Chapter 3: Nice to Meat You

A couple weeks later, Sasha helped aid her grandmother in doing chores. The mystery behind the identity of the werewolf remained unresolved, but Sasha carefully read the pictures of the book on her phone; however, some of the handwriting and resolution of her camera made it difficult to read. She was able to confirm some of the comments Sheriff Cooper said to be true. Over a hundred pages of missing persons investigations none of which having a very happy endings. More importantly, there were descriptions of how they treated the body and how they covered up each and every one. She skimmed through a majority of the pages hoping to find any new interesting tidbits, but every time someone came into her room she would lose her place after quickly shutting off her phone.

She was plagued with nightmares about being hunted down and running in the dark forest. It would either end in her getting tackled, tripping, or running into a dead end. Only a couple times were she successful in fighting off or jumping off a cliff, but the beast would continue and wear her down. She did not like going to sleep, and the howling always heightened her anxiety. She did not want to wear her new wolf shirts, and she kept as far away as possible from her wolf plushies.

She grew nervous about going to school as any new kid would be; although, she were especially nervous about the prospect of being near a potential assailant. She had already been to her school at an open house, which her brother would be in the next room. She worried about her brother being bullied, but she was not going to plant that seed of negativity into his head.

As her grandparents pulled into the driveway to the school tucked away in the forest, she fidgeted with the trigger to the automatic windows before her grandmother looked up in the mirror. She stopped and grabbed her backpack arbitrarily going through every pocket and compartment in an effort to distract herself. "Sasha? You'll like it here...don't you fret" her grandmother said cheerfully.

They parked in the gravel parking lot in front of a large a frame school house. Attached to it was a shelter with a playground and a field. As they walked in the front door a friendly secretary was waiting behind a desk watching them with a big inviting smile. "Oh great! You're just in time!" she said before she paged their teachers.

Todd's teacher was a skinny tall dirty blonde gentleman in his late forties sporting a mustache with waxed curled tips. "Howdy ho! Are you ready to go?" he said with enthusiasm. Todd looked between his grandmother and Sasha nervously.

Sasha's teacher was in very good shape and was just as nice as the secretary. She waved her over eagerly, which Sasha slowly dragged her feet across the carpet while trying to separate Todd's death grip from her hip. Her teacher giggled to herself as Sasha lifted her knee using it as leverage to pry him off of her.

Her teacher snickered and glanced over at Todd's teacher. "Keep an eye on him" she said before she escorted Sasha into the classroom. Sasha hung her backpack on a hook on the wall, which she noticed a giant lunch box underneath one of the backpacks. Her teacher walked over to her desk and all the students in the room took notice and went quiet before her teacher looked over at her. "Class this is Sasha, she moved here all the way from Virginia! I hope you make her feel welcome here in Government Camp!"

Sasha walked over to her teacher, but she stared at a boy with shaggy brown hair admiring his handsome face, and she looked down blushing when he caught her staring. She rubbed her arm recognizing him and the girl beside him as the same ones taunting Terry with the peanut butter ice cream. She was surprised that he was not a high schooler as he could barely fit at his desk; moreover, there was a tingly feeling she felt deep down. She sneaked another look at him staring at his chest, which she bit the inside of her lip a little.

The tall half Tenino girl beside him nudged him snickering. "Hey Toby, look at the tits on that her. You think she stuffs her bra?"

He looked back and laughed. "I think you're right" he replied. Sasha looked up at them annoyed and puffed out her cheeked overhearing them.

The teacher ushered Sasha over to them and smiled. "I'm going to have you sit beside Toby and Zoe at the ninth grade table. They are ninth graders just like you" she said before Sasha sat beside Zoe. The teacher handed out packets with Biology lessons. She sat down a tablet onto their table and propped it up. "I'm going to have you watch a video on the food chain and Apex predators. After the video, I'm going to make you draw from a hat an Apex predator for a research project"

Toby and Zoe both groaned in anguish, but Sasha nodded quickly. After the teacher left them to view the video, Sasha looked over at Toby and gazed at him. Zoe looked over at her then towards Toby rolling her eyes at how oblivious he was. Sasha noticed and scowled at her. "Just to let you know, my tits are real. I have a medical condition called macromastia" she grumbled.

