English was supposed to be boring. Group projects usually meant I got stuck doing all the work while my partner stared at the ceiling. Plus it was Friday. But today? Today Ezra showed up. Which was shocking enough on its own.
What was even more shocking was the way he was... watching me.
I shifted in my seat, trying to ignore it. He didn't look away. His dark eyes tracked every time I moved my pencil.
Finally, I snapped. "Is there something wrong with your eyes, or are you just this creepy all the time?"
His mouth curved, just slightly. "Maybe I'm just making sure you're doing your part of the project."
"Uh-huh. Because you've been so invested before today." I flipped my notebook open and pretended to write something profound.
"Maybe I'm invested now."
I looked up, raising an eyebrow. "You know, most people would've just said 'sorry for staring.'"
He leaned back in his chair like he had all the time in the world. "I'm not most people."
I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. "Wow. How original."
The teacher cleared her throat, reminding us that yes, class still existed. I bent over my notes, but Ezra didn't. Not really. He turned back to the board, but every so often, I caught that sideways look. Like he was searching for something. Like he'd found it and couldn't stop himself from staring.
By the time the bell rang, my skin was buzzing.
I practically ran out, where Chloe was waiting at my locker, already chattering about after-school plans.
"Okay, so, Ethan's bringing chips, I have the karaoke machine, and your mom promised pizza rolls. It's gonna be epic!" She looped her arm through mine, eyes sparkling.
I pulled books from my locker and slammed it shut. "Chloe, you won't believe this, Ezra was actually staring at me in class. Like, nonstop. I thought lasers were going to shoot out of his eyes."
"Mm-hm. And you're telling me this why?"
"Because it was weird! Creepy weird. Like... why would he suddenly start paying attention to me?"
"Maybe you had frosting on your face. Or maybe you finally looked cute today." Chloe shrugged, completely unbothered. "Anyway, your birthday sleepover is gonna be legendary. I downloaded a duet playlist. You're not escaping."
I groaned, but my brain wasn't following her hype train. It kept looping back to Ezra's stare. The way he hadn't blinked. The way he'd said he was "invested now."
Invested in what?
-
The living room looked like a party store had exploded inside of it. Streamers dangled from the ceiling fan, balloons were taped to the walls in lopsided clumps, and Chloe had insisted on hanging a glittery banner that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVIE! in letters so loud it probably woke the neighbors.
"I told you subtle was fine," I said, staring at the crime scene of decorations.
"Subtle is for funerals," Chloe replied, tossing another handful of confetti into the air. It rained down on Ethan's hair like he was the victim of a glitter storm.
He blinked through it, deadpan. "I hate both of you."
"No, you don't," Chloe said sweetly, patting his head and making the glitter stick worse.
"Wow," I muttered, kicking off my shoes. "Best friends: actively lowering my life expectancy one party at a time."
"Shut up and open your gift," Ethan said, shoving a box at me.
I tore into it and burst out laughing. A dartboard, with Ezra's group photoshopped onto the bullseye. "Are you serious?"
"Therapeutic," Ethan said, shrugging. "You're welcome."
"Shotgun first throw!" Chloe grabbed a dart and hurled it before I could stop her. It stuck in Ezra's eye.
We all stared. Then she fist-pumped. "Bullseye."
The laughter carried us into the next ridiculous idea: Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Except Chloe had taped an embarrassing middle school photo of me onto the wall in place of the donkey.
"This is a hate crime," I said, blindfold slipping down my face as Ethan spun me around until I nearly fell over.
"Don't miss your own butt," Chloe snorted.
"I'm aiming for yours," I shot back, stumbling forward and sticking the paper tail somewhere near the elbow.
They both collapsed onto the floor, laughing so hard they wheezed.
We moved on to karaoke, where Chloe belted pop songs like she was auditioning for Broadway. Ethan flat-out refused to sing until Chloe dared him, and then he croaked through the chorus of "Barbie Girl" in a monotone that had me doubled over in tears.
"New record," I gasped between laughs. "You made that song worse."
"Talent," he said, bowing.
Chloe threw a chip at him. He caught it in his mouth and chewed with smug satisfaction.
Pizza rolls vanished in record time. Cupcakes didn't last much longer, especially after Chloe smeared frosting on Ethan's face and he chased her around the couch while I filmed it on my phone for future blackmail.
By the time Emma poked her head in with her mom glare, the coffee table was covered in crumbs, the carpet was a graveyard of popped balloons, and Chloe was standing on the couch holding a karaoke mic like she was queen of the world.
"Bed. Now," Emma ordered.
"We were just—" I started.
"Now," she said, that mom-tone brooking no argument.
We scrambled upstairs with an armful of blankets and snacks, still giggling, still buzzing with sugar. Chloe flopped across half my bed, Ethan made a cocoon out of his sleeping bag, and I tucked myself into the middle, heart full despite the chaos.
This was how birthdays should feel, loud, messy and ridiculous.
Perfect.
Almost.
Because under all the laughter, something in me hummed. A wrongness I couldn't name. My skin tingled, my bones ached faintly, and I shoved the feeling away, blaming sugar and confetti.
Tomorrow, I told myself. Tomorrow I'll feel normal again.
-
I didn't.
It hit sometime past midnight.
At first, it was just a throb in my skull, like a migraine sneaking in. I rolled onto my side, clutching the blanket tighter. Sweat slicked my palms.
Then fire lit under my skin.
I jolted upright with a strangled gasp. My chest burned, my bones... shifted.
"Evie?" Chloe's groggy voice cut through the dark. She pushed up on her elbows, blinking at me. "Are you okay?"
"I—no—I don't know," I stammered, clutching my stomach. My nails dug into my thighs. "Something's wrong."
Ethan was awake in an instant, scrambling out of his cocoon. "Do we call your mom? Do we—"
A cry tore from my throat, sharp and animal. My spine arched, my muscles spasming.
"Oh my god!" Chloe shrieked, wide awake now. She scrambled backward, smacking into the wall.
My vision split, colors too sharp, shadows too deep. My teeth ached, lengthened. Bones snapped, reshaping. I clutched at the air like that would hold me together.
"Evie, what's happening to you!?" Ethan's voice cracked, raw with panic.
I couldn't answer. My jaw stretched wrong, my hands, my hands weren't hands anymore. White fur burst across my skin, pale as frost with a strange shimmer of blue beneath.
Clothes shredded. My scream turned into a snarl that wasn't human.
Chloe screamed so loud the windows rattled. "WHAT THE HELL—"
The next second, silence.
Silence except for the sound of my own ragged breathing.
I stood in the middle of my bedroom, no longer standing on two feet. A massive wolf stared back at my friends with wide, glowing eyes.
Me.
I was the wolf.
Chloe slapped both hands over her mouth. Ethan, pale and shaking, pressed himself against the dresser like it might protect him.
"E-Evie?" he whispered.
I whimpered, low in my throat. Took one step forward, and Chloe shrieked again, hurling a pillow at me like that would do anything against six feet of fur and fangs.
"Oh my god, you're—you're—" She pointed at me, face white, voice gone high with hysteria. "You're a freaking wolf!"
I stared at them, panic crashing in waves. My chest heaved, my tail lashed once, and the room that had been laughter and frosting an hour ago was now terror and chaos.
And I had no idea how to turn back.