

Shiver Cove

## Part 1: Tamyra

## By: TJ Shortt

This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

Shiver Cover – Part 1, Tamyra

Copyright © 2015 Patricia Collins

All rights reserved.

Cover Art Copyright © 2015 Jason Shortt

This book is dedicated to the one who has been nothing but dedicated.

Your endless support made this possible.

I love you Jason.

Chapter 1

A tickling sensation roused Tamyra. She scratched her stomach. It took a moment to sink in, but her fingers met skin with no resistance. No pajamas, no blankets, only bare flesh. As the fuzzy sleep feeling dissolved, she became aware how the warm June breeze played over her, caressing her.

She jolted awake, shaken to find herself not in bed. Night sky above. She slumbered outside and to her horror, naked. Tamyra wrapped her arms around her light brown body to shield herself as she rose to her haunches.

Confused and frightened, she bit back tears. She woke up in strange places a few times since the first change, but last night she locked herself in a cage. With each full moon her wolf-self adapted, becoming harder to contain. Embracing the wolf seemed impossible.

She needed a clear head to get a grip on her situation. Pushing aside the answers of how, she focused on the question of where. A backyard. The house looked similar to hers. She hadn't left her own neighborhood.

As the dark sky over the houses began to take on an orangey hue, she grew more alarmed. A lump formed in her throat and the water welling up inside her bottom lids threatened to spill. In the light people would be able to see her naked. Annoyed at her emotions trying to take over, she chuffed to clear her throat and wiped her eyes.

She had to pull it together. Crying wouldn't make things better. Finding focus, Tamyra searched the area for anything to help cover her body.

The tiny yard consisted of a patio area with enough space to hold a plastic table and four chairs. She crouched on a grassy patch smaller than the patio. There wasn't enough room for a shed. A shed could have been useful.

She spied the table's sun umbrella and contemplated pulling the fabric off it. The task would require a lot of work and Tamyra didn't like the idea of wrecking someone else's property. She decided it would be her last resort.

She tried to dismiss the feeling of being watched. The paranoia had to be due to being so exposed. Her gaze flitted over the windows of nearby houses. Although she couldn't see anyone, it didn't help much. Despite the warmth of the night, a shiver ran through her. Tamyra brought her attention back to the problems at hand; find something to hide her nudity and figure out where she ended up.

Knee-high bushes lined the fence and she scuttled over to them for cover. From beside her came a rustling sound. The breeze toyed with some type of paper under the bushes. A lucky break. Hopefully something as big as a newspaper. She stretched out her right hand as she clamped her left arm over her breasts. Her fingers brushed paper. She grabbed it. Thick, heavy paper. It made crinkling noises as she tried to dislodge it.

Making a slight tearing sound, it came free. She held a large paper sack, the kind her mom collected leaves in. The part Tamyra could see looked intact and dry.

She rolled the bag over and groaned. The bottom of it dripped cloudy brown water and a musty worm smell emanated from it. Tamyra glanced back at the patio umbrella and cursed herself for even thinking it. The leaf sack would have to do.

The wet part tore off with little effort and damp leaves spilled over her toes. Cringing at further exposure, she moved her left arm and shook the bag with both hands until everything emptied out.

Tamyra held the paper sack to allow for as much cover as possible. While rising to stand, she slipped the bag over her head. It stank. Fortunately the wide sack didn't really touch her skin, except where her arms had to clamp down to hold it up. Grateful to be covered to the knees, she tried not to think some of the wet spots pressing against her could be slugs or worms.

Time to go home, hopefully without being seen.

She loathed the idea of leaving the secluded backyard, but seeing the street signs would be key to figuring out where she was. She crept up to the gate. The low chain link didn't do much to hide her from the street. Tamyra shuddered as she reached for the latch, terrified of being seen.

She sucked up her courage and opened the gate. She hoped, because of the early hour, no one would be up yet. As she stepped onto the driveway, the bag rustled with every movement. Tamyra knew her fear made the sound thunderous to her alone, but the knowledge gave no comfort.

She scanned the street. Tamyra knew her surroundings; a block, a park, a few houses and then home! To her relief, there wasn't a soul in sight.

She darted down the driveway towards home. Tamyra managed to fly up the street and cut into the schoolyard before she encountered any more trouble.

Chapter 2

Tamyra smelled the cigarette smoke a second before she laid eyes on the three girls. They sat on a bench with empty bottles at their feet. Knowing these girls, they probably spent all night drinking. She stumbled and all three girls burst out laughing.

She sought to find her footing while keeping her grip on the makeshift dress.

"Nice fashion statement, Tammy!" Spat the school bully, Vicki Burton.

She hated being called Tammy and the ensuing laughter reminder Tamyra of hyenas. The two smaller girls mirrored their leader, pointing at Tamyra.

Could her morning get any worse? No doubt the whole school would hear about this. She wanted to run, but feared a chase would incite them to become violent.

"Stopping to give us a fashion show? Hey, you can be the envy of bag ladies everywhere!"

More hysterical laughter.

"Look, it's an outfit that doubles as a garbage bag. Hey, it's already full of trash!"

Strange, Vicki's dirty blond, grease-matted hair didn't bounce around at all when she laughed. As Vicki licked her lips, an image of the big slug from Star Wars made her feel better for a second.

"Yep, you're Trailer-Trash. Your daddy ran out just like all the other Trailer-Trash!"

Expecting more insults about the leaf bag, the words hurt as much as a slap in the face. Her dad just had to be the principal at her school when he packed up and left. Even though the mean girls had no clue Tamyra's secret had caused him to flee, Vicki struck a nerve bringing up dad. Tamyra bit her lip to stop her chin's involuntary quivering.

"All our parents are divorced, Vicki." Kate said.

"Yeah and all our dad's still want to see US. Trailer-Trash's daddy just up and left, never to be heard from again."

Unable to bare another insult, Tamyra launched herself into a run. Her left foot came down hard on something sharp and the pain shot up her leg, halting her dash immediately. She almost tripped attempting to lift her injured foot.

She stood with her back to the girls, but she could sense they rose and moved towards her. As she brought her foot up, in an awkward pose over her knee, a quarter-sized chunk of bloodied glass fell to the ground. A few drips of blood rolled down her foot and off her toes. Her eyes followed as red rained to the pavement.

Tamyra snapped her attention back to Vicki and the ghouls. They were closing the gap quickly and it terrified her. Any of them could try to pull the flimsy bag away. She couldn't allow them to get close.

She put her heel on the ground and tried to run. Coming down on the one heel, instead of her whole foot, made her gait awkward and jerky, impossible to generate any type of speed.

"Guys she's bleeding, maybe we should leave her alone."

"And miss an opportunity like this? No, no, girls, we should HELP her."

"Yeah Trailer-Trash! Come here, weeeeee'll help you."

Tamyra hobbled along as fast as she could, somehow managing to stay ahead of them. She didn't believe Vicki and her friends had any intentions of helping her.

"Trailer-Trash, I'm talking to you. Don't try to run away. It's rude!"

"Yeah. Vicki's talking to you!"

"Look at all the blood. She's really hurt. Come on, let's have another smoke."

"Are you gay or something Jill? Sticking up for Trailer-Trash here because you have a thing for her?"

"It's not like that. Just... well... she's bleeding bad."

"Who cares? If she wasn't running around with no clothes on, her foot would be fine right now. So Trailer-Trash, where's your clothes?"

Tamyra's tormenters seemed content to lag behind her, a small blessing. She knew her tears would only fuel their insults if they could see her face. She hated being unable to stop crying.

"Maybe she lost them working the boys at the trailer park!"

"Isn't that what her mom does?"

Vicki and the ghouls laughed again. They knew her mom worked as a psychologist. Despite not making sense, the insults still upset her.

Almost to the path leading onto her street, she couldn't get there fast enough. Tamyra wished she had the nerve to stand up to their bullying. Understanding she wouldn't, she put her energy into hobbling faster.

"Yep, Trailer-Trash mother-daughter team doing the trailer park."

"And they're so bad they end up having to pay their johns back with everything they've got. Including the shirts off their backs!"

She no longer cared that tears rolled freely down her cheeks as she emerged onto her street. Between the musty stench of the bag, the insults and the throbbing pain in her foot, she didn't think she'd make it passed the three houses she had to.

"Tamyra? What's going on? Baby, are you alright?"

The second her mother spoke the laughter died behind her and she heard the bullies slinking off.

"Mom, help me!"

Before the words left her lips, Karen Costa closed the gap between them. Tamyra slumped into her mother's arms, momentarily forgetting her pain. Sobs wracked her body. Her mother spoke to her and rubbed her shoulders, while guiding her home.

Once inside their house, her mother gently led her towards the couch, passed by it and pulled out a dining room chair for her. As Tamyra sat down a whoosh of moldy air met her nostrils and she understood why her mother didn't seat her on the couch.

"What happened?"

Her mother's gaze fell to Tamyra's foot.

"Baby, why don't you take that filthy thing off and wrap up in the couch blanket? I'll get some peroxide and bandages for your foot."

Tamyra peeled off the paper sack, vaguely aware as she moved. She stopped herself from flopping down on the couch and removed the blanket from the back of it. She seated herself back on the chair. Her mother returned with full hands and bent down to look at her bloody foot.

"You don't need to do that, mom. I can feel it, it's already healed."

"So weird. Not like when you were little and I used to patch you up," her mom said with a sigh. "OK. We both know the story of you being chased home in a leaf bag starts with you being a werewolf growing into your new abilities. How about instead of every outing ending like this, you agree maybe moving to your aunt Kiki's is a good idea."

"Ending like what, mom?"

"Quite frequently with you outside naked and of course with crying."

"I don't always end-up crying. There was that one time..."

"Oh honey. I know you don't want to leave your friends behind."

"It's my senior year!"

"I know starting over is hard."

"Hard? I've been here my whole life."

"Once the wolf genes showed, you knew things were going to be different."

"Great. So not only do I get to be a full-moon-freak, but now I get to be a friendless full-moon-freak?"

"There are other kids in Shiver Cove."

"Yeah, and?"

"And you can make new friends."

Tamyra fought to not allow sorrow to overcome her again. She knew her mom was right. Things would be so much better to have secluded woods to roam and no worries of being caught.

"Please think about it. Your aunt Kiki owns an entire forest. No more waking up in neighbor's yards and wondering if you've eaten their cherished pets. I know your friends mean a lot to you and how hard making new friends can be, as shy as you are."

"You're still convinced leaving the city was the best thing Aunt Kiki did at my age?"

"Yes, I am. And you wouldn't be going to live with strangers, like she did. I can't guide you the way your aunt can. Genetics are a funny thing, skipping me and then branding wolf on you. I'm so sorry this has been passed to you through our family. I'm sure your aunt Kiki's first hand insight will help better than I can."

For the first time it occurred to Tamyra, her mother would also be leaving behind friends.

"Mom, you'd give it all up for me? Your job, your friends, this house?"

"Without a second thought."

"It really helped your sister that much?"

"You know my thoughts on this. Please, just think about moving to Shiver Cove."

Chapter 3

Shiver Cove. Shiver Cove. The name echoed in her mind. So, the wolf was going to take Toronto away from her too, eh?

She turned the tap and waited for the water to warm before dropping the couch blanket. Tamyra stepped into the tub and flipped the shower on.

She absently ran soapy hands over her skin. In her fog she barely noticed remnants of her last change, a couple leaves and a small clod of dirt, rinsing down the drain. She turned her back to the spray and let the water caress her.

For the millionth time she asked; "Why me?"

Genetics. Rotten, nasty, genetics. Some people got big noses, others got the shortness gene, but not Tamyra. Nope. Genetics hadn't cursed her with anything seemingly so simple. Lycanthropy. Grrrrr. She shook her head and suppressed the growl, fighting the wolf reaction.

Why couldn't her father's genetics have been dominant? As soon as she thought of him, she slid to the bottom of the tub. Tamyra brought her knees to her chest and slumped around them with her arms. She felt her eyes burning again and figured why not let go? Maybe because no one could see her now, the tears refused to fall.

Bad enough the mean girls called her names. Why did they have to bring up her Dad? The biggest price tag of her curse.

As the water pattered her skin she allowed her mind to take her back to the last time she saw her Dad.

They were out celebrating. Her report card came in perfect, her grades the highest in the school he was principle at. His face beamed and he kept saying how proud he was all night. Despite Mom not being able to join them, dinner was amazing. They talked and laughed and stuffed themselves with great food.

Dinner ended and during the drive home she felt strange. Her skin tingled. At one point, for the tiniest instant, passing headlights washed over her and she glimpsed her reflection. For as long as it took her to blink, her eyes glowed with eerie golden animal eye-shine.

But it had to be nothing. Even though she knew about the curse, she never truly believed she could become a werewolf. She spent hours thinking about how cool and then how awful the werewolf genes would be, but in her imagination it never afflicted her.

As she pushed off the notion anything was happening, she watched the hair on her right arm grow darker, courser and much fuller. Tamyra gulped and drew her arm out of her father's sight. Her eyes flicked to him, yet he seemed unaware.

Fur. Her right arm sprouted fur. WEREWOLF! Reality smashed into her. She should've been prepared for this. Nothing could've prepared her for this.

In a terrified voice she barely recognized, she screamed; "Stop the car!"

Her dad hit the brakes and the car jerked. On instinct, Tamyra threw her right hand against the dashboard to brace herself.

The look of horror as her dad's gaze found her furry arm branded deep within her. He gasped; "Real?! It's all real?"

"Help me, Dad!" she pleaded.

"Werewolves. Real werewolves." His voice now hardly a whisper.

The skin on her face burned as something cracked in her nose. A snout started to form. More fur bristled along her other arm. Tamyra's body shook as much from fear as pain. "Please, dad. What..." her voice choked off in a ragged growl.

Her father drew his head down as if pulling into himself. He muttered constantly, but the only word she could pick out was "werewolves."

Terror threatened to drown her, as her muscles twisted and contorted. Agony reigned. What had her mother said? "If you feel the change, you need to get to a secluded place."

Tamyra's throat felt worse than a round of strep. She barked out "Forest" and prayed her father would understand her. If he heard her, he gave no indication. A loud keening noise escaped her. It sounded more canine than human.

The seams of her jeans gave way as her thighs bulged. Tamyra cried out and flung an appendage, more resembling a paw than a hand, on her father's arm.

His head snapped up and he immediately recoiled from her touch. Slamming his back against the door, his face hid nothing of his terror and disgust. He fumbled for a moment and then his fingers found the large silver cross dangling from his neck. "Back demon!" he called, brandishing it at her.

Her body strained to become something else. Tortured flesh screamed. Fright and hurt mingled as she begged her father one last time for help. "Please."

Martin Costa, instead, whipped open the door and fled. Tamyra's eyes blurred with tears as her muzzle surged forward and her lupine teeth rammed out her human ones. As her teeth washed away in a torrent of drool, she heard a car brake hard and her father's yell of; "I'm OK" and knew she never would be again.

Somehow the wind kicked the door shut and the bang of it startled her so badly the wolf retreated. There was no other explanation. It just retreated. Fur retracted along with her snout. For the most part there was little pain, aside from new human teeth pushing out the lupine ones. The change swept back from her so rapidly she hardly realized she spat out more loose teeth.

Once she was sure she completely reverted, she risked peering into the rearview. She looked no different. Somehow she should look different. She recalled peeling back her lips to reveal her chipped front tooth had been replaced with a perfect new one, but that was it. Even her heart had slowed almost to normal. A handful of human and wolf teeth, along with her abandonment were all that remained.

Not a single word from him since that night. She ground her teeth and tried to cry for the loss of her Dad. Still no waterworks would fall.

Shiver Cove. Maybe she wasn't just losing Toronto and leaving all of her friends. Her mother hadn't been much help with the change regardless of how hard she tried. Her aunt had dealt with her own werewolf affliction since before Tamyra had been born and she had all that property. Real forest surrounding her house. Tamyra drew air in deeply. Shiver Cove.

Chapter 4

Tamyra tipped her head back against the headrest. Her puffy hair didn't let her head lean fully back. She closed her eyes and let the warm air caress her face. She wanted to stop thinking, still nagged by the uncertainty of her decision.

Mom quit her job, sold the house and sent their stuff ahead. Too late now for second thoughts.

"Mom, I..."

Even with her eyes closed, she could sense her mother looking at her. Tamyra opened her eyelids, confirming her mom watched from of the corner of her eye.

"I've seen that look cross your face a hundred times these last two months. You made the right decision."

"What if I don't make friends?"

"Then you've still got me and aunt Kiki. You won't be alone."

"Yeah, I know. I'm glad I've got you two, don't get me wrong. I can't imagine going through all this alone, but..."

"But we aren't teenagers."

"Well, yeah."

"You're bound to make friends. This won't be like Toronto. Country kids'll be different, nicer. Not like that fat rotten blonde and her friends."

"Thanks for reminding me. Vicki and her ghouls are one of the few things I'm grateful to leave behind."

"See? It's not all bad. I think we'll both like it here."

Her mom pointed out the windshield to a green highway sign announcing 'Welcome to: Shiver Cove and Shiver Hills, Population: 20,000'.

"Twenty thousand people. How many do you think are in high school?"

"I'm not sure baby. I know there's only one high school in town."

"Really?"

"Hey, if you see any cute boys you won't be wondering what school they go to. Oh this is our exit. I'm excited to see our new home, aren't you?"

She thought about her mom bending over backwards to make this move happen and forced a smile.

"Sure, mom."

Her mom guided the car down the off ramp and her smile became genuine. She spied the first building, the mall. A large sign out front proclaimed 'Shiverton Mall'.

"Planning to spend my hard earned money?"

"You promised I could get some new clothes for my new school."

"Oh look, your new school is almost right across the street from the mall."

"Maybe this town won't be so bad after all."

"Now you're getting into the spirit of things."

"What kind of town did you bring me to mom? There's a daycare attached to the high school!"

"Oh, you're terrible! It's not for the high school kids to drop their kids off! Funny girl! I read the booklet for your elective course choices and the high school kids get credits for helping out at the daycare."

"It was worth a try to get you going."

Karen Costa braked at a stop sign and fished a piece of paper out of her purse. She turned the paper over and mumbled to herself as she read. Tamyra took the opportunity to look around a little.

A coffee shop and a bank sat on the corner. A tattoo parlor decorated the corner across the street. She turned her neck and looked back up the road; the high school was still visible. A coffee shop in walking distance from her new school. Right on.

"My chicken scratch says we go left here and then right when the road ends at the cemetery."

She thought about pointing out the tattoo parlor within walking distance of the school and then thought better of it. Mom pulled the car ahead and turned left. To the right lay a couple of apartment buildings, but not much else to see.

"Yay, Cemetery!"

"There's a phrase you don't hear everyday."

"Smarty-pants."

Their vehicle slowed to a rolling stop and turned right. Tamyra caught sight of a church. The end of the church's parking lot met a dark pine forest. In sync, she and her mother drew in a deep breath.

"Too bad about those apartment buildings over there." Her mom wrinkled her nose.

"I kind of like it, the contrast between country and city. It's neat and it's not so different than home."

"Well baby, I think we're home now."

The car crawled as they entered a dirt driveway and stopped. Directly ahead of them leered one of the creepiest, run down mansions she ever laid eyes on. Her stomach shrunk into a tight little ball as her eyes roamed the derelict house. It couldn't be aunt Kiki's place, it just couldn't.

Some time ago the house had been painted white or cream. The elements had since worn away much of the paint and tainted what remained. Gray and brown stains covered parts of the exterior. A dead tree leaned against the siding on the right side. Dead and blackened veins of what could have been ivy clung to the structure.

The sound of crinkling paper made her shiver. For some reason her mind drew an image of an evil face over the house. A smashed window on the ground floor made her think of a missing tooth. Tamyra pressed further into her seat. She knew she wouldn't last one night in the haunted looking dump.

Mom interrupted her thoughts. "OK, so we should be looking for a hidden driveway. It's somewhere on our left."

"You mean that isn't aunt Kiki's?" the air whooshed out of her in relief.

"Oh heavens no! No wonder you look like you've seen a ghost, you thought we were staying THERE?"

"You did say you thought we were home."

She looked out the back window to hide her embarrassment.

"Oh look. We passed right by your hidden driveway. See it beyond the trunk."

Her mom reversed, passed the laneway and then pulled forward into it.

"It's OUR hidden driveway. Don't look so worried baby. Your aunt Kiki told me her place is wonderful."

Trees loomed tall on both sides of them. Tamyra ogled as the house came into view.

Huge and beautiful, a plantation styled home. Large white columns ran down from a balcony spanning the whole upper floor. A massive porch seemed to wrap around the entire house. The gray stone outside of the house appeared very old but well maintained.

If Tamyra didn't know the house had been built a couple of years ago, she wouldn't have believed it. A grassy area surrounded the house and at its edge the forest began. Totally hidden away from the rest of town.

"We can get our things later. Come on."

She got out of the car and followed her mom up a couple of steps and onto the porch. From her elevated spot she noticed the private beach and lake. This would be an amazing place to live. Not forgetting her werewolf troubles, but not wanting to spoil the moment she focused on the other positive things; fresh pine-scented air, their own beach, no neighbors, no screaming sirens at night. She smiled when Aunt Kiki emerged from the house.

"I'm so glad to see you like the place. Come here, give Auntie a hug!"

Tamyra felt relieved when her mom stepped into her aunts waiting arms. She hadn't seen her in such a long time, it would be strange to hug her.

"Kiki, you look fantastic and your home is amazing."

"You haven't even had the tour yet."

The sisters broke apart from their embrace. Tamyra sized them up as they stood next to each other. A remarkable resemblance between the sisters.

Although Kiki stood a few inches taller, they both had the same voluptuous build. Hourglass figure is what her mom always said. Tamyra knew she already sported the beginnings of the same build. Kiki's skin looked lighter than her mom's, closer to the caramel color of her own skin.

