Okay...So. I have always been fasinated by Red Riding Hood so I made this.....you are suppossed to be confused in parts of this story......most of it will come together by the end. I never thought myself a good writer, but my two test dummies for this book were both hooked after the first chapter.....so I'm dedicating the first two chapters after them.....this one goes to CryingOnTheInside.....she is my reall life bff and the inspiration for Sam.......have fun and tell me what you think! I hope this is good enough!!!!

Enjoy my Lovelies!!!!!!

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“Today should be interesting.” I spoke aloud to myself.

“Sister, Sister!” I heard shouting coming from down the hall. Oh god. She has it ready. Why did I ever make that bet?

“Coming Katy!” I yelled back. Why, why would I do this to myself?

I walked down the short hall of our cottage to my little sister’s room where she had been picking out my outfit for the day.

“So what’s my doom, Katy?”

“You are to be Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween!”

“Oh joy.” I said trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice for Katy’s sake. She may be a strong willed five year old but shes been through a lot and rejection from her sister on anything would not be good.

“Go put it on Nessie!” I smiled at her and grabbed my costume for the day. When I got back to the room I heard the familiar ring tone of someone calling me from Skype. I quickly accepted the video request when I saw my best friend’s user name pop up.

“Sup Bitch! So what are you going to be?”

“Luckily not a stupid princess. I still can’t believe you talked me into this Sam!”

“Hey! I didn’t tell you to take the bet! I just enforce it!”

“Yeah but now I have to act like a freaking fairytale all day long and be naive.”

“Your fault Ness.”

“Whatever…a good friend would have gotten me out of it.”

“Its not my fault you don’t do well in the cold!”

“Yeah but you know that taking Benadryl causes me to do crazy stuff!”

“Yeah, it does. I remember last time the bet was you wouldn’t jump off the dock naked and take a swim in the ocean.”

“Little did you know that I had taken the little pink pill because of Poncy, Sam!”

“I can’t help it you never told me that you were allergic to dogs!”

“Yeah yeah. I’m gonna step out of the frame for a moment to get dressed.”

“Hurry up I want to see you in the costume!” I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her before hopping out of the frame. For the first time I got a good look at the costume. It was a little too girly for my taste but I was not going to back down from a bet.

I took the skirt in hand and pulled it up to my lower waist. It was pure white and had a knitted border near the top. It flounced around at the bottom and reminded me of what some country girl would wear out. My sister had told me the day before that the skirt was chosen because it passed the twirl test. Whatever that is.

Next came the top. It was partially see through so I had to put on a peach colored tank top to match the shirt. It was pale pink and had a lacy border at the top and buttoned down the front. There are frills placed at intervals across the front that run parallel to the faux wood buttons. Again way to girly but I don’t back down from a bet.

The cape was my favorite part of the accursed outfit. It was made of crushed velvet and had the rich color of blood red. The bottom trailed against the ground slightly. The hood was floppy against my head and I could easily conceal myself. A simple gold colored cord loop was all that wrapped around the button to latch it together around my shoulders, a button identical to it over the other end of the loop, keeping it in place. I pulled the cape around me and found comfort that I could hide the outfit a little with it.

“Vanessa!” I heard Sam’s voice break through my thoughts and I made my way to the computer. “Finally! I was starting to think you had skipped out on me!”

“I did in a way. I was lost in how this is too girly for me to wear to school. The cape I can handle though.”

“Oh suck it up Fence! It’s just for one day. And it’s not like its a day where it would be weird! Its Halloween for Christ sake!”

“I know. That’s the only reason I’m putting up with this.”

“Whatever. I’ve got to get ready my self. Bye Bitch!”

“Bye Sam!” I closed the computer on my friends face and walked into my bathroom. There I put on red eyeshadow to match the cape and put my dark brown hair in a high ponytail. I put my mascara and eye liner last and felt satisfied so I went down to make my breakfast.

“Wheres your stockings Sister? And your red lipstick?”

“Do I have to Katy?”

“Yes. Otherwise you’re not Little Red Riding Hood!” She stomped her foot against the floor showing me that I can’t get out of it.

“I’m coming up with you. I don’t trust you.” She yelled after me. She ducked under my arm on the stairs and ran ahead of me to my room. When I came in she had already pulled out the white lace stockings and set them on the bed. Now she was digging in my closet for something.

“Where these too Sister!” she crawled out of the closet with some wedges in her hand. The were made of braided straw cord. Now the red was all over this. There was a line across the bottom of the shoe. Then there was some fabric made into an x across the top of the toes with a knot in the middle. There was some lose straps part way up, no doubt meant to tie around your ankle. I submitted to my fate and went in my sister’s chosen costume.

