phase and—”
“Wait, wait— you showed him how to phase? Did I miss something here?”
“Kinda,” I replied. “Victrixa showed me on Sunday, so I showed him yesterday and, well …” I leaned closer and whispered in her ear, “We phased and ran through Gila for hours and ended up on the beach. Alone.”
She sat up straight. “Seriously? Oh. My. God. Maya, spill,” she demanded.
“We said, you know...that we love each other,” I mouthed.
“Holy shit!”
“Shh. We’re mated. We also decided that we are not going to hide being shifters.”
“Jesus, Maya, that’s....” She stopped talking and slowly looked around the room. I couldn’t figure out what she was doing until I looked for myself and realized that everyone was staring at us.
“Excuse me,” Lyssa said loudly, “This may be English class, but you all don’t have any lines in this play!” Jeez, I loved her.
That’s when the teacher walked into the room. “Neither do you, Ms. Vasquez,” Ms. Mendoza said.
“Ouch.” Lyssa grimaced and turned around in her seat.
We spent the rest of class continuing to study Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” which I kinda like. (I’m Mayan and a shifter. Figures I’d like a poem with a damn talking bird in it.) While we were answering the questions in the text, I looked up and thought I caught Ms. Mendoza watching me. She had the oddest look on her face. When I looked up again, though, she was correcting papers.
I didn’t hear from Matt all class, which I thought was a good sign. Actually, I didn’t get a text all morning. My own day was going pretty uneventfully so far. Well, there was some staring and whispering, and in history I heard Ashley Daniels tell Christy Lee that she didn’t understand how it was possible to turn into a tree. (I should have asked her how it was possible to turn herself into a blond.) But, truthfully, I had expected worse, much worse. Then when we were walking down the hallway by the cafeteria at lunch....
“What is that?” Alyssa asked.
We were both hearing a strange sound coming from the cafeteria.
“I dunno,” I said. I stopped short in the doorway.
“Are they...howling?” Damian asked.
“Oh! Matt!”
The entire jock table was howling wolf calls at Matt, who was standing a few feet away looking like he wanted to pound someone’s head in. I was horrified. I stalked over, took his hand and led him out into the hallway.
“Are you okay?” I asked him. “Maybe we should eat outside today?”
“No way,” he said through clenched teeth. “I can’t believe I thought those douche bags were my friends. Unbelievable.”
“Let’s just eat at our table,” Damian suggested sweetly. That kid had a heart of gold.
“Yeah, let’s just do that,” Lyssa added.
We walked back in and sat across the room at our usual jock-free table. Trying to keep everything as normal as possible, we took out our lunches. But Matt kept looking at the guys from the team. I didn’t know what to say. He looked angry, but I knew his feelings were hurt, too. I tried to eat, but my lunch tasted like a pile of sawdust. Even the twins were totally silent the entire lunch.
Why couldn’t it have been me instead? I mean me, I’m a dork. I totally expected to get the brunt of the bullying. I hadn’t thought that Matt’s friends would turn on him like that. But I should have known. They had only liked him for his status, Matt the Quarterback. Why the hell hadn’t I seen this coming?
At the end of lunch, we headed down the hall and stopped by my locker. I looked up into his eyes and his face softened.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I’ll be all right.” He sighed. “It’s not like I didn’t see this coming.”
Unlike me, he had expected this? Crap! I wasn’t sure if that made it better for him or worse.
“And, anyway,” he added, “it’s not like football matters much now. I’d never be allowed to play in college, and that’s what I was shooting
“Wait, wait— you showed him how to phase? Did I miss something here?”
“Kinda,” I replied. “Victrixa showed me on Sunday, so I showed him yesterday and, well …” I leaned closer and whispered in her ear, “We phased and ran through Gila for hours and ended up on the beach. Alone.”
She sat up straight. “Seriously? Oh. My. God. Maya, spill,” she demanded.
“We said, you know...that we love each other,” I mouthed.
“Holy shit!”
“Shh. We’re mated. We also decided that we are not going to hide being shifters.”
“Jesus, Maya, that’s....” She stopped talking and slowly looked around the room. I couldn’t figure out what she was doing until I looked for myself and realized that everyone was staring at us.
“Excuse me,” Lyssa said loudly, “This may be English class, but you all don’t have any lines in this play!” Jeez, I loved her.
That’s when the teacher walked into the room. “Neither do you, Ms. Vasquez,” Ms. Mendoza said.
“Ouch.” Lyssa grimaced and turned around in her seat.
We spent the rest of class continuing to study Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” which I kinda like. (I’m Mayan and a shifter. Figures I’d like a poem with a damn talking bird in it.) While we were answering the questions in the text, I looked up and thought I caught Ms. Mendoza watching me. She had the oddest look on her face. When I looked up again, though, she was correcting papers.
I didn’t hear from Matt all class, which I thought was a good sign. Actually, I didn’t get a text all morning. My own day was going pretty uneventfully so far. Well, there was some staring and whispering, and in history I heard Ashley Daniels tell Christy Lee that she didn’t understand how it was possible to turn into a tree. (I should have asked her how it was possible to turn herself into a blond.) But, truthfully, I had expected worse, much worse. Then when we were walking down the hallway by the cafeteria at lunch....
“What is that?” Alyssa asked.
We were both hearing a strange sound coming from the cafeteria.
“I dunno,” I said. I stopped short in the doorway.
“Are they...howling?” Damian asked.
“Oh! Matt!”
The entire jock table was howling wolf calls at Matt, who was standing a few feet away looking like he wanted to pound someone’s head in. I was horrified. I stalked over, took his hand and led him out into the hallway.
“Are you okay?” I asked him. “Maybe we should eat outside today?”
“No way,” he said through clenched teeth. “I can’t believe I thought those douche bags were my friends. Unbelievable.”
“Let’s just eat at our table,” Damian suggested sweetly. That kid had a heart of gold.
“Yeah, let’s just do that,” Lyssa added.
We walked back in and sat across the room at our usual jock-free table. Trying to keep everything as normal as possible, we took out our lunches. But Matt kept looking at the guys from the team. I didn’t know what to say. He looked angry, but I knew his feelings were hurt, too. I tried to eat, but my lunch tasted like a pile of sawdust. Even the twins were totally silent the entire lunch.
Why couldn’t it have been me instead? I mean me, I’m a dork. I totally expected to get the brunt of the bullying. I hadn’t thought that Matt’s friends would turn on him like that. But I should have known. They had only liked him for his status, Matt the Quarterback. Why the hell hadn’t I seen this coming?
At the end of lunch, we headed down the hall and stopped by my locker. I looked up into his eyes and his face softened.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I’ll be all right.” He sighed. “It’s not like I didn’t see this coming.”
Unlike me, he had expected this? Crap! I wasn’t sure if that made it better for him or worse.
“And, anyway,” he added, “it’s not like football matters much now. I’d never be allowed to play in college, and that’s what I was shooting
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