As soon as she spoke, Jasper and Erica started laughing while Sam rolled his eyes again; clearly, they all thought that Jamye was joking. But as I looked at her face, I could see that the idea was a serious theory to her.

"She's actually got a point, you know," I said, crossing my arms and considering it for a few moments.

"Are you kidding me?" Jasper said, snorting. "You do realize that the idea of someone being able to just turn into a wolf is ridiculous, right? It's physically impossible!"

"I think you two have been watching too much Supernatural or something," Erica chimed in.

"Says the girl who thinks a mad man in a blue box is going to come pick her up and take her through time and space," Jamye shot back, smirking at her own cleverness.

"Don't even joke about that!" Erica cried, her eyes suddenly the size of saucers.

"Guys, it doesn't matter," I said, breaking up the makings of a full-out fight before it developed anymore. "Look, they're gone for the day and we won't see any of them until Monday anyway, so there's no point in worrying about it. We may as well enjoy our weekend, right?"

Jamye and Jasper nodded in agreement, but Sam had already turned and was walking to his own car, waving to us over his shoulder. Clearly, he didn't need to be told twice that it was time to go.

"Alright, see you guys tomorrow afternoon," Jasper said, grabbing his bag off the ground. "Remember, meet at my place at 4 so we can catch that movie, alright?"

"Yeah, see you then," I said as our group split up and Jamye and I climbed into the front seats of my car.

~

I dropped off Jamye at her house before heading on to my own house. Of the group, I lived the farthest from town and therefore the farthest from the school, and the majority of my drive was scenic. Fields and farmhouses flashed by my windows as I drove, eventually giving way to thick woods with heavy undergrowth. This was the longest stretch of my drive, straight through a small state forest where the wildlife was all protected from hunting. It was beautiful to me; I'd always loved the peace of the forest and the chance to see small animals along the way as well.

But that day, something happened that hadn't happened as long as I had been frequenting that road. Before I could react, a large deer shot out of the woods and bolted straight in front of my car. I reacted as anyone would and jerked my steeling wheel to avoid hitting it, but I overcompensated and lost control of the car. Without warning, a tree appeared in my vision, and that was the last thing I saw before I out.

~

"What were you thinking, you idiot?? You could have killed her!"

"Hey, it's not my fault she drove off the road!"

"No, you were just the one who chased that deer right to the road. So this should be your responsibility!"

"That's not going to happen either. If we leave him in charge of her, he'll probably get her killed."

"How do you know he hasn't already done that?!"

"Shut up, all of you. I'll take care of her, since I can't trust any of you to do it."

~

I still don't remember exactly what happened after I out. All I can really remember is darkness, like I was floating in the darkest waters imaginable, and either I wasn't breathing at all or I simply didn't need to anymore. Regardless, it felt like I was stuck like that for a long time, days even, which was probably because I had no way of keeping track of exactly how long I was in that state. Afterwards, I realized that the darkness was because I had been knocked unconscious in the wreck, which made the thought of it even scarier.

Finally, it felt as if something was tugging me from the surface of the water, trying to pull me back up into the clear air. After what must have been a few minutes like that, my eyes slowly began to open, only a crack at first, then bit by bit, I was able to open them enough to take in my surroundings.

I was in a completely unfamiliar room, and from the gut feeling I got, the entire place was probably foreign to me as well. However, the room was well-furnished, with black and white posters on the walls of famous places. In fact, the entire room was black and white, and aside from the poster prints, it was meticulously clean.

"Finally," someone said in a gruff, familiar voice. Not that the voice sounded particularly pleased, I noted mentally. When I looked up toward the source of said voice, I spotted a face that I had seen almost every day for the past month, though I wasn't familiar with the person whom the face belonged to.

"Good thing you woke up," Kris said. "Some of the guys thought you were actually dead." His voice was deadpan, with absolutely no emotion, which made me more uneasy than an unhappy stranger.

"What are you talking about?" I said groggily. I pushed my right elbow under myself, trying to sit up, but I immediately grabbed my forehead with my left hand as a wave of pain washed over my head.

"You shouldn't try sitting up," Kris said, his tone unchanged as he turned away from me. "You hit your head on the steering wheel when your car hit that tree."

I thought back, remembering the tree that had loomed up in front of my car right before I had out. I was lucky I could remember that, which meant it was less likely that I had a concussion. Now the question was, how had I ended up here? And where was here, exactly?

"So, how do you fit in to all of this? And, since I'm clearly not in a hospital where I probably should, where am I?" I asked once I was laying back again.

Kris glanced over his shoulder at me without actually turning to look and said, "My house. The p-- I mean, I found you when I was out for a run in the woods. I carried you back here since it was closest, and someone else looked at you." Seeming to read my mind, he added, "And yes, the person who checked you is a trained professional. No concussion."

I allowed myself a sigh of relief on finding out that I wasn't concussed. But I was still nervous and confused, despite knowing that I hadn't suffered any serious head trauma. "So why did you bring me here instead of calling an ambulance or something? Wouldn't that have been easier?"

Clearly, he had been expecting me to simple accept his first explanation because he paused for a few moments. It was obvious he was trying to think of a reasonable answer, and he finally said, "It was just easier. The entire explanation would be too lengthy for you to handle right now. Even though you don't have a concussion, you still need to rest and avoid stress."

Without another word, he moved from where he had been standing and walked to the door where he flipped off a switch, turning off the overhead light. He then shut the door behind himself, leaving me in the dimming light that bled through the thin curtains draped over the twin windows.

Without anything else to do -- I couldn't get up and leave because if probably vomit or pass out from nausea -- I rolled onto my side and allowed my eyes to flutter shut before slipping back into a shallow pool of darkness that quickly enveloped me.

~

"I doubt if you can hear me right now. Kris said you were just sleeping, not unconscious, but you don't look like you're sleeping lightly or anything. Anyway, sorry about the deer. I didn't mean to chase it out in front of your car; I was just really excited to be able to get out and hunt again. My w--"

"Lay, what are you doing??"

"Nothing! I mean, I was just--"

"Get out of here right now! Not only should you be away from her, but this is also still my room. You still need to learn your boundaries, clearly."

( Yay for chapter 3! I can't believe how quickly I've been able to write this story! At the same time though, I would really really appreciate some feedback from those of you reading it. Not only does it encourage me to write more, your insights and predictions can sometimes have a hand in what I actually write next. That being said, I would love some comments on any of the chapters, especially this one. Love you all! )