The Moon Phase Trilogy | Protected

Ericka had gotten to school just in time to see her major crush, Lukas Hipkee, leave the pool area. She knew he’d never be interested in a girl like her and he never really noticed her much anyway, but a girl can dream can’t she? She watched dreamily as he left to go to his locker, “You’re staring at him again.” someone said right in her ear and she yelped as she jumped about a foot into the air. Ericka looked at the person who said it and glared at them. Her best friend, Shaun Frost, was laughing so hard they didn’t even see Ericka’s death stare. She growled a little and Shaun looked at her, “That’s new. When did you learn that?” they asked and Ericka rolled her eyes.

“Shaun, why do you have to be so mean when I’m drooling over my crush?” Ericka asked as she looked at the girl standing before her. Her dark blue almost black, stick straight hair laid at her chest and her green eyes were staring into Ericka’s blue eyes with a wide grin on her face.

“Awe, Ricky is embarrassed. How cute!” Shaun exclaimed and Ericka just about pushed her over the balcony, trying to cover her friends mouth. Shaun was talking as Ericka had her hand over her mouth.

“What was that Shaun?” Ericka asked with a slight death glare. She still hadn’t told her best friend where she was living and what happened to her home, they may have been best friends but Ericka wasn’t ready to tell anyone about what had happened. It still felt like a nightmare to her. She had zoned out and was pushed by a classmate.

“Move,” was all the snotty girl said. Ericka felt the push and fell, it was like she didn’t have control over her body. Ericka could see people laughing and saw Shaun wanting to help her up. Sounds were so fuzzy to her, she didn’t realize what was going on. She felt something weird inside of her, like she was hungry for something.

Ericka grabbed her friend’s hand and everything went back to normal in an instant, “What the hell happened...” she asked as she shook her head in confusion. Shaun put her hands on Ericka’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. She noticed a change of color in Ericka’s blue eyes, they were a grey blue instead of the usual bright blue. “What Shaun?”

“Your eyes Ricky, they’re darker than usual,” Shaun said, blinking multiple times still a little shocked. Ericka raised her eyebrows in question to what her best friend said before grabbing her phone to check the color of her eyes with her camera. Shaun watched her friend do this and observed her expression.

Ericka stared at her reflection in the camera, astounded at her eye color, “What in the world...” she said under her breath so confused as to what was happening. She looked up and saw Shaun’s eyes a different shade of green and turned her phone to her so she could see them. “Look!”

“Whoa...why did mine change too?” Shaun asked and looked up at Erika. “Do you know what this means?” She asked and Ericka shook her head rapidly.

“I am just as confused as you are Shaun, but we better get to class before we are majorly late,” Ericka said as she looked up at a clock nearby in the hall. Shaun looked at Ericka’s phone and nodded in agreement. They were about to head to their first class when Ericka felt eyes on her. She turned around, but no one was there, “I swear there was someone watching me...” she said softly.

Shaun looked back to Ericka and sighed anxiously, “Ricky, let’s go!” She shouted and Ericka had turned around just in time to see Shaun anxious to get to class. “Slow poke. What were you looking at anyway?”

Ericka was still very confused as she spoke, “I thought someone was watching me...I could have sworn--” she trailed off and shook her head, walking towards Shaun. “Let’s get to class,” she said softly hoping that would get her mind off of the imaginary person that was watching her. She watched Shaun give a big smile and nod as they went to their first class, Math. Ericka took one last look behind her, to make sure no one was watching her and she caught a glimpse of a tall, dark haired, ghostly boy going into the men’s room. ‘Was he the one who was following me?’ She thought to herself, turning to face where she was going and getting to her class.

“Ricky, it hasn’t even been an hour and you already seem really distracted. You sure you’re okay?” Shaun asked, sitting down in the seat on the far end of the room in back. Ericka nodded and followed her, trying to put a fake smile on, but she had a feeling Shaun would see right through her lie. Shaun looked at her and pressed her lips together, “I can see right through that smile Rick, what’s going on? What won’t you tell me?” Shaun bugged her best friend worried.

“It’s nothing Shaun. Just drop it okay?” Ericka growled lightly and she felt the soft rumbling inside of her again. She opened a fresh notebook and instead of taking notes on the first day of classes, she doodled her crush, the blond wolf she thought she’d seen and the boy she had caught a glimpse of. It rattled her brain that all of a sudden someone was keeping an eye on her, and it also didn’t make sense to her on why her mother was murdered, why that guy was in their home in the first place and why a large dog had gotten her to her bed. And then her dream had her mind spinning even more, it had been reoccurring since the incident and she wasn’t sure why.

Ericka had kept doodling and scribbling down her thoughts until the bell rang, but right before that, she wrote in big dark letters ‘WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?’ and closed the spiral notebook before anyone could see what she had started.