Zoe snickered. "I'll be the judge of that...nuff said"

"You do know she can hear you two right?" Toby asked trying to watch the movie.

"Pft, I can just look it up later" Zoe muttered.

"Well I'm not going to let you bring me down just because you're insecure about yourself" Sasha muttered.

"Oh shit...shots fired" Toby muttered.

Zoe growled at her. "I'm not insecure about myself you cow" she grumbled.

She resumed watching the video, and her stomach growled with all the meat, blood, and carnage in the film. Toby was not at all disturbed, but Sasha seemed uncomfortable with it all. "Ew, that's so gross" she muttered.

"Heh, a wolf's gotta eat" Zoe said grinning at Sasha.

"Being lower on the food chain sucks. It's a good thing we're on top" Sasha said.

Zoe started laughing but could not stop which Toby and Sasha both looked at her oddly. "What's so funny?" Sasha asked.

"Who says that we're top of the food chain?" Zoe asked.

Sasha scowled and pointed at the food chain chart. "See, we're on top with the Lions, Orcas, Bears, and Wolves" she said confidently.

Toby scowled at Zoe, and she snickered evilly. "Oh, so it does. My mistake" she said sarcastically.

Later, the teacher came back with a large red, white, and blue, stars and stripes top hat with a bunch of Popsicle sticks inside. Sasha reached in and pulled an Orca, Zoe pulled a hawk, and Toby pulled a wolf. Zoe instantly groaned. "Aw, the wolf is my spirit animal! Trade ya!" she exclaimed.

Toby was about to hand her the stick when the teacher raised her voice, "No trades! I'm not handing out easy A's Zoe!"

Toby sighed heavily and looked at the stick wearily. "This is the last thing I need to think about. Just my luck" he muttered.

Sasha frowned and leaned in. "What do you mean? I think wolves are cool!" she said.

Zoe stared at Sasha briefly before she snickered. "I thought you said they were gross?" she asked.

Sasha sat back down and rubbed her arm. "N-no, I just don't like seeing blood and gore" she said timidly.

"Wolves are everything blood and gore!" Zoe raised her voice.

"Hey, I think wolves are good too" The teacher said before she handed them papers detailing what the criteria for the papers should be. "I want a minimum of ten pages, and I expect a presentation for our class. I'll give extra credit if you make a poster" she said before she took the tablet away as the bell rang. "Alright class, lunch time!" she shouted.

"Man that wolf got me hungry!" Zoe shouted as she shot up almost jumping over everybody as she was the first to her giant lunch box under her backpack on the wall then she grabbed Toby's and ran back slamming them down at their table. Sasha jumped as it nearly destroyed the table. Zoe opened her box revealing a meal meant for a family dinner, and she popped open the lid and instantly pigged out.

Toby's meal was not as big in portion, but Sasha did notice that there was a heck of a lot of meat in their diet and Nutter Butters. She got up quietly and grabbed her lunch before she sat beside Toby bumping him as she opened her box. She glanced over at them, and she was amazed at how quickly he ate. When he finished, he looked down at his plate with disappointment and he clutched his stomach. "I'm so hungry" he said.

He looked over at Zoe who glared and growled at him sliding her box away from him. Sasha touched his arm in attempt to gain his attention, but she gasped retracting her hand away like she touched a hot stove. "Wow! You're super warm!" she commented. Toby looked over at her strangely; however, he did not seem to mind. After she stared into his eyes, she blushed looking down a slightly. "Um, you can have some of my lunch Toby" she said as she offered him a couple of her celery stocks and carrot sticks.

Toby looked downed at it and frowned. "That's won't be enough. I feel like I can eat a horse!" he said.

Zoe laughed. "There's a ranch just down the road if you're that desperate" she teased.

Toby scowled at her. "That's not funny...I'm really hungry!" he groaned.

"Hey, you can eat all of it. Really, it's okay! I don't need to eat. I'm already fat as it is" Sasha said sliding her food towards him.

Toby stopped and looked at her strangely. "You're the skinniest fat girl I've ever seen" he remarked. He pushed her food back telling her, "You need to eat...but thanks though"

Sasha looked at herself confused then back at him thinking he was blind. "Y-you don't think I'm fat?" she asked.

