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I asked Storm if he was
hungry and he shrugged and nodded toward the other two. I knocked
on the window on Jett's side, he looked very grumpy but he rolled
his window down and I nodded toward Kyle in the driver’s seat and
asked "You want some food and beer?" That put a glimmer in his eye
and a he gave me a half smile. "Come on we'll make you some plates"
I said. Jett kinda grumbled. I didn't care about his attitude this
second so I leaned through his window, across him, and turned the
car off and kept the keys. Kyle got out lickedy split, I opened
Jett's door and said “Come on grouch, maybe food will make you feel
better.”

I introduced the three boys,
explaining that they were on the football team. Storm on the
freshman team and the other two on varsity. My parents asked for my
program and made them sign it in case they were ever famous. The
boys perked up after they had some food, I put the keys in the
middle of the table. My sister and Alec came walking up the
steps.

My dad looked at me and said
"You wanna play some ball with your old man?” I looked at him and
shrugged “Sure.”

Kyle and Jett looked at him
like
“really.”
“Don't worry boys, you don't need to play, I need you to
polish Mrs. Gellar's food off so she, I mean so we, don't have to
put it away. Nic, Tori and Alec get down to the field, I'll get
Kit." My dad went into the house, turned on our flood lights that
lit up our very large side yard and retrieved Kit. When we
girls got there Storm was behind us. The teams were Storm, Tori and
I against Nic, Kit and my dad. Storm complained “These aren't fair
teams…”

“Don't worry, Nic stinks and
I'm faster than my brother, plus Tori plays dirty” I said with a
raise of my brow.

We played a couple of plays
and Storm, Tori and I did well, we were winning. Alec came out a
few minutes later, followed by Kyle and Jett. My dad chuckled and
turned to the boys and said "This is touch football, do you know
how to play 
touch
 football?" being
facetious. They both smiled cheerfully and said “Yeah.” Storm and I
got Kyle and my dad got Jett and Alec. Storm looked at me, like he
was going to say these aren't fair teams but I told him
reassuringly not to worry. He gave me a crooked smile and I said
“Trust me - -” all I could think was those damn McGaven boys have
nice smiles.

We huddled up, the play was
to pass to me so I got to the front line, Alec was covering Tori,
Nic and Kit were on Storm, Jett was to cover me, I looked up and
said "Hey! This is not fair..." Jett interrupted with "Chicken!"
and a smile. The food must have worked.

"Look here boy” I replied “I
bet you’re really tired from all that playin' you did
tonight…”

"Hut1," Kyle exclaimed,
"Hut2....Hut3." I shoulder checked Jett off the line and took off.
Tori just grabbed Alec at the knees and he, being too afraid of
hurting her, went down. Storm actually had Nic and Kit on him like
glue and my dad was trying to rush Kyle. I ran up and then bolted
two steps right and then rolled left losing Jett for a second. Kyle
threw the ball and I made a touch down!!!!!

"Whew" we yelled and Jett
just looked at me and gave me a slight body check walking by and I
said "What do you think of that old man." Everyone laughed, Jett
was smiling too. 

 We were up fourteen
points and about to huddle up one last time when I noticed a dark
truck driving by the front of our house, really slow. I stopped to
stare, and then Storm came by my side and Kyle on the other. We all
watched the truck and we started walking toward it - as soon as it
came upon the driveway they must have noticed us and sped up,
taking off down the road. Storm turned to me and said "Is that your
lover boy???" 

I shrugged my shoulders "I
don't think so, he doesn't have a truck like that as far as I know.
And he's not
my lover boy
anymore
." I said exaggeratedly. Giving
Nic a high five saying “Yeah!” Nic said “It sure looked like him
from afar though.” I was a little wary of Cale ever since I saw him
in that house. I looked at Storm with worried eyes and he gave me a
dirty look back. “What?” I said and I pushed him. “I broke up with
him! Sorry he knows where I live!” I ran up behind him and grabbed
him around his shoulders bringing him down for a soft
tackle.

