(Song of the chapter: 'Stronger' - Kanye West)

"There's no use running, nerd! You know we'll still catch you in the end!" A loud obnoxious voice yelled behind me, hot on my heels. I ignored the asscrack that uttered those words and kept pumping my legs, going as fast as humanly possible. 

Big stress on humanly.

To those of you out there reading my story, you're about to get a very real introduction into the shitpan that is my life.

My name is Avalon Wolfe, and I am not popular. Scratch that, I'm the extreme opposite of popular at my school: everyone hates me. I've been bullied since I was a little kid, so I really should have gotten used to it by now. So why am I running, you may be wondering? Well, sometimes when I run they catch me in the end, and sometimes they don't. 

I run for the sometimes that they don't.

I braked heavily to avoid running into a wall. I looked around, unsure of where to go next. Usually, I knew the ins and outs of escape routes since I'm usually trying to do just that: escape from the bullies chasing me. But today they caught me in a different place and it startled me and I just took off without knowing exactly where I was, which is just perfect. 

I heard the sounds of footsteps close behind and swore. Repeating the mistake that got me into this mess, I chose a route to go through without knowing where the hell I was headed.

Where were we? Oh right. Okay, so I'm 5'7 or 5'8, so I'm not exactly little, but my height isn't much of a deterrent for my bullies. Sad times. I'm one of those people who burns off calories as soon as I ingest the food, so I can't exactly bulk up and scare them away. They won't scare away anyways. People at this school are really set on making my life a living hell.

One last, very important thing you guys should know: I'm not completely human. You see, my dad, or well, my biological father, is part of this illegal organization, aka gang, that performs gene modifications on its members. 

Every member of the Moonlight Werewolves has had their DNA combined with that of the Canis lupus in a completely irreversible procedure. Putting it simply, we're werewolves, myself included. Not because I consented to this procedure, but because my father had sex and this new gene was passed on to me. Super.

I ran faster, hearing the sounds of footsteps getting close behind me. I shrugged off my bag and held it in my hands instead. I was planning on ditching it somewhere safe when I had the chance.

So great, right? I'm a werewolf. I'm betting you're all thinking about what a special snowflake I am right now. Well get it together. I'm a werewolf, which means I'm on a higher level of the food chain than these puny humans chasing me. I'm incredibly strong, unbelievably fast, and if I choose to shift into a wolf, which I don't ever want to do, I could literally rip my bullies apart. I can't lie – the thought is so very tempting. 

But, as you may have guessed already, what occurs in my father's gang isn't exactly public knowledge. The information and the whole procedure done to make us what we are could be terrible knowledge in the wrong hands – not that our hands are so very clean anyways. 

So what that means for me is that I can't use my abilities in any way that would endanger the secrecy of my dad's gang. This means, instead of busting out my incredible ninja moves, I have to let myself be bullied. I, Avalon Wolfe, am a dark horse in the worst way possible.

I'm sure you're all very jealous of me now, huh?

I burst through the doors in front of me, panting. Once the smell of chlorine hit my nose I knew I was already screwed. I'd reached the school's swimming pool, and there was no way out except through the doors I had just come in. 

Dropping my school bag, I hesitantly turned around. My bullies crowded the doorframe, blocking the exit. Every single one of them had a maliciously pleased smile on their faces.

I swallowed. So today was going to be one of those days.

_

"One day, you guys will get tired of this," I told my bullies, slowly walking backwards. They just watched me, making no movements of their own. We both knew there was only one way out, and they were currently blocking it.

"No seriously," I persisted, "don't you guys have better things to do after school?"

I didn't even know why I was bothering, they never listened anyways.

Oh right, I was stalling.

Good to know.

"Better things like what, Loner?" I knew the voice before I saw him, and it sent shivers down my spine. A crowd of bullies parted, and the white-haired, blue-eyed love child of Voldemort and Thanos walked through the fray.

Jacques 'Jack' Frost, the leader of all my bullies. He walked through the masses like he was Moses, and with the way people at our school worshipped him, he could literally have been. 

He was captain of the football team, the basketball team, the swimming team, the debate team, and the list goes on. He had a 4.0 GPA, he was on the honor roll, he was who every guy wanted to be and every girl wanted to date. Basically he was the shit. Everyone at school loved him and feared him, but mostly loved him.

I mostly feared him.

