Moonlight Secrets

Today was the day you began your senior year. Part of you was dreading it because you're facing your bullies, which wasn't what you wanted to do but the other part of you was thrilled that school was almost over and you could move on to college. You lay in bed trying your hardest to avoid the necessity of getting out of bed. You hear a rapping on the door. "Olivia, get up. We gotta go!" Sam called from outside your door. "Alright, keep your hair on. Jeez." You huffily changed. Of course, being the alt kid you were, you stuck with your trusty plain vest with a plaid shirt over the top and your usual skinny jeans and combat boots. Your wardrobe lacked in colour, but that was your vibe. You brushed your hair and headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Your mother was waiting for you in the kitchen. "I made you pancakes." She smiled, passing you a plate of pancakes with syrup. "Thanks." You smiled. "When did you dye your hair?" Sam asked. "Where did you appear from and none of your business." You snapped, agitated by Sams questioning. "You're my little sister it's my business." He retaliated. "Look, go to college and let me have my senior year without you pestering me." You spat. "Liv, look, I know you don't want me cramping your style, but just be careful, okay?" He gave you a concerning look. "Fine. But you're not my dad." You hissed. "So you keep reminding me." Sam groaned. "I need to go. I'm gonna miss the bus." You blurted. "No. I'm driving you." Sam smirked. "For goodness sake." You mumble as you climbed into his car. You spot your neighbour, Nate Winters, the schools jock, rich boy, and snob. Even though he's obnoxious, he's still somehow hot. Sam notices you gawking at Nate. "No way, Nate is a big no-no." He remarked. "Cool your jets, I was just looking." You smirked. "Well, don't. He's bad news." Sam snapped. "Didn't we use to hang out with him all the time as kids?" You questioned. "Yes, before dad died." Sam replied. "Why did we stop?" You asked. "I'll tell you another day." He smiled. Finally, you arrive at school, Tara. Your best friend since you started at Oakham is waiting at the gates for you. "T you've been here since when?" You smiled. "I don't know. But we best get to homeroom before Mr Matteson loses his head." She laughed. You and Tara headed into homeroom. There he was, Nate Winters. He was sitting at his desk with multiple girls around him. You walk past him, bumping into Tara. "Ouch. Liv, be careful." She rubbed her chest. "Sorry. I was distracted." You replied. "Oh, I see by Mr Winters over there. You wouldn't be the first girl who's been interested in him." Tara's tone was jokey. "I'm not interested perse more curious." You quickly reply. "Mhmm, sure. Anyway, he's gonna be playing at the homecoming game." Tara explained. "When is that?" You asked. "Mid senior year, I think. I'm not sure." Tara smiled. "I thought you were in with the popular kids." You laughed. "No. I'd rather not hang around with Malibu Barbie." Tara laughed, gesturing to one of the girls hovering over Nate. "But you get to be a Winters groupie." You laughed. "Yeah, again still no. I'd rather not drown from the drool coming out of their mouths." Tara laughed. Mr. Matteson dismissed the class, and you headed for your locker, which, of course, was opposite Nate's and right next to Tara's. You pull out your books and turn to head to class. You feel a little sick and text Sam to come get you. He tells you that he will be there as soon as he can. Sam comes rushing towards you up the corridor. "Wanna go home, kid?" He laughs. "Nah, can we just go sit somewhere a while. I don't want to miss school." You smiled. "Sure, I want to talk to you about something anyway." Sam smiled. You followed him to his truck, climbing into the passenger seat, and he took you to a secluded area. It's sort of a cave set back from everything. You follow him to the door of the cave, and he stands in front of you, giving you a serious glare. "You wanna know what happened to dad, right?" He began. "Yes." You smiled. "There was an accident when we younger, you were fourteen, Nate's dad runs a different pack to dad, he tried making a deal with him to join his pack, dad of course being stubborn refused to partake in the deal, this pissed Nate's dad off and he killed him, in front of me, you and Nate." Sam explained. "What did Nate do?" You questioned. "He just watched it, then watched you sobbing. He left you standing there over dad's body, so now you know why I hate Nate so much. It's bad enough he lives next door." Sam replied. "I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive him." You replied. "That's not all. As you know, dad was a werewolf, and I am also a werewolf, I thought I'd warn you now. You have the possibility of being one too." Sam explained. "And