Pack -The Beginning

by R.A Cullison

  Chapter Three

 

  High School Hell

  I awoke for school at 5am; I rolled out of bed and made my way to the shower. After 20 minutes of just letting water run down my body to wake me up. I hurriedly brushed my teeth and got dressed in a jean skirt and a white sheer top with a black tank underneath with a pair of black flats and I was out the door into my car, I wanted to get this day over with.

  I pulled into the parking lot, it was nearly full already.

  “Wow!” I said to myself. I found parking spot closest to the school, I didn’t want to cross the sea of cars. I grabbed my bag,. and the keys from the ignition. I started to head inside the school.

  I walked into the very bright lit entrance tying to find the main office. I asked a girl who was trying to shove a book in her backpack, “Excuse me, do you know where the main office is?”

  She answered without even looking up, “Yeah it’s down the hall to the right.” I thanked her and followed her directions. I walked into the office, in front of me was familiar long dark hair. I knew it was him for sure when he spoke.

  “Yeah, I am from Tampa, this is my senior year, and I just want classes that I want.” The women behind the desk was trying to tell him that he was starting in the middle of the year and he should be thankful that he got any classes at all. He huffed alittle and turned around and to my delight, he smiled, “Hello Nora, Please tell me we got some classes together?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered, “I just got here, why don’t you just wait and see.” I walked up to the counter, “Excuse me, I am Nora Treeman and I was supposed to have a schedule waiting for me, I think my grandmother called it in?” The women went over to a pile of folders and started going through them one by one.

  “Yes we have everything right here, here is your schedule and your locker with the combination., your should be all set.”

  “Thank you.” I picked up the pile of papers and headed out to the now empty hall,

  “So can I see if we have the some of the same classes?” he asked me again this time he smile. I pulled out my schedule and we compared them, we had several classes together (more like all of them).

  We walked to our first couple of classes and all the girls gasped at him, I really didn’t blame them because he was so cute, the teacher looked at us,

  “OK people this is Nora Treeman and Corbin Crow, they both come here from Tampa, so please give them a good welcome to Portland High.” He handed us our books and we took our seats, right next to each other.

  The teacher continued speaking about Hamlet and Shakespeare; I was lost like always. If I don’t hear it from the beginning I get utterly and hopelessly lost. I just watched the teacher in front of the classroom, Corbin was fallowing along with him. The girl behind him handed him a note, he picked it up and opened it up, he read it, then shoved it in his jeans pocket. Class then ended, Thank God.

  The next class was pretty much the same, the girls flirted with Corbin relentlessly but he just smiled his charming smile and ignored them.

  The class was History so I wasn’t going to be sidetracked; history is my best subject. I was asked about the French Revolution so I stood up and answered it. the teacher was smiled,.

  “ Very good Miss. Treeman.“ He smiled.

  The boys stared and one girl who I was named Piper just glared at me, as if she wanted to jump over all the desks and rip my throat out. I don’t know why, I didn’t do anything but have a few boys’ attention. Who I wasn’t interested in, but obviously, it made her mad.

  Corbin seen the girl, he turned around and gave her a glare; she suddenly stopped looking at me then started smiling at Corbin.

  Lunch was another story, Piper came up to me.

  “Hello, I thought I would introduce myself, I am Piper Franklin, and you are I think ,Nora Treeman?” she asked in a snobbish kind of way,

  “Yes, I am Nora Treeman; can I help you with something?” I tried to imitate her tone.

  “Yes, are you friends with Corbin? Because I would like to get to know him.” She sat down across the table from me,

  “Um, Yeah I know him, but if you want to know him, you have to introduce yourself, I am not his dating service.” I took a sip of my soda; she stood up and walked away from me.

  Several minutes later Corbin came and sat beside me with a tray of food,

  “Oh my Corbin, hungry are we?” I joked, he laughed too,

  “Yeah, I haven’t eaten all day, so I get alittle hungry, you want something, here have an apple.” He threw a bright red apple at me and I caught it,

  “Thanks.” I took a big bite of it and I felt the juices run down my chin, he smiled and reached over with one of his finger wiped if off, I laughed and took a napkin finished cleaning up my chin.

  As he was eating, I tried not to watch him. He was wearing bright white t-shirt, faded jeans and boots, his jacket was draped over the back of the chair. I noticed Piper heading towards us,

  “Umm Corbin, your admirer is heading this way.” I bent my head down and motioned it towards Piper,

  “OH man that chick won’t leave me alone, I am not interested in her, and she is just too stupid to understand.” He pushed his tray away; she sat next to him pushing me down to the other end of the table.

