Werewolf 101

The night of my fifteenth birthday was sweltering hot. I thought I was having a bad day after fighting with my mom and running off to stay the night with my grandfathers. Little did I know how good I had it then. Because in the dark, small hours of the morning that followed, I was shocked awake by the sound of shattering glass, and my good, simple and easy life was over all at once. The back door was thrown wide open. Shards of broken glass hung, still swaying, from its little window. The kitchen table was overturned, lying on its side. And on the ground, prone and lifeless, lay my Grandfather. In the middle of a growing pool of crimson blood. Suddenly Grandpa Gene was behind me on the stairs. He clapped a hand over my mouth and whispered into my ear, “Don’t make a sound.” I couldn’t understand how he was so calm. It was almost like he wasn’t surprised by this. Like maybe somehow he’d known that it was coming, and had a plan. Me?—I couldn’t even get my bearings. The sight of Grand

“I thought I was going to get a single room,” I say, trying to sound casual. Alec turns to face me and leans against his desk. He arches one golden eyebrow and smirks. “Sophomores don’t usually get single rooms. Only juniors and seniors.” Alec’s interrupted by a quick rap on the door. He jumps up and strides over to open it. “Hey, you ready—” A handsome, dark-haired boy standing outside the door lands his eyes on me and stops speaking mid-sentence. Alec steps aside to give him an unobstructed view. “Yeah, almost,” he says. “Adrien, this is Jamie. My new roommate.” “Roommate?” The boy steps inside, eyeing me hard. “Why do you have a new roommate?” Alec shrugs, frowning, and pushes the door closed. This second boy is just as tall as Alec, but even bigger. More built. His chocolate brown hair is thick and fluffy, and his dark, deep eyes are kind of mesmerizing. “Hi,” I say awkwardly. “Hi.” He offers me a small smile that softens his strong features. “I’m Adrien.” “James. I

Why would I say this bullshit? There’s no way Alec’s going to buy it. He balks at me, wide-eyed. I finish buttoning my shirt and dip to the ground, gathering up my clothes—including the underwear. I throw everything into the closet. “Please don’t look through my stuff again,” I mumble, knowing it’s my own fault Alec saw what he saw. I’m just trying to cover my ass. Finally I find a clean, dry sweatshirt. I pull it on quickly. “Sorry,” Alec grumbles. He crosses the room and drops his hockey bag beside his desk. I’m scrambling for something more to say. Some way to back up my stupid lie. Improvising, I grab my phone off my desk. I open up the selfie Riley sent me and walk over to Alec, angling the screen toward him. “This is her.” Alec looks down at the screen. Then back up at me. Then down at the screen again. “She’s waiting for me back home. She gave me a few things to take with me, saying I needed something to remember her by. You know how girls are.” What am I even say

“What are the two absolutes when it comes to werewolves?” Several students raise their hands. The professor calls on Julien. “The first,” Julien says confidently, “is that werewolves are pack animals. They appear human at times, but they are beasts, and think like predators. The second is that the result of a werewolf bite is worse than death, and must be avoided at all costs.” The teacher sweeps a hand through the air, drawing my eyes to several open chairs. “That’s the first thing you need to know, James. Now, grab a textbook from the cupboard and take a seat wherever you like.” Then he puts his glasses back on, turns around and retreats into a shadowy corner of the room, where now I see there is a big desk made of dark, polished wood. I look over my shoulder. The woman who brought me here has vanished. I venture glances back at the twins first. They’re sitting side by side in the front row, and in the dim classroom I can’t tell which one is which, an uncertainty that makes me f

“No.” I try not to sound defensive. “I’ve never seen a werewolf. I just found that tattoo thing you talked about really interesting. And I’m behind in class… I might need you to catch me up.” Adrien’s face softens into a wry smile, and I feel like I can breathe again. “It’s hard for humans to uncover that kind of information.” He shrugs and reaches back into the footlocker. It’s starting to look ridiculous, the way he’s pulling so much crap out of it. But when he says, “Ah-ha!” again, he produces a battered gameboard and a black velvet drawstring bag. Adrien folds the worn, faded chessboard open atop the locker. Then he overturns the velvet bag, shuffling out a set of little plastic chess pieces. At first, I’m thrilled. I grin up at my Guide, who meets my smile with his own. This was the best possible surprise. He really meant it, when he said he’d play chess with me. But when I look back down at the board, watching as the pieces fall and roll upon the checkered surface, I su