After school, I hurried along with the swell of students.
Today I did something different. Instead of waiting for the main crowd to clear before tailing behind the ebb of dismissed students, I decided to dive right into the fray the moment the bell rang.
I've been consistently reaching the train station at 3:45 p.m. every day. Here's a math problem:
The dismissal bell rings at 3:00 p.m. It takes 15 minutes to walk from school to the train station. How many minutes am I wasting every single day?
Precisely. On top of this, by the time I reached the station, it was already crammed full of students who had left before me. But grrrr… it was so crowded I could barely breathe.
Not even my alpha dominance could do a thing in this situation. It was too chaotic, too close to a stampede. And even if the humans had the sense to step back, there was nowhere to back off to. It was a crush.
Passing the empty cafeteria, I decided to duck out of the passing crowd and go through the darkened cafeteria—run through it if I must—then cut back into the steady stream of students at the top of the stairs.
As I hustled in the crowd to get closer to the cafeteria entrance, I saw a stick-like figure, pacing, wide-eyed, somewhat frantic… Elena, alone.
She was on the other side of the school-leaving swarm. She didn't even have her school bag with her.
Meanwhile, I was caught in the salmon upstream… Like a salmon with a pouch full of eggs, I tightened my grip on the straps of my school bag to push my way through, edging along the cafeteria wall.
I saw Elena's thin face once more. She was looking in my direction, but not at me. Then she wrung her hands and resumed pacing. I didn't give it further thought—the cafeteria door was just within reach. Oh, here's my chance!
It didn't automatically slide open, but there was a side door. Seizing it, I grabbed the metal handle and pushed hard. It opened. Inside, the lights were out, but my werewolf sight had no problems. It wasn't that dark anyway—the windows on one side let in the afternoon light, layering the space in shadows.
I rushed toward the other exit. But as I dashed forward, two red, glowing eyes opened to meet mine. Aladdin!
He was seated at one of the tables with Arlene. She was pulled up against him, her face pressed into his shoulder, his arms around her and his mouth on her neck. He hadn't moved—but fuc—he had seen me.
I didn't slow down, bursting out of the cafeteria from the other door and half-stumbling back into the rest of the student population. My heart was slamming in my chest even as I rode the crowd down the stairs and spilled out onto the road outside the school.
I must have started running then. I didn't notice until I suddenly stopped in front of the station. It was bright, empty, and did not have the usual scent of students. I looked at my watch. 3:10 p.m.
My math could not comprehend this. But my mind didn't care about math at this moment. It was too busy trying to descramble the feelings of walking into the cafeteria while Aladdin was snacking—and the feelings kept growing. I hated it.
There was panic, shock, anger, disgust, guilt, helplessness, and fear… I'm so scared I don't ever want to remember this again.
The train came, and it was as pleasantly empty as the station. On the platform were just me and three other guys in our school uniforms. Upperclassmen.
I ignored them, boarding at my usual door. They got in two doors away, but once we were in the train, they walked over to me.
"Hey," one of them said. "You okay?" Werewolves, all three of them, all taller than I was.
I stiffened and stood up from my seat. So many empty seats in an empty train car. But I didn't dare sit down when three strange wolves were surrounding me.
The one who spoke raised his hands in mock surrender. "It's okay. We're the good guys."
"You're a first year, right? I'm Jules. Senior year. Future Beta from Blue Ridge Pack. It's a bit far out, almost as far as West Mountain." Jules laughed a bit before continuing. "That's Matt. Future Beta, Silver Wind Pack. Say hi and bye, 'cos he's getting off here."
"I can stay," the one named Matt said. "I'll get off at the next station."
The other two guys looked at him blankly.
"Okay…" Jules continued. "This here is Brandon. We call him Bra. Long story. He's just a weak wolf."
I looked at Bra. Obviously a warrior, and larger than Jules and Matt. But Bra just laughed. "Yeah, I'm weak."
The guys all laughed together. Then Matt said, "My stop. Ciao."
And he disappeared through the train doors.
"Oh, the joys of living close to the pack school," Jules said. He turned to me. "So… erm… you okay? You were, like, scared just now or something?"
And then I realized—I had been so scared from my encounter with Aladdin's after-school snacking that they had smelled my fear.
"I saw a vampire…" I mumbled. I was still trying to figure out how much I should tell two wolves I'd just met. But they were upperclassmen from my school. But I'd just met them. But they might know what to do. I debated internally. "Erm… he was feeding on… ah, someone."
"Did he see you?" Jules asked.
I nodded. "But the girl is in my class."
"Human?" Jules asked again.
I nodded again.
"Did he do anything to you?" Bra asked.
I shook my head. "I ran."
Both boys nodded. "Good. Better not get involved."
Jules looked thoughtful. "You say he saw you…"
"The girl was in my class."
"My stop. Byes." Bra left.
"Bye, Bra," Jules called back. But his expression remained thoughtful.
"It's better to stay out of the way when a vampire is feeding," he told me finally. "As long as it's just a human, leave him be. He won't do permanent damage. He won't like the consequences."
I wanted to protest, but I remained silent. He was right. I knew he was.
Fighting could likely lead to some High Council–level investigation. I wouldn't be able to justify attacking a vampire over a human. Plus, she was dating him, so technically they could be making out… I made a face at that thought. Yuck. Vampire cooties.
"But if he ever bothers you, come to us, okay?" Jules said. "I know we ain't alpha, but we ain't weaklings either… well, except for Bra."
I laughed at his attempt at humor. "Thanks."
Jules was funny. We chatted a bit, and he made me laugh. Very quickly, it was my station.
"I get off here," I told him. "Thanks for today, and bye."
"Wait!" He grabbed my wrist.
I spun around. The door of the train was open. It was my stop. But Jules didn't let go.
"Tell me your name," Jules said.
"Sam. My name is Sam," I said, my eyes still on the train door.
He smiled and let me go. "Bye, Sam."
And I dashed out of the train, stepping through the door just as it shut at the hem of my skirt. Pulling away in time, I turned to watch the train pull out of Gate City Station.