“Look, don’t be embarrassed.” He told me smirking and eating his creation.

“Don’t be embarrassed about what?” I asked him, though I knew exactly what he was referring to.

He just smiled, “I’m not holding it against you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t. It’s your fault anyways, you got way to close to me. You didn’t have to touch me like that.” I said to him.

He scoffed, “Oh, so now it’s my fault. I’m sorry if I wanted to show you how to cook. Look, you don’t have to be embarrassed; you’re not the only one who was thinking about it. I am part human,” he said it like he was mocking me.

I rolled my eyes, “Can we just stop talking about it? It’s not helping my self-esteem right now, especially when you’re always in my head.” I meant it literally and metaphorically.

He sighed, “So, I was thinking that we could leave in an hour or so. But there’s something I need to do beforehand.”

“This is great by the way,” I complimented his food. His hands worked wonders on food, I wondered what else he could do, but pushed that thought out of my mind. “So where are we going?”

“There is no ‘we’. I’ll pick you up afterwards. Just wait for me here.” He ordered me.

I shook my head, “Oh, no. You’re not doing that! The car you’re using is mine, so I think that gives me some sort of right to go wherever it goes.”

He exhaled hard, “Fine, I’ll just do to it some other time.”

“What is so bad about me going with you? Afraid your secret will come out? Is it really that bad if it does?” I pushed. I was so sick and tired of trying to make him honest with him, but I couldn’t give up. Everything inside was telling me not to give up. Sooner than later it’d come out, and when that time comes, he’s going to have no choice but to be honest with me. I’m not sure why it mattered so much, but I needed him to trust me; I needed him.

He didn’t look at me, though I knew he knew what I was thinking. We ate the rest of dinner in silence.

After dinner, I went up to my room and decided to take a nap. I woke up to the sound of the door slamming shut and when I looked at the clock, I was only asleep for seventeen minutes. So much for taking a nap. I got up and looked at myself in the mirror, and then I realized that was the front door slamming shut, which meant someone left the house. I ran to my window and saw Gerald walking with a hoodie on.

I realized that this was my perfect chance to figure out what he was doing. The only thing I needed to do was to keep my thoughts away from what was really going on. I put on my flats and ran outside the door. I followed Gerald into the nearby forest hiding behind the tall trees surrounding us. I didn’t know what I was going to be thinking about, but apparently thinking about the break-up with Jake kept me busy. I went through every minor detail, remembering the look on his face, the words he said, what I was feeling. And then I realized that I stopped paying attention to what I was doing which was following Gerald. When I looked ahead of me, he was no longer there. “Damn it,” I whispered.

I searched all around me. All I saw was darkness. I left from behind the tree and began walking slowly. At least when Gerald was around I could’ve been saved if someone grabbed me, but now there was nothing but me and the dark surroundings. Like hearing my scared thoughts, a huge wind blew against me and I had to grab hold of my shoulders. I spun around and there was nothing. I remembered reading something that people usually can feel evil surrounding them. I never believed it, but now I did. There was this eerie feeling around me, and it wasn’t just the wind, but what the wind brought.

The branches of the trees blew along with the wind, and it made some sort of shield of itself, like enclosing me into this abandoned forest. “Ge, where are you?” I whispered to myself, hearing the pleading tone in my voice.

I began walking in the opposite direction, towards the place I entered, but this forest was too large, that I immediately got lost. There were too many trees and grass that I couldn’t distinguish which direction I was going. And then I heard it; it was like wolf howling in the darkness. But wolves only exist in myths, right? I started to run, not caring which direction I was going. I was going to end up somewhere, just hopefully it wasn’t my funeral.

I continued on running, my legs were aching and were about to give out. I didn’t even know what I was running from, a sound? My fear? When I looked behind me, I saw nothing but a huge blur, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. I was grabbed and thrown to the ground, banging my head against the ground.

“What the hell are you doing here?’ An angry whisper shouted at me.