Their clothing really set them apart though. Mom in her conservative walking shorts and blouse, Kiki in a wild lime green dress.

"Well come on ladies! Let me take you on a tour of your new home!"

Chapter 5

The sun warmed Tamyra's skin. Life couldn't be much better than having a week to lounge on the beach before school started. She rolled over onto her stomach and sipped some water. The sun had leeched the cold from it. Good thing she hadn't chosen to bring cola.

She brought a lunch size cooler down to the beach with her, and the remaining water inside would be refreshing and cold. Except, she dropped the cooler in the shade, about ten feet away and felt too lazy to get up.

She picked her book up, from its place on the blanket next to her, and thumbed open to her bookmark. A romance novel she read near half of. She picked it up yesterday knowing she wouldn't have to concentrate too hard to follow along.

With only a week to go until she started her new school, Tamyra struggled with focusing on any one thing for long. Anxiety was her constant companion. She knew in her heart it wouldn't be the end of the world if she didn't make any friends, but she fretted constantly she would spend her senior year alone.

Her mind started running scenarios once again of first conversations and trying to talk to strangers. Her chest tightened and breathing felt unnatural. She hated her shyness. Kiki seemed to have no problem talking to anyone about anything. Tamyra wished she could be that way too.

A splashing sound drew her attention to the lake. She lowered her book slightly and peeked over it. A person, paddling on some type of surfboard, headed her way. With the sun reflecting off the surface, she couldn't tell much about the person.

She could see the board better. A dark patch appeared between the board and rider. A sail, maybe? Definitely a sail. The downed sail looked folded up, but part of it trailed behind the board in the water.

As the person swung a leg over and slipped off the side of the board, male attributes became obvious. The water came just below his armpits and she believed his feet touched bottom. He splashed toward the beach and kept moving closer as he towed the board along behind him.

All too conscious of her bikini, she pretended to scratch an itch on her shoulder, blocking his view of her figure. The intrusion at her family's private beach annoyed her.

"Hi there!" he said with a wave.

"Hi." She squeaked.

Submerged only to his knees and not slowing down. He shouldn't have been there. She tried to calm herself, figuring she could make it to the house if he tried anything funny.

"How are you?" he asked, as he stepped out of the water.

"OK."

Her belly flopped. He stopped at the water's edge and she prayed he wouldn't come any closer. She felt naked in her skimpy bathing suit.

She watched as liquid ran from his shorts onto the sand. With the sun at his back, she found it hard to really tell what he looked like. Lean and muscular, like a pro basketball player. She couldn't tell how tall from her angle. She swept her eyes up his frame and settled where shaggy hair dusted his shoulders.

"I'm Salem, actually just Sal. You must be Tamara, right?"

She relaxed a little when he spoke her name. She liked the sound of his voice. Manly and soft.

"Tamyra." She corrected.

"Sorry, I knew that. Unusual name. Nice though."

"Thanks." The word escaped her in barely more than a whisper.

She watched as Sal dragged his board on shore. Catching glimpses of his profile, she decided they were about the same age. She tried to think of something to say. Her mind drew blanks on her. She hated how she always got nervous around new people and clammed up.

Relieved of the board, he slowly walked a bit closer to her and peered at her hands.

"Good book?"

"Yeah."

She now had a clear view of Sal. He looked like a stereotypical California surfer dude. Shoulder length dark blonde hair, a deep tan and blue eyes. His thin nose seemed a tad long for his face but overall he looked hot.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you. Kiki always lets me use her beach when I go out windsurfing. You, uh, ever been windsurfing?"

"No."

"I was planning to tan for a bit before I packed it in and called it a day. Do you mind?"

She bit her lip and shook her head. She couldn't manage words. A cute guy wanted to tan on her beach.

"Wow. Now I'm wondering if I really am bothering you."

He gave her a sly unsure smile, apparently waiting for her to say he wasn't really bothering her.

"You're not."

As soon as the words left her lips, she felt stupid she hadn't said more. She knew one word answers closed conversations, but her nerves wouldn't allow for more.

"Not much of a talker, are you, huh?"

She felt heat in her cheeks and wondered if he could tell she blushed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you. Your aunt warned me you're painfully shy and here I am making you uncomfortable. I have a habit of saying really dumb things, especially around pretty girls. I'm sorry. I'll leave."

Pretty girls? He thinks I'm pretty? Oh no, I've scared him off.

"Don't go." As the words tumbled out of her mouth she almost wondered if someone else had spoken them.

"You don't have to feel bad, it's OK. Besides, I'm really thirsty. I should head home."

He turned his attention back to his windsurfing equipment. He disconnected the sail and strapped it onto the board. In her head she groaned. She'd blown it. Leaving because she acted weird and cold. If she kept this up she would spend her senior year with no friends.

"I have some water over there."

"Huh?"

"I brought water."

She ground her teeth. The words sounded lame. She wondered why she couldn't have said something cooler. Instead of looking at her like she had two heads, he grinned. Her face muscles pulled her lips up, infected by his smile. She nodded and pointed at the cooler.

He took his eyes off her and followed the imaginary trail from her finger. Spotting the cooler, he strolled over to it. He flipped open the lid and pulled out a plastic bottle.

"Thanks."

He cracked the top and drained half the bottle in one gulp, then stopped his guzzling and gave her a guilt filled look.

"I guess I should've offered to get you one, huh? Um, want one?"

"Please."

"You're gonna have to do better than that if you want me to get you one."

"Sorry?"

"If you want me to get you a water and stick around for a bit, you're gonna have to give me more than one word answers."

She felt creases forming on her forehead and knew she must look terrified. Sal smirked, then turned to grab another bottle. She tried to run through some things to talk to this boy about, but as always, words abandoned her.

"I'm not so bad you know. You got a scared look on your face right now. The kinda look that someone gets right before they have to give a speech at school. Sorry if I freaked you out. How about I do most of the talking and you try your best not to give me one word answers?"

"OK."

Awkward laughter bubbled from Tamyra as he walked towards her. She felt weird lying down with him coming near, so she rolled over and sat up. She considered sitting cross-legged for a second, but figured it wouldn't be a good idea in her suit. Instead she kept her legs together and pushed them out in front of her.

"We're off to a great start, aren't we? The less you give, the more I'm babbling."

Sal stretched out his hand with the bottle in it. Her mouth felt dry. She doubted thirst had anything to do with it. She took it from him with a shy smile.

"Thank-you."

"Look, I appreciate the water and again I'm sorry for crashing in on you. I'm just gonna get going."

She had to say something or lose him. Without allowing herself a chance to think, she said; "Don't go. I'm not trying to be a snob. I get really nervous around new people and can't talk."

Her face burned and she looked down at her light blue toenails.

"Sorry. I didn't..."

"How about you stop saying sorry and I'll try saying something."

She still couldn't look at him, yet she patted the blanket next to her. Seconds agonized by in what felt like an eternity. She detected the faint coconut odor of his suntan lotion and then she felt him sit down next to her.

Chapter 6

Tamyra's heart bumped like the beats in a heavy rap song when she glanced at Sal waiting for her. He looked like a model when he smiled, not a hair out of place and perfect white teeth. She gave a lame wave and gapped the distance between them.  
"You ready for this? First day at big bad S.C. High could be pretty scary."  
Sal must have registered the look of terror on her face as he quickly recovered with; "Sorry. That was dumb. You'll be fine. I'll intro you to all my friends and they'll lo..." the 've' dangled, unspoken, in the air before he mumbled; "like you as much as I do."  
She flicked her gaze to the ground so he wouldn't see her shock. He almost said he loved her. She felt fire rush across her cheeks and hoped he couldn't see her blushing.  
"Come on. We don't want to be late for your first day."  
When she looked up, he moved a step ahead of her. She couldn't see his face but something made her wonder if his cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red than hers.

*-*-*

Sal wished her luck outside the office door. It saddened her to know they wouldn't be in any classes together. Not even the same lunch. The fact that he asked her to meet all his friends later at some pizza place took the edge off a little. Still, without really knowing anyone, today would be hard.

"Meet me after school near those steps where we came in and we'll walk home together."

"Sounds good. I better get this over with."

"Like I said, it won't be so bad. You've already done the registration stuff. The school tour'll be a breeze. Besides, it's just a formality and most kids leading the tour flake on it. I can show you around later." A sweet smile lit up his face.

Tamyra glanced at her watch and winced.

"I was supposed to be signed in for my tour three minutes ago. I better get going."

"Catch you later."

"Bye."

Sal started to walk away and then slowed. Before disappearing, he called back over his shoulder "You'll be fine. You're going to like it here."

Tamyra placed her hand on the doorknob to the office and inhaled deeply. Letting herself breath out, she swung the door open and stepped inside.

The grey paint of the inner office made it feel large and clinical. Directly in front of Tamyra sat a pleasant thirty-something woman with long dark curly hair. As the woman hung up the phone, she noticed Tamyra.

"Good morning. You must be Tamyra Costa."

"Yes Ma'am."

"If you're wondering how I know who you are, you're the only new student this year that isn't coming from middle school and they had the tour last year."

"Oh, thanks. Um, sorry I'm late."

"Late? Well aren't you just so sweet. Now dear, I'd hardly call a minute late. No worries. Besides, I have a funny feeling Bianca will actually be late, if she shows up at all. You may as well have a seat while you wait."

The secretary, whose nameplate said 'Mrs. Winter', motioned to a group of chairs along the wall. Grey padded vinyl, connected underneath by a metal bar. Like the seating in her old doctor's office. A moment of mourning took her as she realized she would probably never see that doctor again.

*-*-*

Tamyra had been listening to Mrs. Winter, for about forty-five minutes, chatting all about her experiences in Toronto when the office door opened. An overweight girl with greasy brown hair trotted in as if she owned the place. Tamyra felt her guts squirm. The girl looked so much like her old tormentor, she could have been Vicki's sister.

"Oh good. How nice you finally decided to show up, Bianca."

Tamyra realized the secretary's previous warmth disappeared as she addressed the new arrival.

"Whatever. I'm here."

"Tamyra, on behalf of the school I'm apologizing now for Bianca. Showing new students around the school is a punishment for her and not a decision I had anything to do with. Bianca, you better take this seriously and treat Tamyra with more respect than your own grandmother."

"No probs, Ms. W, I never liked my grandmother anyway."

"Bianca, I mean it! You better do a good job."

"Like I said, no probs. Me and Tammy here is gonna be bestest buddies."

Before Tamyra had time to correct her name, Bianca snaked an arm around her pretending to truly be best friends and tugged her towards the office door. She continued to pull her out into the hallway. Fortunately as soon as the door fell shut behind them, Bianca dropped her arm.

"Ok, I may have been given this job 'cause I got caught copying someone's test answers, but I really do like meeting new people. Where'd you say you moved her from?"

"Oh. I didn't."

"Yeah, OK, so where'd ya move from and how possessed were you to move here?"

"Toronto."

"You lived in Toronto and you let your parents tear you out of there to come to our lousy town?"

"Mom thought..."

"I hear ya, only they never really do. They just make us do whatever they want. What grade you in anyhow?"

Bianca sprayed when she talked. Tamyra took a step back from her as a buffer, but not before she noticed the not-so-fine line of dark hair above Bianca's top lip.

"Twelve." Tamyra muttered, surprised she hadn't missed a beat.

"Same as me. Oh damn! Your parents made you move for your last year? That sucks. Say, when'd you move to town?"

"Just over a week ago."

"Well in just over a week you managed to land yourself in with a good crowd. I'll introduce you to my girls later."

Girls... ghouls. Just what she needed.

As they talked they walked along. Bianca slowed a little to point.

"Oh yeah, that's the library and there's the cafe, but why anyone would go to either I'll never know. We always go to the mall for lunch. Only niners and losers hang in the cafe."

"Oh, OK." Tamyra said, even as she thought 'whatever'.

Tamyra snuck a peek into the cafe, hoping to see Sal. She knew he had class, but he mentioned sometimes he liked to sit in the cafe and draw. No such luck.

"Don't worry I won't let you embarrass yourself."

"Thanks."

"No probs. Hey, we've pretty much seen everything we need to. Come on, let's go hack a butt."

"Pardon?"

"Never heard that one, huh? Smoke. Let's go smoke."

"I don't smoke."

"Well, I guess it's time to start then, huh?"

Panic seeped into her blood and made her tingle with anxiety. Getting off to a bad start with Bianca terrified her, but she had no intention of smoking. She would rather die than have to face another round of bullying. Thinking about how hard Vicki and her ghouls had made things for her, she seriously considered the cigarette for a moment.

"Relax, would ya? I'm kidding. 'Sides, I only have three butts left and I ain't share'n. Anyway, I gotta get you to your first class or my ass is toast. Where's your class thingy?"

Tamyra fished around in her pocket and brought out a folded slip of paper. Bianca snapped it out of her hand, unfolded the sheet and stared at it for a minute. Angry lines creased her forehead and Bianca's anger felt almost tangible. The look quickly changed to a smirk, making Tamyra even more uncomfortable. As Bianca's eyes lifted from the paper to Tamyra's face she felt like a tiny wounded bird being sighted by a hungry giant cat.

"You're take'n all advanced classes. You smart or something?"

"I guess." Tamyra didn't like where this was going.

"That's great. Now me and the girls got someone to do, I mean help us, with our homework."

"I guess I can help."

"You guess? Now is that anyway to treat your new bestest buddies?"

"I don't mind helping."

"That's good. Real good. You'll be a big help, I'm sure. Now, I better get you to class. Right there, three doors down."

Bianca handed the schedule back to Tamyra. She took it and stuffed it back in her pocket. Bianca's smile unnerved her, so she turned to go.

"Thanks for the tour."

"No probs. See you around Tammy."

As Bianca headed away down the hall and she barely managed to whisper; "It's Tamyra."

Chapter 7

Tamyra peeked through the little window into her classroom and groaned. Class had started a while ago and the teacher gestured wildly as she explained something at the front of the class. Great. No blending in here. It seemed no matter what, she would be the center of attention. Better to just get it over with.

She opened the door and stepped inside. From the hall she spotted an empty desk in the front row, near the door. She gently shut the door and bee-lined for it. The teacher didn't hesitate in her rant for a moment. By the time Tamyra settled into the empty seat she knew Shakespeare had inspired the passion in her new teacher.

She knew the words but couldn't remember which play until she spied a copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream held open by the girl next to her. The girl, fair skinned with long strawberry blonde curls, didn't hesitate at all and leaned over toward Tamyra with the book so they could share.

"Thanks." Tamyra whispered.

*-*-*

For the next hour Tamyra followed the story along in the red head's outstretched book. She tried not to stare at the kind stranger. She didn't want to make her feel weird about being so nice.

She had large blue-green eyes and great big freckles splattered over her nose and chubby cheeks. Pretty in an innocent way. Not fat, not skinny either, the kind of build a mom would call healthy. Tamyra thought she would be better suited to the type of clothing the characters in the play used to wear rather than her trendy outfit.

Tamyra already had a feeling they would be friends, even if the girl had yet to say a word.

The bell cut the teacher off and the noise of shifting chairs began. People scampered through the door and vanished into the hall within seconds.

"Tamyra Costa, I presume?" the teacher asked.

"Yes Ma'am, that's me."

"Nice to meet you Miss Costa. Welcome. Oh and Sandi, thank-you for sharing your book like that. It was very nice of you."

"Yeah, sure."

The red head, Sandi, had just finished gathering her stuff into her backpack. Tamyra wanted to say something but tripped over her own tongue and mumbled; "Thanks."

"It's cool. I'm Sandi by the way. Sandi Anderson and please don't call me Sandi Andy, it really bugs me."

"No Sandi Andy, so long as you don't call me Tammy."

"It's a deal!" When Sandi smiled she covered her mouth as if embarrassed about her teeth or something.

Sandi started to walk away. Tamyra tried to come up with something witty to say, but settled for: "I'm not so sure where my next class is, would you mind helping me?"

"Yeah, sure. Let me see your timetable."

Tamyra already had it in her hand and passed it to the other girl. Sandi studied it for a moment and grinned with her mouth closed.

"Your next class is near mine and you're in my law class this afternoon. Too bad about gym, but I'm pretty sure it's the same class my best friend, Yvonne, is in. First day been alright so far?"

"Do I look that scared?"

Both girls giggled. Sandi had a calming presence and Tamyra found herself relaxing.

"Maybe a little scared, but I'm sure that's just leftover from your new-kid tour with Bianca this morning."

"My new bestest buddy, you mean?"

"Oh, I can't believe she tried that with you. What did she want from you? She want you to do her homework, or was it drive her around, or was she trying for cold hard cash? Don't worry about her. She's more bark than bite anyways or maybe she's just a female dog. You get the picture though."

"Great. Now how do I avoid all that?"

"You won't need to avoid her. She'll give up trying to push you around pretty quick. Besides, there's a whole new batch of grade nines for her to bully."

"I sure hope you're right. There was this girl Vicki where I used to live and I'm telling you they could be sisters. Only thing is Vicki never gave up."

"No worries about Bianca, but you better get to Mr. Alderman's chemistry class 'cause he freaks out when students are late. Come on, I'll take you."

The rest of her day passed uneventfully. She took a quiet lunch alone. She and Sandi sat together in law class, but didn't get a chance to talk much. During her gym class she tried to figure out who Yvonne was and had her choices narrowed down to four girls by the end it. The best part of her day happened when she walked down the steps at the end of it and as promised, Sal waited to walk her home.

Chapter 8

Tamyra threw a third top onto the growing heap on her bed. She buzzed with excitement. Tonight Sal offered to take her to meet his friends for pizza. As they walked home, she discovered Sandi Anderson happened to be one of Sal's closest friends and would be there tonight. Sandi's sweet disposition made her feel at ease. Her presence would help quell the storm in Tamyra's stomach.

Meeting his friends seemed huge. Unless he only saw her as another friend. Then again just making friends amazed her. She wanted to look perfect. She tried a purple t-shirt and decided the color seemed too regal. Shucking it onto the bed she poked her head back into her closet hoping to find something better.

A lime green top hung in the closet and she didn't recognize it. It still had tags. Taking a closer look, she noticed her size on the label. She wondered whether her mom or her aunt bought it as she took the hanger down from the rack. Holding it up she could tell it would be a perfect fit and the colour looked fantastic against her caramel skin.

She yanked the tags off and pulled the shirt over her head. Still smoothing it out, Tamyra stepped up to her full-length mirror and smiled. She had found the perfect shirt to wear tonight. She'd have to remember later to ask who bought it and thank them.

She sprayed her hair once more and tried to flatten it a little. Normally she liked the puffy slightly afro look, but today she wasn't feeling it so much. Maybe because she hadn't seen anyone else in town with hair like hers. That didn't feel right either. She hated when she fell into a fussy mood. Her hair looked the same as always. Probably just nerves or worrying about trying too hard.

She had about ten more minutes before Sal would be around to pick her up. Tamyra still couldn't believe her luck in meeting him the way she did. If she hadn't have met him alone, a week before school, she doubted she would've had a chance to get to know him so well. Let alone be meeting his friends.

This move had shaped up to be not so terrible. She still missed her old neighborhood, friends and home, but Shiver Cove appeared to be turning out much better than she'd ever hoped. Now if only she had a way to find out if Sal liked her as much as she liked him. She kind of liked the giddy nervous way he made her feel. Not the same as talking in class nervous. Not embarrassing, more of an excited or hopeful flutter.

She grinned, pondering the mystery of Sal. He called everyday at least once and they chatted for hours, but he remained hard to read. He stopped by everyday the week before school started, but then they were using the beach and he did that before she came along. He made a point of walking to and from school with her and now he wanted her to meet his friends. Part of her worried he only wanted to be friends, while the rest of her hoped he noticed her too. She tried to tell herself the confusion wasn't so bad, soon enough she would know, but secretly it was killing her. She never wanted a boyfriend until Sal, and the feelings seemed alien to her.

Hearing the doorbell, her stomach fluttered along with her heart. She did one last check in the mirror before she thumped down the stairs to meet him. She pulled open the door and couldn't help but let a smile take over when she saw him.

Sal looked more like a model than a surfer tonight. He wore a plain black button down shirt with a pair of khakis. An average outfit, but the way he wore it made it look fantastic. Somehow the clothes complimented his shoulder length sandy blonde hair and took him from surfer to flawlessly styled. She flushed when she realized his eyes roamed up and down, taking her all in.

"Hey. Nice shirt. The color. I guess that's kinda lame, huh? What I mean is, it looks perfect on you."

"Thanks."

"So, you nervous?"

"Yeah. I mean, I hope your friends are nice. But I'm afraid I'll say something really stupid or not be able to say anything at all."

"You'll be fine. I already know you're going to fit right in."

She felt her forehead crease as she wondered what he meant. She stepped onto the porch, turned to close the door, hoping he didn't notice her puzzled expression. He didn't say anything as they walked down the steps. Her heart bumped into her throat when his hand brushed hers. For a second she thought he might wrap his hand around hers, but then the moment passed.

The walk from her place had been nice and she didn't want to give up her alone time with Sal, even to meet his friends. She reluctantly followed him inside the pizzeria. The smell of tomatoes, fresh bread and garlic reminded her she skipped dinner and suddenly she felt famished.

The pizza place sort of reminded her of an oldies pizza joint. Sort of. Posters on the walls of kids in poodle skirts and bobby socks with old fancy cars. A faux antique jukebox belted out an oldies tune from one corner. In spite of the polished chrome throughout the designer had missed recapturing the oldies feel, perhaps its shadow but not the full deal. It would have been sad, except the place had a warm atmosphere and teenage chatter filled her ears. Much busier than she would've expected for a Tuesday night.

Sal led the way to a table near the back. He slid into a booth with four other teens and grinned as he gently patted the seat next to him. Tamyra sat down, tried bury her nerves and look comfortable through the introductions.

Next to Sal sat Sandi Anderson, much to Tamyra's relief. Sandi leaned against a boy next to her. Someone told Tamyra his name, Cam. He was Asian and looked about Sandi's height. Soft dark eyes and a genuine smile, it wasn't hard to see what Sandi saw in him.

