"Book Cover":

Spoiler:

"How could you!" Maria, a stupid blond girl with brown eyes, just couldn't seem to take a hint that I wasn't interested in her one bit, even though I've spelled it out for her several times. She shouted at me from almost the other end of the hallway which was crowded with other people that were doing there own things. Much to my extreme disliking, they all halted the instant she yelled. As she kept going marching towards me, she continued to yell, "How the hell could you cheat on me?!"

"What are you talking about?" I shouted back, annoyed at her, "I couldn't che..."

"Don't you give me any of that!" she spat back as her hand ran across my face, "I saw you with that...that...that girl!" In response to her slapping me, the onlookers started to cheer and make assorted noises as I suddenly found myself slamming her right into a set of lockers that lined the pale white walls with strength that I didn't even know. As this was happening, everything around me started to blur together into one large clump of blurry colors and static-like sounds.

"I couldn't cheat on you," I attempted to yell at her once again, my voice erupting from my lungs, "Because we were never together!"

She pushed me backwards and punched me in the chest, which normally would have sent to me to my knees. This time, however, it barely seemed to affect me, as I was still able to breathe without even as so much having to bend over. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked still outraged. While one of the teachers, followed by an officer, started to push through the crowd as I discovered that everything was eerily becoming extremely clear. I could hear, see, and smell everything so clearly that I could see the sweat on Maria's face, hear the beating hearts of the crowd, a wide assortment of colognes and perfumes, and eventually it seemed as though time completely halted. While time seemed to have stopped, I made a fist and punched her right on the nose, causing in her to fall backwards onto her bottom as blood flew everywhere covering her body, the floor, and the officer that separated us.

After the officer got us to separate, the teacher that accompanied him rushed Maria toward the nurse's office as time, just as quickly as it seemed to have stopped, started to speed up back to normal. The strange changes in the speed of time did not bother me near as much as the fact that my breathing was slower. However, I could not even start to think about what happened, as I was, almost immediately, at the office of the liaison officer that got in the middle of the event as one of the assistant principals handed him small, plain colored vanilla folder with my name on the tab.

"Are you Mr. Bronte Navarro?" he asked, looking at me sternly.

"Y-Yes sir," I stuttered, nervous because this was the first time that I have met an officer on these terms before.

"Would you care to explain what happened in the hallway about two minutes ago?" he asked, but I could not think of anything to say. After all, what are you supposed to tell an officer? She got on my nerves, even after telling her several times that I don't give a care for her, by accusing me of cheating on her, which resulting in me getting mad enough to have to get out all of my frustration. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt that the officer would care about that excuse. While I was thinking of what to tell him, he spoke once again. "Are you aware that her family could press charges on you?" he asked me, as I nodded slowly. "Not only are you looking at least three days of out of school suspension, but you are also looking at a possibility of going on trial for assault." Just then, I felt something crawling up inside of me as I closed my eyes, it felt like something attempting to find a way out of my body. The thing, whatever it was, felt warm yet cold, friendly yet fiendish, yet all I could do now was do my best to force it to stay where it was while dealing with what was happening outside of my body.

"Well, sir," I started to utter, the thing inside of me struggling even harder to come out, "I guess I lost my temper somehow." I suddenly felt like I was gasping for air as fighting the thing became harder and harder to do, yet I seemed to have found enough strength to keep going in the fight against the thing and to continue talking, "You see Maria..."

"Is that the name of the person you punched?" the officer asked, interrupting me, "And can I have her last name as well?"

"Yes she was the one who I punched. However, I don't know her last name," I answered back, still feeling like I was barely able to breath, "You see she seems to think I'm her girlfriend, no matter how many times I tell her I'm not, and she got on me for hanging out with another girl."

"Her name please?"

"Jessica Blaine," I waited for him to write down the name and nod before going on, still feeling like I was struggling to take breaths, "And Maria started to yell at me before slapping me across th..." only to notice the officer's quizzical look.

