Feral Hearts

Chapter 2

As news of the confrontation between Natania and Hayley spread around the school, there was a significant shift in the atmosphere of the wolves. Branson was especially pleased, his previous aggressors began avoiding him in the halls and he was finally able to go about his business in peace.

Other children from low ranking families flocked to Natania and she welcomed them warmly, glad to see she had made some small shift in the way of things. Some of them, however, remained skeptical of her, Leah in particular, whose parents ranked fifteenth. It was an uncomfortable position in the pack, the lowest of the wolves who were officially ranked, so neither side of the hierarchy wanted to associate with them.

The girl's distant personality didn't help her case. Natania knew she was especially close to her parents and had witnessed plenty of times the callous way the other adults interacted with them. As such, the rare few brave enough to approach her were met with doubtful looks and gruff responses. Natania had tried to reach out to her several times but the girl always turned her back and pretended not to hear. Natania had begun to request Leah as her partner in paired assignments in an effort to get her to talk, but it wasn't working out very well.

"So how do you want to start?" Natania asked. The assignment was to compile information on Newfoundland, Canada. Including a drawing of the map and flag, and a summary of the province, including the provincial animal, at least one renewable resource available in the province and the total population. Most of the information would be easily found in the books their teacher provided, but the drawings they'd have to do themselves, and Natania hated drawing.

Leah glanced at her with a frown, their desks had been pushed together, and trudged off to get the Newfoundland books. Natania sighed and dug out a couple pieces of paper and a pencil out of her desk, laying them on the crack in between the desks. She took one piece and vigorously scrawled with her pencil, trying to copy the shape of the province off the big map the teacher left on the board. Leah returned when she was about halfway done, dropping the books on her desk with a loud thud that made Natania flinch.

Leah shrugged, reached over and took the paper from under her hands. Natania raised her eyebrows as the girl crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash behind them. "It wasn't that bad."

Leah shoved one of the books at her then began her own sketch.

Natania sighed and flipped open the book, scanning the index for key words. "Hey look," Natania laughed. "The provincial animal is a puffin." She pointed at the picture. Leah just kept drawing away. Natania put the book down and tried again, glancing at her drawing. "You're really good at that." Still earning no reaction, Natania miserably returned to her work, writing down all the necessary information in silence.

She was finished long before Leah completed the map so she grabbed a piece of paper to start the flag. Without looking up from her work Leah snatched the paper from her hands. Natania let out a frustrated growl. "I can draw a stupid flag."

"No you can't." Leah said, quietly.

"Hey look, you can talk." Natania regretted her snotty tone as soon as she said it but Leah had already gone back to ignoring her. Frustrated and irritated, Natania pushed out of her seat and wandered over to Branson, at least he would talk to her.

The teacher glanced up from her desk and Natania waved her away with an "I'm done." before plopping down on the floor beside Branson.

He glanced down at her "do you want a chair?"

"I'm fine here." She pressed her back against his chair and leaned her head on his thigh.

"How'd it go?" he asked. Natania grunted and he chuckled. "That good huh? Hey can you find Victoria for me?" he handed her a book. Branson's province was British Columbia.