He shook his head while making a face at her like she was making an exaggeration. He closed his eyes and grimaced clutching his stomach and leaning in bonking his head into the table. Sasha quietly soaked in his physique, and Zoe caught her looking. "Don't even waste your time with him, Jugzilla. He's high maintenance"

Sasha looked at Toby's neck and noticed a scab on his neck the shape of a large ring. "What's that on your neck?" she asked.

Zoe smirked proudly. "I don't know, looks like a bite mark" she said smugly. Toby turned to look back at her annoyed, and she frowned at him. "What?" she raised her voice defensively.

"You said no one would notice it"

"I was being sarcastic" Zoe said before she got out of her seat and went around near his ear. "Look, I said I was sorry. You should wear it as a badge of honor. It just means you were really good" she said before she leaned her head into his snickering.

He glared at her. "I don't want everyone know what we do together"

"My dad already knows about what we do...some bitch lied about me going out after curfew last month. I had to tell him"

"But you did go out after curfew"

Zoe smacked him upside the head. "Hello! They said I was in town! I'm telling you, if I find that lowlife who spread those rumors, I'm gunna pop their skull like a grape!" she grumbled. Toby tried to reach for Zoe's peanut butter jelly sandwich, and she growled ferociously grabbing him by the neck and yanking him away. Sasha ducked out of the way feeling like two animals were fighting over food, which the teacher looked up overhearing the commotion.

She gave out a very frustrated sigh and pulled out a bag of jerky from her desk and approached them. She tossed it in front of him and gave him a stern look. "Didn't pack enough lunch again, eh Toby?" she asked. Toby blushed taking the jerky and looked towards Sasha hoping she did not find him weird; however, she were more amazed at the physical abuse he took from Zoe's food aggression. "Toby, you need to tell your mom that you need more food. I can't keep covering for you" she said.

He gulped and his back stiffened up. "I-I-I can't...I don't want my dad to tease me about it"

The teacher let out a heavy sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. "Well if you won't do it, I'm just going to have to call them"

His face went white, and he grabbed her arm. "Please don't call them! He'll laugh at me!" he shouted.

The teacher was apathetic to his plight, and she walked over to her phone on her desk. "Nuh, I'm not having you two fight over food in my class again" she said before she pushed a button.

He let go of her arm and his head sank down low staring down at his lap. "My life is over...He's going to think I'm getting fully wooly!" he mumbled.

Sasha looked at him strangely before she looked over at Zoe. "Fully Wooly?" she asked.

Zoe rolled her eyes then shook her head. "It's a puberty thing, don't worry about it" she said ripping into her sandwich while watching with amusement.

"Oh..." Sasha muttered as she blushed looking at him. He had some nice firm muscles developing, so she touched his arm again just to feel them and smiled finding him to be an oddity. "Well I think it's cool you're getting fully wooly" she said.

Toby groaned before his head turned slowly and glared at her. His eye twitched, and he growled lowly. "Don't ever talk about me being fully wooly...ever!"

Zoe laughed hysterically before she nudged him. "Yea, late bloomer! You're almost fifteen and still nothing?"

"Shut up!" Toby shouted before he grabbed his head with both hands and lowered his head to the table. Sasha bumped him and smiled at him.

Not even two minutes passed, and a gorgeous half Korean pregnant nurse with an ideal shapely figure stormed up and barged into the classroom hauling a large paper plate wrapped in tin foil. She looked at him very irritated as she slammed it onto the table. "You eat it!"

Toby looked at the plate confused. "What is it?"

"It's your breakfast you didn't eat!" She raised her voice very offended at this. "I spent an hour making this for you and your father, and you didn't even touch it! Why are you starving yourself?" She lectured him while giving him a very intense leer.

"I-I-I...I wasn't" He stuttered before she turned away.

"Is this your way of showing your respect to your mother? Is it wrong for me to want my baby boy to grow up big and strong like his papa?" she said dramatically before she glared back at him. "I'll have your father deal with you when we get back home!" she said before she stomped off out of the classroom fuming.

Toby gave off a soft whimper as Sasha gulped and turned towards him. "Your mother is scary"

Zoe nodded and shivered. "You think she's scary, just wait until you see his father. Makes my dad look like a boy scout"

Toby opened up the foil and there was a stack of pancakes, bacon, and eggs, and on top of the pancakes were blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries arranged with a message that said, "I love you, Toby"

Zoe scowled at him. "Wow! You're a real asshole, Toby! I'm surprised she didn't slap the shit out of you this time"

Toby growled at her. "I was having problems this morning! No thanks to you!" he raised his voice at her.

