Inevitably Yours

I fell into my bed exhausted by the time I got home from practice that night. “Quinny, please shower,” my mom linked from the kitchen. She was hurriedly trying to put something together for dinner, forgetting how late it would be when we got back.

“In a minute,” I g*****d. Everything hurt: my legs, my neck, my back, and my brain. The park where we would regularly practice after school for cross country was muddy, so I was covered in filth. It was our hardest workout yet, and I couldn’t focus the entire time.

“This chicken will only take fifteen minutes, so hurry if you want warm dinner,” my mom replied.

I rolled over onto my back and looked at my phone. I couldn’t decide if today would have been better or worse with Michael at school. When I finally started listening to the rumors, I wanted to hide in my locker and never come out. By the end of the day, people were beginning to suspect Michael and I were involved.

I knew he said he would call, but I wanted to hear his voice. Sapphire was no help all day. She was either overly bubbly about all the new things that high school brought or extremely depressed because she wanted to be around Michael. I dialed his number and took a deep breath before hitting the call button. When I brought the phone to my ear, a shrill tone sounded, then a computerized voice said the number was no longer in service.

Everything in me went numb. His phone was no longer in service? Why was his phone disconnected? How was he supposed to call? Sapphire whined, and I wanted to whine with her. What was I supposed to do?

My l*p quivered, and I felt warm tears sliding down the side of my face, disappearing into my hair. This was the worst. I didn’t even know if he was okay, let alone my selfish want to talk to him.

“Quinn, hurry up and shower! You need to eat dinner and do your homework!” my dad called. I sucked in a shuddering breath.

“On it!” I yelled back.

“We need to be strong,” Sapphire said. “We have to have faith in him.”

“You sound like you know it will all work out,” I said.

“It will,” she said. “I have faith in our Goddess. She will send him back to us.”

“Why did she take him away in the first place?” I replied. I pushed her away and sat up. I didn’t need Michael; I just wanted him. I could handle all of this. I just had to keep him off my mind, keep myself busy.

I got up and dragged my aching body into the shower. After dinner, I had syllabuses to organize.

–

I threw myself into school. I left myself no time to dwell on Michael or the ache in my chest. When I was finished with my homework every night, I looked for ways to get ahead or hid away behind the cover of a book. I hadn’t touched my notebook since the night Michael left, too scared to look at the things I started to write there.

When the final bell rang, the band director was still trying to shout reminders at everyone as we headed for the doors. Christy was bouncing up and down beside me as she pulled me over to meet Laurie.

“There you are! Laurie, this is Quinn I told you about,” Christy said as we approached a blonde she-wolf. She was on the shorter side but not quite as small as me. She was very curvy but had a happy face.

“Oh! This is the one you were talking about,” Laurie smiled. “I have seen you, but we haven’t got a chance to meet.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said. “Thanks for your help today.”

“No, thank you! I need all the practice I can get,” she said. She reached forward and ran her hands through my hair. “I love this. What dye do you use?”

“Oh, I don’t,” I told her.

“It’s real! I told you she really does have blue hair!” Christy exclaimed. Laurie just raised her eyebrows.

“I didn’t believe it, but man, the color is nice. And you have a lot of hair. I’m sure we can do something pretty with it, even having to put it up in a hat. Are you tender-headed?” she asked.

“Not at all,” I told her.

“Good,” she smiled. “I have a feeling I’ll have to pull it pretty tight. I have to go to my locker and stuff. Meet you girls in like 30?”

“Yes!” Christy said as I nodded. “Let’s go grab our things,” she said to me.

Christy and I headed out of the band room and toward her locker first. The halls had already started to clear, everyone excited for the weekend and football game. Christy dumped her books into the bottom of her locker and retrieved her duffle bag with everything she needed for tonight.

“Do you think your parents would care if I stayed at your house after the game?” she asked idly as she closed her locker.

“Uh, no. I don’t think it will be a big deal. I thought you and Stuart would go out or something,” I answered.

“You have a race tomorrow, and he won’t go out with me. I didn’t plan on going home, so I thought maybe I could just come stay with you,” she shrugged.

“Well, I have to get up early too, but I doubt it’s a problem,” I said. She hooked her arm in mine and smiled.

“Good, fair warning, though; I like to cuddle,” she smiled. I laughed at her as we headed to my locker. After I grabbed the rest of my stuff, we headed back to the band room. The director left it open after school on Fridays so that we could stay after school if needed and have a place to go. A few others were hanging out in the auditorium seats when we got back.

We started putting our stuff into a couple of chairs when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so I answered warily. “Hello?”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“Hey, Blue,” his voice said through the phone. I stilled, unable to speak for a second. “Quinn, are you there?”

“H-hold on,” I stuttered quickly. I clamped my hand over the bottom of the phone to block the receiver. “Christy, hey, I need to take this. I’ll be back.” She nodded, rummaging through her bag.

I ran out of the seats and back through the doors, going along the hall that wrapped around to the back of the band room. I stopped when I was sure no one was around. I carefully brought the phone back up to my ear. “Michael?”