The next person sitting in the booth was someone introduced as Val. She wasn't sure why his friends called him Val. In one of her classes the teacher had called him Ivan. Could've been some inner circle thing, she didn't know.

He looked a few inches taller than Sal or Cam. Although all three had athletic builds, he seemed broader across the shoulders than the others. He didn't smile but his expression seemed friendly. He had clear blue eyes and a mess of blonde hair deliberately spiked in every which direction. She felt something intense about his gaze, even from behind his glasses.

The last person in the booth smiled. A tiny girl with blonde hair to her shoulders. Tamyra didn't recall seeing her in gym class even though she looked for her. Because of how different she appeared from Sandi, Tamyra wouldn't have even thought this girl could be Yvonne. Hard to picture the two girls as best friends. Even from the small amount of conversation, Tamyra easily discerned Yvonne's outgoing personality.

By the time the pizzas got to the table, Tamyra had impressed herself by managing to field all of their questions and even ask a few of her own.

She discovered this group of friends had known each other since grade school. She learned Sandi and Cam had been together for almost a year. She picked up other tidbits here and there. They called Ivan Val because of his last name, Valentine, and his father had something to do with the police. Yvonne had a pesky kid brother. Sandi ate pizza with a knife and fork because of her braces.

Despite everyone being close friends for years, she didn't feel like an outsider. They all went out of their way to make her feel as if she'd always hung out with them.

By the time she finished eating and excused herself to the ladies room, she felt pretty good. Like she could belong in Shiver Cove. On her way to the bathroom she caught herself humming and had to suppress a giggle. It had been a long time since she allowed herself to be so happy.

The restroom looked clean and luckily empty. Tamyra entered the first stall and shut the door as the door to the restaurant swung open.

"What's her name again? Tamara?" asked a female voice.

"Close enough. Just call her Tammy."

Chapter 9

Tamyra rolled her eyes. She knew the husky voice unmistakably belonged to Bianca. The girls must have seen her come into the washroom and followed. What could they possibly want? Being the first day of school, it wasn't like they needed help with homework.

She pondered the notion of faking sick for a second and winced at the idea of hiding while Sal waited. Just get it over with fast. Whatever they wanted couldn't be that bad, right?

As she finished up her business, she could hear the girls chatting about some cute boy and how this year he'd for sure be Bianca's boyfriend. She detected a faint smell of cigarette smoke before she opened the stall door.

Annoyed to have her suspicions confirmed when she finally exited the stall, she saw them smoking. In the cramped little room the smell overpowered her senses. She walked with her head down to the sink and prayed they would leave her alone.

She stretched out her hand to turn on the water and Bianca cleared her throat loudly. Putting on her best fake smile she turned, looking up at the girls.

"Hi."

"Don't "Hi" me. Dish. What do you know about him?" Bianca shot.

"Sorry, what? Him, who?" and even as the words left her lips she knew the name Bianca would say. Her stomach catapulted to the floor.

"Salem Crake. You know, the hottie you've been sitting with all night? Tell me everything. Better yet, get me in with him."

Tamyra couldn't find a single word. She looked blankly at the two puffing girls. Bianca's friend reminded her of a mouse. Stringy blonde hair and a heap of freckles. The shape of her nose and mouth made Tamyra think of a mouse's muzzle.

"What? You wanna smoke or some'n?" the mouse asked nervously.

"No. Thank-you."

"OK then why're you stare'n at me?"

"Sorry."

Bianca cut in; "Never mind all that. You gotta hook me up with Salem."

It felt as if someone held her head under water. The edges of her vision seemed to blur and she couldn't pull a coherent thought. She turned back to the sink and ran the water. Washing her hands in the coldest water possible, she tried to come up with something smart to say and get out of this predicament.

I think he's gay. I think that Yvonne girl is his girlfriend. He wouldn't like someone with more facial hair than him. She balked at the last one as she watched Bianca exhale blue. The little caterpillar of black fuzz above her lip seemed to be trying to crawl away from the smoke.

Tamyra shut the water off and started drying her hands with a paper towel. She wanted to be back in the booth with Sal and her potential new friends, away from this nightmare. The school bully asking to be set up with Tamyra's own crush.

"I only just met him."

"Yeah, so. In all the years I've gone to school with them, I've never once been invited to hang out with that group. It's your first freak'n day and there you are sitting with them, like you've always been here. I've liked that guy forever and now you can help me."

"I can?"

The question had been more to herself than Bianca, yet Bianca jumped on it.

"Of course you can. You're one of us now. One of my girls. And my girls help each other."

"Oh?"

"Well of course we do. You help me with this and I'll owe you big-time."

"Big-time?"

Tamyra couldn't help but think of how big-time messed up Bianca would make things if she caught on Tamyra had no intentions of helping her.

"Yeah, big-time. You really would be my new bestest buddy."

"Hey!" cried the mouse.

"Cram it Kelly-Ann. We both know how I feel about Salem."

"Hey B, what about bros before hos?"

"What about it? That's some stupid guy saying. Sides, it's not like you wouldn't still be my best friend. Tammy here would just be my bestest buddy, that's all. So what do you think Tammy? Can you work this for me?"

Bianca dropped her smoke and crushed it under her shoe. Kelly-Ann played copycat and mimicked Bianca butting out in the same manner.

"I um, I just met him."

"Yeah, you said that. So what? You're in, now get me in."

"You mean us? Right B? You mean get us in. You know I've always had my eye on that Ivan guy."

"Ivan and half the rest of the boys in town." Bianca chuckle-snorted.

"Hey." Kelly-Ann's face dropped to a pout.

"Kidding, girl. Relax. Of course I mean get us in. Just bring us back to your table and let me sit next to Salem. I can take it from there."

The nightmare evolved. She had to think of how to get out. She refused to bring this new Vicki anywhere near her new life. The door to the washroom swung in and Sandi peeked around the door.

"There you are. We worried you got sick after accidentally eating that bit of meat on your pizza."

"I'm OK."

"Great, then let's go. We're all leaving now."

Tamyra gathered up every tiny strand of courage within and looked over at Bianca and Kelly-Ann and said; "Gotta go, later girls."

She dived through the doorway and almost stepped on Sandi's heels as she left the restroom. She hadn't given the girls a chance to say anything. Once the door swiveled closed, she whispered "Thank-you."

"If I knew they were in there I would've come to get you sooner."

"Least I'm out now. Thanks again."

When Sandi and Tamyra arrived back at the table everyone else stood, ready to go. Cam handed Sandi her bag. Tamyra noticed the way their hands lingered on each other's. How sweet. She noticed Sal also watched Cam and Sandi coyly hold hands. Cam caught Sal's gaze and released Sandi's hand. His face turned slightly pink.

Bianca and Kelly-Ann walked up the hall towards the group. They stopped short, fidgeting, looking as if they couldn't quite figure out how to try and join in.

"Say, do you want me to drive you two?" Cam asked Sal.

"Um, I think we're good walking. I guess Tamyra can decide."

She could feel the heat in her face. Only part embarrassment, the other part from the hatred in Bianca's glare.

"Sure, we can walk."

"Alright. We're out. See you all tomorrow for another day in jail."

Everyone said their goodbyes and headed for the door. All the while Tamyra could sense Bianca's stare boring through to her bones. That moment she should have been ecstatic as Sal slipped his arm around her waist, but instead she felt her insides shrivel and dry up.

Chapter 10

Saturday morning, before Tamyra even opened her eyes, she had a big goofy grin on her face. She liked her new home, her new school, her new friends and her new hopefully soon-to-be boyfriend. Everything had been going so good... well almost everything.

She spent the week dodging Bianca and her friends. Fortunately aside from Kelly-Ann the mouse, it seemed Bianca only had one other friend. Tamyra didn't know her name but in her head she referred to the girl as 'Stumpy'. Stumpy looked almost as round as she was short and for some reason her pimply olive skin reminded Tamyra of tree bark.

Neither Mouse nor Stumpy had said a word to Tamyra, even when they had the chance. They just sort of lurked about outside her class one day, talking to each other and pointing. When she finally drew up the courage to stare them down, they moved on.

The sidekicks didn't really worry her too much without Bianca, and Tamyra went out of her way to avoid her.

The morning after she met Sal's friends at the pizza place had been pretty tense. She missed Bianca waiting near her locker until the bully jumped in her face. Tamyra felt bad when she saw the sad look Bianca wore. The look brought an image to her mind of a whipped dog. Up until the pitbull's rage bubbled to the surface. Sadness disappeared, chased off by anger.

Bianca stepped towards Tamyra and spoke within an inch of her face.

"You'd better stay away from him."

"Or what Bianca? You'll kiss her? Get the hell outta here, you fat loser!" Yvonne said.

Tamyra didn't know where she came from and didn't much care. Bianca flashed a nasty look Yvonne's way and then slunk off down the hall.

"Hey girl, you alright?

"Thanks. I'm OK."

"No worries. So, Old Sasquatch has the hots for Sal, huh? Nasty."

"I guess."

"No guessing, she's nasty. I mean would it kill her to bathe and wash the grease mat on her head? Hey, you sure you're OK?"

Yvonne's outspoken nature still surprised her, but she admired the girl nonetheless.

"Yeah, it's just, well, I thought I wouldn't have to deal with her type when we moved."

"Don't worry about her. She's more bark than bite anyhow."

"I think I'll just stay away... from HER that is."

For the rest of the week Tamyra managed to elude Bianca. She knew she couldn't go on dodging and hiding forever, but it seemed like a good way to handle things for now. Good thing Bianca ran a few brain cells short of actual thought. For once being in the smart classes paid off for Tamyra, not just made her mom happy.

*-*-*

Tamyra groaned and opened her eyes. It annoyed her Bianca was her first thought upon waking. Anything would be better than thinking about her.

She glanced about her new room. She tried to distract herself thinking how nice of aunt Kiki to revamp the former spare room for her. Apparently the room had been used for storage and had been plain beige.

Kiki had put a lot of work into transforming it into a teenager's room. The beige remained on three of the walls but the fourth one she painted a deep burgundy. The window opposite the dark wall had the same shade of shimmery organza curtains. The bedroom set, rich dark brown wood, had been bought new for her. Next to her four-poster bed stood what appeared to be a small wardrobe, but turned out to be a discreet entertainment unit with a hidden TV and stereo. The massive room also housed a dresser, two night tables and a hope chest.

Her favorite part of the room had to be the walk-in closet. She didn't have anywhere near enough clothing to fill it, but she loved the thought of trying. Thinking about the two new outfits and the new top her aunt randomly placed in there, she found herself smiling again.

She had to force Bianca out of her mind and enjoy her day. With no school and no plans to go out today, it should be easy. She wondered if the sun shined bright and if Sal would be windsurfing. He told her his mom needed help around the house today and he probably wouldn't get a chance to get out, but a girl could always hope.

After sitting up and taking a deep stretch, with her arms spread wide, Tamyra swung her bare feet onto the floor. She thought about maybe spending the day on the private beach with a good book when the landline rang. No one called her on that phone, so she ignored it and headed to the bathroom.

"Tamyra, you awake?!"

"Yes, Aunt Kiki!"

"Phone's for you, hon!"

"One sec!"

Her heart hopped. But then she realized Sal would call her cell, not the landline. Curious about who it could be, she made her way to the bedside table and picked up her cordless.

"I got it Aunt Kiki!"

"OK."

She heard the click of her aunt hanging up right before she said; "Hello?"

No one answered her.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Again, nothing.

"I can't hear you. Hello?"

Heavy breathing filled the line but the caller said nothing. She felt fear inching its way up her spine, the breathing creeped her out, making her feel watched.

"Someone there?"

"Sssssskank!" came through in a whispered hiss and then the quiet click of the caller disconnecting.

She couldn't be sure the voice belonged to Bianca or one of her friends, but they were the only real suspects. So much for putting Bianca out of her mind. Could've just been some kids. She could feel the fine hairs lying back down on her neck and arms and felt better, fear subsiding. She checked the caller i.d., but the number had been blocked.

Just kids. She wouldn't let this wreck her day. Even as she tried to convince herself, she remembered the person had to have asked aunt Kiki to speak with her. Great. Just great. Of all the guys, why did Bianca have to like Sal? So unfair! Why couldn't Bianca just leave them alone?

Tamyra kicked halfheartedly at the bedpost. Although upset and angry, she still had the sense to know she would be the only one hurt if she kicked hard enough.

The phone interrupted her self pity-party thoughts. She paused to listen for her aunt's inevitable call. A minute later it came.

"Tamyra, phone!"

"Tell them I'm busy!"

Another minute ticked by before her aunt yelled; "She says it's an emergency, you better take it dear!"

Not wanting her aunt to start asking a bunch of questions, she picked up the handset and hit the call button.

"Got it!"

Despite not hearing her aunt hang-up, she knew she had.

"Hello?" she said, trying her best not to let her voice crack.

"Stay away from him, skank!"

"No!" she screamed, surprising herself.

"You're" CLICK.

Tamyra didn't wait for the whispering caller to finish the next sentence before she hung up. She smiled, proud of herself and then walked out into the hallway.

"Aunt Kiki?"

"Yes, hon?"

"If anyone calls the house could you please tell them to call my cell. If they don't have the number, don't give it to them."

"Sure sweetie. Why, what's going on?"

"Some girl trying to get me to do her homework."

She felt guilty lying to her aunt, half-truth or not. She simply couldn't have her aunt getting involved.

"I can't stand that type of person. I'll make sure she doesn't call here ever again if you want."

"No. Being new, I don't want to make a fuss. I'll just keep away from her."

"Sure, hon. Whatever you want, just as long as I don't catch you doing her homework!"

"You won't!"

Tamyra stepped into the shower and the phone rang a third time. She played out aunt Kiki telling Bianca to get lost and felt better. At least she wouldn't have to worry about taking any more threatening calls. No way would Bianca and her ghouls be getting her cell number.

Chapter 11

After lunch Tamyra decided to go for a walk. As much as she wanted to poke around the mall, she didn't want to chance bumping into Bianca and friends. She set out towards her private beach, with secret hopes Sal would be there.

She stood near the waterline, surprised by her lack of disappointment when she couldn't find him out on the lake. Her cell vibrated against her thigh, in her pocket. She crossed her fingers as she reached in her pocket and left them crossed as she pulled out the phone. She inhaled with her eyes closed and wished for a text from him.

With her eyes still closed, she flicked the button and brought the screen up. She let her breath out and snapped her eyes open. The little LCD read '1 New Text Message'. She noticed her fingers still crossed, wrapped around the back of the phone and thought; Good. She knew the little superstitious rituals probably wouldn't make a difference, but then again, one thing supernatural had become natural.

She pressed a button and opened the text. It read; 'Still bz. Beach 2morrow?'

She punched the air and jumped while squeaking with excitement "Yes!"

She wanted to tell him yes over and over again, but fought the urge. She figured it would be better to not look like she waited right by her phone. It nearly killed her to force herself to walk for another five minutes.

Once she decided five minutes had passed, she stopped walking and replied; 'OK.'

The phone, not yet back in her pocket, vibrated again. Happiness showed all over her face as she read; 'Call U L8er 2night.' She slipped the cell away and took a look around. Still along the water's edge, but much deeper in the forest than before. Birds sang from the trees and a sense of calm peacefulness filled her.

Figuring she'd eventually come out at the cemetery, she followed the shore.

Not a cloud in the sky and near perfect temperature. Comfortable weather for her t-shirt, shorts and sandals. Watching out over the lake as she walked, a turtle paddled along. She spotted another animal that could have been a beaver or an otter. So different from the city.

Ahead a cliff face started to separate the forest from the water. The further she walked, the higher she moved above the lake. She could feel her calf muscles straining somewhat as she moved uphill. To her left the drop had to be nearly twenty feet now.

She climbed another ten feet or so before the land leveled out. Cautiously she moved to the edge of the cliff and looked down to the lake below. What an incredible view. The thought of watching the sun set from this point enchanted her. The thought of watching a romantic sunset here with Sal made her giddy.

A few feet to her left someone had placed boulders and cement blocks along the cliff edge. A large dusty patch where tires had worn away the grass seemed to be some kind of parking lot. There were no buildings to be seen, only a dirt path constituting a road leading to the weathered area. Tamyra felt fairly certain the 'road' would lead to the cemetery or maybe around the back of it.

Like an anvil falling on her head, she realized she stood at a sneaky hangout spot, maybe THE make-out spot for Shiver Cove.

It made sense that with it still being light out that no one would be around. However, evidence of nighttime visitors littered the ground. An empty pack of cigarettes, a couple brown shards of glass from a broken beer bottle and bottle caps scattered about. The beauty of the spot had barely been marred by the bits of trash strewn around.

Tamyra stepped over to the first boundary boulder and sat down. She presumed herself alone, until she spotted the baseball cap. Someone sat on the ground between the giant rocks, about a car length from her. Not wanting to intrude, as quietly as she could, she got up to leave.

Her foot slid on some gravel and she teetered trying to catch her balance. She didn't fall, but the other person heard the shifting stone and looked up at her. To Tamyra's relief, the face of Sandi Anderson appeared.

Sandi had a funny look on her face. Kind of like a kid who just got caught with scissors in one hand and their sister's ponytail in the other. She recovered fast with a smile, but Tamyra had seen the initial look. Sandi had been doing something she didn't want Tamyra to know about.

For a minute the girls stared at each other with big dumb smiles on their faces, neither quite sure what to say. Sandi broke the silence with a "Hey."

"Hi. How are you?"

"Good. I um... well... no one ever comes here during the day."

"Oh well that's cool, I was just leaving."

"No, Tamyra. Sorry. I wasn't meaning for you to leave. I uh... oh... Sal's gonna kill me."

"Not if I go right now. Big deal, we bumped into each other."

"No, the bumping into each other isn't why he's going to kill me. It's the part where I ask you to stay and tell you what I'm doing out here."

"You don't have to. I don't mind leaving."

"Please stay. If we're going to be friends, you may as well get to know me and all my freaky habits."

"You're not doing drugs are you?"

With that the tension broke, and Sandi burst out laughing. Although not sure why, Tamyra found herself giggling as well.

"No. No drugs. I'm into something a little heavier than that."

"Huh?"

"Well not heavier. I guess it depends who you're talking to."

"What are we talking about? No, wait, you probably shouldn't answer that."

"What do you think about the supernatural?"

"What like ghosts?"

"Well yeah, that's part of it. Also vampires, werewolves, paranormal stuff, psychic powers."

"I think I have to go."

Tamyra felt a huge knot in the back of her throat. Could Sandi know she was a werewolf?

"Oh, no. Please don't go. See what I mean? Sal's gonna kill me. That came out all wrong."

Sal's gonna kill her? Tamyra wondered if it meant he liked her. Sandi couldn't know her secret. Tamyra decided to hear her out. At worst, she could deny it. Tamyra looked at Sandi and waited to hear what she had to say.

"You seem like you have an open mind and I'm hoping you won't run screaming away. My hobby, well if you can call it that... is um... well... I've been trying to become a medium."

"What?"

"You know, talk to dead people, ghosts. I want to be able to communicate with those who have passed on."

This stumped Tamyra. She had no idea how to react to the bizarre revelation, so relieved the conversation had turned away from werewolves. The strange tidbit didn't register.

"Please say something Tamyra."

"Oh, uh, sure I know what a medium is."

"Most people do. You OK? I know this is a big weird thing and you were probably hoping for normal friends with normal pastimes."

Tamyra took a moment to reach for the right words. It didn't matter to her that Sandi wanted to talk to spirits, and Tamyra wanted her new friend to know she was cool with it.

"I've never been one for normal anyhow. If it's something you're into, then why don't you tell me more about your... how'd you put it? Your freaky habit?"

She could see Sandi relax as the girl proceeded to tell her that her grandmother was a powerful medium and how it always fascinated her. So far she had no luck contacting anyone. Even after three years of trying, she had no intentions of giving up. As Sandi explained excitedly, Tamyra sat mesmerized at Sandi's extended trust. She felt humbled by Sandi entrusting her with such a huge secret. At some point Tamyra felt her guard lowering and knew if she ever told anyone about her being a werewolf, it would be Sandi.

Chapter 12

The weekend passed in a blur. Most of Saturday Tamyra spent with Sandi learning everything about mediums. A little strange at first, but Tamyra kept an open mind and tried not to shut Sandi out. She didn't mind her new friend dabbling in the paranormal, but Sandi's choice to confide in Tamyra was a big deal.

Sunday had been an almost perfect day. Sal showed up and they picnicked on the beach. She worried about how she would tell Sal she stumbled onto Sandi's secret, but he already knew and it gave them a lot to talk about. Apparently he didn't know what to think, but didn't seem bothered as long as Tamyra could handle it.

At the end of the day he walked her across the lawn to her house and hugged her. For a brief moment, she thought he might kiss her. He didn't, but she felt a floating sensation nonetheless.

*-*-*

Monday morning dragged. Tamyra moved like a zombie through her gym class. Yvonne tried a couple of times to involve her in a volleyball game, but she opted to take it easy and fake her way through a yoga class instead.

The teacher, Ms. Kern, was a young twenty-something and very fit. Ms. Kern, whom Tamyra suspected to be a Miss, got right into her yoga routine. She closed her eyes as she went through the movements, which made it easy to put very little effort into feigning interest.

Tamyra zoned out and thought about the coming nights. Even if she didn't change tonight, she wouldn't be so lucky not to change tomorrow night. She looked forward to not waking up in one of her neighbor's backyards. Aunt Kiki's expansive property would give her ample opportunity to explore in her wolfen form privately.

She wondered when she would be able to take control of the changes and start to remember her animal adventure nights. Her mother said her aunt took a couple of years to master the other form. She hoped she would be a quicker study.

Lost in her thoughts, she barely noticed the bell ring. Other girls made a dash for the change-room, so Tamyra picked up the mat she used and dumped it on the pile. She headed for the change-room in no hurry, walking with her head down.

