Once in a Full Moon Page 0,40

Brandon's desk was empty.

"Where have you been?" Ivy questioned me in the tone my mother usually takes. "Your clothes. Green shirt and orange sweater? You look like a pumpkin," she teased.

"Oh, this?" I asked, just now noticing my mismatched outfit. "I overslept."

"Well, I guess your fingerless-gloved friend did, too," she said. "Anything I should know about?"

For a moment I thought Ivy knew about last night. I shot her a look of horror.

"I'm just kidding," she said.

I was relieved, but only slightly. Brandon hadn't shown up for class. Since he attended Legend's Run High he'd never missed a day. I wondered what was keeping him away.

"You skipped the end of last night's game, too," she whispered. "Nash has been looking everywhere for you. He wants to make up."

For the entire period, my attention drifted to the closed classroom door. With each passing minute, it never opened. Where was Brandon? Was he still in the woods, at a hospital, or just home with the flu?

"So, where did you run off to so quickly last night?" Ivy interrogated me when she caught me staring vacantly at my locker. "Your lunch is here," she said, grabbing the sack off the top shelf. "What's with you? You are so not yourself."

"I had to do something at home," I said, shutting my locker. The two of us headed for the cafeteria.

"It couldn't wait?"

"Ivy," I began. I hadn't had a chance to talk to her privately since we'd arrived at school, and I wanted to tell her before the guys and Abby joined us. "Something happened last night," I confessed.

"Again? Did you encounter another wolf?"

"Yes, how did you know?" I was almost grateful that she might actually understand my strange predicament.

"Are you serious? I was just joking!"

"Oh," I said, deflated. "Well, truthfully, I think I did."

We reached the entrance to the cafeteria.

"Celeste. That's it. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Where were you? In your car?"

"No."

"In the woods again?" she asked, almost frustrated as we took our seats at our usual table.

"Well..."

Just then Abby arrived at the lunchroom with Dylan, Jake, and Nash.

Nash hung back, making it clear he wasn't along for the fun of it. He was as icy as Brandon's skating pond.

"I didn't see you in the stands last night," he said, taking a place at the opposite end of the table.

"I know. I had to leave," I said with indifference.

"So if you don't think it's important to stay at my games, how are we going to get back together?" he challenged.

It was our typical fight - he wanted me in the stands cheering him on at his practices and games. But there wasn't more to our relationship. We didn't have the same interests, and his always won out. It wasn't like he ever came to the nursing home and volunteered with me.

At the moment I had bigger issues to deal with than a grumpy ex-boyfriend. "I - don't feel like talking about that again," I began.

"You should be kind to her." Ivy butted in. "She just ran into another wolf."

"A wolf?" Fear shot through his eyes. "Maybe if you stayed at the game the whole time," he said, "then you wouldn't be running into wild animals."

I was encountering wild animals, all right. I just wasn't sure how it had happened.

Beware of a kiss under the full moon. It will change your life forever. Dr. Meadows's words echoed in my mind. Not only had that moonlight kiss possibly transformed Brandon, but it had definitely transformed me. I wasn't adhering to my usual schedule, nor was I centered on studying, homework, and my friends. I wanted to know more about Brandon, where he was, and, most important, if what I saw last night was real.

But I wasn't getting any answers. Only heartache.

The moon looked full again tonight. Mr. Worthington was right. I jotted this revelation in the back of my notebook and began keeping a log of what I'd just experienced. The full moon. Brandon's bizarre behavior, his physical change, and how afterward I was riveted by this suddenly tormented soul.

The following two days Brandon wasn't at school. On the third day, when he didn't show for English class again, I was really starting to panic. I couldn't focus on our lesson, and when Mrs. Clark called on me, I was in another world. I really didn't know what was going on with Brandon or what to think. I hoped he wasn't sick. Then I feared he might have moved