THE WOLF IN THE SHADOWS

Chapter 8

Loren's POV

I had the urge to go to Elyssa

right now and tell her everything, but I stayed glued to the couch, watching the guys play games. How long have they been playing since I was dazed?

As if Kenny heard me, he paused the game and looked "Something wrong, Loren?"

"Nah," I shook my head and

grabbed a remote. "Just dazed

again. Nothing to worry about.

Let's play!" I said with as much

enthusiasm as possible.

I won, the game was over. Brady

challenged me to a fight outside,

but my mom interrupted. "There

will be no fighting in or around

this house, boys," she said in a

motherly voice. "Going to see

Elyssa?" She turned to me with a

smile on her face.

"Yeah, I guess," I said.

"Take them with you." She

pointed her chin at Brady, Aaron and Kenny. "Qari and I are going

shopping." She smiled.

"Okay."

I insisted we go now since

there's really nothing else to do.

When we reached her porch,

there was a car in the front that

we surely didn't recognize.

Before I could knock on the door, Elyssa opened the door, and she was laughing, but she stopped

laughing when she saw me.

"Loren?

"Are you not happy to see me?"

I smirked.

"Of course I'm happy." She looked behind the door. "Actually, you all came at a good time. Come right in." She moved out the way, and we came in. She led us up-stairs where she opened her

bed-room door.

"Guys," she said, and our eyes

landed on 2 girls.

Elyssa's POV

I laughed at the guys expression on their faces. Brady, Kenny, and Aaron's eyes were wide, and their mouths were hanging open, looking at Clara and Mel.

Clara and Mel stopped laughing and turned to look who was at the door. "Hey.....Loren,"

Clara said. They were both

looking back between the four hot looking guys at the door.

"Um... " Mel said.

"Loren, Kenny, Aaron, and

Brady, this is Mel, my cousin, and

this is Clara. Clara and Mel, this

is Kenny, Brady, Aaron, and you

know Loren, Clara," I introduced

them to each-other. "Go ahead,

get comfortable," I said turning to everyone.

Hush!, I totally forgot about Darren and R.Jay. They came into the room. Darren's eyes landed on Loren. Loren sat next to me on the ground; he had his arm behind me as if his arm was around me.

R.Jay smiled at everyone and

waved.

"Oh, guys, this is Darren and

R.Jay, my friends," I said.

"Sup," everyone said. But Darren gave Loren a death glare, and Loren gave one back.

"Be nice," I whispered low to Loren. Loren smirked beside me.

"I'll still be expecting to meet you," he whispered against my

ear, and it made me shiver.

I cleared my throat. "So, what does everyone want to do today?"

"Let's go to the mall!" Clara and

Mel yelled together. I laughed.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," the

boys said. Except for R.Jay, he

was smiling like a dork.

We went to mall all the way

in Calumet City, River Oaks. Mel

and Clara totally gushed when Aaron and Brady walked next to them, and started talking to them.

Little'ole Kenny, and R.Jay were by them-selves. I have no idea how that's going to work out.

Darren was by him-self in the

back, and had ear-phones in his

ear.

"Hey, guys, I'll be in the Leather Co. if you need me," he shouted.

"Okay," we shouted too.

"Since when did he get all into

Leather?" I asked Mel and R.Jay.

They shrugged. "Didn't you see

him in a leather jacket when he

came?"

I shook my head. He must have

taken it off or something because

I didn't see anything.

"Hey, everyone we'll split up.

You guys go do whatever, and us

girls will do our things," I yelled

Over the loud people in the crowd.

"Okay."

The first place us girls went into is Wet Seal, a girl's best-friend store.

"How about this?" Mel came out of the dressing room with the hottest baby blue top ever. It looked cow-girl-ish.

"Kenny would be all over you

with that," Clara said. She came

out in a ruffly mini-skirt. "And I

think Aaron would be all over me,too," she gushed also.

"What about you, Elyssa? We'll

help you find something beautiful," they said.

I rolled my eyes, and I let them

throw a bunch of clothes at me in

the dressing room and told me to do a fashion show. I did what they said, and it was actually kind of fun.

After we all bought one or two outfit, we rushed into Bath and Body Works. It smelled like

Cinnamon, and Blossoms and

Strawberries, and Mangos, and

Satsuma and all kinds of delicious things!

We bought tons of shower gels,

lotions, perfume and even lip gloss. Just when we were done

paying, we saw the guys come in

and smile at us.

"Hey!" we said. "Did you guys

have fun?"

"Yeah," Brady through up his

fist and started pumping it. "Did

you?" Kenny asked.

We held up our bags. We had like 3 full bags in each hand. "Well, that answers your question," Aaron said.

We got back home, and Loren

and his buddies had to go. "Man,

I hope your mom cooked. I'm

starving," Kenny said. Brady's

stomach growled in agreement.

"Bye, you guys. Bye, Elyssa. I

hope to see you tomorrow," Loren said and they left. I turned

around, and got smacked with a

pillow.

"What the-"

"How come you didn't tell me

that Loren was the one you were

going to meet tomorrow?" Mel

yelled. Then, Clara smacked me

in the butt with a pillow.

"How come you didn't tell me

you were meeting him?" she

yelled.

"Why am I getting hit with a

pillow?!" Then they both hit me.

Then R.Jay hit me with a pillow, too. "How come you didn't tell us there were boys coming Over?"

My eyes widened. Darren was

the only one who didn't hit me

with a pillow. But he still asked

a question. "And how come

you didn't tell me you had a

boyfriend?" he half-smiled.

"Oh, so this is 'Bug Elyssa with

tons of questions, and hit her

with a pillow?" I yelled. Then

everyone threw pillows at me as I ducked in cover.

I grabbed the pillows they threw at me, and I threw it at all of them. "Ha!"

I haven't had a pillow fight in

months. I miss this; hanging out

with my friends and my cousin,

goofing around, smiling a lot, and laughing till I cry.

"I give! I give!" I said. We all

crashed out on the ground, crying and laughing and breathing hard.

I noticed that Darren laid awful

close to me. So close, that if I

wanted to, I could grab his hand.

"Feewh! I haven't had a pillow

fight since you left," Mel said and

pretended to wipe sweat off of

her forehead.

"Yeah. It's tiring," R.Jay said.

Then he suddenly asked me, "Elyssa, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked. I turned my head to look at him, and he wanted to be alone.

"Okay," I said, getting up, and

walking to my closet. I mean, hey,

my closet is as big as my room, so why not talk private in here?

When R.Jay came in, he closed the door, turning slowly to look at me.

"So?" I asked.

"Um...I have something to tell

you," he said, coming closer to

me.

"Okay? Spill"

He looked at me with his cute big eyes, from under his long-lashes. He inhaled deep like he was going to tell me a lot of things. But then he exhaled, and closed his eyes.

"I'm straight, again."

My mouth flew open.