  “Hi Corbin, you know we have a dance coming up, and I was wondering if you would like to go with me, It’s formal, I bet you look great in a tux.” She smiled flirtatiously at him, he leaned in closer to her with no expression on his face,

  “Ah, I see, let me get back to you on that.” He winked at me, with that Pipers head flew around, and glared at me,

  “Corbin, you know I am the captain of the cheerleading squad, and the head of the dance committee, It would be wised to be seen with someone with class.” She glances at me and then left the table, Corbin laughed

  “She doesn’t like you.” he took a sip of his soda,

  “Yeah I never did anything to her.” I watched Pipers black hair sway behind her as she left the cafeteria,

  “Oh come on ,Nora, she is jealous, your prettier than her and you already have 100 admirers, don’t let the snob get you down you have a WHOLE lot more going for you than she does.” I looked at him and tried to think of what next to say when the bell rang.

  I grabbed my books and headed to Math, which I hated. I walked into classes and sat next to a red haired girl with glasses, I think her name was Jane Springburg , well that’s what was written on one her folders, she acted very shy, I turned to face her,

  “Hi I’m Nora Treeman, are you Jane Springburg?” I asked her, she looked up and with her index finger pushed her glasses up,

  “Yes, How did you know that?” she looked alittle spooked,

  “It’s on your folder, see.” I pointed to the top one,

  “Oh.” She giggled a little, “I didn’t see that, you must be new here.” she asked digging in her bag.

  “Yeah I am from Tampa, Florida.” I watched the teacher walk in holding a bunch of papers; the room seemed to get quieter as soon as she walked in,

  “Ok class, I have the test results from last Friday.” She stopped talking at looked at me then at Corbin, “Oh yes new students, everyone please welcome, Corbin Crow and Nora Treeman.” She motioned for us to stand up and we did, the boy sitting across the aisle from me smiled and winked. I raised my eyebrow in disgust, EWW I thought. He had sever acne, tight curly butterscotch hair and braces, differently not my type, but he seem to really popular, with some of the kids,

  “Who is that boy?” I asked Jane, as I sat back down, she looked and smiled,

  “Oh that Job Cale, his sister is Ashley Cale she is on the cheerleading squad with Piper Franklin, they are both total snobs, and Job thinks he is hot, but he is just a loser.” She definitely disliked them, which I really didn’t blame her.

  The teacher gave an in class assignment, as I was doing the last problem, I felt something hit the back of my head, I tur
ned and there was Corbin, mouthing the word ‘pick it up’. I bent down and picked up the piece of paper, and read what was on it,

  Nora,

  Meet me after school at the library- I want to ask you something,

  Corbin

  I took a deep sigh and finished the assignment. I walked up to the head of the class and handed it to the teacher, Mrs. Remold,

  “Done already Nora, very good.” She took the paper and started correcting it; she didn’t say anything to me, thank God.

  The bell rang; I grabbed my bag and started out the door trying to shove my math book in my bag when I ran into something big that knocked me down. I looked up and there was a tall guy, with flowing blonde and intense green eyes,

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to knock you down like that.” He reached out and helped me up,

  “That ok.” I started to dust myself off; Corbin came out of the room and their eyes met,

  “My, my, my look who we have here, a Crow boy, what are you doing in Maine?” He and Corbin definitely no love lost between them too, I thought they were going to fight.

  “Noah, oh look we have the sheep too, still following this loser, I am here to live, your not suppose to be in the US at all your suppose to be in Canada, so what the hell are you doing here?” I could hear the others with Noah, growl, and kind of a low-key growl. I backed out of the way; scared that they were going to kill each other, and then Mrs. Remold came out,

  “Do we have a problem boys?” her eyes went from one to the other,

  “Naw, just old friends, Come on Nora.” Corbin grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall, “I can’t believe the asshole is here.” I looked at him a little confused,

  “Who is that guy?” I asked looking behind us as they were catching up to us, and I thought I seen one of their eyes glow red, but if that is what I saw then I really some need professional help.

  “That’s Noah, my family and his little sheep are not the best of friends.” He answered as we headed to our last hour, “I wonder if Kyle knows that they are here or the other guys.” We walked into the classroom and I noticed Jane was there too, she waved at me and I waved back. We sat down waited for the teacher. Noah and his friends walked into the classroom, OH GREAT! I thought, I was sure that Corbin and this Noah guy was going to kill each other. Noah seemed to be focused on me, maybe because he could tell Corbin liked me.

