Willow

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  BFF's

  At lunch that day, I followed Carlie to an empty table with a million butterflies swarming around inside my stomach. It was ridiculous to be so nervous, I mean I had been alone with her since she had seen … everything. But then I had thought she wouldn't say anything to anyone and now the rumors were starting to get loud. Obviously she had to have talked to someone. Should I ask her about it?

  I sat down awkwardly in front of her, my mind racing over the possibilities of what she would want to talk about. I remembered my first day of school here. Carlie had hated me then, she had told me to stay away from Rueben. Not much time had passed since then, and yet everything was different now. And the worst part was, she knew about it all.

  She smiled at me and she didn't appear nervous at all. My lips twitched up into a half smile, but I knew it didn't meet my eyes. I picked my fork up and stabbed the part of my lunch that was supposed to be meat, half expecting it to poke back at me. "I had fun at the Lounge last night," I began in as cheerful of a voice as I could muster.

  "It's ok," she shrugged. "We don't have a lot of options here in the big town of Grover."

  "Yeah, guess not," I readily agreed. My mind frantically searched for another safe topic when that didn't have the desired effect. If I had said that to Lindsey and Aubrey I wouldn't have had to worry about talking for the rest of lunch. "This doesn't look very edible," I poked the meat again.

  "I think it's a taco," she suggested helpfully.

  "Really?" I turned my attention more fully onto the mystery meat.

  "A processed taco," she giggled.

  "Mmm."

  "You probably like your meat a little more raw, huh?"

  I dropped my fork with a clatter onto the tray. Did she really just say that out loud? "Um … "

  "Do I make you nervous?"

  Yes! The way she looked at me, all eager and shining. The casual way she mentioned the fact that I was a monster in my free time. Why did this not bother her? "A little," I admitted.

  A loud group of high school boys passed our table, hooting and hollering all the way to their own table. Carlie rolled her eyes as one of them plopped down beside her just so he could make some rude comment about what she was doing that night. "Not you," she replied back with a tilt of her chin.

  "You back with Rueben Massie?" he asked with a grin.

  "Maybe," she shrugged.

  "Heard you were." He winked and looked over at me. "Sorry, Willow."

  "It's … " I blushed and forced myself to stay seated and not run out of the crowded cafeteria crying like a little kid. "I'm not … "

  He winked again, this time at me, and sauntered over to join his friends. He said something in a low voice to one of the others, which caused a fresh round of catcalls and elbow jabs. "Boys," Carlie rolled her eyes.

  "Don't I know it," I mumbled.

  Carlie sat staring at me for a few awkward moments. She didn't even bother to pretend interest in her lunch like I was. "I heard," I looked up at her and she leaned close to me so she could lower her voice, "the rumors, I mean. The big grey wolf that was spotted."

  "Yeah, I heard that, too." I grinned a little despite the seriousness of the situation.

  She sat back, grinning along with me. "A couple of freshmen girls wanted me to go looking for them later tonight."

  "Them?" She couldn't possibly mean the werewolves.

  "The werewolves," she chuckled.

  I felt my eyes bulging dangerously. "What did you say?" I threw my fork back down on my plate.

  She snorted, somehow still managing to sound like a girl, "No, of course."

  I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. "I don't get it. In all the time I was with Bella nothing like this ever happened."

  "Never? No one ever figured out what you were?"

  "We were very careful."

  "How … " She hesitated with her question; I braced myself. "How old are you, Willow?"

  "Seventeen," I answered without any hesitation.

  "My father says werewolves live … forever."

  I cringed at the free way she said it. "You probably shouldn't … you know … talk about them so freely."

  Her eyes skidded around the crowded lunchroom. "No one is listening to us."

  "It doesn't mean they can't hear."

  She ducked her head with a smile. "So what do you want to talk about then?"

  "Um … "

  "You have your eye on any of the boys here?" She took an innocent sip of her apple juice.

  I laughed out loud, making a few people near us pause in their own conversations to look our way. "No," I got out around my laughter.

  "Are you sure? Because I think Lucas Roberts is giving you the eye."

  "Oh! I can't believe you said that." My face turned bright red, making us both laugh all over again.

  "Either that or his milk has gone sour."

  "Gee, thanks."

  She shook her head quickly, her dark brown hair bouncing on her shoulders. "Not what I meant," she squealed.

  Warmth started low in my stomach. It took me a few minutes to recognize it for what it was. I was enjoying myself. It had been a long … I had never really felt like this with anyone. Is this what having a friend felt like? Sort of silly and carefree? Like the things that were really important didn't matter as much.

  We were preparing to leave town because one of us had been spotted. I should be freaking out, but I wasn't. Was it Carlie or was I just becoming what Noreen had always wanted me to be? A leader.

