The Last Protector

Chapter 4

Grayson pov

    “Hello, Grayson. I hope you don’t mind me coming to say hi to you. We all had a special meeting with the whole school in the auditorium before the end of last year telling us about what happened to you.” The beautiful girl named Lana said. I was slowly walking beside her, Florin and Manassa walking in front of us holding hands and whispering.

    I nodded, my mind in turmoil as I tried to understand what was happening. “Have you ever been a gypsy?” I asked her quietly, confused. No, that’s not right. I could see it, the differences up close. The girl from the dream had long and wavy hair, thick and luscious. This girl had hair that was more straight, and reaching to her shoulder blades. Her face shape was slightly different as well, and the shade of green was a different shade. Even still, it was making me dizzy, seeing how similar they were in comparison to the dream. 

    “Wha...what?” Lana stuttered, her eyes wide as she turned to look at me. “Of course not!” She said. 

    “Haahaa! Did I just hear that right? Lana? A gypsy? She can’t even dance!” I was startled to feel an arm linking through mine, and turned to look at a pretty girl with long black hair and dark eyes. She smiled at me, and it slightly unnerved me that she was about as tall as I was. “You should know me, but you probably don’t remember. I’m Lana’s best friend, and also your best friend’s girlfriend. My name is Carrie.” She said with a wide smile, her perfect teeth flashing. I cringed, pulling my arm out of hers and stepping closer to Lana. Carrie, that annoying b***h of a girlfriend of Zain’s. She didn’t seem to notice or care that I pulled away from her, she pulled out her phone and started to call someone. “Are you going to come to eat lunch with me and my friends?” She said to her phone as I followed the others inside. 

    Just then I got a text and I opened it, smiling down at the picture of a cute little baby. ‘Look! This means you have a new little cousin! His name is Rhys, isn’t he adorable?’ I texted Lexi back as I walked down the hallway, before stopping absently in confusion. 

    “Grayson? What’s wrong? Oh wait, you don’t know where your locker or anything is, do you?” Lana said, turning to look at me. She had such an innocent look on her face as she threaded her arm through mine, it was so distracting. I kept seeing the girl from the dreams, comparing them. The voices were different too. The gypsy girl had a silkier voice, the voice of a woman that was more confident and sure of herself, while Lana was more breathy and airy, scared and flustered. “Do you mind me showing you around today? I know all of your schedules.” She stammered, a blush rising to her cheeks. I couldn’t even dwell on how stalker-ish that sounded, since Carrie shrieking in front of the school started to distract me. 

    “She used to shriek at me like that!” A boy with red hair and glasses cried, burying his face into his locker as another guy patted his back in sympathy. 

    I cringed again, grabbing Lana’s hand and pulling her farther down the hall. After a few minutes, I could feel her fingers curl around mine, and allowed her to lead me. “How can you even be friends with that? f*****g irritating.” I mumbled as she stopped in front of a locker. She pulled out a pencil and paper and wrote down a combination, handing it to me. I looked down at it, frowning. “Are you my girlfriend or something?” I asked her, confused. It would make sense, I suppose. Seeing as that I’ve been dreaming of a girl that looks just like her. 

    She gasped, fanning her face as her cheeks lit up. “No, I mean, not yet, but we liked each other,” She said shyly, fluttering her eyelashes at me. 

    I stared at the paper, then at her, before finally shrugging. “Huh. okay then. Thanks,” I mumbled, opening the locker. Freaking awkward, all of it. 

    “Hey, Grayson! Are you joining the team again this year?” I turned to see a kid with a thick Spanish accent coming towards me, a basketball tucked under his arm. Honestly, this made sense. Did I like basketball? I saw lots of pictures of Lexi, Zain, Teddy and me with basketballs. He must have noticed my pause, because he chuckled awkwardly, running his fingers through his thick dark curls. “My bad, bro. I forgot you lost your memory. Do you even remember how to play? That really sucks, you were sick, bro.” He said, lifting his hand to give me a high five. 

