Chapter 1: Werewolves are not real.

Jess was fuming. She was sure she would be screaming in few minutes if her boyfriend and the stranger seated on the chair next to theirs uttered one more word in disagreement to her opinion. 

“Vampires and werewolves are real and that’s it! I’m done with this stupid argument.” She said, hitting both of her hands on the library desk she was using.

“Jess, calm down.” Her boyfriend laughed. His new friend laughed too.

“Alright, Jess. You win. They are real.” The boy said. Jess gave him a small smile, “Finally…” then she turned to her boyfriend, waiting for him to acknowledge it also, before the stranger added, “Only in books and movies and your imagination.” 

And this caused them to start arguing again.

“Have you ever seen a werewolf in real life?” Jaden, her boyfriend, asked her.

“No!”

“Have you seen a vampire?” The other boy asked.

“No!”

“Have you seen a fairy or a mermaid or a flying fish or a swimming bird?”

“What has this got to do with anything?” Jess asked. She had started to become annoyed, for real. And she was annoyed with herself for getting annoyed. She just couldn’t explain it but she thought…No, she knew they were real, even though she hadn’t seen them. Jess was upset that she had no prove. 

And even when they had stopped talking about werewolves and had began talking about something else that even made her laugh and made her decide that she really didn’t hate the boy–the nerdy-funny-boy who connived with her boyfriend to counter her opinion–she still kept thinking about it and how she could prove them wrong.

Jess realized that she could no longer concentrate on her book so she got up and packed them all, including Jaden's own. He had fallen asleep the moment they decided to stop talking and focus on reading because that’s what they had come, initially, to do. She tapped him softly till he woke up and informed him that it was way past eleven and that they should be on their way home already. 

“Hey.” Jess said, calling the attention of the cute-nerdy-funny-doubting-boy. “Who’s gonna lock the library? I just realized the librarian’s not there.” 

“Obviously, Jess. He,” Jaden said, referring to the librarian, “Would have told us to shut the fuck up while we were arguing and shouting right here. This is a library.” Jaden said, stressing the last word as if she thought they were in an amusement park.

Ignoring him, she asked the boy again, “Are you locking the library?”

“Yeah.” He said, without turning from his book. Jess thought that was rude. She thought it was rude that he let her ask twice before giving her a monosyllabic reply. It was almost as if he resented her for some other reason because he had only argued with her, and after that, he had said very few words to her. The times he made her laugh, he wasn’t talking to her but to Jaden. And he teased her in a way that Jaden thought was funny but it made her upset and they both knew that no humour was intended.

She still went on to ask if he was going soon or he was gonna stay there a little longer. 

“I’d be going soon. Don’t worry, both of you can go. I’d be fine.”

“Bro, you would be walking alone and it’s really late. Some bad guys might rob you or something. Let’s just go, you can read up the rest later.” She offered.

“Jess, not everybody live outside the campus. He’s completely safe inside the campus. We should worry about ourselves right now and be on our way.” Jaden told her. “Goodnight, Anthony.” 

“Bye, bro.” Jess said and followed Jaden closely, surprised that Anthony (she hadn't known his name before then) had smiled at her and even gave her a thumbs up.

As they walked home, Jess kept on whining about how beautiful the sky was. 

“Jaden, take a look at the moon! Oh my God, the moon is full today.” She said, jumping happily like a five-year-old. 

Jaden was tired of her, but he loved her. He was really sleepy and just wanted to go home but he obliged when she asked that he waited a little so that she could take a few pictures of the moon. 

“Babe, the full moon comes out every four days, right?”

“I suppose.”

“It’s almost nothing on the first night, like it’s half of half, what’s the word again?”

“Quarter.” He offered.

Jaden was almost certain that Jess was talking a lot because she was scared. He thought she was scared of the silence and she kept talking because she thought if she kept quiet, she would think about the possibility of the bad guys running out from the back of a massive building with guns in their hands and they would be robbed. But really, Jess was just talking because she wanted to. 

“And then it's half on the second night and then it’s half and a quarter on the third night, then it’s full on the fourth night, it goes on and on like that, right?” She questioned.

Jaden laughed inwardly at her theory. He didn’t know if it was true but it seemed so. 

“Maybe.” He replied. 

He never really kept record of something as mid as the moon. Maybe he looked at it sometimes, maybe consistently–as much as two days in a row–but not intentionally; he wasn’t sure of the third day and the fourth day or maybe a fifth day and sixth day if there was, that was why he said ‘maybe.’ 

“Jaden, stop being so annoying, giving me monosyllabic replies like that Anthony boy.” She complained. “You both were so annoying,” She whined on. “You and him connived against me and you two even exchanged names.”

Jaden laughed.

“Jess, what the hell! When has exchanging names become a crime? Okay, I’m sorry, miss, for knowing his name.” 

“But don’t you think something was off with the guy?” Jess asked. Jaden ignored the question. 

“It was a very bad idea to go to the library today. My leg hurts from walking this far, sometimes I wish we stayed in Campus. We wouldn’t even see a cab right now because we are walking through the back road. Would you carry me on your back?” Jess was asking.

“If we stayed on campus, we wouldn’t be staying together.” He reminded her. Then she kept quiet for long. The only sound that was heard was that of their sandals walking through yards that led to their home and loud music coming from a bar far away. 

They were very close to their home when Jess claimed that it 'hit' her that they didn’t get Anthony’s contact. 

“Are you being serious right now?” Jaden asked, his voice was a little bit too high.

Jess nodded. “Please, can we go back?” She asked softly. 

“No!” He deadpanned and kept on walking.

“I’m telling you, werewolves and vampires, are real. I plan to start researching about them tomorrow and I’d have to prove to you and Anthony that they are real.” 

Jaden didn’t turn back.

“And we might never meet him again if we do not go back now.”

“He might not be there. It almost half an hour since we left the library. Remember, we had to stop and let you take pictures of the moon. He told us he would be leaving soon.” Jaden explained. “I promise, we shall go back to the library tomorrow and I think we would find him there. I suppose he goes to the library often for the librarian to trust him with the key. What do you think?” 

They could see their apartment from where they stood.

“I need his contact.” She said, simply.

“Jess, I’m beginning to think it’s something order than the werewolf argument. I should go with you to get the contact of some other boy? At few minutes to midnight? You must be crazy.” He walked away, into their house; intentionally leaving her  there to make the decision herself. She turned the opposite direction and ran as fast as she could, stopping at short intervals to catch her breath.

Jess couldn’t believe she was doing this to prove a point she wasn’t very sure of but she got there quite on time to watch Anthony–the cute-nerdy-funny-doubting-boy–turn into a werewolf. 

It was full moon and the boy who had argued all night that werewolves weren’t real was turning into a werewolf.

Her mouth dropped in shock.