The Childe (26 page)

“Okay class, let’s get started.” Miss Amaya smiled broadly at the faces before her. “Today we’re going to talk about full moons and the winter solstice.” Pulling down a large map of the world, she continued, “as you all know the northern hemisphere is everything above the equator, and the southern hemisphere is everything below. What you might not know though, is that during this month of December, on the 21
^st
, an event occurs which is named the Winter Solstice. This is when the sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest distance from the northern hemisphere.” Scanning the classroom she noticed the confused looks on many of the student’s faces. “That means, it causes our nights to be longer and days to be shorter.” A resounding “Ohhhh”, filled the room. She smiled, gathering her thoughts and realizing that everyone was enthralled with her words. “Now, in the southern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice starts on June 21
^st
. Whether it’s December or June, the 21
^st
is the longest night and shortest day of the year. In many cultures there are festivals which celebrate this event.”

Rolling the world map back up, she pulled down a large picture of the moon. “I also want to touch on full moons, specifically the names of the December and January ones. The rest are in your book if you’d like to read about them later. Now, December’s moon is known as the Full Cold Moon,” she said pointing at the picture of the moon. “Again, this moon ties into the Winter Solstice because its name describes the period of long, cold and dark nights. Now January’s moon is a special one. It’s known as the Wolf Moon. According to Native American folklore, during this moon, in the cold deep snows of midwinter, packs of wolves would howl hungrily near their villages. And, it is said that under this moon, the wolves were to be more ravenous and vicious than usual. Almost as if acting on their most primitive instincts to hunt and eat, hence the name Wolf Moon. There is also a well-known urban legend regarding this moon and humans who carry the wolf gene. As the legend goes, these beings are forced to change into their wolf form during this full moon only. And it’s interesting to note that transforming at any other time is actually their choice.”

A hand shot up. “Miss Amaya, do you mean werewolves?”

“Yes Candace, I do mean werewolves.” A howl went up from the back of the class. “Bobby Thompson that will be enough,” Miss Amaya said grinning widely. Laughter echoed throughout the room. Cat thought about all the werewolf movies she had ever seen.
They all made it seem werewolves were forced to change every month during the full moon. I guess they didn’t read up on the Native American’s knowledge on the subject
.

“Now, speaking of werewolves, how many of
you
actually believe they exist?” Miss Amaya queried. The whole class looked around at each other waiting for someone to raise their hand first. A couple of hands slowly raised into the air. “Very interesting, so we have a lot of skeptics huh?” she said rubbing her chin and scanning the classroom. “Well, please allow me to continue to enlighten you. As you all might know werewolves are half man and half wolf. And in a transformed state, a werewolf has super human strength. And though they stand on their hind legs, they are much faster when running on all fours, like wolves normally do. I bet you didn’t know that the amount of force a werewolf can put into a single bite is a little more than 2,000 pounds per square inch,” Miss Amaya explained and then clapped her hands together like jaws snapping shut, startling the whole class. “Catherine, do you have a question?” she asked noticing Cat’s hand in the air.

“Miss Amaya, do you really believe werewolves exist?”

“Well like I always say, even though I’ve never seen it, don’t mean it isn’t so,” she said winking at Cat.

“Honey, could you grab us a shopping cart?” Rachel asked moving ahead of Cat into the grocery store. The cart made a squeaking noise as Cat pushed it forward.

“Why do I always get the one with a bum wheel?” she groaned. Looking to her right, Cat noticed a huge bulletin board plastered with flyers with the word ‘Missing’, boldly written at the top of each. Below it, hung a grainy picture of a young girl. The message underneath mentioned she was a junior from Pike county who went missing the week before. She was last seen walking home from school and the police had no leads in the case. Her parents were offering a reward for anyone with information, listing several numbers to call. “Mom, look at this! A girl went missing!” Rachel had walked ahead of Cat into the produce section. Upon hearing her request she came back to stand beside her.

“Yeah, we discussed it at our last group meeting. I really do feel for her parents. I can’t imagine what they’re going through. I’m so glad that you’re always surrounded by your friends Cat. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, sweetie. Now, let’s get back to shopping. Dad and Taylor will beat us home with the Christmas tree if we dawdle.” Cat pushed the cart, following her mom, thinking about the missing girl and what could’ve happened to her.

Monday morning arrived with a fresh layer of snow. Coming out of her house, Cat was hit by a snowball. Sputtering and shaking snow out of her hair, she turned and saw Matt gathering up more. Flinging her messenger bag to the ground, Cat crouched behind Taylor’s car scooping snow up as she went. She peeked around the car and spied Matt trying to hide behind a bush. Cat knew this was the perfect place to hide. Matt wouldn’t dare throw anything near Taylor’s baby, unless he wanted to die a slow, horrible, and miserable death.

“Hey Cat, that’s not fair! Hiding behind your brother’s car! Ow!” he shouted as a snowball hit him in the back of the head. He turned and saw Amanda, looking like an Eskimo, grinning and picking up more snow. “Ow!” He turned again as Cat’s snowball hit the back of his neck, sending snow down his shirt.

