Cursed

A Gift

Lana

I clenched my jaw shut, spots swarmed my vision, threatening to pull me under. The pain grew to a peak. Excruciating.

"Are you okay? Can you sit up?" The coach said, her hand on my shoulder. People were speaking in hushed whispers around me. I tried to swallow, but my throat was so dry. "Do you need to go to the nurses office?" I shook my head, but she still looked unconvinced. "Can one of you guys take her?"

A pretty, dark-haired girl raised her hand. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t think straight.

"Alright Ms. Leonida, go ahead, let me sign your hall pass."

"Can you stand? Let's go." She said sympathetically, offering her hand. I took it gratefully, allowing her to help me to my feet. The movement almost sent me reeling again.

"Ew, is she gonna hurl?" A girl's voice whispered in the distance. I ignored it, following the girl out into the corridor. We stopped at a water fountain, where I gratefully lapped up the cold water.

"Sooo, what's all that about, huh?" She asked. "You're that girl from earlier, sorry I didn't say hi, my dude was being a dick."

"Oh yeah." So that’s why she looked familiar.

"Libby. Short for Elsbeth, but not everyone knows that, so keep it a secret, okay?" She introduced herself, eying me cautiously.

"Leonida, huh?"

"Yeah, my mom's Romanian."

She giggled, leading me down another hall. "But for real, are you okay? That looked like it sucked."

"Didn't really sleep all that well, been battling it out with a bad migraine all day, I probably got dehydrated or something." I sighed. My head throbbed dully, I rubbed at it, willing the pain to stop.

"That's why you gotta drink water." She said, "Mind if we go to the bathroom real quick?"

"Sure, I think I actually feel a little better." My stomach grumbled. "Hungry though, when is lunch supposed to be?"

"Not till after the 4th hour." She responded, ducking into the ladies' room. I closed the door behind us as she went into the stall. There was a moment of silence before she groaned and dug into her bag. "Here's a quarter mind grabbing a tampon out of the machine?"

"No worries, I got it." And that I do, I have a little coin pouch in my bag on the side. I grabbed a quarter and inserted it into the machine, dispensing the tiny wrapped package. I passed it under the stall and gazed at my reflection.

The dark circles under my eyes were deeper than they were this morning. I leaned in close, examining my eyes. My pupils were extremely dilated, giving me the appearance of having near black eyes. The skin was red where I had been rubbing my forehead. It prickled slightly, giving off the sensation of being poked by hot needles. I looked inside my bag for some aspirin, popped about five and took a sip out of the water bottle I had stored there.

I sighed, feeling surprisingly self-conscious.

I flinched when the door slammed open, and Libby walked over to the sink to wash her hands. My stomach growled loudly. Eesh.

"So you say you're feeling a little bit better? ‘Cause, I got an idea." She said, a wicked grin crossing her face.

That's how we found ourselves running through the parking lot towards her car. It was a bit humid, but there was still a decent breeze blowing.

I'm really ditching right now. That's a thing, I guess. Sitting here laughing with her, I could get used to this.

"How does barbeque sound?" Mmm... Red meat. She rolled down the windows, blasting music as she zipped out of the parking lot and onto the road. An elderly couple stood on the sidewalk outside of their home, giving us looks of disapproval.

Her company was pleasant, I didn’t feel awkward around her. Content, I listened to her amble on about her relationship.

"God, I know I sound so dramatic. I just hate it when he gets, ya know, too friendly with other girls. She's over there pressing her t**s together acting like hot s**t, when I was CLEARLY standing right there. He didn't even move away when she hugged him! I mean, yeah, he's hot, I get that. Other girls will probably want him, but he could have at least thought about how that made me feel? Am I crazy?"

"I mean, anyone would get jealous if some girl was all up on their dude." I shrugged, leaning against the counter. The cashier was blushing furiously as he fumbled our change after we ordered.

It took everything for us not to bust out laughing right there. Her face was literally red from holding it back.

I ended up getting a huge meat plate. She eyed it, almost choking on her drink as she set down her own small combo.

"How the hell? Are you going to finish all that?"

"Sure will." I said. I meant it too.

Honestly, it took everything in me not to devour the whole thing like an animal. After the first initial bites, everything felt so much better. I still felt like I was missing something, and I wished the meat was a little more rare. Also, it was a little dry but, it's whatever.

I took a sip of water, and sank back, rubbing my stomach.

"You really did." She shook her head, impressed. "Bravo."

"So, you know you're coming tonight, right? We do this all the time, get together in the woods by the lake. I don't know if it's really your thing, but I think you'd have fun."

"Maybe, depends on if my aunt will let me out or not." She didn't ask the awkward question I thought she'd ask.

"Well, text her and find out. You can come get ready at my house."

"I probably wouldn't even have anything to wear. My aunt basically picked my wardrobe so it's all just, eh. Every now and then, I get to go get something for myself though."

