Cooper's Ridge

Day One

Startled, I spun around to find mom standing in the doorway with a mischievous grin on her face. She was dressed in her scrubs, ready to start her day.

“Sorry, did I scare you?” she chuckled, crossing the room to give me a hug.

I rolled my eyes, though the smile playing at the corners of my lips betrayed my amusement. “You know, one of these days, you’re going to give me a heart attack.”

She laughed, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Where’s the fun in that? Besides, it’s not every day you get to have a first. First day of senior year at a new school for you, first day of work taking care of all the people of this beautiful town for me!” She said gleefully.

I sighed, my gaze returning to the mirror I was looking in when she walked in. “I still can’t believe this is real. What if I don’t make any friends? What if they all hate me, the city slicker?” I said in a silly accent.

She nudged me playfully. “Where’s your sense of adventure, Ava? You are the most amazing... and I’m not saying this because you are my brilliant, beautiful daughter and I’m legally obligated to, the most amazing person I know, and anyone would be lucky enough to be in your orbit.” She hugged me tightly and said, “Now breakfast is ready. Come and eat. Let’s start our day with a nutritious breakfast and tackle our day.” Her level of enthusiasm was infectious. I grabbed my backpack and followed her down the stairs.

At the table, I shook my head, trying to shake off the strange feeling that lingered in the air. The air seemed to buzz around me and I kept getting flashes of that damn wolf.

“Are you alright Ava?” Mom asked me as she set the plate down on the table in front of me. “You seem awfully quiet this morning darling. Did you sleep okay?”

“I’m fine, just... I don’t know.” I didn’t want to tell her about the wolf I saw (if it was even real) or the fact I weirdly dreamed about it all night. “Something feels off, like... like the world is waiting for something. I don’t know. It’s silly I guess.”

Mom frowned, her gaze drifting out the window to the forest beyond. “You’re not the only one who feels it. It’s probably just nerves. This is a big adventure we’ve started on. New place, new job, we don’t know anyone here. It’s scary. I’ve heard whispers around town, rumors of strange things in the woods. If you see anything, you will tell me right? I don’t mind if you hike, but I’d feel more comfortable if you do it in the light and bring that bear spray I bought. You should also tell me where you are going when you want to go, okay? I was quite worried last night for you.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What kind of sightings?”

She shrugged, her expression suddenly troubled. “No one knows for sure. Some say they’ve seen shadows moving in the trees, others swear they’ve heard howling in the night. It’s probably just bears and wolves and the like. It is a forest after all.”

I grabbed an apple off the counter and my backpack and said, “I wouldn’t worry too much mom. It’s probably just normal forest things like you said. Let's go, don’t want to be late on our first day!”

“Right,” she said. “I’m going to drop you off today and your car and the rest of our things should be here by the time school is over. Are you sure you can walk home today? It’s a bit of a walk from the school.”

“Yeah, no problem mom. It’s only a couple of miles. Easy peasy.” I said cheerfully.

As mom’s car drove along the winding roads on the way to school, the anticipation seemed to build in my stomach. My anxiety was normally non-existent, but it seemed today no matter what the closer I got to school, the more my apprehension built.

I didn’t realize the car had stopped and my mom had been trying to get my attention. She softly grabbed my arm. “Ava, are you alright?”

“Yes, sorry. Just nervous.” I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you when you get home from work. Good luck today. You’ll rock it, I just know it!”

She laughed a little and said, “Good luck to you to my love. You’ll do amazing. Have a wonderful day.”

I stepped out of the car and turned around to face my new journey head on. Here goes nothing.

* * *

I stood staring at the school trying to get the nerve up to go in, when I was pushed from behind. Before I knew it, I had face-planted into the garden bed just to my right. s**t, that’s going to hurt. I turned my head slightly as I went to grab my chin where it had gotten cut by a stone in the flowerbed. My hand coming away with blood, I looked into the eyes of a trio of girls cackling their foolish heads off.

“Oh look, this must be the new w***e…” a tall leggy, way too beautiful for her attitude, blond girl said in a screechy voice. “Watch where you’re going. Stay out of my way slut.” She swiftly turned and stomped off in the direction of the front doors, with her two puppets walking behind her, leaving me utterly confused.

