Chapter 2

The interior of the house was very warm and homely. Pictures of a happy family of three hung on the wall, as well as portraits of aunt Camille, her husband and son. Colorful bouquets of flowers in stylish flower vases were littered across the house and there was a bookshelf dedicated to awards and medals. There were a lot of awards and medals.

"My husband was a scientist and he won many awards, both nationally and internationally," aunt Camille told me when she noticed me staring at the shiny plaques and medals.

Her husband was a good man, and though I didn't know him personally, I was sad to find out about his demise. He called me every year on my birthday and sent me birthday presents and sometimes Christmas presents too. I really missed hearing his voice this past year.

Aunt Camille called her son, Andre, downstairs to help me take my things to my room. Andre hopped down the stairs and hugged me. We were definitely around the same age and the same height but he was a bit skinnier than I was.

"What's up, cuz. We finally meet," he greeted cheerfully.

"Um, my name is Chad, not cuz," I corrected and he chuckled.

"I know. Cuz is a slang for cousin."

"Oh."

"Come on, your room's this way," he said as he picked up one of my bags and went upstairs. I followed him to my room and he unlocked it for us to enter.

It was not a very big room and was definitely not as big as my room back home. It was simply decorated and had all the furnishings a room needed. It also had a bouquet of flowers sitting pretty in a vase in a corner of the room. This was surely Aunt Camille's doing.

"How do you like your new room?" Andre asked.

I nodded. "It's pretty nice."

"My mom decorated it herself, as you must have already noticed." We chuckled.

"Yeah, no kidding."

And so we started talking, and for most of the conversation, we talked about me. Andre was so curious to find out about me, which was expected because he had never met a werewolf before. I answered him with what he needed to know and the things he didn't need to know, I kept to myself.

"Alright boys, you'll have all the time in the world to catch up or whatever. Why don't you come down for dinner before it gets cold," Aunt Camille called and we went downstairs.

I couldn't believe we had been up here long enough for Aunt Camille to prepare dinner. She had laid dinner on the table and was already seated by the time we got downstairs. She smiled at us and gestured for us to sit. We sat at either side of her.

"What is this?" I asked, staring at the meal before me.

"Vermicelli, it's a kind of pasta," Aunt Camille explained. "You should try it, it's really nice."

"I can't eat this," I said, pushing the food away, shocking Aunt Camille and  Andre who stopped eating.

"Then what would you like to eat?"

"Anything that doesn't look like an earthworm," I answered and Andre snorted.

"Real funny, Chad," Aunt Camille drawled.

"I'll just have fresh juice, thank you." I picked up the glass of juice in front of me and took a drink only to spit it out because it wasn't what I was expecting. "This isn't even fresh juice," I complained.

"You think we live in a farm or something?" Andre asked sarcastically.

"Then I'll just have water." I downed the glass of water in front of me and poured myself another.

Aunt Camille and Andre looked at each other before continuing their meal.

"I'm sorry for reacting that way, I'm not saying your food is bad or anything. It's just that I can't eat something that looks so weird."

"Would you like some dessert instead?" Aunt Camille offered.

"No thanks, I'm good."

"You know, Andre was excited when he found out that you were coming to live with us. It's safe to say that he's tired of me," Aunt Camille said to me.

"I wish I could go live with his pack," Andre said and his mother stiffened.

"There is no way you are going to live with a bunch of werewolves, not after what they did to your aunt," she snapped.

"No offense Andre," she added.

"None taken."

By now, I had gotten so used to Aunt Camille blaming my pack for killing my mom that I couldn't even take offense anymore. She was still sour over it so I guess it was fine to let her express herself.

"Why can't I go live with them when Chad can come here to live with us?" Andre insisted.

"This is not up for debate, Andre. They are not humans, at least not completely. They are more dangerous than we are."

"If they are so dangerous, why did you let Chad come here?"

"Because he's my nephew."

"And Uncle Bryan isn't my uncle?"

"Andre, we have had this argument so many times, and I won't let it come up again."

"Why, cause you know you're wrong and are just being paranoid?" Andre retorted, causing Aunt Camille to grimace.

"Andre!"

He threw his fork on the table and stormed upstairs, ignoring mine and his mom's calls. 

"I'm sorry you had to witness this on your first day here. Your cousin can be quite stubborn sometimes, but he'll come around," Aunt Camille said to me.

