Beasts and Savages (The Beastly Series Book 1) (7 page)

She nodded and rolled up her sleeve. I turned my back to Ms. Dawning, blocking her view of Rally's arm. We glanced around. No one was near us. I shot the liquid onto the sweat soaked back of her shirt before poking the empty needle into her arm. A wince flicked over Rally's face. I pulled the needle out, careful to not hit the plunger.

“See? Nothing to it. Now my turn.” I rolled up my sleeve as we changed places. I watched Ms. Dawning carefully as Rally wasted the liquid into my shirt. She gingerly pricked my skin with the needle and began to pull away.

“No,” I whispered through gritted teeth, “Harder. It has to leave a mark.” Her nervous hands pushed the syringe back into my arm. I grimaced as Ms. Dawning looked in our direction.

Rally pulled the needle away. “Good?”

“Good.” We dropped our syringes into the waste bin, relieved.

“Girls,” Ms. Dawning called after us, “forgetting something?” Rally froze, and her face paled.

I turned to see her holding up our letters. “Oh! We were so excited about our weekend plans we forgot all about our letters.” My fake sing song voice sounded terrible.

“Right.” She raised her eyebrow. “Well here they are.”  As I took the letters, her eyes shifted to my sleeve. Ms. Dawning grimaced and grabbed my wrist, twisting my arm as she inspected it. “Tell Rally not to go so deep next time. Or do it yourself. I don't know why you let her inject you.”

I glanced down at my arm. A small red spot spread across my yellow sleeve. I smiled at Ms. Dawning. “She can't handle poking herself, so I do it. Letting her give mine makes her feel better. Have a good weekend.” She let go of me and I ran back to Rally, waving our letters in the air.

“What did she say to you?” Rally whispered, her face still pale.

“That my arm was bleeding from the injection.” I giggled.

“Oh. Then we did it!” She joined my giggling.

We burst into the locker room. The silence that greeted us was deafening. Most of the girls had dressed quickly and bolted for the door. We started for our lockers when I heard a sob. I turned to see May, her face buried in her hands. Beth shushed her and patted her back.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“What do you think?” Beth's amber eyes were icy. She looked at the unopened letter my hand. “You don't know yet do you?” Her expression softened.

“Know what?”

“The letters clear us for hunting. Or not.” She went back to comforting May.

Realization washed over me. I rushed to May and knelt down. “I'm so sorry!”

“It's fine,” She breathed between sobs.

“Why don't you go home? I'm sure Ms. Dawning will let you.” Beth suggested.

May stood. “I think I want to be alone now.” She pushed past us.

“Wait!” Beth called after her.

“Let her go.” I held up my arm to block Beth's path. “She'll talk to you when she's ready.” She was a head taller than me and had athlete's muscles to match her large frame. 

“What do you know about it? You haven't even opened your letter yet.” Beth flipped her caramel hair over her gold clad shoulder.

“I know about pain and loss.” As I left, I glanced down at Beth's open letter. It was yellow with the word “inconclusive” in bold letters. Underneath was the word “re-examine.” Poor Beth would have to go through this whole ordeal again next month.

Rally and I dressed in silence. Our letters remained unopened. I picked mine up and felt its weight. I wanted to open it by myself in the safety of my bedroom. I hoped it would be red. Then there would be no pressure to hunt. My family would be disappointed, but they couldn't blame me. If it were green, I wouldn't have to hide my own disappointment.

“I can't take it anymore!” Rally ripped the end off of her envelope. She jumped up and squealed, “Yes! Green!” She danced and her fists pumped in the air. Rally stopped and gave me a serious look. “Your turn.”

“Rally, I really want to be alone when I open mine.”

“What? No! This is life changing, Lea. You can't get this kind of information alone." Her voice squeaked and her face dropped.

“I know it's life changing. That's why I want to be alone.”

“Lea, no matter what, I'll be here for you. I'm your friend.” I considered what she said. If she was willing to trust me about the injections, then I could open my letter with her.