“That’ll teach you Matthew Ian Thomas, to mess around with us women,” Amanda shouted triumphantly.

“You guys just wait! I’ll get you back!” he replied.

“Let’s go guys, got to get to work,” Aurora hollered, honking the van’s horn, motioning at them to get in. By the time the three reached the van, Julie and Elle came flying across the street toward them. “Sorry guys the heater is not working. Bernie has to take a look at it when he gets back in town. Good thing you’re all dressed warmly,” Aurora chuckled, pulling away from the curb.

Arriving at school, with minutes to spare before the first bell, Cat waved goodbye to her friends and ran down the hallway.

“Ms. Colvin, stop running this instant!” There was no mistaking the hate filled voice of Mr. Crawley.

“You miserable old fart,” she said under her breath as she continued walking briskly down the hall.

Morning announcements came over the PA system as Cat took her seat. “Students, I know this is the last week of school until break, but that doesn’t mean this is free time. I expect you to be on your best behavior. And I want no trouble for the remainder of the semester. Oh, also you’ll notice we’re posting up flyers around the campus regarding the local girl who went missing.” Principal Landers’ voice came through loud and clear. “I know it happened miles away, but I want you all to be aware and be careful in your daily travels. We’re suggesting you travel in pairs at all times. That is all. Happy studying!”

Cat turned to Hannah shaking her head, “Scary huh?”

Hannah’s eyes were big. “Yeah, it is,” she replied.

Wednesday afternoon was Cat’s last tutoring session before the holidays. Mr. Crawley, or Mr. Scrooge as he was currently being called, deemed that Thursday and Friday would be test days. Both tests were rumored to last the whole period and he reminded his class that they would not be easy. Like any of his students needed a reminder of that.

He’s late again!
Cat thought to herself, sitting alone in the library.
It’s like he doesn’t want to come anymore! Did I do something? Ugh! Boys are so frustrating!
Thumbing through her math book, she tried to figure out that day’s lesson, but was unable to concentrate. She was nervous about tonight’s session. Ryan had been really stand-offish the past few weeks and he hadn’t even mentioned the regional swim meet. She had asked him time after time if he wanted her to find another tutor. She was met every time with a resounding
“NO!”

The slam of a back pack on the table startled her. “Sorry Cat, I was late for practice this morning. Coach made me run laps after school,” Ryan said hoping she wouldn’t see through his lie.

“Hello Mr. Beckford. Ready to face the challenge once again of trying to help me absorb this horrid subject?” Cat asked forcing a laugh trying not to show her true emotion.

“Yeah, let’s get started. Hey I have something to do later. So do you mind if we make this quick?” he asked nonchalantly taking out his notebook.

Jealousy bubbled up inside her as she wondered what he had to do later.
I wonder who his hot date is!
“Yeah I have something to do later too,” she stated groaning to herself and thinking,
yeah and that something is studying.

What is she doing later? And who is she doing it with?
Ryan wondered, getting flustered as he thought about the possibility of her going out with another guy.

“Ryan?” Cat’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Page 205. That was today’s lesson. Let’s start there, okay,” she said coldly, pointing to the page in her book.

“Right, let’s get to it,” he replied, equally as cold.

Later that evening Cat laid propped up in bed, her unopened math book in front of her. She finally felt warm after the cold study session with Ryan. She had quickly made her exit minutes before their time was up. She was thankful Taylor was waiting for her in the parking lot.
Did I even say goodbye to him?
She wondered but couldn’t remember.
Who cares, he’s too busy thinking about his hot date to pay attention to me anyway.

Her room, which was usually a source of comfort, was now only a painful reminder of her and Ryan’s first study session together. He said he loved her colorful floor cushions that were scattered around the room and raved about her large TV and stereo system. He even made mention of her antique wooden Victorian desk that housed her laptop. She blushed as she thought back to both of them sitting close on her large wooden sleigh bed, her math book being shared between their knees. He called the view from her widow’s walk spectacular and could easily see why she spent many hours on it watching the world go by. “Cat get a grip! You need to study!” she said out loud while opening her math book.

Across town, Ryan stood in his darkened bedroom watching the snow flurries gracefully drift and pile up on his window sill. He looked down at the wrapped gift in his hand. Peeling back the piece of wrapping paper he had folded and taped to it, he sighed. The paper read:

To: Cat
From: Ryan
Merry Christmas!

“You fool Ryan! You should’ve just given her the gift! Why did you have to lie to her about having something to do tonight! You’re so stubborn!” he argued with himself. In some ways Ryan was avoiding her. She seemed hurt by his attitude lately, but he had to do it. He refused to cause more problems for her. This was the only thing he could do to keep his group at bay. Normally he wouldn’t care about what Isaac and the others thought, but he didn’t want them hurting her. If only she knew his true feelings. If only she knew how hard it was for him to rein in his emotions every time she was around. He had never felt this way about anyone or anything before. He missed her, but to protect her he kept his distance, no matter how difficult it was.