A wide smile and laughter overcame me. What a weird dream!
I sat up to find Brandon’s shirt folded on my nightstand.
My breath escaped me.
The good news was that the heavenly kiss was real. I squeezed Brandon’s shirt against me. The bad news . . . well, there had to be some real explanation for that. I told myself to just get up and go to school and try to figure this odd event out. As soon as I saw Brandon there, he’d secretly tell me what happened and we’d laugh off the whole thing.
I checked my phone to see if Brandon had tried to contact me. It was then I realized the time. Not only hadn’t Brandon contacted me, but I’d overslept!
Why didn’t anyone wake me? I bolted out of bed and shouted to my family.
When no one answered, I knew my parents had already left for work.
I quickly showered and dried my hair. I grabbed the first two items in my closet and got dressed. I didn’t even have time to make sure they matched. I shoved Brandon’s shirt into my backpack and took off.
I wasn’t about to let anyone get in my way of finding Brandon and the answers to last night’s events.
I managed to sneak into English class just as Mrs. Clark was handing back our graded homework. Brandon’s desk was empty.
“Where have you been?” Ivy questioned me in the tone my mother usually takes. “Your clothes. Green shirt and orange sweater? You look like a pumpkin,” she teased.
“Oh, this?” I asked, just now noticing my mismatched outfit. “I overslept.”
“Well, I guess your fingerless-gloved friend did, too,” she said. “Anything I should know about?”
For a moment I thought Ivy knew about last night. I shot her a look of horror.
“I’m just kidding,” she said.
I was relieved, but only slightly. Brandon hadn’t shown up for class. Since he attended Legend’s Run High he’d never missed a day. I wondered what was keeping him away.
“You skipped the end of last night’s game, too,” she whispered. “Nash has been looking everywhere for you. He wants to make up.”
For the entire period, my attention drifted to the closed classroom door. With each passing minute, it never opened. Where was Brandon? Was he still in the woods, at a hospital, or just home with the flu?
“So, where did you run off to so quickly last night?” Ivy interrogated me when she caught me staring vacantly at my locker. “Your lunch is here,” she said, grabbing the sack off the top shelf. “What’s with you? You are so not yourself.”
“I had to do something at home,” I said, shutting my locker. The two of us headed for the cafeteria.
“It couldn’t wait?”
“Ivy,” I began. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her privately since we’d arrived at school, and I wanted to tell her before the guys and Abby joined us. “Something happened last night,” I confessed.
“Again? Did you encounter another wolf?”
“Yes, how did you know?” I was almost grateful that she might actually understand my strange predicament.
“Are you serious? I was just joking!”
“Oh,” I said, deflated. “Well, truthfully, I think I did.”
We reached the entrance to the cafeteria.
“Celeste. That’s it. I’m not letting you out of my sight. Where were you? In your car?”
“No.”
“In the woods again?” she asked, almost frustrated as we took our seats at our usual table.
“Well . . .”
Just then Abby arrived at the lunchroom with Dylan, Jake, and Nash.
Nash hung back, making it clear he wasn’t along for the fun of it. He was as icy as Brandon’s skating pond.
“I didn’t see you in the stands last night,” he said, taking a place at the opposite end of the table.
“I know. I had to leave,” I said with indifference.
“So if you don’t think it’s important to stay at my games, how are we going to get back together?” he challenged.
It was our typical fight—he wanted me in the stands cheering him on at his practices and games. But there wasn’t more to our relationship. We didn’t have the same interests, and his always won out. It wasn’t like he ever came to the nursing home and volunteered with me.
At the moment I had bigger issues to deal with than a grumpy ex-boyfriend. “I—don’t feel like talking about that again,” I began.
“You should be kind to her.” Ivy butted in. “She just ran into another wolf.”
“A wolf?” Fear shot through his eyes. “Maybe if you stayed at the game the whole time,” he said, “then you wouldn’t be running into wild animals.”