My Mother Runs With Wolves

Chapter 4

I look up. It's that blue-eyed boy from the alley. What was his name again?

"Hi," he says as he comes closer. "Aiden, remember? You scared off that little mugger kid."

"Yes, I remember." My shoulders tense as I recall that this guy knows about Shifters. But how? Shifters recognize each other by smell, and he doesn't smell like one.

"And you're Maddie."

I nod. The conversation is stiff and awkward, but that doesn't stop him.

"So, you go to school here." He falls into step beside me.

"Obviously."

"Right," he chuckles nervously. "What's your next class?"

"Spanish."

"Hey cool, me too! With Mr. Bautista?"

I examine the schedule in my hand and sigh inwardly. "Yes."

"Great! We can walk there together," he says a little too enthusiastically.

"Great," I reply with no enthusiasm at all. It's not that I don't like the guy. He's actually kind of cute with the floppy hair and endearing grin. But I can't risk people asking questions and finding out about me, especially if he's familiar with the Shifter world.

"How do you like it here so far?"

He reminds me of an overeager puppy. I don't know why he's so interested in me.

"It's fine, so far." He isn't mentioning wolves at all, much to my relief. He must know the rules then. You never talk about it in public.

"Mr. Bautista is a little wacky, but he's a good teacher. You'll like him." He seems completely unaware of my apprehension.

I grunt a noise of acknowledgement.

"I can help you catch up with the coursework, if you'd like," he offers.

"Thanks, but I think I'll be all right."

"Then we can be study buddies." He refuses to give up.

I stop walking and face him. "Look, I know you're thankful for what I did, but it wasn't a big deal. You don't owe me anything. That kid was about to run off on his own anyway. All I did was give him extra incentive."

"But the way you intimidated him, it was—"

"He was already scared. An angry kitten could have chased him off."

"I was going to say"—he steps closer and whispers into my ear—"it was very wolf-like, the way you intimidated him."

My stomach does a flip. I didn't think he was going to mention that again.

Plus he smells kind of nice.

I meet his gaze. What I did was more Wolfstalker than Shifter, but I guess he's never met one of those. Either way, I can't let on that I'm anything other than an average girl.

He seems intent on my answer, expecting me to admit something.

I whisper back, "Intimidation is universal. It's all about making yourself look bigger."

He droops a little and steps back.

"Aiden, what do you want from me?" I regret how mean that sounds, but I can't risk getting close to someone who might figure out what I am. Whatever that is.

"I just thought... you could use a friend. You just seemed, I don't know, kind of sad that day."

This guy is more perceptive than he looks. I'll have to watch out for him.

"Thank you, but I'm all right."

"Okay, but if you ever need to—"

He stops when I put my hand up. "I don't know you, but you seem to think you know me. I would prefer it if you wouldn't make assumptions. Because I will disappoint you." It comes out harsher than I intended, but necessary.

We walk the rest of the way in silence, and the teacher thankfully doesn't seat me next to Aiden. He's a nice guy and all, but I don't need more complications.

After Spanish is lunch. I turn down Aiden's offer to eat lunch with me and instead eat at a bench against a far wall to watch people. I catch the scent of a couple Shifters, but I don't bother to track down who they are. It's not like I'm one of them anyway.

In Chemistry I discover that Samar is in my class. As luck would have it, her lab partner dropped out, so guess where I end up.

As I make my way to my new seat, I pull at my cap and gave her a little wave. She gives me a genuine smile and says, "Hey, it's you again."

"Yeah. I'm sorry you get saddled with me twice," I say. "What are the odds?"

"Don't worry about it. You seem nice."

"You say that now..." I give her a lopsided smile.

She chuckles. "Better than being stuck with a mouth-breather."

"No argument here."

We fall silent, and I pull out my notebook as students file in. The teacher is up front, riffling through a stack of papers. Then I hear Samar's hesitant voice.

"Hey, it was nice what you said in History, about my hair."

I raise my eyebrows. "I meant it. It gives you character. In a good way. Not in an I-can't-stop-staring-at-that-mole way."

It's hard to tell, but she may be blushing while she laughs. She tugs on a curl again and smiles. When she lets go it bounces back into place. "It's actually a pain to get it to look this way instead of Frizz City."

"It's that double standard." I tilt my head in the direction at the boy sitting in front of us with tousled hair. "Boys can fall out of bed and head straight to school. But girls... why do you think I wear a hat?" She laughs, so I continue. "Whatever you're doing to get it to look like that, it works for you."

"My mom says it's too unruly."

"Your mom needs to be grateful you don't go home with a bright green mohawk."

She laughs again, then the teacher begins talking. As I listen, I'm struck by how easy it is to talk to and joke around with Samar. Something about her quiet, unassuming demeanor just puts me at ease. She isn't nosy, excitable, or any of the other things that make me want to stab myself with a fork. By the end of class I think, just maybe, I could actually make a friend.

Aww, friends are nice to have. They usually vote for you. ;)