In Our Blood

Chapter Eighteen

The wind was blowing steadily across the school blacktop the next morning. Maddy was busy bouncing a basketball while she explained to Rhydian when he had to be at their house that night for the full moon. 

Rhydian nodded in acknowledgement of her and stole the ball, attempting to shoot it into the basket that Beca was perched next to. The failure caused her to flinch and the rubber ball flew towards her. She rolled her eyes and stuck out a foot to kick it back to the two.

"We've got to be there by five," Maddy said, causing Beca's gaze to move from examining the students in the courtyard to her sister.

"Five? That's hours until the moon goes up," she complained, standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder.

Maddy sent her a glare. "Yeah, well they don't want to take any chances this time."

Beca shrugged and let the two start playing again, focusing on a distant mumbling that began to get closer.

"Smith goes for the shot but is blocked by Morris. Morris lines up. He misses! Complete embarrassment for the boy from Wales! I mean he's had a terrible season -" Tom and Shann walked up, Beca laughing when Rhydian glanced over with a glare. "Not from Wales," their friend quickly corrected.

Maddy picked up the ball and followed Beca, walking up to the two. "Hey," she said timidly, she and Shannon having been at odds since the girl convinced herself that the three teens were monsters.

Shannon seemed to be getting over it, though. "My dad's cooking tonight, so I figured burgers at Bernie's tonight?" Beca tried to focus but she caught the fruity scent of raspberries dipped in pine and glanced up, seeing the brunette girl leaning against the wall by the fields.

"What do you think, Beca?" Maddy's voice rang in her ears as the girl nudged her in the side with her elbow. Beca glanced over and nodded.

"Uh, yeah. Sure, sounds great. Your key to the darkroom still in your locker?" She asked, clearly obvious to her friends that she had not been paying attention.

"Yes, why?"

Beca gave Maddy a quick pat on the shoulder before speeding off to the halls of their school, leaving the four of them confused.

"What's she off to?" Shannon asked Maddy, figuring she'd know the most about Beca's strange behavior.

"I have no idea."

Skipping the first few classes of the day to hide in the dark room answered Beca's question at why Mr. Jeffries wanted the photo club gone so badly. But what else was she to do? Well, she could actually go outside and face her fear that happened to be in the shape of an incredibly beautiful, nosey, curious girl.

She let out a sigh and fell onto the couch once more, bored out of her mind. It was a full moon that night and the last thing she needed was to be stuck in a room with no light for an extended amount of time.

The lunch bell rang and not even seconds later, the door to the dark room clicked. Beca glanced around desperately searching for a hiding place before she settled on the closed off area of the room where the records were kept.

The door opened and light flooded into the room from the hall, Maddy, Tom, Shannon, and Rhydian's voices all mingling in the air as they entered. Beca let out an extremely loud sigh before she stepped out, scaring Tom a bit too much.

"Bloody hell, Beca!" He shouted, smacking her before calming himself down.

She gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry," she muttered, moving back to where she had stupidly left her bag in the first place.