Free Magic of the Moonlight: A Full Moon Novel by Ellen Schreiber

annoying cackle.
    “Besides, we offered to take him home,” Nash said. “Jake and Dylan, too. Wasn’t that nice of us?”
    “I think it was really nice,” Heidi interjected. “He took me home.”
    I turned away and headed back to Brandon’s locker.
    “She’s not even that athletic,” Abby said, catching me at the locker. “She can’t do a cartwheel, much less the splits. I don’t know how she’s a cheerleader.”
    “Yes,” Ivy said, “and I guess you don’t have to take an IQ test to get on the squad.”
    Even though deep down I wasn’t truly jealous that Nash was hanging out with another girl, it was so nice to have my two friends defend me. I was hoping they’d do the same for Brandon.
    “I have to go get some towels,” I said.
    “Why?” Ivy asked.
    “I want to wipe this off.”
    “Celeste, you’ll get dirty,” she said. “Let the janitor take care of it.”
    “I don’t want Brandon to see this. How would you feel if you got to your locker and someone had written WOLFMAN on it?”
    Ivy thought. “That wouldn’t make sense. I’m a girl.”
    But Abby got my point, and I think she still felt indebted to Brandon for rescuing her dog because she said, “C’mon, Ivy, let’s help.”
    She and Ivy followed me into the bathroom and grabbed paper towels and soaked half of them in soap and water. We returned to find Jake and Dylan standing by the locker, beaming.
    Abby pushed them aside, and we started to wash the paint off.
    “What are you doing?” Jake asked.
    “What you should be doing,” Ivy said.
    “Are you crazy? Stop that.”
    He tried pulling his girlfriend away from the locker, but she refused.
    “Get off,” she said.
    “You too,” Dylan said to Abby. “Someone will see you.”
    “I think everyone sees us,” she said, referring to the small crowd that had gathered around us.
    “Why are you both defending him, too?” Jake asked. “It was wrong of you to bring another dude to the party. Don’t you know how that looks?”
    “I invited him,” Abby said, putting some muscle into her scrubbing.
    “Fine, you’ve done enough,” Dylan said. “But you both are doting on him just as much as Celeste is.”
    “Are you crazy?” Abby asked. “We are so not.”
    “And what if they are?” I asked.
    Just then I noticed Brandon walking down the hallway. A few howls came from the crowd.
    Brandon looked slightly embarrassed and more than annoyed with the students’ wolf cries. When he approached his locker, we were just finishing up.
    “What’s going on?” he asked, upset with what he saw.
    “We were just cleaning lockers,” I said. “It is part of our school renewal program.”
    “You girls don’t have to,” he said.
    “We’re almost done—” Abby said.
    “You are done,” Dylan directed.
    “You too,” Jake added. They took the towels from the girls and led them away from Brandon.
    The crowd dispersed and I stood alone with Brandon, holding the blackened towel in my hand. My hair hung down in my face, and I had a few smudges on my sweater.
    He gently lifted the piece of hair from my face and brushed it back. I felt a million chills surge through me. We locked eyes, and I was sure he was going to kiss me. Right there, in front of his locker, near meandering students, in full view of my friends.
    The bell rang, and the hallway filled with students. Ivy came over to me and guided me back to our lockers. The last thing I was going to focus on was learning academics. There was only one thing I was going to think about and that was Brandon.
    *  *  *
    After a few more days of the wolf calls, I could see the harassment was taking its toll on Brandon. Though he tried to hide it, he seemed to be a bit agitated and almost depressed. I couldn’t bear silent witness to it any longer.
    “Where are you going?” Ivy asked when I didn’t go in the direction of our table.
    “I think we should sit somewhere else today,” I said, trying for nonchalance. I acted like it