25 Happy Birthday, Boots 1 (1/2)

On the night before her birthday, Ash wanted to go to bed early. While Celia and Isabelle ate dinner at the cafeteria, Ash packed a duffel bag with clothes for the two-week holiday. She had already decided that she was going to spend the holidays with Hunter getting to know his parents and learning more about their shared werewolf heritage.

The problem was, she had no idea how to tell her friends about her decision. With the awkward way things had been going with the three of them lately, telling them she was staying with Hunter just felt awkward. It was almost like she had turned into a different person around them.

She stared at her hands on the unfolded shirt in her lap. Her hands weren't just human hands anymore. There were claws hiding beneath her skin. Claws that were large and sharp enough to rip open a deer's ribs.

Ash had hunted and killed a wild animal, and she couldn't even remember doing it. There was a hidden power inside of her all this time, and the first time it had emerged, she had not even been awake to experience it.

Ash opened and closed her fists, flexing her fingers.

[How did I do it? How did I turn---wait, what's the word? Shift. Right, how did I do that?]

Ash continued to open and close her fists, wondering if she could do it all again.

***

”Where are we taking Ash tomorrow?” Isabelle asked Celia.

The two girls were eating dinner together at the cafeteria. Ash had begged off, saying she needed to pack her things. Neither Celia nor Isabelle needed to pack their things for the holidays. Like everyone else, they just left everything at the dorm and came back after two weeks with more new clothes. Ash had a more limited wardrobe, which meant that she would probably be the only student leaving the campus tomorrow with a large bag.

”She's going to want to eat steak, I suppose,” Celia answered. ”The mutt likes meat.”

”Cece, you shouldn't call her that. I know you're mad at her, but she's our friend,” Isabelle replied. Too many students were already calling Ash names behind her back, she didn't Cece to add to their number.

”Sorry, that was mean. But yeah, I'm just really upset with the whole Hunter situation. I can't even hang out in the room with her anymore coz I feel like punching her in the face. Or like cutting her up. Just anything that would draw blood, basically.”

”That's a little too intense, don't you think, Cece? She didn't kill anyone, she's just dating someone. There's no need to bludgeon her for that.”

”Yeah, I know. It shouldn't be like a super big deal, but I've got this weird blood lust thing going on inside me. Like, I need to see her bleed for some reason. I dunno. I guess I just feel betrayed.”

”Would it really be a good idea to bring her to a steak house then? There are a lot of knives in there, you might stab her.”

”Hey, nothing like that! I didn't really mean what I said. I'll be chill, I promise.”

Isabelle nodded and smiled at Celia. Celia responded with a smirk.

Somewhere in the back of Celia's mind, a little voice kept whispering to her about taking her friend's blood. Celia chose to ignore it as she took several large gulps of water.

***

”Happy birthday, dummy!”

Ash opened her eyes to see Celia's wide smiling face hovering above her.

”Thanks, creeper,” Ash mumbled, putting one hand over her mouth. She didn't want Celia getting a blast of morning breath, even if it was her birthday.

”I got you breakfast, you little weasel,” Celia said, brandishing a tray of waffles with two strips of bacon on the side.

”They didn't have rice at the cafeteria today, so I figured you'd be okay with waffles.”

Ash sat up in her bed and graciously received the plate. She kissed Celia on the cheek.

”You're being very nice, but you're also calling me a lot of names. Thank you?”