I woke with a start. The alarm was going off. I rubbed my eyes and lifted my head up, observing my surroundings. Harley lay slumped against the window, myself lying spread-eagle across the bed, my left arm and leg flopping lazily over the side.
It was eight o'clock, not the time I'd really like to be getting up on summer vacation, but it's better than seven. I sat up and nudged Harley.
"Harley, get up." I growled in my morning voice. The red-head grumbled something incoherently, but didn't move. I realized the only way I was going to get this stubborn irish girl up was to do something rash. I slapped her in the back of the head and said raising my voice,
"Get up Freckle-Face!"
For a moment she did nothing. Then her eyes flew open, a brilliant gold. I stared at her a moment then shot up and scrambled for the stairs as the red-head burst into the form of a huge, sleek, African wild Dog, her clothes hanging off her in tatters.
Shapeshifting into my Werecoyote form, I scrabbled down the stairs, my claws clicking and scraping on the hard wood.
Bounding off the stairs I pushed Jared out of the way and cried,
"Move fool! I'm about to get murdered!"
"Wha- Aaarghh!" he began, but seeing the charging Wild Dog, came running right behind me.
"Where do we go!?" he yelped, running into me.
"I don't know!" I yelled back, dashing behind the dining room table and rearranging some chairs to block the rampaging African Wild Dog Shapeshifter.
"What is going on here!?" Kitty shouted, walking into the midst of our scuffle. Seeing Harley round the corner off the stairs, she stuck her foot out and tripped her up, the mottled Wild Dog skidding to halt on her side. Kitty shapeshifted into her Werewolf form and stepped in front of the irish girl.
Harley stood up and said innocently,
"Hey there!"
"Up the stairs." Kitty ordered.
"Aww come on I was just playing with them." she said.
"Up." Kitty repeated.
"You were smart to run!" Harley snarled, trying to slip around the Werewolf.
"Go. Now!" Kitty said, shoving her away.
"Fine . . ." she said quietly trotting up the stairs. "I'm not a morning person!" she called over her shoulder.
"Well then," Kitty said tiredly, returning to human form. "Clean this up and go get yourselves ready."
She headed back down the hall and closed the door quietly to her room.
"What's her problem?" Jared asked, pushing in the chairs for me.
"Not a morning person." I said with a shrug.
"I guess not." he said, walking back to the boys dormitories.
I sighed and wondered if I went up there if she'd try and attack me again. Returning to my human form, I quietly slipped up the stairs, mad that I had ripped one of my favorite pairs of socks to shreds from my expanded feet and claws.
Opening the door and poking my head in to look around, I didn't see her, but the bathroom door was open halfway and the light was on, so I crept in and saw her brushing her teeth, totally back to normal.
She rinsed and said,
"You know I was just playin' right? I wasn't really going to murder you."
"Well . . . it was pretty convincing." I replied with an air of nonchalance.
She chuckled, walking towards her suitcase and said,
"Seriously, I'm not a morning person, so please don't talk to me before nine o'clock."
"I'll keep that in mind." I said digging my shoes out of my bed from where they lay from the night before. Pulling a pair of socks out of my suitcase I slipped them on and then pulled my shoes on over them.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Harley asked.
I shrugged, and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and quickly brushed them. Checking myself out in the mirror, I decided I could wash my face that evening and settled on simply running my fingers through my hair.
Pacing down the stairs, I saw Kitty reading a book in the living room, Harley and Jared sitting in each of the recliners.
Kitty's eyes scanned over me before returning to her book and she said,
"Well go on, the Mess Hall doesn't serve breakfast all day."
"Oh. But we don't actually know where it's at." Jared explained softly.
Kitty huffed and showed us out the door and pointed to a large building across the lake. "I'll go over everything and show you around when you get back." she said blandly before retreating back to the sofa.
"She seems very enthusiastic." Harley said sarcastically as we made our way towards the Mess Hall.
"I think she's cool." Jared said happily.
Harley shot him an 'are you kidding me?' look and said,
"I barely know your name and you already annoy me."
"Yeah, why are you so exceptionally happy?" I asked.
He shrugged and said,
"I don't know, it's fun I guess."
"Whatevs." Harley said with an indifferent look.