If possible, her shock increases.
“Five boys?
My God, your mom must be one tough cookie.” Danny and I laugh together.
“Oh, she is,” I assure her.
“I mean, there’s also Dad in the picture.
With that many guys around, she’s bound to be tough, and she’s kind of scary sometimes, but she’s still very gentle and motherly.” Sadie smiles softly.
“Sounds like you guys care a lot about each other.” It makes me uncomfortable how girly the conversation is becoming, so I put on an indifferent mask and just shrug.
Danny comes to my rescue.
“We’re family,” is his explanation.
“Oh yeah, I don’t know any family that’s closer to each other than the Connollies,” Nell interjects.
“They’ve been here for like, forever, and they always do everything together.” How would you know?
I want to snap at her.
“My family is like that too.
We’ve always been there for each other,” Sadie says, her voice taking on a very affectionate tone.
“I mean, we may seem a bit crazy to people who don’t know us, especially since there’s a whole bunch of us, but anyone can feel the love and loyalty between everyone.” Neither Danny nor I miss the loud clues she’s giving; she’s definitely a werewolf’s mate, and from the way she described it, it sounds like she has been living with them for quite a while.
“So what’s it like living with a big family?” Nell asks, obviously forcing interest.
“Insane,” Sadie replies with a grin on her face.
“I mean, there is my nuclear family- my parents and my little brother and sister.
But a lot of my dad’s family has also been around since I was three and a lot of friends too.
We’d always go to each other’s houses and stuff, until it got to a point where it felt like we were all living together.” “Wait,” Nico suddenly pipes up, breaking off my confused thoughts about Sadie’s childhood and family.
“Are you the guys that just moved in?” “Yeah, actually,” she confirms, sounding surprised.
“How do you know about that?” “I saw the U-Hauls yesterday,” he replies.
“Wait, that’s your family?” Danny asks with fake curiosity.
She nods.
“Yeah.” “Didn’t you say there were thirty-five of them, Nico?” Nell asks.
“We’re eleven,” Sadie corrects her.
“At least, that’s how many there are in my family, under one roof.” “Whoa,” Brad finally speaks.
“Why did you all move in at the same time?” Nell wants to know.
Sadie starts to look uncomfortable because of the prying questions.
“Originally, the place we moved into belongs to us, so technically, we’re moving back.” “Still, I mean…” I cut her off right there.
“Back off Nell.
It’s none of our business.” She has the decency to blush and look down in embarrassment, although she doesn’t apologize.
At least she let it go and stopped talking.
“So you’re having a party, right?” Brad suddenly speaks up again.
“Yeah, but it’s kind of exclusive,” she tells him apologetically, not the least bit surprised that he knows that.
“It’s a sort of a welcome home thing we’re throwing for ourselves.” “That’s pretty cool,” I comment.
“You guys must have really missed living here, huh?” I’m hoping she’ll answer in a way that would shed some light on why they’re back, or possibly why they left in the first place.
“I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t born when my family left here,” she tells us.
Ah, of course, I should have thought of that.
She’s my age, after all, and my family moved here before I was born, and by that time the pack had already moved away.
Just as I’m about to ask another question, my phone beeps almost instantaneously with Danny’s, and I know it’s a text from our parents.
We stare at each other for a brief second before pulling out our cells and discreetly reading the message.
We’ve all been invited to officially meet the Silver Moon Pack’s new alpha.
Rod’s Diner, after school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My fingers light up with the sensation of bringing life to the atmosphere.
My entire body is elated with so much joy and brightness that it feels like my chest is going to explode.
This is usual for me, but it still takes my breath away every single time.
It is my only reason for living at the moment.
My final period of the day is my favorite, because I get to do the only thing I’ve ever done for myself out of selfish reasons.
Playing the piano has always been my forte.
My parents signed me up for home lessons when I first picked up a keyboard at three and wouldn’t put it down for hours every day.
I was a natural, apparently.
As I play the last note, my fingers gently smooth over the keyboards, and I stop for a moment to take it all in; the silence, the still burning euphoria in the air and the feeling of dominating the world.
Then the clapping comes, as it usually does from both teacher and students, and I open my eyes again.
Miss Tanner has tears in her eyes and is using a tissue to wipe them away.
Among the few students taking this class with me, five of the seven girls are staring at me like star struck teenagers while the other two are busy admiring themselves, and the only three guys are annoyed at the attention I’m getting.
They’ll have to get in line.
“Oh, that was beautiful, Michael,” Miss Tanner cries, figuratively and literally.
“Thanks,” I mumble with indifference.
The self-consciousness and discomfort I feel are already draining away the euphoria of playing and dropping me back to a cynical reality where I have to act like I don’t care about anything.
I can’t bring attention to myself.
This has always been a vital role for me to play, because too much attention might cause trouble.
It’s the reason why my parents cut me off from my piano lessons when I was thirteen, when my teacher tried to get me to perform onstage.
“But he’s got so much potential!” he said to my parents after they refused, begging them to let me share my talent with the world.
Their answer was just like the answer for me attending college.
No.
What would they have done if they found out about the singing thing too?
Miss Tanner calls the next person to perform their piece, and I mentally groan.
Not to sound conceited or anything, but none of them has any shred of talent.
The girl that goes next picks up the violin, and I can already tell this is going to be yet another torture session for me.
Especially with the way she is eyeing me, like she’s making sure I’m listening.
We only play in front of each other once a month.
I dread these days almost as much as I look forward to them.
As I always do, I look out the window and drift off to dreamland, tuning everything else out.
If I weren’t a werewolf, if I were just another girl born with everything I have now, I would probably be a singer.
If that didn’t pan out, there would always have been plan B; a concert pianist.
The thrill of playing the piano is amazing, but I feel the same thrill when I’m singing along too.
My singing voice is low, which means it’s easier for me to reach the bass notes than the high notes.
Obviously, I never sing in public, because while my voice is not high-pitched, it’s still obviously female.
While I stare at the tree outside, with the screeching sound of the violin playing in the background, I picture what my day would be like in a world where I carry no dark secrets, not even the werewolf secret; a world where my family and I are human.
Perhaps my daily concern would be whether or not the guy I have a crush on likes me.
Nah, that’s probably not true.
I mean as a guy I’m cute, but as a girl I’d be too hot to have these kinds of insecurities.
I try again.
Maybe my main concern would be to make music.
Maybe instead of being a confident bombshell that is more than likely shallow and slutty, I would be an introvert musician in a struggling band.
That would be cool.
And obviously, because I would have incredible talent both for music and picking friends, we would most likely make it big time.
Wouldn’t that be something?
The only downside would be that my brothers might treat me like a girl, and maybe War Day wouldn’t exist.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.
I snap back to reality when the bell rings, and I’m almost grateful to be out of the torture room.
But then I remember what plans I have for my afternoon, and the uneasiness returns.
The only bright side is that Sadie might be there too.
I wonder what her reaction would be if she sees me.