  I looked up at him as he walked by my desk and he winked “Hey baby, what’s your name?” he said in a erotic voice. I turned and looked at him pissed off,

  “Save the flirting for someone who won’t puke, ok?” The guys laughed including Noah, Corbin looked at me and smiled big.

  Class started, I kept hearing this low growling noise, when I looked back Corbin and Noah were staring at each other, and it was scary. When they noticed me staring, they would stop and Corbin would smile at me and wink, I would just roll my eyes and smile. I liked when he did that. But it pissed Noah off; I think Noah was interested in me, but he maybe cute but his attitude made him unattractive.

  After school, I waited for Corbin, he was late. When I finally seen him come around the corner holding his arm.

  “Oh my God your hurt, do you need to go to see the nurse.?”

  I looked at his arm and the blood was just pouring out,

  “No I am fine, let’s go.” He headed out the door,

  “No, Corbin!” I grabbed his jacket pulled him back in, “you are not getting into my car with your arm bleeding like that, let’s go to the nurses’ office.” I grabbed him by his jacket collar and dragged him down the hall. Just our luck the nurse wasn’t in, so I had to bandage him up, luckily I knew first aide.

  I first searched for the first aide kit, I had to look hard. I bent down to look under the cot.

  “I found it!” I held up the kit. I opened it up, lucky it was full, and I looked at Corbin, “Go wash your arm under the faucet.” He got up and did what I asked him to.

  I took a towel off of the counter to wipe off the water on his arm and the blood so I could see how bad it was. Blood began to seep out of his wound. When I examined it carefully I was taken back, “Corbin this looks like bite marks, did you get into a fight with a dog?” he smiled,

  “Something like that, can you please bandage it up so I can get to work, I don’t want to be fired the first day.” I wrapped it up and we left. As soon as we got into the car he began checking out the stereo, “Nora, one day me and you should go riding, you know maybe to the ocean or to a hotel for a weekend.” I looked at him, I was going to smack him, but a black van darted out in front of me, I swerved to miss it,

  “What the hell was that?” Corbin said excitedly, I was shaking so bad I couldn’t talk, Corbin looked at me, “Nora are you ok?” all I could do was shake my head, “want me to drive?” I shook my head again. He slid over and I scooted across his lap and just sat there as we headed to the warehouse.

  Kyle was outside with Nikki talking and holding on to each other, they looked in love. Corbin leaned over, “are you sure you will be ok?” I looked at him,

  “Yeah I’ll be ok, I…. I am just alittle shaken up, did you see who was driving that van?” I was staring at him directly in his dark eyes,

  “No, but I smelled them.” He said under his breath, I looked at him confused he knew I heard him; he shook his head, “No who was driving?” I took a deep breath,

  “Noah.” The look of rage on Corbin’s face was intense, then I heard Kyle call for him, it took a second for him to jump out of the car and run to his brother. They were in some intense talking, then I thought I seen Kyle’s eyes glow red, but I didn’t trust what I saw.

  Nikki came over to me, “Hey Nora, can I hop in?” I looked away from the guys to look at her,

  “Sure hop in, don’t tell me you are working for Grandpa too?” I asked, she shook her head,

  “Nah, I come here to bring Kyle his lunch, so, tell me are you and Corbin dating? He is a real hottie.” I blushed, “aww you like him don’t you?” she said teasingly.

  “Yeah I really do, he is so sweet and he treats me so well, but I really don’t know him, and I don’t know how he feels about me.” I shrugged my shoulders, and began watching him.

  “Nora, all he did was talk about you last night, Nora this, Nora that, and he even said that he really likes you.” I was shocked

  “He did?” I could tell by her face, “Maybe if I got to know him alittle better, I might.” I trailed off, she was pleased with herself,

  “Good, so what are your plans for tonight?” she took a cigarette from her cigarette package.

  “Homework, can I give you a ride?” she lit the cigarette and looked up,

  “Oh, hey, the guys are here, come on you have to meet them.” I got out of the car and followed her to a black van with wolves on the side. She pounded on the side of it. The door slides open, a tall man alittle taller than Corbin came out, his long black hair loose, with the same dark eyes as Corbin,

  “Damn it, Nikki you have to stop doing that or you will get hurt, what do you want?” he noticed me, “Who is this?”

  “This is Nora, my cousin, Nora this is Ryan Crow he jumped out of the van,

  “So you’re the one that Corbin has been talking about non-stop, nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for me to shake, I reached and lightly took his hand. then some medium built man with buzzed bleach blonde hair stepped out,

  “This is Ross, and the girl is Ariel.” Nikki continued, Ariel was pretty with layered black hair with blue tips, a nose piercing.

