Full Moon 2, Elaina H [beach books .txt] 📗

goes to ‘hit’ me back.

I dodge, slide, pass, and wiggle away from every attempt. By the end he’s actually fighting for real, and I’m laughing as he misses me by a millisecond.

“Okay, truce! You might be able to get a punch in,” I roll my eyes.

“Hey,” Eric yells, “quiet down. Oh,” he looks at me, “get me a soda. If we’re out you can take one of the bikes to the store.”

“What?”

Eric gives Cal a look, like she’s an idiot, “You and the other dude, with the blonde hair, are the only two who don’t switch. That means you have to do stuff for the people who do have powers.”

“Powers?” I say.

“Yea,” Eric keeps staring at the TV.

I step around, and block his view of the TV, and he stares at me with loathing.

“Move!”

Crack! My fist connects with his face. “You listen here, scum!” I yell, as he clutches his bleeding nose. “I will not put up with that kind of crap! I could take you down faster than you can yell move. So, unless you want to find your face in the mud, I suggest you tread lightly!”

I stalk away, Cal follows me down the hallway. “Nice one, Brim. I was cheering you on the whole way,” he kisses my forehead, and I laugh.

“You know, I never understood why this,” I point at the two of us, “worked until just now.’

“It’s odd isn’t it?” he says.

“No,” I whisper, “it’s special.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Ten

Cal let me have his bed, he took the floor. Cal quickly settled into sleep; snoring.

Tossing a turning, I eventually give up on the idea of sleep, and hop out of the bed.
I head down the hallway, and stop in front of the only room with a light on. I press my ear to the door, listening to the voices.

“Her and the blonde boy, Dev, they’re bad news. How can nobody else see that?! She’s corrupting Cal and the others,” the Lydia girl yells.

Someone laughs, “Lydia, you’re overreacting. She’s not trying to take us down.”

“Gwen’s right, Lydia, Brim’s sweet, plus Cal likes her a lot. Shouldn’t that mean anything?”

“You two are just children,” Lydia growls, “I’m talking to a seventeen and a fourteen year old!” Lydia shouts.

Alice snaps at Lydia, “I’m fifteen!”
“Yea, and clearly still with the brain of a twelve year old. We let two new people into our pack, and one of them bites somebody. So now with another two, and Cal will defend the creature until the end!” I hear her defend.

The other two girls laugh, “The Creature? Really, Lydia, you are acting like a creature,” Gwen teases.

I snigger, and knock down a little miniature statue. “Crap,” I whisper.

“What was that?!” Lydia flings open the door, and I have the statue in my hands, and I’m looking awful suspicious.

Gwen and Alice poke their heads around the corner, “ Oh, it’s just Brim. Come on in,” Gwen says cheerfully.

“What?!” Lydia shouts. “The two of you are awful!” Lydia stomps down the hallway, leaving Alice, Gwen, and I.

Alice pipes up first, “Couldn’t sleep?”
“No,” I avoid eye contact.

“Don’t listen to her,” Gwen says softly, “she’s bitter. Like Aaron said, they were Brooding Buddies. So now she kind of feels left out. But, it’s not really you she’s mad at….” I sigh.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, “Yea, it is. She hates me, and she thinks I’m leaking your information.”

“Not necessarily on purpose. Lydia thinks they may have put a tracker in your arm, one that you don’t know about,” Alice says.

I shake my head no, “They would have been you already. We were being followed for a while, but I’m pretty sure we lost them.”

“I sure hope so,” Gwen says.

Trying to smile, I turn back to Gwen, “So, let’s try to make things happier! Anybody have anything to say?”

Alice rolls her eyes, “Nice try, but there story of my life sucks. I was turned into a werewolf at fourteen, I’ll never be able to see my family again, I turned some poor innocent Irish boy into a werewolf,” Gwen and I crinkle our nose at ‘poor innocent Irish boy’, “and, finally, everyone here hates me except for Gwen and Aaron.”
“Well, at least Lydia can stand to talk to you,” I try,

“No,” Alice sighs, “she can stand to argue with me.”

Alice’s older sister speaks up, “Fynn doesn’t hate you!”

She chuckles, “Fynn’s a good actor, but he’s angry Gwen. You are right, he doesn’t hate me, but he strongly dislikes me.” Alice turns to me, “What? No, ‘Cal doesn’t hate you’?”

“No, I’m pretty sure he hates you, but I like you,” they both smile at me. “But really?! The Irish boy had got to go, he’s awful!”

“I tried to tell you, Alice, he’s unbearable! I almost punched him myself!” we all laugh together, and something tells me, I might have made two new friends.

 

Early in the morning, I creep back into the room, and Cal is still snoring on the floor.

This time I fall asleep, happy to know I’m not hated by everyone.

When I do wake up, the sun fills the room, and I hear commotion coming from the kitchen, so I shuffle toward the bustle.

When I come in, I rub the sleep from my eyes, and stare at the scene before me.

Mrs. Holloway is laying out a buffet of food, and every one of them is laughing at something. No one seems to be hating each other.

Dev is laughing with Fynn, and Lydia and Alice are making smoothies together.

Cal comes up behind me, “Morning, Brim. Want some breakfast?”
I raise my eyebrows, and nod, “Okay, but I don’t want to intrude or anything…”
“Intrude? Did you really just say that, Brim?” Cal laughs. “You aren’t intruding, I’m offering you some breakfast.”

