Once in a Full Moon Page 0,67

but when I downloaded it, it was so fuzzy all you could see were trees. Here - look." He showed his friend his iPhone.

"There's nothing here," he said. "Seems you need to get glasses for your glasses."

"I saw something weird last night, too," the tech guy insisted as his friends entered the classroom. "I swear on my iPod. I saw fangs."

* * *

The next few days, the werewolf-spotting stories escalated. Everyone swore they'd had an encounter with some creature of the night, and I hadn't been able to even speak about it with Brandon. I knew he must be fraught with confusion. But the person closest to him and the situation was the one he was suddenly keeping away. He hadn't returned my calls lately, and I was worried.

Nash cornered me just as I opened the main door to exit the campus after a particularly nerve-racking day at school. "Have you seen the werewolf yet?" Nash asked.

"Not unless he's standing in front of me."

"Well, I don't believe it, either. How could anyone really see a werewolf? Besides, it's not even a full moon," he said.

"I know, that's what I thought," I said.

Nash raised an eyebrow at my serious tone but then shrugged it off.

"Although, who's to say..." he continued. "Maybe any moon can turn them. Wolves come out every night. Why wouldn't a werewolf? Why would he wait for only a full moon to claim his next victim?"

I shuddered at his suggestion. Wasn't it enough for Brandon to change under the full moon? Now we'd have to deal with all moons?

"I have to get home," I said. I was hoping to catch Brandon before he left so I could see how he was doing. And I missed him.

"I don't want you walking home, Celeste. Or anywhere, for that matter. I think it's best that you are always around someone. And I think that someone should be me." Nash didn't speak with his usual confidence but rather with a soft, genuine quality.

"Please, I insist," he said. "I'll drive you." He even took my backpack from me and started walking toward his car.

"I thought you hated wolves," I said.

"I do - but I'd hate for you to be involved with one even more."

I hesitated in the doorway. "Just as friends," I called after him.

"Just as friends," he confirmed.

It was hard, knowing Nash as long as I had, to completely sever all ties with him. And I had been so busy with Brandon, I hadn't had the chance to miss Nash's friendship.

Brandon's Jeep was already gone. I'd have to seek him out as soon as possible.

I decided to work on my research that evening. I checked my notes and my calendar. The moon was waning, still weeks away from being full again. I reviewed my observations on our romantic date with the wolves, the time I saw Brandon in the woods by the gymnasium, and watching him turn. I included these new werewolf sightings in my calendar.

Unfortunately, my efforts to make contact with Brandon weren't going well. Brandon wasn't returning my calls or texts. I felt so awful for him, truly isolated from me, the other students, and now from the town. I wouldn't even be able to get to Dr. Meadows, who I knew was desperate to meet Brandon. Everything was getting so out of hand. I felt the world was caving in on us.

"It has to be wolves," my dad said at dinner about the werewolf sightings. I was like my father - skeptical about anything unfamiliar or not scientifically proven. But now I knew that a werewolf did exist and that he was being spotted by the local community.

"People don't have anything better to do than gossip," my mom said, referring to the town's rumors.

"After those wolves showed up at your school," my dad said, "I'm sure it put thoughts in people's minds."

"Everyone is talking about it," my mom chimed in.

"Make sure you don't walk home. Get a ride or I'll pick you up," my dad told me. "Call me anytime."

"I have to admit a few girls at work said they saw one, too," my mom added.

"I want you on a curfew," my dad said to me.

"What?"

"Just for the time being," he continued. "You've already had a run-in with a pack of wolves, and then they showed up at school. I don't want it to happen again."

"Dad!" I said.

"I don't want to be the bad guy here, but I have to put my foot