by Amy Richie
Willow
A Blood Vine Series Novel
Written by Amy Richie
All rights reserved. Published by Anchor Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
Copyright 2012
Published by Anchor Group Publishing
Edited by Melissa Ringsted
Cover by K.C. Designs
For Gavin, an essential part of my life. I've loved you the longest.
Chapter One
Willow Bennett
Being a werewolf is harder than it looks. Everyone thinks it’s just “morph at the full moon, kill, morph back”. That’s not true. It is a lot harder than that, especially if you are 17 years old. All I wanted at the start of my junior year in high school was to stay in one place long enough to make a friend. My sister, Ivy, and I lived with our surrogate mother, Bella, who also happened to be a pack leader. One day, Ivy and I would have to move on and either find packs of our own or become loners. There could never be two females in one pack. But for now, we lived with Bella. Staying in one place was hard for Bella. She never could keep herself out of trouble.
I sighed deeply, almost groaning, as I began to unpack my things. I was a professional mover by the time I was 17. I left all my clothes in two trunks that I set up against the wall. Bella always managed to rent houses that were furnished, but I hardly used the dresser or closets, trunks were easier. This house was nicer, though, because I didn’t have to share a room with Ivy. She was just one year younger than me, but we were worlds apart. She saw humans as beneath her, and all I wanted was to be one of them. I tucked my hair absently behind my ears. After Bella told us two years ago that long hair made a woman beautiful, I kept mine short. It just barely went below my chin. It was more red than blonde, but somehow managed to look orange. I had a natural curl in my hair, but it was so tight that it often just ended up frizzy. I thought I looked like a young Molly Ringwald. My eyes were a pale green and my skin was extremely fair. I don’t know what color Molly’s eyes were. I liked to fantasize that Molly would adopt me and tell everyone I was her daughter.
However, my sister, Ivy, loved the life that we had. There was only one time that I could recall when she had thrown a fit about moving. She had gotten herself a boyfriend and refused to go. We stayed there for six months, the longest we had stayed in one place for the last three years. Then Ivy turned 13 and she morphed in front of her boyfriend. His obituary said he died in a house fire. Bella had laughed and congratulated Ivy on her first kill. It was disgusting, but I think Ivy felt bad. At any rate, she never had another boyfriend. She had a lot of guys asking, too. She was beautiful, in the worldly way. She had red hair like mine, but hers was a rich auburn color and she kept it long. And of course, her natural curl was more of just a wave that flowed down her back. Her eyes were a piercing blue, and she used them to her advantage. I don’t believe she did any of her own homework in the last town we stayed.
I shook my head and thought ahead to Monday. School would start. A new start. Maybe in this school, I could be a cheerleader, I thought forlornly. I always thought that if I had remained human I would have been one of those bubbly cheerleading types. True, not much sustenance for adulthood, but I was 17 and I wanted to be bubbly. I wanted the quarterback of the football team to pass me in the hall and say, “Hey Willow, what’s up” as he flirtatiously winked at the girl next to me. “It’s not fair,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What’s that?” Ivy asked, bouncing into my room.
“Nothing,” I said with a scowl.
“Talking to yourself again?” she sneered.
“No,” I replied in a mean voice, trying to mimic hers but failing.
She laughed. Even her laugh was beautiful, dainty and cute. “You’re not still hoping to be a cheerleader are you?” She laughed again at my expression.
“What do you want?” I asked loudly.
She shrugged. “I just wanted to come and see how your room was coming along,” she answered in a falsely sweet voice.
“It’s coming along just fine,” I told her with a pointed look to the door.
“You know, Willow,” she began in her same false voice, “I think you would make a great cheerleader.” She pinched my chin in an annoying grandma kind of way.
“Just get out of my room,” I yelled. It felt really good to say that. She sniggered all the way to the door.
She turned at the doorway. “Bella and I are going to town,” her real reason for coming in my room, “you wanna come?”
I took a last look at my partially unpacked trunks and followed her out the door. The house had two levels and both our rooms were on the second floor. The only other room up here was a bathroom. Downstairs was the usual; living room (painted a hideous mustard yellow), dining room (with a large wooden table), kitchen (with all the normal appliances except a dishwasher), the bathroom (very normal bathroom), back porch (which housed the washer and dryer), the hallway (decorated with ugly floral wallpaper), and a front parlor area. The front parlor was basically just an area right inside the front door with a hat stand and a welcome mat.
I could hear Bella yelling impatiently from the parlor when we came down the steps. “Will you girls hurry up?” she called. “I’m hungry.” I grimaced at her choice of words. Ivy laughed at my reaction.
“We are going to the grocery store,” she reminded me with a raised eyebrow.
“I know,” I tried to imitate her haughtiness with little success.
“Girls!” We both jumped and made our way to the front door.
“I am not doing any dishes,” Ivy announced in the car. We had already been to the store and were now on our way back home. Grover, Massachusetts was, as I predicted, very small. On the sign it boasted a population of 4,326. That probably counted all the cows, I thought glumly. “Uptown” was really only a street, happily named Main Street. The town consisted of several streets that branched off of Main Street. The grocery store, Walt’s Supervalu, was a typical small town grocery store, stocked full of overpriced food. Bella had gone happily down the aisles shoving everything she saw into the heaping cart. I did not see a single kid my age.
