Chapter 6

We walked through the front door of the school and were walking to Xavier’s car when I got lost in my own thoughts.

“I should’ve been there with Lexi, what if the situation had gotten worse than just getting pale,” I said to myself.

“You say something, Campbell?” I hear Xavier's voice piercing my focus. I whipped to my right and I quickly shook my head.

                                                                           Flashback

“Hey, Campbell, wanna hang aout fter school?” Blake my—frien- no let's just say aquaintance, asked, looking at me.

“Yeah sure, can I bring my sister and Brit?” I asked him.

“Yeah, sure man. You guys can come with me intead of bothering your dad." He said giving a small smile.

“Ok cool,” I remarked.

He walked away and I quickly packed my stuff in my bag, and I headed towards Brit and Lex who were waiting by the door.

“Why do you always take so long to pack your stuff?” Lex rhetorically asked rolling her eyes.

“What were you talking about with Blake?” Brit quickly asked.

“He wants to hang out after school, and he said you both could come” I relate.

“Oh sorry, I can’t make it this evening,” Brit said pursing her lips. 

“Why?” Lex asked pouting.

“Have to do something with Mom back at the house” she explains.

“Ohh,” Lex says fixing her books in her hands and not bothering to ask why.

“Where are they going though?” Brit asked. 

“Movie Theatre” I simply say.

“Oh” was all she said

“You have Math now, right?” Lex asked, turning her head to her.

“Yeah,” Brit replies rolling her eyes.

“High school is a waste of my time, for anyone I should say.” she continued, “I mean why are we learning how to solve curved lines or triangles when they should be teaching us to invest and manage money.”

“Right.” I replied agreeing way more than I should "Lexi chuckled and walked off.

“Ok see you after school.” Brit says shouting after us and then walking off to class.

“We’re heading there right after school,” I shout back.

“Oh Ok, my mom will be waiting for me anyways.” she said almost inaudibly, but luckily my ears can pick up whenever and whatever I wanna hear.

Lexi raised her thumb in the air refusing to shout over the chaos of students in the hallway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’ll call you later,” Lex tells Brit after we walked her to her mom’s car.

“Yeah,” Brit replied.

“Bye Ms. Wilson,” Lex says.

“Bye Monica,” I say at the same time Lex spoke.

Lex looked at me and rolled her eyes. 

“What?” I then heard Monica laugh. 

“It’s okay I gave him permission remember,” Monica says taking out her keys from her back pocket.

“Still—” Was all Lex said.

“Okay we need to go, Blake is waiting on us,” I say pointing at Blake who was leaning against his truck across the parking lot tapping away on his phone and smiling at it.

“Yeah, we need to hurry on too, you two have fun” Brit says smiling and throwing her bag in the front seat of the car.

“Not too much fun seeing I’m not gonna be there,” she says giving us a sheepish smile. I made up my face and Lex laughed.

“We won’t,” Without turning my head I looked at Lexi making up my face and even some more pretending to act like I hated what she said.

Monica, who I didn’t even notice disappeared, started her car’s engine and Brit hurriedly hugged Lex and walked off for the car.

“You keep doing that you know—None for me,” I say placing my hands over my heart, acting hurt.

She suddenly turned bright red, a color which I’m quite familiar with whenever I asked something of this same situation. Is she embarrassed or what?

She quickly gave me a hug and moved off.

“Bye kids,” Monica says driving past us.

“Bye,” Me and Lex say in unison.

I looked at the girl version of me who had her lips folded trying hard not to laugh. I gave her a confused look but knowing her she’ll either give me the ‘Are you serious’ look or she’ll just walk away shaking her head and mumbling along the lines of “You’re just one dumb kid”, so I just walked off heaving out a breath of frustration.

“Ready?” Blake asked, putting his phone in his back pocket, and looking at us with a small smile.

“Yeah” I replied

“Sorry if we took so long sending Brit off,” Lexi said apologizing.

“No worries, the wait wasn’t long either” 

Me and Lex jumped into the back of the van. I wasn’t close enough with the dude to call shotgun and he didn’t protest much with any of us going in the back, and so with that, we headed straight for the movies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey,” Blake said greeting his friends which I didn’t really talk much to. Hell, I don’t even think I’ve had a full-on conversation with Blake till today.

Honestly never went out of my circle with the girls to call anyone else my friend.

“So, what we watching?” I think his name is Derek asked. 

“What about The Grey?” Blake asked, looking at the poster on the wall opposite us.

“Well that man looks quite enticing,” I say to myself wishing that it wasn’t as boring as how it looks on the poster.

Blake’s friends nodded and turned to the cashier to purchase the tickets. He then turned to us.

“We’ll go buy the food while they purchase the tickets.”

“Kool” I say

“What’s the movie about?” Lex asked me as we walked behind Blake.

“No clue,” I answered her and shrugged.

“What do you guys want it’s on me,” Blake asked fetching out his wallet.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Yeah, I mean I was the one who invited you guys out,” he said shrugging. And why did you though? I mean I'm not asking in a bad way but-

“I turned to Lex giving her a shrug of my own reassuring her that she could go ahead.

