Chatper 3: Recovery

"Since when are there coyotes here?!" Josie asked incredulously as she folded her pillow over her ears. Corrine rolled over in her bed also, staring rather angrily outside the window.

"There usually aren't," she muttered groggily, before falling back onto the pillow once more. "And if there were, they wouldn't be that long-winded."

As the long, morose howl finally ended, they both felt a bit of a chill. Now that they actually sat and reflected on it, it sounded a little... depressed. Sad. Meloncholy. But that was any coyote's howl, right? Any howl at all usually tended to sound sad. Still, there was just something in the air that made both of them feel like it were more than just a coyote. What, they had no idea, but they just knew...

"I can't sleep anyway," Josie admitted quietly, though loud enough for Corrine to hear. "You?"

"I was sleeping well, actually," her roommate muttered, but sat up in her bed anyway. Josie did as well, and, unlike Corrine, felt little concern over how their hair was oh-so-misplaced. "I was, anyway, until that thing started going on."

Corrine's eyes wandered around the room, until the bracelet Josie had worn into the room caught her eye. She'd rested it on the nightstand, apparently taking Vaughn's suggestion to "keep it on her" rather lightly. "So, are you guys... official?"

At first, Josie seemed confused, but she understood quickly. "Oh, that. No, we're... what made you think that?"

Corrine just shrugged, smiling innocently. "Oh, so does that mean you and Marshall are official?" Josie retorted, nodding to the textbook Corrine had bummed off him earlier in the week.

"No, it just means I need to find that book," she answered, glancing at the book and back again. "Look, Josie, I'm going to try to sleep again. I think the coyote's gone, so..." She didn't get much further than that, since she'd passed out on her pillow right as she started the sentence.

While Corrine snoozed away, Josie fingered the bracelet a while out of sheer boredom. Her thoughts kept going back to Vaughn, and how he'd been acting strangely the past couple of days. The yellow lines in his eyes, the way he constantly complained about things being too loud, or smells being too strong, all of it just kept running laps in her mind. Not only all of that, but also that howl. The howl had, for some reason, reminded her of him. But what did a coyote howling have to do with Vaughn...?

It took a while, but eventually she too fell asleep.

The smell of grass and leaves everywhere was the first thing that woke him, the next being the wet dew all over the place, and his accidental inhaling of it. After choking a moment, he finally opened his eyes, now perfectly normal brown again, and tried to see where he was. The school was visible from where he stood; he'd come too close.

It took a while of retracing his steps, but he finally managed to find his clothes from the night before. Vaughn's back popped a little as he bent down to get them, a painful reminder that every part of him had been different that night. A few open cuts where he'd gotten caught on a briar or two were on his arms and legs, and his entire body lagged with fatigue. That was the reason it took him quite a while to get back into his clothes.

He held his hand over his eyes to shield them from the morning sunlight, and he stopped to breathe every few feet he walked. This werewolf thing was certainly draining, much more so than it used to be.

After he'd figured out which way was the closest to the school, he started noticing a few things. Birds were a lot louder than they had been, even in the previous days. Little rodents were abundant, particularly squirrels. That was the first major scare; as he passed by one, his stomach flopped about. Wait, that night, had he...

Dear God, he'd eaten a squirrel. "Well... at least no one's hurt." That was a reassuring thought, actually; then again, it was brought back down by the afterthought, that I know of. Even as his head ached again, he couldn't help but want to remember what had happened. Honestly, he felt like he was hung over or something.

The tie in his right hand and his left shoved in his pocket, he tried not to panic when he realized there was something on his chin. Just the smell of it - as if feeling it wasn't bad enough, he was able to smell it now - told him it was the blood of the poor unfortunate rodent he'd made quick work of the night before. It wasn't terribly hard to remove, but the thought of it still lingered on his mind. If he tried hard enough, he could barely recall seeing it on the ground just before he...

The school was in sight now. He had to get rid of those thoughts, those strange, feral thoughts that plagued his mind all of a sudden. This werewolf wasn't going to let it die, that was certain...

After painfully climbing the fence, he hurried back to his dorm to try to get a bit of sleep before classtime. He'd have to call his father, to warn him about what was going on. How would his father react to the news? He didn't seem happy about the mere thought of the werewolf returning, so who really knew?

Just before he could reach his door, Josie's hand clamped onto his shoulder, and he cringed and whined with a bit of pain. Though he shut his eyes, he could plainly tell it was her - not only from the grip, but from her scent. Possibly the worst part of that situation was that he actually enjoyed the scent he detected for her... He didn't need to drag her into this nightmare of his.

"Where are you going? It's time for class, there's no point in going to bed." Of course, she would be late. As was he - but he decided he wasn't going in that day.

"Look, Josie, I'm... kinda tired, and..."

"Why? I mean, you slept like you did any other night, didn't you?" Obviously she was a little irritated about something. What else was new?

"Not... not exactly." This excuse would be easy. "Couldn't sleep last night. Y'know. Headaches and stuff."

"Tylenol always knocked me out. Did you try that?"

"That stuff doesn't work for me," he said, feeling half triumphant. Well, she seemed to believe him so far. "But... hey, why aren't you going to class?"

"Uhh... I'm sort of on my way." Her hands on her hips, a bit of a mischeivous look crossed her face. Mmhm. Sure she was. "But yeah. Hope you feel better, I guess." She seemed a little defeated, like she were expecting to foil his little secret. "See you around." She turned and started off, noticeably not in the direction of the class they had at that time (if he was even guessing the time correctly).