As she opened the door, she heard the hiss of running water. Tamyra never showered at school. She found it hard changing in a room full of other girls. She always felt their eyes, checking her out. Not in a sexual way, but she knew her body had developed more than many other girls and their envy made her squirm.

She made her way to the bench where she left her clothes and sat down next to her stuff. She dug around in her gym bag until she found her spray deodorant and popped the lid off inside the bag. She jerked her gym top off and shot cool bursts into each armpit. She capped the deodorant and stashed it back in her bag within seconds. Her regular shirt went on just as fast.

Tamyra kicked off her sneakers and tucked them into the bag. Standing up with her back to the wall, she whipped off her shorts and snapped her jeans on. She tried not to look around at all while she dressed. Once again clothed, she balanced on one foot at a time to peel her gym socks off. With her regular socks back on, she reached under the bench for her shoes.

Her shoes weren't where she left them. She crouched down and peered under the bench. Tamyra couldn't see her shoes anywhere. Certain she tucked her shoes under the bench earlier, she double checked with a fumble around inside her gym bag. The only shoes inside were her athletic shoes.

Only four other girls still remained in the change-room, each trying to preen herself back to her version of presentable. None of the girls seemed to have picked up her shoes by accident. None of them paid her any attention at all.

She didn't adore the idea of prancing around in clean socks, but she needed to check the change-room to see where her shoes had been moved to. She didn't think anyone would steal them. Plain black flats, nothing special. Tamyra moved about and searched the room.

Two of her classmates finished up and headed for the door. She wanted to stop them and ask if they saw her shoes, but she couldn't remember their names and contemplating talking to them caused her to flush.

She continued her search alone. Nearly back to where she started and neither of her shoes had turned up. Just great. Someone stole my shoes! Tamyra didn't remember sitting down, but she found herself seated back on the bench next to her gym bag. She glanced around the room and searched in vain for her missing shoes. She couldn't believe someone had taken them.

Annoyed, she brushed the bottom of her socks with the palm of her hand and put her sneakers back on. When she went to school in Toronto there had been lockers in the girl's change-room. Here in Shiver Cove they had little coat hooks above benches because they figured no one ever stole anything. She felt suddenly very glad her paranoid self had demanded she leave her valuables in her locker.

Yvonne stepped out of the shower-room in a big green towel. Right away she turned to Tamyra. Tamyra had noticed sometimes it almost seemed Yvonne read her thoughts as the blonde asked; "What's wrong?"

"Someone took my shoes."

"What? Are you sure?"

"I checked the whole room. I left them under the bench and now, well, now they're gone."

"What designer are they?"

"They're not. Just some little flats mom picked up for me."

Bianca interrupted; "Your mother still does your shopping? Now that's funny!"

She hadn't heard Bianca come in to the change-room and her appearance gave Tamyra a bit of a startle.

"Beat it creep. You aren't even in this class!"

Tamyra wished she could be as brave as Yvonne. The funny thing though, she knew it came naturally and Yvonne wouldn't consider her act as brave.

"I can go where I want."

"And what? What you want is to watch us changing? Is that it? Are girls your thing now?"

"Whatever Yvonne. I'm not bugging no one. Sides, me and Tammy got business."

"Like hell you do. Tamyra doesn't hang out with losers like you."

"Fine I'll just be going. Going with my new shoes."

"Bianca if you took her shoes give 'em back now!"

"Or what? There's nothing you're gonna do. Anyway, I meant my new shoes, the ones I'm wearing. See ya around Tammy."

With that Bianca walked back out the door. Tamyra barely had a chance to see if Bianca wore her shoes. From where she sat, she thought the color looked wrong.

"They weren't mine."

"Yeah, but I bet that loser had something to do with it. Why else would she come in here and start talking about shoes?"

What Yvonne said made sense, but she couldn't think of what to do about it.

"Talk to Ms. Kern. That's what we're going to do about it. Hang on, I'll get dressed quick."

"Don't worry, I'll go talk to her myself."

*-*-*

Telling Ms. Kern didn't do anything. The teacher had been nice and helped the girls search the change-room again, but the search yielded nothing. Tamyra found herself hoping when they dumped the garbage can her shoes would turn up, but no such luck.

Ms. Kern thought Bianca's behavior came across as suspicious, yet she wasn't going to put her professional neck on the line and accuse a student of stealing. Tamyra hated when appearances meant more to adults than doing the right thing. Politics were only another means of avoidance.

She would have to wear her runners for the rest of the day and then explain to her mom what had happened to her other shoes.

Chapter 13

Sal stood, waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Tamyra, just like he said he would. Once he laid eyes on her his face transformed with happiness. She found herself mirroring his expression. After the day she had, it felt good to find Sal waiting to walk home with her.

Her shoes never turned up. All day she kept thinking someone would turn them into Ms. Kern and then they would be returned. Even at the end of the day she still hoped someone had given them to the teacher and she's forgotten to call.

It surprised her Ms. Kern not only didn't have them, but also felt it necessary to lecture Tamyra about accusing Bianca. At some point Ms. Kern tracked Bianca down and of course she denied everything, including being in the change-room at all.

"What'cha think'n about?" Sal asked as she cleared the steps.

"It's dumb."

"Looks serious."

"Rough day for the new kid."

"What happened?" He asked with concern.

Her stomach rolled. She didn't want to tell him about Bianca and her crush. She knew the story wouldn't make much sense if she didn't. She tried to dance around it, practicing what to say in her head. She also wondered if she could tell him the story without letting her own feelings out. Sal didn't push her. He simply started walking homeward. She fell in beside him as she sorted through her thoughts.

"Someone stole my shoes while I was in gym."

"Huh? Really? The little black ones you had on this morning?"

His observation of her morning footwear shocked her. He was full of neat little surprises that made her like him more.

"Yeah."

"Did you tell Yvonne? I bet she went nuts!"

"She was pretty mad."

"She's protective of her friends."

"I barely know her and she helped me look. She also told Bianca off for me."

The sentence hung over her head. It had just slipped out.

"Bianca? What'd I miss here?"

"I think she took 'em."

"OK... what else?"

Tamyra's insides quaked with nervousness. She could feel her hands sweating so she tucked them into her pockets.

"Bianca hates me because you and I are friends."

"I don't get it."

Tamyra stopped walking. Sal stopped a foot ahead and turned to face her. She decided the best way would be like ripping a band-aid off. Quicker would be less painful.

"She likes you and hates me 'cause she thinks there's something between us."

"I see."

"So since that night last week, when we were all out for pizza, she's been telling me to stay away from you and it's getting worse."

"What do you mean?"

"She waited at my locker and screamed at me to stay away from you. Her friends keep hanging around acting like they're talking about me. There were a couple nasty calls to my house last week-end and then today with my shoes."

"I'm still wrapping my brain around the part where she likes me."

The statement brought on immediate nausea. Maybe he could like Bianca back. She could almost feel blood surge to her heart as it picked up its pace. She took one of her hands out of her pocket to fiddle with her necklace.

"She wanted me to hook her up with you."

Tamyra dropped her head and stared at the ground. His laughter made her jump.

"That's too funny. Asking my... well asking you to hook her up."

My? What didn't he say? My what? His laugh made her feel better, only now she couldn't help wonder what he hadn't said.

"Real funny. Now she's threatening me and taking my things."

"Sorry I didn't mean it that way. It's just ironic she picked you of all people to use to get to me. She's getting to me now, but not in a good way. She's always been somewhat of a bully and picking on you, well now she has my attention, I just don't think she'll want it this way. I'll take care of this."

"It's OK. I'll work it out."

"I feel like this is my fault. Let me help you." As he said it he reached out and took her hand in his.

He gently tugged her along toward their homes. They walked in silence for a bit. She didn't want to say anything that might make him take his hand away. She worried her palm sweated, although she had no intention of pulling away from him.

All too soon they arrived at his building. He lingered a moment still holding her hand and then gave her a quick hug before he dashed off home. She stood on the walkway and watched him until he disappeared inside. Her heart fluttered. With a small sigh, she started back on her way.

She got the feeling someone watched her. She turned her head towards the street as an old black mustang pulled alongside the curb next to her. The driver leaned on the horn. Tamyra couldn't make out anyone inside the car due to dark tinted windows.

She figured the driver must be waiting for someone in Sal's building, so she kept on going. The driver inched the car up a few feet and then kept on at a slow crawl to match pace with her. Tamyra didn't know what to think and fright bloomed within her. She debated running to Sal's building but then she'd have to pass the car. Instead, she pushed on at a quicker pace.

She heard the whirl of an electric window and forced herself not to look.

"Hey Tammy!" Bianca barked.

Being alone and knowing Bianca had just yelled out the passenger window, Tamyra acted as if she didn't hear her. She didn't want to get into anything with Bianca, especially not when outnumbered.

"You deaf, skank? Tammy!"

She could feel extra liquid well up in her eyes and hated it. She couldn't turn around and allow Bianca to see her this way. Tamyra machine-gun-blinked her eyes dry and held on to the memory of Sal holding her hand. She refused to give in to tears.

Something whizzed by her shoulder and thumped to the ground in front of her. She tried not to look, but found she couldn't stop herself. Her brain registered the shape and before she really had a chance to focus on it, she knew what the object was. One of her missing shoes.

Don't look back at the car. The second shoe hit her ankle and skidded to a stop on the grass to her right. The impact of the shoe hadn't hurt her, still too much in shock to feel pain. Not knowing what else to do or say she simply stared back and fourth between her stolen shoes. At least they didn't appear damaged. Tamyra kidded herself, she'd never wear them again.

She stood on the sidewalk and pleaded not to cry. Tamyra wished she could stand up to Bianca, the way Yvonne did.

"What, Tammy, you got nothing to say? Well let me say this, you think you can come to town and steal my man? I'll take whatever I want of yours. You hear me skank?! Stay away from him!"

Tamyra bent over and picked up the shoe closest to her. She tried to act nonchalant, as if having her shoes thrown at her out of a car was the most natural thing in the world. She inspected the shoe and after a moment decided nothing was wrong with it. Even though she may never wear it again, she slipped it into her bag to take home. Now her mom wouldn't have to know.

She reached for the second one when she heard Sal's raised voice behind her; "What the hell's going on?!"

The unmistakable sound of tires barking off pavement caught her ears and then the mustang shot by her. From the brief glimpse she managed, the passenger side window had already closed.

She shook her head and picked up her other shoe. It didn't appear to be damaged either. Tamyra tucked the second shoe into her bag as Sal reached her.

"That thing you just put in your bag, it was your missing shoe, wasn't it?"

"Not missing anymore."

"Nice. Real nice. Was that Bianca I saw?"

"I didn't see but I'm pretty sure it was. No one else calls me Tammy... or skank."

"She calls you what?!"

"Look I don't really want to talk about this. I'd rather go home if you don't mind."

"Tamyra, we can't let her do this!"

"Yeah, OK. I'll deal with it later."

He lifted a hand onto her shoulder and softly hooked it onto her back while he pulled her close. Her sadness and tension dissolved with his hug.

"I'm sorry if I'm pushing. I just can't believe her! Why go after you? Why not ask me out and let me laugh at her and it's done with."

"Don't worry about her."

"It's not Bianca I'm worried about."

"I'll be fine. Being the new girl isn't supposed to be easy."

She felt the Bianca-blues creeping back as he let her go and took a step back from her. His expression grew serious and she thought for sure he was about to lecture her. He caught her off-guard when he said; "I have no clue how to word this right and tried all the way home from school and then chickened out and debated texting you. I didn't want to sound like a big cheese-ball and say something like, 'this could cheer you up' but hey, I haven't thought up a better way to ask. Um... what I'm trying to say is do you want to do something tonight, just you and me? Like, uh... you know... a date?"

Tamyra knew he waited for an answer and she wanted to jump up and down screaming 'yes' but she couldn't get her tongue around even one measly word. She sensed the pause made him uncomfortable the longer she let it go. His hand fluttered against his thigh in an unnaturally tense manner. So she did the only thing she could and nodded her head.

"For a second there you almost made me think the answer was going to be no."

"Yes. My answer is yes."

As the 'yes' left her lips the second time, she remembered tonight the moon would be full.

Chapter 14

Tamyra sat on the porch in a big white wicker chair when Sal strolled up to the house. She kicked her shoes off and curled her legs up underneath her. The day still felt warm enough she didn't need to grab a jacket to put over her short-sleeved top. He spotted her and stopped shy of the bottom stair.

"Hi." He sounded strange, maybe nervous.

"Hey. So what's the plan?"  
"I... um... well... my mom is working for another hour, so I hope you don't mind walking."

"Cool with me."

"Oh good. I'm sort of embarrassed."

"I can ask mom for the car if you want... or does that make it worse?"

"You know what? It's not important. The mall's only a ten minute walk from here."

"You're taking me to the mall?" she giggled.

"I'm sorry. It sounded so much better in my head. You know, get something to eat and then go to the pet store. I thought because you liked the baby animals so much, it would be a good start. We can always do something else. I didn't think a movie would be good 'cause we can't talk, but maybe we should do that instead."

"No, no. The mall is a really thoughtful idea. Besides I can't be out too late tonight."

Tamyra dropped her gaze to the ground as she slid her feet into her shoes and stood up. She hoped he hadn't noticed the cloud come over her expression when she said she'd have to be home early.

"No worries. My mom doesn't like me out too late on school nights either."

She couldn't correct him, so she said nothing and let him believe what he wanted. She met him at the bottom of the short staircase and wasn't sure what to do. Hug him? Or take his hand?

He stared at her for a minute and it felt like forever.

"You look nice. I don't think I've ever seen you wear make-up before."

"Oh, thanks. You too."

"You mean my make-up is working for me too?"

She made an awkward half snort, half laugh sound.

"Not make-up. I meant you look nice too."

"Careful little girl, looks can be deceiving." He said in a mock Dracula voice.

"We better get going. I kinda have to be home by dark."

"Oooooooooh! Back to the old rule of the streetlights coming on, huh?"

"Something like."

She sensed he wanted to know more and felt relieved when he didn't pursue it. Instead he held out his hand to her. She let her pleasure beam through her face as she extended her hand and wrapped her fingers around his. She imagined feeling the warmth from his hand running up her arm.

Hand in hand they moved quietly across the property. She hadn't a clue what to say to him and it didn't seem to matter.

Once they cleared the property line, the menacing old abandoned house came into sight and he sniggered.

"One night we should get the whole gang together and find out if that place is really haunted. We could have like a séance or something."

"That place freaks me out from out here in the daylight and you want to go traipsing around inside after dark? For real?"

"It'll be fun. With Val, Cam and I around, you girls wouldn't have to be scared."

"Never mind you boys, Yvonne could take you all on with one hand behind her back!"

"You might be right about that."

"Yeah and then what? We all sit around while Sandi tries to talk to dead people? That's way creepy."

"Hey! I thought you didn't mind that Sandi was into that stuff."

"I don't, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to be around it either."

"Why Tamyra? Don't you believe in ghosts and ghouls, vampires and demons?"

"Maybe I believe a little too much."

"Huh. Like maybe there's a full moon tonight and that's why you've got to be home before dark? So the big bad wolf doesn't get you?"

Her guts rolled despite his dopey grin. He hit home, even if he had no idea. She swung her free hand and playfully swatted his upper arm.

"Sal, how do I know you aren't the big bad wolf?" with that she cracked herself up.

Genuine laughter, although probably a bit louder than it normally would have been, but he didn't take notice and laughed along with her. Being with him felt right.

*-*-*

On their way to the mall they chatted about her adjustment to the slower pace of Shiver Cove and how the first week of school went. Sal tried to bring her up to speed on some of the rumors at school, but she hadn't met most of the people involved yet.

Their conversation continued to flow during their food court meal.

Leaving the pet store, they still gabbed away. Tamyra had been secretly ecstatic when they hadn't bumped into anyone from school. There had been one girl working in a store they passed and Sal waved to her, but he didn't stop in.

She insisted on treating him to a milkshake once they left the pet shop and now they each slurped up chocolatey goodness. When they left the mall, day still ruled for the most part.

Dusk snuck in and painted the sky in magnificent pinks, oranges and purples. She thought about the make-out spot she stumbled on and how amazing the sunset would look over the water from there.

Tamyra felt a twinge of disappointment over having to cut their night short. Things had gone so well, a regular person would have been able to enjoy his company for another hour or two. She told herself not to dwell on feeling like she somehow let herself down, and to keep enjoying time with him while it lasted.

The closer they got to her place, the slower they walked. She knew she had to be home long before the moon rose, which meant twilight. The orangey hue bled from the sky and she couldn't trust herself once darkness fell.

"We're almost back to your place and it's not even near late."

She could tell from his tone he desperately wanted to ask her why she had to be in so early. She wracked her brain thinking of something to say to distract him.

"Sal, you put some serious thought into our date tonight. I think it went better without the car, by the way."

"If I had the car I was going to take you someplace special."

"Oh really? Where's that?"

"It'll have to stay a secret until another time."

She couldn't be totally sure but she thought he put some emphasis on the word 'secret'. As in her keeping a secret from him by not telling him why she had to be in so early. Or maybe she just imagined it. It didn't really matter. He said there would be another time. A second date!

"Secret is OK. I'm glad I have a surprise to look forward to."

"I'm glad you're glad. I was hoping you'd say we could go out again."

He gave her hand a shy squeeze and it stopped her dead. She turned to see his eyes as she spoke.

"You're telling me you didn't know I'd go out with you again, Sal?"

He looked at the ground and fidgeted with the lip of his pant pocket. She recognized and simultaneously regretted making him uncomfortable.

"I guess. I don't know. I hoped you would. Come on, I gotta get you home, remember?"

She wanted to tell him she'd go anywhere with him and loved being in his company. She wished she could take back her words, even though she wasn't sure what affected him so much. A reassuring phrase wouldn't form. If she opened her mouth it would be word salad.

As she planned what to say she felt his hand on her cheek and then his lips against hers.

Chapter 15

Her stomach felt like a flock of Pterodactyls battered her from the inside. Anything remotely close to sweet little butterflies vanished. Her first kiss had been amazing. She also judged it would be about an hour before the sun totally disappeared and the moon would reign.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. OK, I meant to but, it's just you look so scared. You're not supposed to look scared." Sal babbled.

She wanted to tell him he wasn't the source of her fear. It frightened her to think of what she might do to him if the change took her over while they were still together. She had to get home.

"Sal, please don't apologize and don't take it the wrong way when I say I have to get home. I can't explain. I need you to trust me."

The hurt registered on his face as clear as if he were a five-year-old child, even though she knew he tried his best to conceal it from her. His hangdog look felt like a shard of glass digging into her heart.

For a minute he didn't say anything. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, weighing out some great decision. When he finally spoke he stared with a soul burning intensity into her eyes and said; "I will trust you now but, if you are going to be my girlfriend, you have to promise me eventually you'll tell me what this homeward rush is all about. When you're ready, that is."

Without needing any thought she whispered; "I promise."

"How long do you have?"

"Sorry?"

"Well, how long until you turn into a pumpkin?"

She let out a laugh. If he only knew.

"I'm thinking probably under half hour."

"But at least a half hour?"

The corners of his mouth curled in a mischievous smile. Whatever he had in mind, she figured, it was going to be too interesting to turn down.

"Yeah. At least a half hour. Why?"

"I got an idea. I don't know if you'll be up for it, though."

"Hmmmmm. What's this idea?"

"Nope, not telling. Not telling 'til we're closer to your place."

"Fair enough. As long as we're moving in the right direction, I guess I can wait."

He turned away from her and walked towards her home. She caught up to him in a few quick strides and this time she slipped her hand in his.

"Sal, I don't want to spoil tonight further but..."

"But what?"

"Back there... well... back there you said if I was going to be your girlfriend."

"Yeah?"

He posed it as a question even though she felt sure he knew what she was getting at. From her peripheral vision she could tell he smirked, enjoying watching her squirm.

"Well... um..."

This time he didn't give any retort. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as if encouraging her to go on.

"Well... is that what I am to you?"

She stood in disbelief over her own words. She hadn't the slightest idea how she managed to get them out.

"I'm hoping." He said only marginally louder than her whispered promise.

The world disappeared and at that moment she only saw him. She leaned over and kissed him on his cheek near the corner of his mouth. He turned his head and kissed her back on the lips.

He drew back and his huge goofy grin couldn't be missed. She felt like a fairy tale princess for all of a second. Then the world came back into focus. The sun would be down very soon.

The orange had bled from the sky and all that remained was a slim band of lingering pink. The rest of the sky had turned the kind of purple that would fade into black quickly.

Her eyes tingled and she could tell the white part vanished as the change began. No more time to mess around. She had to get away from him now, her fear of mauling him compelled her.

She couldn't let him see her eyes. Keeping her gaze downward she said; "I have to go now. Alone. Sorry."

Leaving him stunned and staring at her, she sprinted down the sidewalk.

Chapter 16

Her eyes flooded and burned. Irritated more from the transformation than from having to run off on Sal. She felt horrible dashing off on him, but had no confusion as to how much worse it could have been for him if she stayed. A bruised ego he would survive, an attack from a werewolf, not so much.

She glanced back over her shoulder one final time before she darted into the forest. Relieved he hadn't tried to follow her and conflicted by her irrational disappointment. Tamyra didn't have time to fret over him now.

Every nerve and fiber of her hummed with anticipation of the coming metamorphosis. Her speed increased. Her muscles thickened and grew more powerful, they slithered and bulged under her skin - the sensation akin to a rope being pulled through her hands, only slipping beneath her flesh.

The sun was nearly down now. She would only have full control of herself for a few minutes longer. Human eyes wouldn't have been able to see in the dim light, however her eyes had completely changed and she could discern every detail.

Eyelash-length hairs covered her entire body. Tamyra's face itched as it bristled with fine hair. The rest of her body underwent so much as it transformed. Odd only the hairs on her face received any attention.

