Taken By A Werewolf

I

Indy opened her locker and put in the books that she wouldn't need until later that day. Her peers were all filling the hallway with their excited chatter about their summers, but no one was addressing Indy. She had often heard the expression 'high school kids are cruel', but she had to disagree. They had tried. She had brushed them off. After a while, they had stopped and left her alone. They didn't bully her, it was like they didn't always acknowledge her existence. Which was fine with her. When she was on her own, Indy could focus. If she had no friends, she couldn't leave them behind. She would hit the refresh button of her life once she started college, where she was sure no one knew her or her past. She just had to sit out one more year.

A wave of hushed whispers rolled through the hallway and she looked around to see what the fuzz was about. All the whisperers were pointing and looking in the same direction. When Indy turned her head to see what everyone was looking at, she saw it too. Or them, she should say.

Four guys in plaid shirts and washed out jeans entered the building. Three of them were talking and laughing, one of them was not. The moody one looked Indy straight in the eyes with a look that sent her six feet under. She shivered. He could summon a storm in those dark, menacing eyes. Long fingers raked through his lush, black hair and for a moment Indy wondered what it would feel like. He was something else. Just when she had recomposed herself from her temporary drooling session, ready to glare some daggers back at him, he had already averted his gaze and continued walking with the other three. They all had in common that they could be part of a Vans advertisement or a punk rock boy band. They also had in common that Indy had never seen them before. If they were exchange students, they were either late or they didn't stay on campus. However, she decided, they were none of her business. She had one goal and one goal only this year: earn a scholarship and get far away from the Valley.

She didn't understand why everybody was so interested in these handsome strangers. Fresh meat, sure, but this was going a bit far. Girls were practically drooling over their backpacks and swooning against lockers. These guys had bad intentions written all over their stupid, perfect faces, but that didn't seem to bother them. In fact, it seemed to attract them even more. Like little, helpless moths drawn to uncontrollable flames. It was beyond Indy's comprehension why these girls would always go for the bad boys. If it were up to her, she'd choose the good guy. No, scratch that. She'd choose herself. Boys were nothing but a distraction she couldn't afford, and so she returned to her previous state of indifference, rummaging through her locker in search of that one Mars bar she was sure had to be in there. Back to minding her own business, a deep voice came up from behind her.

"You're blocking my locker, sweetheart."

Indy had to suppress a shiver. No one could call her that except for her father. She closed her locker and turned around annoyed. To her surprise, the Vans Four were standing in front of her. The one she thought was their leader sent her a lazy smile.

"Not your sweetheart," she said, taking a step aside.

His smile faltered a little bit, but he put it back in place almost quickly enough to hide the simple truth: she had pissed him off. Of course a face like that probably wasn't familiar with rejection.

"Ouch," one of the other guys said, laughing.

Pretending to be unfazed by her remark, the boy tried again.

"I'm Eloy, these are my friends Jamie, Ares and Colt."

She quickly glanced at them. Two of them were grinning like idiots in a toothpaste commercial, the other one was staring at nothing in particular, his arms defiantly crossed in front of his broad chest, as if he was waiting for his stupid friend to end this conversation. The moody one simply had to be the one called Ares, because he looked like a Greek god in the flesh. Shameless, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. Maybe she was more similar to her female peers than she cared to admit, but a jawline that sharp had to be illegal in the state of California.

"Hi," Indy replied, closing her locker, "and bye," she concluded, walking away from the boys before she would really lose it. Cursed hormones.

"Wait, sweetheart, you didn't tell us your name!" Eloy called after her.

That one word had cooled her down to the freezing point. She turned around sharply.

"I'm not your sweetheart," she spat, before continuing her way.

Brushing past some of the gossip girls who were now whispering about her, Indy made her way to first period. Before she could sit down in the back of Mrs. Blackwell's class, Principal Haywood's voice sounded through the speakers:

"Will Indy Johnson, Blake Miller and Jasper Hammond report to my office?"

Indy sighed. What a fantastic beginning of the school year. Here we go.