Phoenix

Chapter 17

Phoenix's POV

My eyes snapped open as soon as a high pitched alarm started to go off, waking me out of my light sleep. I groaned in annoyance once I realized I wasn't in any danger and that the alarm had just my alarm clock shrieking at me to wake up and start a new day. Not that I wanted to after yesterday. Monday had felt like several days flew by in one. My sense of time is awful.

I yawned and dragged my tired butt out of my bed and made my way to my bathroom to start to get ready for the day, despite my body screaming at me to stop and go back to bed. My bones ached and my skin cried every time I touched a cold surface in the bathroom as I got ready. I glanced up at the mirror and my eyes looked darker than usual, even my blue iris seemed to be almost a navy blue compared to its usual sky blue. The bags under my eyes were dark and heavy, they always looked like that in the morning.

I should probably start sleeping more, I thought to myself as I stepped into the shower.

Once I was out I brushed through my blondish hair that was no longer thrown all over the place from my sleep. Whenever my hair was shorter I wouldn't even worry about brushing it, I would just wet down any strands that decided to defy gravity. Now that my hair is longer, it's a little harder to be lazy about it. It has to be washed and brushed or else I look like some kind of troll under the bridge. My different eye color and bags didn't help with that either.

Now that I've showered, brushed my hair, gotten dressed and woken up a bit, I didn't look as bad. My hair was neatly placed on top of my head and I decided to wear a turtle neck sweater since it was cold outside and a few bruises from my "meeting" with Blythe and his friends had started to peek up my neck. The ones on my ribs and chest had started to turn a nasty yellow color and I shuddered at the look of them in the mirror before covering them back up.

My stomach growled loudly and snapped my attention away from my reflection ad down at my impatient and hungry stomach. Dinner at Jackson's had been so awkward that I really didn't eat much and after that, it had been so chaotic I had forgotten about it.

I grabbed my shoes on my way out of my room and headed downstairs to the kitchen to grab something to eat before the bus showed up. I looked around the house, searching for my mother. I didn't see her, but I noticed that the entire living room had been rearranged. The couch that was once in the middle of the room beside a matching recliner that was made out of the same brown leather was now up against the wall wear the T.V. had previously been. The recliner was on the wall beside in and the T.V. was placed against the wall opposite the couch. The rug had completely disappeared and a round coffee table replaced it.

She must have been up late re-organizing the house. My mother tends to do that whenever she stressed about something. Well, typically she would just move us to another house, in another state, but if we couldn't move at the time she would just rearrange everything so it was different. I think it's an odd habit, but if it works to calm her down, then it works. It's better than moving, that's for sure.

I walked into the kitchen and opened the cabinet that held all my favorite snacks in it. Only, none of those snacks were no longer in there, instead, it was filled with a bunch of random cooking items. I sighed to myself. Right, my mother had been organizing things last night, meaning she moved everything in the kitchen around as well. I closed the cabinet and began my search through the rest of them for my snacks or even something I could grab for breakfast.

Every cabinet. I had been through every single one and not a single snack, granola bar, or even cereal had been found. I sighed heavily as I finished searching the pantry, too. Where could they all have gone? Surely my mom hadn't thrown them away or ate them all? I guess I could go ask.

Just as I started to head up the stairs to my mom's room, a loud horn honked at me from outside.

Shoot! I yelled in my mind out loud so I wouldn't wake my mother if she was sleeping. I grabbed my bag and ran out the door as fast as I could. Which, to be honest, wasn't that fast. Running wasn't my strong suit, that's for sure.

I hurriedly mad my way to the bus and walked onto the first step as soon as the bus doors open. I'm kind of surprised that the driver even opened them. He scowled at me as soon as he saw my face. I apologized for what felt like the millionth time to the driver, but he didn't care. The driver pointed towards the seats behind him and I quickly went to find an empty seat. That wasn't too hard since hardly kids had been picked up yet. I felt kind of bad, I never showed up to the bus on time. Except my first day, but after that, never again. I wonder if it's because, subconsciously, I don't want to go to school. I could handle the work, even if I don't like it or understand it that well. Just being there put my entire mood off. I could tell that nobody wanted to be around me or have anything to do with me, it makes me depressed. I've always wanted to have a connection with someone, but no one has ever wanted that with me. They either ignore my existence or hate on it.

