Howl

Rookie Werewolf

I was restless that night. There was this constant feeling of being watched and it was driving me insane. I've lost count how many times I got up to make sure my windows were locked and my curtains closed tightly. And the whole time I was thinking about Scott. Since he was bitten by what he claimed was a wolf, he was transformed into someone who could suddenly play lacrosse like a professional. Plus he claimed to be able to hear and smell things that should be impossible to hear and smell.

Around midnight I gave up on sleeping. I pulled my laptop on my lap and began researching everything they had on wolf bites. And believe it or not, most of the sites took me to werewolf lore. The more I read, the more I began to wonder if the stories and fairytales were really make-believe. Scott had all the symptoms; super reflexes, enhanced hearing and smell, enhanced speed and agility... there were more, but those were the few Scott mentioned. And after reading through every new piece of information, the nagging feeling at the pit of my stomach worsened. A day ago I would've thought it was crazy, and even now, admitting it out loud would make me feel downright stupid. But could it be? Could Scott be a werewolf?

It turned out that I wasn't the only one up all night doing research. I had to wake Stiles the next morning after he slept through his alarm. His room was a mess. The floor was scattered with books and papers, and after picking some up to reach his bed, I discovered each and every one of them contained something on werewolves and supernatural creatures. That was also the main reason why I was running after my brother towards the lacrosse field to find Scott. The other reason being that Dad found out what had killed that girl in the forest.

"Scott!" Stiles called out to our friend as he was getting ready to run up the field, "Scott, wait up!"

Our 'werewolf' friend paused and turned to us in annoyance, "Riley, Stiles, I'm playing first elimination. Can it wait?"

"Just hold on, okay?" I waved him off, "This is important. We overheard our dad on the phone. The fibre analysis came back from the lab in L.A. They found animal hairs on the body from the woods."

Scott sighed impatiently, "Riles, I gotta go."

I grabbed his arm before he could run off, "Wait, no! You're not going to believe what the animal was."

"Let's go! Gather around!" Coach called from the field. Scott broke free of my grip and jogged towards the group of players, not even looking back.

"It was a wolf." I sighed in defeat.

I joined Stiles on the bench to watch Scott play. This time Coach put him in the field to see how he fared there. That was a whole lot different than playing goalie, and again I felt my nerves kicking in for Scott's part. Stiles was chewing on his glove again, while I could only ball my hands in fists and dig my nails into my palms.

The whistle blew and the game started. It was barely three seconds before Scott was rammed into the ground by none other but Jackson, who was probably out for revenge because Scott managed to hand him his ass the previous day.

"Walk it off, Scott!" I cheered him on, but not as enthusiastically as before. I was beyond nervous for what he might do if he got angry - if he was a werewolf, that is.

Scott was back on his feet and was going against Jackson head-on. When the whistle blew that time, Scott was quick to snatch up the ball and made a run with it. He sidestepped every opponent player on his way to the goal. But three were waiting for him at the end. I held my breath, seeing no way through them for our friend. But then Scott did the most unexpected thing. He picked up his pace and jumped, did a flip right over the players, and landed on the other side to score his goal.

For that short moment, I completely forgot about his werewolf crisis and jumped to my feet, "Hell yes! Go, Scott!" Stiles let out a 'whoop' next to me, and the rest of the team could only stand and watch dumbfounded.