Shift, Emily Zimmerman. [general ebook reader txt] 📗

Chapter one. Bad feeling.
I sat in my class, I felt extremely weird today, and I had this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, it was like I knew something was going to happen today, but I didn’t know what. I sat in the front desk, not my favorite choice of seating, everyone was staring at me, and I didn’t like it. Everyone told me I was unbelievably beautiful, and I couldn’t figure out why, I looked nothing like my mother or my father. I have blonde hair down to my shoulder blades, bright green eyes, and a slim figure. My mother has bright red hair, brown eyes and is slightly overweight. I never questioned it, mother taught me to be grateful for the things I have, and she is my mother, how can I not be grateful?
“Jenna, can you answer the question?” the teacher asked me. I nodded “a riverbed can be a never ending cycle” I replied. She nodded smiling “correct” she said. We were in the “going green” class to teach us about stuff like recycling and pollution. I felt a poke in my back; I turned around to look at Jake, someone who annoys me greatly. I sighed and turned back around, not wanting to deal with him right now. “Hey! Jenna, feel like that date?” he asked me in a whisper. I snorted, I always had an attitude, and a temper, but I’m not mean. “Yeah, sure Jake, more than anything, I feel like a date” I muttered sarcastically. He sighed “okay, no more sarcasm” he said. I ignored him and paid attention to the teacher. The bell rang and I grabbed my bag, walking quickly out of the class room. I walked down the hall quickly so Josh couldn’t keep up with me, I was pretty, but that didn’t mean I fit in. everyone didn’t like me for some reason, they all sort of… feared me I guess, I have no I idea why they would. I was not very tall. The only ones that seemed less intimidated by me were guys.
I walked outside, sitting on the ground to wait for my mom to pick me up. I reached into my pocket for my IPod, putting my headphones on, I blared my music, ignoring those around me.
Mom pulled up a few minutes later, calling my name. “Jenna! Get in the car! I have to talk to you!” she called. I rolled my eyes, getting up from the ground. I walked to the car, getting in and looking at mom expectantly as she drove away from the school “well, there are guests coming over to the house today, and they would like to meet you personally, their names are Maria, Laurence, and their son, William Lamer” she said. I nodded
“Okay” I said slowly. She looked away from me “umm-“ she stopped to clear her throat, her voice was shaking. “They’re going to take you away for a while” she said, tears ran down her face as she said this. Shock hit me like a wrecking ball, if it were a physical person; it would have thrown me out of the car. “wha….what are you talking about?” I asked her when I could speak. She took in a shaky breath “Jenna, there is something I need to tell you, and I want you to know that I love you so much, and that I think of you as my own daughter” she told me.
“Think of me as your own daughter? I am your own daughter!” I told her, panic rising up in my voice. She shook her head, more tears running down her cheeks “you are not my biological daughter. You were given to me by your parents for protection, they will explain when they get here why, and they will be taking you home” she told me. I shook my head “no, I won’t go, I won’t leave!” I told her. Mom shook her head “you have to, it’s for your safety, and your friends safety” she told me. Tears were running down my face as well “why?” I asked her brokenly. She looked at me, her eyes red from crying “I can’t tell you, they told me to let them explain” she said. I sighed and nodded, knowing not to argue. We got home, and a car was already in the driveway “their already here?” I asked, panic rising back up. She nodded “yes, they got here an hour after you left for school” she said. I took a deep breath to calm myself, “give me a few minutes to get myself ready to meet them, just stall them while I’m up stairs” I told her as we walked to the door. She nodded, smiling sadly at me “I’m so very sorry to do this to you Jenna” she said to me. I didn’t answer, I just took another deep breath and opened the door, I walked up the stairs as quickly but quietly as I could as mom announced her arrival. I walked into my room and stopped short, my room was empty, my clothes, my bedspread, even the things that were hanging on the walls, all gone. That’s when it really hit me, I am leaving, with my real parents and apparently a brother of whom I do not know, to live god knows where, because I am in danger, I felt tears form, but I blinked them back. I wanted to be strong, that’s what mother always taught me, “be strong, and be happy with the blessings life gives you, there is no point in being anything else” she would always tell me when I was upset or sad. I changed shirts and brushed my hair, making sure I looked presentable for my real parents. I sighed and walked down stairs and into the living room. The first thing I registered was the bright and happy smile that came to her face as she looked at me. I sat down beside mom, taking her hand tightly in mine “Jenna, oh, how you’ve grown” Maria said, as if she couldn’t help but let it slip out. Laurence pat Maria’s hand “I’m sure you know at least partly about the situation at hand” he said. I nodded once “yes, I know” I replied in a small voice. He nodded once too, I noticed that I have his eyes, but Maria’s hair, skin, and figure. “Right, now we have to explain this quickly, we don’t have time for allot of questions right now” he told me. I nodded, and noticed William was studying me with curious eyes. “you are not in danger of anyone, but you are in danger of yourself, you are a shape shifter, and they only change into that of the fiercest animals, such as Tigers, lions, panthers and-“ I cut him off.
