Ferocious

Chapter 13

Myth & Mysteries

Mythic Dale High was a school full of mysteries and monstrosities, much like the city its located and got its name from: Mythic Dale.

Astro discovered this fact on his very first week in school,

Aubrey was a sophomore so he had to enroll as a sophomore as well,

She was seventeen and he was eighteen but they both still looked fifteen and sixteen thanks to their genes and that was the number they left on their forms.

One other reason he enrolled to be in the same level as her, was because of his role as her bodyguard which he and her father had agreed to keep between them and not let her know.

They had most classes together save a few; for instance she favoured music and government where he favoured art and history,

He always tried to keep his distance so as not to appear as if he was hovering or stalking her,

but he always made sure he knew her location at any given time.

When he had started in school though he received the so called warm welcome from the jocks (otherwise popularly known as the bullies),

But they had quickly found out he wasn't a pushover like they had expected.

They came at him hard at the hallway, five strong well built athletes,

Astro had wondered why they came for him though, maybe they felt threatened by him.

Surrounding him in an arc, the one that seemed to be the leader came forward.

A spectacle was already gathering and Astro was not about to give them the victory here, he decided to come out strong.

So before the g**g leader could talk or do anything even, Astro slammed his locker closed so hard that every one of them jumped at the sound.

"Guys really?, its my first day and you won't even give me a free pass on the bullying? Really?" Astro asked sternly,

"Well tthats tthe point of bullying ain't it, so you won't enjoy your first day here, or any day after even" one answered,

he looked burly and dumb and Astro would later learn his name was Danny.

The leader spoke up then, Astro would later learn as well that his name was Jake.

"So how do you want this, right in the open or somewhere hidden like the restroom" he asked to which his g**g snickered,

they knew which he'd choose, what they do not know was that he'd been praying for a chance to get them alone because there is very little he could actually do in front of a crowd, "human eyes" to be precise.

"Ok then, I choose the restroom" he said trying to hide his relief and also trying to look dejected as well.

They surrounded him like an entourage: two in front, two in back and the leader leading them all,

Before they entered the restroom, one of them even entered to chase out everyone that was currently in.

Well, six people entered the restroom but only one came out.

When Astro came out he saw that the crowd hadn't dispersed, in fact it had grown, and they were jaw dropping surprised to see him heading out alone.

But he just left them there and went on to his classroom,

When the mob investigated, they found all five guys upside down with their heads inside a WC toilet seat each, all five toilets were occupied with jock heads.

The pictures taken of them made it to the school paper and came to humiliate them for the longest of time,

An investigation was carried out looking for the culprit, but no one came out to say who did it, not even the victims.

The incident became a total mystery as no one aside from the victims knew what had happened and the victims never spoke of it.

"Check out the new guy, ladies, I call dibs" Sasha the slay queen of their class had said pointedly to Aubrey and her group of friends on Astro's second day of school.

Aubrey had only scoffed in reply but Sasha took it as a challenge,

"I found out he works for your father so don't think that gives you an upper hand or something, I'm getting him first, so if you know whats good for you, you'll back off".

Aubrey was besides herself with frustration, sure she thinks he's cute and she loves how he's built moderately and also his grey eyes, oh she could just get lost in them...

Wait what was she doing thinking about him like that, urgh, Sasha really has a way of poking into someone's mind,

"Whatever Sash, bug off, I'm not interested" she replied her just to get her dismissed.

Astro had been in the class as well but he hadn't heard all that had transpired between Sasha and Aubrey,

Instead his focus was fixed on another lady at the front corner of the class beside the window overlooking the schoolyard.

She was brown skinned, and her hair was long and stark black,

Her body curved out elegantly and gracefully,

Even her movements were smooth and graceful, in one word she was catlike.

She was beautiful but it was obvious to Astro that she was trying really hard not to be noticed,

she hid her beauty by leaving her hair in tangles, she wore loose fitting clothes and had glasses with a large frame on to hide her honey brown eyes,

But it wasn't her beauty that had Astro's attention locked onto her,

No, that had just been something he noticed while being transfixed by her.

He felt threatened by her,

Her mere presence brought sweat to his brows and every movement she made, made him shiver a bit.

One time she'd turn a bit to look back and the hairs on his neck stood on end in pure fright,

He didn't know why this was so, but he knew she was no ordinary girl,

In fact she definitely had to be a shapeshifter.

While in school, Astro and Aubrey hardly had time to talk or even a reason to talk even,

He had wanted to discuss his findings with her,

How he'd discovered at least eight shapeshifters in their school and how one always frightened him senseless with just her prescence.

But he didn't get the chance to talk to her till the last day of his first week in school.

He had returned from school to find a note from the doctor saying he was away on urgent medical business to the next city and might not return that day.

Eventually he'd decided to close up after it got really late and it seemed there was no other thing to do.

As he was almost done cleaning, he heard the front door open and he checked to find Aubrey there,

He went cold, then warm, then cold again.