"Go on," he stated, still with the quizzical look that hinted that he did not see anything on my face, even though I pointed to where she hit me.

"...the face. I guess that's when I lost it as I slammed her into the locker and she punched me in the chest," I received another quizzical look, but ignored it as I kept my struggle under control as best as I could, "Then, I punched her in the face about the same time you and the teacher showed up."

The officer finished writing down that last bit before nodding, "Thank you, now then, where did she slap you?" I merely pointed at where she slapped me while he took out a camera and started to take a few picture of it, the flash blinding me more than once. Then he asked me to take off my shirt and started to take pictures of my chest, but as I looked down at it I couldn't even see any form of pink, it was as though nothing had happened to my body before I was told to back on my shirt.

"Excuse me, officer," the assistant principal walked in, "Are you done with him?" he received a slight nod as he turned to tell me that he called my mom and she would be here in about ten minutes. Then both, the liaison officer and assistant principal, handed me a couple of forms for me to sign, which I read, to discover one of them was a witness form containing everything I told the officer. The second one was a referral for the fight, and the last one pretty much told me the rules that came with receiving an out of school suspension. While struggling with whatever it was that still wanted to come out of me, I looked over all three of the forms, reluctantly signed, dated, and returned them to the assistant principal as he told me to sit in one of the chairs in the waiting room. However, the next thing that happened really startled me as one of the strongest people out of the whole school, Varian, who was wanted by just about every sports club in our school, was looking at me through his dark red, messy yet groomed, hair that went in front of his matching-colored eyes.

"It seems as though you are one," he stated with a slight smile on his face, sending shivers down my spine as the thing felt like it was about to leap out of me as I swore I heard something that amounted to growl from a…wolf? However, he seemed to leave me with another thing to think about because, before he could explain what he meant by 'you are one', the assistant principal and officer called him into an office. At the same time, my mom came into the waiting room with a furious look on her face to as one of the secretaries stopped her to tell her that the assistant principal and officer were talking to another student and that she needed to wait. Unfortunately, it only seemed to have bought me little of time from facing my mom's fury, since the secretary told her to take a chair next to me. My mom nodded to the secretary while faking a smile before sitting next to me, without words, for a few minutes before finally glaring at me.

"Once we get home," she demanded, "I WANT TO HEAR EVERYTHING!"

All I could do was nod while forcing down the thing down even more as it felt like it was within a few seconds of coming out of me. Looking around, something distracted me. I suddenly noticed there was something in the chair that Varian was sitting in, positioned in just the right spot where only I could see it in the chair on the other side of me. Quickly and quietly, I leaned over to pick it up from the when I discovered what it was a folded up piece of paper with just two lines of scribbled writing on the front. It read:


Although I was curious as to what it was and why I needed to open it when I was alone, I merely slipped it into my pocket without making a fuss, while fighting to keep the thing that was inside of me to stay down, at least for just little bit longer until I was home. Meanwhile, time ticked by slowly as I assumed Varian was being interviewed as a witness and then the three came out nodding, shaking hands, and then allowed Varian to walk back to class. On his way out of the office, however, he looked in the chair that he was sitting in prior to the investigation, and nodded before the officer and assistant principal started to talk to my mom in low voices. Although I couldn't exactly hear them, I knew it wasn't good as she looked at me, made slow head movements, glared at me, and then shook hands with the two of them before they made their way. My mom snapped at me to follow her, and I did, not wanting to get her more annoyed at me than what she already was.

Interesting. I'm intrigued as to what happens next.

ohh...@-@

Me likey! *Waits for more*

so do i :)

As I entered the car, sitting in the front seat, next to my mom, she put the key into the ignition, started up the car, and then let out a sigh before putting her head inside of her palms, which was not a good thing. I kept attempting to say something, but every time I did, she just glared at me, forcing me to stay quiet as I secretly fought what ever it was that was inside of me. "Look here," she demanded as I turned toward to look out the window at the orange, brown, and yellow colored trees that were slowly becoming bare, which marked the starting of winter, "What is this?!" I turned my focus back inside of the car, toward the pink sheet of paper that was my referral.