"Look, I said I was sorry!" She said defensively.

"You got blood all over my bed and dirt in my carpet!" He grumbled before he started to devour his delayed breakfast.

Sasha watched the two in disbelief with their quarrel. "Blood?" she muttered thinking the worst before she looked at the nasty bite mark on Toby's neck and remember that he got it the night before. "Oh..."

Once everyone was fed and everything cooled off, the kids were dismissed to recess. Sasha found herself following behind Toby, and she realized the massive height difference between him and her. Zoe was far ahead, and she was the same height as him. "Wow, you're really tall...you said you're almost fifteen? How tall is your dad?"

Toby looked down at his admirer and laughed. "Um yea, well he's seven foot four...I'm not sure if I'll get that big. I'm only six foot five right now"

"Jesus, What did do they feed you miracle grow?" Sasha joked.

"Psh, you wish. With the amount of love his mama gives him, he'll wind up bigger than Clifford" Zoe teased.

Toby gave her a weird look. "Clifford? Who's Clifford?"

Sasha laughed at him. "Haven't you heard of Clifford the big red dog?"

"Oh..." He said softly feeling like an idiot. "Nah, it's just got lucky with genetics I guess" He said lightly as he watched Zoe run out to the shed waiting for Todd's teacher to pull the cage of balls and sports equipment out.

Sasha gave him one good look from head to toe. "Um...your girlfriend is kind of rough on you don't you think?"

"My girlfriend? Who Zoe? Nah, we're sort of just...well it's complicated"

"You're just fuck-buddies in other words" Sasha said plainly.

He took a long pause and sighed. "Yea..." he said embarrassed.

"You know, you should really start looking into finding a girl who will treat you right and not like a chew toy" She said.

He down at her confused as she smiled up at him warmly, which he soon realized she was touching his arm again. "Uh, what do you mean by that?" he asked. He was instantly pegged in the gut by a football thrown by Zoe, and he glanced back over at her looking at him bored out of her mind. "Really?"

"Come on! We have to be ready for our first game, Romeo!" she shouted at him.

He blushed and gulped. "Oh, uh, sorry" He apologized but it was more directed towards Sasha as he picked the ball up and threw it nearly 100 yards with a perfect spiral. Zoe took off running down the field like an Olympic sprinter, and Sasha gasped.

"Holy smokes! You're really strong!" She remarked.

"Heh, it's nothing really...lots of practice" he dismissed before he looked back at her smirking. He could see how enamored she was with him, and he snickered to himself. "You know, maybe we could hang out sometime"

Her pupils dilated and she gasped. She bit her lips smiling and giggling lightly. "I would like that" she said before she looked away and started playing with her hair. "You know you're really handsome" she said.

Toby was blindsided by the football hitting him in the head. "Come on, Toby! You're wasting time!" Zoe shouted. Toby growled lowly, and Zoe threw her hands up in frustration shouting, "Let's go fuzz butt!"

He sighed heavily grabbing the football, and Sasha took a step closer. "Go ahead and practice. I'll talk to you after you're done! Kay?" she said as placed a hand over her pounding chest. He flashed her a smile, but she stared at his teeth. She thought she was seeing things, and she watched him closely, but he did not have protruding canines like she saw before.

"So, you are crushing hard on Toby huh?" A girl asked from behind.

Sasha blushed and gulped looking back at the thirteen year old back girl smiling at her with amusement. Sasha knew she was caught, and she laughed. "He's really nice isn't he?"

"Um, yea...But I wouldn't try to cause drama with Zoe. She's crazy" she said with a giggle. "My name is Meghan by the way"

"My name is Sasha...You're from the 7thgrade table?"

"6th grade actually. You know, you're like only the third 9th grader here"

Sasha looked at her oddly. "Why did you point that out?"

"Oh, um, it's just that usually the 9th graders go to the high school in Sandy" she said.

Sasha's eyes widened. "Are you serious, but that's so far away!"

"It's only a half an hour away"

Sasha frowned about it thinking a little longer. "Yea, but still...don't y'all get super bad snowstorms here?"

