Dichotomy

SCHOOL

"You better hurry girl. It's a long walk to school." Elaine sneered as she strode past Charlotte who was seated at the kitchen table.

Charlotte looked up from her dry, stale cereal in confusion.

"Is there no bus? How will I know how to get to the school if I've never been there?" She asked uncertainly. Today was her first day of school since moving to North North Rochester, but she had no idea where the school actually was because she hadn't been into town yet.

Under her foster parent's orders, Charlotte had stayed in or around the house the past few days.

"Go left when you reach the main road. The school is about 3 miles down. You'll see the sign." Elaine explained dismissively.

"Oh, and from now on you can eat breakfast there." The tall woman added, snatching the bowl of stale cereal away from Charlotte's grasp. Elaine didn't want to have to feed her any more than necessary as it was a waste of money.

Charlotte nodded, it wasn't as if she would miss the gourmet breakfast options at the house. The school food might not be appetizing, but at least it wouldn't be stale.

Standing up, Charlotte grabbed the backpack at her feet and threw the bag over her shoulder before heading out. The backpack was an old one of Danny's and it showed, the straps were just barely held together with silver duct tape. It wasn't much but it would do.

Outside, it was cold but fortunately not snowing.

The wind whipped her hair back aggressively as she stepped across the threshold. Charlotte wrapped her jacket around herself tightly in response, walking briskly to keep warm.

She had never liked the cold of winter. The way it seeped through the skin and chilled the bones was unpleasant. Especially when you couldn't afford the luxuries to stay warm.

Spring couldn't come soon enough in her opinion.

As Charlotte walked in what she hoped was the right direction to school she was plagued by an odd feeling, almost as if someone was watching her.

The main road, like everything else in the town, was carved through the forest. Pine and fir trees abutted the street. Their thick foliage shielded the deeper forest from view.

Charlotte glanced nervously to her right, trying to see through the trees. A couple of times she thought she saw a black shadow moving through the greenery, but when she blinked it was gone.

It was unsettling, to say the least.

Maybe it was just first-day nerves, Charlotte mused. It didn't matter how many schools she attended, the first day always made her anxiety peak.

Despite her nervousness, she arrived at the school unscathed.

The school turned out to be nothing like she expected. She was anticipating an old brick building, built 20 or 30 years before. Most of her previous schools had been like that, old and needing repair, but the district always seemed to lack the money to renovate or rebuild.

The school in N.N. Rochester was old, but not in the same way. It was a large stone mansion that had been converted into a school. Honestly, it was quite beautiful, almost what Charlotte imagined a private school might look like.

The mansion was built way back in 1908 and had a little bit of French-Canadian influence, at least that's what Carter told her.

Carter was a senior who worked in the office during one of his throw-away periods. After the school secretary handed Charlotte her schedule, she suggested Carter might show her around and the boy seemed more than eager to do so.

Apparently, the building could be confusing to navigate since it was not originally designed as a school. Bedrooms had been converted to classrooms, ballrooms to cafeterias, sitting rooms to offices, etc.

"....and that's Mad Dog Mike. The jury is still out on whether he got the name because of his mad football skills or if he was bitten by a rabid animal," Carter said, pointing to a statue tucked away in a nook as they passed by.

Charlotte giggled, appreciating his attempt at humor.

She was glad Carter was the one showing her around, he was at least trying to make it interesting. Not that a mansion built in the 1900s wasn't interesting, but he brought it to life.

He stopped beside a tall oak door, one of many that dotted the hallway.

"Ok here's your first class. I'll come to get you once it's over, so I can show you where your next class is. Make sure to wait for me." Carter smiled and winked at her.

Heat rose to her cheeks as she blushed.

Carter was definitely attractive, he had dirty blond hair and seafoam green eyes. Although Charlotte wasn't too interested in dating, she may or may not have covertly checked him out.

He also had a pleasant demeanor which was nice. He was friendly and energetic. Kind of like a golden retriever. She was willing to bet he was one of those people who naturally drew others to him.

Carter made sure to show her each of her classes and Charlotte did her best to make mental notes so she could get to class by herself tomorrow.

