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Growing Pains
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Ash felt the dull pain in her back all throughout breakfast. She felt it in the back of her neck as she bent down to bring spoonfulls of food into her mouth. She felt it shifting through her organs as she laughed with her friends. She felt it spread from her back to her legs as she walked to class and felt it in her arms as she shifted the weight of her book bag from one shoulder to another.
"Ash, you don't look well. What's wrong?"
Isabelle looked at her friend with concern.
Ash smiled widely, but even the effort of smiling made her face muscles ache.
"Don't worry about me, Mom. I think I might just be catching a winter cold or something. I always feel a full body pain before I get the flu."
"Mom?" Celia laughed. "Don't mock the Comtesse, Ashy. She may just well adopt you. She has connections, she can totally do it." she joked.
Izzy looked pointedly at Celia before turning to look at Ash. Celia may not have meant anything by it, but Izzy was sensitive about jokes regarding Ash's lack of family. Ash may have looked like it didn't phase her, but Izzy wanted to be careful nonetheless.
"I would love for Boots to be part of my family, but she's turning 18 soon and I can't adopt an adult."
"---You actually can adopt an adult if said adult has a diminished capacity or disability. Among other reasons, of course."
The three girls turned around to see who had interrupted their conversation. The young man leaned against the wall just a few feet away from the girls. Apparently he had been walking around the corner when he decided to drop in on their conversation.
He had dark blonde hair that he pushed back from his face and Viking blue eyes. His long brown trench coat had a light smattering of snow.
Celia and Ash were in the same class. The boy was in the same class with Isabelle.
"I know about adult adoption, Hunter. What I meant to say was that since I'm the one who's a minor, I can't adopt an adult." Isabelle retorted, annoyed. "If you're going to lurk and drop in on other people's conversations, maybe get some background first before you embarrass yourself."
Isabelle crossed her arms across her chest in triumph, proud of her excellent response.
And then Celia, without thinking, chimed in.
"Yeah, man. Ash IS retarded!" She shouted at the young man, annoyed.
Ash and Izzy looked incredulously at Celia.
Celia only caught herself after she'd already blurted out her words. She had meant to say "isn't retarded" but had slurred her words, the meaning tripping over her twisted tongue, landing wrong outside the catch of her teeth.
"I mean, she is NOT retarded!"
Celia had shouted her first statement with such force that it sounded like she meant what she actually said. The subsequent take-back was unconvincing and only seemed to punctuate the mistake. The young man laughed out loud at the insult to Ash's intelligence.
"Of course she's not retarded. I wasn't implying that at all, Celia." The young man replied, a wide smile on his face.
Ash's own face was burning with embarrassment. Izzy grabbed Ash's hand protectively. Celia, on the other hand, had shut her eyes, cringing in second-hand embarrassment for her friend.
"I'll see you later, ladies. And for the record, Boots, I don't think you're retarded at all." The young man waved goodbye and walked past them still smiling.
"Thanks, Hunter," Ash mumbled under her breath, low enough so that he couldn't hear. Her ears were burning and she could feel the blood rushing to her head. She felt a small pain go through her chest, an acute pain that was different from the one in her bones and muscles.
"Ash, I'm so sorry! I was just trying to make you look good in front of Hunter! I didn't mean it like that! I meant to say that you were smart!" Celia pleaded, rubbing Ash's shoulder.
Ash thought that if she could have died right there and then, she would have used her last words to not invite Celia to her funeral.
Izzy tugged at Ash's hand and started walking toward the classrooms. Celia followed along, tugging at her earlobe in frustration. She pinched her earlobe just enough for it to hurt a little. It was Celia's own way of punishing herself: her best friend was in love with Hunter Guzman, and she had just called her "retarded" in front of him.
