Moon’s Tides
Summary: Scarlett Mirachei lives in a military family. When her father is stationed in Seattle, she and her dad pick up and move to Forks. However, when her first day ay school goes in many ways she doesn’t expect, questions are raised she can’t easily find answers to. (A Jasper x OC fic, though you can insert yourself into Scarlett’s position if you want to. Jasper and Alice are not together in this one. I also took liberties in putting this fic closer to modern day than the early 2000s.)
TW: Minor mentions of nudity
Chapter 1: Wolfish Tendencies
The first day at a new school. It was something Scarlett had become almost intimately familiar with. Every couple of years her father would be relocated to a different military base, and they would pack everything up and move where the job required. For most of Scarlett’s life, her father had been stationed in various bases around Louisiana. Whether it was Fort Johnson (originally Fort Polk, she still got the names mixed up), Camp Beauregard, or the occasional visit to the Marine Corps Support Facility in New Orleans, there was always something new. More places to explore, new houses to live in, and new people to get to know.
This time however, the move was a bit more drastic. Instead of moving to another part of sunny, humid, and sometimes downright miserable Louisiana, her father had been told he was moving up to Washington. He was being relocated to the military base located in Seattle, meaning she and her father were going to have to get acclimated to much different weather. Long gone were the days of the weather roulette wheel. Spring and Fall were no longer constant toss-ups of rain, wind, and windy storms. Summer no longer heraled hurricane season. And Winter no longer meant the wonder of if Louisiana would be lucky to enough to get snow that year.
Instead, Washinton proved to be a bit more consistent in its weather patterns. Cloudy, almost constantly rainy, with a couple days of sunshine mixed in. Forks was almost constantly under the cover of rain or fog. Snow was a guaranteed spectacle when Winter decided to show itself and blow its freezing breath over the soggy green landscape. And Summer could hardly be called Summer. There weren’t any putridly hot days, no humid air that felt so thick it was like inhaling a blanket. It was very different than what Scarlett was used to.
But what she didn’t expect was for her sinus problems to somehow be even worse when she moved up there. It had only been a couple of days and drainage was kicking her ass. Sore throat, sneezing, coughing up phlegm, the whole nine yards. It felt like she had been assaulted with a full face of pollen, when it was most likely because of the moss that covered almost every tree in the neighborhood. She had thanked herself multiple times for buying a surplus of her nasal spray on a whim, inhaling three sprays of the medicine in each nostril.
But even with that assistance, as soon as she stepped out of her car in the school parking lot a sneeze wracked her frame so hard it felt like she had dislodged something. She doubles over, taking a moment to collect herself with her nose tucked firmly into her jacket-covered elbow. She makes a noise of displeasure before grabbing her backpack, trying her best not to rub at her eyes. She was almost certain she looked sick as she walked across the parking lot and into the school’s office, awkwardly standing at the front desk as she waits for the woman behind the desk to notice her.
The woman had to have been middle-aged. Her hair was so red it had to have been box-dyed, which made Scarlett fight back a cringe. Her green eyes were framed by a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, slowly looking over something on her monitor. It takes a couple more minutes before the lady notices Scarlett, eyes widening in shock before she turns to face her.
“Good morning. How may I help you?”
She sounded so similar to a customer service person that Scarlett almost talked to her professionally rather than simply asking for her schedule like a normal person.
“Um, hi. I’m Scarlett Mirachei, a new transfer from New Orleans. I was told I could get my class schedule here.”
“Scarlett…Scarlett…Oh yes! Here you are.” She clicks a couple times with her mouse, and Scarlett chews on the inside of her cheek as she waits.
The printer whirs to life, slowly printing out a block schedule on a piece of printer paper. Scarlett smiles as the lady hands the piece of paper to her.
“The room numbers and buildings are printed on the paper. Makes it a little hard to get lost. You’re in here a bit early as well, so it might give you a little time to get to your class or find your locker before the day starts.”