I went to my room to unpack and get ready for bed. My phone rang just as I was about to fall asleep. It was my dad. He was upset that I didn't call him when I arrived Aunt Camille's house and wanted to know how I was doing, and if I was being treated well. I could hear Aidan's voice in the background telling him to calm down. Adrian was there, it was no wonder dad was able to dial my number correctly.

After trying but failing to convince me to change my mind about coming back home, dad gave up. I spoke with Aidan and made him promise to spend more time with my dad so he wouldn't feel my absence or miss me much. Before we ended the call, dad reminded me of my promise to return to the pack every month for trainings. I knew he only wanted me to come back because he would miss me deeply and not because of the importance of the training.

Aunt Camille then came into my room with a glass of juice. She sat on my bed and handed me the glass.

"It's freshly squeezed, I made it just for you," she told me when I hesitated. I took the glass from her and took a sip. It was fresh juice indeed. I took a swig, then another, and another, until I emptied the glass.

"I couldn't let you go to bed without having something. Goodnight Chad," she said as she took the glass from me and left the room.

***

I woke up to the sound of an alarm clock ringing nonstop. I didn't remember setting an alarm before going to bed. I got an idea of who could have done this when I opened my eyes and found Aunt Camille smiling down at me.

"Rise and shine, Chad. I placed this alarm clock here so you could wake up early enough to get ready for school."

I stared back at her incredulously. "I have to go to school?"

"Of course, you can't lie around at home all day. But not to worry, you'll be going to the same school as Andre."

I didn't like the idea of going to school. It was already bad enough that I had to undergo annoying trainings back home, and now I had to attend school. When did this end?

"Come on, get up, you don't wanna be late on your first day of school. The bathroom's at the end of the hall," Aunt Camille said and left my room.

I turned off the alarm clock and groggily got out of bed. I made my way to the bathroom with my toothbrush, dreading the very thought of school. I have heard so much about high school and never imagined that I would be attending one. And why did one have to wake up so early for school? It was going to take a lot of time for me to adjust to this new lifestyle.

Andre was already having breakfast when I got downstairs, I noticed it was the same pasta we had for dinner and he was wearing a uniform. They wore uniforms in high school?

"Yo, mom didn't even let you get a day off." He laughed.

"Andre, be nice."

"There's nothing nice about school. You could have at least let him decide whether he wanted to go to school when you knew he didn't attend school before now."

"Chad, I'm sorry, I woke up a bit later than I usually do so I had to microwave last night's leftover for breakfast and I didn't have the time to squeeze you a glass of fresh orange juice, but if you'd like a sandwich—"

"I'm good, I'll just have these," I said, picking up some oranges from the kitchen counter.

"Oh Chad—"

"You could have considered getting him homeschooled," Andre continued while I started to peel an orange.

"Now if he's being homeschooled, how is he going to meet new people and make friends?" Aunt Camille asked. "He's in a new environment, he needs to socialize, not isolate himself at home. Also, I already paid his tuition."

"Whatever you say, mom," Andre drawled and continued eating.

I had just finished eating one of my oranges and was about peeling another when Aunt Camille suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my! It's seven thirty and you kids need to be at school by eight!"

Andre rolled his eyes as if to say 'who cares?'.

She set about looking for her car keys and ordered us to get into her car so she could drive us to school before heading to work. Andre and I got into the car but had to wait a good five minutes before she found her car keys and came rushing out of the house.

"You know, if we had even walked to school, we would have gotten there before you found your keys," Andre quipped.

"Real funny, Andre."

Aunt Camille entered the car and started it, but it refused to start. Andre threw his hands up in exasperation.

"You should have just let us finish our breakfast," he complained. "Did you even take this car to the mechanic?"

"I totally forgot! I'll stop at the mechanic on my way to work."

"You always forget important things, that is why I suggested you set reminders but you refused. Who does that?"

I watched in amusement as Aunt Camille and Andre went back and forth, it was kind of cute and I envied their relationship. I could never be this free with my dad. The car finally started and they stop arguing.

On the way to school, Aunt Camille started to give me words of advice and encouragement. She advised me to stay away from the frat boys and g**ja smokers because they could ruin my life. I had no clue who she was referring to, but I nodded anyway.

She dropped us off at school and instructed Andre to ensure I got my uniform before driving off.

"You ready?" Andre asked me as we walked into the school building together.