Charlotte flashed him a smile when she saw him waiting outside her chem class.

"Where to next?" She asked cheerfully.

"You have your lunch period, so I'll take you to the cafeteria."

"Oh. And you don't?" She was a tad disappointed; she hadn't made any friends yet. Sure, there were some students interested in getting to know the new girl but mostly they peppered her with the basic questions.

"No, unfortunately, they have to split the lunches because our cafeteria is too small for everyone to use at once," Carter answered.

Seeing her small frown, he gave her an encouraging smile.

"Don't worry, I'll introduce you to my friend Amelia. She has the same lunch as you. I think you'll like her." Carter said.

Charlotte was surprised by how considerate Carter was. It made her feel warm.

"Amelia!" Carter shouted, apparently catching sight of the girl.

A pretty girl with braided black hair pushed her way toward them through the crowd of students.

"Hey, Carter!" She greeted.

"Amelia, this is Charlotte. She's new here. Would you show her to the lunchroom?" He asked.

"Of course!" Amelia answered gleefully. She showed no hesitation in dragging Charlotte away.

"How's your first day been?" Amelia questioned as they made their way to the cafeteria.

"It's been good," Charlotte answered honestly. "I'm still trying to figure out where everything is but Carter has been a great guide."

"Yeah, Carter is nice, but he's even nicer to look at, don't you think?" Amelia chuckled. Charlotte was fairly sure she was blushing. Obviously, she had to admit that he was pretty cute with his dirty blonde hair and sea foam-colored eyes.

"Here we are," Amelia announced, coming to a stop at the end of the lunch line.

A couple of people turned around and gave Charlotte a dirty look as if they were annoyed by her presence.

"Don't mind them," Amelia said, also noticing the looks Charlotte received. She glared back at them when Charlotte wasn't looking, the other students looked away, chastised.

"They don't like outsiders much. It's the small-town mentality." Amelia said to Charlotte, rolling her eyes.

Charlotte nodded.

Amelia continued to chatter as they made their way to the front of the line. Charlotte wondered how she had this much energy. She had to really focus on what Amelia was saying so as not to miss anything.

"Are you new, girl?" The lunch lady asked after she picked up her food. "You need money in your account. No money, no lunch."

"I'm supposed to get free lunch... I'm a ward of the state" Charlotte informed her, awkwardly holding her lunch tray.

Charlotte tried to explain it quietly, but her face flushed with embarrassment when people behind her began to whisper.

"Tomorrow, you ask for a sack lunch then. That's all the state covers." The lunch lady said with a frown.

Charlotte nodded uncomfortably and hurried to catch up to Amelia who had already made it through the lunch line. Another student had stopped to talk to her, so she hadn't heard the entire conversation between Charlotte and the lunch lady.

"Is everything ok? Oh, look Mads already saved us a seat. Come on." Amelia said, seeing her friend waving them over.

Charlotte quickly followed Amelia, taking a seat at the table she led them to. She didn't want to draw any more attention to herself.

"Hi! I'm Madison. I believe we had Chem together." The new girl introduced. She had soft features and a kind looking face.

"With Mrs. Heflin? I think I did see you on the other side of the class. It's nice to meet you. I'm Charlotte..." Charlotte trailed off as a beautiful blonde girl swept past their table. She was wearing ripped blue jeans and a band t-shirt, even in that she looked like a model. Everything about her screamed effortless and confident.

Who's that? Charlotte thought.

"That's Seraphina," Amelia answered. Charlotte winced, she hadn't realized she'd asked out loud. "She's the daughter of.... Someone very important. And obviously, she's extremely gorgeous. You might have some classes with her, she's a senior as well."

Amelia and Madi shared a silent look that Charlotte missed.

"She's the head cheerleader. All the boys love her, but she'll probably end up dating the quarterback," Madison added.

"How typical", Charlotte sighed.

The three girls chatted for the rest of the lunch period. It seemed Carter was correct. They got along quite well. Amelia even suggested she come over for a girl's night in a couple of weeks, but Charlotte was hesitant to accept. She didn't know how her foster parents might feel about that.