“Oh, there’s a dollar store!” Bella suddenly squealed.
“Oh my, a dollar store!” I exclaimed with heavy sarcasm.
Ivy took her bait though. “Oooooo,” she wiggled in her seat excitedly, “we can see if they have any red nail polish. Mine is all gone.” She turned her beaming smile at Bella.
“Of course, dear,” she soothed. “I am so glad that at least one of you is trying to make the best of things.” She glared at me.
“Who knows, Willow,” Ivy said with a smile, “maybe they will have those fudge cakes you love so much.”
“Fudge cakes?” Bella asked in a high voice. My shoulders sagged and I leaned back in my seat. Here we go, I thought. “You know that stuff will make you fat,” Bella continued. “Do you want to be fat?” I let her rant without comment. Last week she had caught me eating a candy bar and nearly poked her fingers down my throat to force a purge of the insulting sweet. I am sure that Bella would rather us be bulimic than be fat. Lucky for us, we had too many other things to deal with to let something else enter our head. I just let Bella worry about my widening hips.
The sound of her door opening signaled the end of my lecture. I hurried to follow suit lest she think I hadn’t been listening and start over. Ivy winked at me before turning to follow Bella. I almost growled under my breath, but then thought better of it. I took a deep, calming breath and started to f
ollow. I had my head down when I pushed through the door.
I could barely grasp what had happened at first. I couldn’t quite understand why I was suddenly on the ground. I must have made a comical sight as I sat there glowering up at the boy I had run into at the dollar store. I had literally just run right into him. I was caught off balance and fell, not too graciously, on my backside.
“Oh geez,” he said without a laugh. “I am so sorry. I wasn’t even paying any attention,” he rambled without really looking at me. “Are you ok?” He finally looked down at me as he offered his hand to help me up. It was one of those moments out of a movie, the one where everything goes all slow and music is heard. Well, there was no music, but we definitely had a moment. “You new here?” he asked. I still sat gaping up at him from the floor.
“Uh … ” I began awkwardly.
“Oh my gosh, Willow!” I groaned as Ivy came to my aide. “What happened?” She turned to look at the boy trying to help me up. “Who are you? What did you do to my sister?” she demanded angrily.
Only I knew that it was fake. He of course thought it was cute that she would rush to her sister’s side. “She … she just fell,” he stammered.
She stood up with a dramatic wave of her hair. “Just fell?” she questioned.
I rolled my eyes and pushed myself back up into a standing position. I figured I could just leave now, unnoticed. I turned to go down the aisle and find some sweet snack food to make it better. “Hey, wait,” the boy with the lovely brown eyes called out to me. I turned with shock.
“Me?” I asked stupidly.
“Yes, you,” he said smiling now. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“You never told me your name,” he said.
“You never asked,” I responded and again turned to walk away. I was sure he would thank me the next day at school for leaving him alone with Ivy.
“I’m Rueben,” he yelled to me as I walked away, “Rueben Massie!”
I turned back to him and gave him my best ‘I don’t care’ look. But I did watch as he left the store, and Ivy was left standing there alone.
After finishing our shopping trip, on the ride home Ivy still scowled. She wasn’t used to not being the center of attention. I tried to hide my smile. If I let her know how much I enjoyed my exchange with Rueben Massie, it was sure to be trouble later. In reality, I liked the fact that he left her standing there. I laughed out loud despite myself.
“What’s so funny?” demanded Bella.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. Ivy shot me a dark look.
“Did you find your cakes?” she smiled smugly. For the remainder of the ride home and most of the way through dinner I had to endure Bella’s spew about flabby thighs.
Later, in my room, I looked critically at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Dark shadows haunted my eyes, giving away the fact that I stressed too much and slept too little. My cheeks were pale white, but not the fairy princess shade. I pinched them tightly in an effort to give them color. It always seemed to work in books, but now all I had achieved was bright red splotches to match the dark circles. “At least I am thin,” I whispered. I laughed softly at my foolishness. I had never cared before what I looked like. I knew I was a pale contrast to Ivy, and so I had given up on my looks.
I squared my shoulders. “Rueben Massie has no affect on me,” I told my reflection firmly. “None.” I would have been scared half to death if my reflection had answered but I still stared stupidly at the girl in the mirror, daring her to contradict me. I rolled my eyes and turned the water on. I splashed my face and reached blindly for the towel I had hung on the doorknob.
“Here ya go.”
I jumped and gasped at the sound of Ivy’s voice. “What are you doing in here?” I demanded angrily.
She pursed her pretty lips. “You thought he was cute, huh?” she asked.
“Who?” I turned away. Of course I knew who.
“Hmm,” she murmured. “That answers that.” She didn’t turn to leave. “I think it’s cute, really,” she said, trying to butt me out of the tiny bathroom.
I didn’t need to ask. “I am not finished,” I told her. I put my hand on the doorjamb stubbornly.
“I bet he has a girlfriend.”