“Why don’t you ever dress like this normally Nessie? You look really pretty!”

“Thank you, but I don’t look pretty. I look like a clown.”

“But I chose your outfit so you are pretty! Just like a Barbie doll! Well Barbie’s friend because Barbie doesn’t have brown hair.”

“That’s right. Do you want to come in the bathroom and I can do your makeup for your Witch costume?”

“Yeah!” she screamed excitedly and ran into the bathroom. I swear this child’s only speed is running. I quickly put on my deep red lipstick with a little gloss over it before doing my sister’s dark green makeup to match the purple and green Witch’s costume she planned on wearing.

After she ran back to her room to put on her outfit I went downstairs to make breakfast for us and for my Grandma. Ironic isn’t it that I just so happen to live in a cottage down a long path in the forest with my Grandmother? I swear if I see a wolf at all today I’m going to laugh my ass off at the added irony.

After making our breakfast of eggs and bacon I quickly pulled out the fake goodies from Katy’s play kitchen and placed it in a basket. I heard some barking behind me to find that our playful wolf puppy had woke up and was waiting to be played with. Yes we have a wolf cub for a pet, and no I do not count this as the wolf from the story since she met him for the first time that day.

We found the poor girl injured on the border of our property and took it in until it healed. We attempted to put it back out in the woods but it just followed us back to the house until we let it back in. We call her Nymeria after the direwolf in Game of Thrones, because she looks exactly like her, just with darker fur. She is black with streaks of gray. Her belly is covered in white along with her paws.

I toss her a treat and she eats it greedily. I should take her with me as a joke. I put a couple more treats in the basket and a couple in a plastic bag for later. When she sees the treats in the basket she jumps in happily knowing that she will be carried inside. She hates to exercise so she constantly gets carried in this basket like Toto and Dorothy.

“Are you allowed to take a wolf to school?” I heard the older voice of my wonderful grandmother say behind me.

“My science teacher is always telling me I should bring her as long as she behaves and he would write me a pass for it so I would say yes. Plus she goes with my outfit.”

“That she does. Let’s just hope she doesn’t beat you home and eat me!”

“She loves you to much to do that Grand-mama.” I have called her Grand-mama ever since I saw Anastasia when I was 7. She also looks a little like the Grandmother in Anastasia too so that helps. Her gray hair is let down in a loose ponytail on the side of her face today, most likely so she can garden. Her outfit of loose khakis and her old t-shirt that says ‘I’m the ruler of my Garden’ told me that what I thought is true.

“Well seeing as you are now Red Riding Hood I might have to worry.”

“Ah, but I would have to have just met Nymeria for the legend to be true, plus in one version Red Riding Hood had a dog.”

“True so I might be safe, but I’m not taking my chances!” She said teasingly. I rolled my eyes at her craziness but gave her a hug goodbye before collecting my sister.

“Do we have to go to school?”

“Yes Katy.” I said buckling her into her booster seat and closing the door on her scowling little face. I opened the passenger door to her complaints again.

“But we are dressed for Halloween. Can’t we go Trick or Treating?”

“But we Trick or Treat at night not during the day sweetie.” I said putting the basket holding Nymeria and my ‘goodies’ onto the floor. I closed the door before either of them could protest. Climbing into the driver’s seat and starting the car Katy protested again.

“Can’t we skip school and go watch a movie?”

“Why are you so determined to skip school today Katy?”

“B-because it’s Halloween?” She said more as a question than anything else.

“Okay. Who are you avoiding?”

“Turner.”

“Little Turner McDonald? Caleb’s little brother?”

“Yeah. He has been bullying me lately.” I took in her words and noted three things. One, she speaks with a vocabulary far beyond her years. Two, she is being bullied. And three, she’s being bullied by a boy.

“I think Turner has a crush on you, Katy.”

“Eww! But boys have cooties!”

“You may not think so when you’re older.”

“No I will always think that because it’s true.” There’s the little kid I know as my sister. I thought I had lost her and gotten someone mature for a moment there.

“Okay Katy. I will make you a deal okay?”

“Okay, and if I win I want a cookie!”

“Okay if you win then you can have a cookie. Now if you think boys have cooties until you are 18 then you can have the cookie. If I ever hear you say that you think boys are cute and don’t have cooties then I want one of your big hugs okay?”

“Deal Sister!” Hey! Don’t judge me! She might hate me later on if I had taken advantage of her naivety. Although girls in this family tend to dislike boys for a while…my mom used to tell me that she didn’t give our father a second look until senior year. I internally sighed at the thought.