Scarlett nods, reading over the piece of paper. Calculus first period. Just her luck. Scarlett somehow had always managed to get her math class as her first period since freshman year. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, she couldn’t be sure. Physics as second period. Her two most difficult classes first thing in the morning. She sighs as she looks at her third period class, World Literature. She had the universal lunch period, followed by her Dance class, which had been put in as an elective since she already had the required PE credits. Last up was her World History class.
Scarlett was happy she had packed her dance bag, making a mental note to grab it during her lunch break. It didn’t specify what kind of dance the class was focused on, so unless the teacher went into it, she would just have to pack all her shoes. Even her tap shoes. Scarlett sighs as she exits the office, folding up the schedule and tucking it in her pocket so it wouldn’t get wet in the drizzling rain.
More cars had pulled into the parking lot, and Scarlett could hear the chatter of the various students as they waited to go inside. Scarlett sighed as she walked to her car, a little Nissan painted midnight blue. She’d most likely have to wait as well, so she simply leaned against her car while quietly humming to herself. She gazed around the parking lot, eyes ending up on what looked like an old rusted red Chevy truck. Her brow raised as she looked at the truck, slowly running her gaze over it.
Scarlett briefly saw her reflection in one of the side mirrors. Her hair, chin length, had been pulled back into a short ponytail with her bangs hanging out on each side of her face. The lock on the right side was dyed the same midnight blue as her car. The rest of her hair was light brown, a little more red than brown in the right lighting. It was something she had gotten from her mother’s side of the family. Her amber eyes, which she called doe eyes because they looked big to her, seemed to have the same steely wall of conviction that her father held wherever he went. Her face was quite traingular in shape, sharp cheekbones, and chin. Her nose was just big enough to fit her face, not quite a button nose with a subtle hook to it. Her black brows, sharp and angular, added an intensity to her facial expression that would scare most people off.
She looked like she was a member of the military herself.
She hadn’t worn anything special to school. A simple band t-shirt adorned with a grey hoodie, black ripped jeans and her favorite pair of combat boots. Her backpack was slung over one shoulder, adorned with various pins and keychains. It was the only thing on her that screamed something other than resting bitch face. Of course, the pentagram keychain would cause some controversy, along with the genderfluid keychain and the demisexual pin. Various witch and gothic-themed pins littered her backapck. A crystal ball with a banner reading “YOU ARE FULL OF MAGIC” in curisve, a black snake wrapped around a crescent moon, and a couple pins from her old schools. Her favorite pin was circular, depicting a golden crescent moon, the rest of the pin colored purple with little golden stars. Engraved in it were the words “Stay Wild Moon Child.” It was the first pin her father had ever gotten her and stayed with her throughout her school years.
Scarlett could feel the charms of the necklaces tucked under her shirt move every now and again as she leaned against her car. She wore three, two were made of cord and one was a metal chain. The first neckalce was a circular pendant, depicting three phases of the moon, waxing crescent, the full moon, and waning crescent. The second was a simple cage for a crystal, amethyst. The last one, the metal chain, held a much larger version of the pentagram keychain that hung from her backpack.
Scarlett was quite literally any Christian kid’s worst nightmare.
Her eyes roam over the rest of the parking lot, brow raising again when she notices a silver Volvo. Whoever’s Daddy bought that has some money. Scarlett looks over the car, eyes eventually wandering to the math building as she thinks about how boring Calculus will be. The bell rings, and Scarlett is quick to make her way into the building, finding the room with a little difficulty. She makes it a few minutes early, sitting down in a vacant spot in the far back corner. She tries to not draw attention to herself as she pulls out her notebook and led pencil, lightly chewing on her nail as she waits for class to start.
Once all of the students file in and take their seats, the teacher begins roll. Scarlett was one of the last kids on the list, correcting the teacher when he inevitably gets her last name wrong. Mirachei was not always an easy name to pronounce, and it often took a couple weeks before people were able to say it correctly.
