Chapter 9 - Ghost of his past

Mateo dropped him off at home late at night.

Humming a familiar song, Ezra cheerfully entered his pack house. Running in his wolf form really gave him a freeing feeling. He loved it so much.

Everyone had already headed off to sleep. In order not to disturb them he did not make much noise or switch on the lights.

His sister's room was quite close to the doorway so she would be disturbed by the light.

He walked over to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Because that wretched Rio almost died he lost his appetite. He didn't have his lunch or his dinner.

His stomach was growling so loudly. Such small amount of curly fries did not do it.

He scavenged his fridge and found a frozen pizza.

"daddy's having pizza for dinner~" He happily popped it in the oven and did a small victory dance. "I know his weakness. Yeah, I know his weakness. Oh, and I have his ugly photo…. If he bullies me, I will post it all over school ~~~" he twirled around to see a dark figure standing behind him.

"Eeep!!!!" Ezra swiftly picked up the empty pizza box and tossed it at the person.

Suddenly the lights went on and Ezra was about to get a good view of the intruder.

It was his sister.

She still had that pizza box hanging from her face.

"Pfft… hahahahahah"

She tossed it back at him which he skillfully caught.

"you…. You test my patience Ez."

"Ohh aren't all siblings supposed to do this?" he blinked cutely at her.

Without a word she walked into the kitchen and Stood by the counter. "You seem awfully cheery. Liked picking trash?"

"No, I just saved a piece of trash." He paused. "But I regret it. Maybe I should have let him roll around like Mateo said. Sigh I can't change the past," he mumbled, checking on his pizza.

"What are you mumbling about, silly."

"Nothing," he pulled out the pizza and cut it into six pieces.

His sister swooped in and picked out the biggest piece of ton of pepperoni.

"Hey!" he swatted her hand. But she still managed to steal his pizza slice.

Growling loudly, he chowed down the rest of his pizza.

"So how did it go? Did you find a new girlfriend in the park?"

Ezra stuffed his face with the pizza in order not to answer her. Today was weird. He felt so many different feelings in just a day. it was all overwhelming. Especially the feeling he felt when he saw Rio on the ground unable to breathe.

His chest hurt so badly at that time.

Ezra touched his heart. "Does our family have a preexisting heart condition?"

"Huh? Are you cursing our parents?" she slapped the top of his head.

"Ow I'm just asking, okay."

That crosses out a heart attack. 'I must have just been so anxious that time. Even if that dying person was not Rio, I would have felt the same. Hmmm, that must be it.' He convinced himself.

"so you're still a single dog?" she sneakily stole the last slice of pizza while her brother was in a dazed state.

when Ezra came about, he looked at the empty plate and then at his sister. she gave a wide grin as she ate the last piece. he had been saving the best piece for the last. but she… she stole it!

"Revenge must be served!!!"

in fact, it was already brewing in his body. his lactose intolerance made him terribly gassy. he just had to wait a while before an attack was ready to serve.

suddenly she looked up at him, eyes wide open. "Oh no...you… didn't take your pill…."

Ezra jumped up and farted close to her. "Take that, pizza stealer!

"Ew, Ezra!!!!!! Fuck, you ruined pizza for me." She gagged and ran back to her room.

Giggling, Ezra walked back to his room in a cheerful mood. He jumped onto his messy bed and cuddled against the warm blankets. "Hmmm what a nice day…."

***

A blaring alarm woke him up the next morning.

Dazedly, Ezra wiped his mouth. "What time…" he pulled the clock closer and took a look.

It was seven Am.

"too early," he tossed the clock to the side and snuggled into his sheets.

Sweet, sweet, sleep invited him into its arms. With a soft smile Ezra laid down again.

"honk!!!! Honk!!!!!"

just as he was about to fall asleep a loud honking outside his house woke him up.

"Mateo…. Ughhh why is he so early…." Grumbling, he opened to the widow and looked down.

His friend waved at him vigorously.

"Why are you here this early man! I'm going to sleep!"

"Dude! The coach will kill you! Did you forget from today we will be training for our tryouts!"

Ezra grimaced. That thing had completely slipped out of his mind. He had been too focused on Rio to notice this major event.