    I stared at it awkwardly, before finally lifting my hand and slapping his. Suddenly, my phone went off, but I ignored it for a minute to reply to the guy. “So, I was on the basketball team? I mean, I guess I could probably. Meredith said the simple things like school and such are still there, just the hard stuff of my life was forgotten. So I’d probably have some sort of muscle memory. But I can’t, because Sabina wants me to start fencing with her again after school so I don’t go rusty.” I said with a shrug. 

    The guy blinked at me, and I realized he wasn’t a wolf, so he had no idea who anyone I just mentioned was. Well, whatever. I didn’t care that much to explain. “Sure, okay. Well if you change your mind let me know, I’m the captain this year. My name is Anthony.” He said with a hesitant smile. I nodded at him and he walked off, muttering to another guy about how weird I was. Whatever, I didn’t care if they liked me or not. 

    “Aw, that’s too bad. You were so cute playing. I have a video, if you’d like to sit down and watch it with me. Maybe it’ll help you get some memories back?” Lana suggested as I grabbed books for the first class. I had my schedule memorized already, even if I didn’t know where anything was. 

    I thought about it, looking at her as I shut my locker door. That wasn’t a half-bad idea. Meredith said anything could trigger my memories, if I ever did get them back. Finally, I sighed, giving her a small smile. “Sure, that’ll be awesome, thanks, Lana. Want to eat lunch with me? We can watch it then?” I asked her as she led me to the first class. 

    She blushed, her eyes wide as she bit her bottom lip. “Sure, that sounds great! I’ll meet you in the cafeteria for lunch.” She said to me. I frowned, shrugging. Wherever was fine, and I’d figure out where everything was eventually. “Great, it’s a date!” She exclaimed, grinning at me as she walked away. A date? Well, she did say we liked each other, right? I sighed, shaking my head as I walked into the classroom. Shouldn’t I feel something for her if I used to like her? But then again, I did feel weird around her. I kept comparing her to the dream girl, and it was confusing the crap out of me. Did this mean she was important to me somehow? For now, I wanted to keep her close to me, to figure this out. 

    I texted Zain back, trying to keep the smile off of my face as I reread his texts. Why did I always get a little flutter in my chest when I opened his texts? It was strange, too strange, and it made my head throb as I tried to think about it. More and more it made me annoyed, feeling like there was something I was missing. The rest of the first half of the morning was pretty much what I expected it to be. Someone directed me around from class to class, and I had no problem with any of the work. I kept thinking about lunch, wondering what I’d see on the video, and how I’d react to it. Once it was lunchtime I met up with Lana in the cafeteria. Of course, she was sitting next to Carrie, who was repeatedly recalling and recalling someone while grumbling under her breath. “The nerve of him, to ignore me like this, just what the hell does he think he’s doing?” Carrie muttered. 

    “Are you talking about Zain? He’s with Lexi.” I said with a shrug, sitting down with my tray of questionable-looking food. It was called meatloaf today, but the coloring was weird and I made a mental note to ask my mom for lunch from now on. She tried to offer it to me earlier but I didn’t want to take it. Now, as I poked the meatloaf that somehow deflated with a gross brown liquid trickling out the side, I couldn’t help but kick myself for declining. 

    “What? Of course he’s with Lexi! Of course!” She yelled, frustrated. “They are always together when he’s not working!” She screamed, banging her hand on the table. 

    “They’re just friends. They’ve known each other since they were babies. Besides, Lexi is with someone else. It’s pretty serious.” I said, knowing none of them know about Jaiden. Lexi didn’t want any of them judging her for being married and having a baby yet, because the humans just didn’t understand werewolves or what werewolves considered normal. They would have called Lexi slutty, Jaiden a playboy, and they would have said how much they feel sorry for Rhys, being born to such young parents. I could agree with Lexi’s way of thinking though. I’ve seen Lexi and Jaiden together enough to see how much they love each other, and how perfect they are together. It’s strange, seeing how close Zain and Jaiden were, especially after learning he had been engaged to Lexi all his life until Jaiden came. Most people would think Zain would hate Jaiden for that, but no. He became one of his best friends instead. 