As she expected, her first two classes went horribly slow. Calculus was just an intro day, just covering foundations students would have learned if not reviewed in Pre-Calculus. Physics was a little more difficult, though it was Calculus based Physics so she would have to learn the principles then implement the math as she learned both subjects. World Literature wasn’t hard, considering there had been no material given out to any of the students yet. Lunch eventually rolled around, and Scarlett had decided to grab her dance bag on the way to lunch instead of on the way out. Once she grabbed her bag, hauling it over her shoulder, she made her way into the cafateria. There was some hustle and bustle, mostly people chatting amongst each other. Once Scarlett had grabbed a tray, her brow furrowed as she thought of where to sit. However, that train of thought was quickly thrown out the window when a boy, most likely a year younger than her, walked up to her with a large smile.
He looked nerdy, his hair cut into a sideswept spiky style. He wore rectangular glasses that didn’t quite fit his face, and looked a little lanky in stature.
“Hi! I’m Eric, you must be the other new girl! Scarlett, right?” He smiled brightly at Scarlett, offering his hand for a shake.
Scarlett nods before awkwardly shaking his hand.
“Yeah, how’d you know?” Her brow furrows a fraction of an inch as she chews on the inside of her cheek.
“Oh, you and Bella are basically the talk of the school right now. Two new students? Almost never happens! You can come to sit with us if you want. Bella is with us. I can introduce you!”
Before Scarlett can respond he rushes back to a somewhat crowded table. Three girls and three guys, one of them Eric, sit at the table and he waves Scarlett over. Scarlett takes a breath before walking over to the table, readjusting her dance bag.
“Here, I’ll pull up a chair.” Eric wastes no time in grabbing a spare chair from the table next to the group, sliding it between him and a girl with decently long brunette hair and brown eyes.
Scarlett slowly sits down, shrugging off her dance bag and slipping it under her chair.
“Everybody, this is Scarlett! The other new girl.” Eric announces, a wide smile on his face.
Scarlett waves, chewing on the inside of her cheek as all eyes are drawn to her for the moment.
One of the girls, also brunette with brown eyes, smiles at Scarlett. It seems a little forced, and Scarlett picks up on a little bit of snarkiness from her.
“I’m Jessica Stanley. The girl next to me is Angela. The guy with the short blond hair is Mike. You already know Eric, and the last boy over here is Tyler.”
Scarlett nods in acknowledgement to each of them, feeling a little out of place.
“And I’m sure you already know the girl next to you. She’s Bella, the police chief’s daughter.”
Jessica nudges the girl next to Scarlett, making the girl flush before awkwardly waving to Scarlett.
“Hi, I’m Bella.” Her voice is small, and she tries her best to seem friendly.
“Well, its already obvious, but I’m Scarlett Mirachei. Moved from New Orleans if the accent doesn’t give it away.” Scarlett smiles wryly.
“Really? We were just talking about how Bella moved up from Phoenix.” Jessica smiles.
Scarlett looks over to Bella, who seems to be looking through the cafateria windows.
“Who are they?” She asks, eyes on the door as it opens.
“The Cullens? They’re Dr. and Mrs. Cullen’s foster kids.” Jessica leans in, almost as though the information is secretive. Scarlett raises a brow, listening intently. “They moved down here from Alaska, like, a few years ago. “
“They…kind of keep to themselves.” Angela added.
“Yeah, cuz they’re all together. Like, together together. Well, I say that. It’s only two of them. The blonde girl? That’s Rosalie. And then there’s the big dark-haired guy, Emmett. They’re like, a thing. I’m not even sure that’s legal.”
“Well, I mean, they’re not actually related.” Angela smiles.
“Well, yeah but they live together, its weird.”
Scarlett takes a bite of her food, watching as Rosalie and Emmett pass. As they do, it feels like pins and needles are suddenly jabbed into her nose. She covers her nose, hoping to mask the face she makes as her nose begins to burn.
Another two come in and Jessica begins talking again.
“Okay, the little dark-haired girl is Alice. She’s really weird. And that’s Jasper, the blond one who looks like he’s in pain.”