Now you're probably wondering, why does somebody who goes by the name 'Jack Frost' have the whole school falling at his feet instead of getting his ass handed to him every day? Well, that's not exactly his name. It's actually Griffin Jacques Frost. Once upon a time, he used to allow certain people call him 'Finn'.

Once upon a time, I was one of those people.

I struggled to keep up my detached façade while Jacques and his two goons made their way towards me. Today it was Austin Black and Tanner Robbins. I comforted myself with the fact that Austin had a huge mole on his nose and Tanner's face looked like a beaver's.

"I mean, it's after school. You guys could be doing homework or something," I blurted out.

Loud laughs from the peanut gallery followed my statement. It depressed me to no end that my circumstances prevented me from winning any social status by being a comedian.

Jacques & Co stopped a little distance in front of me. Looking back briefly, I found that my feet were almost at the edge of the pool, leaving me on the verge of falling into the deep end. I was cornered, and now they'd draw out tormenting me. Lovely.

"But you do our homework silly," Austin haughtily stated.

Oh yeah, that's right I do. Perks of being the bullied nerd kid.

"Well, you could start learning how to do your own homework," I reasoned. "College is just around the corner, you know." 

Jacques narrowed his eyes at me, and my heart rate instantly spiked.

"We have only two years till we graduate, don't we Loner?"

Fact: a person I used to love called me 'Lonna', as a nickname for my name Avalon.

Fact: Jacques turned it into something hateful to hurt me.

"Yeah," I responded, wondering what he was getting at.

"So it's possible that you'd go somewhere beyond my reach, where I can't make your life a living hell. So why," he said, stepping closer and making me hold my breath, "would I waste a single second of time not doing so now?"

I said nothing, knowing fully well that I couldn't win this fight, or any fight against him. His blue eyes fixed on me while he smirked, sensing my defeat. I held his gaze and struggled to feel nothing until he broke eye contact. I inhaled so deeply I only then realized I hadn't been breathing.

Jacques walked back to his friends, stepping back to look at them both.

"You know what to do."

Mole Rat and Beaver Face both sported equally heinous grins as they strode towards me. I struggled not to look like I was about to wet myself.

_

I hit the water with a loud splat. They'd thrown me in on my belly, making me wince. I kicked my legs till I broke the surface of the water. 

Thankfully my glasses splashed into the pool before I did, so they hopefully weren't broken. I'd look for them later, I had a feeling this wasn't over yet.

I surfaced a little distance away from the edge of the pool, hoping none of my bullies would come in after me. However, I noticed one of them had kicked my bag into the pool while I was under and frantically swam to remove it.

"What is wrong with you?" I yelled in frustration, throwing my bag onto solid ground. "You got all my books wet, my notes, my homework, everything!"

The sharp pain of Jacques's boot stomping my hand had me almost biting down on my tongue not to yelp. Of course they'd baited me. Why hadn't I seen that?

The pain intensified when Jacques crouched to bring his face closer to mine.

"You tried to run from us. If you didn't, we would have left your precious bag alone," he malevolently informed me.

I took in deep breaths, trying to get a handle on the pain shooting up my nerves.

"You're full of shit," I puffed between breaths.

"I don't think you like your hand very much," Jacques remarked as he added even more pressure on his foot. 

This time, I couldn't help but let out a groan and lower my head. I felt his lips brush my ear and I shuddered from the cold of the pool water, along with something else.

"Beg me," he whispered. "Say 'please stop', and I will."

"No." Great comeback right there, Lonna.

More pressure. More pain. "Say it."

I was biting through my lip, but it was more than I could stand in my purely human state.

Did I mention I was a werewolf? I think I did. Anyways, when I tap into my werewolf side, which I don't necessarily have to shift to do, I can withstand a lot of pain and am very nearly close to being invincible. But I have to keep that switch firmly shut off in school or bad things would happen. 

Plus, then she talks in my head, and she's annoying. She is the voice that I hear whenever I tune into my werewolf senses. I call her Vixen.

The agony was driving me crazy. I'd started whimpering and couldn't exactly pinpoint when.

"Finn..."

It felt like I'd been splashed with a bucket of cold water once I realized my mistake. Or well, been thrown into an icy pool. But the damage was already done, there was nothing I could do about it.

Jacques grabbed me by the throat. "What did you just call me?" he asked quietly.

