Novels by justPraye

“Okay, so I’ll do the talking unless he asks you to say something. And if he asks you to say something, don’t...”“Just blurt the first thing that comes to mind, think it through.” I drawl, continuing King’s preparatory speech. A speech he has given at least twenty times in the ten-minute drive to his house. We are currently in the garage, and he’s preparing me one last time before we go to his dad.Before we parted ways after lunch, he told me that he’ll bring me here after school to talk to his dad. And while I’m not a big fan of his dad, just like him, I’d rather we get this over with as soon as possible.“Relax, King. It’s not like I’m going to sit at a table and talk to him over tea. Chances are he’s gonna decapitate me before I’ve even sat at the table.” King glares at me.“That mental image is the opposite of relax, Mars.” He sighs and scrubs a hand over his face. He’s not saying it, but he’s obviously stressing over having me and his dad in the same room. He’s obviously scared

King walks me to my class after I get the calculator and we manage to stop flirting by his locker long enough to move, then we start again. When we get to the entrance of the class though, we stop at the sight of Penelope standing at the door of the class, and it’s not seeing her that stops us, no. Penelope is also in a white tennis skirt and sneakers, and she has a black form-fitting top on. Her hair, however, is curled and in high pigtails secured with black bow ribbons. Her makeup is flawless as usual, and her lips are painted in bright red, the same shade of red that’s splayed on my locker in ‘slut’.I don’t know how we’re matching outfits, because she left the house before I did, but I know this means nothing good for me.King’s hands fist beside me, and I know it’s because he has realized the lipstick she’s used is the same one she used on my locker. However, before he can react, I hold his hand in mine, a silent reminder to let go of it. Penelope’s brown eyes track the movement

I stare at King incredulously, because what he just said can’t be right. “What do you mean, you think you know how you can save me, King, I still haven’t shifted, can’t shift. Have you forgotten?”“Oh no, I haven’t. However, you’ve changed, Mars, just like a shifter would. Your senses are sharper, and you’ve even changed physically, hell, you had the signs of a shifter about to change before your birthday. If that doesn’t make you a werewolf, then I don’t know what will.” He slowly gets up and starts to pace and my eyes track his movements as my mind races and my chest fills with hope. “If we can convince my dad of this, then we don’t need to have this noose around our necks anymore, you’ll be free and so will I. We can be together without worrying about a damn clock ticking.”“Can we really do this?” he pauses to look at me, his eyes light with this renewed hope and energy, and I want so much to fall headfirst into it, but there’s a little doubt and fear keeping me grounded. If I ge

The following weeks after the Penelope incident are fast-paced. Time is still running out, and King, Ansel and I still haven’t found a way to make me shift. We have a week more to the claiming ceremony, and I’m more nervous than ever...maybe even scared. I don’t want to die. So far, my life is going well, and I don’t want to leave it behind, I’m not ready to die.King and I are still working on our friendship, we are getting closer by the day. We spend almost everyday together at some point. We talk and laugh and on the rare occasion when we are overwhelmed and frustrated with how things are, we argue, but we get over it quickly and bounce back. Sometimes I go to his place when we have to go to the river after school and he has to change. I just stand at the door and wait for him because I know that to some degree, I’m still not welcome. Sometimes his mom sees me, invites me in and proceeds to do the small talk thing with me, but whenever his dad sees me, the glares and sneers he send

True to his word, just as I hear the dinner table being set and smell the aroma of delicious food wafting up, there is a knock on my door and at my muffled response, Richfield walks in. The sun is setting and I don’t have lights on in my room, so his face is shrouded in darkness, and even though I can see clearly now, I avert my gaze because I’m still ashamed of my earlier behaviour towards him.“Mars, it’s dinnertime, if you want to, you can change and then we’ll go.”We?He wants to wait for me? Why?“You don’t need to wait for me, I’ll just pull on some sweatpants and head down.” I get up from where I’m seated at my study table reading through my Art History assignment and making corrections, and head towards my closet. He ignores me and sits on my bed, and I take the hint and go get changed. When I get back, he is right where I left him, and when he sees me, he stands up and head towards the door. However, when he opens it, I reach over and grab his sleeve tentatively, unsure in h

I just stand and stare at King’s mother, the luna. With her straight brown hair like her son’s, held up in a bun on top of her head, and beautiful brown eyes, not like her son’s; he inherited his dad’s eyes, she is a stunning lady. She is short, at least shorter than King, and slim. She looks like how I imagine a mother will look. She is in a green dress that reaches her knees, and a neon orange apron that has ‘World’s best chef...sorry, mom’ written on it, and it’s so playful that I’m sure King bought it for her, and has a ladle in her hand, and looking closely, I can see there’s stew on the ladle, she was cooking. I know she’s not old, although she’s not so young either, she should be in her mid forties. Werewolves tend to age really slowly after we turn twenty, so it’s no surprise that she’s still really pretty and young looking. I’ve seen her dressed up, and she is breathtaking when she needs to be. However, she is currently glaring at me and her son because of Penelope, and I fee

