Ties to the Blood Moon 2nd Edition (2 page)

“Hi. I’m Luna,” a dark-haired girl said in a soft voice. She was very pretty. Long, straight, jet-black hair swept to one side, light brown skin that glowed against the bright overhead lights, and high cheekbones that pushed her eyes in an upward sweep.

We talked along the way and she pointed out the library and lunchroom as we passed. When she left me at the door to the chemistry lab, we made plans to meet at lunch.

I was glad there were no extra students for me to pair with in chemistry. I got to work by myself, which was a good thing because chemistry was not my strong subject and I didn’t feel like making a fool out of myself on my first day.

By lunch, I was starting to relax a little. I followed Luna through the line, and then we sat with a group of her friends. She introduced them, but I instantly forgot their names.

Sitting at the table lost in the cacophony of voices, I felt someone’s eyes on me. I purposely dropped my fork on the floor and while leaning down to pick it up I looked behind me. Across the room, I spotted three Native American boys sitting at a table by themselves. All three had long black hair, tanned skin, and muscular bodies. I kept looking around until I spotted the one who’d been looking at me. Don’t ask me how I knew he was the one—because he wasn’t looking at me when I saw him—I just did.

He was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. His disheveled russet-colored hair boasted deep golden highlights shining under the fluorescent lights, his chiseled jaw line defined his masculine facial features, and sort of pouty lips. His eyes were a piercing green color, like the color of the Jamaican waters, and he knew how to use them to his advantage. He wasn’t all busting out with muscles, either. He was more on the lean side, but I plainly saw the muscles outlined in his tight shirt.

Even though he was sitting alone he must have heard something funny because I saw one side of his mouth curve up in a smile. My heart drummed hyperactively and it was at that moment I knew I was going to be happy at my new school.

Chapter 2

I wanted to throw my alarm clock through the window, but I didn’t because I wasn’t quite awake enough to move. I had fought the urge to sleep as long as I could. Every time I did fall asleep, the same nightmare returned. It was as if someone repeatedly pushed rewind then play on a DVD player inside my head. The end result would be me waking up just as tired as when I’d gone to sleep.

After a long hot shower I dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen. To my surprise, Aunt Bev was gone. She’d left a note and as soon as I read it I squealed with delight. She’d had some early morning errands and had actually left me the keys to the jeep. It didn’t even matter that the note said to come straight home from school and not to talk to strangers.
Really, Aunt Bev. What am I— like twelve?
And since I didn’t really know anyone yet, where would I go? It made my day not having to be dropped off with most of the kids still in the parking lot.

It was cold and rainy when I left for school, but it was still a freakin’ awesome day. After I turned the key and the jeep fired up, a smile stretched across my face and was still there when I pulled into the school’s parking lot. I pulled into an empty space at the far corner of the lot. I grabbed my backpack and put my hand on the door handle, suddenly feeling like I was being watched again. When I pushed open my door and jumped down, I casually twisted around, scanning all the unfamiliar faces.

The same three boys I’d seen in the lunchroom were hanging out under a giant fir tree of some kind. Even though all three looked a lot alike, two of them were identical. They were laughing and talking, but I noticed the third one seemed to be staring a hole through me. I raised my head and sort of smiled, only he didn’t smile back. He just promptly turned his attention to his friends. I felt like a total moron. My eyebrows furrowed and I stomped off toward the side door of the school. Didn’t he know when someone was obviously trying to be nice?

I was still fuming when Luna caught up to me.

“Hey, Gen. Wait up,” she called out. I could tell by the sudden change of expression on her face she knew something was bothering me.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, following me inside the building.

“Nothing,” I scoffed, and looked over my shoulder because I heard them somewhere behind us. Luna followed suit.

“Okay.” Her voice filled with dread. “What did they do?” she asked standing beside me watching as I fought to stuff my bubble wrap into the small locker.