Today is the one year anniversary of their disappearance. Halloween night after they had taken Katy Trick or Treating, and me to Sam’s house for the night they went missing. Apparently their car had gone off a cliff. When they searched the burned and smoking wreckage they couldn’t find the bodies. Around Christmas last year we gave up the search and had them declared legally dead.

I’m not as sad that they died as much as Katy and I will never have a protective dad to grill the boys, to walk us down the aisle, have a dance with at our wedding. And Katy won’t have a mom to obsess over makeup and hair and Senior pictures. We will never have those things.

“You were thinking about them again weren’t you?”

“How did you know.” I said a little to testily towards her.

“Your eyes always turn dark gray when your sad.” I looked at my normally blue eyes in the rear view mirror to find that my eyes had turned gray. My eyes mimic my emotions but they only change into a color that the sea would turn. So since I’m sad it turns the color of the sea on a stormy day, gray.

“Yeah. I was thinking about them. I’m sorry they won’t be able to take you Trick or Treating tonight Katy. I hope I’m a good substitute.”

“You will be Nessie. I just wish they were here.” She spoke quietly and then turned her head to stare out the window at the partially cloudy day.

“Me too, kid, me too.” I pulled into the school and took her to the kindergarten classroom before running to my locker.

“Hey Bitch! Took you long enough! Glad to see this outfit full out compared to part way, because Skype is stupid.”

“Agreed, but I’d rather not be wearing this.”

“You look hot Ness. Don’t put yourself down.”

“Yeah yeah. I’m not hot though. I look ridiculous.”

“Yeah you do!” I turned around to face the owner of the voice to see a picture being taken.

“Delete that McDonald!” I grabbed for his phone but he pulled it out of my reach, closed it and put it in his pocket.

“Never! So I’ll pick you up at seven tonight.”

“What do you mean? For a date? In your dreams.”

“Well seeing as you told me at the end of last year that the day you willingly wear a skirt to school would be the day you go on a date with me then I would guess you are going out with me tonight.”

Stupid playboy jerk. Like I’d go on a date with him. I’d rather die. “Well sorry McDonald. I have to wear this because of a bet, not willingly. Get lost before your family jewels go missing.”

“Harsh, but to the point. Well at least I don’t have to spend my Halloween on a date with you to the Slop Shack.”

“Like I’d go with you to the Slop Shack.”

“Oh I thought you would love that since it has more class than you.”

“Ha! The Slop Shack has more class than me? Yeah right. You, maybe, but not me!” I would be glaring at him but we have a long standing bet of who can avoid looking at the other’s eyes the longest.

“Well seeing as I know how you lost the bet, I would say its classier than you.”

“Who told you! That was supposed to stay between the three of us!” I could feel my face turning red to match my cape.

“I guess your boyfriend can’t be trusted.” Oh how I wish I could slap that smirk off his face. I am so tempted to lose the bet just to show him how deadly close he is coming to me killing him.

“Arthur is not my boyfriend. He is like a brother to me and he is going to be dead the next time I see him.”

“Whatever. I have better people to see than be hanging around you and the troubled kid.” He said nodding his head towards Sam on the last name.

“Hey! I am not troubled! I don’t do drugs like you pricks and my brothers. I get in fights with people who say I do though!”

“Whatever keeps the high going, addict.” I heard an inhuman growl come from my friend and then she started to chase McDonald down the hall. I just stood there wondering a) how she growled like that and if she could teach me, and b) why McDonald would ever think I would go anywhere with him let alone be friends with him.

“Why is Sam running like a maniac?”

“Because McDonald called her a druggie again.”

“And why are you giving me a evil eye?” He said. I just stared at my second best friend, Arthur Riverton. He had unruly brown hair and green eyes. He looked a lot like Harry Potter, which coincidentally he had decided to dress up as him for Halloween. He had what looked like lipstick as his lighting scar and plastic glasses with no lenses on his face and he wore a black bathrobe. Classic wannabe costume.

“Because you told McDonald about how I lost the bet. Ring any bells?” I told him after a moment of glaring at him.

“It was an accident. I swear!” He spat out as soon as he realized I was going from angry to beyond pissed.

“Oh yeah? How does one accidentally tell someone of a bet when they swore to never tell a soul about it…ever?”

He looked pained for a moment as if someone was screaming inside his head. “I’m forbidden from telling you.”

“Oh great. And who is this mysterious force forbidding you from telling me?” I said with disdain, venom and sarcasm dripping from every word.

He had the same pained expression on again and the gave me his answer. “I just can’t tell you. Can you please just accept that and move on.”

“I won’t forgive you for a little bit but I guess you can come help me take Nymeria to Mr. Bane’s class.”

“You brought a wolf to school?” he whisper yelled at me.