"To be honest, once the snowstorms come...no one is getting even to get close to this school" Meghan said before she looked back over at Toby and Zoe's acrobatics, agility, speed, and strength. "From what I heard was that they would not let them play in varsity, so they did not even bother to go to school there" she mentioned.

Sasha looked back over at them frowning. "Oh...Why wouldn't they allow them to? They are amazing!" she remarked.

"I think it might be because of her brother being the Quarterback. They've won back-to-back state championships with him, so they probably had no use for them" she said.

Zoe stopped and glared at them. She stomped her way over towards them and growled. "I'll tell you why! That asshole coach told me that I should play powderpuff football instead! Toby doesn't give a shit about being on the freshmen, JV, or whatever team. The thing was that I wasn't allowed to play at all!" she raised her voice at them.

Toby stood out in the field watching anxiously while mumbling to himself. Sasha could not hear him, but through lip reading, she could have sworn he was repeating the words, "Please don't wolf out on them"

She glanced back over at Zoe who was nearly foaming at the mouth in anger, and she looked back at her with a calculative gaze. "I have an idea. How about I film you practice, and you can get you brother to show the video to the coaches? I'm really good at editing videos"

Zoe paused and thought about it before she took in a deep breath. "I don't know if that will work"

"Just try it. Your dad is the sheriff isn't he? He could just twist the coach's arm into allowing you to play can't he!?" Sasha raised her voice.

Zoe was shocked and stared at her in disbelief. "Yea he could, but...wait, how did you know that my dad was the sheriff? No one has told you" she asked.

"Oh um...well...You are very tall, so I just assumed that you were" Sasha muttered before she looked towards Toby trying to figure out who his father was after taking a random shot at the dark on who Zoe's father was.

Zoe growled at her. "You're that bitch that ratted me out!" she shouted jabbing her finger into Sasha's left breast. Meghan took a couple steps back, and Toby started running towards her.

Sasha winched a bit as rubbed her breast before she looked up at her and huffed then setting her hands on her hips. "What on Earth are you talking about? I'm not even supposed to go outside. I've never seen you outside my house ever! Except there was a creature at my house last month" she said. Zoe took a few steps shifting her eyes and gulped.

"Zoe!" Toby raised his voice. He wrapped an arm around her and whispered something into her ear; however, it sounded like growling.

"I don't even know where Jugzilla lives! How the hell am I supposed to know!?" Zoe growled back.

Toby sighed and looked back over at Sasha cautiously. "You make videos right?" Sasha nodded slowly. "Did you tape that creature you're talking about?"

"No, I mean I did take pictures, but my grandmother deleted them. I think she did it on purpose" Sasha mumbled lowly.

"Who's your grandparents?" he asked.

"Marty and Aoife Picard"

He stared at her briefly then glared at Zoe then pulled her in for another huddle. She got very irate at this point, and she screamed, "I'm not stupid, Toby! Why the fuck would I go by their house!? That's like out of the way! Nuff said"

"Just drop it, and I'll all blow over!" He grumbled in frustration.

"Alright, alright jez!" Zoe muttered before she looked back at Sasha briefly. "Do you think she knows?"

"I told you to drop it!" He said before he walked back towards the field. "Like it matters at this point. There's no evidence" he said annoyed. Zoe looked back at Sasha again uneasily before she backed up and ran back to Toby.

Meghan walked up to Sasha and nudged her. "You've seen a one of those creatures?"

"Yea! I've seen a huge one last month" Sasha said.

"Tch, You fIB: Hey I know! The full moon is tonight...maybe, we can try to get one on video" Meghan suggested.

Toby and Zoe stopped in the middle of the field once more staring at her in disbelief. Sasha gasped at her. "I don't think that's such a good idea. I mean they are supernatural beings here!"

Meghan grinned. "Oh I get it. I called you out, and you know you can't back it up"

"Okay fine...I'll do it!" Sasha said quickly, which some of the younger kids overheard and started whispering to each other.

Three more kids approached her and snickered. "Can we go?" an 8th grade boy with blonde hair asked.

"Yea, this sounds like fun!" his 7thgrade sister said.

"Count me in" Meghan's 7thgrade brother added.

Todd ran up to her nervously. "Sasha...are you serious? Didn't you hear what the Sheriff said?"

"Shut up! I know what he said! I don't like being called a liar!" Sasha growled at him.