“Who? Those creeps right there?” I nodded toward the three approaching boys. “Let’s just say I hope everyone isn’t as unwelcoming as they are.” My eyes followed them as they walked by. When they glanced my way, I narrowed my eyes at the one who’d been so rude. He halfway smiled, and then out of nowhere wrapped his forearm around Luna’s head and gave her a noogie. “Leave her alone, you cretin,” I yelled, and shoved him backward so hard he slammed into the wall on the other side of the hall. If there was one thing I had no patience for, it was a bully.

“Genevieve, stop,” Luna cried out grabbing my arm.

“Why, Luna? What gives him the right to pick on kids smaller than he is—especially girls?” I spat the words, never taking my eyes off him. Adrenaline rushed through my body, causing me to shake. He pushed himself off the wall and for an instant I could have sworn his eyes glowed. You know, like the movie
Blood and Chocolate
.

“Those ‘cretins’ are my brothers,” Luna blurted out.

My anger quickly fizzled and was replaced with humiliation. I cleared my throat. “They’re … your brothers?” First bell buzzed but it didn’t have any effect on me. I looked at her, and then him as he walked away, then her again. “But, how can that be? You seem so nice, and they’re such—such
jerks.”

Luna laughed out loud. “Yeah, that’s what some people think when they first meet them. I promise they’re really pretty cool once you get to know them. The two tallest ones are identical twins, Joshua and James. And the one you body slammed … he’s my twin, Joseph. He was just joking around with me. Probably trying to show off in front of you.”

“Oh—Luna I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s all right. I promise they really are nice though. They’re just kind of shy until they get to know you." Luna grabbed up her book. "Tardy bell’s about to ring. We better get to class.”

I guess she didn’t hate me because she stopped outside her classroom door and said we would meet at lunch.

The minutes ticked away slowly in English class. I knew that from the constant watch I kept on the clock hanging over the chalkboard. Mr. Donovan was—in short—personality-challenged. I tried to focus on what he was saying but it came out sounding like the teacher’s muffled voice in the old Charlie Brown cartoons. You know, wawa-wa wawa wa.
Wa
wa-wa. I giggled quietly at the thought and Mr. Donovan looked up from his notes, pointing his nose downward so I would get the full effect of him scowling at me from over the top of his reading glasses.

***

I instantly came awake when the annoying buzz rang at the end of class. I slipped the
Cosmopolitan
magazine from inside my English workbook and dropped it into my backpack. Luna was waiting for me outside class. I was still a little wigged out from what had happened with her brother and hoped she wouldn’t rag on me for the entire lunch period.

We inched our way through the line and I knew she wanted to say something about earlier. To avoid it I started asking her questions about the different groups of kids.

“See that table by the window? That’s the preps. Dads are oil tycoons and stuff. They check your parents' bank balance
before
they decide if they’re going to grace you with their shallow conversation.” We snickered in unison. “And I’m sure you can tell that the table in the back by the garbage cans is full of chess club nerds and computer geeks. I don’t think a single one of them has an IQ less than one-ninety.”

Luna got up on her tiptoes, looking around the room. “Let’s see … the two long tables in the middle are for hardcore jocks only. If you don’t play, you don’t sit.” She turned, peering around the girl behind us, trying to see who she might have missed.

I looked across to the other side of the room and saw her brothers at their usual table but they weren’t alone this time. My heart immediately thumped with excitement and I couldn’t breathe.
He
was with them. The guy I had seen the day before. “Oh my God, he is so beautiful,” I said, under my breath.

If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn I screamed it out loud. No sooner than I had that thought he turned, looked right at me, and smiled crookedly. I didn’t smile back. I didn’t breathe. My face suddenly got so hot I was sure it was bright red and glowing. I wanted to duck down behind the line of students and crawl out of the lunchroom.

Luna turned around and saw my face. Her expression quickly contorted into one of confusion, but I think she took me for being sick or something.

“Gen?” Luna cocked her head to one side. “Are you all right? You don’t look well.” She grabbed my tray from me even though I kept telling her I was good, and had me follow her to a table. She just happened to pick the table closest to her brothers.

