Chapter One

Jared's POV

Keep calm. Stay focused. Keep calm. Stay focused…. Easy words of wisdom from Sam who never had to go back to high school after his body suddenly erupted into a wolf after soccer practice. Keep calm. Stay focused. Right… more like: don't fuck up and turn into a giant wolf in math class. And yet… Keep calm. Stay focused.

Honking the horn of my old beat up truck, left over from my dad who was stupid enough to leave it behind when he ran off a few years back, I can't help but stretch my neck, trying to get the muscles beneath my skin to loosen up. Stressed? Yes. Nervous? Yes. But more importantly: running seriously fucking late because Paul's sorry ass is dragging.

Out of the corner of my eye I catch his mom moving some of her curtains aside trying to signal to me… She's holding up her pointer finger mouthing "One more minute." In spite of my current mood I smile and nod back politely… I'm sure she's just as tired of Paul's lazy ass as I am and praying that I don't leave him behind, which is so not happening. If I have to get back to school after the last two months of sheer madness then Paul does too.

Closing my eyes and relaxing my head back against the head rest I can't help but remind myself that I'm not alone in the all of the strangeness. I begin repeating my mantra from the past few months in my head while I continue waiting for Paul – Yes. I turn into a wolf. Yes. That's weird. But, that makes me important. I have a job. A purpose. A reason for existing. I am meant to be more than just some high school baseball player who maybe – might possibly – have had a small shot of going off to college if he could've gotten his grades up. Suddenly I can hear the front door slam shut as Paul struts across the green grass of his front lawn.

"Long night?" I ask Paul once he's finished throwing his beat up book bag into the rear of the truck cabin and squeezed himself into the passenger seat.

"You could say that; Sam had me running the perimeter until about 2am." Paul wiped his hand over his face, pulling at his eyes before smacking his cheeks a few times. "You'd think he could've let me off a bit earlier with school and all…" Paul groaned as I took off down the road.

"Mhmm," I hum noncommittally, scenery flashing by as I take turns quicker than I should and blow past a few stop signs.

I can sense the serious side-eye I'm getting from Paul, so as I come to full stop at the next stop sign I turn to see what has him looking at me. "Something wrong?"

"Just frustrated." He mutters before turning his gaze out the passenger side window.

"Tell me about it…" I sigh in response for gunning it the rest of the way to school.

A/N: It's a short chapter, but I promise they'll get longer as I go. Next up is Kim's POV!