Nash’s tone was sincere and his true caring warmed my heart. I knew that I’d be concerned, too, if I saw someone I had affection for standing next to a werewolf. Nash having this compassion made me feel good, but he was going about it in the wrong way.
“Brandon is a great guy,” I said. “No one needs to protect me from him.”
Nash’s lips tensed. “Listen—I was there.” He faced me squarely, his brow furrowed in anger. “I saw what happened. He’s not normal, Celeste. You have to know that.” Nash was adamant in trying to convince me. “He is dangerous.”
“That’s not true. He’s really just the opposite.”
“He’s an animal. I saw it for myself.”
Nash was such a hypocrite sometimes. “Then why did you run?” I asked. “If you were so afraid for me, why did you take off and leave me alone with him?” I started off for my friends when he caught up to me.
“I’m here now,” he said softly. His declaration was very enticing. Nash wasn’t angry anymore, but instead I could see fear in his eyes at the path I was choosing. He was caring and concerned for real. Beyond a guy trying to get a girl—but in this case a friend trying to help a friend. “I’m not leaving until you promise not to see him.” Nash wasn’t bullying me. He was instead talking to me like a friend or a big brother. I was touched by his concern but struggled with him asking me to abandon Brandon, the one I loved.
“I can’t,” I said.
Nash folded his arms in disgust. “Then I have no choice.” He headed off to catch up with our clique.
This time I caught up to him and faced him squarely. “You are my friend, Nash,” I said, feeling short of breath. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because I am your friend. And friends look out for each other.”
“Not like this. If you plan to extort me,” I countered, “then I’ll go ahead and tell them I’m dating Brandon now myself.” I began to march over toward Ivy and Abby when I felt my backpack tugged and I was stopped in my tracks.
Nash glared at me with vengeance. “Then you are forcing me to do something I wasn’t going to do,” he said boldly. “I’m going to tell them what I saw. Brandon changed into a freaking were—”
“Shh!” I said, waving my hand in front of his mouth.
My friends were waiting by the gym door. I imagined Nash storming over to them and dropping the bombshell on them.
Dating Brandon wasn’t something I’d be able to deny. I was lousy at lying. For one thing, I had an ultrastrong conscience, and two, my face would flush and my upper lip would quiver, immediately giving me away. It might be hard for my friends to be convinced that Brandon was a real werewolf, but they wouldn’t be able to get over my dating him for the past few months and not telling them myself.#p#分页标题#e#
“Give me a little more time,” I said to Nash.
I knew I wasn’t about to stop dating Brandon and start seeing Nash again, but I had to buy myself more time before Nash told everyone Brandon was a werewolf.
The handsome jock smiled winningly. “I’ll show you how things will be different,” he said genuinely. “How they should have been all along.”
For a moment, I wondered what it would be like if Nash changed. I imagined him helping decorate the halls at Pine Tree Village Retirement Community, walking in Willow Park together under the moonlight, or arriving at my home with a bouquet of flowers. It would have been what I’d wanted from Nash if he was up for the change, but his romantic declarations had come too late.
I raced over to Ivy and Abby and opened the gym door. We could see the main entrance and parking lot. The guys, still hot from their practice game, embraced the chilly air.
If anyone was going to tell Ivy and Abby about my seeing Brandon, it was going to be me. And I didn’t want anyone knowing about his transformation.
Brandon had unknowingly forced Nash to become the person I’d wanted Nash to be several months ago. If Nash had paid this much attention to me when we were dating, I’d never have been interested in anyone else. But his romantic behavior was happening a full moon too late. I knew it would be easier to take the road with the basketball player than the one with the werewolf, but I had to be true to myself. I was captivated, compelled, and perhaps under a spell. But whatever that spell was, it had the face of Brandon, by day or by full moonlight.
“Look!” Ivy said, pointing to Brandon’s Jeep. A wig and costume were lying on the hood of his truck. On the driver’s-side door was painted the word WOLFMAN. “Brandon was that werewolf all along,” Ivy continued, referring to a masked werewolf that had been terrorizing the town. In fact, that phony werewolf had been Nash, but no one else except me knew who the werewolf had really been.