As they pass, two different smells seem to assault Scarlett’s nose simultaneously. One of them has the same burning smell as before, while the other is still a little unpleasant, but much more muted on the pain scale. Aside from the sharpness, she can pick up a faint hint of leather and pine. Something warm settles in her chest, making her body convulse. She masks it behind a cough, desperately trying to settle down.
No one seems to notice as Jessica keeps talking.
“Um, Dr. Cullen is like this foster dad/match maker.”
“Maybe he’ll adopt me.” Angela smiles, a dreamy look in her eyes.
Scarlett can feel her body drastically warming up, the convulsions seeming to not want to calm down. Scarlett tries desperately to take deep breaths, which seem to ward them off for the moment.
“Who’s he?”
Bella looks at the door as a boy with reddish-brown hair walks in, an almost sullen look on his face. Scarlett fights back another convulsion, her nose almost on fire as the burning scent assaults her nose once more.
Jessica smiles for a moment before speaking again.
“That’s Edward Cullen. He’s totally gorgeous, obviously. But apparently nobody here is good enough for him. Jasper and Alice seem to think the same. But, like I care, you know?”
Its getting hard for Scarlett to focus on the conversation, and as soon as Edward passes by, she’s grabbing her dance bag.
“I think I’m gonna throw up.”
Scarlett puts a hand over her mouth as she grabs her dance bag before making a beeline to the door, rushing out as fast as she possibly can. The convulsions are only getting worse, more frequent and in some cases more violent. She doesn’t know what compels her to dash into the nearby woods, but as soon as she’s shielded by the foliage she’s dropping her dance bag. Her body feels too warm. Like there’s too many layers on her.
First goes her jacket, then her shirt. And when that’s not enough, the rest of her clothes go, too. As soon as the last of her garments are off of her, the convulsions become much more violent. They’re not painful, if anything they feel like dry heaving. Her eyes close as she leans against a tree for support.
And then suddenly they’ve stopped.
Scarlett’s eyes open, but things look different. She can see the detailing in the tree bark, look at each individual speck of moss. She almost feels taller in a sense, and she can smell things she’d never been able to before. She could smell the various animals in the trees, squirrels, birds, the occasional rat. She could smell the dormant gasoline in the cars in the parking lot. She could smell the leather of the seats, smell the various scents of the student body. Could smell that burning, overpowering scent. It was like a magnified spearmint, strong, cold, and unbearably sharp.
Scarlett looked down and her body went rigid. Instead of legs, she had paws. White, fluffy paws. Her head whips behind her, only to be met with a large, white fluffy pelt. Her large white fluffy pelt. Her tail was ramrod straight, and she heard the loud panting from her open mouth as panic flooded her system. She felt her ears twitch on top of her head as she desperately tried to process what she was seeing. She looked down at her clothes before looking back at her body.
Her first instinct was to panic. In a matter of seconds she was yelping in terror, whining as her head flitted this way and that. Trying to figure out what to do. She had to be dreaming, right? There’s no way she just turned into a fucking wolf. She needed to be admitted into a mental hospital.
But even as she spiraled, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a dew drop resting on a fern. In striking clarity, she saw the wolf standing where she would have stood. Its fur was snow white, its eyes the exact same amber as Scarlett’s. Its snout was long, pointed, and large sharp teeth showed when she opened her mouth. She stood abnormally large. She would assume just standing on all fours she would be taller than her normal height.
The whining eventually died down as she analyzed her reflection in harsh detail. Was this…her? Was she…actually grounded in reality right now? Was she going insane? But everything felt real. Everything felt…alive. Like some dormant part of her was finally allowed to come out and play. Like this was something she had in her as long as she had been born, but there had just never been a right time to explore it.
Ironically, in that moment, the song “She Wolf” popped into her mind.
As she gradually calmed down, she was able to shift back into her regular self. Once she was back into her regular form, she was quick to put her clothes back on. Her skin seemed much more sensitive than before, and the abnormal body heat hadn’t gone away. Her sight was sharper than before, her hearing magnified as though she had put her ear to a megaphone. And her sense of smell… No longer was she sneezing, but everything seemed to have a heightened smell. Everything seemed…different.
