Chapter One

"Cassie! get your ass out of that room and down here this instant."

Maria's voice sounds through the duplex as she sets the table for breakfast.

Maria is a middle-aged woman with dark blonde hair and mud-brown eyes. She is quite busty and round, giving her a homey look and she was a little over five feet.

"Cassandra!" she bellows again.

"What! What! I'm coming down okay? no need to bring the house down."

A tall tanned skinned girl bound down the stairs with a scowl and made her way to sit at the table that was already set for two.

Her dark blonde hair, a darker shade than her mother's, was tied up in a ponytail that swung from side to side as she walked.

The tight ponytail made her face pop out and accentuated her chubby cheeks with a light dusting of freckles on them, giving her the adorably cute look of a four-year-old despite her height and her age.

Her long eyelashes fluttered about as she blinked and she had a natural pout to her lips causing it to stick out slightly, looking invitingly glossy and pinkish red.

She has a curvy body that is well hidden in the joggers and hoodie she was wearing.

"Is that what you're wearing to school today?" Maria asks her daughter and Cassie releases a sigh, knowing what is coming next.

"Cassandra, you are already in your second year of college. You need to dress properly, make an effort to look gorgeous as you already are so that I can get a handsome son-in-law soon," Maria scolds lightly as she serves pancakes and maple syrup on two plates and hands one to Cassandra.

"Can we not talk about my dress code right now? I have two tests today so don't stress me, momma. I'm too young for this," Cassandra says and shoves a pancake in her mouth.

"No, you're not. When I was your age, I…"

"You were already married to a man who didn't and still doesn't give a dime about us," Cassandra yells in anger.

She huffed, getting fed up with all her mom's preachings and hypocrisy.

"I..you.." Maria takes a deep breath. " Thank you for pointing that out."

Cassandra's face falls and she sighs. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blurt that out," she says and sighs dejectedly when she sees tears start to form in her mother's eyes.

"I didn't mean it, I'm sorry," She apologizes again and moved in to hug her shoulders.

She rests my head on Maria's right shoulder and their cheeks squished together.

Maria sniffs before putting a hand on Cassandra's other cheek.

"It's fine peanut, I just want you to be happy and not make the same mistakes I made," she explains and that just makes Cassandra feel worse.

"I know and I'm sorry. I love you, momma," Cassandra says as she pulls away and Maria kisses her daughter's cheek.

Cassie lets go of her and proceeds to sit opposite her and they nibble on their meal in silence.

Five minutes later, Cassandra takes her empty plate to the kitchen since her mom is still on her sixth bite.

She picks up her woolen handmade bag and walks towards her mother to kiss her goodbye.

"Just because you made that comment doesn't mean I'll let you off the hook, you have to get a boyfriend soon," she says and Cassandra's anger builds up again.

"Damn it, Mom!" She yells and walks out of the house, making sure to bang the door.

"Couldn't she just take a hint, after what happened with her and Dad." Cassandra scoffs.

I'd rather be found naked in a museum than have anything to do with a romantic relationship.

"Love is for the naive. I'd rather have a pet dog or even better a wolf to scare the idiots away," she mumbles and unchains her bicycle and rides it to school

Well, some wishes do come true right?.....

.........................

"Hey Cassie, still beautiful," a young man who looked about the same age as Cassandra calls out.

She sighs loudly and her shoulders slump in exasperation.

"Leave me alone Princeton, you're a douche," She replies.

The boy named Princeton chuckles, already used to her snarky comments.

They had just finished their last subject for the day and Cassandra had been peacefully putting her books into her handbag when Princeton decided to be a leech again.

"Ouch that hurt," he says in a playful tone, clutching his chest in fake pain, "Come on, we don't have any more classes today, let's go get dinner," he says with a charming smile.

Cassandra scoffs and mumbles under her breath, "He thinks it's charming, well those girls from the business administration made him think that so not my problem."

Contrary to Cassandra's thoughts, Princeton is a very handsome young man and could easily pass as a model with his wavy dark blonde and prominent jawline.

The one thing our dear Cassandra hates about him is his obnoxious and sometimes narcissistic personality. He is also the biggest Casanova of the decade.

"No," She snaps at him and stuffs the last textbook in her bag and walks out of the nearly empty classroom.

"Idiot. Even after dressing like a hobo, I still can't get any peace." She grumbles to herself.

"Biiiitch," A tall brunette yells from a few feet behind Cassandra.

Cassandra turn towards her in time for Michelle's usual bone-crushing hug.

"Hello to you too Mich," Cassandra greets with an eye roll, "How was your day?" She asks just as Michelle releases her and drapes an arm around her shoulders.

"My day was wonderful, we had a chemistry test today and I sat next to the nerd in our class so that's a B plus for me," she says happily before scrunching her nose, something she always does when she's confused about something.

"Why were you upset?" She asks.

"How did you know I was upset?" Cassandra asks in return and Michelle flicks her forehead causing her to wince and glare at the perpetrator.

"I'm your best friend dummy and your face scrunches up into a cute angry pout when you're upset," she replies with a smug grin.

"Whatever, it's just Princeton being his usual stupid self. Anyway, I'm going to the park today, you coming?" Cassandra asks as they exit the building.

"Oh right, no I can't come because I'm on kitchen duty today but are you sure it's safe, I heard that they've been a few wolf sightings in the woods close to the park", she says in worry.

"Don't worry, I've been going there for years and I haven't seen any," Cassandra replies as they make their way out of the school gate.

"If you say so," Michelle says and gives her best friend another crushing hug before they part ways and Cassandra walks toward the bike rack and unchains her bicycle before hopping on and riding to the park.

………...

The sun is setting, the weather is warm and the sky is a beautiful mirage of colors.

It always has a way of making Cassandra relax and sets the mood for reading and working on assignments.

It just highlights everything and makes it look brighter, more lively even. But what she loves even more is the moon, the full moon.

It's like the prettiest thing ever, especially when she's by her favorite spot by the lake just a little into the woods and the water starts to sparkle like precious....

What was that?

The bench she is sitting on is facing away from the woods and she could swear that she heard a twig snap a few feet behind her.

She slowly stands to her feet and keeps the novel that she was reading on the bench and crept closer to take a look.

Being a sensible person, Cassandra knew that she was supposed to be running away but she felt curious to know what it was.

A flash of red blurs past from behind a tree but it disappeared right after.

"Wait!" She calls out but whatever it was had already left.

"Why did I do that? What if it was a wolf? You have no sense of self-preservation Cassandra," She whispers to herself.

She walks to the tree where she had seen the blur of red and a delicious smell assails her sensitive nose.

"Mmmmm, it smells really good, like a lemon-flavored ice cream which is my favorite and also a woody musky scent." She mumbles to herself.

She stands in place, soaking in the wonderful smell for God knows how long when her cell phone rings and she takes it out of her pocket to see Michelle's name on my screen and taps the green icon.

"What's up bitch?" She asks and she could hear her friend cackle over the phone.

"Just wanted you to know that me and the girls are going out for ice cream. So you coming?" She asks, knowing full well that Cassandra would never say no to ice cream.

"You know I want to bedbug, wait for me," Cassandra replies and Michelle's cousins chuckle in the background and Michelle says something about being rude before the line went dead.

Cassandra takes a last whiff of the fading scent before walking back to the bench.

She put the book that she had been reading in her bag and walked towards her bicycle in the bike rack.

She stops and looks back at the tree and stares longingly at it.

"Weird," She mumbles and hop on my bike and rides to Michelle's house.

.............

A/N: The rest of the story will be written from a first person point of view.

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