Bab terkait
The Girl Cried Wolf Bone-In Meat
Aside from that morning's minor incident, the rest of the school day was uneventful. Ash had gotten over her embarrassment quickly and by lunch time, she had already allowed Celia to earn her forgiveness by buying her an extra plate of chicken wings.As Celia and Ash used their hands to dig into their lunch, Isabelle looked at them, her face scrunched up and looking judgemental."What, do you want to take a picture so it lasts longer?" Celia asked, sarcastically."I know it's normal for you guys to eat like barbarians, but I'm still not used to seeing it up close." Isabelle said as she sliced delicately at her salad and chewed carefully."Come on, Izzy, we've seen you eat a burger. That's not exactly fine dining." Ash replied."Yes, but that's outside of school, in a restaurant that sells hamburgers. That's only appropriate, especially when I'm always outvoted by the two of you at dining choices," Isabelle said, primly."It's not about fine
The Girl Cried Wolf Rising Anger
"Hey, I'm going for a run later, are you coming along?" Celia asked the girls after class."I have a fencing class later, but if you go before that I can do a quick jog around the field with you." Isabelle said."Uh, yeah, I'll go too. My back's been hurting all day. Maybe I can jog it out, stretch my muscles.""I don't know, Boots. If it hurts, maybe you should go lie down. It's a little cold out."The girls were walking back to the dorms to put their things away. The sun was still out, but the wind was cold.Ash pressed her thumb to her lower back and traced along her spine, massaging the sore spots. She'd felt a slight pain in her back for days now, but today the pain was sharp. Not only that, she had felt her joints aching all day. It was like someone had thrown her body in a washing machine and set it on high."Maybe she just needs a massage. I bet she'd like a Swedish massage, wouldn't she, Cece?" Isabelle said playfully, looking to Ce
The Girl Cried Wolf Running and Dreaming
As soon as Ash got inside her dorm room, she dropped her book bag on the floor, tossed off her overcoat, stepped out of her leather school shoes, and flopped face down on her bed. She didn't even bother to change out of her uniform.Celia looked on from the doorway. She shrugged and quietly picked up her friend's discarded book bag, setting it on the floor beside Ash's study table. She balled up the crumpled coat and set it on top of Ash's book bag. Then, she put away both of their shoes, nudging aside Ash's strewn pair with her socked feet, and put her own book bag on her own study table, just beside Ash's.Celia quietly changed into a pink velour Adidas Originals tracksuit and put on a pair of pure white Adidas trainers with gold accents. She knew that some of the students made fun of her for being noveau riche and ragged on her alleged lack of good taste, so she made it a point to double down on her flashy street-style aesthetic at school. She knew what she liked an
The Girl Cried Wolf Hunter
Hunter had noticed the change in the color of Ash's ears as he passed by the girls that morning, just before class. He had been genuinely amused by Celia's accidental insult of her friend's mental capacity (Celia had accidentally called Ash "retarded" earlier that day) but he felt a little guilty that Ash had been embarrassed by it. He had no doubt that Ash was smart. And it wasn't because she was a scholar: the SBA scholarship's only conditions were that she didn't violate any of the Academy's rules and that she pass all of her classes.Despite that minimum standard, Ash had made the effort to perform well in school. She maintained her academic standing in the upper 10 percent of their level every year since she started at Saint Blaise's Academy. While she didn't exactly top the class, she always ranked third or fourth at every term and received minor commendations at the end of every school year.Hunter admired Ash's tenacity. She didn't have the advantage of exclusi
The Girl Cried Wolf To Kill and Eat
Hunter bounded swiftly into the woods. He had been aching to shift since lunch time: he had felt the surge of animal energy coursing through his veins and the wolf's hunger had been clawing away at his insides. He needed to channel his urges into a hunt, otherwise, he would have gone crazy.When he was far enough away from the fence, he chose a safe spot under a tree. The half moon was cradled in the tree's branches as he looked up: he deemed it a good sign.He let go of his human mind and began to shift. His spine lengthened and his muscles grew to accommodate the increase in his height. From his human frame of nearly 6 feet tall, he grew larger to an impressive 8 feet from his head to his new hind legs. His bones shifted all over his body and his muscles and tissues expanded to cover them, all the while his organs moved, resizing and reorganizing inside him. As the surface of his body increased, his leather costume was swallowed into the expanding mass of his new ski
The Girl Cried Wolf Not the Best Way to Meet
Hunter took stock of the tattered uniform in front of him. He knew from the scent who it belonged to, but it didn't really give him much to go on.Thinking was hard. It was especially hard when the aroma of a fresh kill was still wafting in the air and the enticing scent of a possible mate was within immediate mating vicinity.Hunter left the pile of tatters and returned to the deer carcass. He ate the leg that Ash had dropped, fed on the entrails, and tore apart the deer's front legs. When he had finished with his meal, it looked like a pack of wolves had descended on the poor deer. He would leave the rest for the scavengers to find.If a forest ranger were to pass by, the carcass would just be another hard piece of evidence for predation in action: another prey animal succumbing to a carnivore, just another day in the wild with Mother Nature.He turned his attention back to Ash, eager to sniff at the new werewolf up close.When he found her, she