Scarlett grabs her dance bag, thoughts racing a mile a minute.
What the hell was that? What just happened? Please let this just be a moment where I lost touch with reality. That…That wasn’t real. It can’t be.
Though it felt like that moment of insanity had last hours, in reality it had maybe lasted ten minutes. Most students were still in the cafateria. Scarlett could hear the buzzing of chatter from the woods, making her brow furrow. She decides to not go back to the cafateria, the noise is overwhelming from a distance. She makes her way to the athletic building, shocked to find it open. Her warm hand meets the cold, damp metal of the door, a shock to her system. She had to be running a fever.
Nonetheless, she felt fine, so she walked in.
Scarlett found the girl’s changing room and make quick work of changing into her leotard and tights. She grabs her jazz and ballet shoes, slipping on her jazz shoes to be safe before walking into the small dance studio. It had decent quality marley, though it had clearly been worn down and would need to be replaced soon. The mirrors didn’t span the entire wall and looked like they needed cleaning. And the ballet bars had clearly seen better days, most of them made from piping instead of proper plastic.
Scarlett grabbed her phone and wireless earbuds, slipping one into her ear before unlocking her phone. She walks to the center of the small studio, scrolling through her music library before picking up a song to stretch to. She slides into a split, making sure her feet are pointed before she leans first to her right side, stretching out the muscles in her legs and core. She does the same to her left side before transitioning into lunges, falling into an old ballet stretch routine.
She just finishes stretching out her ankles when other students and the teacher walk in. She puts her phone and earbuds away, finding a place on the floor as she waits for the other students. The teacher explains that this dance class covers jazz, ballet, and modern, and Scarlett can’t help the smile that comes over her face. The first unit is jazz, and within a couple minutes the students are stretching and getting to work.
The school had lumped beginner, intermediate, and advanced students together. Whether that would be helpful or detrimental, Scarlett wasn’t sure. It made the skill gap obvious, which no doubt would make the beginners feel insecure. But it would push the intermediates to perform on the level of the advanced students. So, it might just be a very delicate balance.
The teacher goes through a couple of stretch routines before doing a small lesson on technique. After that, she begins the students on a combination. It incorporates basic skills all dancers need for a jazz routine, though it is modified for the advanced dancers with a couple tricks and turn sequences.
The dance class is decently enjoyable for Scarlett, allowing her to forget all of her worries, fears, concerns, and questions about her mental stability. She rides the endorphin high of dancing into her last class of the day. She hums the combination music as she sits down, a pretty catchy song called “Bole to Harlem”. She pulls out her notebook, setting it on her desk as she runs through the dance combination in her head.
She’s only broken out of her reverie when that biting scent fills her nose again. She looks up, only to spot two of the Cullen kids finding their seats. One is the blonde girl Jessica had said was Rosalie. The other was the second blond, which Jessica had said was Jasper. Only two seats were available, one next to Scarlett and one at the front of the classroom. Rosalie quickly sat in the chair at the front, leaving Jasper to sit next to Scarlett. Scarlett was thankful Rosalie had sat in the front, as pretty as she looked her scent was making Scarlett’s lungs feel inflamed. As Jasper gradually got closer, Rosalie’s scent was eventually drowned out. Once Jasper sat down, a much different scent enveloped her senses.
The mix of leather and pine, with just a hint of that spearmint sensation. It felt much more welcoming and warm than his brother and sister’s scents. It was almost pleasant to breathe in, had her nose not been so terribly sensitive. Scarlett kept her head down, trying her best to keep her hand away from her nose as she fiddled with her pencil. She could vaguely feel warmth beginning to blossom in her chest as he settled in his seat, eyes facing forward.
He looked stiff, elbows on the table. The side of his right hand was pressed against his lips, his left hand covering his right. His chin-length hair partially obscured his face. Scarlett couldn’t get a read on him even if she wanted to, and some part of her seemed hurt at the realization. Class had begun, and Scarlett found it hard to tear her attention away from him. Part of her wanted to talk to him, get as close to him as possible. A very deep, almost possessive piece of her wanted to get close enough that her scent would waft onto him, warning people to stay away from him.