Feeling rather pleased with himself, he hurriedly slid into his dorm, falling onto the bed as soon as he reached it. The familiar scent of his room was comforting, as well as the thought that, the last time he'd been in there, he'd been totally human. It was almost strange, how prominent his own scent was now.

Vaughn could've fallen asleep right there, legs hanging off the side of the bed and his body draped across the width of the bed rather than the length, but the sudden aching in his back made him try to drag himself farther up. His legs had given out; could he even feel them now? It was like they were asleep or something, how he couldn't even tell if they were moving when he tried. With enough struggling, however, he finally managed to roll onto his sore back, his neck and head supported by the pillow. It didn't take five seconds for him to finally drift off into happydreamtimefunland.

"Vaughn's still acting funny," Lucas pointed out at the lunch table upon noticing that the person in question hadn't been in any classes that day, "I didn't think he had it in him, to miss school and risk his dad getting upset."

"Well, might be turning over a new leaf," Marshall suggested, shrugging as he poked the shapeless glob on his plate with a fork. "One that's oddly remeniscent of someone else."

"Hey guys, you seen Vaughn anywhere?" Josie asked as if on cue, after she'd come into the cafeteria from her last class (and last lecture on how tardiness wasn't appreciated). "I haven't seen him since this morning, and I'm getting a little worried."

"This morning?" Corrine questioned, deciding to skip the whole lecture thing herself in favor of this more interesting subject. "When did you see him?"

"He was leaving his room... or going back in, I don't know. I hadn't really been thinking straight then. He looked... he looked pretty rough." Josie cringed a little as she remembered how he'd appeared, most of all how... how there was some kind of a wild look in his eyes. He seemed tired, but at the same time... oddly awake.

"Hey guys." The ones sitting with their back to the entrance suddenly wheeled about, their eyes fastened on Vaughn as he approached them. His gait was the first obvious difference; for some reason, Vaughn walked like he were oddly more confident in himself than before, like he felt a reason to be superior. His head was tilted back ever-so-slightly, and a wry grin took the place of a usually somewhat clueless look he tended to keep. The thin gold lines were back in his eyes, although instead of making him appear strange and sick, they now seemed to compliment this new boldness. As if nothing were really different, he stole a seat from a table behind them and pulled it up, only very fortunate that it wasn't already someone else's.

"Uh... Vaughn?" Josie started, though finally just kind of gave up. The weird burst of confidence was kind of... attractive, in her eyes. Wait, focus, let's not get carried away. "You look... better. What's up?"

Vaughn shrugged, like it wasn't really anything. "I dunno. Just... awake or something." He closed his eyes and breathed in a moment, that little smirk never really leaving his face as he did so. "What've we got today, anyway? Smells like... stuff from last week."

"I think it is," Marshall murmured, a look of pure disgust crossing his face as he prodded it again. "It's not Jell-O, I'm sure, but... it moves like it."

"So," Lucas began, eager to get to the interrogation part of every fanfic/episode/whatever, "where've you been all day? Z's been a little worried."

Vaughn shrugged nonchalantly, not a trace of anxiety or anything anywhere on his face. "Just got sick this morning. I felt better, so I figured I might as well finish the day out." He was definitely in the mood for messing around with Lucas, judging from the sudden glint in his eyes. "Don't tell me you're worried about me too."

The other four raised a brow at his comment, though Lucas seemed to be the only one that didn't actually get it. "What do you mean?"

"I think it's obvious you're more worried than you act." Vaughn was definitely brave today.

Marshall shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Today just got a lot gayer."

At that comment Lucas finally figured it out, but Vaughn shut up. The lunch period was over, and it was time to start heading to class. While he stood out of his chair, Josie hurriedly attached herself to his hip (figuratively, of course) and tried to get some answers.

"You're feeling better," she said, stating the obvious, "what's with you today? Get jacked up on something while you were in bed?"

Whatever this was certainly affected his mind; he chuckled a little at her mentioning the phrase "in bed" before answering. "No, I just felt better. People do that, y'know."

"Well... you're doing it wrong."

"There's a wrong way to get better?" he asked, rolling his eyes slightly. "Josie, that's stupid. There's nothing wrong, I just got sick and now I'm all... recovered, I guess. It's no big deal."

Josie rolled her own eyes, and glared up at him (stupid tall people). "Oh yeah, no big deal. Your eyes have just changed color and you've had the biggest mood swing a guy's ever experienced. Why don't you just give me a straight answer?"

The two stopped outside their next class, just close enough to speak without being heard by the entire student body (and to hear each other over the entire student body). It was definitely going to start more rumors than there aleady were. Or maybe not, considering Vaughn seemed way more irritated than Josie was, and niether of them appeared happy about anything.

"Josie, it's... it's not something I can give a straight answer on," he whispered, deciding he would at least try to calm her down. "If I really knew, I'd let you know."

"Vaughn, what happened to our little pact?"

"I know, we made that stupid deal, but..." He anxiously rubbed the back of his neck, and glanced back around at the people that passed them by. "This one doesn't count."

"Doesn't count?" Josie repeated, somewhat dumbfounded. "Why wouldn't it count? We decided on it just so we didn't have to like... be our own crying shoulders and stuff."

"It just doesn't count, Josie." The firmness in Vaughn's voice was indisputable. After that statement he backed off and made his way inside the classroom.

So Vaughn was hiding something. Something big, evidently... but why not share it?

Totally about to be continued...

Erilis: So I totally got to update today. Isn't that great?

Diego: And with a rather crappy chapter. At least you fixed that thing in the last one... epic PHAIL in spelling and biology, much?

Erilis: ' Again, thanks to the person that pointed that out to me. Read 'n Review!