“Whoa, wait a minute, you expect me to believe that I am something out of a comic book? I mean come on! Mom, you seriously can’t be taking this seriously!” I asked mom, looking at her questioningly. Mom nodded, looking very grave, I snorted “this is nuts” I muttered. Maria looked at Laurence, they nodded to each other, and they both looked at William. William nodded, stood up, and walked to the middle of the room, he looked me straight in the eye, and something happened, too fast to comprehend, he wasn’t there anymore. In his place was a huge Panther, the panther started toward me, but I stumbled out of my seat, backing away from the huge animal standing before me. I hit the wall, and the panther came closer to me, and then, in front of me again, was William. My breathing was heavy, and I stood there, motionless as he walked back over to the couch, sitting down with a satisfied grin. Maria looked at me gravely as I stood there too shocked to move “as you can see, we are not nuts, and you will be one of us, at midnight, on your birthday” Laurence said. My only thought before I slid to the ground was, ‘my birthday is tomorrow’ tears welled in my eyes “why am I a danger to myself?” I asked, barely above a whisper. Maria made a move, but Laurence stopped her “when you change, you will go into a rampage, and you will want to kill, we have to lock you away until you gain control of your human side again” he said. The tears streamed down my cheeks “so I’m just going to be a blood thirsty monster all my life?” I asked, still whispering. They all three shook their heads “no, it’s only for the first transformation, you will have complete control of your animal form after the transformation” he explained. I nodded slightly “how will I gain control?” I asked. Laurence looked at Maria gravely “you’ll know, don’t worry” he said to me. I nodded “when are we leaving then?” I asked him.
“In very soon, in fact, we need to leave now, we only have until tomorrow night, and it’s going to be a long flight” he said. I nodded, not moving from my spot on the floor. William got up, and walked over to me “hey, sorry if I scared you, but it’s my job to convince others like us that we do exist, it’s a shock for everyone” he said. He held his hand out to me, and I looked at it hesitantly “it’s alright, I don’t bite, besides, you’re my sister, I have to protect you, not hurt you!” he scoffed. I nodded, hesitantly grabbing his hand. He smiled and helped me up. I wiped my eyes “I guess everything is already packed?” I asked them. Maria nodded, speaking for the first time since we met “yes, everything is packed and ready to go” she replied, looking as if she were in pain. I nodded and turned to mom. She had tears in her eyes “let’s go get things ready to leave” Maria said, obviously giving us alone time. When they left, I grabbed mom into a fierce hug “I love you mom, thank you for taking care of me all these years” I said, trying not to say goodbye.
“I love you too, but we both know that this is the last time we’ll see each other” she said. I nodded
“yeah, I know, goodbye mom” I said to her. She just held me in her arms for probably five minutes, someone cleared their throat “uh, we need to go, mom and dad are waiting, and it’s a twelve hour flight” William said to me. I took in a deep breath and let go of mom, “bye mom, see you in a lifetime” I said, smiling. We would always say that to each other when we were going somewhere for a long time without each other. She laughed wetly “see you in a lifetime” she smiled, her eyes bloodshot from crying, and tears were still running down her cheeks. I kissed her cheek and turned to William “I’m ready” I said. He nodded sadly and gestured for me to go out the door first. I walked out of the door and down the sidewalk to the car. I wiped the last of my tears from my face while I got into the car. “Wait! Jenna! I need to give you something!” mom called, hurrying to the car. I stepped out of the car as she held out a small heart-shaped necklace; it had #1 mom engraved on the back. “This is my mother’s day present to you when I was eight, mom this is yours” I told her. She wiped