Chapter 2

Ten minutes later, Kat and I hurried down the stairs, me in a brown button down skirt that I paired with a black and white striped shirt and  black ballet pumps with a little silver bow on them that Aunt Sarah had got me. 

Kat was wearing the same outfit but she had switched out her black leather jacket for my brown one. Why she even needed a jacket in this weather was beyond me.

The scent of bacon immediately caught my attention, the dining room table had already been set and Aunt Sarah's delicacies awaited us.

We found Aunt Sarah in the kitchen, she was in the process of bagging some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Parker was seated at the island eyeing her sternly.

"Mother, we talked about the crusts." His tone sounded threatening. Parker is the cutest five year old I've ever met but his cuteness easily crossed over into scary when something wasn't done his way.

Aunt Sarah rose her brows at her youngest son in shock.

"Morning Auntie S!" I greeted as I went over to place a kiss on her cheek. "Crust problems?"

"Yes, apparently my son is my boss now." She spoke before playfully pinching his chubby cheek.

"I wouldn't say I'm your boss, mummy, I'm more of a super-viser." Parker spoke innocently before going back to his colouring book.

Aunt Sarah shook her head. "What are they teaching these kids at that school?"

"He's just growing older, Auntie S. Next thing you know he won't want to drink from his sippy cup."

"Oh no! Not the sippy cup. My little man is growing up so fast." She bent over and pinched his cheeks.

"Mummy!" Parker whined.

Aunt Sarah responded by placing a million kisses on his face until he eventually burst out laughing.

"Mama wolf's still got it." She spoke proudly.

"Don't call yourself that anymore mum," Kat groaned. "Quite frankly, you're too old." 

She spoke as she came up behind Parker and ruffled up his short curls.

"Hey!" Aunt Sarah protested. "In the nursery books, Mama Wolf is an eighty something year old woman."

Kat raised her brows at her. "And your point is..."

Kat and I burst out laughing.

Aunt Sarah swatted at us with a tea towel but even she couldn't fight off her laughter.

Aunt Sarah was pushing forty  but she barely looked it. Her skin was still youthful, and she kept herself pretty fit. Maybe a few bags rest under her eyes from how tired she gets everyday with work and taking care of all of us.

If you ask me, I think Kat looks the most like Aunt Sarah amongst her siblings. They have the same slim face, with their roundish small noses. Kat, however, has the cutest freckles sprinkled across her face. But she gets her tall height from Uncle Victor. But all in all they both have some mad baby making skills with how beautifully all the Benson kids came out with their caramel skin and golden accented soft curly hair.

Then there's me.

The only person I resembled really is Uncle Victor. He's my mother's older brother. We both have a warm tan skin tone and extremely dark, kinky hair, I usually just keep mine in braids most of the time while Uncle Victor just keeps his short.

Speaking of...

Right at that moment, Uncle Victor walks in with Hazel skipping in front of him. He's carrying a hammer.

"Good morning guys." He greets.

"Why do you have that?" Aunt Sarah asks looking between the hammer and her husband.

"There was an incident... Hazel kind of got her werewolf teeth stuck in the wall." He explained.

"Daddy! Don't tell them!" Hazel whined.

"Okay, okay, princess!"

Hazel was going through puberty and for werewolves, puberty is a little different.

It involves you slowly approaching your 'first change'. 

Hazel hates it. I can't blame her, it's a pretty awkward process, one minute you're walking down the street and next thing you know you have paws instead of feet and you've ruined your cute new shoes. 

She's getting there fast, and I suspect she'll experience her first change during one of the next upcoming full moons.

I experienced my first change at fourteen - late bloomer. Kat was eleven when she experienced hers.

"Oh no, someone will be getting 'the talk' soon." Kat spoke in a sing song voice.

"Can I get it from you instead of mum?" Hazel asked desperately.

"What's wrong with me?" Aunt Sarah asked sounding offended.

"You make it weird, mummy." Hazel spoke.

Aunt Sarah placed her hand on her chest and turned to look at her husband.

Uncle Victor shrugged. "Well..."

Aunt Sarah gasped.

Uncle Victor wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her cheek. "We like weird, don't we kids?"

Me, "yeah."

Kat, "totally, mum."

Hazel, "what's better than weird?"

Parker, "I need more crayons, mummy."

Aunt Sarah rolled her eyes. "Okay, liars. Let's go have breakfast now before you kids are late for school."

"Crayons, mummy!" Parker yelled. "This masterpiece isn't going to finish itself!"

The 'master piece' was a multicoloured blob but of course no one would ever tell him that.

"Wait, Crystal, can we talk outside for a minute?" Uncle Victor asked just as we were about to make our way to the dining room.

I turned around and saw the looks on his and Aunt Sarah's faces, they weren't quite sympathetic but they were close.

I looked at Kat and I could tell she felt bad for me.

I nodded at them. "Sure."

"Kat, take your brother and sister, you can start eating without us." Aunt Sarah spoke.

Kat nodded and lifted Parker from the stool he sat on, ignoring his cries for more crayons.

Hazel quietly followed behind.

Uncle Victor led the way out through the kitchen door onto the patio.

He took a seat on the outdoor swing that sat on the porch with Aunt Sarah and I took one of the lawn chairs and turned to face them.

They both seemed as uncomfortable as I was. This was worse than getting the super awkward 'changing talk' from Aunt Sarah.

Uncle Victor looked at Aunt Sarah as if seeking moral support. She slid her hand into his in response.

He looked back at me. "Crystal, I know the past few months haven't been easy."

Understatement of the century.

"But I want you to know that we're proud of how much you've recovered."

Had I recovered? It didn't feel like it. I was still restless and confused all the time and... sad.

"You're so strong for overcoming all that." Aunt Sarah told me.

"Yes," Uncle Victor continued. "I know it was easier to deal with it in the safety of our house but now you're going back to school. People will talk and maybe they might even provoke you but you need to stay strong and just ignore them. We already talked to your headmaster and he said he'll do anything to help the situation but there's only so much he can do. We know you were already having a tough time at school before. But we urge you to keep handling it with the same patience and composure you've been handling it with this far."

Aunt Sarah leaned forward. "It's not a bad thing to be different. It's just that - not everyone gets it."

Roman got it. I wanted to say.

I nodded at both of them. "I'll be okay."

Lie.

Uncle Victor nodded. "If it gets too tough, just call me and I'll come and get you."

I nodded but I wasn't planning on doing that.

Uncle Victor and Aunt Sarah already did me a huge favour by taking me in, I didn't like adding more stress to their lives.

I could handle a few bullies. As Aunt Sarah said, I was different and I had gotten used to it.

I clutched the crescent moon crystal necklace that hang around my neck. I could handle it.