Brad talked with me on the phone during the next couple of days. He said his mom bought him a new cellphone since the one he had was gone and he had spent his savings on me. We didn't spend much of the nights talking with each other though. Brad was continually tired and said that he preferred to sleep early to try to recuperate from his trauma.

"Okay Brad, goodnight," I said to him and he hung up. There was a full moon tonight and it was huge and round in the sky, it seemed magnanimous. I didn't like the full moon though. The full moon meant tragedy and devastation for me now. I really wanted it to be beautiful for me, but I couldn't see it like that anymore and when it came out at night I shut my curtains and tried to avoid it's pale face at all costs. The full moon was a hassle. I despised it. All it did was bring me bad luck.

I went downstairs to see what my mom was doing. She was watching the news. Apparently, that thing we saw had claimed two new victims. The news still claimed that it was a bear, but I had seen that thing and it wasn't a bear. I didn't know what it was.

"How could an animal do something like that?" My mom asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked her behind the dark chocolate sofa.

"You know, it's like enjoying the kill or something," my mom said.

"Enjoying the kill?"

"I don't want you out at night. Something really weird is going on. If this animal continues to kill people, I'm sure that the mayor of the county is going to probably establish a curfew. If I were him, I'd a done it by now," my mom said. At first I thought that she was delusional, but then I thought that she might be right.

"Mom, I don't think it's a bear," I said.

"What do you mean?" she asked me.

"I don't know. I've... seen it before," I said.

"Then, what was it?" she asked me.

"I don't know. I thought... when it attacked Brad I thought it was an ape," I said.

"Natalie, I like your boyfriend and I think he's kind and all, but I don't want you going out with him at night. I don't think it's safe. At least until they catch this thing," my mom said with the remote control on her hand. There was an image of a young woman crying on the news.

I walked to my mom's office. I decided I wanted to see how Pepe Lepiu and the other fish were doing. I turned on the light and saw them swimming around the fish tank. The two blue slender danios were swimming together behind the fake castle that we had for them, the four pink tetra fish were swimming and place and Pepe Lepiu was next to a fake algae.

"Okay guys," I said looking for their fish food. I took out their flakes of algae and tossed a few. The little fish were instantly moving their tails and opening their little mouths. They devoured the flakes.

"Hey, hey, don't swallow so fast, you'll choke," I joked. I knew it was stupid because they didn't really understand me, but I was just a bit bored and I was trying to amuse myself. I then picked up the bottle with the balls of brine shrimp. I fed them seven little balls. Pepe Lepue swam in a flash and ate most of the brown little balls.

"Hey Pepe, your brothers also eat you know," I reprimanded, but Pepe didn't give a damn about his brothers. I had to drop a few more balls so that the pink tetra fish could eat some. They ate some, but the majority of the balls were devoured by Pepe.

"Okay, be that way," I said putting away the fish food. I watched them for a while. It was nice to look at them swim, it was relaxing. I heard a howl and tried to ignore it. Lately, howls were becoming frequent during our full moons.

The next day, Brad picked me up as usual, but it wasn't a usual school day today. When we arrived at the building, most of the teachers in the hallways were wearing black and when the bell rung and we went into our classrooms. Most of the students were also acting strange, not talking much. Our teachers asked us to have a moment of silence.

"Why?" I asked Mr. García. He was so upset. He looked at me with a glare.

"What?" I said. I didn't know why he was so upset with me, since I didn't know what was going on. Then, after an awkward pause, he crossed his arms together.

"Mrs. Krasinski was killed Friday night. The bear killed her," he replied. My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it. Crazy, old lady, Mrs. Krasinski was killed by the bear.

"What?" I said shocked.

"A moment of silence please," Mr. García insisted. I nodded and bowed my head and closed my eyes. Everyone was quiet. I could hear some of the birds chipping outside and the air conditioner of the classroom humming, but everything else muted. After our moment of silence, we continued with our classes. Then at lunch, I spoke about it with Tamara.

"Did you know about Mrs. Krasinski?" I asked her as she ate a bowl of salad and a baked potato with veggies. She shook her head.

"No, I hadn't heard," she said.

"I can't believe it," I remarked. Brad shrugged his shoulders and frowned.

"It's so sad and all, can't we just talk about something else?" Brad said. He seemed a bit annoyed.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked him.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe nothing," he said and put his sunglasses on. He was definitely annoyed.

"What's the matter with you?" I asked him. Now I too was starting to get annoyed. He got up from our table and left.

"Brad?" I asked him.

"I'm not hungry babe. I'll see you later," he said and left the cafeteria. What was his damn problem?

"What's his problem?" I asked. Tamara raised her shoulders puzzled.

"I don't know," she replied. That day we had a substitute teacher who spoke to us about sentence structures. Then, Brad took me home, but avoided to talk to me throughout our ride.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said to me.

"Brad, what's up?" I asked him and he shook his head and laughed.

"Nothing baby. I have to go work at Smith's. I'll call you later," he said.