I tried to convince her to sit where we sat the day before, but because she thought I was sick she parked our trays and made me sit. She left me sitting alone while she went to her brothers’ table. I tried not to let them see that I was watching. I had no idea what she had said, but a minute later the three brothers stood and followed her back to our table.

“And you’ve already met Joseph.” I was almost sure he snarled, but later when I told Luna, she laughed and said it must have been my imagination. The other guy didn’t join the brothers. Maybe he had a girlfriend, or maybe he just didn’t find me interesting enough to introduce himself.

“We’re all going to a bonfire after school. Wanna go?” Joshua and James asked, again in unison.

“I don’t know. I’m supposed to go … never mind.” I smiled “Sure, count me in.” Aunt Bev would just have to get over it. After all, I
was
seventeen.

They went back to their seats, and Luna and I sat quietly in ours. I was hoping she’d tell me something about the other guy at her brothers’ table. Just thinking about him made my heart flutter, which was weird because I’d had a few boyfriends when I lived in Cali, but none of them made me feel like this guy did.

Out of the blue, Luna peered at me and whispered his name. “What?” I asked, wondering who she was talking about.

“His name is William Novak,” she said, smiling. “I saw you checking him out.” She nodded her head toward him. “He’s new, too, and he doesn’t talk much. Sort of like you, huh?” She giggled, and I assumed it had something to do with my face feeling hot again.

As soon as school let out I rushed to my locker, grabbed my bubble wrap, and hurried for the door. When the sidewalk cleared enough to see the parking lot I spotted him standing with Luna, her brothers, and a few kids she’d introduced me to at lunch. My heart rate climbed rapidly. With each nervous step I took toward him, my heartbeat grew faster until I thought I was going to have a heart attack. What was it about him that made me feel so weird?

When I got to the parking lot, Luna grabbed my hand. She was just about to take me to meet William until I heard Aunt Bev’s voice behind me. I cringed. My smile had already changed to a frown before I even turned around and saw her walking toward me.

“Luna, this is my aunt. Aunt Bev, Luna.” I tried not to act too pissed in front of my new friends.

“Hello Luna,” my aunt said, and smiled at her, but my aunt’s smile quickly faded when she glanced back at me. “Are you ready to go?” she asked.

“I was going to go—”

She cut me off. “We’ve got to take the Jeep for a tune up and new tires. That is—if you plan to drive it every day.”

Luna forced a quick smile. “Uh … I’ll see you tomorrow, Gen. It was nice to meet you,” she called out to my aunt from over her shoulder and rejoined the group of kids. All of whom were staring at me with strange expressions.

My eyebrows furrowed and I looked at Aunt Bev with narrowed eyes. “I can’t believe you came here,” I whispered with a clenched jaw, not wanting anyone to hear. “You just made me look like a little kid in front of my friends,” I fumed.

“I’m sorry, Gen. But if you would have read the note I left you this morning you would already know I specifically said for you to come
straight
home after school.”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her arm, guiding her back to her truck. “I was coming home,” I lied and somehow got the impression that she knew it. “We were just going to hang out for a few minutes first.” She closed her door, and rolled down her window when I stomped away.

“I’ll wait so you can follow me,” she said loud enough for everyone to hear. I cringed, balling my fists before I saw Luna trotting toward me.

“Gen, wait up,” she called out, waving a small piece of paper and smiling. It seemed like she was always smiling. “Here,” she handed me the piece of folded up notebook paper. “It’s my cell number. Call or text me later.”

“Sorry I couldn’t go with you guys, Luna. But I’ll definitely go next time.” I narrowed my eyes at my aunt, who was blocking traffic while she waited for me to back out. “This is the last time she’s going to treat me like a child.”

Chapter 3

When we got back to Aunt Bev’s house, I mean our house—whether I liked it or not this would now be my permanent place of residence—I ran up the stairs and slammed my bedroom door. With balled fists, I paced the floor like a caged animal looking for a way to escape. Tears of frustration ran down my face. Staring down at the floor, tiny red dots suddenly appeared, scattered here and there. The more I paced the bigger the dots grew, until I finally stopped and took a good look.