Full Moon by W.J. May

wrong time.
    “ Perhaps…” Caleb rubbed his chin, his eyebrows drawn close
together. He stood. He was a lot taller than I originally thought,
at least half a foot taller than Michael. “We must remain aware of
our surroundings and be cognisant of any possible threats. Grace
and Michael will keep an eye on you, and we shall see if this
grollic has any other intentions. Perhaps it was
hungry.”
    The way Caleb
looked at me—or through me—I felt like some carnivore’s dinner,
nothing more. I gasped and took a step back. He strode by me,
without a second glance, to his office, the antique door closing
with a cold click from the brass doorknob made me jerk.
    “ It’s just some freak of nature, some kind of wild animal.
Caleb talks as if the thing can think and plan an attack. Animals
can’t do that.” I spoke to no one in particular. Who’re you trying to convince? Them or
yourself?
    Michael
slipped an arm around my shoulders. “Nothing happened last night
and nothing’s going to happen to you. I promise.”
    “ It was definitely a one-off.” I loved it that I believed him.
He made me feel…safe.
    Thank goodness
school started without a hitch. No monsters came knocking at my
door. I did joke with Grace, with me practically sleeping at her
place all the time, a grollic could’ve come but bolted when it got
to my neighborhood.
    It sucked but
I barely saw Michael. Caleb apparently had him travelling for
work.
    Simon made it
his priority to introduce me to everyone at school. While the
weather stayed warm, a group of us sat in the courtyard every lunch
break.
    One Friday,
near the end of October, the guys, being their usual rowdy selves,
started a game.
    “ Rouge,” Simon said. “Are you going to come with me to the
Halloween Masquerade?”
    Before I could
think of an excuse not to go, Damon dragged Simon to a desk chair
he’d set in the middle of the courtyard.
    “ Help me set this up. Then let’s jump over it.” Damon pointed
at us gals sitting together. “You ladies keep score.” All the guys
scrambled over to join them, each one easily clearing the chair.
Soon two, then three chairs were lined up. When a few guys knocked
out, Damon dragged a picnic table to replace the chairs. He scraped
his foot in the grass to make a line ten feet away. He declared
they had to stand behind the muddy line. The remaining three
cleared the table sideways. They turned the table long. After Damon
and Simon barely cleared it, they pulled two together.
    I leaned
toward Grace. “Maybe they should fill their pants with rolls of
toilet paper.”
    “ What’s that Red?” Damon paused in his work and grinned at his
nickname for me. “Chumming up to your little pal?” He glared at
Grace. “It’s obvious Red’s you’re new little Barbie doll. Poor
new-gal didn’t stand a chance once you sunk your claws in
her.”
    How old was
this guy, nine? “I have a brain, thank-you. I’m a Barbie. Maybe
you’re just jealous she wouldn’t let you be her Ken?”
    He stepped
forward and leaned down, his face inches from mine, hot breath
hitting my cheeks. “What’d you just say?”
    My courage
flew out the window. I dropped my gaze. His eyes were red, nostrils
flared, lips curled in a nasty smile. I locked on his neck where a
birthmark, which also looked angry, peeked out from the edge of his
polo shirt near the buttons.
    Simon pulled
Damon back. “Leave her alone. You’re scaring the poor girl.”
    I gasped for
air, not realizing I’d held it. With a shaky hand, I covered my
mouth, not sure what else to do.
    Damon blinked
and jerked his arm out of Simon’s grip. “Whatever. Sorry, Red.”
    “ You’re such a jerk, Damon.” Grace grabbed my arm and led me
inside by the elbow. “You okay?”
    Leaning
against the cool, cement bricked wall, I tried to calm my nerves.
“Bit insecure, isn’t he?”
    Grace laughed.
“I usually just try to ignore him.”
    “ How do you ignore someone so big?”
    “ And ugly?”
    I