She swiped at her nose with her hand and smelled blood as she pulled away thick claws. So much for trying to save these clothes. Instinctively she knew she arrived at her property. She ceased running and kicked off her shoes. Unsure how, she managed to drop her bag to the ground near them. She spun around seeking any familiar landmark to help her recover her things in the morning, but found none.

Tamyra didn't expect to be able to stay conscious beyond the next minute or two. Her jeans stretched so tight against her they hindered her movement. Her knees popped backward. The muscle of her thighs doubled. Fear of being seen naked still restricted her, more important than her need to move freely. She left her jeans on.

Her breath wheezed out in rasping pants. The physical exertion immense. She always found herself wondering the next day how she could even move once she changed back.

She heard a sickening 'CRUNCH' from her face as maxilla and mandible began to form a muzzle. The pain overwhelmed Tamyra and she tried to let herself go, to allow the wolf to take over. Never before had she watched as her nose and upper lip became a snout. The scents of the forest creatures filled her.

Aches, cramps and stinging ruled her body. Her shirt tore against her massive growth. She hugged her arms around herself. Where her hand rested on her bicep she could see her fingers elongate and her thumb shrink, retracting toward her wrist. The fine hair covering her now looked more like fine fur.

She could detect a high-pitched ringing, doubtlessly in her head alone. Her ears felt as if a hundred tiny spiders pinched them as they stretched. A ripping sensation along her jaw-line and it pushed outward. The wolf had emerged and Tamyra could no longer hold on mentally.

Chapter 17

Tamyra became vaguely aware of someone shaking her. Her dream slipped away, already forgotten, and she opened her eyes. Even after she managed to focus it took her brain a little longer to catch up to her situation. Trees and blue sky above, earth and leaves below. Outside.

Intuitively she sensed no immediate danger. She dragged her mind for the name of the redheaded girl, now gaping at her.

"Sandi." Tamyra said in a gravelly voice.

"Um... morning?" the other girl seemed nervous, her eyes roved frantically.

Tamyra could feel pine needles digging into her back. Even though she wondered how she knew pine needles stabbed her, she didn't doubt it. Bits of the night rushed at her in blurry images. She changed last night, which meant she was probably naked.

Not sure what else she could do, she ventured a look at her body. Someone, most likely Sandi, had placed a large black piece of material over her. She sat up carefully, as to keep the material wrapped around her. She glanced down and a hood indicated some type of robe.

Her head throbbed and she needed water badly. Even though she wasn't looking, she knew Sandi still stared at her.

"Water?" saying the word felt as bad as spitting up sand.

"Hang on. I've got a bottle in my pack."

Tamyra lifted her gaze to Sandi and watched her take a near-full bottle of water out of her bag. Her mouth should have been watering in anticipation as Sandi handed it over, but parched dryness prevented it. She uncapped the water and gulped at it. Near halfway, she started to slow down.

She thought about nursing the rest to prolong the inevitable questions about to be asked of her. Instead she lowered the bottle from her lips.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Do you think you're OK to stand or should I help you?"

"I'm good. Just give me a minute."

"I heard people, so I'm not sure we've got a minute. Better to get you up and covered."

Tamyra passed the water back to Sandi. With half the effort she thought she would need, Tamyra hauled herself to her feet. The robe slipped a little but she recovered it quickly and shoved her arms into the sleeves. Positive she looked strange in the robe, but grateful for it.

Sandi had stood up alongside her and still gawked with a curious expression on her face. Tamyra silently pleaded for more time to think up an excuse before the girl flat out asked her why the hell she was passed-out naked in the forest.

"Aside from one thing, you don't have to say anything. I won't push. Come on, I'll walk you home."

"What's the one thing?"

"Are you alright?"

The question took her by surprise. She braced for the worst and her new friend cared only about her well being.

"I'll be fine."

"Good to know. Now let's get out of here before anyone happens along."

"Where are we?"

"I should have known you'd ask that. We're right near the spot you found me at last week. You're lucky it was me passing by when you started babbling in your sleep."

"Thanks again. The robe, the water, no questions. Thank-you."

"Yeah, sure."

Tamyra followed Sandi's lead and started walking. Once she picked out the familiar waterline, she oriented herself. They headed towards her home. Being the new girl in a fairly small town, she guessed Sandi knew where she lived.

They strolled along quietly for a while until the silence became unnerving. Tamyra decided she imagined it because she felt tense, like a huge question loomed between them.

Sandi blurted out; "Do you think this craziness with Bianca is gonna end now?" apparently the silence had been bothering her too.

Tamyra got the impression that by 'now' Sandi meant since she and Sal had gotten together. It made her happy to have something to talk about, even a topic as vile as Bianca.

"I'm not sure. After the whole thing with my shoes. Well, I really don't know what to make of things."

"She's all bark you know. I think if you stand up to her she'll back off."

"Hmmm. Well then, I guess I'm stuck with her."

"What?!"

"If you haven't noticed I'm not exactly the type of person who can just tell people off. I haven't even managed to correct her that my name isn't Tammy."

"I guess. I mean, I don't think I could tell her off either. I don't know how Yvonne does it."

"She's like a tiny warrior who doesn't take crap from anyone."

Both girls giggled.

"As you get to know her more you'll see she takes crap, but only from people she cares about. But I know what you mean. Sometimes I wish I could be more like her too."

Peppered with rocks and twigs, the ground was rough on her feet and Tamyra couldn't help but wince as she stepped on something sharp.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything you can put on your feet."

"It's OK. I'll survive. Besides, I can see my house."

A stone rolled over in her mind. She almost didn't catch it.

"Hey Sandi, a minute ago you asked if I thought the craziness with Bianca would end now. By now, did you mean that Sal and I are together?"

"Well, yeah. Why?"

"So you talked to him last night?"

Sandi turned her eyes to the dirt. The gesture gave the answer Tamyra sought.

"Is he really mad about last night? When I ran away?"

"Confused more than anything. He just didn't understand why you ran off. Not that I want to pry, should I ask what made you bolt right after you kissed and he called you his girlfriend?"

"The same thing that landed me naked in the forest this morning. Is he OK?"

"He will be. He likes you too much to stay mad for long."

"So he is mad."

"Maybe a little. He knows there's something up and it bugs him that you won't tell him what it is."

"He wouldn't believe me if I did."

"You'd be surprised at what people who've grown up in this strange little town would believe."

"Yeah, maybe. But I'm not ready yet."

Chapter 18

To Tamyra, being run over seemed it would be more joyous than her current state. Physically she felt fine. Being a werewolf meant she healed quickly and rarely felt pain for long. Even the day after she spent the night being a wolf, she didn't feel drained or any other physical side effects.

The leeching occurred to her emotional and mental wellbeing. Not knowing what she did during the night, not remembering and fearing she'd committed horrible atrocities. Thoughts of hurting or killing people or animals haunted her.

Hollywood provided a barrage of imagery regarding werewolves, none of it positive. She tried talking to her mom about handling her curse, but her mother always gave her vague answers like; "You'll figure it out. It just takes time."

She'd been too afraid to ask her mom straight out about killing animals and people. Her mom had told her, in time, she would remember more and learn to focus her consciousness into the wolf and control it. Her aunt had more answers, but she still hadn't reached a level of comfort to ask.

Fragments filtered back into her mind from the night before as she soaked in the bath, but nothing concrete and as far as she could tell the bits weren't in a linear order. She caught glimpses of chasing a rabbit, tearing off her jeans, drinking at the water's edge, fortunately nothing bloody.

She never had any gory images surface. Tearing apart living beings had become her worst fear and she'd almost rather not know if she perpetrated something horrific.

The wolf wasn't all bad to her though and she knew it. The quick healing and incredible memories of running in the forest on powerful legs were some of her most freeing experiences.

She only focused on her fears of her other side to distract from facing what really troubled her. Although her wolfen side had caused the problem, it had become obvious was Sal avoiding her.

As soon as she and Sandi had found her bag with her phone still safely inside, she sent him a text message saying she had a great time and apologized for taking off. She also left him a voice message on his cell asking him to call. The whole day passed, without so much as a returned text.

As she got out of the tub and dried off, she couldn't help but wonder if she and Sal had ended, before they even started. With a heavy heart, she went to bed.

*-*-*

For the first time since she started at Shiver Cove High, Sal didn't meet her during the walk to school. She trudged along hoping any minute he would appear and walk with her. It didn't happen.

All day she searched for him while trying to tell herself she wasn't. He couldn't be found anywhere. She stopped herself from peeking in on his art class to check up on him and refrained from asking Sandi if she knew his whereabouts.

Sandi continued to be nice, even after they found Tamyra's torn-up shirt with her bag in the forest. It had to be killing her to not ask what the heck happened, yet she didn't. Sandi seemed to be the kind of friend Tamyra desperately needed. She also effectively managed to keep Tamyra's attention off Sal's lack of presence.

*-*-*

So caught up in pretending she wasn't looking for Sal, after the last bell rang, she didn't notice Bianca and her friends as she descended the stairs leaving school.

"Hey, Tammy! I been look'n for you!"

Oh great! How could I've been so dumb! Walk faster, pretend you can't hear her.

"I wanna talk to you, Tammy!"

"Stop, Tammy! B wants to talk to you!" one of the toadies yelled.

Tamyra's blood boiled. She had real issues to deal with and had grown tired of the nonsense with these girls. Unaware of stopping, she turned and faced the mean girls and before she could muzzle herself, she said; "My name is Tamyra, not Tammy. Tamyra!"

"Who cares what your name is skank. I said we need to talk and we're gonna talk."

Bianca lunged into Tamyra's personal space and her two friends circled around her. She could feel her heart thumping in her throat. She should have kept walking. She grit her teeth, burying her fear of the ambush.

"Now, you're gonna listen real good here, Tammy. You 'n me was supposed to be good buddies and then you stab me in the back going after my guy. I can't have that and you can't have him."

Bianca's breath reeked of cigarette and something rancid, like a day old cold cut sub. The other two girls stood just beyond her sight, at her back. They chattered about how Bianca was going to beat her down. Tamyra could see, even with Bianca in her face, no one else was nearby.

She wracked her brain trying to discover a way out of this or at least find some witty retort before being ripped to pieces. She came up dry.

Bianca continued with her rant. "Friends don't steal each others men, Tammy!"

A bubble of rage broke inside Tamyra.

"I told you, my name's Tamyra - and we were never friends! Sal, well who knows if he's mine but he certainly was never yours. So back the hell off!" Sound exploded from her with an animalistic ferocity.

The flunkies shut up immediately and Bianca looked taken aback. She took one long slow blink and then seemed to shake off Tamyra's words. She volleyed a look to each of her friends and then came back full force.

"You think I'm backing off? You afraid Sal might actually want me or someth'n? Your shoes were just the beginning."

"Real mature, throwing my shoes out a car window at me. Too chicken to confront me in person, huh? This ends here."

Tamyra hardly knew where the bravery came from. The things she said just kept falling out of her mouth. Almost like she watched someone else being her.

"Yes, it certainly does end here, ladies." said Ms. Kern.

From the look on Bianca's face she hadn't heard the teacher's approach either.

"Bianca I'm very disappointed. I believed you when you said you had nothing to do with Tamyra's missing shoes and now I'm hearing you threw them out a car window at her. I trusted you. Now I'm going to trust the principal will suspend you for an act of hazing against our new student. Let's go, Bianca. Inside now. The rest of you girls go home."

Bianca's eyes flashed daggers her way. Now a teacher had intervened the whole thing between them wouldn't be ending anytime soon.

Chapter 19

Tamyra hit the 'END' button on the cordless and threw the phone to the floor. It must have landed in her laundry basket as she barely heard anything when its flight ended. It had been the second cruel prank call she received since returning home from school.

She couldn't be sure from the voices who was who but it wasn't hard to tell the calls had been from Bianca's sidekicks. Both times the word 'skank' came through before she hung up and both times the caller blocked their number.

Frustration took over and made her want to cry. For the first time since moving to Shiver Cove, she felt homesick. At least back in Toronto she had a great group of friends and when Vicki had been up to her nasty tricks, she always had someone to talk to.

Sal remained incommunicado and she didn't feel comfortable calling anyone else. Sandi would most likely be a shoulder for her, however, Tamyra didn't want their friendship to be all one-sided and so far it had been going that way.

She needed to get away from the calls and find a way to clear her head. TV and the internet didn't offer their usual allure today. She decided getting out and about, walking it off would likely be her best course of action.

She lifted her bag onto the bed and dug through it. Finding her cell, she tucked it into her pocket and then kept searching for her wallet. Once she located the wallet she took out her money and put it in the other front pocket of her jeans. She left the wallet and bag on her bed and headed downstairs.

Once outside she thought of where she wanted to go. Figuring Bianca and her friends could easily be at the mall, she ruled it out right away.

Plus to get there she would have to pass Sal's and she didn't want to do that. Under no circumstance did she want to be innocently walking by and have him think she stalked him. So the mall was out.

The spot overlooking the lake came to mind but she dismissed it. Both times she ventured out there she bumped into Sandi and she didn't want to burden her anymore. She wanted her new friend to see her positive side. She worried Sandi might decide she was too much of a pain to bother being friends with.

Part of a conversation bubbled up and she recalled something about a waterfall near the public beach. Confident she could find the beach, she set out. From what she gathered, once there she should be able to get to the falls.

On a school night in September, she hoped there wouldn't be many people hanging around a waterfall. She guessed it didn't matter. At least she picked a destination.

As Tamyra set out for the falls, she flipped her mom a quick text saying she was going out for a walk and she wouldn't be late. She figured she'd probably get home before her mom and her aunt, but the message couldn't hurt.

As she walked, she lost herself in fantasies of how everything would work out great with Sal, and of Bianca suddenly disappearing, and of not being a werewolf. It felt nice to defeat her problems, even if only in her imagination.

The sight of a sandy beach brought her back to reality. She discovered, to her surprise, she'd made it all the way to the public beach. Funny, she hadn't even noticed the creepy old run down house at the end of her laneway. She must have been daydreaming as she passed it.

A sign at the side of the road directed the public to parking, ice cream and the waterfalls. She smiled and picked up her pace toward the falls.

*-*-*

She didn't know what she expected, but the falls came up short. A gradual slope with a trickle of water wended downward. A grandma riding in an inner tube would have a safe trip down. Also a huge restaurant blocked the spot that permitted the best view.

Still, the sound of the flowing water soothed her and she had the limited view to herself. Exactly the type of place she set out looking for about fifteen minutes ago, when she wanted to be away from home and alone. Feeling restless and lonely, she realized she really did want to be around people.

Wondering what to do now, she recollected passing an ice cream place on the beach. If she couldn't be with friends at least ice cream was an acceptable substitute. She hiked her way back across the paved public lot with her hands in her pockets and her head down. She walked at a turtle's pace knowing that after she finished her ice cream there wouldn't be much left for her aside from going home.

Chapter 20

The smell of fries cooking greeted Tamyra as she reached the counter of the stand. She breathed in deeply and stared at the hand painted menu board above the grill. She settled on ordering tiger-tail ice cream when she heard her name.

She spun around to see behind her, no one there. Her face scrunched up in a puzzled look and she tried to dismiss it as her ears playing tricks on her.

"It was me who said hi." He said through his laughter.

Behind the counter stood Ivan, nicknamed Val? She couldn't quite remember. She felt like a dork for not noticing him as soon as she walked up. Obviously he had seen her and remembered her name.

"Sorry. Um... hi."

"So... what brings you out here?"

The way he looked at her she felt almost as if he stared her down or wanted to interrogate her.

She forced a smile despite her awkwardness. "I guess ice cream does."

"Ice cream is good. What'll you have?"

Maybe she read him wrong. His expression seemed friendly enough and he had a comforting manner in the way he spoke.

"Uh... tiger-tail?"

He screwed up his face in mock disgust. "Seriously? You walked all the way here for that?"

"Well... no. I came to check out the falls. Ice cream was an afterthought."

"The falls, huh? So what's weighing on your mind?"

She felt unsure how to answer him, so instead she watched as he dug out a couple of heaping scoops of orange and black ice cream and sculpted them onto a cone.

"It's OK if you don't want to talk about it. Say, I was just making myself some fries then I was going to take a break. You want to hang around for a minute?"

He nodded as he handed her the cone as if to say yes and as she took the ice cream she found herself nodding along with him.

"Great. There's tables over there. Gimme a sec and I'll be right out."

She turned and could see a few picnic tables where he pointed. She started eating her ice cream as she walked over and sat down at the closest one. Yummy orange and black licorice flooded her mouth. With a clear view of the beach, no doubt this little stand would be busy on hot days. It appeared to be the only food stand she could see anywhere.

Tamyra crunched on the cone by the time he joined her and as soon as he sat down it hit her she hadn't paid.

"Ivan, I'm so sorry, I forgot to pay you."

"Two things. One, only my mom and teachers call me Ivan, to everyone else I'm Val, and two, I didn't ask you to pay. It was my treat. You looked like you could use it."

His generosity made her a little uncomfortable. She decided not to let it show. Instead she mumbled; "Thanks, Val."

"No problem. It's my mom's snack bar and I can have whatever I want free, so no worries."

She finished the last of the cone and crumpled the little napkin that had surrounded it in her hand. She didn't want to be rude, yet she had no clue what to say. He stuffed his mouth with a plastic forkful of fries and she watched as a blob of ketchup splattered on the table.

"I've heard you're shy and don't say much. That's cool with me. I just wanted some company. Since school's gone back there really haven't been many people around during the week. There's maybe only a couple weeks more and then we'll close up for the winter."

He continued eating. Every so often he'd glance her way and then give his attention back to his meal. He was turning out different from how she pictured he would be.

"I know I'm probably not supposed to talk about it or something, but what's going on between you and Bianca?"

Relieved he hadn't said Sal, she answered; "I don't know. She hates me."

"OK. Why?"

It crossed her mind he might be friends with Bianca and her guard went up.

"Are you two friends?"

"Answering a question with a question, huh? No, we're not friends. From what I've seen I don't even like her. So why does she hate you?"

"It's stupid." Was all she could think of to not really answer him.

"High school fights usually are."

"True."

"That's not an answer."

From behind his glasses she could feel both of his blue eyes almost boring holes through her. He'd been the first person to push her in a long time and she found despite feeling intimidated, she actually enjoyed talking to him.

"I hardly know you."

"Yeah, so? You won't know me if you don't talk to me."

She studied him for a moment and made the decision to trust him.

"Bianca gave me the tour of the school my first day. She tried to pretend she was my friend to see what she could get from me. Turned out she wanted me to hook her up with Sal... only I was already... sort of... I don't know... I guess interested in him myself. Anyway she saw us together and wants to make my life miserable now."

"Miserable how?"

"Making nasty calls to my house, taking my stuff and today I think she was going to try and fight me only Ms. Kern interrupted and hauled her off the principal's office. I think she was getting suspended and that'll make it even worse."

"Likely. What're you going to do?"

"I really don't know. But since Sal isn't talking to me maybe it'll all go away."

"Why isn't he talking to you?"

She huffed out her breath and looked off at the sky.

"You guys are friends. It's not cool talking about him to you."

"Fair enough, but I already know about how you took off the other night right after he _finally_ kissed you."

"He told you about that?"

Although a little annoyed, it didn't shock her to find out he knew.

"No. Sal's not the guy to talk about that stuff to me, he talks more to the girls when something's bugging him."

"Sandi." Disappointment flooded her.

"No actually, Yvonne. She works here too, you know."

"I didn't know. So Sal talked to Yvonne and she told you? Wow."

"Don't feel bad. We've all been friends for so long. Nothing stays secret between us for long."

If possible, his gaze seemed more intense than normal as if he wanted to emphasize something. She fumbled for words, anything to say to get him away from the topic of secrets.

"Do you know if that's it for me and Sal? Did I wreck everything?"

"Doubtful. Knowing Sal, he'll call you like nothing ever happened."

Her talk with Val had been good. She was much better than earlier. She wanted to cut the chat short before he brought up the insinuations about secrets. He seemed like the type of guy who would ask her straight out about anything.

"Hey Val, thanks for the ice-cream and the chat. I really should get going though... you know... before it gets dark out."

"Yeah. Cool. Anytime. Don't worry about Sal, he'll come around and well, Bianca... hey, maybe we'll all get lucky and she'll stop coming around."

*-*-*

Ten minutes later Tamyra climbed her porch stairs and her phone buzzed. She received a text. She looked at the screen and grinned. The message was from Sal, and read; 'Call me.'

Chapter 21

Tamyra bounded across the porch to the nearest chair and sat down. She beamed from ear to ear. He finally returned her message! But somewhere inside she felt an inkling of doubt taking hold, his message might not be a good sign.

Nervousness radiated out like gentle waves. In no time at all the waves churned furiously. Her fear grew quickly. Fear he had only reached out to tell her he didn't want to be her boyfriend.

Her mouth had a sour taste and her palms sweated. She blotted her free palm against the thigh of her jeans and then switched the phone to the other hand so she could dry it too.

She tapped the buttons on the phone and brought up Sal's number. She stared at the digits on the screen as if they may somehow hurt her. Push the green telephone key and the phone would ring him. She hesitated.

She felt ridiculous gaping at the phone as she would a poisonous snake. One way or the other if Sal wanted to end things, he would. Whether she called now or he tracked her down tomorrow didn't matter, yet, somehow it did.

She sighed. If his text signaled the end, then she may as well get it over with. She shut her eyes and punched the connecting key. As she brought the phone up to her ear, she could hear it ringing through.

"Tamyra, I'm glad you called."

"Uh... hi, Sal."

"Hi. I wasn't sure if you'd call me. Look, about the other night, well I just wanted to say I'm sorry if I did anything that scared you."

Hearing him say sorry stunned her. She expected him to say anything from 'it's over' to 'what happened?', but never 'sorry'.

"What? Uh... no, you have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who should be apologizing here. The way I ran off. I'm so sorry. I... well... I had to go. I know I shouldn't have left like that and I'm sorry."