Virginia: Can we talk after class, please? It was the first thing I saw when I turned my phone on in the morning, okay not necessarily in the morning because the sun hadn't even risen yet. I woke up to pee, and when I was done and came back to bed, I took my phone to check the time and instead freaked out just looking at the message from Virginia because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I never added her contact details to my short contact list. I sat for a while just string at the phone and her message, and I only came to my senses when the screen timed out and I was faced with a black screen. When I turned it on again, I was calling Jason in a rush, and when he picked up half asleep, my panicked voice and words had him waking up faster than an alarm could. "Calm down Rose, relax and tell me what's going on. Whose number do you have?" He rushed to calm me down, because I was obviously not making much sense with what I'd said earlier. "Virginia, her number...she sent me a

"Sit" Jason said pointing to a bed as soon as we entered his dorm. It was nothing like mine. It was bigger, spacious. And cluttered...one side more than the other. And it wasn't the side I was commanded to sit at...I guess this is a case of like boyfriend like girlfriend. The room was painted light green, unlike mine and Sienna's room. It had posters of football clubs and players, and what I was guessing was Matt's side had posters of rock bands as well. He had a huge calendar that had a picture of a black misshapen guitar on it. The three wooden shelves above his bed was filled and overflowing almost to it's breaking point with books and papers, other knickknacks and...there were even shoes up there. His blue sheets were straightened though, at least I could give him that much. However, he had books and a few clothes on his bed like he was in a hurry and just threw them on there. On his bedside table,he had the same mess. A cup of ramen was in it with the chopsticks sticking out. I'

Alexander and I walked hand in hand to his car after a while. It was getting late and we both needed to go. When I asked him why he didn't just drive us to the park but made us walk, he simply laughed softly and answered. "I may live in luxury, but I'm first and foremost a doctor who strongly believes in healthy living. If I drive myself to and from any place I want to go, I don't think I can brag about my impressive abs by the end of the year." He half joked. I laughed. "Impressive abs, huh?" I laughed. "Oh come on, you've only ever seen me in suits. One day, I'll come out of my car and into the bookshop with only my boxers on, and then you'll not only get to stare in awe at my abs, but my muscles as well." He wiggled his brows at me making me laugh. Then he held his hand out, made a fist, and then made his hand into an 'L' so I could see his muscles like the body builders do. I hunched over, laughing out loud. "Interesting, you'll have to enroll into one of those bodybuilder sho

"Okay, so how exactly do people start stories?" He asked me, a small smile on his lips. I paused to swallow before answering uncertainly."Uhh... " Once upon a time" , or " long ago in a far away land"...Oh! "Or there once lived a prince or princess." " The look he gave me was comical, like he'd sucked on an extremely sour lemon. I laughed out loud. "What?!" He shook his head a little as if to shake my words out of his head. I laughed again."I'm just glad I was more interested in non fiction than fiction. I just...what the hell kind of beginnings are those?!" "They are the beginnings that princesses like me used to love when we were children." I grinned at him teasingly, but the look on his face, in his eyes when I said that... I couldn't place it and it made me feel things in my stomach that I didn't quite understand, but it was gone almost as soon as it came and I wasn't able to figure it out. I cleared my throat awkwardly and sat straight. He caught the change and moved to bring

After Virginia left, I spent what seemed to be hours sorting out the books, I also had a few people coming to pick up some books. Generally, it was a really good business day. By the time five rolled by, I was in need of food, but I had about three customers, a group of girlfriends choosing their books from the romance and fantasy sections. I could hear them giggling and commenting on the various books. They didn't seem like they were in a hurry to go anywhere, however my stomach was trying to stab me from the inside out. As I was contemplating going over to tell the girls that I needed to eat so they needed to hurry, my phone pinged, notifying me of an incoming message. I picked up the phone and instantly smiled, my stomach pains temporarily on hold. Alexander: I'll bet my right arm that you're currently on all levels of hunger. My reply was immediate. Rosette: It's a bet you're not going to lose on any level.Alexander: Anything specific you'd want to eat?Rosette: There are st

I woke up early and with a smile on my face. A smile that had no doubt been there all through the night. I stretched out and sat up on the bed when... "Hello Roomie, good morning. How are you?" My smile instantly dropped. Yeah, Sienna's faux cheery and friendly voice in the morning could that to anyone and any smile. I let out an annoyed breath because how on earth was I supposed to deal with her? "What do you want from me Sienna?" My voice mirrored my annoyance. "Ooo would you look at that, our shy little strawberry has finally grown some balls. How old are you feeling now, I bet you're feeling pretty matured now, aren't you?" I rolled my eyes, good thing I ignored her last night. I didn't even acknowledge her after that, just got up and out of bed, and went for a long soothing shower. By the time I got back into the dorm, Sienna was laying down and on her phone. I ignored her and went about getting ready for my day. I had a class at eleven and it was only seven, but I wanted t