“Yeah I figured I’d get bonus points for bringing the villain of my story with me.”

“Bonus points? You get Arthur points!” he said, his eyes alight with mischief. You only get Arthur points when you’re possibly breaking the rules.

“You and your Arthur points.”

“Arthur points are the bane of existence, Vanessa, and don’t you forget it.”

“I won’t, let’s just get Nymeria here to class.”

We walked down the two hallways to Mr. Banes class knocking on the door since he didn’t have any teaching to do at the moment. Mr. Bane is a handsome man in his mid twenties. He is very athletic and is considered the teacher everyone has a crush on. I don’t have a crush on him, but I can’t deny he is hot. He is the Chemistry teacher and the Animal Science Teacher. I have both of those classes with him with one class in between. He has Brown hair and Blue eyes, is very tan, and around six feet tall.

“Come on in.” He said in his very deep voice

“Hey Mr. Bane!” Arthur and I said in unison.

“Hello Harry Potter and Little Red Riding Hood!”

“Ha ha, very funny Mr. B.” I almost growled at him in an attempt to sound like Sam. It sounded more like a horse throat.

“What do you two want?” He said with a laugh.

“Well I have bonus points for my costume. Not only do I have my basket of goodies but I have brought my own wolf!” I barely heard Arthur mutter that I got the kind of points wrong and sharply elbowed him in the ribs.

“You brought Nymeria?” He said excitedly. He has been wanting to see her for a while now.

“Yup! I figured you could keep an eye on her during the day. I have two classes with you anyway.”

“Yeah I’ll keep an eye on her. Where is she?”

“In the basket. Riding in the car always puts her to sleep and I wouldn’t be surprised if she still is. I brought her little bed as well.”

“Thanks! She will have a good time here!”

“Thanks Mr. B.” I set the basket down and lifted the lid, only to have my face attacked by Nymeria’s kisses. She looked at her new surrounding and gave me a look that told me she was curious. She then proceeded to tilt her head when I didn’t explain. Laughing first I told her why she was here. I swear she understands English.

“Nymeria meet Mr. Bane. He is going to take care of you while I have class.” She gave me a sad look obviously thinking that I was abandoning her. I heard both Mr. Bane and Arthur struggling to hold back laughs for some reason, but when I looked at them they avoided eye contact and looking at random stuff on the walls. Men.

“Don’t give me that look Nymeria. I will have two classes in here and lunch and I still have to take you home with me.” She seemed happier at that and gave me another lick on the bottom of my chin. She turned to look at her babysitter for the day and growled at him. She looked towards Arthur and did the same.

“What the heck is wrong with you Nymeria!” I yelled as she backed me up to the wall and away from my friend and teacher. She seemed to be protecting me from them. “Nymeria stop! They are friends of mine!” She growled again and gave me a look that said I was stupid. Then I swear I heard Arthur say something like, ‘damn wolf is gonna expose us Jack.’ I knew Mr. Banes name was Jack but I don’t think I heard Arthur right with all the growling Nymeria was doing. What could they be hiding that a wolf could expose?

“Nymeria, quiet. Or do I have to put you in the car?” She only loved being in the car for rides, she hated being left out there while we were in some building. She immediately stopped growling at the threat but she didn’t stop trying to protect me.

“I’m sorry Mr. Bane. I didn’t think she’d act like this. If she starts barking again let me know and I’ll go put her in the car.” I said picking her up and holding her away from the men.

“I think she’s just wary of males. You live in an all girl household right?” he said, but he seemed to be trying to convince himself more then anything. I guess he was hoping Nymeria would like him right away.

“Yeah, maybe that’s it. She hasn’t really been around males before.” The bell rang making Nymeria jump at the new sound. “Well I guess we have to go. Here’s my number, call me if she’s any trouble. Bye Mr. Bane.” I told him leaving a slip of paper and my baby wolf behind and pulling Arthur out behind me, leaving my basket there also, but just for the time being. If I had tried to take it and sort out all the dog stuff from mine I would be late.

Everyone stared at me as I walked into English because they know I never wear skirts, and I never wear this much of a bright color, if I wear a bright color, or wedge/high heels. Great, and this is just the first class. I just hope McDonald doesn’t put that picture on FaceBook. I would never be able to live this down. I know he’s going to torture me for awhile for the stupid bet that caused this.

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Okay so......what did ya think? Be honest and brutal!!!!!! Vote if you love it comment if you like it.......comment if you hate it and think theres something I need to change......yes I know theres probably grammer and spelling mistakes which I will take care of later so I don't want any bitching about that.......but other wise I can take whatever the haters throw my way!!!!!! The picture to the right is of her shoes.