Once in a Full Moon

I didn't believe what I had just seen. Brandon turning into a werewolf? In the back of my mind, I kept thinking about the kiss. But how could that turn him into a werewolf? When he heroically saved me from the pack of wolves and was bitten, it was a full moon. But it couldn't be.... There had to be some rational explanation. Every magician had a secret, and Brandon must have had one, too.

Or perhaps I was dreaming.

I wasn't about to remain alone in the woods, in a dream or not, on the lonely hilltop by his house.

I grabbed Brandon's shirt and darted out of the woods. I ran as fast as I could to my car. I didn't look back until I was safely locked inside.

If this were truly a dream, then I wouldn't have Brandon's shirt when I woke up in the morning. Unfortunately, that meant our magical kiss would have been a fantasy, too.

I was too shaken up to return to the basketball game. No amount of gossip or giggles with the girls could take my mind off of what I'd just witnessed or distract me from the most passionate kiss I'd ever had.

I managed to pull out of Brandon's driveway and onto the narrow road. With every turn and flash of my headlights in the lonely woods, I was terrified that some creature would jump out of the trees.

I tried to breathe slowly as I drove, convincing myself there had to be a rational explanation. It wasn't that Brandon had changed  -  it was me. The shadows of the moonlight distorted my view of his normally good-looking features and transformed them into wildly animalistic ones. Before we'd kissed, I'd distracted myself with thoughts of Dr. Meadows's prediction - Beware of a kiss under the full moon. It will change your life forever - and it toyed with my mind. And the other explanation  -  I'd been studying werewolves and it plagued my thoughts. How could I have seen him any other way? I'd been eating and breathing werewolf folklore, so it was only natural for it to have infiltrated my mind. The moon was full, we were in a darkened wood where wolves can lurk, and Brandon had been bitten. I'm sure I just mixed it all together, under the intoxication of finally having the kiss I'd been dying to receive. Maybe I'd felt guilty about my feelings for Brandon  -  and all the complications they would cause  -  and this was my way of projecting them.

But there was one thing that I couldn't explain away. The kiss. It was as magical as any transformation. Its power left an impact on me like a meteoroid hitting the earth.

I replayed the conversation I'd had with Dr. Meadows. She'd predicted all the events that happened  -  every decision that I made on my own  -  things that she had nothing to do with. But there was one thing she couldn't predict  -  me falling in love.

When I was safely home, I called and texted Brandon. But there was no response. As I paced in my room all night, my phone was silent. I dusted the dirt off of Brandon's shirt. It still smelled like him. I neatly folded it and put it on the nightstand. One thing was for sure: If I'd been dreaming, I'd know my werewolf essay was going to my head.

I awoke with a start. I'd just had the best dream ever. It was so clear. Brandon had kissed me in the woods behind his house. It was so passionate and intense it felt like it was happening now. I closed my eyes, not wanting to shake off the dream. I remembered more  -  Brandon took off his shirt, displaying his ripped chest... and then he began turning into a...

A wide smile and laughter overcame me. What a weird dream!

I sat up to find Brandon's shirt folded on my nightstand.

My breath escaped me.

The good news was that the heavenly kiss was real. I squeezed Brandon's shirt against me. The bad news... well, there had to be some real explanation for that. I told myself to just get up and go to school and try to figure this odd event out. As soon as I saw Brandon there, he'd secretly tell me what happened and we'd laugh off the whole thing.

I checked my phone to see if Brandon had tried to contact me. It was then I realized the time. Not only hadn't Brandon contacted me, but I'd overslept!

Why didn't anyone wake me? I bolted out of bed and shouted to my family.

When no one answered, I knew my parents had already left for work.

I quickly showered and dried my hair. I grabbed the first two items in my closet and got dressed. I didn't even have time to make sure they matched. I shoved Brandon's shirt into my backpack and took off.

I wasn't about to let anyone get in my way of finding Brandon and the answers to last night's events.

I managed to sneak into English class just as Mrs. Clark was handing back our graded homework. Brandon's desk was empty.

"Where have you been?" Ivy questioned me in the tone my mother usually takes. "Your clothes. Green shirt and orange sweater? You look like a pumpkin," she teased.