"You sound a little sheltered, see this is why the universe sent you to me." She raised her arms up high. "Lana Greystone, I hereby bestow upon you the power and serenity of freedom! May you break free of this lowly curse that binds you!" She bellowed melodramatically. The other patrons of the restaurant glared at us wearily. I burst out laughing and picked up my plastic fork, lobbing it at her.

"Sorry, I had to." She laughed, wiping a tear that fell freely from her eye. "Fun story, supposedly my family's descended from the Romani. Not that that ever helped me out in any aspect of my life. I have such awful luck, and shitty grades."

"Well, that's pretty cool." I said, stacking my trash together. "Can you make it so we can go back in time, cause I'm pretty sure we are super late for the next class." Sure enough, I felt my phone vibrate in my bag.

It was Eli. He was waiting outside P.E. class wondering where I was so he could escort me to the next class.

"Ah. Well, hell, at least it's not too late. It looks like 2nd hour just ended. We should hurry."

"Good thing I can do an almost perfect copy of the nurses signature in our hall passes." She grinned deviously.

She sped back to the school, and from there we raced up the side steps, sneaking into the stairway and separating. I took a quick peek at my schedule and map, I needed to go to the second floor. Looked like it was on the other side of the building though. I ran through the empty hall, faster than normal, all the doors were closed, I'm sure no-one could see me, and made it to my destination. The door was closed.

I was actually nervous going in by myself, more aware of my surroundings now that I've eaten. I didn't know whether to knock or not and decided to open it. The class immediately turned their heads in unison and looked at me. The teacher was an older lady, who looked sternly over her glasses at me. They rested on her large hooked nose.

"You are?" She asked.

"Lana Greystone." I held up my hall pass, awkwardly. "Sorry, I went to the nurses office."

She beckoned me over, peering at the pass before directing me to an empty seat in the middle of the row.

History was especially boring. I didn't have much knowledge of human history, people with less power clashing with each other over the ages beating each other bloody over women, money and power. At least Wolf history was a little spicier.

A nap sounded pretty damn terrific though. I started to realize it only 20 minutes into the class. I wanted to just close my eyes for just a little bit. At some point, the teacher must have left the room because everyone was suddenly talking amongst themselves. I was about to nestle into the crooks of my arms, when my chair was kicked.

"Psst, new girl." A voice whispered behind me. Another thud. I sat up and turned to the asshole in the back. He was actually pretty cute. "Damn, you wearing contacts? Your eyes are pretty fuckin' nuts." Okay, lame.

"No." I responded simply, before turning back to my little arm nest. Not long after, my desk almost toppled over as he stumbled 'accidentally' on the leg of my chair. My pencil rolled off my desk with a clatter.

"Oh, sorry about that." He said idly, picking up the pencil. Now there was no way in hell. It was an accident that the pencil just so happened to glide up my knee towards my inner thigh. He also made sure to brush the side of his hand as well. I immediately took his hand and slammed it on the desk. I looked him dead in the eyes. For a split second it looked like he was afraid and I felt his wrist struggling without gaining against my grip.

"Sit the f**k down." I warned him. He looked a little lost for a moment, seemingly shocked, and stumbled back over to his seat. It took me a minute to simmer down, and that pissed me off. I hope I didn't use too much strength. Even then, an average human girl probably would have had her grip broken.

I barely noticed the class speaking in hushed voices, looking over at me and giggling at each other. I could sense tension behind me and hear the shaking of his leg as the movement thudded with the floor. He was completely pissed. I'd totally emasculated him in front of the entire class.

"Snobby bitch." He mumbled.

"Leave her alone man. She is obviously doing her own thing."

"Conceited bitches always act like they're hot s**t and didn't even say thank you for the compliment."

"All you said was that her eyes are pretty fuckin' nuts." There was laughter.

"She was with Eli before she came in. You think he's getting it in?"

"What on the side from Courtney?" There was a silence, "Yeah probably."

"Why does he always get the hot ones?"

"To be fair, Courtney's a pain in the ass, she's annoying as f**k, good thing she has nice tits."

The teacher finally ambled in, and sat back at her desk. She loudly announced a two-page essay on the chapter we were working on before. The class groaned and the final minutes of class ticked by.

I think it's finally hitting me how much of an ass I've made out of myself today. What a long ass day. The bell finally rang, and I didn't even hesitate to get up.

"Don't forget your book, Ms. Greystone!" The teacher called after me. Giving her a sheepish smile, I grabbed the large textbook and left the room. I almost forgot Eli was waiting there and went past him without stopping.

"Where are you going?" Eli said, catching up to me.

"Sorry, I just wanna find my locker real quick so I don't have to carry this around." I sighed, slowing down.

"You okay? You look a little pissed."

"Some i***t was bugging me, it's okay though."