"I can explain," I told her.

"I don't want you to explain!" she snapped back, "I want you to read it!"

I took the pink paper and held it in my hands, my voice quivering as I read it, either due to what I feared was going to happen or my internal fight against whatever the thing inside me was or, most likely, both. It read:

After I read it, she went silent again until we drove into the driveway and we got out of the car with the first thing out of her being: "You march up to your room right now!" Even though, I was already marching my way into the house and up the stairs, all the while, still attempting to fight whatever it was that kept crawling around in my throat. However, instead of it just being some strange thing in my throat, it seemed to attempt to control my whole mind and body, yet I still seemed to be stronger than what it was—at least for now. "I don't want to see out of your room when your dad and I come back I want do not want to hear you on the computer, listening to your damn music nor anything of the sort," she barked at me once again, still next to the car, "You hear me?"

"YES! I HEAR YOU!" I snapped back, which resulted in her glaring at me with an expression that hinted she would have done something if she were not in a hurry to head back to work as she went back into the car and I entered the house. However, music was the only thing would likely calm me down, so I made my way upstairs, hearing another wolf-like growl causing me to look around. Once again, I wasn't able source it, but it did remind me of the note that Varian wanted me to find as I pulled it out of my pocket and started to read it:

After reading that, I was left extremely confused as I entered my room and set it next to my computer before searching through my CDs to find something to listen to distract me from all of what seemed to be happening to me. After digging through my collection of music from various people and bands, I found the right one, turned on my radio, put the disc in, and allowing the heavy metal music to fill the room with a loud steel guitar intro. While the guitar and harshly sung words filled the air, I laid flat on my bed, took a deep breath of air, allowed the song to fill the room without any form of worry before finding myself starting to fall asleep…

Waking up, I found myself in a forest at night with dark greens making everything almost pitch-black, but despite how dark and scary-looking the place seemed to be, it all seemed to be calming to me as I start to roam about. Looking up, I see a full moon that seems to be soothing whatever has been crawling around inside of me as an owl hoots off in the distance, but exactly where was I? Suddenly, a voice coming from off in the distance with the same wolf-like growl that I have heard before mixed into it rang out through the air, Bronte Navarro? t asked.

"Y-yes?" I asked, fear creeping into my voice, "Who are you and h-how do you know me?"

I am Chandranath, your wolf spirit.

"My…wolf…spirit?"

I can see what you see, feel what you feel, and sense your thoughts, was his answer which didn't clear things up very good, which must have been written all over my face as he kept going, You have note from another person who can tap into the powers of my pack's leader, my alpha.

It took me a little bit to figure out what he was talking about until it all clicked into place, "You mean Varian, don't you?!"

Yes, now read his note, but be warned: You mother is coming home in about 30 minutes.

"How do you know?"

It is but one of my powers, I am able to sense people that are clo…

I found myself jerking almost straight up before looking at my clock and noticing that my CD player had stopped playing, which was good. However, I could not worry about that as I took the letter and read over it again:

Quickly snatching up my phone, I start to dial the number. It buzzes for a few moments before a female's voice answers, "Hello?"

"Yes, my name is Bro…"

However, she cut me off telling me to hang on a moment before I hear another voice, this one, I assumed, belonged to Varian, "Well, hello, Bronte Navarro."

"Are you Varian?" I asked before spouting out various questions, "And if you are, how did you figure out my name, and what's so secretive that you couldn't include in the letter, and…"

Once again, I was cut off as he stated, "Just meet me at the left wing of the park around midnight and we'll explain everything there."