"Okay," I replied.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I replied. The week went by like this, without much talk. There was a lot of work to be done though and soon our first game was coming up. My teammates Kate, Lorraine, Camille and Abigail were all helping me out with my passing and shooting abilities. I was having difficulty to shoot the ball into the hoop when I was being blocked.

"Natalie, I know that you can do it. You just have to focus," Camille said. Camille was the point guard and the best of the team. She dribbled, passed and shot well in the basket. I dribbled the ball and stopped. As soon as I was blocked, I tossed the ball with force and the ball bounced on the board.

"You need to take it easy," Abigail said. Abigail was the tallest of the team. She had long blond hair and seemed strong.

"What you need to do is work out more in the gym. That'll help you're balance," Lorraine said. Lorraine had long red hair, but it was always in a braid. She had green eyes and a freckled face. She had dressed up as the little mermaid in the party and she looked really pretty with her hair loose.

"Yeah, you can come with us. We practice five times a week. If you want to be serious about this, you need to train like an athlete. This isn't just a sport for me, this means a scholarship too," Camille said. I nodded.

"Okay. I'll work out with you," I said. I wasn't one hundred percent happy about this, but if I wanted to compete I was going to have to make an effort, so I talked to Brad and Tamara about it and they took it pretty well. So why was I not taking it well?

"That's excellent honey. You'll do great," my mom said.

"Thanks for the encouragement," I said, but deep down I was kind of annoyed. So I trained with my teammates during the afternoon and soon they all started to ask me about Brad.

"And what does he like to do?" Abigail asked me.

"He likes to do things with his hands," I replied.

"Umm, that sounds yummy," Camille joked. Lorraine and Abigail laughed.

"Yes, it does, doesn't it," Abigail said. We all laughed.

"But seriously and I say this as a friend and I hope that you don't get offended or anything, but he is hot as hell," Kate said. Kate was a dark skinned girl with black hair and jet chocolate brown eyes. She loved wearing a bun for working out and she wore a braid in the games like her friend and teammate Lorraine.

"Yeah and by the looks of it, he's a keeper," Camille remarked.

"Thanks. But the thing is, he's acting weird lately," I said.

"Have you thought that maybe it has to do with his trauma. Maybe he's embarrassed by it or maybe it was too extreme, I mean, you never know," Camille said.

"Yeah, maybe," I thought, but I wasn't convinced. We continued to workout on our arms and legs. I grabbed a five pound weights and by the time I reached fifteen, my arms were killing me.

"Oh my God, I can't do this," I said.

"Don't be such a pussy. You have to do it," Camille said.

"Camille, she can't force her body to do it, don't be a dumb ass," Abigail said. Kate tapped Camille on the shoulder.

"Camille, not everybody's going to college with a basketball scholarship," Kate said.

"Yeah, like chill already," Abigail remarked. I placed the weights on the ground and worked on my legs and buttocks. The same thing happened when I reached fifteen, I felt like I didn't have a butt left.

"Hey, I need the scholarship too," said Lorraine.

"Lorraine, you need more than a basketball scholarship. You're going to need celestial interference," Kate joked and Lorraine sticked her tongue out at her. Kate laughed.

"I am so exhausted," I said.

"Yeah, ain't it awesome?" Abigail remarked. I laughed. I was sweaty.

"You're coming tomorrow too, at the same hour," Camille said, but it seemed like a demand.

"Jesus Camille, can you drop the drill sergeant act, let her breathe," Kate said.

"I need a million dollars," Lorraine said.

"I need fifty new songs in my cellphone," Kate said.

"I need that scholarship," Camille said.

"I need two hundred and fifty plushies," Abigail said.

"I need to take a shower," I said and said my goodbyes.

"There's a shower here," Abigail said.

"I know, I just didn't bring any extras with me," I told them.

"Okay, take it easy," Kate said.

"You should shower," Lorraine said.

"Your ass is here tomorrow," Camille said. I waved at them all and walked out of the gym. I flinched when I saw Brad leaning next to a lamppost.

"Jesus! You scared me. What are you doing here?" I asked him as I wiped my sweat with a towel that hung above my shoulder.

"Gosh, you're sweaty. I could smell you a mile away," he said. I frowned.

"What?" I said and he shook his head and laughed.

"Nothing. It's just a joke. Really," he said.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were working at Smith's," I said.

"I am. I'm on a break," he said.

"Oh," I replied.

"So, do you think you can have a snack with me? Please?" He begged.

"Okay," I replied. We walked to a dispensary and got two chocolate bars.

"This is so good," he said.

"Mine's better," I replied.

"No, no. You have to try this one, here," he said. With the tip of his finger he broke a piece of the chocolate bar and fed it to me on my mouth. I ate the chocolate and then licked his finger.

"Delicious," I said.

"You sure are," he replied. My heartbeat pumped. It was like it was on fast mode now. Then, his watch beeped.

"Oh God, my break's up. I have to go," he said. Do you?

"Bummer. Okay. We'll talk later," I said.

"I miss you already," he said.

"Me too," I replied. He kissed me quickly and left. I noticed his round and firm buttcheeks as he walked and all I could think was that they looked awesome in jeans.