"Damn no s**t? What's his name?" I was about to respond, when I realized I didn't even know his name. My stomach grumbled when he got closer to me. How could I be hungry already?

"Dunno, didn't catch it." I peered down at my map, my locker should be down the hall on the left. "Aha." Found it.

I opened it, realizing I should probably get a lock for it. These didn't come with one for some reason. But it wasn't like I was going to leave anything more than an old textbook anyway.

"See, look, I knew she was a slut, her and Eli look cozy enough, everyone else is in class and lunch, haha." A familiar voice said. Oh those deceptive dreamy eyes, what a shithead.

"Ask him if we can have a turn." The second said. Eli looked around, bewildered at the not-so subtle sudden commentary.

"The f**k you just say?" He grinned, "I mean hey, if you wanted to fight today, why didn't you say somethin' p***y?" He cracked his knuckles. I groaned internally, putting my hand on his shoulder. Don't make a scene right now. God forbid, I've had enough.

"Naw, man, we won't tell Court, if that's what you're worried about. I honestly just wanna see what that mouth's about. Is it just for show or can she work it?"

"Tori, you really gotta make an ass outta yourself?" Eli said, directing his words at the dark-haired guy.

"She's new, leave her alone, man. Chill the f**k out."

"Come on man, you don't wanna get into it with Eli right now, let's go." Tori's friend said.

"Like he can even fight anymore, his leg is all f****d up." Eli's face contorted with anger, he almost said something before I stepped in between them, shutting my locker after throwing my book inside.

"I'm hungry, let's go." I was shorter than the two assholes, but I was a lot more powerful. I stared them down, daring them to follow us, before pulling at Eli's arm. His eyes didn't leave them until we rounded the corner.

"This isn't over, f**k you man!" I heard Tori yell at us.

"Just ignore it." I commanded Eli. He furrowed his brow and shook his head.

"Sorry about that, I can see why you look pissed now. Torrance is a tool with a small man mentality."

I snorted, no wonder he goes by Tori. "He'd be cute if his personality wasn't so nasty." I said. He stopped for a few paces and then caught back up with me.

"You think he's cute?" Did he sound a little off put? Awe.

"Not enough for his ego." Eli roared with laughter, his hands tousling his dark hair.

"You're pretty fearless aren't you?" He observed. I snorted as we entered the commons. What would I have to fear from mere humans? Eli was okay for one, so was Libby, who was over at a table waving at us excitedly.

"Giiiirl, I don't know about you but, I'm just not feeling cafeteria food right now." She smiled and winked at me.

"I don't know, I feel like I could eat some more." She looked at me astonished, probably remembering the gigantic meat plate I had earlier.

"Where do you put it all?" She wondered aloud, eying my petite frame. Eli looked at us, confused.

As I made my way over to the lunch line, I heard her filling him in on our little expedition. Oops, maybe it was okay to tell him after all. After retrieving my food, I came back to a full table. Courtney was all over Eli, Ben was joking around with Tyler, while Libby tried to get his attention.

"Ugh, boys." She whispered at Courtney, who smirked and looked over at me. I shrugged, I didn't really get it. Then again, I've never had a boyfriend.

"So who are you into? You already have a boyfriend? See any cute boys you like?" Courtney directed at me. I could tell she was studying my expression, especially with the not so subtly possessive grip she had on Eli's arm. She acted like a mated she-wolf, I almost had to recheck her forehead to see if she had a filled in mark.

"Uh no, actually, none of the above." I said, cracking open a can of coke. I looked down at the basic taco meal I got from the lunch line. I was hungry, but I didn't think this would do my stomach justice. I still took nibbles out of it regardless. Bland and tasteless, probably worse than the orphanage's food. At least they served us good red meats there. I almost gagged, however. This wasn't going to cut it, and I tossed the plate aside, sitting back in my chair.

"See, I knew there was no way you could eat more." Libby giggled at me. I smiled back, playing with my hair.

"I guess it was just the idea of food that was appealing," I said with my own chuckle.

"Also, let it be known Lana is a liar." Eli announced to the table, humor sparking his eye. "Didn't wanna admit she cut class with Lib during 2nd hour."

"Can you blame her?" Libby laughed, then looked at me sympathetically. "But I mean, you did look pretty bad though. Glad that some of your color came back, you were basically green."

I winced, I didn't like thinking about the pain, I had never felt anything like that before. It definitely didn't feel normal... Not something I could talk to anyone about anyway. No-one had ever heard of anyone being born in the pack without a mark. When puberty came and went, nothing, no shifting anything. Just normal monthly pains... Maybe it was the spaghetti? No. I laughed inwardly. I could never tell Aunt Susan that her food could have given me food poisoning. She was an amazing cook. Besides, no-one else was sick, at least as far as I could tell. Everyone was normal that morning.

