Howls of Chaos. Gabrielle Boyd

just kidding. You act like you’re not happy to see me,” said Feraston.

      Carlos quickly responded, “I’m not. You burst in here like you wanted to attack us. Not to mention, you ate a guy, and there is no telling what else you did.”

      “Look Zorrin has gone ballistic, and he’s worse than he was. He has been launching attacks on humans and some werewolves. Plus, there’s a whole lot of other commotion as well,” said Feraston.

      Feraston is one person who can really make Carlos mad. She jokes a lot, and Carlos isn’t fond of jokes. He also doesn’t like anyone to mess with him when he is busy, and Feraston will annoy the crap out of him. But he allowed her to stay for a while since we needed some help with the coffee shop. Carlos and I can’t do it all by ourselves with everything else. I was so glad that Feraston was going to be staying with us. It would be just like when we lived in Cali.

      The next day I went to class and later hung out with Mallory, Caprilla, Mason, and this other girl named Kanyha Brooks. Kanyha is a point guard for the basketball team at Chaosville Community College. She is average height with a nice, athletic build. Plus, she is really cute. She is dark-skinned and wears her hair in pretty African twists. Her attitude is calm and down to earth.

      The five of us all went out and rode around town in Mason’s truck, a Silverado. I met a few other people at school and I even decided to try out for the dance team. Carlos supported the fact that I wanted to try out. He said it would be good for me to get out and stay active instead of sitting at the house and working at the coffee shop after school all the time.

      I began to build a close bond with Mallory and this girl named Hilary Collinbelle. Hilary is a nice girl from Huntsville, Alabama. She is also the sheriff’s niece. She, too, is a nursing major.

      Hilary is a very pretty girl and is twenty years old. She is kind of short and chubby with light, auburn colored hair which is cut into an angled bob. Hilary is a nice girl and treats everyone with respect, and she has a serious boyfriend named Garner Houston.

      Garner is a friend of Mason’s, only because they play baseball and graduated high school together. He is what you would call a stuck-up, total jerk. He is tall and dark-headed and always wears a baseball cap. He also has pointy ears that remind you of a leprechaun. He isn’t half as cute as he thinks he is. His attitude makes him even uglier. He is one of those guys who thinks that he can get any woman he wants just because he plays sports.

      He usually cheats on Hilary every chance he gets and constantly tries to put her down by complaining about her weight. One of his favorite malicious strategies is telling Hilary that if he breaks up with her, she won’t find anyone else. Garner usually makes Hilary cry. There was a rumor that he was cheating on Hilary with a cheerleader from school. I don’t know if it is true or not, but it probably is.

      Hilary and Garner have been together for about a year. That was the main reason she decided to come to school here in Chaosville. Mallory and I have tried to get her to break up with Garner, but she claims that she loves him and that he’s not always like that.

      Mallory was single, but doing the dating thing. She usually finds something wrong with every guy she dates unless he fits her personal standards, which are pretty uptight.

      Like I said, Mallory came from a bloodline of money—old money that is. I remember the Yates family from whom she descended. They were a wealthy English family who pretty much ran the town of Chaosville. They lived in town in big antebellum homes and large plantation houses in the country. They played a huge role in local politics. I recall that they owned businesses and held political positions back in early Chaosville history. So did the Wealthies. They mainly owned plantations and were big in the cotton industry. The Collinbelles, on the other hand, were hardworking people, owned no slaves, and farmed their land themselves.

      Mallory reminded me of one of her relatives named Helen from back in the eighteen hundreds. They just favored each other in appearance but they didn’t act alike or anything.

      Mallory and Mason were total opposites. They always argued about something. Mason was a baseball player, Mallory was on the dance team, and Mallory was wilder than Mason

      Mason usually hung out with Garner and a few other guys. He also hung out with Kent Brooks, who was one of the best running backs on the football team at our school and in the state of Alabama. The only reason he didn’t go to a four-year institution is because he didn’t score high enough on the ACT.

      Kent was tall, a bit muscular, and twenty-one years old. He had dreadlocks that came down to his shoulders. He was very dark skinned with brown eyes and huge biceps and triceps. Kent also had tattoos all over his arms, his chest, and his back.

      Kent was actually a cool guy and was Kanyha’s half-brother. He was a ladies’ man too. He was one of those guys who thought just because he played football he could get any woman he wanted. Maybe this was because girls usually threw themselves at him and would do anything for him. Every now and then, Kent would make a pass at me in class. I couldn’t care less because I have Carlos, and he is man enough for me. Well, wolf enough. Ha!

      At times I thought Kent and Mallory had something going on because they flirted so much. Plus, he was always hanging out with Mason like he was trying to get in with the Yates family.

      After hanging out with Mallory and the rest of the crew for a while, I decided to stop by the coffee shop and catch up on things with Feraston.

      As soon as I got there, I put on an apron and helped Feraston with the customers. The coffee shop was a little busy but not like usual. When things began to slow down at the shop, Feraston explained to me that Zorrin had taken over in the werewolf society and that some of the society had been thinking about getting together to overthrow Zorrin because he is so ruthless. Other werewolves are planning to stick with him and do whatever it takes to keep him in position as one of the top alpha-males.

      Meanwhile Carlos had a business lunch with Robby Yates. Mr. Yates is an average man in his late forties who owns quite a few businesses in the county, which include a car dealership, a tobacco store, and a real estate company. Mr. Yates is divorced and enjoys the single life. He usually dates women between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five, which tends to bother Mallory and Mason since they are both nineteen.

      Mr. Yates is also somewhat of a show-off. He rides around in his fancy cars and believes that his money can buy anything, and he flaunts it to pick up younger, naive women.

      After lunch, Carlos and Mr. Yates also drove around town in his Corvette. He showed Carlos around and even introduced him to some people. It seemed like Carlos had made a new friend. It is weird to me since I am friends with Mr. Yates’s kids.

      Later on that night was the town’s fish fry. I got cleaned up, threw on a pair of blue jean shorts, a yellow halter top, and a pair of cowgirl boots. I wore my hair down and curly as usual. My makeup was fresh, and I was ready to go. Feraston was looking sharp as well. She had on a multi-colored halter and denim shorts, but she wore flip flops instead of boots. Carlos spiked his hair and put on a nice button down shirt with blue jeans.

      On the way to the fish fry, Carlos gave us three rules to follow: One, do not eat anyone. Two, do not get mad. Three, stay away from silver. Like we didn’t know that already, I thought.

      We finally arrived at the fish fry on Main Street in downtown Chaosville. The street was packed and everyone had signs representing their college and high school football teams. There was so much food laid out on tables, but the smell of fresh barbeque ribs and fried catfish especially caught my attention.

      There were vendors set up selling all kinds of goods, such as food and T-shirt. There was also a live blues band and people dancing all over the street.

      Feraston and I walked on either side of Carlos. Some of the town people stared at us, and we listened to their whispers and conversations. It sounded like some of them were checking us out. Others were curious who we were; they could tell that we weren’t from around here. Some of them recognized Carlos as the