I sat up with my hand on the back of my head. It was an angry Gerald staring at me. “What the hell are you doing here? Do you have a knack for being alone in the woods?”

He got up and pulled my arms, pulling me to my feet. I wiped my pants and stared at him angrily. “Was throwing me really necessary, it really hurt.” I said louder, but then his finger came up on my lips which shut me up. He grabbed my arm and started dragging me out of the woods. “You were supposed to be at home sleeping. I made sure of it before I left.”

“Well than, you didn’t do your job well as my protector,” he said, pulling me hard through the non-level ground. Now that I come to think of it, I would’ve fallen anyways. But his grip on me was so hard that I knew he was imprinting his hand on me and then I fell again which caused him to stop and stare at me. “Look, I can walk by myself.”

“I should’ve known you weren’t in your house, you kept thinking about Jake,” he whispered.

I smiled a little, “What, are you jealous?” I said getting up and he grabbed my hand this time, instead of arm.

He snorted, “Please. I’m just saying I should’ve known when you went from dreaming of me to thinking of Jake, and I stopped sensing the room around you.” I stayed quiet, wondering what he meant. “I mean, the thoughts in your head were more real. When I see dreams, it’s hazy. You can’t really see the faces, just the outlines and the blur of features. But when I kept tabs on you, it immediately went to Jake and I could see everything. The tears in your eyes, the pain on your face. It was way too real to be a dream.”

I was out of breath when we started walking again. Unlike me, he knew exactly where he was going. This wasn’t his first time in these woods. I didn’t know what scared me more, him being alone in these woods, or him knowing the way easily. I decided to keep talking to take my mind off of it. “If dreams are hazy, than how can you know that I was dreaming about you?”

He looked at me and smiled, “Do you really want me to answer that?”

“Okay, next question,” I said quickly, “What made you realize that I was following you?”

“Being a…” he stopped realizing he was close to revealing what he was. “Being what I am, senses are important. I sensed someone following me, and I led you in here. It was easier to get away, but when I felt you near me, I knew it was you. These woods are dangerous, Kim. More dangerous than you could ever think.”

I chuckled, but obviously squeezing his hand was because I was afraid. “What, are you saying there’s werewolves in these woods.” Remembering what I heard.

He laughed. “Werewolves don’t exist.”

“Neither does your kind,” I said abruptly. He paused and stared at me.

“What did you just say?”

I sighed, and finally we were out of the woods. I collapsed on the ground. My legs seriously felt like they were giving out. “Well it sounds to me that this race of yours is kind of known to not exist. And you keep calling yourself a monster, so that kind of sums it up.”

“Look, we should go. Your class is starting soon.” He grabbed my hand again and instead of pulling me or dragging me, he let me lead the way home, now that I was familiar with my surroundings.

We got to the acting class on time, and I greeted everyone. When the teacher finally told everyone to gather in a circle, I saw Gerald actually standing there, joining it. I went over to his side. “What are you still doing here? You can leave now.”

The teacher began the prayer, but me and Gerald were having our own conversation. “I told your mom that I’d look out for you.”

“Like you did when you left me alone?” I scoffed. “You’re not my bodyguard. I’ll call you when I’m done.”

He didn’t move. Instead he joined in the prayer and my mouth hung open.

The teacher finally went to the front of the hall. “Good evening everyone. Welcome back to those returning for another season with me, and welcome to everyone who’s joining us or the first time.” Everyone clapped. “Now before we begin, I’d like to do some introductions.” She named off some of the new kids, and I sat there faking my smiles because I couldn’t believe he was actually going to wait for me. I was going to have a talk with my mom later tonight.

“Gerald, honestly. Can’t you go? This is my territory. Go join an acoustic class, or something and get off my turf.”

“Last but certainly least, our last newbie who’s joining us is Gerald Anderson.” Everyone clapped.

My mouth opened wider, “What?!” I spat at him and pulled his shirt down when he tried to stand up.

“It’s our turf now,” he smiled.