Longing For A Luna

Chapter 4: Turning Point I of II

High school was a hellscape of abuse and torment for me and my best friend, Ben. Teachers and principals avoided calling it bullying at the time, and encouraged us to “work out differences” with the entitled thugs who harassed us on a daily basis. Apparently, their mission in life was to crush us physically, mentally, and emotionally, for simply existing in a school they ruled as their domain.

Looking back, I realized there wasn’t much the adults could have done since our bullies included the sons and daughters of the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, among others. Most of the teachers and one of the principals were members of our pack and would never push back against their future Alpha. Plus, the pack leadership used its money and political influence to intimidate the human members of the faculty into doing their bidding.

The only thing we could do was leave, something Ben and I talked about all the time. We had decided to wait until after we graduated from college since the pack would pay for part of our tuition. The ugly incident during our senior year that caused my scar was the catalyst for our decision to leave sooner than we’d planned.

I had been wanting to get a lip piercing for a while and Ben knew a human body piercer who would do it despite the fact I was only 17 at the time. If I waited until I was 18 to get it, I ran the risk of having to pay a small fortune to a witch to suppress my wolf’s healing for a few days. So I used some of the money earned from my part-time job at a fast food place to get a lip piercing on the left side of my lower lip. Ben was there to cheer me on.

“It looks badass, Fred!” he’d said, using his nickname for me. “I can’t believe you went through with it. What’s your dad going to say?”

“He’d have to notice first, and that would mean he’d have to actually look at me for once,” I’d retorted. “He may complain about the money, but I paid for it so that won’t matter.”

Not going to lie; it hurt to get, but I loved it. It felt liberating and powerful to do something so contrary to what was deemed “respectable” in our little enclave. I constantly checked out my reflection those first days after, admiring how the delicate gold hoop accentuated the curve of my plush bottom lip and thinking about getting one on the other side. I still had enough time to save up the money and get it done before my 18th birthday.

About a month after I had my lip pierced, I was waiting for Ben at my locker after school. He always gave me a ride to my job in the afternoons and we would walk to his car together. Ben didn’t want me walking to the parking lot by myself after an incident earlier in the school year.

The hallways started to clear, and the last groups of students trickled out. I checked my watch; Ben must have had to talk to the teacher or something to be this late. My tongue played with my lip ring, a nervous habit I’d developed, and I wondered if I should go wait for him by the office.

I pulled out my phone to text him about where to meet me while I started walking. Focused on my phone, I didn’t see the resident asshole squad coming from the other end of the hall.

“Smelly Nelly! So glad we ran into each other,” Brooks barked toward me.

I absolutely hated when they called me that. They gave me that stupid nickname sophomore year after one of their girlfriends, trying to impress whichever meathead she was with, dumped yogurt on me at lunch. I had to sit through afternoon classes hearing people complain about the “sour milk” smell in the room and then realizing it was me.

The inevitable answer to the question, “What’s that smell?” was “Danielle smells,” which was morphed into “Smelly Nelly” by the end of the day.

Adam, Fletcher, Brooks, and their rotating roster of lackeys were the only people who still used it, and now they were standing in the way of the only route to the office.

They stopped in front of me, Adam flanked by the other two. He was the future Alpha, and Brooks and Fletcher, his future Beta and Gamma.

“Where’s your boyfriend, Nelly?” Adam asked, smiling with malice.

“Boyfriend? I thought she was his sister,” Brooks interjected. “They have the same emo hair and wear the same clothes.”

Ben’s shaggy hair was naturally black while I’d started dyeing mine last year. We both gravitated toward black jeans and black t-shirts with logos of pop-punk bands and anything related to being a gamer nerd because, well, that’s what we were. It was one of the reasons we became friends.

“Maybe she’s both.” Fletcher said, then laughed at his crude joke.

Adam shook his head and bent down to my eye level, looking sinister. “Nah, he doesn’t have a sister. So where is he, Nelly? Did he leave you out here, all alone?”

“I’m supposed to meet him at the office,” I said softly. “He’s waiting there for me with Mr. Andrews.”

I hoped they couldn’t tell that the last part was a lie. They weren’t that scared of the principal but rather what he’d tell the Alpha. I hoped they would back off if they thought he was expecting me. I began nervously fiddling with my lip ring again and wished someone else would walk by.

“What’s that on your lip, sweetheart? Does your boyfriend like feeling that on his c**k?” Adam leered at me, reaching out to touch my piercing.

I slapped his hand away and yelled, “Don’t you f*****g touch me! Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

Adam stood straight again and started chuckling, “Kitten’s got claws!”

The others started laughing with him, and the menacing tone of it scared me. I started to walk backwards, away from them. I needed to get out of here fast. The three of them towered over me by about a foot, and I was terrified of what they would do.

Brooks quickly moved behind me and blocked me in. Adam and Fletcher crowded closer.

“Relax, kitten, I just want to take a look,” Adam said, smirking.

He started to lean down, his icy green eyes zeroing in on my mouth, and I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe. I started slapping at him with both hands, tears coming to my eyes.

Adam stepped back, laughing while he tried to avoid my hits. Then I heard Brooks say, “Do it!”

A small, alarming chuckle escaped from Fletcher, right before he reached forward and ripped the piercing out of my lip.

The lip ring was thin and shouldn’t have done that much damage. But when Fletcher pulled, it tore a straight path through the muscle and tissue. Blood started pouring down, and I screamed from the pain.

Fletcher started laughing while Adam moved back, his eyes widening as he looked at what his friend had done.

“You dumb s**t! What did you do that for? My dad’s going to kill us!” Adam yelled as he punched Fletcher. Brooks moved in front of me again, pulling Adam away from their friend.

I fell to my knees; the pain overwhelmed me. My wailing was loud enough to bring a couple of teachers from around the corner running our way. I heard more people coming toward us, lots of yelling, and then a very loud growl resonated through the hallway. Through my tears, I saw Fletcher go flying into the wall of lockers. Then suddenly, Brooks fell down on the floor.