Forgotten (13 page)

She swung a practice swing. She gave a nod; it was satisfactory. With agility and stealth, she crept up on the wolf, until she was behind it and –

“Will you get off my friend!” she cried, her voice cold and harsh.

The wolf lifted its head and began to turn it toward the voice, but before it could see where the voice was coming from, Suzanne swung.

The bat connected with the wolf’s skull. The wolf crumpled unconscious on top of Emily.

“Ewww, gross!” Emily said, scrambling out from underneath it.

“Should we move her?” Suzanne asked, dropping the bat. It fell to the floor with a clatter and rolled until it came to a stop next to Emily’s backpack.

“I suppose so; we can’t leave her here,” Emily said, looking down at the unconscious wolf at her feet. “She’s going to change back soon.”

“But she’s a rogue!”

“We’ll tell Marcus as soon as we get home. If she comes after us, he and Jonathan can deal with it!” Emily said, suddenly very tired.

“But …”

“Suzanne, please! Stop worrying. All we have to do is drag her over to the showers; by the time anyone finds her she’ll have turned back into a regular girl and it’ll just look like she slipped on some soap and knocked her head on the floor when she fell.”

Walking over to where the wolf lay, the girls each picked a front paw and dragged the wolf over to the showers. Emily turned the shower on and hoped that whoever found her would end up with the same conclusion she’d just told Suzanne. They waited and watched as the wolf began to transform back into a girl, curled up on the shower floor. Emily reached to turn the girl’s head and get a good look at their attacker, but hesitated at the thought of her regaining consciousness and drew her hand away again.

Suzanne sat down and rested her head in her hands.

“We’re probably in shock or something.” Emily rested against a locker to get herself together. “I think we’d better get out of here before anyone comes.”

“What about the cheerleading try-outs?”

“They’ve probably almost finished now; even if we went, it wouldn’t do any good. I don’t really feel up to it anymore anyway.”

“So what do we do?”

“Go home, I guess, I don’t want to be here when she gets found
or
when she wakes up, both of which could happen any moment now.” Emily replied, crossing to her locker. She withdrew her clothes and got changed, Suzanne watching nervously.

“What about the bat?” Suzanne asked suddenly, noticing the bloodstained baseball bat on the floor.

“We’ll take it with us,” Emily said, pulling on her right boot.

Suzanne bent down and picked up the bat, and Emily’s backpack, from under the wooden bench she was sitting on.

“Are you ready?” Suzanne inquired, heading for the door.

“Suzanne, that door’s …” But the door just opened under Suzanne’s touch, and Emily stopped.

Turning back, Suzanne asked, “What did you say?”

“That door was locked!
All
the doors were locked.”

“Was it? Well, it isn’t now so let’s go,” Suzanne urged, reaching for Emily’s arm.

Emily followed Suzanne, still perplexed.

That door was locked, I know it was! Maybe I’m more in shock than I thought,
Emily thought, taking another look at the door over her left shoulder as it closed behind her and Suzanne with a gentle click.

The corridor was empty but Suzanne and Emily could still hear girls laughing and doing cheerleader shouts from inside the gymnasium. As they passed the main doors to the gymnasium, a couple of girls came rushing through the doors, crying.

“I wonder what their problem is?” Suzanne asked absently.

“They probably didn’t get a place on the squad.”

For the first time, Suzanne considered herself. Her skirt was ripped, and her legs were bloody. “Look at me!” she cried. “I’m a mess!”

“There’s a restroom next to the drinking fountain; I saw it as I came in.” Emily pointed to where she meant.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll be just a couple of minutes.”

“I’ll get a soda and then I’ll wait for you on the steps at the front of the school.” Emily took the backpack and bloodied baseball bat from Suzanne.

Suzanne smiled and began to jog over to the restroom.

“Don’t be too long in there.”

Suzanne nodded in acknowledgement then disappeared through the girls’ restroom door.

Well she’ll be at least an hour
, Emily thought sarcastically, but smiled in spite of herself.

After Emily had got her can of soda – completely forgetting about the carton of OJ that was in her backpack – she began to walk toward the main glass doors. On her way there she noticed a payphone outside of what she thought to be the principal’s office, and headed in that direction instead.

I wonder if I should call Marcus
, Emily thought, picking up the phone’s handset. But then she thought better of it and put it back down again.

She sighed and walked over to a nearby stairwell, where she sat down on the first step and opened her can of soda, taking a long refreshing drink.

What should I do?
Emily thought, glancing at her wristwatch.
Marcus is due to pick us up in a little over an hour, but if I call him he’ll be here in less than ten minutes and today’s been a complete disaster so far. Right now, I just want to go home.

She stood up, fished inside her jeans pockets to find a couple of quarters, picked up her belongings, and rushed back over to the payphone.

Please be there, Marcus
, Emily thought desperately, as she punched in her home phone number.

Emily hung up the phone and, realizing that people were starting to mill about the school’s hallway, she picked up her belongings and hurried into the girls’ restroom to avoid anyone asking her any awkward questions about why she was crying.

When Emily entered the restroom she noticed Suzanne at the end wash basin, washing the dried blood off her arms and legs.

“Suzanne!” Emily whispered, tears streaming down her face.

Suzanne looked up. “What’s wrong?” she asked, rushing over to Emily.

“I don’t know. I just called Marcus so he’d pick us up from here quickly and then I started crying.”

Suzanne put her arms around Emily’s shoulders to comfort her. “You’re just in shock; it’ll probably hit me when I’m out hunting alone later,” Suzanne said, trying to reassure her friend.

Emily broke away as she wiped away her tears and looked to see if any of the stalls were occupied. None were. “Can I ask you something?” she asked, turning back to Suzanne.