“Yea, it’s me,” he said. Sapphire was jumping in excitement.

“So, you’re okay?” I asked. “Your phone was out of service.”

“Yea,” he said. “Sorry, I had to get a new one. It’s a pretty long story.”

“That you can’t tell me,” I said. I crossed my arm over myself, still holding my phone with the other. I ducked my head as I spoke. “Something to do with your family.”

“Please, Quinn, I need you to give me a little more time. I will explain everything, but I need to wait until things calm down,” he explained. “I don’t want to keep it all from you.”

“Okay,” I said, not wanting to fight him on it. “So you’re calling now?”

“Yea, I wanted to call sooner, but I just got a new phone,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t not wish you good luck before your first performance.” I could hear his smile, and that cocky smirk floated into my head.

“Thanks,” I said.

“What are you doing before the game?” he asked.

“Christy got a girl named Laurie to do her makeup and stuff; she is going to do my hair too, so it goes up in my hat easier. We are just staying in the band room until report time,” I told him.

“I wish I were there,” he said, his voice dropping. “I could help you work out all those nerves.” I pursed my lips, not responding to his joke.

“I feel like you’re mad at me,” he sighed. “I really didn’t want this.”

“It’s fine,” I told him.

“Fine is the universal indicator that it’s everything but fine,” he argued. “You have no idea how much I didn’t want to leave you.”

“I just wish you would tell me anything,” I said. “I feel like I know this completely different you from the one everyone is talking about. What am I supposed to do with that?”

“You know me, the real me. Just believe in me and don’t give up so soon. I promise I’ll explain when I can,” he pleaded.

“Alright,” I said. Footsteps were coming down the hall toward me. “ Someone is coming to look for me. I got to go.”

“Call me tonight, after,” he said

“Christy is staying the night, and I have a race tomorrow.”

“Okay, well then, whenever you have time. I’ll answer, promise,” he said.

Christy appeared from around the corner. “I have to go.”

“Good luck Blue. I’ll be imagining how adorable you look in your uniform,” he told me.

“Thanks,” I said, hanging up. Christy was giving me a puzzled look. She had changed into her uniform top.

“Everything alright?” she asked. I nodded, trying to keep my expression neutral. “Was that….”

“Yep,” I said, pushing off the wall. “Can we not?”

She nodded. “Come on. Laurie wants to tackle your hair first, so my makeup has the least time to smudge.”

–

“Please give a warm welcome to the Stary High School Marching Devils!” The announcer’s voice boomed through the stadium. I tried to suck in a deep breath, but I was too nervous. We stood at rest just off the field, waiting for the whistle command.

“Don’t worry. Someone is going to mess up,” Sunni linked. “It won’t necessarily be a freshman. Focus on your feet and just pretend to play if you have to.”

“Did you fall your first time?” I asked her.

“Not first but third. Cause the whole bass line to go down too. Christy smacked a trumpet player with her pole her first time out. The kid ended up with a concussion. You can’t do worse than either of those.”

I had to bite back the giggle. Now it didn’t feel like I could mess up too bad.

The whistle rang out, and everyone snapped to attention.

I got one last link as the drum started to count us in. “Just don’t make me look bad,” Stuart said. I rolled my eyes and blocked him out, focusing on the show.

–

I sat at my desk, flicking my pencil in my fingers. When our English teacher quickly realized most of my grade had not yet received a ‘proper’ education in grammar, she assigned extra homework for the weekend. My mind was elsewhere, though. My eyes kept traveling to my phone sitting next to my textbook.

I had done fine at the game, then Christy and I had a fun night. The race was awful; the course so rough that I fell three different times and even got my hand stepped on. Christy left after the race with Stuart, and my parents dragged me out to see my family. My grandmother was gushing about her first grandpup in high school. I was the only girl, but I was also the oldest out of all of us.

When we got home from family time, I went straight to the woods and shifted. Sapphire stretched her legs, letting me go for a couple of hours. It was nice to turn off for a minute while she had fun. It was very late when I crept back into the house, showered, and fell into bed. This morning, my mom and I went grocery shopping then I had to retreat to my room, knowing this homework had to get done.

I picked up my phone and turned it over in my hand. He asked me to call him when I was free. I was having trouble deciding on what to do. My heart wanted to call him. I had the urge to do so right after the game, before my race, and even after. I just wanted to hear his voice.

My brain wanted to be mad at him. He left with zero explanation. Now all these rumors were floating around, and no one could make heads or tails of them anymore. During the game, I noticed some weird looks and pointing as Christy and I went to the concession stand for a drink during our break. We both caught the eye of the Alpha, and she pulled me away with her quickly. He looked angry and possibly drunk, but he was there to do the kick-off. I did not want to be the subject of any of the rumors, but I didn’t get a choice.

I sighed and dialed his number. It was futile trying to ignore him. I wanted to talk to him, wanted to be around him. If he wasn’t here in the pack, this is as good as it got. If I couldn’t have Michael, I could settle for being friends with Michael.