The Bad Wolf (3 page)

“Loserville, here I come
.”

She jerked a chair
out then sank onto it. The girl sitting halfway down turned to stare at the table she’d just left. “Are you crazy? You can’t sit with the pack.”

“The pack?”

She cringed when the girl turned to face her. This was just great. She had to sit at a table with one of those gloomy Goth people. The girl was dressed in varying shades of faded black from head to toe. Even her fingernails were painted a midnight hue.

“Yeah, they’re part of…”

The boy sitting at the end of the table gave the girl a sharp look of warning.

“I meant to say they’re like a pack of rabid dogs” She scooted her unopened carton of milk toward Chloe.

Satisfied, the boy went back to copying what looked like history notes onto a wrinkled sheet of paper.

“Just steer clear of them.” The girl’s lips were the color of a bruised plum. Dark eyeliner smeared the upper and lower eyelids. Bright blue eyes stood out against the dark makeup and pale face. Her hair was recently dyed black, as Chloe could see the faint sta
in at her hairline and temples.

“I’m Jenna
Sparks. You’re in my math class.” The girl cocked her head in the boy’s direction. “That’s Ryan Neal.”

A stunned look crossed his face when their eyes met.
Without a word, he stood then picked up his empty tray. As he moved away, Chloe noticed that he drew a lot of attention. The female populace stared with crush-girl eyes while the boys seemed to look on with a certain amount of trepidation and envy.

Ryan didn’t show any interest or concern regarding the fascination everyone seemed to hold for him. He walked with his head held high, a neutral expression on his face.

He was dressed in normal clothes, a simple grey t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. His hair was the shiniest black imaginable. The clear, blue summer sky was merely ordinary compared to his eyes. Ryan was slender, but not malnourished. She was sure his body was ripped, all muscle. He looked like the type of guy she’d be interested in, the kind she might like to date. That is, if her parents would let her. She couldn’t help wonder why he chose to sit at the Queen of Darkness’s table. Maybe she took very detailed notes, or they were secretly dating.

When Ryan approached the pack’s table, Jenna twisted in
her seat to get a better view.

Chloe
turned to stare too. Besides, he was really easy on the eyes. “Is he friends with them?”

“
Yeah, sort of,” Jenna murmured. “He and Travis are sometimes.”

Chloe’s heartbeat had slowed to a somewhat normal rate. She picked up Jenna’s milk carton and held it in trembling hands.
“Which one is Travis?”

“
The blond who threw your tray,” Jenna explained. “Amy is his sister and the redhead is Kelly.”

“Who is the other guy?” Chloe asked, disappointed that he’d turned out to be a jerk too.

“That’s Josh,” Jenna said with a frown.

Ryan jerked out a chair from a neighboring table.
A sophomore cried out when his footrest was taken away and his feet smacked the floor. When Ryan glared at the kid, he hunched his shoulders and turned back to his meal without further protest.

Ryan
sat across from Travis. The boy’s back was stiff as though he wasn’t entirely comfortable in Ryan’s presence. All around them, she could hear the other kids murmuring about what jerks that bunch of kids were. They also hoped the two got into another fight.

Suddenly
the blonde jumped to his feet. His face was scarlet as one of his fists slammed against the table. Ryan didn’t even flinch.

Kelly
stood abruptly, flipped her long red hair over a shoulder then gathered her things. She grabbed Amy’s arm and tried to pull her along. When she refused to budge, Kelly abandoned the table and went outside. Josh looked from Travis to Ryan like he was unsure whose side to take. Mostly he just looked worried.

Jenna’s fingers clutched at the back of the chair
as if it was the only thing keeping her from running to Ryan’s side.

Ryan’s fingers curled into fists, but he did not remove his hands from the table
top. He said something more, but Chloe couldn’t hear over the excited voices that had risen throughout the lunchroom. Finally, Ryan stood. He headed for the exit at a slow, unworried pace. Travis watched him for a moment then turned to glare in her direction.

