Chapter 4-1

I was watching the waves from the front of the boat when Bram walked up next to me. He leaned on the railing as he sighed, looked over right as the breeze started to blow his hair away. Due to the direction of the wind, I could see more of his red hair. It is strange how this year his hair started to slowly turn as red as his dad's. He says that when his hair lightens in the sun, it goes from black to red.

"At least you know some of the students and teachers here, when I went to my very first school in Oakgrove, I was all alone until I came to see you when the school day was over," he said with a sad smile on his face.

"Don't worry, this time you won't be alone because I will always be here." I grabbed his hand and squeezed lightly. "I will never leave your side, no matter what happens."

"Well, I hope to be your roommate because I know you won't stake me in my sleep."

"I hope you get to be my roommate, and I hope that I don't get a werebeast hater. They might skin me in my sleep. I hear that fur coats are all the rage in Silvermine."

I had to smile at the craziness of our lives.

"So that means we have an equal chance of dying in our first year!"

We did a high five because of how funny the truth was.

"Sounds fun!" he started laughing, "I was worried that this school might be too boring for us!"

For some strange reason, I felt my heart flutter when I heard this true version of his laugh. He had such a lovely gleam in his eyes that were so rare on his face. Right when he turned to look at me, a wave hit the front of the boat, drenching us in salty seawater. At least I got a couple of fish out of this strange situation. Bram had me throw the fish back into the ocean even after I pouted at him.

"You don't eat raw fish like that; it will hurt your stomach. Hold still, you have a piece of kelp in your hair."

He brushed against one of my ears, which made it twitch. I did not know until he showed it to me, that kelp was a dark green sea plant. It looked weird but I wanted to eat it.

"Is it edible?"

"Yes, but it is better to get it at a restaurant than to eat it like this." He tossed it overboard before continuing. "Gives you fewer chances of getting sick. Maybe we could find one near the port next time for you to try it."

I was having fun talking to Bram but then I started to hear the whispers from all the other students.

"Why would anyone in their right mind talk to a werebeast? They are just pure animals! Look at that ugly mixture of human and beast!"

"Ugh, how dare he talk to it? That thing might have fleas or diseases. I have to go to school with it. Ew, that is so gross."

"Ugh! I bet that the beast smells like sewage and shit!"

"Hey Ash, look at me."

I looked up at Bram and I did my best to ignore the whispers. However, it was so hard to do. He started slowly breathing and motioned for me to follow his example, his help stopped me from almost having a panic attack. I have done nothing wrong with them but all it takes is one look at my ears and they hate me. They hate me just because I was born part animal but I did not wish to be born like this.

"Don't listen to them, they are all dicks. They don't know you at all and I know you don't have fleas because we used to share beds in our sleepovers growing up." I started to smile at his words. "Besides, I got pieces of their hair so we can give it to Joy. She can make them dance if you want. It is easy to steal hair when controlling their shadows. All it takes is one light movement to grab one loose hair without them realizing it."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back of the boat. Right as we were about to reach our large group, someone made a comment that hit me straight in the heart.

"Hey! Why should beasts go to school just to pretend to be human? Most they have in their little brains is how to eat and shit! We should throw all the werebeasts overboard because they all should have died when they were born!" The crowd cheered at his words and he grabbed the nearest werebeast to him, which just so happens to be me. "Let's all grab one!" He told them as he lifted me.

I started fighting his grasp as he dragged me towards the edge. I saw that quite a few other students grabbed some werebeasts as well. He lifted me to throw me off and then someone tackled him.