Free Year of the Witch by Charla Layne Page B

me.

Chapter Three
     
                “Well, I have no idea who or what it was,” I hissed to Rachel in her ear as I pulled her into the hallway off of the cafeteria.  “But here is what it was covered in!” I threw handfuls of the fur at her for dramatic effect.           
                “Eeewww, ok, that is absolutely disgusting,” she said, as she brushed at her clothes and at the tufts of hair floating in the air around her.  “Maybe it was a stray dog.”               “Right.  Just roaming in the school hallways?  Doubtful.  Try again.”
                “Ok, um…perhaps a werewolf?”  Rachel glanced at me, waiting for my response on that one.  “I mean seriously, if there are witches here, there could be werewolves.”
                “I’ll accept your default logic; however, there is no record of werewolves existing any where near this portion of the United States for about the last two hundred years, “ I confidently informed her.  “Got anything else?”                                                                                  I hadn’t heard anyone walk up behind us in the dark hallway, but I certainly heard her comment right then.
                “Shape shifter,” said Devon Black.  “That’s my guess.  It about knocked me down, too, in the parking lot.  Looked like an overgrown dog.”
                I was surprised to see Devon here.  School festivities really weren’t her thing, and I couldn’t imagine why she would be here to help decorate for the spring dance. 
                “What are you doing here?” I asked her point blank.  We had decided long ago that we would tolerate each other, but we didn’t have to take it so far as to pretend to actually like each other.                                                                                                                         “I could ask you the same thing, Sayter.”  Devon stared at me hard enough that I had to turn away from her or continue being really uncomfortable.
                “Girls,” said Rachel in her annoyingly upbeat and sweet voice, “none of that.”  Rachel hated being left to referee any incidents between the two of us.  “I invited Devon here, Trina.  She’s going to help us with the dance.”                                                                                    “Whatever,” I mumbled, as I grabbed another handful of the fur and slid it into the side pocket of my purse.  I wanted my grandmother to get a look at it to tell me her thoughts on the creature-dog-thing. 
                “Hey, what do you think that furry thing was doing in the school building anyway?” asked Rachel.  “I mean you think it would go outside to shift or whatever.”
                “Maybe it’s still learning,” said Devon thoughtfully.  “You know, like us.  We’re still learning our spells and fine tuning our craft and powers.  Maybe whatever it was is new at this whole shifting thing and can’t control it yet.”
                “You know, Devon,” I said to her and sighed, “I might have to actually agree with you on this one.  My guess is that our new furry friend is probably a student here like us and just learning how to control what happens and when.”
                “Cool,” said Devon.  “A real shape shifter in our school.  I can’t wait to figure out who he is and start dating him.  I mean, it had to be a guy with the kind of strength it had to knock you down, right?”
                “Um, sure,” I agreed. “But why