this coming from?"
Brett cleared his throat loudly and Chris
sighed. "Goodnight, sweetheart. See you tonight. And don't forget
about the dance you promised me at the bonfire." He shot back over
his shoulder as he and Brett made their way towards their own
pickup trucks, Brett giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek.
"I said you had to shave."
He waved over his shoulder and she laughed,
sliding into the cool leather seats and starting the V8, Hendrix's
Crosstown Traffic blaring.
She passed out after changing into a long
t-shirt and climbing into bed. Her whole body ached, from her feet
to the top of her head and all parts between, and she fell asleep
fast, her last thoughts swirling around Jason and now Chris. Stupid
Jason. Strange Chris. Weird, weird life.
The bed tilted and Callie smacked her on the
butt. Well, it had better be Callie. "You've slept enough." She
declared.
"It better be after twelve." Cadence
growled.
"Close. It's 10:30."
"Ah, fuck you, Cal. I didn't get to bed until
5." She jerked the pillow to cover her face.
"So, take a nap later. Come on, come on, I
wanna get breakfast while Lonestar's is still serving it." Cadence
flipped her off, but got up, showering and pulling on a pair of
fashionably ripped jeans, Harley boots, and a dark blue v-neck
jersey cotton long sleeved shirt.
While they ate their respective breakfasts in
the corner booth at the back of the restaurant, Callie said, “You
know what I was thinking about the other day?”
She speared a wedge of French toast and asked
what. Callie's fork rested on her plate and she folded her hands
together, “I was thinking about the first time that you came to my
defense. In school, when we were in second grade.”
Cadence smiled and the scene played through
her mind quickly, like an old movie. She had known Callie since
preschool, but had not been friends with her. She was still very
much an outsider, even at age 7 in second grade. Wandering away
from the wall where she was spending recess holding it up with her
shoulder, she heard someone crying and went to investigate. She
found Callie on her knees with her head down, and three of the
bigger wolf girls standing around her, taunting her. Cadence didn’t
know what they thought she’d done to be treated so poorly, but
protectiveness for her rose up fast and she ran to the biggest girl
and shoved her. She stumbled back a few steps and Cadence stood in
front of Callie in what she hoped was an aggressive stance like
she’d seen some of the wolf boys do, and said, “You leave her
alone, Alice!”
The two girls with Alice gave Cadence nasty
looks as Alice growled, “Who do you think you are, mutt?”
“You leave her alone!” Cadence said it again,
bristling at the term “mutt”.
Alice shoved her hard and because Callie was
behind her, she tripped over her and fell onto her back. Renee
worked at the school at the time, as a teacher’s aide and lunchroom
monitor, and she had appeared suddenly and helped Cadence up. Her
tone was all wolf when she said, “What is the matter with you
girls?”
“She started it.” Alice sniffed.
Callie whined, “She did not you jerk!”
Renee gave a little shake to Alice’s arm and
said, “You don’t pick on your own, Alice.”
“The mutt’s not one of us.” She sniffed and
her two friends joined in.
“That’s enough. Go on and play or I’ll have
to speak to your fathers.” The girls walked away without another
glance and Renee helped Callie off her knees and gave long looks to
both of them. “You two go on and play.”
After that, they’d been joined at the hip.
There was safety in numbers, and they were fortunately in classes
together so they were as close as two kids could be.
“I was so glad when Alice and her cronies
left to go to that other pack in Tennessee after graduation. She
was such a bitch.” Cadence said, finishing up her plate.
“Yeah, me too. Did I ever say thank you for
that? No one ever stuck up for me before. Or