Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(56)

Katherine immediately snorted – equal parts amused and shocked. Once she recovered from the surprising comment, however, she pulled her arm out of the girl’s vice grip. “How do you know where my first class is? I haven’t even shown you my schedule.”

Melanie’s eyebrows inched upward. “I know because your schedule is the same as mine. All sixteen years olds have the same one. It makes sense since there’s little more than twenty of us.”

“Oh,” Katherine said faintly.

And she’d thought Middletown High was a small school.

Melanie reclaimed Katherine’s elbow and ignoring the strange looks they were getting from their peers, led her down two hallways to Room 112.

“History’s not too bad,” the girl assured her as they entered the tiny classroom that was packed with books. “Mostly Mr. Sinclair just likes to rant. As long as you look like you’re actually paying attention and nod when he starts getting especially loud, you should be alright.”

That sounded somewhat ominous.

Before Melanie could impart any more advice, however, the bell rang – its loud bbrriinngg causing Katherine to jump – and the skinny girl pulled her towards one of the desks in the back of the room and sat next to her.

Apparently, there were no assigned seats. That, at least, Katherine could appreciate about this school.

She sat tensely as she watched teenagers that she knew to be her age – even if most of them were much bigger and taller than she was – enter the room. A few didn’t seem to notice her, but most immediately spotted the new face in their mist. Of those that noticed her, some immediately dismissed her. Others let their eyes linger over her form with curiosity.

Fabulous.

Katherine felt as if she had the words fresh meat markered on her forehead. Uncomfortable with all the scrutiny, she ducked her head and used her curtain of hair to hide as best as she could. Not before she saw a particularly tall girl with long platinum blonde hair sneer at her though.

For a brief second, Katherine could have sworn it was Mallory Flanders. The girl’s eyes were too blue, though and her cheekbones, too sharp.

It was a crazy thing to think anyway.

Before she could dwell on it further, Mr. Sinclair plodded into the room. Like everybody else she’d encountered thus far in Haven Falls – with the exception of Melanie – he was tall. He wore a plaid shirt with its sleeves rolled up, exposing his hair-covered forearms. “Hey guys,” he greeted amiably enough before searching the sea – okay, more like a puddle – of faces before him. As soon as he spotted her, he grinned. “Ah, Katherine is it? Why don’t you come up here and introduce yourself to the class.”

Katherine glared at Melanie, who shrugged. She had failed to mention that Mr. Sinclair was sadistic.

Hoping to get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible, Katherine reluctantly made her way to the front of the classroom. “Hi,” she greeted the room with a sad little wave, “my name’s Katherine.” Having no idea what else to say, she just sort of stood there awkwardly.

Mr. Sinclair, obviously not appeased by the lackluster introduction, began asking questions. “And where are you from, Katherine?”

“Iowa.”

“Oh, and what’s Iowa like? That’s in the states, right?”

“Yes, and it’s dull,” Katherine answered monotonously, knowing she wasn’t making this easy for Mr. Sinclair, but not particularly caring either. She had no interest in sharing her life story.

“Come now! I’m sure it’s more interesting than you’re letting on. What’d you do for fun there?”

She didn’t want to think, let alone talk about Iowa. If she did, she knew an avalanche of depressing thoughts and emotions would overwhelm her. So instead of politely answering the man, Katherine crossed her arms and remained stubbornly silent.

Flustered by her lack of response, Mr. Sinclair began to fidget. “Er, okay,” he stammered. “Why don’t you grab a textbook from the shelf in the back – it’s the green one entitled The Effects of History on Modern Day Werewolves – and grab a seat.”

Refusing to meet anyone’s eyes, she did as she was told and sat back down in her seat next to Melanie. The girl looked like she was holding back snickers at the disastrous introduction. Katherine couldn’t blame her. The look on Mr. Sinclair’s face when he realized she wasn’t going to answer his questions had been pretty funny.

The rest of history class passed quickly. Melanie was right about Mr. Sinclair and his propensity to rant, but he seemed harmless enough. Algebra went by in a similar fashion – without, thank God, Katherine having to make another embarrassing introduction.

During Free Study, Melanie introduced Katherine to her circle of friends. There were Mack and Jonathan, who like herself and she assumed Melanie, were both changed wolves. They were the two shortest boys in their year. There was also Leander, a skinny boy with shaggy auburn hair. And Agnes. Agnes was a bit… blunt. Katherine supposed that was the polite word to use. Melanie explained that everyone in Agnes’s pack acted in a similar fashion. It was the only pack in Haven Falls that was strictly female. Even the alpha. Apparently, female alphas were rare and positively disgraceful in the eyes of the community and Agnes was essentially shunned by most of the other werewolves at the school.

Katherine, na?ve as she was about the culture of werewolves, simply couldn’t process what was so outrageous about having a female alpha.