    Carrie rolled her eyes, sitting back in her chair as she popped gum into her mouth. “Sure, right.” She muttered, lifting up her phone again and continuing to hound Zain. 

    Lana laughed nervously, slipping a strand of her blond hair behind her ear and reminding me once again of the dreams. “Well, um. I got the video, if you want to watch it.” She said softly. “It’s taken by my little sister, since I am a cheerleader so I had to cheer instead of holding the phone. But I told her to get lots of video time of you.” She said with a blush. 

    I nodded, feeling nervous as she fiddled with her phone. “You know, now that we’re back in school, I just wanted to tell you how much I’ve always liked you. I know you can’t remember anything, but I hope you’ll still consider being my boyfriend?” Lana asked as she found the video. 

    She was purposely not looking at me as she bit her lip, a blush on her face. I couldn’t help but feel weirded out by it all. I kept seeing the girl from my dreams, the feelings I felt for the girl when I woke up in the morning, and the fact that she looked so much like Lana was hard for me to ignore. Not sure what to do or say I shrugged, nodding. “Sure,” I muttered. Why not? It’s not like I can’t just break up with her if it doesn’t work out. 

    She gasped, her eyes wide as she blinked, looking up at me with a giant grin on her face. “Okay, um, that’s awesome. I’ve always liked you, Grayson, since we were little kids.” She said shyly, handing me her phone. 

    I nodded, not sure what to say to that, as I pressed the play button. It was strange, watching myself. Almost instantly I could see myself, but I could see Lana there too. She had a number drawn on her face, the same number as my jersey, and I nodded, believing her story of always liking me. Were we together before? Or almost together? It made sense, now that I think about it. She was the girl from the picture in my wallet, the one where she was holding my arm and gazing up at me. And here she was staring at me, cheering for me, and having my number on her. We must have been something, me and her. Or at least close to having something. It felt weird, indifferent, but whatever. It’s not like I was ever really going to remember anyway. I shouldn’t even be watching this. Look to the future, not the past. If mom was here, she’d smack me with something for even trying to remember, even still...I couldn’t help but be curious. Watching myself, the way I moved, the way I looked. It was like looking in a mirror, but watching the mirror have so much more confidence than I did. I could hear Lana cheering my name in the back as Zain passed me the ball, and the way I weaved and danced around everyone, it reminded me again about how Sabina told me I was a prodigy at fencing. I could see it, the way I moved, and I wondered how I’d do now. Could I still do that? 

    I watched as I passed the ball to Zain, and for a moment my heart stopped. The way I was watching him, even for a moment, the intensity in my eyes, I wasn’t sure what I was thinking. It was strange, but then the video cut to Zain, and I couldn’t stop myself from watching him. The way he jumped into the air, lining up the shot and rotating his body accordingly. The ball floated off of his fingertips, hitting the rim and falling through the hoop with a swish. For a moment Zain fell back to the ground, the brightest smile on his face, and then the video erupted in the shrill screams of excitement from the crowd as the buzzer sounded, indicating the end of the game. I gasped, intense pain flooding through my head as I banged my forehead into the table, scrunching my eyes tight with a groan. ‘I f*****g hate basketball,’ My voice echoed through my head, throbbing. I could hear Lana gasping as her phone fell to the ground, her hands gripping my shoulders, trying to get my attention. ‘The idea of never playing with him again, it makes me sad.’ my voice said, the pain and misery thick enough for even me to hear. What the hell was that? Was I talking about Zain? Why would it make me sad not to play with him again? Or was it someone else? What was going on? 

    “Grayson? Are you okay? Do you need me to get you anything?” Lana asked, bringing me back to the present. I needed to call Meridith, but first I needed some medicine. 

    “No, it’s okay. I’m going to the nurse’s office. I know where it is, I passed it on the way here.” I said to her, standing up shakily. 

    “Oh, okay. Well, don’t forget what we talked about.” Lana said, batting her eyelashes at me as I tried to stop the dizzy feeling splitting through me. I nodded, remembering the whole agreeing to be her boyfriend thing. It didn’t matter to me, none of that did. All I wanted right now was medicine, and to figure out what the hell was going on with me.