Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 4 - Tuesday: Attack of the Fashion Harpy

Willow

I slept surprisingly well in spite of being overstimulated and knowing that I'd be going to a new school in the morning. It's a miracle. I was convinced that I was going to be tossing and turning all night. Strange places and strange circumstances don't normally induce me to sleep peacefully.

Last night over dinner, my mother and Aunt Beth tried to convince me to take a couple of days off to settle in. Hunter even enthusiastically offered to help me with that extremely difficult task, but I'd gracefully declined. Good thing too, because I now know that the words "help" and "Hunter" do not belong in the same sentence.

I've already fallen too far behind on my schoolwork, and I'm convinced that my fear of the unknown will grow into overwhelming dread if I leave it to fester any longer. I'll rather just get my first day at the new school over and done with.

I'm terribly nervous about it. Aside from the fact that I'll be surrounded by strangers, I've also never attended a co-ed school before. I don't really know what to expect. Probably hundreds more Hunters in all colours, shapes, and sizes. The idea makes me want to crawl back into my bed.

Do the other violent people from the park also attend Briar High?

Taking a deep, steadying breath, mentally preparing myself for the first day of my new life, I cross to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I knock on the closed door. Silence. I knock again to make doubly sure before I open the door.

Hunter is rinsing his toothbrush at one of the two basins set into the counter that runs the breadth of the bathroom from my bedroom to his. He is wearing wireless earphones and long school socks, and that is all that he is wearing. He turns when he catches sight of me in the mirror. I freeze at the door, too shocked to make a sound or move. Jolted out of my stupor by our eyes meeting, I fling my arms over my face and reverse with an involuntary shriek.

"Why didn't you answer when I knocked?!" I scream, missing the door and slamming into the wall behind me. I am nearly knocked off my feet and have to spread my arms out for support, which restores my ability to see him.

"What?" Hunter pulls an earpiece from his ear, which answers my question. He seems completely unconcerned by the fact that he is naked and that I'm not enjoying the exhibition.

"Why didn't you lock the door?!" I screech. I'm becoming quite adept at making shrill noises. I turn around and try to find the exit again, only to smack into the door, hitting it hard with my forehead. I jump back, holding my head. I really want to cry now.

"Hey, are you okay?" In my peripheral vision, I can see that Hunter is moving in my direction. I instinctively stretch out an arm open-palmed towards him. The universal sign for stop.

"Don't approach me! Stay where you are!"

Hunter obediently stops and puts his hands up as if it had been a "stop, or I'll shoot" order. He has his toothbrush in one hand and the earpiece in the other, and he seems to be at a complete loss as to what to do next.

"Will you put that thing away?!" I sob after involuntarily glancing at him again.

"What thing?" his eyes flit between the toothbrush and the earpiece. He seems to be genuinely confused about which of the devices is causing me such obvious distress.

I finally manage to get my coordination under control enough to fall through the doorway into my room. "Animal!" I shout, slamming the door shut between us. Seriously, I'd seen a scenario like this happening since the moment I was told that I'd be sharing the bathroom with a boy! I didn't, however, expect it to be on my very first morning here!