“Okay, here goes.” I carefully tucked my thumb under the corner of the envelope flap; the paper gave way easily. I let out a breath. Green. The top had a green band across it and read: APPROVED. There was a form letter at the bottom, but I didn't need to read it. I was cleared to hunt.

“Congratulations! Aren't you thrilled?” Rally wrapped her arms around me and jumped up and down.

“I guess, Rally, but Dr. Flynn had unofficially told me that I cleared.” I pulled away and tucked the letter in my bag.

“Is that why you aren't excited? Why didn't you tell me?”

I smiled at her. “I don't know. Let's go.”

As we were leaving, I noticed Beth still sitting in front of her locker, staring at her letter.

“Go on without me.” I said to Rally as I sat down next to Beth.

“But lunch.” Rally complained.

“I’ll be there, save me a seat. Save one for Beth, too.”

“Fine,” Rally sighed as she strode out the door.

I bumped Beth’s shoulder with my own. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Why do you care? I heard. You’re cleared for hunting.” Beth traced the bold words on her letter with her finger.

“So? You’re not exactly in May’s situation and you wanted to comfort her. I thought I’d return the favor.”

 Beth’s face darkened. “So hunter Lea feels bad for me and wants to bestow her pity. No thanks.”

“It’s not like that.” I took a deep breath before I continued, “I think this whole medical clearance is crap. But really, May is lucky. At least she knows and can try to move on. But you… you have to pretend like everything’s fine and go through another exam.”

“It is crap.” Beth wadded up her letter and threw it at the floor.

“So if you ever want to talk about it, let me know.” I stood.

“But we really don’t know each other that well. Why would I want to talk to you?”

“Do you have any other friends that can keep a secret?” I ran my hands over my hair and looked toward the door. Maybe talking to Beth wasn’t the best idea I’ve had.

Beth snorted. “And you can? What about your little friend Rally?”

“Rally’s great, but she’s only twelve. And yes, I can. Even from Rally. Would it help if I shared a secret with you?”

“You’d do that? Tell me a secret?” She studied me.

I shrugged. “Why not?”

“What is it? Does Rally know?”

“I don’t want to hunt. I don’t want to be responsible for a boy’s death, I don’t want a baby, at least not now, and I hate changing. And no, Rally doesn’t know. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell her.” A breath I didn’t realize I was holding let out slowly. My muscles relaxed. For the first time in two weeks, I told someone what I really felt.

“Wow, Lea. I didn’t know. I-” For a while, Beth stared at me, her mouth gaping open. Finally, she said, “I won’t tell anyone. And thanks for offering to talk to me. I’m nervous, but I’m not ready to talk yet, I’ll let you know.” She stood and pulled me into an awkward hug. “Lunch?”

“I’m starving.”

***

May and another girl weren't in class on Monday. Ms. Dawning gave a speech about how they were still our friends and we should be kind to them when we see them. She said that they were lucky in a way because they were put on the adoption list and wouldn't have to go through changings any longer. They would most likely become mothers before we did. During Ms. Dawning's speech, the twins stood behind me and sniggered. I gave them dirty looks until they stopped.

At lunch, Rally and I saw May. She looked more pale than usual, and her eyes were rimmed with red. We waved and called her over, but she ducked her head and sat at a corner table with her back to us.

“I saw what you did.” Beth appeared in front of us.

“So?” Rally made a face at her.

“So, I think it was nice of you. Even if she wants to be alone, she knows that she could’ve sit with you.” Beth flicked a pink card to each of us and walked toward May. I watched her give May the same pink card.

“Hey! It's an invitation to Beth's house. For a sleepover.”

“Shh! You don't have to announce it to the entire cafeteria.”

“Sorry,” she muttered, “I've just never been invited to a sleepover before.”

I opened the invitation. Inside, Beth's scrawling handwriting invited me to her house at six on Friday evening. Beth probably invited the entire class. I didn't want to go to her house and socialize with the girls.

“You're going, right?” Rally interrupted my thoughts.

“What? No. I don't know.”

“Well, I'm going if my mom will let me. You should go too.” She snatched a grape from my tray and popped it into her mouth.