A cold trill of worry gnawe
d its way down her spine as his gaze locked with hers.

Chloe
glanced at Jenna. “Jeez, what’s with them?”

“
Like I said, they’re friends sometimes.” Jenna said as she gathered her tray then waited for Chloe.

“I’m guessing they aren’t today?”

“Just keep your distance and you’ll be fine.”

A bell shrilled above head.
Trays clattered and chair legs banged as students streamed out of the lunchroom. Chloe sighed in resignation then stood. Lunch, or in her case the lack thereof, was over.

Chapter
Three

Ryan stretched his legs beneath the worktable then sighed. The smell of chemicals and dead things filled the room. He hoped the scent wouldn’t linger in his hair and on clothes all day.

He
noted the new girl’s arrival even as other students shuffled into the room. She looked wary this morning, perhaps afraid she’d be made fun of for her behavior in class yesterday. She didn’t make eye contact with anyone as she hurried to her seat at the front.

Ryan watched her ease onto her
assigned stool then he sighed in aggravated confusion. What the heck was that weird jolt he felt yesterday? It was like lightning had zinged down the length of his spine when their gazes met.

Amy turned in her seat
and a slow smile formed on her face. She must think he was staring at her. He dropped his gaze to the table, but it was too late. Before he could pretend to be busy doing something else, she was at his side.

“Hey, Ryan.” Her hand rested on his upper arm. “Let’s sit together at lunch.”

“No.”

“No?” She
pouted. Once upon a time he might have thought it was cute. Now she just looked like a constipated duck. “We could eat outside instead. Just you and me?”

“I’ve got better things to do.”

“Like what?” Humiliation heated her cheeks. “You’d rather sit with that freak instead of us?”

Hi
s eyes narrowed and he snarled. “Yeah, it beats hanging out with you flea bags.”

Amy’s fa
ce scrunched into a frown and she slunk back to the table she shared with Kelly. Unfortunately it was kitty-corner to his.

Mr. Sanders moved down the row of tables. He laid sharp utensils and odd dissection tools on
to each workspace. Then he placed a frog on a tray next to them. Finally, Sanders paused at the new girl’s table. “I’m pairing you with Ryan. Gather your things and move.”

The other students shuffled in their seats and a wave of anticipation seemed to engulf the room. Amy and
Kelly put their heads together to whisper in fast, excited tones.

Ryan’s eyebrows pulled down. “I don’t
need a lab partner.”

Sanders smoothed a nervous hand across his comb-over. “I’m out of specimens and your grade depends on it.” He promptly turned on his heel and moved toward his desk.

Damn it.

Chloe scrambled atop the stool next to him.
That weird tingly feeling brought goose bumps to his arms. She was kind of hot in a goody-two-shoes sort of way. He bet she didn’t even realize how pretty she was. Her shoulder length hair was champagne blonde, but probably lighter in the sunshine. She absently twisted a lock around her left index finger. A light sprinkle of freckles fell across her button nose. It was kind of cute too, if you liked that sort of thing, which he didn’t.

Again he caught Amy
watching him. A smug look formed on her face before she turned to whisper to Kelly. This was just great. There was no telling what they would report back to the pack.

The pack was the term he used to describe the group of kids he usually hung out with. Travis and Amy, the brother and sister duo, were the biggest thorns in his side. Josh and his girlfriend
Kelly normally just followed along with whatever he or Travis said. Lately, Travis had bucked the system and ruled them when Ryan wasn’t around. The pack was getting more adventurous in how they challenged him. He supposed it was mostly his fault. He was the one who pulled away from their influence over the past summer.

He moved the tray with the splayed frog closer
then allowed his gaze to meet hers.
Zing!
There it was again. He did his best to ignore it. “You aren’t going to freak out again, are you?”

Chloe’s cheeks flamed with embarrassment. She bit her bottom lip then shook her head. Her big brown eyes searched his face then dropped back to the
rubbery specimen.