The Girl Cried Wolf Delirium
"You know, I saw you at lunch today, and---"Hunter cut himself off mid-sentence: he noticed Ash's eyelids were twitching. It looked like she was about to come to.[Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,] he thought, panic rising in his chest.She was still haphazardly dressed and propped up on his knee. He would have wanted to put a modest distance between their bodies (making room for the Holy Spirit, as the teachers called it) especially considering her state of undress, but that would have meant putting her back on the cold ground.He settled for cradling her shoulders: it seemed like a reassuring thing to do for her (human contact after passing out and all that) but more importantly for him, he could at least keep her from slapping his face the moment she opened her eyes."Heeeey, Boots. Wassup?" he said.[Wassup? Where the hell did that come from? That sounded so lame!] he thought to himself, cringing inwardly.Ash slowly open
The Girl Cried Wolf Her Version of Delirium
[The following is Ash's interpretation of what happened on the night of her first transformation]Tonight, I was in the woods with the Prince of the Forest. The palace was cold and the deer that drew my carriage ran away because his stomach hurt. I think he ate too many blueberries.The Prince arrived after dinner when they had taken all the food away. The fairies were playing a song when he asked me to dance with him, but the music wasn't right so I asked him to wait until it changed.The Prince gave me his tunic to wear because he had chosen me as his betrothed. I was very happy. I had never been chosen before. Then he asked me if I knew my way home so we could tell my parents of our engagement. But I couldn't tell the Prince that my parents were gone. It would have made him very sad, and I did not want to see him sad.I was only sad that we never got to dance.I picked up my garters from where I dropped them: if human things
Bab terbaru
The Girl Cried Wolf Revelation
Ash’s wolf eyes opened to see two girls cowering together on the bed in front of her. She could smell their fear distinctly: an acrid smell that caused her nose to twitch. The smell was emanating from these two girls and these two girls were her friends. She knew this in her heart. They weren’t prey animals.Ash moved to bring comfort to her friends, seeking to calm them. She opened her mouth to speak and a low keening howl escaped her throat. The sound seemed to reverberate around the room. The sound was monstrous and offered no comfort to the human ear.Celia screamed, afraid. Izzy, however, remained perfectly still. Her fear was still palpable but there was an underlying courage that kept her from swaying.Ash could sense an aura coming from Izzy. Something yellow, with lines of sky blue. It was warm and soothing.[Ash, please, Celia is scared. Please stop] A voice echoed in Ash’s head.[Izzy, is that you?] Ash thought.[Yes, it’s me. Please stop this.]Ash locked eyes with Izzy in
The Girl Cried Wolf Wendell Carson
The silver-haired man looked like he was in his late forties, perhaps fifty years old at most. He had sun-warmed skin that contrasted with his pale blond, nearly silver hair. He looked like an outdoorsman in his denim jacket and worn gray jeans.“That’s Wendell Carson to you, my boy. Grandfather was an old life,” the silver-haired man replied with a half-smile.Hunter didn’t say a word. He did not know what to say. He only knew that he had said something he wasn’t supposed to say.The man turned toward the girls and smiled.“My name is Wendell Carson. I’m a wildlife expert from The Wolf Sanctuary in Mountain Range. In an old life, I was Hunter’s known grandfather.”Ash’s eyes widened. She had only ever heard of Hunter’s grandfather from Lavinia, Hunter’s mother. The story of him killing and eating Lavinia’s horses shot through her mind. Her heart beat faster and her palms began to sweat.Celia and Izzy merely looked on, confused.“You will call me Mr. Carson and that will be all. No o
The Girl Cried Wolf The Assembly
In the middle of the first week back, the headmaster called all the students to the Grand Hall for an assembly. This was unusual as Assemblies were usually set for the beginning or end of term, and certainly not done mid-week.The students shuffled in at an early 7:00 am, with much grumbling and fidgeting.The Head Master looked out to his early morning audience and began his speech. He spoke first of preliminary matters, welcoming the students back from their holidays. After the brief niceties, a somber look came upon his face and he continued.“There are a few matters I will be addressing this morning that is of great importance to the Academy.First, I am sure that all of you have heard of the tragic incident that occurred over the holidays in the restricted area behind the school. It is true that a man was found thereon, but I would like to assure everyone that it was not a student of this school. Those of your peers who have yet to arrive from their holidays will be accounted for
The Girl Cried Wolf Rumors