'Fuck, the tryouts. I need to train well to get selected.' He ran in and threw on his training outfit. He did not have much time to eat breakfast. The tryouts training starts at 7.30.

Only by speeding would they be able to make it on time.

He hopped into Mateo's car and shook his shoulders. "Go! Go! Go!"

"Stop shaking me first!" dizzily Mateo shook his head. "Dude you sometimes forget that you have werewolf strength, don't you? I think you shook my brain out of place."

"don't waste time Mateo! Just go!" he anxiously glanced at the time on his phone.

"Fine, fine…" Mateo started his car and they sped over to the school.

Just after parking, Ezra noticed all the weird gazes he was getting. Some looked at him with flirtatious gaze, some looked at him like they were genuinely confused.

"What did I miss?"

"Dunno. I'm just as ignorant as you on this," Mateo looked around. Some of the hot chicks were even winking at him and waving at him, "Ohh but I'm liking this change. Buddy, this is my time to find a wifey. Bye~"

"w-wait hey! what about training!" before he could grab him, Mateo slipped out to flit with the group of cheerleads.

Sighing, Ezra walked in alone.

The gazes focused on him felt annoying. Like spiders crawling over his skin.

'What is happening?'

Some punk rock chick he had seen in his lab winked at him and cat-called him.

'am I being treated like a….. woman?'

Just thinking of that possibility made him cringe.

But soon he realized why everyone were looking at him with that gaze.

One random girl ran up to him and stopped in his way, giggling. "heard you saved Rio last night. Ohhh you are so sweet. You even saved your greatest enemy. Everyone is talking about it…." She twirled her hair with a cute smile. "Ezra… are you fre…"

Ezra walked past her with a scowl. 'So that was why everyone was treating me so. It was because I saved their football king! Fuck it! I hate this attention more than I thought!!'

He walked over to his locker to see that annoying fuck face kissing a random girl.

The girl this maggot had stolen from him had long become just a ghost of his past.

This pissed him off even more!

He pushed Rio out of the way and shoved his things in the locker.

"Hey, Ezra," Rio's new fling softly smiled at him. "Thank you so much for saving him. Without him, our school would have become a dark dungeon without light. oh, how much we would have suffered."

"Eh? You crazy lady? Dark dungeon my ass. he the dark lord of evil," he shoved Rio out of the way and rushed to his practice.

An annoying pair of footsteps followed after him. "I was thankful you saved me, so I let everyone in school know what a wonderful person you are for saving an angel like me,"

Ezra just looked at him up and down. "self-obsessed psycho. Go die in a ditch."

"But darling how can I dare to let this poor life you saved to waste? I will live so well just for you~"

Ezra paused placing all his attention on him. 'This guy is changing his tunes? what gives? Did his father tell him to act all friendly to me? is it a ploy?…. Oh.. it's because I know his weakness. This guy is scared that I will pass it on to others.'

"What is it?" Rio kindly smiled at him.

Ezra got the shivers just looking at that smile. "Ew don't ever smile at me. And I'm not that low to spread your weakness so you don't have to cater to me. Just… just stay out of my life. that's all I ask for?"

Rio smilingly looked at him. "What? do you regret it Ez?" he touched his cheeks.

Ezra slapped his hand away. it that moment he lost it. all that pent-up frustration about his past girlfriends just gushed out looking at his content smile. 'How dare he be happy. he made my life miserable. was the only thought in his mind.

"Yes! I regret saving you! you are fucking low life. it's better if you were dead!!"

Suddenly he noticed Rio's cheerful expression change to that he was familiar with. "is that so? Hmmmm… I'll do what I want. I will NOT stay out of your life. what will you do Ezra? what can you do? are you just bitter? Oh, is it because you can't satisfy your girlfriends."

'Oh, that does it!' Ezra threw a punch at him but at the last minute before it can land on his face someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

It was just a light force. the person holding him back was human. in order not to hurt that person he just backed away growling at Rio.

"Chill man." Mateo hugged him tightly from behind.

Rio growled loudly.

"Fuck, I will tear your mouth off, you fucking ass bitch. Don't ever come near me or I will show you what my real fist tastes like!"