“So?” I was not going to give her any ammo.
She stood there smiling at me from the hallway. “You almost done?”
I sighed. She wouldn’t leave me alone anyways. “Yeah,” I mumbled as I brushed past her.
“Sleep tight, Sis,” she taunted. I didn’t respond.
I had a hard time falling asleep that night. I wondered if he did have a girlfriend. Then, in the next moment I was angrily telling myself that it didn’t matter anyways. I had enough to worry about with moving to a new town without the added unease of Rueben Massie and his relationship status.
Chapter Two
Grover High
Schools everywhere were basically the same. Ivy had told me that this morning when we pulled into the parking lot, but now it came crashing down on me as I entered the office to sign in. The morning so far had passed awkwardly with blatant stares and nervous hellos. The school was small, the student body only being about 300. The junior class I was joining had 76 members. Ivy had on a dangerously short skirt with a tight fitting white shirt. No wonder the boys like her, I thought bitterly. I had decided on wearing jeans and a tee shirt. I questioned my choice all the way to school. Once we got there, though, I was glad for it. Everyone was basically wearing the same thing I was. Ivy was delighted at the prospect of standing out and I was delighted at the thought that I could blend right in. I just hoped that no one would realize we were sisters.
We separated as soon as we got out of the car. I didn’t even turn around to make sure she was ok, I knew she would be. I was surprised when I heard my name called just inside the front door. “Hey Willow,” came the shout. I turned and my breath caught somewhere between my stomach and my throat. It was Rueben Massie.
“How did you know my name?” I asked when he caught up to me.
“Small town.” He smiled widely to reveal white, even teeth.
“Oh.” I half smiled and tucked a stray hair behind my ear; I always did that when I got nervous. I looked at the floor, and the walls, and the door behind him - anywhere but actually at him. “So,” I began.
“What’s your first class?” he asked hurriedly before I could dismiss him.
We had come the Friday before and registered. They had given us our schedules then, but I consulted it now, even though I had it memorized. “English,” I told him.
“Cool! Me too. Come on, I’ll walk you to class,” he said as he began to steer me through the crowd.
“Thanks.” I smiled at him in gratitude and he smiled back. He was a good-looking boy, I decided. He had a full head of unruly blonde hair. I figured that he must have messed it up on purpose. His blue eyes twinkled at me in amusement. I grew self-conscious under his stare and found myself wishing he would run into something just so he would look away.
“You are really pretty,” he finally said. I didn’t even look at him, but I felt my eyes widen in surprise.
“What?” I asked, still looking away.
“Well, I just mean,” he laughed a little.
I finally gathered enough courage to look at him. At least he was blushing. I rationalized his sanity to myself thinking that I was pretty to most people. I had lived in Ivy and Bella’s shadow for so long that I couldn’t think of myself as pretty. But to others, I might be. I laughed softly. “Ok,” I said.
He beamed down at me. I had to admit that he appealed to me a lot more yesterday when he was ignoring Ivy. I looked away again so as not to encourage him too much. “Well, here we are,” he said, pointing his elbow towards a door.
“Aren’t you coming?” I asked in surprise when he didn’t follow.
He stammered and looked at his feet. “I don’t actually have this class,” he admitted sheepishly.
“Ok
,” I said again. I turned and entered the classroom alone. Seconds later, my ears burned bright red when Mrs. Retting introduced me to the whole class as Ivy Bennett from Michigan. “I am actually Willow Bennett,” I told her.
“Oh!” She appeared startled and looked down at her notes. “Yes, of course you are, dear. Yes,” she repeated for emphasis. “Class,” she said turning me to the room, “this is Willow Bennett from Michigan.” She smiled at me proudly. I managed a small smile back to her before I shuffled to the first empty seat.
“Willow? Like the tree?” I heard a whisper behind me and whispered giggles. I groaned inwardly.
By second period my stomach had finally quit churning from embarrassment. I sat quietly in the back of the room. Chemistry had to be the worst subject ever. At least Mr. Payne had not made any embarrassing introductions. He probably assumed I had met everyone already. I set my lips in a straight line and kept my head down. I just hoped that no one approached me. I wasn’t prepared with a fake smile or some happy words.
Unlike Ivy, all I wanted to do was fit in. I wanted it so desperately. I knew I never would, so the most I could hope for was to become invisible. It was always hard for the first few days, until everyone realized I wasn’t very people friendly. I tried, because I always thought it would be different at every school. Really, it was always the same. It was easier for me to be ignored than to open myself for ridicule. I sighed and for a horrible moment I thought I was going to cry. I shook myself out of my Eeyore-like glum moment immediately. I reminded myself in a no nonsense way that I was not human and therefore I didn’t have to adhere to their standards.
Once the teacher got the class under control I took stock of this new student body. Jock. Cheerleader. Nerd. Brains. Art-freak. Burn-out. Skater. Yeah … typical.
I gave my best haughty glare when a brown haired girl with bright green eyes looked my way. Green eyes darted quickly away. I sighed, not for the first time that day, and looked back down at my desk. I didn’t bother to open the book. Pass or fail, what did it matter to me?