"Who exa…" I started to ask only to receive the dial tone before hang up and laying on my bed after turning off my CD player so that it wouldn't accidentally play as I heard our car enter the drive yard and cut off. Followed very quickly by the sound of a pair of doors opening and closing, which mean my parents were home, and that I would be in for some deep shit. This fear only turned out to be further confirmed when I heard the front door open and close almost instantly followed by my dad's deep, echoing voice making the whole house seem to shake along with his anger.

"BRONTE! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" he shouted with so much anger that it caused even the thing crawling around inside of me, Chandranath perhaps, to freeze a little bit. Quietly walking down the stairs, I notice his face, red with anger and looking like he would just burst if it weren't for my mom standing there, but I couldn't even say a word as starts to shout once again, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF GETTING SUSPENDED!? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!"

I attempt to say something only thing is that nothing came out right, other than, "I…I…I…I…" before resumed his shouting.

"I MIGHT NOT KNOW WHAT YOU WERE THINKING ABOUT, BUT I KNOW SOMETHING YOU WEREN'T THINKING ABOUT: GETTING A CHANCE TO GO TO COLLEGE. ONE LOOK AT SOMETHING LIKE THAT AND THEY'RE LIKELY TO TAKE BACK ANYTHING THEY HAD INVESTED IN YOU!" he started to turn redder and redder the more he kept yelling, "YOU KNOW THAT WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO SEND YOU ANYWHERE, NOT EVEN TO THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE! WE BARELY HAVE ENOUGH FUCKING MONEY TO KEEP OUR HOUSE AND CAR WITH BARELY ANYTHING TO KEEP FOOD IN THE FRIDGE AND GAS IN CAR!"

I attempted to say something, but was hard to as I just stood the watching his face turn just about as red as it could be. I swear that it even appeared to be turning purple due to how much he's been yelling, but my mom finally managed to get him to calm down before motioning me to go to my room with a look that hinted the 'no nothing' rule was still effect. Entering my room once again, I lay on my bed and listened to what my parents were saying, which was not exactly pleasant…

"Calm down, Harris," my mom mentioned, "You know that getting this mad at him isn't going help."

"Look!" my dad snapped back, "Debora, I'm sorry, but I don't know what's going on with him? Also, look at how good he is…"

"I'm sure that they'll over see something like that, especially if he's able to get his work done, and I once knew a boy like that."

"You did?"

"Yes, he was just as perfect as our son, but during his last year, got ISS twice and even suspended for a week. However, I think he got an almost full ride at Harvard, but turned it down to be who he loved the most…"

Suddenly, my mind went blank and not even Chandranath seemed to be bothering me as I attempted to piece together what I just heard before I rolled over and started to head back to sleep.

Once again, I was at the forest, but I still have no idea as to what this Chandranath thing even looks like as I looked around only to see the leafy, dark green trees and dark, moonlit sky all around me before a large, dark gray and white wolf came at me out of a bush. Despite how much it scared me, I did not let out any sign of fear as it stopped almost a foot away from my body and then slowly approached me.

Do not fear me, for I am Chandranath, the wolf told me, before forcing my hand atop its head, I am not going to hurt you. On the contrary, I am going to teach you how to be able to defend yourself and become stronger.

"L-l-l-look!" I stuttered back, "I-I-I-I'm not a fighter, I don't know how to."

Don't worry for once you meet the other members of my pack, we will teach you all there is to know about fighting—as a man and as a wolf.

"I don't want to fight!" I repeated, "I just don't want to, I can't learn how to fight as man, much less as wolf."

Apparently, Chandranath did not like that response as he jumped back and suddenly started to rush towards be as I took a step to the side. Very good, he stated in a calm voice, Now try coming at me or else I will come at you harder and faster.

"I don't want to fight!" I responded, attempting once again to side step only to receive the claws of the wolf in my chest.

Stop attempting to run, Chandranath told me, landing on all fours and facing me, Although we cannot do much right now, we will keep try again tonight…