"Uhm, Hi Astro, if this is how you welcome your clients with speechlessness, then I fear for my fathers business" she said to him playfully.

"Oh not all clients are welcomed this way, only the pretty ones" he replied smoothly turning the situation around which earned him a blush from her.

"Right, I see" she said and unconsciously tucked her falling strands of hair behind her ear,

"Uhm I actually came for my father though, I can't reach him and he didn't tell me he was gonna be working late".

"Oh, he's out of town, he left a note for me as well stating he might not be back today" he replied her.

"Really? A note? Not even a text to me or something? Sometimes I think my dad is from the 14th century" she said a bit vexed at just finding out her father was out of town.

"Actually it sounded urgent so I don't think it was intentional on his part not to tell you" Astro supplied so she wouldn't feel bad.

"Well, its ok, guess I'll just head home then, turns out it'll be a lonely night" she replied and made for the door.

Astro saw his chance and flew at it "Aubrey wait, I actually had been meaning to talk to you".

"Really? What about?" she asked.

"Well, school and some other stuff as well" he replied,

"Hnmm ok.." she answered and he thought he detected a bit of disappointment in her voice,

"Let me just close up, I'll meet you outside and we can go somewhere to eat and talk" he stated once again trying to save the situation,

"Alright then, don't take long" she answered a bit gladly this time as she went to wait outside for him, 'guess it worked' Astro thought.

They went to the diner she had first taken him to when he just recovered,

Mickey's D was opened 24 hours, it was a convenient business setup since whatever was ordered just had to be freshly prepared.

The city also never sleeps hence there was always customers there, but tonight there were even fewer people here than expected.

While the duo waited for their meal they had an awkward light conversation over milkshakes then it turned serious as Astro needed to get his concerns laid out.

"Aubrey did you notice that there's shapeshifters in our school?" He started,

Aubrey looked around before replying him,

"Keep your voice low, and yes, there are supernatural beings in almost every part of this city, few tho but you'll find them about everywhere, including our school".

Astro was only just starting to get the hang of keeping his supernatural side a secret, but now he's learning that there are those not unlike he and Aubrey all over town?.

"How does that work? I mean they all have to hide as well, not get discovered and all right?" He asked,

"Of course, while there are those few humans who know about our existence, most others can't just handle it, so we're like a secret and exclusive community" she answered.

"I see, well there is the case of this girl in our class that I believe is a shapeshifter as well, Cory, did you know?" He asked,

"Yes I know and I know about almost all the other supernatural beings in our school or as you like to call us shapeshifters" she replied calmly as she ate her fries casually as if it wasn't a big deal to have a shapeshifter in the same class,

then he thought about it and realized he probably was the one overreacting (probably because of his secret job as her bodyguard) and this was just a normal everyday deal for her.

"Hmm I see, I guess it isn't really complicated then, stay secret, live your normal life, no fuss" he stated.

"Well not all the time, sometimes there's clashes either between packs or just between individuals or incidents with humans too" she cleared.

"Ok, I get it, one thing I don't get tho is why I always feel really frightened around Cory, its vexing really" he reluctantly confessed,

"Wait what? Cory frightens you? Hmm, not what I expected at all, but it might be that you've not been involved with her kind before, she's a werepanther" Aubrey stated.

As she said that it felt as if he had been hit on the head with a sledge hammer, his head rang with so much pain he had to hold his head.

"What's wrong, Astro are you okay?" Aubrey rushed to his side filled with worry, knocking his unfinished meal aside.

"You're wrong, I think I've been very involved with her kind before in the past" Astro said with gritted teeth through the pain.

Flashes of his past burned in his head, werepanthers, battle, death.

They left the diner then, they had to because the headache wouldn't subside.

Aubrey took him back to the clinic as his headache won't let up and seemed to be impairing his motion senses.

He kept seeing the flashes of memories he could make no sense of,

Aubrey laid him down on his bed after giving him pain meds, she wondered what could've triggered this reaction again,

As far as she knows it had been a while since he had experienced even the slight throbbing in his head when he tried to recall his lost memories.

Something about Cory and werepanthers? She couldn't be sure,

But she hoped he'd get better, she didn't like seeing him in pain so she hoped he would get better even if it means getting his memories back.

For a while she didn't want that because it meant he would probably have to go away but now she realized if they can't even have a meal conversation without him getting like this, then it isn't worth it.

She had always kept an eye on him whenever they were in close proximity without being obvious and now, that had been made easier by his decision to enroll in school.

She felt responsible for him, probably because she had been the one to find him when he was near death but also because he made her feel safe,

she couldn't describe how she felt that way or why she felt that way even, but there was something about him that made her feel that way, she just didn't know what it was.

She sat next to him on the bed and watched him as he got relieved but he kept mumbling some things to himself,

She held his hand then, trying to comfort him but he wouldn't stop mumbling though so she decided to get closer and pick off a few words,

She must've been really tired than she thought she was because as she laid her head next to his in a bid to hear the words he was saying, she slept off right next to him.