how will I know if I am one?" You asked. "There's signs, sometimes subtle, but you will feel different, like I can run faster than your average eighteen year old." Sam laughed. "Oh, okay, well, I'll let you know if there's any signs." You smiled. Armed with more knowledge, you head back to school. Madison, your bully at school and one of Sam's groupies approaches you as you walk into the cafeteria with Sam. She looks at you, then back to Sam, her expression neutral, she begins to speak. "Sam, why are you with that freak?" "She's my sister." Sam snapped. "Oh." The girl looked embarrassed. You burst out laughing and leave them to catch up with Tara. She's sitting at your usual table in the back of the cafeteria. Tara looks up at you, concerned. "Where have you been?" "Sam took me out for a little bit, told me about what happened to dad." You whispered. "Oh, right, s**t, it's almost his anniversary, isn't it?" Tara replied. "Yeah." You smiled remembering some moments with your father. You notice Tara is staring off into the distance, just a little past you. You turn your head to see what she's looking at. "My brother, really?" You grimace at the thought. "What, he's cute." She replies, her voice a squeak. "Gross!" You laugh. "What about Nate?" She fires back. "What about him?" You ask. "He's been watching you this whole time." She smirks. You turn your head again to see if your best friend is telling the truth or if she's just trying to wind you up. Then you see him, staring at you. He realises you noticed and quickly turns away. "Nate is a no-no." You reply. "Why is that exactly?" Tara asks. "He's a stuck-up rich kid." You remark. "Isn't half the school." Tara laughs. "True, but I still don't like him." You laugh. "Okay, whatever you say." Tara smirks again. You notice Sam heading your way and slump into your chair. "Hey Tara, Olivia." He nods to the both of you. "What do you want?" You mock him. "Well, I was coming to see if my little sister would be attending the game." Sam laughs. "Are you playing?" You ask. "Of course, wierdo." Sam laughs. "Oh yeah, I forgot you have to retake your entire senior year." You mock him again. "Shut up." Sam laughs. Sam needed to retake his classes because he was too busy pulling girls, then focusing on his work, Sam straightens himself a little, and coughs. "I guess I can take time out of my busy schedule." Your tone jokey. "Great, Tara, you'll be there too, right?" Sam directs that to solely Tara. "Oh-I-Erm." She was so tongue tied. "She'll be there." You elbow Tara. "Awesome." Sam swaggers away. You burst out laughing at Tara. "Omg, you were so tongue tied." You laugh. "Shut up!" Tara's cheeks the colour of tomatoes. You both finish up lunch and head to the football field. You grab a seat in the front row of the bleachers, the match begins, and Sam is already getting angry. If he gets too angry, he will start showing werewolf signs. You watch as Sam sprints across the field. The game goes to half time, and Sam runs up to you. "You both made it!" He was ecstatic to see you. "Yeah, but can we talk for a second?" You ask. "Sure." You pull Sam to the side. "How do you keep it under control? I saw you getting stressed." You asked. "I've had years of practice." Sam laughs. "Oh, of course." You reply. You return to Tara's side, Madison was watching you the whole time, staring daggers at you. "What's her problem?" Tara furrowed her brow. "I don't know. I was only talking to Sam. She needs to chill." You laugh. Some commotion is happening on the field. You see two of the football players hurtling towards each other. "Don't look now, but I think Nate and Sam are about to fight." Tara exclaimed. You look in the direction of the pitch, and of course Sam and Nate are stood toe to toe with each other, staring each other out. This could get messy. Thankfully, the coach blows the whistle, stopping the two boys from continuing the standoff. You take a deep breath finally you can relax. You return to watching the boys, once practice is over you try to speak to Nate and Sam to find out what they were fighting over but you don't manage to catch them, you head to the gym to intercept them. Sam appears, leaving the locker rooms. He spots you and raises an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?" "I'm trying to speak to you both." You explain. "Why do you want to talk to Nate?" He snapped. "Because what I'm about to say affects the three of us." You reply. "Fine, I'll grab him." Sam rolls his eyes. He heads back into the locker room, and a few minutes later, he appears with Nate. Nate glares at you. "What do you want?" He snaps. " When you were on the field, you were getting pissed at each other, but your instincts were coming out, I could tell." You explain. "You know nothing about me." Nate continues staring daggers at