“Okay, in that case I’ll have some of everything,” I say with a smile.

Cal gives me ‘one of everything’ while shoving Aaron out of the way to get to the last of the bacon. “Here you go, maam!” he hands me the plate, and I smack him on the head.

“That’s way to corny!” Cal and I sit next to each other.

“So,” Eric speaks up, “last night when you all were shouting, you were talking about your past,” Eric looks to me. “My question is so you liked to be called Penny or Brim?”

I stare him down, not saying anything. The room is oddly quiet. “Also,” he won’t shut up, “is your last name Harvey than? I’m just curious?” Eric shoves more and more food into his mouth.

Still, the room stays quiet. People sneak looks at me. Cal speaks first, “Brim, will you pass the salt?”

I nod, “Here.”

“Okay, so it’s Brim,” Eric talks again, “that’s good to know. I’m no bugging you, am I?”

I’m about to say no, but i say something else instead, “Yes. You’re driving me insane, and I’m a little sad somebody didn’t snap your neck,” I stand up, and step out of the room.

Why does he drive me insane?! Nobody ever pushes me over the edge like that!

“Brim?” Cal calls down the hallway

I turn around, “Yea?”

“That was really rude.”

My mouth falls open, “What?! He’s the one that started it, and it’s not my…!” Cal shakes his head no.

“I mean it was rude for you to handle it that way in front of my mother after she just made everyone breakfast. I could care less about Eric, he was being rude too. But I don’t expect him to apologize.”
“You want me to apologize?” I complain. “You see it’s not really my forte…” he pushes out into the kitchen again. It goes silent.

I’m about ready to speak, I take a deep breath, “I’m sorry Mrs. Holloway. I’m a little on edge this morning.”

“It’s quite alright dear, have a seat,” she still frowns.

Cal clears his throat, “I’ve been thinking, and talking with Dev,” Dev waves dorkily, “and we have an idea.”

“An idea for what?” Fynn asks.

“I was getting there!” he composes himself. “We obviously need to take down the center, but we can’t do it right now because we’re not a large enough group.

“But if we help more escape, and or make more….” I cut him off.

“Wait! You want to bite random people for our benefit?! Are you crazy, that awful!” I think how I didn’t really have a choice when Mr. Harvey injected himself.

Cal stares at me like he can’t believe I disagreed with him, “What do you mean? It one of the choices we have to consider.”

Alice speaks up, “I’m not sure about that, Cal. I really didn’t have a choice. And don’t get me wrong I love all of you,” she looks at Lydia with a frown and continues speaking, “but if I had the choice I would have rather stayed with my family. That way Gwen wouldn’t even be a werewolf.”

“Being a lycanthrope is not something you should force on people. I think we should break people out,” Gwen, Alice, Dev, Aaron raise their hand showing they side with me.

Fynn, Paul, Jennifer, Eric, Lydia, and Cal stare at us. “I don’t know, I think we have you out numbered, and besides, Dev, agreed with me last night,” Cal shouts.

“I did,” Dev shakes his head, “but these ladies made me realize that the plan we came up with is wrong. I’d rather rescue people.”

“But that leaves a larger chance of getting killed!” Lydia cries.

We all stare at each other, and Cal gives me an evil look. I glare right back.

“We are going to change people, Brim, it’s quicker. It’s also a lot safer,” he snarls.

“We are not going to change people, Cal, it’s stupid. It’s also a lot crueler,” I growl.

Eric speaks, “Just saying, most people don’t want to be werewolves, but then again, you have people that do.”

“Your point mud brain!” I shout.

“My point,” he scoffs, “is you need to find the fanatics, and convince them that they should change.”

I roll my eyes, “All those people in The Center don’t have a choice! They’re all stuck there, and I’m positive that Prison 5 would love to join our group!”
“Prison 5?” Cal says softer. “They kept you in prisons?”
“What did you think it was? A five star resort?” I mock.

“I’m with both of you,” Lydia says. “I think we should find the fanatics, and try and rescue a few people.”

Dev sighs, “You do have to be very carful though. There are still those who would kill you or turn you in.”
“We know, Dev, but the problem is getting in. I’m almost positive we can get out,” I mutter.

Cal speaks up again, “Brim is right, those people don’t have a choice. I think we should try to rescue those in the,” he stops for only a moment, “prisons. If we just leave them in there The Lab will surely use them against up. But if it doesn’t work out…”

Lydia shouts at Cal, “You stay behind and go soft on us because some girl comes through and kisses you. Oh please!” she says sarcastically, “you don’t think she’s actually into you, do you? I mean, who’s her father Cal?”

My eyes narrow as Lydia brings up my worst fear, “Hit below the belt when things don’t slide your way, don’t you Lydia?”

She growls and makes a grab for my upper arm, I pull away, “Don’t play with me, Brim. You come from there, and that worries me. Besides I think Cal was just the most convenient victim.”

I push back from the table we’re sitting at, and stalk out of the room fuming. My senses start to go haywire, and I feel my skin pull tight. Closing my eyes, I regain composure.

‘Do not cry,’ I chant to myself, ‘don’t being weak, don’t feel sorry for yourself.’

Opening the back door to the porch, I take a seat on an old deck chair. ‘Get over yourself!’

The reality of the situation pushes on my shoulders, and threatens to push tears out of my eyes. I hold strong.

Who was I to think they’d all be fine with my father being Mr. Harvey, and Dev