“Addie” my dad said “Don't
hurt the boys.” Jett and Kyle of course gave a laugh and called out
some names to Storm.
I rolled on top, kissed him on the
cheek and r
an behind Kyle.

“Don't use me as a shield
girl,” Kyle said “You started it.” He stepped left leaving Storm
and I face to face. I held my arm on his chest holding him arm’s
length away, leaning forward. We were both laughing.

“Storm...” I warned, “My dad
is here and this flirting... Shelby won't like it.” He stood up,
stopping the commotion, then grabbed me around the neck and knuckle
rubbed my head. The game continued. We covered the same guys who
covered us before, giving me Jett. The good thing was the boys were
afraid of hurting the girls and Tori and I knew it, so we took full
advantage. Tori and I gave each other a nod, we had a
plan.

We lined up, I actually
touched Jett's shoulder and said “I saw you limping earlier are you
hurt is that your excuse for not being able to run fast.” He
brushed my hand off his shoulder “You can't touch me, it's
illegal.” I replied “You don't like girls.” He straightened up. My
dad yelled “hike.” I tackled and rolled into his legs, Tori doing
the same to Alec, both boys hitting the ground and my dad started
laughing. Storm and Kyle were covering Nic and Kit. When my sister
and I headed toward my dad, he started laughing more, and we two
hand touched him right before he threw the ball away. My dad was
laughing so hard he started crying, contagiously making everyone
else laugh with him.

Everyone was out of breath
and in a great mood. My dad called the game. We won! Storm was
happy. “You didn't tell me
you
and your
sister played dirty, glad you were on my team.” I
gave him a wink.

“Those boys sure can eat.”
My mom said as we got back to the deck, she was re-warming some
food on the grill. We hung out and chatted all night, the boys
ended up leaving around two in the morning. That was the latest any
of my friends had ever stayed. Maybe things are changing because
we're in High School now. As Nic and I walked the boys to their
car, Nic pointed to the street across the way down a couple blocks.
The same truck as before was parked with its lights off.

The wrestling room was a
little more crowded than usual when they
started warm ups today. It looked like they had more
newcomers. Nic and I were conversing effortlessly when the coach
startled us by yelling at a newcomer who was late to practice. We
both looked up and to my surprise my stomach dropped, my face
went flush immediately, and my heart accelerated. I felt weak. I
had to get up “Nic, I'm going to the bathroom.” Everyone
saw me get up in a hurry and I darted out the door to the nearest
bathroom, down the hall just around the corner. Nic followed.
“What’s wrong Addie?” she asked “What’s wrong?”

I rinsed my face with cold
water and dabbed it dry with a paper towel. “Was that Jett who
came in the wrestling room? I swear it was him. I can’t go
back in there.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, as soon as I
saw Jett, my heart started to race and my hands got all
clammy.”

“Girl you got it bad, but
why are you acting so weird we just played football with him
Friday?'

I paused, I had none of my
usual come backs right now. “Maybe it was just because I didn't
expect him...... so what is Jett doing in wrestling? He's never
been there before.” I asked Nic very concerned.

“He must not have been able
to come before because of football. I heard the football players
can either do weights, run or wrestling practice since
the
last game is this Friday.
”

“Ugh” Could this be true?
Jett on the wrestling team, of course it could. Nic and I took our
time. We chatted in the dim hallway right outside the bathroom,
like I said, I don't like hanging out in bathrooms.

As we were talking all
nonchalantly I glanced down the corridor and grabbed Nic's arm.
There was someone standing at the end of the hall, a light was on
behind them but the hallway between us and them was dark. We could
see a silhouette standing with his feet spread and his arms held
slightly away from his body. A second shorter silhouette appeared
next to him, both seemed to be in hooded sweatshirts.

Nic said “I swear they are
looking our way...” and backed up a few steps and so did I. Nic
shouted “Hey!”