He turned
one of the scalpels between his thumb and forefinger. It glinted smartly in the overhead light. “You want me to do the cutting?”

Chloe picked up the diagram Mr. Sanders had passed out. “Sure, if you want. My class
back home already finished this.”

This statement won her a few annoyed glances from the others. Someone at the front of the classroom whispered something about her being a know-it-all
bitch. Being smarter than the rest of the class wouldn’t win the new girl any popularity points either.

He and Chloe took turns examining the
slippery specimen, though admittedly he did most of the slicing and dicing. Chloe recorded their findings in a neat, somewhat loopy handwriting. He wouldn’t be surprised if she dotted each i with a tiny heart.

“Have
you lived here all your life?”

He pretended not to hear her.
He pretended not to feel the electric rush of being close to her.

“I just moved from Fort Collins,” she whispered.

It seemed once she started talking, she couldn’t stop. Ryan poked at the frog’s smelly innards then grimaced.

“This is a little different than what I’m used to. Actually, it’s a lot different.”

Ryan glowered at her. Hadn’t Jenna explained that he was to be left alone? He wasn’t interested in being anyone’s friend or confidant, especially not to an outsider like Chloe Williams.

“So, w
here does everyone go shopping? Thank god for the internet, right?” When Mr. Sanders looked up in search of who continued to disrupt the class, she leaned a bit closer. The ends of her hair tickled against his arm. “So what do you do to have fun around here?”

Kelly
twisted on her seat and glared. She elbowed Amy who also swiveled to stare. Kelly mocked Chloe by winding a finger in her long auburn hair. She moved her mouth as if she was talking and rolled her eyes. Ryan glared at them and they immediately turned to face the front.

Chloe fell silent when Mr. Sanders moved down the rows to check class progress. Once he’d returned to the front, Chloe turned to stare at him. Ryan’s muscles tensed and his nerves
prickled.

“
Jenna seems nice. Are you guys together?”

Kelly
and Amy giggled. Mr. Sanders looked up in search of who was still talking.

“Do you ever shut up?” Ryan growled.
He didn’t bother to lower his voice.

Chloe
snapped her mouth shut and focused on the paper lying in front of her. Her face was bright red as she studiously wrote the frog’s organs in the correct spaces. She even named the ones he hadn’t gotten to yet. The remainder of the period was hushed with only the occasional question directed at Mr. Sanders regarding the frogs.

When the bell rang, the room erupted in a flurry of voices an
d moving bodies.

Chloe grabbed her biology
textbook then moved toward the exit as quick as her legs could carry her. Amy was still seated, but smirked as Chloe drew closer. Before Ryan could react or even shout a warning, Amy nudged the stool next to her into the isle. Kelly gasped in surprise, but didn’t bother to try and stop it. Chloe wasn’t fast enough to avoid the metal stool. One of the legs banged into her right shin.

She threw out her arms to catch herself and the
book struck the floor. As if in slow motion, her head aimed for the corner of the opposite worktable.

Ryan
darted in front of her. Chloe’s body smacked into his and thrust him backward. The edge of the table slammed into his back, forcing him to suck in a sharp breath. Her arms were wrapped loosely around his hips, her head against the flat of his stomach. He placed his hands beneath her arms then yanked her to her feet.

Amy and her sidekick ran from the room. Chloe straightened then gripped his forearms. “
Oh my god, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“Go away,” he said through gritted teeth. He gave her a somewhat gentle shove then loped from the room.

It was hard enough preventing the pack from misbehaving without worrying about this scrap of a girl. Why they had focused their malicious attention on her was beyond him. Even if he liked her, which he didn’t, it wasn’t his place to play protector. If she was going to make it in this school, she’d better learn to stand up for herself.

Last period was art class
. He almost skipped the class, but decided to go at the last moment.

“Sit with us?” someone at the
back of the classroom said.

