Full Moon by Rachel Hawthorne (best biographies to read .txt) 📕

He hadn’t gone to school with us, since his family lived near Seattle, but he’d joined the Dark Guardians earlier in the summer, so we already knew him. I hadn’t really paid much attention to him, though. He wore his black hair in a buzzed style, which was unusual. Most of the guys we knew wore their hair longer.

“Yeah, whatever,” Brittany said.

“You know it could be your attitude keeping the guys away,” I pointed out.

“I don’t want a guy who doesn’t want me.”

“Maybe he will…if you give him a chance,” Kayla said.

“Besides, the elders said you just have to have a guy with you. He doesn’t have to be the one,” I told her. “When the right one comes along, you can re-bond with him.”

She gave me an impatient glare. “They don’t know it’ll work that way. I’m the first girl who might have to go through it alone. They’re just guessing.”

Well, obviously she wasn’t the first. If we knew a girl could die if she went through her first transformation alone, then somewhere along the way a girl had gone through it alone. But I thought it best not to point out that part. No reason to add to Brittany’s worry.

“Of course they know what’ll happen,” I said, sounding more confident than I actually felt. Brittany might be giving me a hard time about my choices, but when all was said and done, we were friends. I wanted her to survive long past the next full moon. “They have the ancient texts, the books. They’re bound to have used them to find an answer for this dilemma.”

“You think?” she asked, and I heard the hope in her voice.

“Absolutely.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “You’re a Dark Guardian. They value you. They’re not going to guess about something this important.”

She shifted her gaze over to Daniel. He was crouched in front of three young scouts, explaining something to them. He had a broad, warm smile. Brittany sighed. “I guess I could do worse than him.”

“That’s the spirit!” I exclaimed. Not. Would I be as difficult to please, as unwilling to settle, if I didn’t already have Connor?

Brittany rolled her eyes. “You don’t know what it’s like. Lately I’ve been worried about….” Her voice trailed off.

“Worried about what?”

“Nothing. Forget it.”

Before I could convince her to tell me, she walked off into the group of girls and introduced herself to their leaders and chaperones.

I looked over at Kayla. Her face was set in a mask of worry.

“I have to believe she’ll be okay,” I told her.

Kayla gave me a soft smile. “I know. I had only forty-eight hours to prepare for my first full moon…I can’t imagine how nerve-racking it must be for you to have a much longer countdown. But especially for Brittany.”

A month ago I would have told her I couldn’t wait. Now, I wasn’t so sure.

“You said what you felt for Lucas was instantaneous—that you felt a strong bond immediately. Brittany has time to find someone.”

Kayla nodded, but I suspected she didn’t believe what I’d said about Brittany any more than I did. I didn’t know what would be worse: to go through it alone or to go through it with someone who didn’t really want to be there.

I looked back toward our group of girls. Brittany was actually talking to Daniel. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

Lucas gave the order for us to move out. I shifted my backpack and headed forward, bringing up the rear so I could make sure no little scouts got left behind or wandered off.

It seemed so odd not to have Rafe with us. I wondered where he was, what he was doing. I took a final, quick glance around, but I didn’t see him anywhere. I trudged into the forest, surprised by how lonely I felt.

And wishing, with a ferocity that stunned me, that Rafe was with us.

By the time the sun was beginning to set, most of the girls had lost their exuberance. Not that I blamed them. Lucas had pushed us pretty hard.

Because we were supposed to be watching the girls and keeping an eye out for danger, we didn’t pair up into couples until the camp was set up and everyone was seated around the campfire making our evening s’mores.

Kayla and Lucas were sitting close together, talking softly. It was obvious they were trying to behave in front of the young scouts, because they kept their touches brief and even those seemed inadvertent. But even when they weren’t kissing or caressing, there was still an intimacy between them—as though they shared the very deepest aspects of their souls.

Brittany, on the other hand, wasn’t sharing even the outer edge of hers with Daniel. She sat beside him stiffly, concentrating on making her s’mores rather than talking with him. It was apparent that he felt awkward. Seeing them together, I couldn’t imagine that a blind date would be any worse. At that moment I truly appreciated that I’d always had Connor.

Not that we were doing any talking or touching each other—inadvertently or otherwise. But at least we were acting comfortable around each other again.

The girls weren’t talking much either. A couple of them looked as though they were going to drift off to sleep right where they were sitting.

I glanced surreptitiously at Brittany. “I don’t think the elders should get into matchmaking,” I murmured so only Connor could hear me.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” he said, equally quiet. “It’s a disaster.”

I jerked my head around to stare at him. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Brittany suddenly studying me. I leaned in to Connor as though we were going to get cozy and whispered in his ear, “I don’t think it’s that bad.”

He tucked some strands that had worked their way out of my braid back behind my ear, his knuckles skimming my cheek, his eyes growing warm as though we were talking about personal things. “He’s not even trying.