"Sorry, Eli, first day social anxiety, maybe I didn't wanna get called a bad girl for missing class." I said, a teasing grin decorating my face.

"Please, you have the face of an angel." A tan-skinned boy walked up to the table plopping down on the empty seat. What was his name? Oh right, Tyler.

"Maybe she's secretly evil." The boys laughed and fist bumped each other, leaving the girls wandering if they had some kind of inside joke. I caught Courtney, who was (of course) glued to Eli's side, rolling her eyes before taking a sip of her sweet tea.

"Baby, what's going on at the party tonight?" She purred at him, I cringed a little at the croon in her voice. PDA. Gross. One thing I did notice was that weird little jealousy monster that rose up in my gut earlier was definitely gone. I don't even know why I felt that way. Am I bipolar or something?

"Gonna head out at about 8. Tyler's bringing the party favors and Ben's bringing the drinks. They really got the hookup this time." Eli said. Libby and Courtney squealed and clasped hands together. "Which reminds me, you're coming, right?"

Everyone looked at me, Libby's eyes brimming with hope, Courtney's forced, her mouth stretched into a thin smile. Tyler wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. Grimacing, I awkwardly leaned away.

"Of course you are, right, beautiful?"

"I still don't know, my cousin is picking me up from school."

"Pleeeease, please please please?" Libby hit me smack in the face with what was a very effective sad puppy look, she whined pathetically. She really liked me that much? I still don't know what my aunt would say, probably not, but I didn't want to break her heart.

"I'll think about it, lemme see what's going on tonight, okay? OKAY?" I emphasized, because she immediately started bouncing away in her seat, excited as all hell.

"That's a yes, I always get my way!" She boasted. Why get the poor girl's hopes up?

"b***h, chill." Courtney mumbled under her breath. No-one heard her.

The rest of the school day went by uneventfully. I made it to the rest of my classes on time. I almost walked out of the building without grabbing my history book before. That was the only class I had homework in, even still. Sighing, I turned back around and trekked my way to my locker. The last dregs of students were leaving or loitering in small groups around corners. The rest off to club activities. A girl with a flute case ran by me and down the stairwell. I opened my locker and noticed a red box next to the book. Frowning, I picked it up.

It was wrapped in a simple, sheer white ribbon. A note that said, "From a secret admirer."

Okay, well that's creepy. I barely even talked to anyone today except for my new group of friends. Definitely investing in a lock now, though, that's for sure.

I slid the ribbon off, tossed it in the locker (littering is bad, duh), and gently shook the top off. A little silver pendant lay on a velvet case. I picked it up and watched the light glint off of the chain. A tiny red gem in a crystal encircled mount.

Cute. I put it back in the box and slid it into my bag. Grabbing the book, I slammed the locker closed, praying that Noah would be waiting outside. I already took too long on my detour. Maybe if I was lucky, he'd be running late or something.

Making it outside, I realized that it was drizzling. Hey, maybe if this turned into a thing the party would be canceled tonight. Can't party by the lake in the pouring rain. The low hanging cloud cover completely masked the sun. It was pretty dark and it was only about 4:30 in the afternoon, in early September. A sturdy breeze filtered through the parking lot, where a majority of the kids were huddled up by their cars, smoking secret cigarettes or doing whatever. Noah was definitely nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, hell." I mumbled, choosing to sit where the roof covered the big stairs leading out. It was definitely a little chilly out, I wondered if yesterday's sweltering heat even happened. I took the box out, taking the lid off again. Setting the box to the side, I picked up the chain, the pendant resting in my palm.

I mean, okay, despite it being completely weird that it showed up in my locker in the first place. I went there. What, once? For maybe five minutes? Besides the assholes doing their thing, the only other person there was Eli, I thought. I didn't really notice anyone else, any other day probably. Today's just been weird.

A mixture of good and weird. Nothing I ever really expected.

I mean, it can't hurt, right? Sparkly things, kind of my guilty thing. I put it on and gingerly touched the gem. A car horn took me out of my daze, it was Libby.

"Still here?" She called out to me.

"Yeah, looks like I've been stood up." I responded.

"Looks like you're coming after all, then." She taunted, "Get in." I hesitated for a moment, "It's raining though."

"And?!"

I rolled my eyes and shrugged, throwing the box in my bag again and jogging up to the passenger side.

You know, you'd think I could have actually thought more clearly at the time. What I should have really wondered was, 'Who could have gone to a jewelry store in the middle of the school day? How did they know where my locker was? I chose to ignore it, despite all the shittiness, I made friends. That's a first for me, so I just wanted to hold onto it for as long as I could. It didn't feel good going back to the pack after feeling that.

No judgment, no doubtful eyes. I finally belonged. Maybe humans weren't so bad after all. For the first time, I felt no shame. Weirdness be damned, right? Boy... Was I wrong? Everything was going to change forever.