"What happened? Was it me?"

"No, Sal. Please don't think it was you. I just... I had to go."

"Had to go why?"

"I'm not ready to talk about that yet. I'm sorry."

"OK. So we're both sorry. Where does that leave us?"

"Is there an us, Sal?"

"Do you want there to be?"

"Do you?"

"I asked first, Tamyra."

"Yes." Hissed out of her in barely a whisper.

"Good. Me too."

She huffed a breath of relief. Hearing him say the words felt better than anything she could have imagined.

The pause between them made her uncomfortable. She broke it with a question; "So now what do we do?"

"I think I've got an idea. The same idea I had before, but I think with friends it would be more fun."

"You gonna let me in on this big idea?"

"Not yet. I think it'll be fun to be mysterious for a while."

"Mysterious?"

"Yeah. You're not the only one who gets to be mysterious, Tamyra."

"Fair enough."

"Walk with me to school in the morning?"

"For sure."

"OK. I'll see you then. I can't talk more or I might wreck the surprise."

"Oh... alright. Um... bye."

"Good night, mystery girl."

Chapter 22

Sal's idea scared her silly, but in a good way. Tamyra stood huddled in the dark with Sandi, Cam and Yvonne. She wasn't sure where Sal and Val had gotten off to, although she thought she could hear them upstairs still.

Sal's great idea had been to get the gang together to explore the creepy old house next door to hers. It took a while for the girls to agree to go inside, especially since night already reigned.

Faint moonlight filtered in through the filthy windows at the back of the house. Once they left the night behind, the darkness grew thicker. The only light they had was the tiny LEDs on their phones and it barely lit as far as their next footsteps.

By now Tamyra had clued in to the fact Sal and Val must have come to the house earlier. For as soon as everyone moved inside they pulled a disappearing act. For the last ten minutes or so the two boys had thumped about, throwing things and making ghostly noises trying to frighten everyone else.

At first the noises terrified Tamyra, now her heartbeat had almost returned to normal. Yvonne had stopped swearing and she and Sandi whispered about getting even.

Cam remained quiet since they entered the abandoned house and Tamyra got the impression he may have joined the boys if Sandi hadn't latched onto his arm. She couldn't have explained it, even to herself, yet somehow Cam appeared to blend more with the darkness than the girls. He seemed more comfortable in it.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Yvonne yelled in a singsong voice.

"Yeah guys, we've had enough!" Sandi called.

Something made a loud bang upstairs followed by the sound of someone running towards them. In unison the group turned their phones to the stairs. Tamyra caught the glint off Val's glasses as he charged down them.

From behind them, Sal screamed; "Boo!"

All four jumped and someone pushed Tamyra against a wall in the confusion. Sharp pain. Something hard sank into the skin on her bicep. Her other hand flew to cover the wound and she sucked air in over her teeth. Even through everyone's laughter Sandi must have heard her because she immediately brought the light of her phone up.

Sandi lifted Tamyra's covering hand in an instinctual gesture to better see the injury. By the stunned look on her face, Tamyra easily discerned Sandi witnessed the cut healing at her supernatural speed. Tamyra tried to cover it again, but Sandi held onto her hand.

For a brief second Sandi locked eyes with Tamyra looking as if she wanted to say something. But, then instead, she let go, shuffled closer to Cam and started laughing with everyone else. No one else had taken notice. Could Sandi really brush it off like that?

"So who's up for a game of truth or dare?" Sal asked as he slipped his hand around hers.

"Good 'ol truth or dare, huh?" Yvonne laughed.

"Alright Sal, but you go first. Oh yeah and in this game there is no stupid promise-to-repeat." Val stated as he crossed his arms.

A shudder passed through Tamyra. She couldn't pick truth and going off alone in this house as a dare would be out of the question. Her new friends seemed to be warming up to the idea though and she knew she'd have to go along.

"Can we at least go back outside to play? It smells worse than my grandma's musty old basement in here." Sandi folded her hands together pleading.

She's acting like nothing happened. Weird?

"Kinda like something puked and then died." Cam said.

"Yeah, let's get outta here. We'll have more light outside." Val swung the back door open before he finished speaking.

Sal lingered for a second and let Tamyra go out ahead of him. A subtle gesture, yet the chivalry wasn't lost on her.

"So, you think this place'll still freak you out after tonight?" Sal murmured quietly so the others couldn't hear.

"You guys weren't exactly trying to make us comfortable."

"But that was the plan. Showing you we're the only things going bump in the night."

She thought about needling him further and decided against it. Even if he missed the mark, his intentions had been good and she didn't want to poke at him too much.

The rest of the group stood a few feet away when she stopped and faced him. She felt more frightened to kiss him than she had been all night. He seemed to sense what she wanted to do and leaned in towards her.

As their lips touched, excitement replaced her fear. Her heart thudded hard in her chest and her stomach tightened.

"Um, hello? We can see you, you know." Yvonne said.

No one could see her blushing in the darkness and she felt grateful. When she stepped back from Sal he sported a silly grin. As they turned back to face their friends, he gave her hand a playful squeeze.

She tried to discreetly steal a look at Sandi to see if she could get a read on her, but in the dark her face looked like nothing more than a pale smudge.

"OK. If I'm going first who's doing the daring?" Sal asked.

"Hey, who say's it's a dare?" Val jostled.

"Well I guess I just did. So who's gonna come up with a dare?"

"How about skinny-dipping?" Yvonne asked.

"Haha, Yvonne. I'm not going in by myself. If everyone wants to take it as their dare I'll go."

Tamyra bit her lip. She prayed someone else would say no. She couldn't imagine stripping down in front of all these people. Everyone simply glanced about at each other. She got the feeling that most were probably waiting for someone to say 'no', only no one said anything.

"Skinny-dipping it is then!" Sal said.

She couldn't believe her ears and eyes as they all started in the direction of the water. Someone had to stop this!

A beam of light cut the darkness and lit the ground. In an instant she pinpointed the light from Sal's flashlight.

"So that's how you two were getting around so well upstairs." Tamyra elbowed Sal.

He snickered at her.

"Well what'd you think? We can see in the dark?"

"I don't know what I thought. But I'm definitely not going skinny-dipping with a light." She whispered.

"I know you well enough to know you weren't going before the light came up. It's OK, Yvonne and Sandi won't go either." He said so only she could hear.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see. Just let Yvonne chicken out first."

Her ears picked up bits of hushed conversation ahead but she couldn't make out any words. Her stomach knotted thinking Sandi could be telling everyone about her cut. She didn't like the thought of calling Sandi a liar but she couldn't see having much choice. Besides, who would actually believe her wound from a half hour ago healed like magic?

She could make out Sandi's silhouette. Her head tipped onto Cam's shoulder and he had his arm around her. It didn't look like either of them spoke at all.

The hushed voices grew louder and now she could tell Yvonne and Val argued. Yvonne's anger flared over the flashlight. It seemed Sal had been right; she backed out of skinny-dipping.

Val calmly threw little barbs at her about how he knew she wouldn't do it.

His neutral tone seemed to be getting under her skin and soon the fight branched off into an apparent old argument and the whole skinny-dipping thing seemed to be dropped.

Sal stepped in between them and Tamyra sat down on a large rock. She still tried to figure out what they fought about, when Sandi sat down next to her.

"They've been best friends since first grade and even I'm not sure what this is about." Sandi said.

Cam had joined Sal and tried to get them to bring the argument down a notch. Tamyra seized the moment.

"What you saw back there. Well... I... um..."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to say anything. When you're ready, tell me."

"I don't know how."

"You will."

Chapter 23

"I can hardly believe tomorrow makes a month since our first kiss! I mean it feels like forever and yesterday all at the same time." Tamyra said.

Tamyra, Sandi and Yvonne chatted on their way to class. In a short time the three girls had become inseparable. An outsider wouldn't have believed it was only rolling into the second month of the school year and Tamyra only knew the other two for as long.

"I can't believe Sal bought you flowers!" Sandi giggled.

"Yep. Three perfect red roses!"

"He must really like you. I mean he never bought Bianca any flowers. In fact he never even talked to her. Isn't that right, loser?" Yvonne snarled over her shoulder at Bianca as they passed her.

Bianca and one of her flunkies had been talking as the other flunky routed through her locker, digging for something.

The hurt look couldn't have been more obvious if it had been painted on a billboard. Bianca tried to cover it up by twisting her face into a sneer and giving Yvonne's back the finger. Tamyra pretended not to notice.

"Why torment her? She leaves me alone now."

"Tamyra, you're too sweet. Girls like Bianca need to be reminded of their place or else they think it's OK to treat everyone like crap. And when I say everyone, I mean you."

Tamyra had more or less learned about the pointlessness of arguing with Yvonne, especially when she looked out for someone she cared about. She let out an exaggerated sigh and said; "I know."

"Besides if she'd've been the one to get Sal, do you think she'd tip-toe around you or rub your face in it? This is Bianca we're talking about here."

"Point taken."

"Anyhow, I gotta go. I'll catch up with you guys later." Yvonne said as she dashed off down the hall to class.

"Later!" Tamyra and Sandi yelled in stereo.

"Hey isn't that eclipse thingy happening this afternoon?" Tamyra wondered aloud.

"Oh, that's right! We get to go outside and watch it through those pinhole cameras we had to make. Hey, it's better than sitting in class. Maybe we can sneak off and find the boys."

Tamyra smiled at her friend knowing even if the school caught fire Sandi would have a hard time cutting class. She kept her thoughts to herself.

Again, Tamyra caught herself rubbing her upper arms with both hands. For some reason her hands kept wandering as if to warm her, yet she wasn't cold. All day her skin had felt strange, not exactly itchy or irritated, just strange. Maybe I'm coming down with something or mom switched our detergent. Whatever.

As she let her hands drop to her sides, she let the thoughts drop from her mind.

She and Sandi had reached their classroom. Inside, teenage chaos ensued. No one sat properly at their desks. Excited chatter filled the room. The teacher, Mr. Fishburn, didn't seem concerned as he distributed the cardboard box cameras to their creators.

"This is gonna be way better than sitting through a lecture."

"I'm still wondering what an eclipse and law have to do with each other, but _so_ not complaining."

Sandi entered the class ahead of Tamyra and led them down the isle-way to the back of the room. A small box rested on Sandi's regular desk: the pinhole camera the girls had constructed together during the previous class.

"Guess we're ready." Sandi grinned as she picked up the box.

"OK class, settle down for a moment. We're all going out the west doors. Those are the doors down beyond the gym. We are to stay together as a class. The eclipse will start in about fifteen minutes, so we should go now. I'll be locking the room for those of you who would like to leave your bags or books here."

"You taking your bag?"

"For sure. Too much Toronto paranoia about leaving things lying around."

"Yeah, me too." Sandi mocked.

They chuckled and started to follow the herd. The girls exited last and true to his word, Mr. Fishburn locked up the room behind them. He then hurried along to the head of the pack, leaving the girls meandering along behind everyone else.

"So, think if we ducked down the blue hall anyone'd notice?"

"Yeah right Sandi. You'd never do it!"

Sandi pretended to look wounded but couldn't hold it. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards. She glanced at Tamyra from the corner of her eye. When she turned Sandi's buddy smile became replaced by a look of alarm.

The expression looked almost comical with Sandi's raised eyebrows and her mouth hanging open. Tamyra wondered if Sandi hallucinated her blood covered or something equally scary.

"What's wrong?"

"Your eyes, there's no white part."

Her stomach dropped like a falling glass and when it would have hit the ground and shattered, cold sensation erupted.

"Oh... God. The... eclipse." Tamyra said.

Tamyra and Sandi stood in the middle of the hallway staring at each other. One thought echoed in Tamyra's head; "What am I going to do?"

With her arms crossed over her chest and her hands back on her upper arms Tamyra felt a slight shifting as fine hairs emerged from her skin. She froze.

"I get it. Now what can I do?" Sandi's voice snapped her out of it.

"I need to leave. I have to get away."

"No time, Tamyra. We'll have to think of a place to hide you."

"You don't know what's happening. I'll hurt people."

"I've figured it out. Janitor's closet, come on."

Sandi grabbed Tamyra with her left hand and dragged her towards the janitor's closet. Tamyra didn't have time to argue before Sandi had taken her bag, opened the door and pushed her inside.

"Stand guard." Was all she managed to utter before the door slammed shut and she plunged into darkness.

Tamyra reached out for the spot on the wall where she thought the light switch should be. She fumbled around in the darkness until her fingers brushed the plastic and her mind directed how to flip the switch on. Her breathing now came in ragged huffs and prayed the change wouldn't overtake her. Spying a bolt lock on the door, she turned it for privacy. Although she fretted about getting out and hurting people, guiltily she worried more about someone opening the door and seeing her in this state.

The beginning stage of transformation gripped her. Her skin tingled and burned as hair emerged. Her sense of smell had heightened and some kind of lemon scented cleaning product caused her nose to throb.

Sandi's involvement kept playing around in her mind. There would be so many questions, but they slipped away as the symptoms of impending metamorphosis continued to show up. Her kneecaps gave uncomfortable vibes almost as if melting away, and she could tell her legs would soon hinge backward.

The urge to rip her constricting clothing to shreds resonated, but her mind stayed very clear as she fought against it. Her mom had told her she would learn to control her changes, so she pleaded with herself to take control.

At the tips of her fingers and toes she could feel her nails becoming hard, sharp claws. As she kicked off her shoes, she noticed they had already ripped her socks.

The harsh florescent light bothered her eyes. She didn't want to be alone in the dark, even though she knew she would see perfectly now, so she left the light on and shadowed her eyes with her hand.

She tried to focus on her breathing, following it in and out and counting backwards from ten. The third time she counted down her shallow breathing slowed a little. By the sixth time she felt as if she gained some control.

Numbers rolled through her mind. She blocked out all other thoughts and counted. "Ten-nine-eight..." she barely noticed when her claws retracted and became nails once more. "Seven-six-five..." or when her breathing returned to normal. "Four-three..." she became fully aware as her light fur coat retreated back under her skin. Even then, she kept counting.

Finally, certain she stopped the change, Tamyra allowed herself to stop counting. She brushed her fingers against her cheek. They were met by nothing more than smooth skin. She let out a sigh of relief and stuffed her feet back into her shoes.

It took a minute to adjust her torn socks to make them comfortable. She felt ready to leave. She cranked the lock open and went to open the door. Thinking about Sandi's earlier terrified face halted her. What would she say?

Sandi must have heard the lock, for three soft knocks came from the other side of the door. Tamyra imitated the pattern and opened the door a couple of inches. Sandi peeked in and the fear in her face dispersed in a visible second.

"So, you ready to tell me yet?" was all Sandi said as she handed Tamyra back her bag.

Chapter 24

Tamyra still didn't know what happened. It had been weeks since Bianca had given her any more attention than a dirty look and now she stood screaming in Tamyra's face. What happened? Picturing Bianca getting out of school alone, ahead of Tamyra and then hanging in the bushes waiting for her to pass just didn't make sense.

"Lower than low. Come to town pretending to be friends and start taking people's boyfriends. Who do you think you are?!" Bianca yelled.

Tamyra said nothing. She took a step back to avoid more of Bianca's flying spittle as she yelled, but had nothing to say. At least Bianca was alone this time. Tamyra shifted her gaze from the ground to the forest surrounding them. She didn't want to look at Bianca, but she didn't trust the girl enough to take her eyes away completely.

"I asked you a question, Tammy!"

Tamyra shook and the more Bianca yelled the more her tremors became not of fear but anger. Aside from Bianca, Shiver Cove had been almost perfect and here she reminded Tamyra of that fact.

"You know that's not my name." Tamyra locked eyes defiantly with Bianca.

"Would you rather I call you skank? That's what you are, a boyfriend stealing skank."

"I'd rather you not call me anything." she said calmly.

"And I'd rather Sal not call you anything. But that's not happening either, is it?"

The blood in Tamyra's body sizzled hot through her.

"It's not as if he'd call you." the words hung in the air as she realized she spoke them.

A look passed over Bianca's face that brought to mind the image of a demented rhino. Unbridled hatred. Tamyra felt good getting her jab in.

"How could you do this to your friend?!"

"You're psycho! We were never friends! Never!"

The angle of the daylight illuminated tears in Bianca's eyes. Tamyra couldn't believe what she saw. The girl nearly frothed at the mouth in anger and cried at the same time.

"We were supposed to be friends! You were supposed to introduce us! My senior year was supposed to be the best!" she hissed.

The outburst baffled Tamyra. She had prepared for a fight, not a pity party. Tamyra folded her arms across her chest and inched another step back. She dropped her guard a bit in her confusion. Part of her heart understood Bianca's pain and wanted to tell her it would be alright, mostly though, she wanted to get away from her.

The bully seized the moment and lunged at her. Bianca landed a hard slap to the right side of Tamyra's face. On instinct, Tamyra kicked out and connected with Bianca's kneecap. There was an audible snapping noise and Bianca dropped to the ground wailing.

"My leg!"

The sting in her cheek made it hard for her to be concerned for the other girl. Let her sit there and cry. She started this! Besides, she could be faking.

The bawling seemed to be out of genuine pain, but Bianca's greasy hair hid her face and Tamyra couldn't be sure. She could be putting on a show.

"I can't move! You broke my leg!"

Tamyra tapped her foot nervously as she stared at the blob of Bianca on the ground. She had no intention of investigating the injury herself, but she couldn't leave her like this, could she? The loud cracking noise. Maybe she broke something.

"Get up Bianca. I know you're faking. What is this? Is this all a ploy for attention or something?"

Bianca's sobbing stopped immediately following Tamyra's questions. She turned her head and her hair tumbled away from her face. The puffiness around her wet eyes couldn't be faked, although the reason behind it could.

"Attention? You think I want attention? What I wanted was a perfect year, with good friends and a good boyfriend and instead it's the same old. We should've been friends, you, me, Sandi, even Yvonne. I should've been part of the crowd. Nothing ever goes my way! Not with you, not with him, not with my parents, nothing! Everything in my life is crap!" her voice choked off by a sob.

As a line of snot ran down to her lip, Tamyra couldn't bare to watch anymore.

"We all have problems." She mumbled to herself and started to walk away.

Expecting Bianca to jump up and chase after her, she kept glancing back over her shoulder. Oddly enough, Bianca stayed on the ground crying and didn't say anything more.

The further Tamyra got away from Bianca the less energy she gave the whole situation. Somewhere in her mind she decided to file the whole mess under 'pathetic'. She felt pretty sure today would be the end of her harassment.

She came up with the idea if Bianca bothered her again she would threaten to publicize an imaginary video of Bianca on the ground bawling. Bianca couldn't possibly be sure she hadn't made a small movie on her cell and that alone would be enough to keep her away.

She couldn't hear Bianca anymore. She gave one last look back before she started to cut across her aunt's property to home. Bianca's crumpled form had begun to rise from the dirt and Tamyra was surprised by the relief at knowing she hadn't truly hurt Bianca. Well, she had on the level that counted. The last mind she paid to Bianca; Looks good on her.

Her house came into view and her thoughts turned back to the eclipse. Amazing luck to have a friend like Sandi today. She felt lucky in one sense and terrified in another. It freaked her out she had no idea an eclipse could bring about a change. So much she didn't know.

Maybe it's time to try and talk to Aunt Kiki. Her family would be angry her friend found her secret out. She needed to talk to someone. She couldn't learn anything real on the internet. She knew because she tried.

Lost in thought about what had happened at school, she walked up the front steps, into her home, kicked off her shoes and found herself drinking a pop when she reconnected with the world. Aunt Kiki looked up from the paper she read at the kitchen table.

"How was your day?"

"Not so good. I almost turned at school during the eclipse."

"Oh no. I guess it's been so long since I've had control I didn't even think about that. But you said almost?"

"Yep. Talked myself out of it."

"That's amazing progress!"

"Not so amazing. Promise you can keep a secret?"

"You can tell me anything."

"You have to promise."

"Alright. I promise. What's the big secret?"

"Well I didn't get control until after one of my friends figured me out."

Tamyra held her breath in anticipation of being chastised.

"Is the friend trustworthy?"

"Yeah. She's known something was up since she saw one of my cuts heal about a month ago and hasn't said a word to anyone."

"So what's the big secret then?"

"Well... mom will freak."

"Then we don't tell her. A couple of my close friends know and it's been a good thing for me. I don't agree with your mother that it's a family secret. However, I've never told a soul outside the family that werewolf runs in the family."

Tamyra mulled over what her aunt had said. She hadn't told Sandi how she became a werewolf and thinking about it now, she wouldn't. Her aunt's logic had merit. To let people in on her secret could be good, yet outing the rest of your family's secrets clearly seemed wrong.

"There's so much I don't know. I don't even know what questions I should be asking. I checked out the internet a million times and scoured any book I could find, they were no help."

"You mean the books that talk about how you can become a werewolf from a bite? Or how only silver kills us? Or how we can only turn on a full moon? Oh, Tamyra. You already know it's passed through genetics and we die like everyone else. You know the full moon affects us, but we can change anytime we want once we learn to control the change. You know we heal rapidly. What else do you want to know? How to control yourself? That comes with time and practice. There's no handbook."

"So people keep telling me. It'd be nice if there was a book or even someone closer to my age who actually remembers how they got through the newness of it all."

Aunt Kiki looked off into the air above Tamyra's head and got a funny look on her face as if trying to remember something.

"Hey, wait a minute. There just might be a book."

"What book?"

"Well when I was trying to figure myself out I kept a diary. Lots of tidbits and tricks I learned were jotted down in those pages. I'm pretty sure I know where it is."

The words were auditory candy. Tamyra couldn't think of a time she'd ever heard anything sweeter.

"Oh my God, Aunt Kiki, that'd be so amazing!"

"I'll look for it later. In the meantime is there anything else you want to talk about before the sun sets tonight?"

"No. I'm good. Thanks. Remember you promised not to tell mom, right?"