"Oh, this?" I asked, just now noticing my mismatched outfit. "I overslept."

"Well, I guess your fingerless-gloved friend did, too," she said. "Anything I should know about?"

For a moment I thought Ivy knew about last night. I shot her a look of horror.

"I'm just kidding," she said.

I was relieved, but only slightly. Brandon hadn't shown up for class. Since he attended Legend's Run High he'd never missed a day. I wondered what was keeping him away.

"You skipped the end of last night's game, too," she whispered. "Nash has been looking everywhere for you. He wants to make up."

For the entire period, my attention drifted to the closed classroom door. With each passing minute, it never opened. Where was Brandon? Was he still in the woods, at a hospital, or just home with the flu?

"So, where did you run off to so quickly last night?" Ivy interrogated me when she caught me staring vacantly at my locker. "Your lunch is here," she said, grabbing the sack off the top shelf. "What's with you? You are so not yourself."

"I had to do something at home," I said, shutting my locker. The two of us headed for the cafeteria.

"It couldn't wait?"

"Ivy," I began. I hadn't had a chance to talk to her privately since we'd arrived at school, and I wanted to tell her before the guys and Abby joined us. "Something happened last night," I confessed.

"Again? Did you encounter another wolf?"

"Yes, how did you know?" I was almost grateful that she might actually understand my strange predicament.

"Are you serious? I was just joking!"

"Oh," I said, deflated. "Well, truthfully, I think I did."

We reached the entrance to the cafeteria.

"Celeste. That's it. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Where were you? In your car?"

"No."

"In the woods again?" she asked, almost frustrated as we took our seats at our usual table.

"Well..."

Just then Abby arrived at the lunchroom with Dylan, Jake, and Nash.

Nash hung back, making it clear he wasn't along for the fun of it. He was as icy as Brandon's skating pond.

"I didn't see you in the stands last night," he said, taking a place at the opposite end of the table.

"I know. I had to leave," I said with indifference.

"So if you don't think it's important to stay at my games, how are we going to get back together?" he challenged.

It was our typical fight  -  he wanted me in the stands cheering him on at his practices and games. But there wasn't more to our relationship. We didn't have the same interests, and his always won out. It wasn't like he ever came to the nursing home and volunteered with me.

At the moment I had bigger issues to deal with than a grumpy ex-boyfriend. "I  -  don't feel like talking about that again," I began.

"You should be kind to her." Ivy butted in. "She just ran into another wolf."

"A wolf?" Fear shot through his eyes. "Maybe if you stayed at the game the whole time," he said, "then you wouldn't be running into wild animals."

I was encountering wild animals, all right. I just wasn't sure how it had happened.

Beware of a kiss under the full moon. It will change your life forever. Dr. Meadows's words echoed in my mind. Not only had that moonlight kiss possibly transformed Brandon, but it had definitely transformed me. I wasn't adhering to my usual schedule, nor was I centered on studying, homework, and my friends. I wanted to know more about Brandon, where he was, and, most important, if what I saw last night was real.

But I wasn't getting any answers. Only heartache.

The moon looked full again tonight. Mr. Worthington was right. I jotted this revelation in the back of my notebook and began keeping a log of what I'd just experienced. The full moon. Brandon's bizarre behavior, his physical change, and how afterward I was riveted by this suddenly tormented soul.

The following two days Brandon wasn't at school. On the third day, when he didn't show for English class again, I was really starting to panic. I couldn't focus on our lesson, and when Mrs. Clark called on me, I was in another world. I really didn't know what was going on with Brandon or what to think. I hoped he wasn't sick. Then I feared he might have moved back to Miller's Glen. What had happened on the hilltop to change his appearance? Why couldn't he come to school?

I was zoned out on my way to my locker to get my lunch when someone yanked me into the crawl space underneath the main building's side stairwell.

Brandon was hanging on to me. He appeared frazzled and tired but as handsome as I'd ever seen him.

I could feel my whole body light up just being in his presence.

I wanted to hug him with all my might, but even though we were out of sight of passing students, I was afraid someone might see us.

"I wanted to talk to you about the other night," he said.

"Me, too. Are you okay? You haven't been to school for days."

"I know. I haven't been feeling well."

"Are you better now?"

