Howl

  Chapter 7 – Far From Heaven

  During the next few months it didn’t seem like anything improved, Scarlet didn’t attend school it seemed like nine times out of ten. She barely spoke to me anymore except for the occasional text message. I didn’t know if it was because she was in mourning, or because she was totally freaked out that I was a werewolf. Either way, life was harder without her in it, and I hadn’t even seen her smile since the incident. I couldn’t blame her though; I’d probably be acting the same way, if not worse if the conditions were the same for me. At each full moon Christopher and I would go into the forest to transform, the first time I saw him transform it amazed me how gracefully he did it. Without even a second thought it was almost as if he willed it to happen, and it didn’t even appear as though he felt the pain. I still felt the pain, but I got better at handling it knowing what to expect. It always was exceedingly hard to find an excuse to sneak away from my parents before nightfall, one time I said I was going to go to bed early, and I snuck out the window in a final attempt to escape. I never knew what a tight hold they had on me until then.

  I still didn’t tell Chris that I told Scar about my being a werewolf. He never failed to remind me to keep tight-lipped about us. It frustrated me that I couldn’t tell anyone at all, but I had to remind myself to be grateful that I did have Chris and that I wasn’t going through this whole ordeal alone. That it could be worse… but yet, I still felt entirely alone and completely suffocated by my parents. But here it was, three months later, the middle of December and I was off on my way to school, yet again like nothing ever happened and pretending it was all the same. The trees didn’t have any leaves, and the icy, cold wind was the kind that went through whatever you were wearing, no matter how many layers, nor the thickness. It was just plain cold. The only sign of warmth was Chris walking beside me; I knew he must have been warmer than I was with his black, leather jacket.

  Chris breathed out producing a large puff of steam in the freezing air. “I assume you’ve heard about the Christmas Eve Dance.”

  I looked sideways at him. In the whole three months he’s been around me, he’s always kept it playful between us, but never flirty, never willing to take it to the next level. There was always something there, but the way he acted it was almost like he was ignoring it… I couldn’t blame him though… I was ignoring it too. “Yeah, I have, but it’s on a full moon, so I’ve already scratched it off my list of things to do,” I said bluntly.

  “Why? It starts early.”

  “You are calling six o’clock at night early? It’s dark by then.”

  “Yep,” he turned towards me, “What, you think you can’t resist it?”

  I let out a laugh seeing my breath in front of my face. “No, I can resist turning, I just thought it was too risky. Plus, I’ve just already turned everyone that wanted to go with me down.”

  “I guess everyone else doesn’t know how to persuade you like I do then.”

  I paused speaking for a moment to ponder on it. “Are you asking me?” He was definitely asking me.

  “What if I am?” Chris gave a knowing smile.

  I gave another pause, I needed my cleverness now, which was always miles away for me. “I’d ask if you were going to take care of me… just in case.”

  “And I’d say certainly.”

  “But, that’s only if you were asking me,” I said giving a wink.

  Chris nodded as if considering it, “So you’re going to play Cinderella and run away at midnight?”

  I laughed at the ironical situation. “Not quite, I’ll leave before midnight.”

  “Okay, then I’ll take Cinderella to her to ball.”

  I nodded, “Your fairytale character gives you permission.”

  He raised his eyebrows, “Oh, does she?”

  “Well, you couldn’t take me without my permission.”

  Chris tilted his head from side to side doing a poor imitation of myself. “True.”

  We rounded the corner of the street and our school came into view. From this far down the street anyone who wasn’t familiar with it could have easily mistaken it for an insane asylum… or so I thought. You could just hear kids laughing, screaming, yelling, but I knew better, it was just the teens in the parking lot. I was just happy that I wasn’t one of those monkeys that did that. Or was I? After all, I did hang out with them.

  When I saw Scarlet in the parking lot I got excited. She stood there next to Rafael looking grimmer than she normally did. Everyone around her seemed quite the same, and I realized that she was the life of the party, and without her cheer, no one else had cheer.

  “You’re looking a lot thinner than you did a couple of months ago,” Chris mentioned looking me up and down.

  “Oh, thanks?” I did notice a change in my weight. My muscles became more defined and my clothes fit a little bit looser than they did before, and I was happy. I hadn’t looked so good since I was a little girl. And I could finally fit into all those clothes the skinny, little girls wore.

  “It wasn’t a compliment,” Chris said suddenly, “Don’t take it as an offense, take it as a warning. You’ve lost a lot of weight scary fast. It does take some time to adjust to—you know—but when you’re a werewolf you are running around and stuff, and you do have to increase your food intake slightly.”

  I couldn’t believe he was saying this. I heard him speaking, but I refused to comprehend his words. Was he seriously trying to control what I eat? As if it’s any of his business.

  “I noticed you don’t eat lunch,” he said when I didn’t respond; “You might start.”

  I let out a dry cough. “So, let me get this straight, you ask me to the dance and then compliment-insult me?”

  “No, I’m not insulting you,” Chris said quickly. “I’m just concerned for your wellbeing.”

  “Uh!” I spat out walking faster than him towards Scarlet.

  I was glad that Chris knew better than to follow me around, and he let me be. He walked by me, not rudely, and towards the school keeping up the same pace that he used from his house to school. The way he walked so slow like nothing in the world could interrupt his stride annoyed me, but I just looked away.

  “Hey, Scarlet,” I said walking up behind her, “It’s good to see you today.” Scarlet turned around and looked at me. Her eyes had dark circles under them as if she hadn’t slept a wink since losing her mother. Her skin was pale and I noticed, her makeup was applied differently—darker and gothic like.

  “Morning, Halle,” Scarlet said cracking a little, forced smile. She jerked her head over towards Christopher then back again, “You guys aren’t together yet?”

  I couldn’t help letting out a snorting laugh, “Why are you surprised? I said from day one I didn’t like him—” Rafael turned towards Scarlet planting a kiss on her cheek—that was one thing that surprised me about him, he wasn’t afraid to show his affection towards Scarlet in front of his friends and since the incident, he had been fawning over her every second. She was lucky to have him to lean on. He walked towards the entrance of the school with a couple of his friends. “And get this,” I continued, “He asked me to the dance, waited until I said yes, and then insulted me.”

  “He insulted you? You sure you just didn’t take it the wrong way? It wouldn’t be the first time, you know.”

  “He said I looked too thin.” I rolled my eyes.

  Scar frowned. “I hardly see where that’s an insult.” She patted her own pot belly. “And it’s true, you are looking really thin.”

  “So you agree with him then?” I raised my eyebrows. How could she agree with him over me—her best friend?

  “I’m not agreeing with either of you,” Scarlet let her mouth fly wordlessly as if searching for the right word on the tip of her tongue, “Lover’s quarrel.”

  I narrowed my eyes, “How dare you?” I said more teasingly than seriously.

  “I dar
e,” she said stalking off into the school along with the rest of the students.