"Promise." She said with a wink.

Chapter 25

The first time her cell went off Tamyra stepped under the shower spray. Curious who would be calling so early on a Saturday, but her curiosity soon wisped away in a swirl of bubbles down the drain.

The second time her phone went off she kept trying to floss her teeth in the steamed mirror. She barely gave the caller any thought as she concentrated on picking out her image in the haze.

The third time her phone rang she carefully popped a zit, doing her best not to leave little nail marks on her skin. This time she paused for a second to wonder who called and then went back to finishing the job.

The fourth time the phone rang she had her hair and make-up done. She finished dressing and walked back into her room.

She grabbed for the phone but the person hung up. As she checked the screen to see who called the phone light went out as the battery died. If it's that important, they'll call the house.

She almost laughed as the landline started ringing. Guess it must be important. Picking up the phone she said; "Hello?"

"Hi, Tamyra."

Sal's voice warmed her. They'd made plans to have a bonfire on her aunt's beach with the gang later and she didn't expect he'd call so early in the day.

"Hey. Did you just try my cell?"

"Only like ten times."

He sounded strange. An unfamiliar tone in his voice. Sometimes she couldn't read him at all.

"What's up? Everything alright?"

"You haven't heard yet? Sandi and me have been calling all morning. I figured she got a hold of you."

Icy worms wriggled in her belly and she knew whatever he had to say wasn't going to be good at all. She sat on the edge of her bed and braced for the worst.

"It's about Bianca."

"Great. What has she done now?"

"She's dead, Tamyra."

"Haha..."

About to crack off about how they only wished, she sensed something haunted about the way he spoke. She understood the reality of his words.

"How? When? What happened?" she asked.

"The paper says last night. It doesn't give her name, but mom confirmed through the hospital gossips it was Bianca. The paper said she was mauled to death by an animal."

"Last night?" was all she could say.

Her mind went at light speed in a million different directions at once. Last night she roamed through the woods in her wolfen form. She also fought with Bianca earlier.

She realized Sal still talked and tuned him back in; "... so weird. I mean we weren't friends but she was in some of my classes last year and there was that whole crush thing she had. I don't know anyone our age who died before."

The line went quiet and she realized he waited for her response. She couldn't say what rolled around in her head, so she simply made a "hmm" noise in agreement.

Tamyra felt grateful he couldn't see her right now. Her skin probably looked like ashes doused in sweat. Did I kill her? Kept racing through her mind like a pack of hungry jackals.

"You're right, Sal. This whole thing is really weird. I think I need some time alone to digest."

"Yeah, sure. We still on for tonight?"

"For sure."

"See you later."

"Bye."

She pressed the end button on the phone and dropped it onto the bed next to her. Suddenly the normally comforting scent of her room overwhelmed her. Lavender and Vanilla threatened to choke and smother her. Feeling woozy, she stood up and walked out into the hallway.

The air in the hall wasn't any better. Lavender receded, exchanged for cedar and the wood smell seemed to make the air denser. Her breaths grew shallow. Although conscious of her having a panic attack, she couldn't fight it. She charged down the stairs and out the front door onto the porch.

Outside, the air felt lighter and her breathing started to slow. She flopped herself down on a wicker chair. Putting her hands on either side of her head, she rested her elbows on her knees. She hoped hanging her head down would help her to gain focus.

Tamyra began counting backwards from ten in her mind and closed her eyes. She gave all her attention to the numbers and tried to banish thoughts of murder.

Eight, seven... mauled by an, three... animal, one. The drastic circumstances kept forcing their way back onto center stage. Six, five... Friday, three... oh, God. Her breathing became regular and the world only tilted instead of spun when she opened her eyes.

What am I going to do? Something made a rustling noise to her left and startled her. As her heart popped, her eyes landed on the morning's paper. Its pages fluttered in the breeze a few feet away.

As if mesmerized by some kind of spell, she got up and walked over to it. Tamyra didn't feel in control of her actions as she picked it up and flipped through to Bianca's article. Her body guided her back to the wicker chair on autopilot. She sat down and began to read.

TERRIFYING TRAGEDY STRIKES SHIVER COVE

Reportedly, yesterday evening the life of a 17-year old

girl ended brutally. The girl's name is still being

withheld by authorities. However, it has been made

known that she attended Shiver Cove High.

Police have released a statement that sometime Friday

night the girl was attacked and killed by an, as of yet,

undetermined wild animal. At this time there's

speculation that it may have been a bear or large canine.

All residents should remain watchful and alert the

authorities immediately should they see any suspicious

animals.

Details on the girl's funeral will follow once her

identity has been released.

Shivers raced up and down her body. Even though the sun shone and the air felt warm, Tamyra couldn't do anything about the numbing cold inside.

Her nemesis, Bianca, dead, and not so little voices in her head screamed _Tamyra killed her_.

Chapter 26

The day passed through a veil of tears. Tamyra locked herself in her room so she could commit self-torture in privacy.

All day she tried to recall last night as the wolf. Flashes had come back to her but nothing solid and nothing involving Bianca. She kept trying to convince herself if she had anything to do with Bianca's death, she'd remember something.

What else could have killed her? A bear or a big dog like the police suspected? How often do bears or dogs kill people?

At some point in her fearful fog Sandi called and Tamyra learned Bianca was killed roughly where she fell to the ground during their fight yesterday afternoon. What were the chances Bianca just happened to be brutalized by some random animal at the edge of her aunt's property? What the hell was she still doing there come night?

She didn't mention a word about the fight and felt relief when Sandi bought her line about allergies affecting her speech. Apparently town gossip spread like chicken pox. Everyone talked.

Guilt consumed her and she didn't know what to do. She couldn't tell her mom or aunt that she thought she possibly murdered Bianca. She couldn't tell anyone.

As far as she knew no one in her family had ever slaughtered a human. The type of werewolf that ran in her genes wasn't naturally aggressive and the human inside learned within a year or so how to fully control the wolf.

What was she going to do?

A soft knock at her door forced her to wipe her eyes and hide the tremor in her voice.

She mumbled; "Come in."

"Hey baby girl. I brought you that... have you been crying?" her aunt inquired as she stepped into the room, toward the bed.

"Um... no. It's nothing. I think maybe I'm allergic to something. What's up?" she flashed her brightest fake smile.

Kiki shook her head and Tamyra positively knew she didn't believe her, but respectfully her aunt didn't pry.

"I found that diary I was talking about the other day. Thought you might like to borrow it."

Her aunt held out a small navy leather bound book. Tamyra took it and this time her smile came genuinely. Maybe something in it would give her some answers.

"Thanks. I'll take good care of it."

"I know you will because it's only on loan."

Her aunt already closed the door behind her, as Tamyra leafed open to the first page.

*-*-*

The sun progressively sank to meet the horizon when the phone rang. Sandi asked when everyone should show up for the bonfire. Val offered to pick everyone up and she wanted to know if they needed to bring anything. Tamyra's mom had gone out earlier to pick-up snacks and drinks and she couldn't think of anything else. The girls decided eight seemed a good time and hung up.

Tamyra still didn't know if she wanted to be around people, yet she wouldn't allow that to ruin plans her friends were looking forward to.

Eight loomed only an hour away and she wanted to get ready. She tucked the book under her pillow for later and dragged herself into the bathroom.

As she went about styling her hair and putting on a little make-up, she couldn't keep Bianca from barging back into her head. For the last few hours while she read she managed to keep Bianca at bay, but now with nothing to immerse herself in, Bianca demanded her attention once more.

Tamyra took her eyeliner away from her eye as warm water threatened to spill down her cheeks. She didn't want to cry. She didn't know for sure she'd done anything. Even aunt Kiki's diary said that none of their kind hunts humans. She had to believe a bear or something had done it.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds and then blinked rapidly to clear her eyes. For now, her tears had been held back. She wished it could be so easy to hold back the part of her that kept insisting she killed Bianca.

The boys finally had the fire going good. Sal perched on top of a picnic table with Tamyra leaning between his legs on the bench. He leaned forward with his arms wrapped around her. Cam and Sandi sat in a similar fashion next to them.

Yvonne and Val relaxed in a couple of folding camping chairs across the fire from the table. A nearly windless night and the smoke wafted its way straight up.

Sandi's very liberal dad had been kind enough to make a run to get alcohol for them. Everyone had a beer in hand. Tamyra sipped hers slowly and tried not to let on she really didn't care for the taste.

The conversation had centered around Bianca for quite a while, which didn't help Tamyra's frayed nerves. For the most part she listened and kept up her best neutral face. With her thoughts running like a dog chasing its tail, it surprised her she still had the ability to notice Val hadn't been saying much either. Maybe he feels guilty for saying we'd all be better off without Bianca.

As the night went on it became obvious to her something agitated Val. Even though he didn't say much, she got the distinct impression he wrestled with something and wanted to talk about it.

The others talked and laughed. No one else seemed to have picked up on it. Fortunately, the numbing effect of the beer on everyone else meant they hadn't noticed she wasn't herself either.

Val stopped after one as he was driving, and she hadn't been able to make it beyond half of one. Tamyra didn't think anyone had enough to be drunk yet, but the conversation grew louder, and they reminisced about events and people she mostly didn't know of.

It made her ecstatic when the topic turned away from Bianca. The chatter comforted her and the knotted ropes of guilt relaxed their grip a little. The fire's warmth felt as good as did Sal pressed against her. She let her thoughts drift to how lucky to have met Sal and fall in with his friends, then up reared Bianca once more.

Why did she have to say those things about being friends and being with Sal? He wouldn't have chosen to be with her and Yvonne and Val would've never befriended her. Why should she feel bad when things are so good?

Because I killed her.

Oh God, I killed her.

No, a wild animal killed her.

"Hey babe, you alright? You've been quiet even for you tonight. I didn't say something stupid, did I?' Sal whispered in her ear.

She flipped to happy mode, flattened the furrows from her forehead and craned her neck to look at him.

"You? No you didn't do anything. I'm just listening. Besides, I don't really know the people you guys are talking about."

"Yeah but before that. You've been like this all night."

"I'm fine. Really."

She leaned up and kissed him to prove he did nothing wrong and prevent another question.

"Enough of that!" Yvonne yelled across the fire.

Her comment wasn't that funny, but everyone cracked up nonetheless.

"Hey, anyone know any spooky ghost stories?" Sandi asked.

"I know a real live scary story, but I'm not ready to let anyone in on it yet." Stated Val.

So that's what's up with him. He knows! The way he looked at her, he must know. Tamyra couldn't really tell where Val looked. Orange and yellow flames reflected off his lenses and she couldn't see his eyes. In her mind though, she felt sure his intense gaze focused on her.

"What's up with that? Since when do you keep secrets?" Yvonne asked as she play-slapped his arm.

"It's not a secret if you follow the news around here and I should be ready to fill you all in tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night? Tomorrow's Sunday."

"OK, it doesn't have to be late tomorrow night. I have a few more things to put together, then I can bring you all in on this thing."

Her breath hissed out between her teeth and she realized the unlikelihood he spoke about her. The hiss had been loud and all heads turned in her direction. She gave a shy little grin and searched for something to say.

All she could muster; "Sounds intriguing."

The clumsy words had everyone nodding in agreement and the focus volleyed back to Val.

Tamyra watched Val look at each expectant face and get up out of his chair. He stretched and then walked over to the cooler. The group hung in suspense, waiting for whatever he had to say. He said nothing as he snapped up the bag of marshmallows and one of the branches he had whittled to a point.

"Anyone else want roasted mallows?"

Yvonne whined; "That's it? You're really make'n us wait 'til tomorrow?"

"Yup." And with that he stabbed a marshmallow and held it slightly above the flames.

Chapter 27

If it hadn't been for uncertain guilt pushing its way constantly into view, Tamyra's night would have been amazing. Even the mysterious way Val had left things hanging had been fun. It also insured she and her friends would be getting together again tomorrow night.

At about midnight everyone said their goodbyes. Coming up on 2:00am, Tamyra still didn't feel tired. She lay in bed with her eyes closed and attempted to force herself to go to sleep. So far it hadn't worked.

As she shifted onto her side for the umpteenth time, her arm slid under her pillow and brushed against something rigid. Recalling placing her aunt's diary there, she stopped the internal alarm.

She had a clear understanding as soon as she touched it, she wanted to read the book. Bianca glided through her thoughts, so she flipped on the bedside light. If she read 'til her eyes couldn't stay open, then she'd finally be sleeping.

Tamyra scanned the pages until she found the last passage she read. As she picked up the first line of the new page, she groaned remembering how dry her aunt's writing was.

Me and Kevin went on a date tonight. It was nice. He is nice. He looked nice.

I am glad he asked me to go out with him. We went to the movies. The movie was

good. Kevin bought me popcorn. He is nice to me. I hope he will ask me to go out

again sometime.

The passage had nothing to do with anything and bored her. Where's the werewolf stuff?

She moved her finger down the page searching for anything wolf related. About seven pages later she came across an info dump.

Talked to grandmother today about the family secret. I am worried Kevin may find

out if I keep spending time with him. Grandmother said if I decide to tell him it's

up to me. She made me promise not to tell about everyone else in the family. I

have a lot to think about. Kevin is nice and I like him. I do not know if he is nice

enough to understand about werewolves.

I told grandmother how I worry that I may hurt a person when I am the wolf. She

laughed at me. She told me that our type of werewolf does not harm people. I asked

how she could be so sure and she says it has always been that way. We are

guardians. Our kind protects life. She also said something about how none of our

family eats meat because life is too precious.

Tamyra re-read the last paragraph over and over and over until the words started to sound funny in her head. A massive weight lifted from her. She had nothing to do with Bianca's death.

Images of roaming the forest flooded her. Tamyra knew with absolute clarity she never harmed and could never harm a living creature while she was the wolf.

The soft lure of her pillow had become too much to resist. Tamyra laid her head down and closed her eyes, letting the book slip from her fingers onto the bedspread. She fell into a peaceful sleep immediately.

Chapter 28

The mysterious build up had everyone wired. Twilight waned and as all six teens made their way down the weedy, overgrown path, Tamyra could feel the excitement in the air. Everyone wanted to know Val's big secret, but he wouldn't tell until they made it inside the old mill.

The rush of the river drowned out their footfalls. Clean, yet damp air filled her lungs. Although it was her first time to the mill with her friends, she sensed the others returned to this place like a second home.

From what she could gather, the group used the old mill sort of like their secret hideout. Bits and pieces of conversation had led her to believe they came here for years and some of them started to feel as if they had outgrown it.

She didn't want to admit it to anyone, but the idea of a secret meeting place thrilled her. Being invited by the group meant, to her, she was finally accepted as one of them.

She hardly noticed how sweaty Sal's hand felt in hers as they sneaked along to the far side of the building where they could get in. Tonight brought too much excitement for her to notice the little things.

In the morning she had a long talk with her mom and her aunt. Tamyra dumped any remnants of guilt over having thought she killed Bianca. Both women affirmed their type of werewolf simply couldn't kill people.

They walked her through the bits of her memory until she had the full picture of her night. The last she saw Bianca, in her human form, truly had been the last she caught glimpse of the girl.

With the tricks learned this morning she felt fairly certain she would be able to remember her wolfen nights in the future.

Putting Bianca to rest would've been enough to set her mind at ease. But, tonight trudging along with her boyfriend and new friends and being let into the inner circle had her dancing on the wind.

At the far end of the building Val and Yvonne disappeared around the corner. Then Cam and Sandi did too. When she and Sal caught up to everyone, Cam held his fingers interlaced into a cup and readied himself to give Val a boost.

Her eyes followed Val's outstretched arm as he stepped into Cam's waiting hands. Above a door sat a window missing its glass, and Val now reached for the sill. Sal let go of her hand and dashed over to the guys. He mimicked Cam's hand position in perfect time to grip Val's swinging foot as he launched off the ground.

Val, now three feet off the ground, slung his arms through the hole. In a fluid motion he pulled himself over the ledge and inside. A very athletic maneuver. A second later she could hear the scrape of a lock being disengaged and the door swung inwards.

From the darkness, the dimming sunset glinted off Val's glasses.

"Who brought a flashlight?" the glasses moved from person to person.

Cam replied; "We both did. Sandi has some candles too."

"Good. Don't turn 'em on 'til we're all in and the door's closed." Val said.

Cam stepped inside first, then Yvonne and Sal followed. For a neurotic second she thought it might all be a big joke and they might shut her outside. She quashed the stray thought as she stepped into the blackness.

She felt Val's hand on the small of her back gently urging her forward. She guessed he needed to shut the door. Her animal night vision kicked in. Better than human eyes in broad daylight, courtesy of her wolfen side.

Judging by the solid wall of black, the others probably couldn't see a thing. Once the door closed only a miniscule amount of light skimmed the darkness through various windows. Aside from the one above the door, the other windows had been set high near the ceiling.

Sandi's face popped from the dark as she lit a flashlight with the beam aimed from her chest to her face.

Sal chuckled; "Ohhh... way spooky!"

A second beam illuminated a patch of dirty cement floor near Cam's feet.

"I'll lead the way. Sandi, you can bring up the rear."

"No way. It's too creepy in here. I'm not going last. Here, Sal. Take the light."

"You want me to go last?" Sal feigned his best scared-little-kid voice.

He reached out and took the light when no one laughed. Cam started walking slowly and the others fell in behind him. Although Tamyra could see perfectly she stumbled and reached for Sal's hand for show. She still wasn't ready to let him in on her secret.

She casually checked out her surroundings, being careful to appear intent on following the light. She figured the few bulky objects piled along one wall were likely desks or tables. Some paper or cardboard littered the ground in places. Other than that, the large warehouse room appeared bare.

Tamyra became aware of a lumber-type smell, which made sense since the others had told her the building use to be some sort of paper mill. The rich woodsy scent contrasted against the dust and mold lingering in the air.

"I'm at the stairs." Cam said.

She watched as he started to ascend and wondered if all the others could see only his silhouette in the bobbing light. The metal staircase went up a dozen or so stairs high and once Cam stood on the platform, he angled the beam down the steps for everyone else.

As she shuffled to the steps behind everyone, she let go of Sal's hand. Aside from Sal, she reached the stairs last. Cam's handheld sunshine didn't help Tamyra as it helped the others. Instead, it messed with her night vision and caused her to see nothing but little white flecks rocketing around.

On autopilot she reached out and took hold of the handrail to her left. A thought flitted through her brain. She wondered if perhaps she would have the same type of eerie eye-shine a dog would. She didn't think so. Closing her lids halfway, she rushed up the steps to get the light out of her eyes. She heard a couple giggles and questioned whether it must have looked as if she got scared and ran for safety. Her right foot found the top of the landing and the beam shifted behind her onto Sal.

"It's cool man. I got it." Sal flashed his own torch up at Cam.

Everyone, Sal included, now stood on a balcony overlooking the old shop floor. Tamyra scanned the area below and from her vantage point, she could tell no one else lurked inside the abandoned building.

Sal roped a hand around her forearm and guided her along behind the rest of the group. He smelled clean and compared to the underlying mold smell, refreshing. She leaned in and put her head onto his shoulder as they walked.

The unmistakable sound of keys jangling made her jump. Next to her Sal huffed out a breath of laughter. He cut it as she pulled away from him.

"I'm not making fun of you."

"Just laughing at me." Tamyra forced a pout.

"Come on. It was Val's keys and you jumped."

"It's creepy in here."

"True. The copy room isn't bad. You'll see."

"Why does Val have keys to an old copy room?"

"He put the lock on the door to keep people out."

She watched as her friends vanished into the copy room. A match flared inside and then a second flame appeared as someone lit a candle.

Sal hesitated and she picked up his cue to linger a moment for a kiss. When she opened her eyes a couple minutes later his flashlight was off. He nodded his head toward the doorway and gave a look that said 'we better get going'. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they entered the copy room together.

Unlike the rest of the building, furniture occupied this room. A few shabby couches and even in the candle light she noticed fades and tears in some of the upholstery.

Despite the ragged appearance, her friends seemed content to sit on the couches. No one looked uncomfortable to be there. Yvonne leaned back with her feet kicked up onto a makeshift table. The couches formed a U-shape and in the center sat a desk minus its legs, resting on some milk crates.

After closing the door behind them, Sal ushered her to the closest couch and sat down with her.

Sandi busied herself setting fire to a third candle. Once the wick burned good she tipped the candle so hot wax fell onto the desktop and then she pressed the candle onto the wax. The three candles gave off enough light in the small room Tamyra imagined her friends could see as well as she could now.

"So? We're here. What's the big secret you have to fill us in on?"

Val grinned. "Why don't ya jump right to it, Yvonne? Maybe everyone wants to hang out before we get to it."

He knew everyone hinged on his every word, waiting for the tiniest clue as to why he dragged them all out to the mill. Cam gave Val a play-punch on the upper arm and said; "You know we're all just waiting on you."

"So much for our fun night out together. Once I tell you all what I have to say it's not going to be much fun for anyone. You guys sure you want this now?" all the playfulness had gone out of Val's voice.

Sandi pressed; "You can't keep us in suspense after that. What's so awful?"

Tamyra couldn't help but notice everyone leaned forward, straining to hear the big secret. Even Yvonne placed her feet back on the floor so she could lean in.

"I didn't say anything until now because I had to be certain. We all know, except maybe Tamyra, how strange things happen in Shiver Cove. I um... well... you guys might not even believe me. Now I'm saying this out-loud it sounds too strange for me." He paused.

Sandi soothed; "Everyone here knows that my grandmother was a very powerful medium and necromancer. No one ever made me feel weird about my passion to become like her. Whatever you have to say we're not going to think bad about you."

All around the table heads nodded in affirmation.

"Ok well, for the past year I've been tracking something. There I said it."

"Tracking, huh?" Yvonne asked. "What does that mean?"

"Well, you guys know about some of the mysterious deaths over in Shiver Hills. Then the most recent one, over here, being Bianca Viker's."