“Cheesy popcorn thanks”

“Same and two Dr. Pepper,” I said. Blake nodded to the worker and ordered. He turned back to us.

“Do you guys eat the same thing?” He asked laughing “I mean being twins and all”

“Nah, we don’t, for example, Lex hates seafood but I adore it, but most times we end up eating the same thing at times,” I say trying to explain to him.

About five seconds later his friend walked up to us and gave us our ticket.

“Alex and Alexis, right?” One of the dudes asked.

Lex nodded, placing her hands in her hoodie pockets. 

“Kool”

We got handed our popcorn and soda and we went to the specified theatre room.  We got to our seats and waited for the movie to start. When the intro came on, I leaned over to Blake. 

“Hey, what’s the movie about?” I asked whispering.

“Heard it’s about this dude who works at some oil company, and he protects some people from wild animals,” he said shrugging.

“Oh” Was all I said and leaned back in my seat. 

Sounds pretty boring to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘The Wild’ animals are WOLVES! Seriously, out of all the movies that were being shown today, it had to be this garbage. I sighed disappointed and grabbed a handful of popcorn stuffing my mouth with it.

I was about to whisper to Lex complaining to her about how boring the movie was, but my eyes widened, and my eyebrows flew together in concern. She was pale from what my eyes could tell me. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she looked stuck staring at the screen, though they were fixated on the screen they looked distant.

She was clearly trembling, and her chest was quickly rising and falling. I heightened my hearing, and her heartbeat was pulsating through the roof so I shook her, but she wouldn’t respond.

“Lex” I whispered.

“Lex!” I whisper-yelled and with a lot more alertness in my tone, which earned us a few scrunched-up faces from the heads that turned towards us. I gave them a blank stare waiting for them to mind their own goddam business and when they did, I hurriedly turned my attention to Lex.

“Lex, we have to go,” I told her, she slowly turned her head to me, and her eyes swelled with tears. She looked as if all the energy was drained from her, and her eyes were screaming ‘Help’ and not only that, they held fear in them, confusion.

“Hey is she okay?” Blake asked with concern lacing his words.

“I’m gonna take her home,” I quickly say.

“Yeah man, you want help with her?”

“Nah but thanks for offering, and for the food and movie,” I said helping Lex stand. Blake gave us a weak smile and we walked away. When we came from the dark room, I hurriedly fetched out my phone and called Dad to come to pick us up ASAP.

Seeing that the corridors were empty I fixed Lex to sit down on the floor.

“Lex what’s wrong?” but she remained silent staring at the floor, her body shaking and eyes distant once more.

“Was it the movie?” Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes widened. Shit! It was the whole wolf thing, wasn’t it? Eric did say her brain was blocking her trauma memories or something along that line making her forget about that night but sometimes images could trigger them. I totally forgot about that.

I sighed and helped her to stand. I put my hands around her helping her to get outside.

“Dad will be here soon Lex,” I exclaim.

The cold air hit our faces as we walked out to the parking lot, which was packed with cars, but no soul was roaming around, well at least some peace and quiet would help her calm down, I think.

“I’m sorry Lex,” I say to her in all honesty. She took in a long breath which seemed to even her breath a bit and she looked at me.

“I’m sorry” she whispered. I shook my head vigorously and was a bit confused about why she was.

“Why are you apologizing?” I asked rhetorically “You did nothing wrong” I looked at my watch and seeing that 7 minutes had already passed I pulled out my phone.

“I think Dad is held up in traffic or something, he should've been here by now” If only I could just speed home, but Dad prohibits it at such a distance.

“I’m thirsty,” she tells me.

“I don’t think you should be moving about right now Lex and I don’t want to leave you out here,” I replied.

“I’ll be fine Alex” she whines. I looked at her again and gave in.

“Ok stay here and don’t move,” I say emphasizing the ‘don’t move’”

“I’m not six you dufus—you know you probably would’ve gotten me something to drink and be back already,” she said slapping me on the back of my head.

“Ow! Well I’m glad you found your strength back,” I say rubbing the spot she hit.

“Shut up and hurry with my drink,”

“You mean water,” she cringed.

“You know I hate water,” she said scrunching her nose. I gave her a deadpan look.

“You're sick,” was all I said and jogged across the huge parking lot and into the building.

“One water please and a Slurpee,” I say ordering.

“Coming right up”

“Alex” I hear Blake’s voice call out. I spun around and saw that he was alone.

“Movie is still going on so what are you doing out here?” He held up his empty popcorn bucket.

“Refill, plus the movie was pretty boring, it was more exciting from TikTok's point of view,” I chuckled, and though I wanted to agree I didn’t.

“Is Lexi okay?” I sighed loudly.

“Yeah, she came around just now and demanded I buy her a drink,” I said chuckling.

“Here you go sir,” The worker said handing the cups to me.

“Thanks”

“You’re welcome, that’ll be 4.99” I quickly flashed out a 5-dollar bill and gave him.

“What happened though?” Blake asked.

“Just a bit sick I guess” I replied which made him hum in response.

“Hey, can you do me a favor?” I asked pleadingly.