you. "I know your dad killed mine." You remarked in a hushed whisper. Nate spins around and glares at Sam. "You told her?" He hissed. "She would have found out eventually." Sam shrugged it off. "Whatever." Nate's tone softened a little. Suddenly, Nate approaches you. He's so close you can smell his cologne. He gives you a look that if looks could kill, you'd be dead. "Speak a word of this to anyone even that freak friend of yours, and you can join your father." His eyes glowed with rage. You can feel the anger building. There's no way he's talking to you like that. You straighten yourself and look him dead in the eyes. "You think you're better than everyone else. You're not. You're nothing but a coward and a bully!" Nate steps back before smirking angrily. "Little girl got brave." He sneered. You step closer to him again, dropping your voice to a whisper. "Not so big now, are we Beta?" Nate clenches his fists, visibly annoyed by that comment. "Cat got your tongue." You mockingly ask. Nate barges past you, shoving your shoulder, clearly offended by the word that you just said, Sam turns to you. Now he's glaring. "Why'd you have to say something?" He spat. "He was being a jackass. You didn't defend me." You snapped. "Because there would have been a fight." Sam sighs and rubs his temple. "Whatever, I'm done with this conversation." You reply sadly. You walk off leaving Sam stunned, you head to find Tara, she's waiting outside the library for you. "Everything okay? You just sort of disappeared after practice?" She asked, concerned. "Everything is fine, I just needed to speak to Sam." You give her a reassuring smile. "Okay, well, I was gonna cram and then maybe head to the arcade if you want to join me?" She smiles. "I love your way of thinking." You laugh and head to the library arm in arm. You spend two hours studying but those two hours feel like an eternity. You walk to the arcade it's only a twenty minute walk from the school, you enter the arcade with Tara, it's pretty empty, but that was expected since it's a weekday, you have pretty much free reign on every machine. You approach a basketball game with Tara. "I bet you ten dollars. I can kick your ass at this game." She smirks. "You're on." You laugh. That's when you had your first experience, the sheer stamina, strength, and power you had playing the game, Tara looks stunned. You scored 30 baskets in under 2 minutes. "How did you do that?" Tara looks at you stunned. "I have no idea." You're equally as amazed. "Well, I guess I'm down ten dollars." Tara laughs. "Come on, let's go grab a drink. I'm thirsty." You pull her to get a drink. This must be an effect of being a werewolf. You smash it at games, but you feel so dehydrated, or maybe it's because I'm still learning how to control it. When you get to the concessions stand just outside the arcade, you hear two people arguing, their voices familiar, but what they are saying is inaudible with you being so far away. "Is that Sam and Nate?" Tara asks you. "I think so, but why are they arguing? And about what?" You reply. "Maybe we should listen in." Tara suggests. "No, you go back inside, I'll finish getting drinks." You smile and gesture to the arcade. Tara smiles at you and heads back into the arcade, giving you a little half wave. You edge closer to the boys. You listen in to their argument. "I'm trying to protect her." Sam snaps. "And you think I don't want to protect her too?" Nate snapped back. "If you want to protect her, stay away from her. She hates you anyway." Sam's voice cold. "She hates me because of my dad!" Nate explains. "Just stay away from her." Sam warns him again. "She can decide for herself," Nate remarked. When did Nate actually want to talk to me, and why are they arguing about me? You take a step towards the boys. They are a little bit taken aback, they both look at you shocked. "What's going on?" You ask. "We were just talking." Sam replies. "No, you were arguing about me. Why?" You snap. "We weren't." Sam insists. " I heard you both, Nate I do hate you, the day my dad died, you just watched at least that's what Sam told me, stay away from me, both of you, I don't need protecting." You hiss at the pair. "But we live together." Sam replied sadly. "I'll stay at Tara's if I have to." You remark. You storm away from the boys, heading back inside to join Tara. "What took you so long?" Tara questioned. "I couldn't decide what to drink." You paste a smile on your face. "I just realised how late it is. Do you want to come hang at mine tonight?" She smiled. "Sure, why not." You smile back at her. You and Tara set off walking to Tara's house. She lived in a different neighbourhood to you and Nate. You and Nate were over on the rich kid, posh side of the town and Tara was on the middle class part, she wasn't poor but she wasn't loaded like