"Papers said Bianca was killed by a bear or dog." Yvonne said.

"Anyway, there've been a few mysterious deaths over the last year and through my dad I've been able to do some digging. At first I thought it was a werewolf, as crazy as that sounds, but now I'm not so sure. This thing is definitely not human though."

"You've been tracking a monster?" the words rolled off Tamyra's tongue.

"I guess that's what I'm saying." Val threw his hands up in an 'I surrender' gesture.

Collectively they lapsed into ponderous silence for a minute and then everyone exploded, talking at once. They all wanted details, and no one seemed sarcastic about asking. Tamyra and her new friends all believed what Val had told them and all wanted to know more.
Chapter 29

"Okay, start from the beginning. What made you think there was something strange about the first murder?" Yvonne asked.

"Actually, it was the second one that grabbed my attention. The victim, Shania Riley, was mutilated and left hanging in a tree."

Sandi put up her hand. "Didn't she go to Shiver Hills Catholic?"

"Up until Bianca, they all did."

Sal scratched his head. "How could an animal attack leave someone hanging in a tree?"

"That's what my dad wanted to know. Someone suggested bear and everyone ran with it, too scared of some unknown boogey-man out there."

Unable to keep the burning question to herself, Tamyra uttered; "How many of these strange deaths have there been?" Immediately she felt heat in her cheeks.

"Bianca makes five now. At least, there were no more I could conclusively link to this... beast."

Cam cleared his throat. "So the first four were on Shiver Hills' side of the highway and now what? The thing's moved over to our side?"

"Something like. I mean, there's only been one so-called animal attack recently in Shiver Cove, but it looks like the same thing that's done it."

"Hey, I remember reading about an animal attack, a Shiver Hills student. Doug Trainer. They said he was running or something." Yvonne said.

"Victim number three."

"Such a shame. I can still see his picture in my head. Real hottie."

"Doubt you'd think so if you saw the photos of him I did."

Yvonne's smile died and she rolled her eyes at Val.

"Way to wreck it, Val."

Sal jumped back with a look of alarm on his face. "So, wait a minute here. You're saying there've been five victims and all of them have been high school students? And now this thing is hunting in Shiver Cove?"

"Pretty much."

Everyone went quiet and then burst out talking at once. The one sentiment resounded clearly; they all wanted to catch this thing.

Chapter 30

Tamyra lifted the lapels of her sweater up around her neck. The fall weather hinted at winter and she wanted to stay in denial, without a coat, for a little longer. Seated on the top step of her front porch, she waited for Sal.

His mom loaned him the car for their movie date. Thinking about Sal warmed her up a bit. They grew so close, so quickly, she found it hard to believe she only lived in Shiver Cove for a mere two months.

Two months and so much had happened. Boyfriend, new friends, murder of the school bully, the discoveries within her werewolf self and of course who could forget 'The Beast'. 'The Beast' being the name her group of friends had given Val's creature, back in the mill.

After learning about all of 'The Beast's' victims, she knew she should be terrified it walked amongst them. Only the mystery and adventure of it all had an allure she couldn't resist. She genuinely looked forward to helping her new friends catch 'The Beast'.

She stood and gave a half-wave as Sal's car pulled into the driveway. As she bounded down the steps she didn't have one single doubt moving to Shiver Cove was the best decision she'd ever made.

*-*-*

The End

*-*-*

Author's Note:

Thank you for taking the time to read Shiver Cove, Part 1: Tamyra. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author's best friend and much appreciated.

Thank-you,

TJ Shortt

www.shivercove.com

Be sure to check out a free preview of **Shiver Cove, Part 2: Val** after the acknowledgements.
Acknowledgement

So many wonderful people have helped in my writing journey and every ounce of support is immensely appreciated.

Thank-you to my beta-readers: Mom, Val, Dad, Bernie, Tom, Chris, Amanda, Sonya, Erika, Angele and Aunt Michelle, with a very special thanks to my teenage beta-readers Faith and Mariah. All of your edits and suggestions have been invaluable.

Also, thanks to the instructors and my fellow grunts at the Borderlands Press Writer's Bootcamp and my U.S. stamp girls Connie and Aunt Marie.

Not to forget all of my family and friends cheering me on along the way.

All of you have my deepest gratitude.

Sneak peek at Shiver Cove, Part 2: Val...

Chapter 1 (VAL)

STOP LOOKING

OR ELSE!

The menacing letters still dripped red paint as the message glared at him. Ivan Valentine, or Val to his friends, stood staring at his locker totally confused. Sensing his mouth getting dry, he lifted his hanging jaw. With an almost sub-conscious motion, he pushed up his glasses.

He smirked knowing most people would have been frightened by such a threat, but to him it bordered on compliment. Until now, he had no idea 'The Beast' had taken notice of his investigative efforts.

"Ohhhhhh... scary stuff. Think it's from you-know-who?"

It annoyed him that he jumped when his friend Yvonne bumped against him. Fortunately, she hadn't seemed to notice.

He smiled. "I don't know what to think, but I kind of like it."

Yvonne arched a blonde eyebrow and winked at him. "Yeah, you would. You're sick like that."

He liked the way she never seemed intimidated by him and said what she thought.

She leaned into him and lowered her voice. "Seriously, you think the message is from 'The Beast'? Like a warning?"

With her being about a foot shorter, he dipped his head low and whispered; "How would 'The Beast' even know I'm looking? There's only six of us who know. And I guess my dad sorta knows too."

"Come on, Val. None of us would tell anyone. Maybe a conversation was overheard?"

He frowned. That hadn't occurred to him. "Who would've been discussing things in the open? We all know this is serious. People have been killed."

He caught the scent of her hair, peach-coconut, and realized just how close they were standing. He took an awkward step back. He didn't need rumors starting up again. Especially not since Jen had come along. Besides, he suspected Jen was jealous of Yvonne already.

"Really? You're really worried to be seen whispering with me? We've whispered for forever."

Val flipped between hating when she read him and taking comfort in it. This time he squirmed. Yvonne couldn't be fooled easily and he knew she didn't care for Jen. He still didn't know if he cared for Jen and wasn't in the mood to discuss it.

"It's... well. Well... don't take it personal." He looked to the ground, hoping she'd drop the Jen thing before she started.

"I think we need to show everyone this before someone washes it off." She said and she reached in her purse for her phone.

He held back the smile, glad she switched gears.

"Can you text pics to me too?" he asked as she clicked a second photo.

"Yeah, you're on the list. Hey, will Cam get this on his old dinosaur phone?"

"Even if he doesn't, Sandi'll show him."

"And once everyone's seen it, we're going to have to get the group together and chat this over."

"Over what? Think Sandi's old man'll get us beer again?"

"Probably. It's not like it's out of his way or anything. I'm pretty sure he's buying his own daily. Oh, that wasn't cool. Sometimes these things just fall right out of my mouth."

He watched her shift her weight nervously from one foot to the other.

"You're lucky, it's only me and I'm not about to repeat it."

"Thanks." Her gaze shifted down the hall and she blurted; "I'll catch you later."

His brain barely registered Jen walking towards him, but Yvonne had already turned to go.

"Yvonne, don't be like that."

She flashed him a look and walked back to him. He wondered when she figured out Jen seemed threatened by her. The girls arrived at his sides simultaneously. Both seemed to be trying their best not to look irritated by the other's presence.

The two girls were almost opposites. He studied the contrast for a moment. Tiny, pale Yvonne, with her shoulder length blonde hair and then Jen with her short dirty blonde hair, tanned skin and standing almost as tall as him. He also couldn't help but notice Jen's curves compared to Yvonne's lack them.

"O-M-G! Ivan, who the hell would do something like this!" Jen squealed, pointing to his locker.

Yvonne smirked, probably because she knew he wouldn't tell Jen what he really thought, and his friends knew he hated being called Ivan. Jen caught the grin and screamed in Yvonne's face; "How could you think this is funny? What's wrong with you?!"

Val took a step between the two girls. "Hey relax. It's not like that. Yvonne's not like that."

"Whatever, Val. I'll see you later."

This time Yvonne didn't look back, she just took off down the hall. He felt relieved Yvonne hadn't lit into Jen. Sometimes she could reign herself in.

"Seriously, why do you spend so much time with that girl? She's such a bitch. Midget cheerleading bitch who thinks it's funny someone trashed your locker and threatened you."

Instant disgust. He and Yvonne had been best friends for years. Val didn't know whether to defend Yvonne or change the subject. All he could get out was; "Um, what?"

"Well, OK, she's not that bad. But who laughs at something like this?"

Jen placed her hands on her hips and her chest pushed forward. Man she looked hot. Maybe she was trying to look out for him in some disturbed way. Probably nothing to worry about.

"I know she wasn't laughing at this because we talked about it before you got here. She was smiling because she wants you two to be friends. That's all."

The lie came easily. She said nothing and he hoped she would swallow it. Her forehead wrinkled and she pouted.

"I guess I blew it, didn't I?"

"I doubt it. Yvonne gets over things quick. By tomorrow she won't even care."

"You really think she wants to be friends with me?"

The hopeful note in her voice made him cringe. She sounded desperate. It made him think of Bianca's obsession with getting in with him and his friends and where had that left her?

"Yeah, sure."

"I should apologize. Maybe we can go find her?"

"Don't worry about it. You can tell her later. She's fine."

Jen grinned and took a step toward him.

"Why would the ridiculously popular Yvonne Terry want to become friends with me exactly?"

He blushed. They'd only been talking on the phone for a week or so. He had no intentions of telling her he sort of hoped something might happen between them. "Uh, because I'm, uh, friends with you."

"Just friends?"

"So far."

She stared at him with her slightly lopsided smile, saying nothing. He hated the awkwardness. He had no comfort zone with her and wasn't used to dealing with new people trying to push his buttons.

"Well maybe..." she trailed off.

"Wow that's pretty brutal. I had to check it out as soon as Yvonne texted the pic. Hi, Jen."

Val hadn't noticed Sal's approach, but was grateful at his friend's sudden appearance. Val took note of Jen checking out Sal. He felt a twinge of jealousy over the Surferboy. Lots of girls liked Sal's shoulder length blonde hair, deep tan and blue eyes. The jealousy passed quickly and he wondered where it had come from. They'd been friends for years and besides, Sal had a hottie of his own.

"Can you believe this?" she asked the newcomer. "I mean who would be so stupid to threaten a cop's kid, and in writing?"

Val flinched at the mention of his dad's job. He hadn't been sure, until she said it, she even knew who his dad was.

"Never mind cop's kid. Who would be stupid enough to threaten Val? It's not like you've got any enemies. Oh wait, you don't think this has anything to do with that thing we've been talking about lately, do you?" and there it was, Sal on a nervous ramble in front of someone who didn't know about 'The Beast'.

Val grasped for any words to throw Jen off, but she pounced; "What thing you've been talking about lately? Come on, Ivan, you're already keeping secrets from me?" she forced her bottom lip out, pouting.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Sal turn bright red. At least he seemed embarrassed over the slip. Jen seemed to have her full attention focused on Val.

Val shrugged innocently. "No secret. It's just a dumb guy-thing and I doubt it has anything to do with this nasty bit of artwork."

Jen folded her arms over her chest. She wasn't buying his lame excuse. He would have to come up with something better... or maybe a good distraction.

"Hey Sal, could you give us a minute?"

He noticed the relief on his friend's face as Sal nodded. Immediately Sal wandered off down the hall. Val would have to remember to thank him later for his little foot-in-mouth moment. Jen stared at him through a scowl, looking like a cross between someone betrayed and someone who had been left out. She actually looked kind of cute.

"Um, Jen, do you, um, well, uh, do you want to hang out sometime?"

He felt heat in his cheeks. Her expression brightened.

"You mean, like, just us?"

"Well, yeah."

He tried his best not to look at the floor. Standing in the hallway at school wasn't how he pictured asking her out. Especially not with people continually stopping to check out his newly decorated locker.

She smiled coyly, managing to radiate suspense for a moment and then blurted; "Of course I would!"

"I'll call you later and we can figure something out."

He spun and practically ran off before she could say another word. No more questions about 'that thing we've been talking about lately' and no awkward in-person chat trying to decide the when and where of their first date.

Their first date. He'd actually done it. He managed to ask her out. What a morning.

Chapter 2 (VAL)

Val brooded over how rough his day had turned. If only it kept on going as well as it started. He'd been so distracted by his morning, floating in a sea of bliss, he hadn't been able to focus on what had actually been happening. Teachers called on him and he'd been embarrassed because he had no clue what the questions were, never mind the answers. He got nailed during rugby practice by a tackle he should have been able to avoid, by a freshman no less. He couldn't place whether 'The Beast's' threat or Jen had been the bigger distraction.

The icing had been missing his ride home. Not that home was that far, but the cold pouring rain definitely sucked. The odd trickle breaching his collar seared like ice as it slithered down his skin.

The fall weather was slowly giving itself over to winter. He would have been happy about it, if he wasn't so cold and wet. Not even thoughts of Jen could pull him out of his misery.

As he cut behind a strip-mall, from his place behind some parked cars, he noticed a person trying not to be noticed. She leaned against a wall holding a black umbrella tipped low enough to cover her face. He couldn't quite say what drew his attention to her, but his intuition told him she was up to something she shouldn't be.

His curiosity beat out the cold and he stopped to watch the woman. Her body language could have said she was cold. He studied enough of his dad's police training videos to know that much, yet a little voice nagged him that it wasn't the case. Oddly enough the little voice also told him she wasn't about to commit a crime.

The woman hadn't become aware of his presence. He almost wished she had, so maybe she would look his way and he could see her face. He sensed a certain familiarity about her. What was she doing hanging out at the back of a store in the rain?

Shivers ran through him as another bead of ice-water slipped beneath his shirt. The warmth of home asserted itself. She hadn't moved and wasn't doing anything. Her mystery began to fade, replaced by the need for heat.

Val turned to go and detected the faint squeak of an unoiled hinge. He looked back to see a man stepping out of a service door. The umbrella swallowed his head as the two embraced. Boring. Even though the umbrella bobbed as the two became more passionate, he no longer cared.

Until he heard her laugh. Then mere caring was a completely inadequate sentiment.

Chapter 3 (VAL)

He sat on the edge of his bed shuffling hockey cards into a protective album. Val had done this countless times and the near mindless act soothed him. The woman's laugh still echoed through his mind. As hard as he tried to push her away, she drifted back to him. His mother's laugh was unmistakable.

What was she doing with that man? Thoughts of his parent's happy marriage shattered as the laughter rang through him again.

He set the album aside and tried to think of something that would require more of his attention. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled to the picture Yvonne had sent of his locker. 'The Beast' had sent him a message. A threat in bold red paint. Even 'The Beast' couldn't stifle the laugh he heard earlier.

He thought about calling Yvonne or Cam, but decided he wasn't ready to talk about it. Both of their parents were still together and he didn't need their pity. The others: Sal, Sandi and Tamyra may be more understanding, but he didn't want to sound pathetic. It struck him as odd that Jen wasn't on his list of shoulders.

Maybe he would call her anyways. She made him laugh and could certainly carry a conversation. He regarded the phone in his hand as one would a poisonous snake and knew he wasn't calling anyone.

Yvonne messaged everyone; an urgent meeting of the minds was mandatory tonight. The appointed time loomed. Maybe some time with friends would help. Everyone would be excited and nervous and 'The Beast' would surely be the main topic. Perhaps it would be enough to silence the laughter in his head.

*-*-*

Val entered the old paper mill first, through a window, as customary. He scraped his palm on the lip of the sill and cursed. Blackness encompassed him as he landed inside and unlocked the door for his friends.

Tamyra entered first, followed by Sal whose fingers interlaced hers. He thought it cool how she'd only hung out with his group of friends for a couple of months, but it felt as if she'd always been there. She gave him a shy smile. Val smiled back, taking her in. She had curves that most women would kill for and her light coco skin gave her an exotic look. She slipped past his side to let the others in.

Yvonne clicked on a flashlight as she stepped past him, as did Sandi coming through the doorway. Cam came in last, holding out his dirty hands from Val's shoeprint and shut the door behind him. Val heard the snick of the deadbolt and let out a sigh.

"I'll lead." Yvonne said.

Images of a knife-wielding maniac sprung up and he couldn't let her go first. Val knew saying anything would be pointless. Instead, he glided past the rest of his friends and fell in at Yvonne's side.

"Always gotta be the man, huh?"

Not wanting to piss Yvonne off, he said; "Hey, I'm probably more freaked out than you. Maybe I'm the one who needs protecting."

"Uh-huh."

He couldn't see her face to tell if she smiled or not. A foot shorter than him and ready to take on the world, he had to admire her.

They reached the bottom of the stairs without incident. No crazies sprung from the deep shadows to get them. Val didn't want Yvonne to go up the stairs first, but he couldn't figure a way to stop her that wouldn't cause a fight. He stayed on her heels up the staircase and inched up beside her as she walked down the corridor to their special room. He dangled a key over her head and she stepped back to let him open the door.

"Light please."

Instantly the lock became visible. He swung open the door and Yvonne made a big show of sweeping the flashlight back and forth inside. Threadbare couches and the makeshift desk-table were the only things occupying the room. She giggled and slipped inside. The others followed.

Val stood in the archway of the door while everyone settled onto the furniture. Maybe it had been a bad idea to go out tonight. His mother's indiscretion still lingered on his mind.

"Get in here and shut the door. We don't need anyone seeing the lights." Sandi said.

She stared at him expectantly, so he stepped in and tugged the door behind him. Sandi's head tipped to one side and she gave him a look, her freckled face full of concern. No one else paid him much attention. Damn, he'd known these people for too long. At least one of them was bound to notice he wasn't himself.

He gave Sandi a reassuring smile and sat on the arm of the couch next to her. Someone had lit a candle and it made her long red hair look like fire. Cam perched on the couch next to her. In the low light he looked somehow smaller than his 5'8" athletic frame. Also, Cam's hair and skin seemed to absorb the light somehow. His normally dark Asian hair and features appeared to shimmer copper. Strange.

"So? What's everyone thinking?" Yvonne asked.

All at once his friends were chatting over each other. It seemed they all had a theory about the locker graffiti. The general consensus pointed to 'The Beast'. Only he and Tamyra said nothing. Not unusual for her.

"Val? You with us?" Sal the Surferboy had asked the question, but everyone waited for a response.

"Sorry, long day."

Sandi coughed, then asked; "What do you think of the threat? I mean, I think we should back off."

"No way. We're getting somewhere. We've just got to be careful."

"Bianca is dead." Tamyra spoke with a haunted expression.

"And that's one of the reasons we can't let this go." Val's mind tripped back to the morning conversation with Yvonne. "Has anyone been talking about The Beast outside of these walls?"

He heard murmurs of "No" and saw most of his friends shake their heads.

"We've got to figure out how 'The Beast' caught on to us. Anyone? Anything?"

Sitting in the leader's seat took the edge off his day. Too bad no one came up with anything.

"Cam, Sandi maybe you two were somewhere you thought it was just you two. Or maybe Sandi discussing this with the dead in the open?"

He kept the sneer off his face as he asked about Sandi talking to the dead. He realized he'd hidden his thoughts on her hobby well when she didn't react to his second question. Both took a moment to think and then said 'No' with confidence.

"What about you guys? Sal, Tamyra?"

Tamyra shook her head "no".

Surferboy looked wounded. "We promised, Val."

"Well I haven't had any conversations outside of this room and this morning. Thanks by the way, Sal. What were you thinking? That thing we've been talking about lately and in front of Jen."

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that." Surferboy blushed.

"So you haven't told Jen about 'The Beast'?" Yvonne asked.

Val shot her a look. "You know me better than that. I hardly know her."

Yvonne gave him her own disapproving face. "But you like her."

"That has nothing to do with anything. We swore to keep this secret."

Cam shifted forward in his seat. "So we're back to trying to figure out how 'The Beast' learned about you."

"Maybe this has nothing to do with 'The Beast'." Tamyra shrank back into the couch and Sal's side before she finished talking. Even amongst friends she didn't want to be centre of attention.

The rest of the group respectfully rejected the idea and when Sandi pulled the six-pack from her bag, wild theories flew; everything from 'The Beast' being psychic to being one of them. Laughs were had by all, but nothing solid came from the discussion.

*-*-*

Val, having abstained from the booze, drove most of his friends home. When he pulled into his driveway only Cam remained, who looked next door to his house and then back at Val.

"So, you wanna tell me what's up?" Cam asked.

Val shifted in his seat, tapped his fingers off his keys and pulled them from the ignition. He hadn't processed his mother's actions.

"It's cool, man. You don't have to tell me." Cam opened the car door. "But you know the girls will drag it out of you."

"That obvious?"

Cam unclasped his seatbelt. "Yeah, I guess."

"No worries. I'm alright." Val said, yet hearing his voice he knew it lacked conviction.

Cam climbed out of the car, so Val did too. He wanted to talk to someone, he just didn't know what to say.

Cam smiled. "Pretty cool threat on your locker, huh?"

No pressure, one of the things he liked about Cam. Val ran a hand through his hair and laughed.

"Way cool. Don't tell anyone, but I'm actually flattered by it."

"You would be. Anyhow, I'm heading home. Sandi wants me to log on when I get in."

Val made a 'whup-chee' noise and pretended to whip the air. He thought Cam's face flushed and they both cracked up.

"Enjoy your cyber..." Val let the last word go unspoken.

"Don't even."

"I'm going in before I go too far."

"Uh-huh. Night man." Cam called over his shoulder as he headed home.

"Later."

Val crossed the driveway to the porch and wondered if his mom was home. Her car sat out front. He didn't take that to mean she was home because earlier he didn't see her car. He held his breath as he turned his key. The breath whooshed out of him as he spotted a black umbrella drying on the porch.

*-*-*

For your copy of **Shiver Cove, Part 2: Val** go to Amazon:

<http://www.amazon.com/Shiver-Cove-Part-2-Val-ebook/dp/B010OAJDGW>

