Overcoming Her (Another Werewolf Story)

Overcoming Him

It was the first day back at school. Senior year meant that I could finally graduate, start working, and start taking care of my mother properly. We didn’t have to worry about finances as my mother was paid more than enough to take care of herself while my father is missing. I still intended on working part time to build work history and to put money away for myself.

I entered the corridor, and many of my peers looked up to catch a glimpse of me. It was a mixture of humans and werewolves, and the humans always gawked at me while my brethren shifted their gaze and stared at the floor. Looking at me was uncomfortable, I could accept that.

I felt someone close behind me, and I quickly shifted to the side, where I found someone’s collarbones in my face. I looked up to see Leonard Barrett staring down at me, grinning.

I paused, in shock. Leo was the Alpha’s son, and although I had seen him before… I was puzzled. Why was he approaching me?

“Hello, Leo.” I said, stunned. I found myself blushing despite my best efforts. Leo was absolutely gorgeous, and famously so. He had chiseled features, but not in a model-type way. It was more of a compliment to his perfect features. His eyes were a hazel color, with gold and what looked to be red. When the sun hit his eyes, it looked like they were on fire. His eyes were slightly bigger than average, but with the way he had a consistent squint, you’d never be able to tell unless you really looked at him. His brown hair was shaggy on top, shaved at the sides. His lips were pouty and inviting…

“Scottie, how are you? How is your mom doing?” He asked, cheerfully.

I was confused. Nobody bothered approaching me. Why was he? “My mom’s great, you know. Just living her life the best she can!” I gave an awkward thumbs up.

“What about you?” He asked, and I paused.

All of the feelings I had, the pain and despair ran through me like lightning. Realizing that I was taking way too long to answer such a simple question, I answered “I’m great! How are you?”

Leo sighed a little. “I’m not doing so great, Scottie. There’s a whole bunch of things going on at home right now and I just can’t really deal with it.”

I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I didn’t understand how he was able to be so open about it. I found myself wanting to tell him that I could relate, but instead I answered with, “Is there something I can do to help?”

I think Leo was anticipating this answer, because he smiled wide. His smile was so child-like and fun, I was almost envious. “Yeah. I’d really like you to be my friend and hang out with me after school. Keep me busy.”

I was perplexed, and also blushing at what 'keeping him busy' meant. “Leo, is there something going on with your friends too? Are you fighting with them? I-”

“I just wanted to make a new friend. You seem really interesting. Do you think I’m interesting?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Okay. So I’ll meet you after school today, okay?”

“But-”

The bell rang, and Leo started jogging away. I was perplexed, and hadn’t even had time to go to my locker. What just happened? Leo is next to become an Alpha, so maybe he’s expecting me to take over the Beta role after I graduate? Does he not know that I may never be able to transition again?

I hurriedly went to my locker, grabbing my things for the first period. My teacher scolded me for being late, and I just ignored her.

—----

During lunch period that day, I sat alone with a book as I normally do. I was reading “A Demon in my View” by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, when I felt someone sitting next to me. To my surprise, Leo was there again.

“Leo, hey.” I said, closing my book.

“What are you reading?” he asked, smiling. My heart fluttered, and I was embarrassed to show any interest in romance novels. I didn’t want to give the wrong idea, as I’d already accepted that I would probably never experience my own romance.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just a-” he grabbed my hand, lifting it up to read the title.

“Demon in my View?” he chuckled. “Looks interesting.” Leo turned my wrist to look at the back with the description, reading it silently. My cheeks were heated, my heart leaping out of my chest. “A romance… You like romance books?” He asked, finally letting go of my hand.

“Oh, yeah. I-I just… It’s just for fun.” I stumbled, trying to find the words.

“Reading is a hobby, so of course it’s just for fun, silly!” He chuckled a little. “So, I was thinking we could meet at my house tonight, game a little. Order some take out?”

Oh no. Despite Leo’s playful and childish demeanor, he was the biggest player around town. He’d invite girls over, have a one night stand and that was it. Was that what all of this was about? Was he getting bored of the girls fawning over him? Just as I thought that, I looked up to see the last girl he was rumored to be with walking by and giving me a dirty look.

“Leo, listen. I’m not like that-”

“Scottie no! Don’t let your mind sink into the gutter like that.” Leo laughed, and once again that child-like, innocent smile was on his face. How I longed to be so carefree like that. “Completely platonic. I just want to be friends, I promise.”

I searched his face for any dishonesty, but I could see that he was being genuine. “Okay. We can do that. I’ll just need to stop at home first.”

“I already talked to your mom, she’s cool with it.”