"I think so... I'm not really sure. But about the other night. I want to know something."

"Yes."

"After we kissed... something happened."

"Yes, I know," I said sheepishly. "I was there."

"I'm sorry - " he began. "For anything that happened..."

"So it was a joke?" I asked. "I kept hoping it was."

I was relieved but totally embarrassed for getting so carried away with my paranormal thoughts and overactive imagination. I replayed my interpretations and feelings of the last few days. I started to laugh. I'd wasted so much time jumping to outlandish conclusions. I was so gullible.

"What do you mean?" he asked, almost confused. "You and me? You thought it was a joke?" His expression softened. It was as if I'd just insulted him.

"No. Not us." I melted inside. Brandon was so handsome standing before me in the secrecy of the stairwell. "I meant after."

"That's what I want to talk to you about. There's something I want to ask you," he said earnestly. "I got home and didn't have some items."

"What do you mean?" I pressed.

"My shirt. My shoes."

"I know. I have your shirt," I confessed.

"You do?"

"Yes. I kept it as proof." I showed him his folded shirt sandwiched in my bag.

"Proof?"

"That our time together wasn't a dream. I know... you must think I'm a dork."

"No  -  I think it's really cool." He smiled his gorgeous smile. "Speaking of dreams. I had a weird one that night."

"Yes?"

"When I woke up... I had dirt all over me. I just want to know... But I'm ashamed to tell you... Did we?" he asked in an honest and heartfelt tone.

Brandon wasn't referring to being a werewolf. He was referring to something else.

"No - " I assured him. "We didn't do anything like that."

"Really?" He was more disappointed than relieved.

"You really don't remember... anything?"

"Just us together under the moonlight. And that awesome kiss."

This time I smiled.

"But then I remember feeling weird. I think I might have had a fever and blacked out. I was hoping you'd tell me the rest."

I paused. "You really don't remember?" I repeated.

He shook his head.

"I'm not sure I can tell you the rest."

"Why not?"

"If I told you what I witnessed, you'd certainly think I was insane and never want to see me again." Besides, there was still the chance that I'd misinterpreted what I saw. There were no visible signs on Brandon that he was a werewolf. No scratches, no stubble, no wolflike fangs.

There had to be a third explanation. Brandon had a fever and the moonlight distorted my view of him. All I knew was that I couldn't wait until another moon to see him again.

"So, can you tell me what happened?" he asked sincerely.

"I'm not sure - "

"Of what?"

"That I really saw what I think I saw... and if I didn't, then you'll just think I'm crazy."

"How can I think that?" he asked. "You are popular, studious, and one of the kindest people I've ever met."

I swooned inside from his compliment.

"Because what I saw wasn't..." I trailed off.

"Wasn't what?" he pressed. Then suddenly he was concerned. "Did I hurt you?"

"No  -  of course not."

He sighed with relief. "Then don't you see  -  I can't remember. You have to tell me."

"I know you'll think I'm crazy  -  and you won't want to hang out again."

"But, Celeste, I want to see you. Again and again. Please tell me so tonight I won't continue to have weird dreams. I can dream about you instead."

I smiled. His words were like Cupid's arrow shooting through my heart. But I was still reluctant. I might lose Brandon  -  no more texting, calls, passing glances, or amorous kisses. But as Brandon gazed at me now, so worried and confused, tormented by not knowing what happened, I was torn. If he felt I was keeping something secret from him, maybe I had more to lose by not telling him.

"I need to know why I didn't have my shirt," he insisted. "Why I was covered in dirt. Why I dreamed I was a..." But he didn't finish.

I paused. Then I pulled him toward me so my lips were close to his ear.

"Because it looked like you turned into a werewolf." It slipped out in a whisper.

His suddenly sad blue eyes blazed through me. I was waiting for him to laugh or chew me out for being crazy. But he didn't do either.

The bell rang.

We lingered underneath the staircase, both shaken and confused. I didn't want to go to lunch and be apart from Brandon any longer, especially now, when I'd just revealed something so bizarre to him. I was hoping he would kiss me, but our secret romantic moment was ruined. The tapping of boots and the squeaking of sneakers on the vinyl floor were approaching us.

Suddenly the students began exiting through the stairwell, and we were both forced to leave separately.