“Yeah man,”

“I really need to go take a whiz could you go bring these to Lex,” I say handing them to him before he could even refuse. Welp judging by his personality he probably would’ve accepted anyway.

“Sure, she’s—?”

“In the parking lot.” I rushed off to the bathroom so I could hurry and do my business and get back to Lexi.

After a good two minutes, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

“Must be Dad,” I say to myself. Suddenly my ears picked up on this high-pitched scream which I quickly shrugged off. Probably from a movie my heightened hearing is picking up from.

“Blake?” I thought out loud sing who was calling me.

“A-Alex—” But before he could even utter another word, I heard what the alarm in his was for.

“Why is Lexi screaming?” I asked in horror washing my hands quickly and flying through the door racing through the building.

He probably isn’t even hearing me right now since he wasn’t answering me so I quickly hung up the phone and put in a little more speed, one human's think is somewhat fast. I passed through the huge double doors and saw Lexi on the ground and heard her ear-splitting scream once again.

Blake held her in his arm rubbing her hair. Seeing that no one was out here but them and their backs towards me, I sped towards them.

“What’s wrong?” 

“I don’t know, when I was just a few feet away from her she was fine but then out of nowhere she started clutching her wrist and fell down,” He quickly spilled out.

“Lexi what’s wrong,” but she didn’t answer.

“We can’t help you if you won’t tell us what’s wrong,” Blake reassures.

“Dad isn’t here as yet?” I rhetorically asked. As if he heard me calling his name my phone lit up with the ‘dad’ IP address.

“Dad, where the hell are you?”

“Language Alex, but I had a flat tire on my way here, don’t know what happened. Why do I hear crying in the background?"

"Something is wrong with Lex," I pressure on

“What do you mean?”

“She’s clutching her wrist crying out in pain,” I said through ragged breath.

Lex’s cries made my eyes water, but I forbade them to fall in front of Blake.

“I’m coming!” He said and he hung up.

“Lex, what’s wrong with your wrist?” I tried asking again.

“Here, how about we put some ice on it,” Blake suggested. I took out the ice that was in the water and held it on her wrist.

“That’s n-not working” She stammered through breaths.

“Shit!” Suddenly I heard an inhumane growl fluttering in the air. I growled under my breath knowing exactly what this sound was. I stood up looking to spot the culprit; sniffing the air I found exactly where it was.

“Stay here”

“Where are yo—” Before Blake could utter anything else I jogged off.

“He really needs to stop doing that” I heard him say which made me chuckle, but that quickly wiped away when I heard rustling in the bushes that were before me.

“Get out you piece of shit!” I shouted at the bushes “Are you deaf or did I not say that clear enough” Once more, growling spouted the air. I slowly walked in the direction of the growling feeling somewhat scared and but not scared at the same time. It could be a fucking Alpha for all I know. And from what dad tells me, Alpha’s aren’t supposed to be messed with.

“Yow Alex, who are you talking to?” I hear Blake shout from across the parking lot.

I turned to him and shouted, “No one, I'm just blowing off some steam” Suddenly I heard steps retreating and getting farther and farther away in under a second.

“Must be cool to be able to transform and run around like that, Dad would kill me” I said out loud.

“But who was that though?” I said, staring at the bushes as if I was in my own movie scene. Turning around I head back to the two.

When I was approaching them, I saw Dad picking Lex up and carefully placing her in his car.

“Is she okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, she passed out ‘bout a minute ago,” Blake answered.

Sighing in relief I turned to Dad who successfully got her in.

“For someone who eats a lot she sure weighs absolutely nothing,” Dad says lightening the air a little which helped a bit. A split second later the air went still to the point where I was now hearing literal crickets.

“Well, I guess I’m gonna head back in now, the guys must be wondering where I’m at,” Blake said taking a step forward.

“Yeah, we got to get going too, thanks son,” Dad says looking towards Blake and heading back to the car adjusting his seatbelt.

“You’re welcome, sir,”

“I know my dad just said it but thanks for staying with her, guess I owe you now.”

“It was nothing Alex, see you at school” I gave him a soft smile and he walked off.

“What exactly happened?” Dad asked and I quickly told him what happened.

“But how did they find you? I mean wolves can’t sniff out other wolves, well unless you’re a rogue since they have a distinct smell but it’s not like you were in a pack all before this—I mean I was but that can’t pin you down, and I’m pretty sure my smell isn’t that strong to rub off on you like that, Could it?” I purposely tuned out dad’s voice but continued to watch him as my own mind wandered off to confusion land.

Somehow when I went near that wolf, I felt something of familiarity, but I can't put my finger on what it was.

“They might be watching us all along?” I asked unsure.

“If so, they did a pretty good job at hiding their presence. Hiding amongst the crowd without being detected.” Sighing I leaned back in the seat and looked at Lex in the rear-view mirror.

Why did she react like that though?

“This is too much Dad,” I say in all honesty.

“I’m sorry son, for a 15-year-old you shouldn’t be carrying such responsibility, I thought coming here would be easy for us but—”

“It’s okay Dad, I’m fine. Let’s go home now” He kissed my forehead which caused me to squirm in my seat and he chuckled driving off.

Welp this was a long eventful night.

                                                                    —Flashback over—