human characteristics. You don't have any on this body. I think your feline side is stronger than your human side".
I sigh in exasperation. "Ya think? I can climb a four story tree in a heartbeat. I don't even think regular snow leopards can do that!"
"I know. Its like...its like your DNA or genes are whacked up. Tampered with. The bite from that tiger gave you some sort of venom that changed you. I'm so confused".
"Are you kidding me? I have to live with this for the rest of my life! Im so stressed out right now", I complain uneasily.
"I think we should have a girls' night out", Clove suggests. I think about it for a second. It could be fun.
"Where?", I ask.
"We could go to the dance club, Nightlife. They accept people under 21. Its supposed to be really fun. My brother went there one time with his girlfriend. They had an awesome time", she says.
"How much does it cost?"
"Just thirty five dollars. You want to go?"
"Lets", I say with a sly smile. I jump off my bed and walk over to my door. "Could you open this for me?", I tap my paw on the door. My mom is still at the store, thank god. "Want to see something cool?", I ask devily. Clove shrugs. I go down the hallway to the first step of the stairs. I jump ALL the way down to the floor without touching a single step.
"Whoa! That's so cool", Clove says. "Thank you. Do you want to pick some clothes from my closet to wear to Nightlife?", I ask, walking back up the stairs. "Yeah. I cant go back home and get some". I shift back and walk into my closet. "Come pick what you want to wear", I tell Clove. She walks in and she gasps. Okay, I'm a little particular about clothes. I have all sorts of dresses, jeans, shorts, shirts, jackets, hoodies , shoes. Mostly all from Hollister, Aeropostale , and Abercrombie. I only let Clove wear my clothes on special occasions. And she has see my closet plenty of times. She always gasps when she comes in my closet though. I just have so many outfits.
"Pick whatever you want. Tonight is for fun. Tell you what, whatever you pick, you can keep. I'm in a generous mood", I murmur. "Really? Thank you! I mean this shirt only must cost like forty dollars!", Clove says, holding up a plain, orange Hollister shirt. I quickly choose a strapless black tank top with blue swirls on it, plain black converses, and black booty-shorts, as Clove calls them. Clove picks a flowy white shirt with gray flowers blossoming all around the bottom, white skinny jeans, and white high heels. "Look at us, we look like good and evil", Clove says. "Maybe we are", I say mysteriously.
"Ill call a cab", I dial the number and call the Cab Company (the CC). Within minutes the cab arrives and picks us up.
"I hope this place is worth it", I grumble. Im using up half my allowance on this club. "Oh it is. I promise", Clove says, staring out the cab window.
BING. I got a text. From...Liam. 'Where are you?', he texts. When the hell did i give that boy my phone number? And when did he give me his? 'How did you get my number? And why are you a contact?', I text him. BING. 'While you were sleeping your phone fell out of your pocket so I exchanged numbers real quick. Where are you?', he asks again.
'About to go to a club called Nightlife with my friend. Why do you care?'.
'Your supposed to be my partner, remember? I got in trouble because of you', he accuses.
'Not my fault. I have a life to live. You could too. This is a girls' night out so don't text me for the rest of the night', I end the conversation.
"Who was that?", Clove questions. "No one", I murmur.
The cab parks on the side of the road in front of Nightlife. The building is painted black with an eerie glow to it. The sign above the open door was purple and red. "Are you sure this is your stop?", the cab driver asks. "Yeah, we're sure", I say, handing him the fair money. He gives me my change and we jump out the car. I take a deep breath, already smelling the liquor. "Got your money?", I ask Clove. "Yeppers ",she yelp excitedly.
I am excited too. I could feel it buzzing inside me. Like adrenaline. We strut up to the tall bald guy at the entrance. He is exactly the kind of person you want as a guard or gatekeeper or whatever. We give him our money and walk in. The place is really dark. Circular green, red, and yellow lights flash from the high ceiling and walls. A disco ball tosses colors everywhere. A bar is in a corner selling shots, beer, and liquor. A bunch of mini restaurants next to it. And a dance floor filling the rest of the gigantic room. Music is blaring from speakers all around.
"My kind of place", I whisper to Clove. She nods her head. We both rush over to the dance floor and start dancing like drugged lunatics.
After a while we both grab guys and start dancing with them. That's the glory of clubs. You can dance with whoever the hell you want to, and not get slapped by the guy's girlfriend. My guy was cute, tall, and a REALLY good dancer.
"Want to switch?", Clove asks. I shake my head. I see the disappointment on her face and walk over to her. I shoo her guy away and take her to one of the mini restaurants. "What do you want to get?", I ask her. She looks at the menu. We are at some kind of Japanese restaurant. They have everything from chicken wings to lollipops. "Ill have a caesar salad without croutons and a medium Sprite, please ",she tells the man at the cash register. "What bout you?", she asks me. "I'll take french-fries and a vanilla shake", I forget to say please and shrug.
I catch Clove staring at me. "What?", I ask her. "Fries and a milkshake? Are you kidding me? We are like opposites tonight!", she says. We are. "You can go dance. Ill wait for the food", I say. She smiles a thank you and skips away. No sooner that she goes out of sight does the guy I was dancing with come in sight.
"Hey ,sweet thing ",he says.
"Hi ",I say cautiously. "Can I buy you a drink?", he asks.
"No, me and my friend already ordered", I mumble.
"Well you want to go somewhere? I know this closet that's empty. Pretty dark too", he offers.
"No thank you", I say sweetly, hoping he will take it as sarcasm and back off.
"Awe. Come on. We could have some fun", he says in a seductive tone. I shake my head. Why was our order taking so long? "Yeah ,I know you want to come. Please? Get a little freaky".
Really? 'Get a little freaky'? Man this guy is a creep. "Give me a kiss. Just one", he grabs my hips and pulls me close.
"No. Stop", I argue. I try to squirm away from him but his grip is tight.
"Or we could do more than kiss", he gets close to my face. His breath smells of alcohol.
"Get. Away. From. Me", I warn him. He pulls me even closer, grinding himself against me.
"Eww! ", i shriek. I stomp on his foot and he loosens his grip enough for me to wrench free. I turn to go to Clove but run strait into someone.
"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. I didn't me-",I realize who it is I ran into. "Oh.. Liam. Hi ",I falsely laugh. "Come on", he grabs my wrist and pulls me through the crowd of dancing people. "I have to get Clove!", I say.
"I already did. See, I though ahead of time. Unlike you who comes tromping into a night club with freaks who want nothing but a little free action", he says. "Excuse me? I had that perfectly under control. I could of gotten out of there by myself. Actually DID get out of there by myself. I just ran into you", I say proudly.
"Oh really? He would of grabbed you and taken you to that creepy closet he was talking about without anyone to witness it. And even if they did, nine times out of ten they wouldn't help you. You wouldn't be able to shift and fight back in front of all though people, either ",he says.
"So what", I grumble. He takes me to his car and sits me and the back seat with Clove.