Work on the house began a few days before school started. The extension was being added on near Ben and Joshua’s room. I told them they could stay in Grandma’s room for a while if they wanted to, but instead, they moved into the living room because they didn’t think I really meant it when I said they could have her room. I probably didn’t. I hoped the workers would at least get the part of the house that required the exterior wall of the dining room to be replaced by a sheet of plastic done soon because I wanted the guys to have their privacy back. Not that it was exactly private when they had to share a room anyway, but it was better than having them camped ou
My hope that I’d have at least one member of my pack in each of my classes faded pretty quickly. First period, I had History. Joshua was in that class, but so were a couple of the Parker pack members--Wayne Crawford and Billy Parker. I didn’t know Wayne, though he looked kind of slimy, the way he kept looking at me with a crooked smirk on his face. Billy was one of the two guys who’d been involved in the accident. I’d saved his life--after I’d found him lying on top of my sister in the back of a truck. He didn’t look at me at all.
Ben was in my third period English class, which was great. If there were any creeps in there, I hadn’t met them yet. Fourth period, I had choir. Raven was with me, but she is an alto, and I’m a soprano, so we couldn’t sit next to each other. One of the Parkers was in there, too. I have no idea which one, but I know he’s a Parker because he looks just like Brice and Billy, just not as old as them, and maybe not as angry at the world. The fact that he was laughing and carrying on with a couple of other guys makes me think they are probably dark wolves, too.
I didn’t know anyone in my math class, and we immediately jumped right into the curriculum, which sucked. I was hoping for at least one day of no work, like in most of the other classes I’d had so far. At least it was something I already knew how to do. I had a feeling this class was going to end up being way easier than the classes I was used to back home. My other academic classes had been. The only class where I’d struggled at all was art and that was probably because I had never taken that class before, and the teacher didn’t give us any instruction.
“It is the first day of school, Miss Nightingale,” Mr. Short, the principal, said, staring at me over the top of his glasses. “I was hoping we could at least make it through one day without any incidents, but clearly, that will not be the case.” He sighed, shaking his head, as he looked at the report the drama teacher, Ms. Piper had sent down with me when she’d sent me to his office about twenty minutes ago. Since “the incident” had happened in last period, there was a good chance I’d be here late. Luckily, my guardian had arrived at the high school within a few moments of the principal calling him and telling him there was a problem--al
I stared down at the large platter of roasted vegetables in front of me for a moment before I looked up into Sam’s eyes, my eyebrows arched.“I am many things, Harlow Nightingale, but a liar is not one of them,” he said to me, fighting a grin. “I promised Mr. Short only vegetables for dinner, so that’s what you’re getting.”
The next day at school, Brice sat by me in art class, but it was clear he’d gotten into a bit of a tiff the night before. He had claw marks on his neck and a big bruise on his face. I stared at him for a moment, and he gave me that cocky smile. I guessed he still hadn’t learned his lesson then.Mrs. Flynn gave us time to work on our drawing again, which I appre
By the time I got to lunch, I’d convinced myself that the whisper I’d heard in my head was just my imagination, not my grandma trying to warn me that Brice Parker actually had feelings for me. I didn’t want to accept that that could be true, that it might be that he actually was starting to have a crush on me or thought there was a way I might be attracted to him. While it might be nice to think he wouldn’t be our enemy anymore if that was the case, Brice struck me as the sort of guy who would definitely turn into one of those crazy, psycho lovers scorned who would kill my pet rabbit if I had one or at least go even further out of his way to annoy me than he wa
Finding time to spend in the forest was difficult with school, but it was important, so I tried to go out at least for a few hours every afternoon and soak up the magic of the woods. With the construction going on in the house until about 7:00 or 8:00 every night, I didn’t mind escaping the hammering and the sound of the power tools, but even at my preferred tree, sitting on my stump, with my eyes closed, I could still hear the thumping and whirring in the distance.