My mask of indifference dropped. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean... I wasn't thinking..."

"Clearly," he replied darkly, his fist tightening around my throat. I struggled to swallow but my throat was too tight.

"Please," I whispered.

His eyes were completely devoid of anything good. They didn't even look blue anymore, they just looked cold and terrible.

"You know, I heard a rumor that we could breathe water once," he said, his other hand coming up to stroke my cheek. His boot hadn't yet let up from my hand, and the lack of feeling there was making me a little worried.

"Granted, we were fetuses, but I'm sure we can still test that theory." My heart started beating in my chest, so hard and fast I thought my ribcage was going to crack.

Jacques's expression finally morphed from the frigid mask he'd been wearing into a sinister, cheery expression. Like my fear was morphine to him.

"If you drown though, I'll just give you CPR and we'll do another test run."

And with that, he dunked my head into the water and held it there.

Fact: the same person who gave me the nickname 'Lonna' gave Jacques the nickname 'Finn'.

Fact: Jacques loved him too.

I'm sure you've all gathered by now that nicknames are a bit of a touchy subject for the both of us.

_

I completely, 100% hate my life. I hate not being able to breathe. I've experienced panic attacks enough times to know that.

I screamed in the water, grabbing Jacques's hand and trying to pry it off my head but it wouldn't budge. I couldn't tap into my superhuman strength to help me, because then I'd give away my secret. But trust me, my switch was dying to flick on. In a way, I was drowning voluntarily.

It really, really sucks to be me. Majorly huge hippopotamus balls.

Just as dark spots were filling my vision and my hand was going slack, Jacques pulled my head up. I coughed up so much water my throat really started to burn.

"Hmmm. You couldn't breathe, could you?" Jacques lightly remarked.

"Please stop. Please," I begged, my voice raspy. I hate begging, and I almost never do it, but the situation was so... different today that my normal rules didn't apply.

"Nope," Jacques popped the 'p'. "We can't just give up yet, that's unprofessional."

Without further ceremony he dunked me again. My eyes burned, and I fought to pry his hands off me but to no avail. 

I lost count of exactly how many times Jacques played with my life, but I was nearing the end of my self-control when he pulled me up for the last time. He let go of my head and dragged my face close to his by my throat.

"What is my name?" he growled quietly, his breath fanning my eyelashes.

There was so much chlorine in my eyes I couldn't make out his face no matter how much I blinked. I found that the only part of my torture where I felt I was granted a reprieve.

"J-j..." I coughed, further hurting my throat, but I had to get it out or he would dunk me in again.

"Jacques."

Silence. Then, "Good."

He slowly stood up, and I found that my hand could hurt again when he removed his boot from it. I took that as a good sign. 

I concentrated on breathing, in and out and in and out again, until I heard every footstep recede and the doors close behind them. After a moment, I brought my hand up close to my face to inspect it and found that it had turned a sickening shade of purple.

I lost the fight and projectile vomited into the pool.

_

After I got a handle on myself and regained a little bit of my dignity, I let the switch flip and awakened my werewolf side. 

Color, bright and intense, flooded my eyes and my vision instantly cleared. My hearing perked up also, and I heard no activity throughout the school, which proved that I was alone. So I wasn't worried that anyone could stumble upon me right then and see my glowing gold eyes - a distinct change from their usual indistinguishable kaleidoscope of colors.

I dragged my saturated self out of the pool and tried to squeeze out some water from my clothes, a futile mission.

You should have let me kill them, Vixen growled.

I sighed heavily, my breath not even stirring the hair in front of my face. 

"I know," I spoke aloud, not caring that I seemed to be talking to myself since there was no one around to hear me.

"But you can't."

They could have killed you, Vixen fired back with a surprisingly reasonable point.

"I know," I repeated monotonously. I saw that someone had kicked my backpack back into the water and I sighed again. 

I dragged it out and immediately put it on, not caring that it was getting my clothes soaked all over again. I fished out my glasses as well while I maintained my crouched position.

"But they didn't."

Vixen was silent for a moment, and I stood up and headed towards the exit.

When are we going to get our much deserved revenge? She whined petulantly.

Someday, when the stakes aren't so high, or when I stop caring about the stakes altogether, I thought inwardly this time.

But what does one say to the god of death, which I wasn't completely sure Vixen wasn't?

"Not today," I said, closing the pool doors behind me.