I paused. “How? What-”

“My mom knows yours. Easy, peasy. She asked if it was okay and said your mom was on the verge of moving you in.”

I gave an awkward laugh, confused. I always went home afterwards to cook for her, so I didn’t understand why she was so… Okay with that. It was unlike her to be comfortable changing her routine.

“I’ll pick you up after school. Look for me in the parking lot.” He walked away, once again with that big smile on his face and waving goofily.

“What is going on?” I whispered to myself, clinging onto my book and blushing hard. My heart pounded in my chest.

—-----

After school, I walked outside carefully. I wanted to see if I could avoid Leo, but to my utter shock, he was already parked in front waving at me.

I walked up to his red compass jeep, and instantly blurted “You know, I just got a ton of homework-”

“Cool, so do I. We can get it done before the gaming. Jump in!” He smiled.

At this point, I think he knew that I was avoiding him. He had to know. Yet, my rejection isn't affecting him in the slightest. Why was he so determined to get to know me?

I sighed, jumping into the passenger seat. A human girl stared at me, looking envious. I stared back, wishing that she knew that I wished she was up here instead of me too.

Leo was a careful driver, which was a relief. We were only about a 10 minute drive away, which was nice.

Caribou, Maine was such an isolated place. The houses there were old and charming, and many of them were falling apart. Leo’s house, though, was an absolute mansion. As old as it was, it had a modern charm. The outside looked like something you’d see in a history book, and the inside was mixed with old furniture, updated appliances, and high ceilings. I’d hate to see the cost of heating it.

“Are your parents home?” I asked hesitantly, hearing a slight echo through the walls.

“No.” Leo sighed. “They’re fighting.”

Leo didn’t go into detail, and I found myself wondering how two werewolves could even find the anger to fight to the point they needed to separate themselves. Mating was a serious drug from what I’d heard, so I couldn’t picture a problem so serious that you didn’t want to be near each other.

Leo walked to his room, with me following. I felt like I was in a museum, gawking at all of the paintings and sculptures. One in particular took my breath away.

“Wow.” I gasped. It was an intricate sculpture of a girl, her face split into two and held by strings in the middle. One side was a happy, ordinary face while the other half looked like it was melting with a look of absolute horror and dread. I almost felt like I could feel the artists’ emotions through it.

“My mom made that.” Leo explained, looking at it sadly. “It’s been her best piece yet.”

“Do you know what inspired it?” I asked, unable to peel my eyes away.

“She doesn’t talk about that stuff.” Leo sighed. “She struggles in silence, only giving pieces away through her artwork.”

“It looks like she’s trying to show how hard she’s masking,” I mused, “It looks like she’s facing inner turmoil that’s ripping her apart at the seams, causing her to be undone. More than that, it’s like she’s begging someone to push her back together before the time is too late and she succumbs to herself.”

Leo looked at me, a million emotions flashing through his eyes. I could see him from the corner of my eyes, and I looked down and chuckled a little, embarrassed. “Of course, I could be completely off.”

“I think you hit it, spot on.”

What should I say? How do I get out of this? I felt like he was looking right through me, and I had suddenly become completely transparent. “Oh! Homework. Better get to that.”

Leo smirked, continuing the way to his room. There was a long corridor filled with doors, and he stopped at the last one, opening the door. His room was the size of my house, with an average ceiling height. It was divided into sections, one area containing his king sized poster bed and nightstands, another his gaming pc and Xbox, and the other was a miniature library with a study desk. The fourth corner had a guitar and piano. There were two other doors, and I assumed that they were a walk-in closet and a bathroom.

Everything looked meticulously clean, and although the corners were filled with his belongings, all of the other spaces in his room were empty. I tried my best to ignore how shocked I was at the strange room arrangement. Instead, I took my belongings over to the library area and began unpacking my bag. True to his word, Leo sat across from me and we silently did our homework.

I was confused at how quickly his personality had shifted. It was almost like that sculpture set him off. Was there something more going on?

We worked on homework for about an hour and a half before I finished. I looked up and found Leo doodling an astronaut floating in space, surrounded by tacos.

“Have you been finished long?” I asked, confused.

“I didn’t have any homework, honestly.” Leo smiled. “I was just waiting for you to finish. Honestly, I didn’t think you had any homework at all, seeing it was the first day of school.”

I blushed sheepishly. He was right, I didn’t have any homework. I was embarrassed and didn’t want to be caught lying about the homework, so I’d completed some work that I expected to have to do sometime in the near future.

“Let’s get to the games then, shall we?” I gave another awkward thumbs up and internally cringed at myself. Why do I keep doing that?

“Okay”, Leo cheered, doing his own version of an awkward thumbs up. The only problem was, he made it look cool.