As I was struggling to get myself out of the flowerbed, a hand suddenly shot in my view.

“Can I help you up? The name is Lissa. You must be the new girl, Ava?”

“Yes, that would be me. The question of the hour is, who was that b***h?”

“Ah, yes. The queen of the school. Head cheerleader, dating the captain of the football team, all together evil sorceress, Miss. Carmen Crane. She’s relatively harmless. That is unless you get on her bad side.”

“Harmless?” I scoffed. “That isn’t the word I would use to describe her. I’m probably going to have to get stitches in my chin.” I sighed in exasperation as I held my hand to my chin trying to staunch the flow of blood from the cut there.

“Let me see.” I removed my hand, and she said, “it’s not that bad. Maybe just a butterfly stitch.”

Great, I thought, a new scar to add to my collection.

“Well Ava, I’m your escort to show you around the school. Let’s head to the bathroom first, get you cleaned up before we head to the office and get your class schedule.”

“Sounds like a plan. Lead the way oh wise one.” I said with a hint of humor in my voice.

* * *

The morning sped by as I got oriented to the school. I had two classes with that b***h Carmen. She left me alone for the most part though. Some snickering here or there, but all in all relatively painless. Besides Lissa, the rest of the student body either stared at me or just plain ignored me. It was a little creepy, but honestly, I’m not sure I wanted to get too close to anyone. I was out of here the next year anyway. I’d be going away to college and don’t need a reason to stick around.

I walked into the lunchroom and the chatter died down instantly. There were no free tables, but one in the corner that Lissa sat at with a few other students. It looked like what you might call the reject table or the table for weird kids. That’d be me, I guess. I had no problem making friends, but I was for sure a “keep your circle small” kind of person.

“Hey Ava! Over here!” Lissa yelled. “Come sit with us. I saved you a seat.” She gestured to the rest of the table and walked over and placed my tray down next to her.

“Guys, this is Ava. She is new. Ava, this is the Guys. Ava, meet Bones our resident tech genius and all things Star Wars fanatic. This is Kramer. Really Brian Kramer, but everyone calls him by his last name. And then Geneva. Geneva moved here last year from the Franklin area. Her dad took a uh, promotion. So, she is new to!”

“Hey there…” I said tentatively. I grabbed a seat next to Lissa. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hey yeah, I think I have you in chem right?” Bones said.

I nodded as I took a drink from my milk container. “Sure do.”

“Ah cool. Want to be lab partners? I usually work alone because no one wants to work with the weird kid, but you seem cool,” he said somewhat shyly.

“Uh, yeah sure.” I nodded.

The air shifted, and a dark energy came over the room as I was raising my milk for a second drink. My hand stalled halfway to my mouth and the room took on an eerie silence. I turned my head towards the door and locked eyes with what I could only describe as the most attractive person I have ever seen. Tall, dark hair, dark eyes. We were locked in this stare off, and it was like we were the only ones in the room until we weren’t’ and I heard someone clear their throat next to me.

“Uh hey Ava, that’s Wyatt Everson. King of the school, Carmen’s boyfriend, Captain of the football team and all-around jackass. His family owns half of this town,” Lissa stated flatly. “I’d keep your eyes to yourself. He isn’t a good person and surrounds himself with assholes.”

Bones scoffed, “he’s the reason I didn’t make the swim team last year. I live next door to him, and he had stolen the tires off of my bike the morning of tryouts. I was already running a little late. I looked up to see him laughing while holding them over his head as his buddy drove away. I ended up missing tryouts and never went out for another sport again. Major Douche.”

Kramer shook his head and said cryptically, “and imagine that is supposed to be our next Alpha. Couldn’t give two shits about anyone not in his friend group. In fact, he actively roots for their downfall.”

“Alpha?” I said curiously. I turned towards him, confused when Lissa pipped in, “Don’t listen to Kramer, he’s our resident artist and likes to stay in character throughout the day. He’s going to be the big bad wolf in the school play in a few weeks.”

“Ah okay,” I said, still confused but decided not to push it.