Heart of Glass

Chapter 8

Rolling over, Ariel grabbed her phone to check the time – 0200 AM.

She sighed. Since discovering what a cow Peyton was, her thoughts had been scattered. Initially she had been pissed that Peyton was so two faced and it was only Ben dragging her away to work on his math's that stopped her from finding her and giving her a piece of her mind.

When she saw Lucas just after lunch, her emotions warred against each other. Embarrassment was still forefront in her thoughts and she had given him a wide berth. If he tried to rub it in her face, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back and she would be letting him know just what Peyton really thought of him.

Only... why did she care? A strange sick part of her felt happy that it was going to blow up in his beastly face, but every time that emotion surfaced, it was drowned out with guilt. Although she didn't want to admit, she knew why; Lucas was a good guy. She had seen how he looked out for Emily, and spent time with Ben. They didn't see eye to eye on everything, but that didn't mean he deserved to be humiliated like... like Nathan.

Memories of that night resurfaced and she sat up, curling her knees up into her chest. She buried her face into her knees, closing her eyes tightly. She didn't want to do that to anyone again.

When the thoughts refused to leave, she grabbed her phone and silently got out of bed. Careful not to wake Emily, she left their room and tiptoed downstairs to the library. Maybe she could force them out by reading a book.

Entering the library, she didn't take notice that a lamp was already on by one of the armchairs. She headed to the shelves by the front window, trying to find something that would distract her.

"Can I help you?"

She gasped, spinning around. A boy was sitting in an armchair, staring at her. He stood up, his grey jumper too large for his frame. His brown hair was tousled, as though he had just woken up as well.

Ariel had two immediate thoughts as she stared at him. One – he was pretty decent looking and two – she had never seen him before in her life.

"Who the hell are you?" She demanded. "You don't live here."

He took a step towards her. "Ariel –"

"How do you know my name?" She panicked, throwing the book at him. "How did you get in here?"

He ducked and the book soared over his head. "Ariel, quiet!"

"Not until you tell me who you are!" She grabbed another book, ready to throw it and he held up his hands, beseechingly.

"Okay, stop! My name is Oscar."

"Oscar?" She scoffed. "Like that cat? Yeah right –"

"It is! I'm... that cat."

Her chest heaved, the book trembling in her grip. "For real? You're a freaking cat?"

"No," he smiled, eyeing the book nervously. "I'm a human that's been turned into a cat."

"Oh. Then how come no one has ever mentioned that? Huh?"

"Because," he said slowly. "They don't know. Only the Doc and his family know about me."

"What a load of crap," she snapped raising the book higher. "How can no one know you're a cat?"

"I've been living here for years. I can only change into human form during a full moon. The Doc couldn't find a cure for my curse and I asked to stay with his family. I made him promise not to tell anyone about it because they always treat me differently afterwards. It's just easier to let them think I'm a cat."