I normally walked home alone, but today Knox, Victoria and Asher insisted on going with me—"to study for finals," they said, but I knew it was to address my daily visits to the hospital.

As we traveled along the side of the road, slick with ice and snow, I felt almost trapped. My friend to my left and a deadly forest to my right, I had nowhere to go but forward or turn around.

I wanted to avoid their questioning. Maverick and I had kissed, yes, but that did not warrant interrogation. Plus, what did they know? I could lie to them if I wanted to, and they might not see through it. As far as they could tell, I was telling the truth.

"How is Maverick?" Asked Asher, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I haven't seen him since the whole 'Lacey' incident."

"He's doing fine. Just as sarcastic as ever."

"Anything else?" Pried Victoria.

I shook my head unconvincingly, wincing at my unsharpened lying skills.

"You sure?"

"Positive," my voice faltered.

"I think he really likes you," continued Victoria as though nothing had happened. "He'll make pretty much any excuse to hang out with you."

"Not to mention he puts his arm around you all the time," interrupted Knox.

"You may be right, but I don't think you'll find what you're looking for here. If you want any information you'll have to ask Maverick. It's not my job to disclose what happens in the hospital."

Victoria made a snort of disbelief. "I can't believe you're keeping this from us."

"Keeping what?"

"That you and Maverick are dating!" Silence fell over the group.

My jaw clenched angrily as I bit back a colorful retort. "We're not dating."

"Yet," drawled Asher. "Come on, its so obvious."

"Is it? Because it seemed to me that it only started happening after Lacey left. I'm his second choice!" I snapped.

"He told Lacey off and I think he did it for you. He knew you didn't like her."

"And how do you know this?"

"Maverick told me . . . everything."

"What exactly is 'everything'?" I asked, hoping to stall. It would take a lot more hopeless badgering and way-too-personal questions for them to get information out of me. If they knew, it could've messed up our productive investigation.

"That's classified."

I crossed my arms indignantly, staring Knox in the eyes. He looked away uncomfortably and spoke. "He told me that he thought you were attractive. He gets motivated when you watch him play hockey. You're the main reason now that he's going to start looking at colleges six months later."

My mouth hung open slightly and I had to force it closed. This was still a shock to me, despite the fact that we had kissed. "Alright, now spill," Knox rubbed his arm shyly at the demand, as if he wasn't quite used to ordering people around.

"Maverick and I kissed," I admitted.

Victoria practically jumped into Asher's chest and hugged him. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!"

"Just once!" I reminded her.

"If you add in all the times you should've kissed, technically two and three-fourths."

When I got home, I ran straight to my room and threw my homework on my bed. Hopefully that would be enough to get what I had just told my friends off of my mind. My parents were out on a business dinner, so I would have the whole house to myself.

What would Maverick do if he found out I had told them? Would he flip out? Hug me? I honestly didn't know.

I started to work immediately on my pre-calc, only stopping when I was hungry or thirsty or needed to go to the bathroom. Once I had reached the last problem, however, I noticed something out of my window. There was a dark figure standing at the tree line. Its copper eyes were staring up at me through the tree branches, and I could see the hint of two yellow fangs.

It wasn't late, about five o'clock, but things got dark in the winter at that time, especially in Montana. I yanked my curtain shut and pulled out my phone.

Band of Meddling Kids:
Me: there's a creature staring at me through the trees in my backyard help
Knox: chill it's probably just an animal
Me: an animal with pink eyes and yellow fangs? What could that be?
Knox: a wolf?
Me: WOLVES DO NOT LOOK LIKE THAT
Knox: alright. Just call animal control

The thing was moving closer. It glided through the trees and was now halfway across my yard. The nearest animal control was twenty-five minutes away. They would never get here in time. I dialed Maverick's phone number. It rung for what seemed like forever until he picked up. "Yelllo!"

"Maverick, don't panic, but there's something in my yard. It's coming through the tree line. It's not an animal and it's definitely not human."

"Call the police!"

"They don't stand a chance. This thing is literally walking through trees."

"Alright, ummm . . . Do your parents own a gun?"

"It's in a safe in their bedroom, yeah."

"Okay, go get it, shut all the windows and doors in your house, and don't corner yourself. Hide in a place on ground level that you can escape from."

"What about the lights?"

"What?"

"Do I leave them on or off?"

"I'm assuming it already knows your inside the house, so just leave them as they are."

I followed his orders, racing across the upper and lower floors to shut the windows. Finally, I came into my parents bedroom and found the gun in a closed safe. "Maverick, the safe is locked."

"Put your ear right next to the lock and turn it until you hear a click."

I pressed my ear to the cold metal, turning it until I heard the first joyous click. 25. I spun it in the other direction. Click! 4. Again. Click! 30. The door popped open, stale air hitting me in the face like a hammer. "It's open Mav! I got it open!" I heard and almost silent "Thank gosh" come from him

I loaded and cocked the gun. Before I could make it out of the room, however, there was a loud banging in the kitchen. It had entered the house.