The rest of the day passed rather quickly. Charlotte was disappointed to find that they had put her in PE instead of art. She made a mental note to ask the secretary tomorrow if she could switch.

Charlotte ran into Danny in the hall a couple of times throughout the day, but he ignored her. They didn't have any classes together because she was a senior and he was a junior.

After the last school bell rang, Charlotte started the long trek home. She had the same peculiar feeling that there was a black shadow following her.

Could it be the wolf?

Charlotte hadn't told anyone about her run-in. She wasn't dumb. She remembered the two male visitors, Jacob and Greg, that came over on her first night here saying something about wolves. How that related to her she wasn't sure.

She considered asking Amelia and Madison about it, but she didn't know them that well and she wasn't the type to take a leap of faith. No, it was better to not say anything until she figured out what Jacob and Greg were upset about.

Another shadow crossed her path, startling her, but when she whipped her head around there was nothing there.

Perhaps the wolf was stalking her... trying to finish the job it had started. Charlotte shivered thinking about how massive it had been. Much, much bigger than all of the other wolves she'd seen. Surely something of that size couldn't move so nimbly through the forest.

*** GIO ***

Gio couldn't help but follow his mate to school. He felt an incredibly strong pull to be with her and he was helpless to fight it.

Every instinct inside of him was screaming at him to mark her, claim her. But how could he when he was stuck in his wolf form? His mate was human. If he tried to mark her, he would surely kill her. And that's not to mention the actual mating, which went hand in hand with the marking. He shuddered to think what damage it would do to her small body.

Not for the first time, he mentally cursed the witch who did this to him and his pack.

It had been 5 years.

Five years he had been stuck in his wolf form.

Five years since their Luna, his mother, was murdered and his pack was cursed.

Just thinking about it made him seethe with rage. The curse and the loss of his family arose from the actions of an evil, hateful witch.

What's worse was that she betrayed the pack after they had welcomed her with open arms.

The witch, Serena, was not a stranger to them. The witch had walked among them, eaten beside them, and worked with them.

Apparently, loyalty meant nothing to witches.

For years, Serena had seemingly lived peacefully with them, as a member of their pack, before she turned on them, killing the Luna and cursing the pack.

Somehow Serena used magic to sever the link between them and the moon goddess. No one knew how she did it, but it was like the instant she cast the spell, something fractured.

Gio remembered feeling like a rubber band had snapped inside him. The pain was excruciating.

He had been out for a run in wolf form when it happened. The power of the spell hit him with so much force that he lost the rhythm in his stride, tumbling head-first toward the forest floor like a newborn pup.

Afterward, he realized he couldn't turn, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't slip back into his human skin.

He was stuck. Forever locked in his wolf skin.

It was the same for the others.

Those that were in human form when the curse hit were stuck in human form. Those that were in wolf form were stuck in wolf form.

As time passed, the human wolves slowly lost their wolf strength and senses. In contrast, those in wolf form seemed to lose themselves to their more primal instincts. Their once strong pack was broken and fragmented.

Much to his dismay, Gio and a small group of wolves had been forced to exile quite a few wolves whose aggressive, erratic behavior made them a danger to the pack.

His best friend, Blaine had been among the ones they were forced to cast out. It made him sick to do so, but protecting the pack was more important than anything.

Realizing they couldn't live like this; the Alpha went off in search of Serena to force her to undo the curse. Like a coward, she had disappeared right after killing the Luna and casting the horrid spell on them.

For Gio, the first couple of years following the curse were the hardest.

His whole world was turned on its head. No longer was he the bratty teen alpha, arrogant and self-assured. Without his mother and father, he had to grow up very fast.

In the beginning, he suffered through long periods of isolation and depression but eventually, he learned to deal with it. He accepted this new normal... he accepted that his life had forever been changed.

But now Gio had found his mate. The one for which he was made.

The frustration was boiling up again. Human emotions that had long since been oppressed were coming to the surface.

His own skin felt restricting, the fur around his neck felt tight, strangling and he itched to shed his wolf form once again.