"We'll meet at the Glade trailhead. You better not puss out!" Meghan said.

Their teacher looked at her watch before she blew her whistle and everyone started to head back inside the school house. Toby bumped into Sasha whispering, "I can't believe you let her get your goat like that" he said lowly.

Sasha shot him a dirty look. "What are you spying on me? How the heck did you hear all that!?" she retorted.

"They're going to haze you...you know that right?" Toby said.

She paused and stared up at him hurt. "I-I-I...I know" she said with a shaky voice.

Zoe bumped into Sasha's other arm. "Let's go! You're way too slow, Jugzilla!" she said roughly.

"Hey Zoe! Do you think you could?" Toby asked before he made a couple gestures towards Sasha.

Zoe knew what he was referring to, and she lost her temper. "Fuck no! I don't wanna get my ass chewed out any more than it already has!" She interrupted him. Toby glared at her before she glared at him back. "You fucking do it!"

"Zoe! Language..." Their teacher said as they walked inside.

"Really? You're just going stick me with it?"

"It's a fucking full moon Toby! Deal with it!" Zoe shouted before their teacher growled at them with her arms crossed over her chest. Zoe went quiet and walked briskly to her seat.

"What are you talking about?" Sasha whispered.

"Don't worry about it" He spoke to her firmly. She gulped and nodded slowly, and he took a deep breath looking at her concerned. "I can't believe you're doing this" he muttered before he sat back down in his seat.

Sasha looked down at the table disappointed in herself sensing the gravity of the situation. "I know this is stupid. I just...I just get tired of being called a liar and a faker. I was always bullied back at my old school...I don't want to be picked on here"

He shook his head at her and rubbed his forehead. "So you let underclassmen get to you?"

"Well what was I supposed to do?"

"Not do it?" Toby said looking at her oddly.

"Toby, I just can't. I need to find friends who are into the Supernatural like I am"

"Psh, You know this place is crawling with that stuff. We can take you later...just not now. We got out papers to do" Zoe said proudly.

Sasha's face lit up. "Yea, that would be great!" she said before she looked towards Toby. "Are you going to go?" Toby seamed to space out and get clammy, which she reached over to get his attention. "Are you alright?"

Toby hunched over and rested his head onto his desk. She noticed his hand reaching into his pocket and pulled out a Ziploc baggy filled with white pills opening it slyly. "What are you doing!?" Sasha whispered.

Toby opened an eye and glanced at her annoyed before he defiantly stuck a couple tablets into his mouth. Zoe looked at her confused then her eyes drifted downward. "What?"

"He popped some pills into his mouth" she whispered.

"Pills? I didn't know he takes pills" Zoe remarked, he glared back at her away from Sasha, and Zoe looked at him uneasily. "Oh...those kind" she muttered before she raised her hand. "Um, Mrs. Beowolf! Toby is uh"

Their teacher turned towards them and noticed Toby was having muscle spasms in his arms, and she immediately pointed towards the door. "Get him to the nurse! Now!" her voice bellowed.

Zoe got up and leaned in close to his ear. "Can you walk?" He nodded before she slung his arm over her shoulder. "Keep your eyes and fists closed" she said lowly. He stood up and she helped drag him out of the classroom.

Sasha watched in horror, and without thinking, she stood up out of her chair causing her teacher to block her view. "Oh my god! Is he going to be okay?" she asked.

Her teacher placed her hands on both of Sasha's shoulders in an attempt to calm her, which Sasha noted that her teacher had unusually warm body temperature like Toby's. "He'll be fine...it's just a mild seizure"

Sasha thought to herself feeling deep down that something was not right. "That bite...Toby was bitten last night...and tonight is a full moon...he was bitten by a werewolf"

Her teacher raised an eyebrow at her. "It doesn't work that way"

Sasha frowned and looked up at her confused. "What do you mean it doesn't work that way?"

Her teacher looked around at the students staring at them, and she leaned in close looking into her eyes intensely. "Trust me...he's been having these episodes well before she started biting him. Though, it's been getting worse, but it's just he's not eating properly"

Sasha gulped. "Are you sure he's going to be okay?"

Her teacher went quiet and pulled back rubbing the back of her head uncomfortably. "We'll talk about this later" which she knew that Sasha was not going to let it go.