The Wolf in the Woods

Girls and Boys

"Oh my God! You and Carter? That's so cute." Amelia squealed.

Charlotte not so casually mentioned to Amelia and Madison that Carter took her up to the rooftop the other day.

"It's probably not going to happen. I'm sure he has a lot of girls interested in him." Charlotte sighed, poking at her mashed potatoes.

"Yeah, but you're gorgeous Charlotte! Any guy would be lucky to have you."

"Thanks Amelia! We'll see if anything happens. If not it's fine, I'm leaving as soon as I turn 18 anyway." Charlotte shrugged.

"Where are you going to go?" Madison asked.

"Not sure. Maybe somewhere further south. Warm weather sounds nice." She said thoughtfully.

"That's awesome! I really want to go to UCLA but my parents don't want me to leave." Madison frowned. "If you move to L.A. we could be roomies!" She added.

"That would be so cool!" Charlotte exclaimed. "What about you Amelia? Would you move to L.A.?"

"Sounds like fun," Amelia laughed "but I think I want to go to NYC. It's a dream of mine to live in a big city and work in advertising."

"Your parents would freak out if you moved to New York," Madison said shaking her head.

"Yeah, that's exactly why I'm not going to tell them." Amelia laughed. "You shouldn't tell yours about L.A. either."

"Why would your parents be upset? Shouldn't they be proud of you?" Charlotte asked. She didn't have any actual experience with the matter because her parents were dead but from what she gathered most parents were proud when their kids went to college and started careers.

"Well yeah, if they were normal," Amelia started and then seemed to catch herself. "Not that they're not normal. It's just that no one really moves away from our community. It's expected that you'll stay unless you find a... partner... who lives somewhere else."

"No one here finds their partner anymore," Madison huffed.

"Why not? Charlotte asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we're cursed." Madison answered bitterly. Amelia patted her on the shoulder.

"Hey, that reminds me. Valentine's day is coming up. We should throw an anti-valentine's day party to celebrate our independence!" Amelia said putting a cheerful spin on the conversation.

"Yes, that would be fun. We could wear really fancy black dresses and do our makeup. And we could get a pinata. Let's go look for dresses after school!" Madison suggested.

"Yeah!" Amelia agreed.

"Are you in Charlotte?"

"Definitely." She answered with a half-smile.

She didn't have any money to buy a dress but she could help them try things on and give her opinion. Hopefully Walter and Elaine wouldn't care.

"Awesome! Let's meet in the parking lot after school." Amelia proposed.

Charlotte and Madison nodded.

The rest of the day was relatively boring. They had a quiz in English over a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Charlotte was pretty confident she did well on it.

"Hey, Char! You ready to go?" Amelia asked, catching up to her as they walked out of the school.

"Yeah, let me just tell my foster brother," Charlotte said.

She could see Danny leaning against his truck. He had a few football buddies with him and it looked like they were filtering with some of the cheerleaders.

The head cheerleader, Serafina, was giggling at something Danny said when Charlotte walked up.

"Hey, Danny," Charlotte said, trying to get his attention. It seemed like he was trying to ignore her. Danny slowly looked at her, chewing on his toothpick.

Serafina flipped her icy blonde hair over her shoulder, glancing at Charlotte curiously.

"I'm going shopping with Amelia and Madison. I'll be home late." She explained.

"Whatever." Danny sneered.

Charlotte nodded. Amelia and Madison we're waiving to her from across the parking lot.

"We're going to take my car. It has more room than Maddie's Mustang." Amelia said.

Charlotte nodded. They were just about to leave when Carter came jogging up to them.

"Hey, Charlotte! Do you want to go get pizza with me? There's a really great place downtown." He asked.

"Oh, um. Thanks but we are about to go shopping." Charlotte said awkwardly glancing at her friends.

"Yeah but we can go another time Charlotte! Go with Carter." Amelia encouraged.

Charlotte glanced back and forth between Carter and her friends.

"Um, you guys really don't mind?" She asked hesitantly.

"Not at all!" Madison smiled. "You'll bring her home safe right, Carter? No funny business." She said sternly.

"Yes, ma'am." Carter smiled.

"Well ok then." Charlotte conceded, following Carter to his car.

She waived to Amelia and Madison as they left.

*** GIO ***

Gio raced through the woods to clear his mind.

Charlotte didn't meet him in the woods after school. He'd waited for her for hours before giving up.

Gio wondered how it was ever going to work between him and Charlotte. He couldn't talk to her or take her on dates, or do any of the things that a normal boyfriend would do.

Maybe she was better off with Carter. Or someone who was more like her. Someone who could give her everything she deserved.

He was torn because he wanted her to be happy but at the same time, his instincts were screaming at him to keep her for himself.

Gio's mind and his heart were waging a war with each other and it was beginning to drive him mad.

The wolf lifted his head toward the moon and howled out to the moon goddess.