Blythe really hates me for some reason, but I can't blame him. No one has ever liked me. Well, not until recently anyway... Or at least, I think, I hope Jackson likes me. Sometimes, though, I think Jackson might be trying to get close to me for an ulterior motive. It could just be me because of my experience with people, but I really hope he just genuinely wants to be friends and not what I think. I hate being so suspicious of him since he's been so nice, but what would you think if all of a sudden a new, hot guy showed interest in unlike everyone else in your life? But maybe that's just my life.

I stared out the window and my eyes lit up whenever I saw Jackson's house. I shook my head at myself and tried to calm my heart that started to pick up its pace at the thought of seeing another being beside my mom that didn't hate me, despite my suspicious thoughts on him.

The bus stopped and waited. I watched out the window, expecting Jackson to appear into view at any moment. We continued to wait and after a few more moments, the bus shifted into gear again, ready to leave. My heart sank a little. He wasn't coming. That made me think of last night, he was really upset and went through a lot. He probably wasn't going to school today. If I could, I probably would have stayed home myself. But the thought of being left at home with my mother nagging me all day didn't sound appealing and I wanted to see Jackson.

I guess that won't happen, though. I sighed and looked out the window one last time before the bus started to drive off. Jackson's figure came into view and the bus stopped again as Jackson approached the bus, not in any attempt to hurry. He took his dear sweet time as he walked onto the bus, the driver said something about him being late, but he ignored it and kept on walking deeper into the bus. Only stopping whenever he was standing right beside the seat I was sitting in before sitting himself down beside me.

"Are you okay?" I asked and winced at how awkward it sounded. He clearly didn't look okay. He looked irritated and tired. His eyes snapped towards mine, I shrunk down in the corner between the seat and the wall, half expecting him to make a snappy comment or question my stupid question. But he never did.

Jackson let out a small sigh instead and ran his fingers through his wavy brown hair. "Yeah, sorry if I seem annoyed. I am, but not at you. My grandpa is just irritating."

I nodded a bit, listening to him, but not really too sure what to say. I didn't know how to make him feel better and I don't know anything about his grandfather to agree or disagree, other than what I had seen last night, but I don't think it's any of my business to put my input in.

"Anyway, I don't want to think about that anymore. I didn't last night either so I decided to do some research." He said and I tilted my head in response, no longer retreating into the corner of the seat as I looked into his blue eyes.

"Research? On what? I thought we finished our homework last night," I responded and he nodded his head in response to that.

"We did, but I wanted to do some digging on you. You don't seem to know too much about yourself so I decided to try and do some research on my own to try to find out anything your kind," He said and I stared at him, horrified. One that he had tried to doing research on me to find out more. I guess it's normal to be curious, but a part of me was still scared by it. What if he found something awful and not true and lumped me up with that? Second, he was talking about so freely in front of other people with so many around and so close by.

"Um... Shouldn't we talk about this at a better time?" I asked, glancing around nervously to people in nearby seats, wondering if they heard anything or if they got suspicious about what Jackson had said. Luckily, no one seemed to be paying attention.

"Right, yeah, good idea. Want to come over-" He stopped himself mid-question and coughed a little before speaking again. "Actually, I should probably come over to your place. I forgot your mom is overbearing and doesn't want you over anymore. Not that I blame her after we saw those wolves, but still. Well, that and the fact that I'm mad at my grandparents right now. It'll probably be awkward if I tried to bring you over."

I nodded in agreement. I didn't mind his place, but my mother did just tell me that I wasn't allowed anywhere else besides home and school. It was also extremely uncomfortable being around Jackson and his grandparents. They didn't seem to get along very well.

The bus started to slow down and I looked out the window to see the school coming into to view. I mentally flinched at the thought of what was going to happen as soon as I got off the bus. I already knew, but I wasn't prepared for it.

My body had become increasingly sore over the past week, more than it has the past few months.

"Why do you look so tense?" Jackson asked from beside me, leaning in closer to look out the window just as I was. Searching for what my eyes were staring at.

"Just a little wary is all," I said, which wasn't a lie, but it was more than a little. "Yesterday scared me a bit more than I'd like to admit."