Nate's parents, the only reason you have so much money is your fathers business and his inheritance. As you're walking down the road, you hear someone running behind you. "Olivia, wait up." A very out of breath Nate is chasing after you. "Leave me alone." You snap. "What does Nate want?" Tara asked. "No Idea." You smile and continue walking. "Olivia, STOP!" Nate screamed. "Piss off, Winters." You yell at him. And continue walking. "Olivia Yates! STOP." Nate practically demands you now. You stop dead in your tracks, stunned that he used your full name but also annoyed he demanded you to stop, you spin on your heal to face him, flip him off and walk away again, you zig zag up the street avoiding him, he still somehow follows you. Finally you arrive at Tara's house. "He must really want to talk to you." Tara laughs. "What?" You give her a stunned look. Tara points behind you, and you whip your head round to see Nate leaning against a tree looking smug. You roll your eyes at him. "For goodness sake, T go inside, I'll be in soon." You gesture to your friend. Tara heads inside, and you turn to Nate, pulling him by his jersey out of sight of Tara. "What part of leave me alone, do you not understand?" You glare at him. "The alone part." He smirks. "Maybe you'd understand what it feels like to be alone if your dad and pack leader were killed." You snarl at him. "It's not too late to join us. That's why I was trying to talk to you." Nate explained. "I don't need anyone. You think me joining you would resolve the fact my dad is dead?" You're almost shouting at him. "No, I was just trying to look out for you." Nate explained. "You should have thought about that before my dad was killed. Where were you? You left me! Alone to deal with it." You go from angry to sad in a millisecond. "You don't know the full story." Nate replied, his expression unreadable. "I know you stood there and did nothing." You snap again. "I'm sorry, I miss you, we were best friends, Liv." Nate gives you an apologetic look. "Your best friend died the day my dad did, now leave me alone." You turn to walk away. Nate reaches out to grab your wrist. "Please, wait." He has a sadness about him. "Just go, Nate, this is hard enough." You sigh. You give him a final glance before heading into Tara's house, she's waiting for you in her room, you rush up to her room, then grimace at her room, it's girly and pink and the total opposite of you, you slump onto the bed. "That looked intense. What happened?" Tara asked. "You saw that, I tried to keep him out of sight. He was just being Nate." You explain. "Mhmm, well, if you need to talk, I'm here for you." Tara gives you a sceptical look. You give her a soft smile. I know she's there for me, but how am I supposed to tell her I'm a werewolf and she not freak out? You finish up at Tara's and head home. When you walk into the Livingroom, your mother is lying on the sofa. She looks so pale. "MOM!" You scream and rush to her side. "I'm okay, I just needed a lie down." She hugs you tightly. "Are you sure you're okay?" You question. "Yes, sweetie, have you seen Sam?" She asks. "No, I thought he was already home." You explain. "No, maybe he has gone to a friends." Your mother reassures you. "Probably, I'm gonna get you some water and head to bed, but let me know if you need anything else." You hug her and head to the kitchen. You enter the kitchen grabbing your mom some water and then head up to your room, when you enter your room you see a very bloody Sam standing in front of you, his shirts ripped, he has a black eye, bloody nose, a cut on his bicep. You jolt back with surprise. "Sam, what the..." Sam cuts you off. "Don't freak out." He interjects. "What happened?" You ask calmly. "A pack fight, i snuck in, mom would have lost it otherwise." Sam explains. "This is getting dangerous, it's one thing you and Nate fighting but a whole pack, Sam we don't have a pack to back us up, we have each other and I wasn't aware you were fighting." You lecture him. "Welcome to werewolf life." He replied smirking. "This isn't a joke, you need to let me help you." You remark. "No, it's too dangerous." Sam looks at you guiltily. "Right and you want me to lose my brother too?" You snap. "No. Look trust me." Sam pleads. "Look I'm done with people being shady, Nate followed me to Tara's earlier after your fight on the pier." You explain. "Did he hurt you?" Sam frowns. "Do I look injured? No I told him to get lost." You reply. "If he starts giving you trouble let me know." Sam smiles. "I think I can handle Nate. Let's just get you cleaned up." You smile back at him. You head into your bathroom, grabbing some antiseptic and bandages, you clean up his wounds, he winces a little and then you shove him out of your room. Why does it have to be like this? I miss dad. You cry yourself to sleep.