Not Always the Outcast

Life is Hell

I kind of had a feeling that I was adopted but never found out until a couple years ago. My parents, Thomas and Lisa Everett, adopted me a month or two before I turned one.

Maybe they’re so over protective of me because I’m not theirs and they don’t want me to get bullied from that.

Either way, them being overprotective didn’t help me, if anything it made it all worse.

Jenn was my main friend and my closest friend up until she had to move in fifth grade. Her dad got a new job in Baltimore, and no matter how much she begged, he wouldn’t let her live with her grandmother.

I had a couple of other friends that I ended up getting close with once she moved away. I didn’t mind Riley, Willow, or Sasha, but something always felt off, as if I was a filler friend. Halfway through seventh grade, Jenn came back from Baltimore.

She wasn’t the Jenn I remembered; she always had her hair straightened, with makeup and perfectly done up nails to go along with her new look. Once she came back, she started to become rude to me until she eventually became a full on stuck up b*tch.

I wasn’t always an outcast, but with her antics of bullying me and slowly taking my friends away from me, I ended up becoming one. I became the laughing stock of the school, especially with all of the rumors she’s spread about me.

The only friend who believed me and stuck up for me throughout all of this, was Willow. Even before Jenn came back, Willow always tried her best to make sure I was included in anything we were doing. Luckily for me, she didn’t fall under Jenn’s spell.

2 weeks before

“Come on, Laney we’re gonna be late to English! We don’t want Mr. Treiser to write us up!” Willow yelled as she started walking away from my locker.

“Jeez, Wills, can’t you wait two more seconds? I just gotta grab my book!” I sighed in frustration as I slammed my locker and jogged over to her.

“Well you know how strict he can be,” she replied, giving me a motherly look.

“Yeah yeah, let’s keep going,” I laughed. Unfortunately I looked at her a second too long as my body got slammed into Jenn.

“Aww, look at you, poor little pathetic thing. A senior and you still don’t know how to walk. Maybe mommy gave you two left feet?” She sneered, giving me a sickly sweet smile.

“Shut up b*tch, at least I have a mom,” I replied, getting oohs from the audience slowly forming around us.

“Do you though? Last I checked you were adopted, so maybe your real mommy just hated you and that’s why she abandoned you?” Jenn chuckled, earning laughs from her little possé of wannabes.

I shoved her away and stormed off, Willow hurriedly following me to try and calm down.

“Well would you look at that, the loner still doesn’t know how to keep a conversation without running away and crying about it!” Jenn said to the surrounding audience and I got further away from her.

“Laney, you can’t let her keep doing that sh*t to you, that’s f*cked up!” Willow said, rubbing my back.

I pushed her arm off me, “Oh gee I wish I f*cking thought of that! It’s not that simple Wills! You know how hard I’ve tried to keep her away from me? She’s like a godd*mn turkey vulture that won’t go away!” I kicked a locker in frustration.

A look of pain crossed her face before she regained her composure. “Well I don’t know what you want me to say..”

“I don’t know, but I’m getting real sick of this. I wish my mom didn’t abandon me, maybe I’d have a normal life and not have to constantly spray myself with perfume to please my adoptive parents,” I said with a sigh, rubbing my forehead as we walked into class.

“Well have they ever told you why they make you do that?” Willow looked at me, concern lacing her eyes.

I can’t let her know that I’m a werewolf, no matter how close we are, I thought to myself. I finally replied, “maybe it’s some weird way of being overprotective of me? I don’t know.”

“You know, maybe you should ask them when you get home tonight, they’ll give you an answer I’m sure,” she said with a small smile.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I responded as we turned our attention to the front of the class.

Flashback to 2018

“Honey, dinner’s ready!”

“Okay mom, I’ll be down in a minute!” I replied as I closed my science book and threw on a sweatshirt. She always keeps it so cold downstairs and I have no idea why especially with it being the middle of winter.

I jogged down the stairs, where I saw my dad and mom holding hands, looking at each other with concern while they whispered to one another.

“Dad, what are you doing home so early? I thought you didn’t get off of work until 7?” I asked, confused.

“Well, your mother and I need to tell you something before you turn 17.”

“My birthday was a month ago, I’m not turning 17 until next year!” I said with a smile.

They shared a look, before my mom replied, “please sit down dear, this is important.”

I sat down wearily as my dad started to talk. “This might be hard for you to hear, but you’re adopted.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I said in a almost a whisper.

“I know, this is probably a lot to take in, but just let us—“ I cut my dad off before he could finish.

“What do you mean I’m adopted?! Why did you wait until now to tell me??” I say slamming my fist into the table.

“Delaney, calm down and let us explain,” he replied. I looked over at my mom, or should I say Lisa. She was starting to tear up, but whispered out a “please.”

I sighed, slowly sitting back down before looking back over at my dad before he continued. “This is kind of long story, so please let me get through all of it before you ask any questions.”

I rolled my eyes before replying, “fine.”

“When we found out that your mother couldn’t have children, we started looking at adoption agencies trying to find a perfect fit for our family. After a couple of years and no luck, we decided to take a weekend off of searching and go somewhere to hike. We went to a town a couple hours away where there’s a secluded village in the woods. We’re figured hiking around that area would be okay, considering it was already populated and no animals could hurt us. While we were on the hike, a woman ran up to us, distressed and crying. She said she needed our help, and her baby was sick and she couldn’t take care of it anymore.

We rushed to her little house, where we saw her little girl, wrapped up in what seemed like a million blankets, in a crib next to the fireplace. We asked her what we could to do to help and she replied, ‘I can’t afford to keep her anymore. My husband passed away shortly after she was born and I’m slowly dying from my mental health.” I asked her what she meant, and she looked between your mother and I before sitting us down and telling the origin of the village,” my dad paused and looked at my mother.

My mother then continued the story, “your real mother, Penelope, she and your dad were werewolves. That’s why she couldn’t keep you because she knew that she was gonna die soon too.” My mother looked at me with sorrowful eyes.

“What do you mean they were werewolves?! Werewolves don’t exist, they’re just a myth!!” I say in frustration, annoyed that they would make up some bullsh*t like this.

“We thought so too, but your mother shifted to prove to us that she wasn’t lying. You’re of “alpha blood” as they call it. An alpha is the leader of the pack for them. Your mother wanted us to protect you and keep you around humans so you wouldn’t be found or hunted by any other werewolves,” my dad responded.

I was in complete shock. What does any of this mean? “Why would I be hunted?” I reply, not knowing with what else to say.

My mother looked at me worried, “Honey, you’re a part of their prophecy. You’re destined to be mated with one of royal blood and become the alpha of all packs and join the humans and werewolves together.”

“Mated? What the h*ll do you mean mated?! This is all too much for me,” I said, getting up and running away to my room.

Does that mean I’m a werewolf?