  “Nice to meet you Nora.” She said, take a big puff off of the cigarette that Nikki had. Then a guy who was huge, way bigger than any of the other guys stepped out,

  “This is Marc, he is our cousin, but you got to watch him he bites,” they all laughed

  “Ah I only nibble, when necessary, nice to meet you Nora.” I shook his hand,

  “This is Josh; he‘s the reckless one.” A brown haired man stepped out of th
e van; he had a scar across his face, but very kind eyes,

  “Hello sexy lady, I can see why Corbin likes you so much.” I blushed, they all laughed again, then Kyle and Corbin came to the van, and Corbin smiled at me,

  “We need to have a talk, do you girls mind if we interrupt?” I shook my head no and so did Nikki, they all piled into the van and took off with smoking tires.

  I looked at Nikki, “Do you need a ride some place?” she looked back at me,

  “Umm no, I got to wait for Kyle, but thanks,” we gave each other a hug and I left.

  Pulled into the drive way and went inside, as I walked onto the porch,

  “Hi.” I turned and looked it was Noah,

  “What do you want? You know your nearly killed me?” I said in a pissed off tone,

  He smiled, “Did I now? Well I am sorry, but I came here to give you a little bit of advice, The Crow brothers aren't what they seem, in fact, they are alittle…. wild.” He walked off the steps,

  “What do you mean?” I asked, he just turned and smiled

  “OWWWW!!!” When he did that it sent chills down my spine, “Oh Nora, not all creatures are mythical, remember that.” Then he was gone, in a flash, he was nowhere to be found. I went inside.

  “Grandma?” I called, I ran upstairs and seen her lying on her bed, asleep, I could hear her lightly breathing, I covered her up. I headed downstairs and called Nikki’s number,

  “Hey cuz what’s up?” she was with the guys I could hear them in the back,

  “Nikki are you with Corbin and the guys?” she giggled a little,

  “Want to talk to Corbin?” she said it teasingly

  “Yeah, could you please put him on?” she handed the phone to him,

  “Corbin its your woman.” Nikki teased, the guys in the background did the WOO sound together,

  “Shut up guys! Hey beautiful, what can I do to you or do for you?” I had to chuckle at that one,

  “Maybe later.” I heard him stop breathing with surprise. “Noah was here waiting for me when I got home, and he said a few things that are alittle confusing, can I ask something of you?” I knew he would do it if I asked

  “What?” he sounded intrigued,

  “Meet me at the High School Stadium alittle after 10 tonight?” there was a long silence

  “Ok, 10 it is see you then sexy.” we hung up, I made dinner for everyone, did the dishes. I finished my homework exactly at 9:56. I slowly walked down the back stairs and snuck out. Which was easy because my grandpa was passed out on the couch not to mention my grandma was somewhat hard hearing.

  I arrived at the school, and there was Corbin with his long hair blowing in the wind, his dark eyes big from the lack of light. I walked towards him,

  “Well tell me why I came out at night, to talk to you.” He smiled was big and flirtatious,

  “Actually I just wanted to see you, I missed you.” He stopped dead in his tracks, and was speechless,

  “Really now, I didn’t know I had that kind of effect on you, well I am glad I do, So tell me what did Noah say to you?” I went to ask then I noticed his arm was healed, not even a scar. I grabbed it,

  “What the hell?” he jerked his arm away. “Corbin, how come there is no scar?” he ignored me and went to walk away, I ran after him, “Corbin, tell me?” he turned around,

  “Nora there are things you don’t need to know, things you couldn’t possibly understand, and I am not sure I want you to understand or know for that matter, the best thing for you is to leave me alone.” I was shocked; the look on his face was of hurt and confusion.

  “No, I’m not going to, I think I am falling in love with you, and I want to understand, please Corbin, tell me.” He stopped and looked at me as I was circling around him.

  “Nora, I have fallen for you too and that has not happened to me in along time, and it scares me, I don’t know if I could handle you knowing me like…” he trailed off, he went to walk forward again,

  “I don’t understand, please, Corbin, please.” He left in the van, I was left alone in the middle of the football field. I was crying and hurt, I was lost. I thought Corbin would understand me and love me like I was ready to love him. I couldn’t believe how things turned around from him smiling and flirting to him getting angry and shutting me out.

  I drove home in silence, what did I do? The tears started falling.