“Sure. But why look so serious?” Suzanne laughed nervously.

“Why didn’t you change?” Emily’s voice was quiet and solemn.

Suzanne looked at Emily, puzzled. “Because all I had was these.” She gestured to her torn cheerleading uniform.

“No, I mean into a wolf! You are a werewolf, aren’t you?”

“Yes, you know that. I don’t know why I didn’t transform.” There was irritation in Suzanne’s voice now.

“You don’t know? Both of us nearly ended up as dog food and you use that feeble excuse?”

“That wasn’t an excuse!”

Seeing how distressed Suzanne was getting, Emily sighed, “I’m sorry, it’s just that it’s really strange. Has it ever happened before?”

Suzanne frowned. “No, I always wolf out when under stress. Does the Titanic ring any bells?”

Emily smiled back weakly. “Yes, I remember what happened to us on the Titanic. Having a huge wet wolf sitting on my lap is somewhat hard to forget.” Emily paused, nervously biting at her bottom lip. “Marcus will find a way to sort everything out, right?”

“Of course he will,” Suzanne said reassuringly, “you know what he and Jonathan are like.”

“Are you nearly ready? Because Marcus will be here soon,” Emily said, changing the subject.

Suzanne looked down at her cheerleading uniform and grimaced. “I suppose so. I didn’t even want to be a stupid cheerleader. All that jumping and cheering, and don’t even get me started on the pep-rallies. The only way we’re going to be cool in this school is if Marcus makes the football team.”

Emily smiled and rolled her eyes. “Is that all? Well that should be real easy!”

“Emily, I’m serious.”

“So am I. Marcus will never agree.”

“Come on, Emily!” Suzanne pouted.

“He won’t be interested!” Emily threw up her arms. “But if you think that Marcus will do it, then by all means, go ahead and suggest that to him when we all start school. Just count me out of your wacky ideas.”

“I will, but don’t come crying to me when I’m popular and you’re not.”

Emily rolled her eyes again. “We’ll finish this conversation later; we have more urgent things to think about.”

“What could be more important than sitting at the ‘cool’ table in the cafeteria with a couple of cute seniors?”

Holding up her hand, Emily began to strike off points on her fingers. “Firstly, the werewolf attack in the girls’ locker room. Secondly, Marcus will be waiting for us, and thirdly, you watch far too much TV.”

Suzanne started to grin.

“Why are you smiling? I’m trying to give you the third degree.” Emily crossed her arms.

“It worked,” Suzanne said cheerfully.

“What worked?”

“I got you to smile, if only briefly.”

“And why would you want to do that?” Emily looked puzzled.

“Because, Emily, you take everything so seriously.”

“Suzanne, we got attacked!”

Suzanne huffed. Offended that Emily hadn’t realized her friendly intent, she pushed past her. “If you want me, I’ll be outside waiting for Marcus.”

“Suzanne!” Emily called after her, but she had already left the restroom.

Marcus pulled into the student parking lot and cut the engine, waiting for the girls.

“Marcus!” a familiar voice called.

It was Suzanne, waving from the school steps. She started to amble toward Marcus’ SUV.

Marcus’ attention moved to Suzanne’s appearance. Her skirt was ripped in several places; her hair was wildly disheveled and matted with dried blood. Eyes wide in horror, he stepped out of the car to meet her.

“What happened?” he demanded.

“Oh, this? It’s nothing,” Suzanne replied, gesturing.

“Nothing?” Marcus looked skeptical.

“Well … by nothing I actually meant that me and Emily got into a little bit of trouble, but it was nothing that we couldn’t handle.” Suzanne walked past Marcus and climbed into the backseat of his SUV.

“Suzanne?” Marcus asked again.

“Why don’t you ask Little Miss Perfect what happened.” And as she folded her arms across her chest, Marcus knew the conversation with her was over.

“Alright then. Where is Emily?” Marcus inquired, opening the car door and leaning in.

With a glance at the main entrance, Suzanne sighed. “She’s in the restroom, probably sulking. If you want I’ll go back and get her.”

“Um, no, that’s okay. She’ll come out when she’s ready.”

“Do you have anything to eat?” Suzanne asked, as she began to search Marcus’ brand new off the assembly line maroon 1999 Lexus RX 300.

“Have you tried the glove compartment?” Marcus called. He was now perched upon the SUV’s hood.

Suzanne squeezed herself between the two front seats to get to the glove compartment. Inside were a couple of candy bars and a bag of chips. Suzanne took the chips and sunk back into her seat, opening them.

Marcus leaned back on his SUV hood and closed his eyes against the harsh glare of the sun.
What is taking that girl so long? She had better get her butt out here soon
.

As if on cue there was a tap on the inside of his SUV’s windshield. Marcus opened his eyes to see Suzanne pointing toward the school entrance where Emily was. She began to jog over to where they were parked and stopped in front of him, her violet eyes staring into his.

“Sorry I took so long,” Emily greeted. “I needed to get my head together; today has been pretty crazy.”

Marcus sat up and stretched. “I take it that the cheerleading try-out didn’t go okay.”

“You could say that.”

“What’s with the bat?”

Emily considered the blood-stained baseball bat for a moment, then turned back to Marcus. “Didn’t Suzanne fill you in?”

Marcus shook his head. “What happened?”

“Nothing!” Emily replied defensively.

“Emily, you called me less than an hour ago in tears and now you’re back as Miss Ice Queen. I want to know what the hell is going on,” Marcus said, getting off the SUV’s hood and walking around to the driver’s door.

But Emily ignored him. Instead, she climbed into the SUV’s backseat and turned to Suzanne. “I’m sorry about what I said to you earlier. I was being a jerk; the werewolf attack left me pretty shaken, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”