They started walking toward
us “Did you just hear a growl?” I asked Nic as we took a few more
steps backward. She grabbed my hand “Uh huh!” We looked at each
other and ran, turned the corner and ran down to the double doors
to the wrestling room. We tugged and pulled on the handles to the
gym doors but they wouldn't open. Suddenly, one side clicked open.
We pushed ourselves inside, pushing Declan aside, and we pulled
them shut and held them closed.

There we stood holding the
doors shut panting from being chased when I noticed how awfully
quiet it was, I nudged Nic, we both turned around keeping our hands
on the handles. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and all
eyes were on us. Declan was smiling, like it figures, we were
always getting into trouble. Nic's face was void of any color and I
bet mine was too. We let go of the door handles slowly.

Coach yelled, “What are you
two ladies up to?”

“Uh, they were, um, chasing
us?” I said pointing my hand back toward the hall. “They growled at
us.” Nic added and I shook my head in agreement. There was a low
rumble of amusement in the room. The coach walked over to us, we
moved aside. He pushed open the door and stepped out into the
hallway, he yelled “Hey, you two come here.” He dropped his
clipboard and was running after them. He was down the hall in a
flash with Declan and Storm on his heels. I held the door open and
a couple other wrestlers followed, including Jett. When they got to
the end of the corridor they stopped, just peering down its
end.

Coach threw his hands up and
said “Back to work guys.” By the time they trekked back up the
hall, my hands were no longer trembling and I felt warmth returning
to my face. When they re-entered the wrestling room they all gave
us a look though, especially Jett.

We sat down in our usual
spot and everything went back to normal, like nothing had happened,
so we did the same. After all the wrestlers were in
action
coach
came up to us and asked if we knew who had
chased us. Unfortunately neither of us did, so we both said no.
However, I had a sneaking suspicion…..

I went into a little bit of
a trance just watching Jett wrestle; I couldn't really hear Nic
either. I was just watching him swirl his body around his opponent
and then locking his arms around the other wrestlers arm and neck
until his grip was broken. Then he would move around again and try
another hold. When his arms would lock they would flex and show
every line of muscle. It was a thing of beauty. I could tell they
weren't really going at it; it was more of a warm up wrestling
match, trying different moves. I could still hear Nic mumbling in
the background and I thought I better pay her a bit of attention
before she gets mad. She said “I'll do it tomorrow.” So I replied
“o
kay Scarlet
” so as not to hurt her
feelings.

I was
hoping I could catch a glimpse of him after his shower so
I could see him in his leather coat with no shirt and his hair
tousled again, but my mom picked me up before any of the wrestlers
came out. I was disappointed, especially because my mom usually
runs late. I said good bye to Nic and took off.

When I woke the next morning, I remembered my
dream; I was running away from my wolf, this time we took a
different route. It chased me in the woods, and then in the sand, I
kept running and running. It was a never ending dream that wouldn't
stop no matter how fast I ran or what I did. I was looking for the
dirty slide to end the chase, when I found it and ran half way up a
man grabbed me from behind and tried biting my neck. My wolf barred
his teeth and jumped on his back loosening his grip but not before
we tumbled to the bottom of the ravine. I got up ran to the top of
the slide. I looked back at them and I could see their eyes and
fangs glistening in the moonlight. I didn't wake up at 3:17a.m.
which was a relief. However, it was one of those dreams that left
an impression on me, one I wouldn’t forget, at least not anytime
soon.

Things don’t seem to happen in the dead of
night they all happen just before dusk and when I wake from my
dreams, the waking hour.

I was proud of myself when I got through
practice the next day without blushing or being embarrassed. When
the wrestlers started to get up to leave, Declan, my supposed
friend and confidant for the past two years, said very loudly
across the practice room, “Hey Addie, I heard you broke up with
Cale.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up, I
was in a little bit of shock. How do rumors travel so fast? I stood
up brushed off my pants and replied “Wow, how did you hear that
already?” We walked toward each other, very grateful for any kind
of distraction, even if it was walking toward the problem.