  I swallowed over the nervous lump that had formed in the back of my throat. It was too late in the game to become friends with Carlie, I knew that, but I felt a pang of regret sharply in my chest.

  "I know," I waved away her concerned look with a not so natural chuckle. "It probably was just the milk."

  She rolled her bright green eyes. "Wanna skip the rest of today?" she unexpectedly suggested.

  "Skip?" My eyes widened in mock horror.

  "Yeah. The act in which rebellious teenagers don't go to class."

  "And where would said rebellious teens go?"

  "We should go to my house," she declared firmly. "I want to talk to you about all this." She waved vaguely to her uneaten lunch but I had a feeling she wasn't talking about over processed tacos.

  "Yeah, you're probably right."

  She sat back, blinking rapidly. She obviously hadn't expected such an easy agreement. "Ok." A slow smile spread along her face.

  Maybe it was irresponsible to get chummy with Carlie now, after everything that had happened, but Gage did want me to find out what she knew and this might be my best chance.

  "I'll have to go tell the boys." I pushed my tray away and stood up quickly, not giving myself time to change my mind.

  "I'll meet you out in the parking lot." She stood up with me.

  I scooped my tray up with one hand. "Will the teachers just let us leave?"

  "No." She scrunched her nose up. "But if we hurry up and leave before lunch is over they'll never know."

  "Right." I turned abruptly and deposited my tray on the way out of the cafeteria. I expected everyone to stare at me as I left, knowing somehow that I was planning to break a school rule, but no one paid any attention to me.

  I hurried through the hall as fast as I could, self-conscious the entire time. Just when I was considering morphing in the girl's bathroom I saw Rueben ducking into a classroom. He was alone but I knew without any doubt that the others were already inside waiting for him. Why were they being so careless? I half ran to the door he had disappeared through.

  As expected, five pairs of eyes met mine when I got inside. "What are you guys doing in here?"

  "Having a meeting," Rueben said angrily. He was breathing hard at Steven.

  "Rueben," I put one hand flat in his hard chest. The heat rippling off of him surprised me. "You need to get a hold of yourself," I scolded.

  "I have to move because of this idiot." His
face creased with fury.

  "We," I took a deep shaking breath through my nose. "We are long overdue to move."

  "I like it here," Colby complained in a half whine.

  "I do too." I sat down beside him so I could put a hand on his slumped shoulders.

  "Let's just stay," Rodney suggested. "Steven can stay home with Jed."

  "No one even knows … " Steven began but was cut off by a low growl.

  "We're moving," I said firmly. "Soon."

  "What about Carlie?" Rueben asked without looking at me.

  "What about her?"

  "We saw you talking to her. You just going to leave her?"

  Comprehension started to dawn on me. So Carlie was the reason Rueben didn't want to leave Grover. Another thing to add to my growing list of reasons we HAD to go. "It's not safe … you know, having relationships with humans."

  "She's your friend."

  "She's not my friend," I denied quickly. "I like her, but … " I shrugged. Maybe going with Carlie now wasn't such a good idea.

  "So is this a lesson we all need to learn?" His voice grew bitter. "Don't get too attached."

  "That's rule number one." I stood up with a heavy sigh. "I'm going to skip the rest of the day." I made my way back to the door. "You guys need to split this up. We're going. Nothing left to discuss."

  "Where are you going?"

  "Carlie's." I tried not to sound guilty.

  "What?"

  "Gage asked me to talk to her." I put my hand on the doorknob, prepared to bolt. "It's now or never."

  

  Carlie was standing beside her car, bouncing on the balls of her feet when I made my way out to the parking lot. "It took you long enough," she said in a low voice.

  "I … sorry."

  We both slid into her car and ducked low as if we were a pair of criminals about to go on another crime spree. She started her car and we both held our breath, watching for any sign of angry teachers. We didn't breathe properly again until we were out on the road.

  "No one will even notice that we left," Carlie said in an unconvincing tone.

  "Not until the bell rings."

  "Yeah."

  My lips twitched but I refrained from laughing just yet. We needed to be a safer distance away first. "We'll be fine."

  "It's not like they send people to jail for skipping a few classes."

  "No." I laughed nervously.

  "Should we go back?" My shoulders tensed slightly. "No, we'll be fine," she answered herself before I could.

  "Will your dad be at work?"

  "He works from home. Freelance writer."

  "Oh," I nodded slowly. "Will he be mad if we come home?"

  "No, he doesn't care about things like that."

  "Does he know," I stumbled awkwardly over my inquiry, "does he know everything that you do?"

  "That you're the leader of a pack of werewolves living right here in Grover?" I blanched white and my stomach lurched uncomfortably. "No."