Monday Morning: At lunch, the cafeteria was abuzz with chatter. It was the first day after the holidays and rumors were flying.Rumor 1: Apparently, a man had been found dead in the woods behind the school.Apparently, the man had killed himself and the body had been eaten by animals, leaving only his pecked clean bones. Others claimed it was one of the school staff that killed himself.Rumor 2: Celia, the new money girl, had apparently tried to stab the orphan Boots girl at the fancy restaurant in town. Her vulgar rich parents had paid off the orphan to not press charges, and apparently, that was why trailer trash Celia new money wasn’t back yet.Rumor 3: It appears that there was some truth to Rumor 2, as Hunter Guzman had suddenly seemed to take an interest in Orphan Boots.They had been seen jogging together at the quad in the early morning and they seemed to be chatting away. He also
The Girl Cried Wolf Mother and Father
Lavinia had a powerful aura about her. She was not a shifter, yet she was clearly the alpha female of the Guzman house.Madame Guzman was of average height, but she stood tall and walked tall. The hems of her flowy pants never creased at the bottoms. She never dragged her feet.Ash wasn’t sure if Lavinia was actually taller than her (she wasn’t) but the woman just seemed to stand over her, literally and figuratively.Lavinia spoke with authority and moved with a dancer’s grace. With her wavy black hair, curling softly about her shoulders, she looked regal: the rightful and noble queen of a castle. To Ash, even her name sounded fancy: Lavinia.And yet, Mrs. Guzman was also warm and motherly.“It’s not too tight, is it?” Lavinia asked.“No, ma’am,” Ash replied.Ash sat on the floor of Mrs. Guzman’s sitting room as the lady of the house braided her long dark hair. Mrs. Guzman herself had offered to do it. It had seemed so natural to sit at this woman’s feet and sink into the gentle grazi
The Girl Cried Wolf The Old Master
Hunter was even more touchy than usual. He hugged Ash just before they entered the house. When he pulled the chair out for her at breakfast, he gave her a squeeze on her shoulders just before he sat down in his own chair.Lavinia glanced at her husband, speaking with her eyes. “Are you seeing this?”Silverio nodded, subtly.“Ash, come by my study after morning training,” Lavinia said, with a hint of a smile. Ash smiled back. She had an inkling that it was going to be about her suits, but she didn’t want to say anything. She was excited but she didn’t want to jinx it.***Ash stood in Mrs. Guzman’s reading room. There was a pile of leather-bound books on the mahogany writing table, a bowl of crystals, and two sets of cards. Ash looked around, trying to find the package that contained her new suits.The door opened and Mrs. Guzman came in with a large black box.“Don’t you just look excited?” She teased Ash.Ash got dressed in the adjoining powder room and emerged. She wore a set of dar
The Girl Cried Wolf Fate Sealed
When I woke up that morning, I felt like the world was finally my oyster. For most of my life, I endured pain. When I was little, I suffered through the pain of rejection. I was already “too old” when I arrived at the Orphanage. Most couples wanted babies or toddlers: too young to know that they were abandoned, easily raised and molded, no need to tell them where they really came from until they were adults themselves. We were taught to appeal to the visitors. We were to stand in a line at the doorway to greet them and smile when they walked past. We were to stand in lines arranged according to height and sing a song about how sad it was to be a child alone in the world. The visitors were allowed to cry, but we were not. We were told to smile and play. We spoke only when spoken to. We were not to speak of our parents. The guests could say whatever they wanted to us. They could promise us new toys, good food, a new home, a new hope of belonging: we were supposed to smile and act shy.
The Girl Cried Wolf Self-Control
Two weeks into the holidays, Ash could feel herself getting stronger.Every meal she ate at the house was the most fabulous meal she had ever eaten in her life. Everything was fresh and delicious, many of the dishes were ones she had never had before. She used the softest towels on her body and slept in the biggest, softest bed she had ever slept on.The Guzman’s refrigerators were the most wondrous things she had ever set eyes on. Double doors, a built-in ice maker, and each one was always full of food. If she wanted a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich with olives and feta cheese at ten in the evening, she could have it. There were bottles of sparkling water, infused water, and even alkaline water.The casual abundance of their home was both comforting and exciting.The training was hard, but her body seemed to recover fast. Her days were filled with training and grand pockets of leisure in between. She had full use of the family library, and in
The Girl Cried Wolf The Bite
The next few days revolved around training. There was an hour of running in the morning, an hour of weight training in the afternoon, and another hour of running in the early evening. The household staff had returned and there was a semblance of normal in the Estate. Apparently, none of the staff, with the sole exception of Fernan, knew that the Master of the house and his son were werewolves.“What would happen if anybody else knew?” Ash asked, early one morning.Hunter’s head was buried between her breasts and he looked up at her with a dazed expression in his eyes.“Huh?”Every morning before their daily run, the pair had taken to making out in the bedroom almost immediately after waking. It was very difficult for Hunter to keep away from Ash at night, but he abided by the most important rule and did not share Ash’s bed while she slept. Every morning at the crack of dawn, however, he would barge into the bedroom and
