• I ran the crisp, cool Monday night. I usually ran on Fridays, blowing away all the stress and steam from the week. But today was different. I needed to run. Needed to feel the cool wind lowing across my cheeks and through my hair. Monstrous paws thudded the ground, angry tears running down furry cheeks. “People fear what they don’t understand, El. They fear our differences.” My brother’s words ran through my head. I growled loudly, “Then why won’t they leave me alone?” I leaped over a fallen log in the dense forest path. Of course it wasn’t Demetri’s fault that I had been picked on again today. It was Jamul and his posse, Briona and hers. Thinking about it got me so angry that my pulse raged and I sped along the path. I hated school. Hated my life. I wanted to stay home everyday and watch cartoons, like I did on the weekends. I stopped. Home. That was something to want.
    I shifted, midnight black fur replaced with long wispy midnight feathers. My wolf-shaped crystal blue eyes turned to hawk-shaped crystal blue eyes. A muzzle was replace with a long beak. I cawed and took flight, soaring towards my apartment building: towards the open, welcoming window on the top floor. I flew through it and landed on my brother’s shoulder. He smiled without looking up while stirring the boiling pot of noodles. “Hello Elizabeth. Is it a nice night out?” I spread my wing and cleaned it with my beak.
    Someone knocked at the door and I flew off his shoulder and into my room. I shifted back into my human form: long midnight hair, and crystal blue eyes, medium height, thin. I looked just like my brother. I was only a year younger than him. I had my old clothes on, jeans and a black t-shirt. I heard the door shut and I walked back in, “Who was it?”
    “The UPS. We got a package.” I nodded and eyed the brown cardboard box on the couch. It was from Mom. It always was. Demetri set a bowl or ramen on the small, shabby table. I went to the creaky refrigerator and grabbed two colas and the sweet and sour sauce. Demetri flicked on the radio. We both sat down at the same time, I slid him his drink and poured sauce on my food. Demetri did the same. We swayed to the heavy rack music, singing along with the words we knew. This is how dinner usually went. Afterwards, Demetri cleaned up and I went to bed.

    I got ready for school at four forty-five in the morning. I took a shower, got dressed, brushed my teeth, ate a small breakfast, and checked my things to make sure that all of the bits and pieces I needed everyday was there. Today was going to be just like every other day. I’d get picked on. My brother would smile and wave whenever he saw me, trying to make me feel better. Teachers wouldn’t do anything while I got pushed around. The usual.
    I always left before Demetri because he always took the bus. He never got picked on. He was a senior, I was junior, he had lots of friends, and I had none. I shifted into an eagle, arms flattening into wings and feathers erupting from my skin, and flew out the window, towards the city park. My backpack was light against my back as my wings flapped. I landed on the back of a bench and shifted back. I sat for a minute. I may have hated my life, but I loved shifting. Feeling the freedom that animals felt. The freedoms of flying without planes, the freedom of swimming without scuba gear, of running without getting out of breath.
    I wasn’t far from school so I usually just started walking from here, but the instincts that I’ve developed told me to wait. A slight breeze blew. I leaned my face into it gazing at the star-filled sky before the sun rose and cloaked them in light.
    “Excuse me.” I looked at the boy walking slowly up to the bench; he was my height, maybe a few inches taller and had the same color hair. It was messy, curls covering his forehead and kissing his hazel eyes. He was dressed in a black long sleeved shirt and jeans, like I was, the uniform for our high school. One arm was up to hold his backpack on his shoulder while the other was holding a crumpled piece of paper and his face wore a confused expression. I stared at him; he looked my age, “Yes?” He looked down at the paper again and stepped closer, “I’m trying to find the high school . . . but I think I messed up the directions.” He passed me the paper but I refused it. “I go to the high school, but it’s still too early to go. Nobody’s there. I’ll show you when it opens.” He nodded and sat down. I looked up at the stars again, catching a few before they faded away. I recognized a few constellations, but not many.
    The sunlight peeked through the tree branches. I stood on the bench and jumped off, “C’mon. School out to be open now.” I looked back at him and smiled. He stood and walked next to me, “I’m Alex, by the way,” he stuck out his hand and I shook it, “El.” He smiled and walked next to me all the way to the school, nodding as I showed him landmarks on the path.
    ~ ~ ~
    We talked about normal things. We liked the same bands and music, we liked the same television shows, we were a mix of indoor/outdoor people, and overall we were very similar. I showed him the school and walked him inside. “No one’s really here yet. I just don’t like to be late.” I didn’t tell him it was because I didn’t want to be walking to school when other people were, in case Jamul or Briona’s group just happened to be walking by. He nodded, not really believing my excuse. I pointed him to the office and walked to my class. I sighed once he was out of sight, he was the one person who looked at me and didn’t pick me apart or try to trip me. Maybe I would get lucky enough to see him again when I walked to school.
    I took my window seat in the back of the classroom plopping my backpack on the floor, away from most of the other kid’s seats. When I saw Marcus, Jamul’s right hand man, walk in I quickly diverted my gaze out the window, hoping he would ignore me. Usually, most of the followers of Jamul and Briona waited until they were here to pick on me, wanting to show off for their leaders, like a pack of animals. Everyone in the class picked a side on the first day of school, Jamul or Briona. It was half and half; I would have been the tiebreaker. Only I didn’t choose. I didn’t want to be like them, picking on someone different or smaller than me. They were pissed when I told them I’d rather be picked on myself, so that’s what they did. I became the prey of the savage school packs.
    More kids came pouring into the room. I took out one of my books, Unleashed by Kristopher Reisz, and began reading. “Hey dip$#!+.” I felt someone slap my head and looked up. I was met with the familiar face of too much makeup and blue weave mixed with dyed purple hair, Briona. Briona used to be a pretty girl in the fourth grade, I know, I saw her picture. She had beautiful cocoa skin and long onyx hair. But she dyed it purple; put in bright blue weaves, and plastered her innocent face with gobs of intense makeup. She grinned evilly at me and walked four desks to the left to her seat. I went back to reading my book as they whispered about me.
    “Settle down. You had time to talk last night.” It was Mr. Jipp, our first period math teacher. He was an aged man with coffee brown hair that the gray had started to take over. He had a nice face though; hardly any wrinkles, inviting yet mysterious hazel eyes: the way a teacher should look. Everyone turned their attention towards him, except for the few that decided that they would rather throw wads of paper at me. “Stop throwing the paper. I’m serious, pay attention! I have an announcement.”
    My jaw dropped when Alex walked in. He handed Mr. Jipp a piece of paper and smiled at me when he saw me. “This is Alexander Newton.”
    “Alex”
    “Right. Take a seat anywhere.” Mr. Jipp waved his hand, shooing him away. He walked over and took a seat in the open desk next to me. I looked at him and answered the smile that was on his face with one of my own.