Jackson chuckled. "I will say those wolves scared the f**k out of me, but I don't think they'll come looking for us at school. Don't worry about it." He said, trying to reassure me, but it wasn't the wolves I was afraid of. Maybe a little because they did attack us, but to be honest, I am more afraid of Blythe. It probably isn't rational that I'm afraid of a human more than a wild beast. I am, though. Blythe knew me, knew where I would be. I shuddered and tried to push down the lump that had formed in my throat as the bus came to a halt and everyone began to flood off the bus.

"Don't worry about it," I repeated as I followed Jackson off of the bus and into the cold fall air. I shivered, immediately missing the warmth and wishing it was summer. Stupid cold.

"Brr, it's colder than I realized this morning. I should have brought a jacket," Jackson said and my attention turned towards him. I can't believe I just noticed he wasn't wearing a jacket. Is he insane!? It's freezing out here!

Well, maybe not freezing considering it only fall and it gets a lot colder in the winter, but it's still cold.

"Are you insane? It's freezing out here, go inside, you might catch a cold," I told him, genuinely worried. He laughed a bit and grinned at me.

"First of all, it's not that cold, if it was snowing, okay. Second of all, you're not one to talk after you were in the rain-soaked to the bone yesterday," He said and playfully narrowed his eyes at me. At least it seemed playful compared to the usual glares I get.

I pouted at him. I couldn't argue, he was right, I was out in the cold for a very long time yesterday and I was soaking wet. Both of those could have gotten me sick. Not that I had much of a choice since I had to meet-. I have to meet Blythe.

"You're right, but at the same time, I'm different than you. I can warm myself up unlike you," I said, trying to add a little playfulness to my tone. I don't know how well it worked considering I was also starting to shake since I was scared, remembering what I had to go do.

"Mhm, and you're standing there as you say that, shaking from the cold." Ah, I'm glad he thinks it's from the weather.

I shrugged, "I have something I need to do, I'll meet you inside."

I turned and started to walk away, leaving Jackson where he was. "Phoenix." Until I heard him say my name. I stopped and looked back at him, prepared for him to try to stop me or ask where I was going. His blue eyes looked at me with concern as his eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Be careful."

With that, Jackson walked away. Be careful. How could I be careful? I'm walking into a lions den practically. And if not, then I'll have a pack hunting me down. Which I didn't want either. Either way is a lose-lose for me.

I tried not to think too much about it as I walked around the back corner of the school. There he was. Blythe. This time, though, no one was behind him, standing in the background. His eyes burned right through me, crazed and angry. Don't get me wrong, he's usually angry, but this time was different. I couldn't put my finger on it. His amber eyes were now a dark almost brown color. He looked beyond pissed.

I shuddered as I slowly made my way over to him, keeping my eyes on the ground. I flinched when a hand suddenly grabbed my collar and slammed me up against the brick wall.

"How f*****g dare you! I knew your scent was off from day one you stepped into this hell hole! What the f**k are you doing on my territory?!" He roared in my face. I froze in fear, not understanding what he was talking about.

"I-I d-don't-"

"Don't play f*****g dumb with me! You and I both know the rules and yet you played me for a fool! I know what you are," He snarled at me and his eyes flashed... yellow. His eyes, Blythe's eyes just turned yellow. Okay, now I'm so scared I'm seeing things.

"Wh-what rules? I r-really don't kn-know-" I stammered again, but was cut short when my back was slammed against the wall again. I gasped for air and coughed.

"Shut up! I know you can fight, so do it! Quit being a coward and fight me or get out of my territory, now!" Blythe screamed at me, but I didn't know what to do. I was so confused, so lost, and so terrified. I was frozen and shaking in fear. I could feel warmth starting to grow in my palm, but I tried to hold back. I couldn't let my emotions get the better of me and use something I shouldn't. I've always been scared of Blythe, but this was different. He scared me so bad that I almost let my ability take over to protect me. He was angry about something I couldn't comprehend. I didn't know why or what he was talking about.

"Fine, you want to keep playing the dumb card? I don't play games Phoenix, but if you want to play, you got it," He said, grinning at me now. I began to shake and let out an involuntary whimper. His grin scared me more than his yelling. It was menacing and had an evil behind it like he was planning something awful. "If I ever see you in my woods again, I won't hesitate to tear you apart limb by limb. You're treading on very dangerous grounds, freak. You'll never be safe now."

Blythe threw me to the ground and his eyes flashed yellow again. I'm seeing things, I'm seeing things. I repeated to myself as I watched him disappear into the school.