He gl
anced over at the pack’s table with mild curiosity.

Travis curled
his fingers around Chloe’s wrist as a sly smile warped his face. She looked somewhat uncomfortable and more than a little wary. Her stammered excuse was ignored.

Amy and
Kelly were there, as was Josh. Amy’s upper lip curled in a snarl when her brother pulled Ryan’s chair out for the new girl.

Travis
grinned at Ryan as he passed then returned his attention to the nervous girl. “Come on, I saved you a seat.”

Ryan wondered if this show was for his benefit. Did they think he gave a damn about what they did or
to whom they did it?

He moved to the
next table over, pulled out an empty chair and dropped into it. The two boys sitting at the table stopped talking. They both stared at him for a moment then went back to drawing on scraps of paper. They usually spent the entire class doodling dragons or robots. Half naked barbarian women adorned their notebooks and book covers. The proportions were exaggerated, but otherwise they were pretty cool.

“So I hear you’re only fifteen,”
Travis said to Chloe.

Kelly
laughed. “She looks twelve.”

Ryan tried not to pay attention to their conversation, but
found it was all he could focus on.

“Only for a few more days,” she answered then brushed the stray bangs out of her face.

Travis offered a friendly smile and said, “I was having a really bad day yesterday. I think we got off to a bad start. Want to start over?”

He didn’t hear Chloe’s reply.

Gary, at least he thought that was his name, looked up from the dragon woman he was drawing. “Why aren’t you sitting with them?”

Allan looked up with a worried and somewhat expectant look on his
round face. He pushed his glasses back up his nose. “Yeah, you could take the chair over there.”

Ryan scowled and b
oth boys seemed to shrink away. He didn’t owe them, or anyone for that matter, an explanation.

After a few seconds Allan
said, “You pushed me into a locker at the first of the year. I would’ve been locked in there for hours if the janitor hadn’t come by.”

Ryan
shrugged, not really caring. So he’d been a total dick to someone … what else was new?

A little braver now, Gary said, “You do seem a little more laid back
now. I don’t mind telling you that I was scared of you before.”

Allan nudged his friend then whispered, “I heard they all got into a fi
ght and Ryan kicked their butts.”

The hint of a smile lifted the corner of Ryan’s mouth
. That wasn’t too far from the truth. He didn’t bother to explain it though, let them believe what they wanted. He didn’t care. Besides, the story made him sound like a badass.

Ms. Adams
asked everyone to get out the papier-mâché masks they’d been working on. Pots of sticky paste were already on the tables, along with torn newspaper paints and other art medium. Posters depicting Venetian masks were taped to the walls to offer inspiration. Some students fashioned crude imitations, but his was totally different. He’d created a dark feathered mask with intricate beading. Honestly he had no use for it, but knew Jenna would love the black and purple craft. She’d hang it in her bedroom with all the other weird clutter.

Suddenly
Chloe squealed in terror then jumped from her seat. The chair fell over and the back of her thighs bumped against Ryan’s table and sent art supplies crashing to the floor. The pack laughed uproariously and pointed at the girl as she clawed at her hair and shirt. Travis was the only one looking his way. The expression on his face dared Ryan to do something about it.

Oh he wanted to do something, but it wasn’t for Chloe’s sake. He didn’t care that the girl was being picked on. That’s what the first families in Hunde did. No one wanted the outsiders though they continued to flock to the small town. Before long, it would be overrun with people from the surrounding areas
and would no longer be a haven for those who’d lived here their entire life. It meant the same for people like himself, those who’d come for refuge.

The pack continued to point and laugh at Chloe
who looked close to tears now.

The urge to leap over the
table and pound Travis into mush was so strong, Ryan almost couldn’t ignore it. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Ms.
Adams jerked Chloe aside to examine her. With what could only be described as an amused sneer, she thrust a hall pass into the girl’s trembling hand. “Go clean up and don’t bother returning if you plan on disrupting class again.”