She had no clue where any of that was coming from, shaking her head to clear her mind before opening her notebook and beginning to take notes.
Nonetheless, the intrusive thoughts kept coming. With each inhale, another thought almost derailed her from focusing on the history lesson. It was near impossible for her to keep her head on straight. Her eyes would always drift to Jasper, who didn’t seem to have changed positions at all during the lesson so far. His back was rigid, his jaw clenched tight.
He looked uncomfortable.
Part of Scarlett wanted to reach out and comfort him, and for some odd reason she felt a whine building in the back of her throat. She quickly stamps it down, frowning as she tries her best to focus on the tail end of the lesson. She needed to check in with a therapist if not a mental hospital.
The bell rings, signalling the end of the lesson. As soon as it sounds, Jasper is bolting out the room, a huffy Rosalie following behind him. That part of Scarlett seems hurt, and its almost physically painful to watch him leave. Scarlett winces, closing her eyes. What the hell is wrong with me?
She grabs her notebook and bag, making her way to her car. As she throws her dance bag into the back of her car, she hears footsteps approaching from a longer distance than she normally could before. Her eyes peer up to find Bella tentatively walking over, watching her feet carefully as she walked. Once she makes it to Scarlett’s car, she smiles sheepishly.
“Hey, I never got to check on you? Are you feeling better?”
Despite not knowing Scarlett at all, Bella sounded oddly concerned. Scarlett fought with herself between telling the full truth or telling a half truth. Certainly this girl would think her crazy if she went “Yeah I’m okay, I just turned into a wolf and now all my senses are heightened.”
It was bad enough Scarlett already felt crazy, she didn’t need people believing that about her.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I have bad anxiety so social situations like that can really get the better of me.” Not an entire lie. Scarlett truthfully did have social anxiety, and in some cases would be bad enough to make her sick.
“Well, I’m glad you’re doing better. Hopefully tomorrow will be better?”
“I’m hoping. I never did get to hear much about you. I heard you’re new here, too?” Scarlett raises a brow, leaning against her car. She catches a whiff of Bella’s scent. Kind of floral, almost like peonies. Its much more tolerable than the scent the Cullens give off. Well, except for Jasper…
“Yeah, I moved up here with my dad a couple days ago.” Bella nods. “He’s the police chief for the town, so moving up here was a pretty big deal for the town, I guess.”
Scarlett chuckles, nodding.
“I came up here with my dad, too, funnily enough. Though he’s a military man. Got re-assigned to a position in Seattle. He likes to be away from all the hustle and bustle and found a little house for him and me up here. He lives on base most of the time, but he tries to come home when he can.”
Bella nods, fiddling with one of her book covers.
“Seems like a pretty big change from New Orleans. Though I guess I can empathize in that aspect. Its so much greener here than Phoenix.” Bella makes a face, wrinkling her nose.
Scarlett chuckles, popping her neck.
“Well, I’m just used to humid swamps. I’m basically getting the opposite here. And there’s no gators to make it interesting.” Scarlett mock pouts. “I’m hoping me and my dad can go crabbing in the Summer. Though if we do it up here it would be a lot different than back home.”
Bella nods, smiling.
“My dad fishes, I’m more of a homebody. Sit and home and read books, you know?”
“Felt you there, sis. Felt you there.” Scarlett smiles. “I probably shouldn’t keep you much longer, huh? Don’t want that police chief of a dad getting worried, yeah?”
Bella chuckles, smiling at Scarlett.
“No, worrying Charlie wouldn’t be a good idea. So…see you tomorrow?”
Scarlett nods, smiling at Bella.
“I’ll be here.”
Bella smiles before walking to her vehicle, the old and rusted red Chevy that Scarlett had spotted earlier. She slips into the truck, buckling in before starting it. The truck loudly revs to life, making Scarlett flinch. One of the bad things about old trucks, they’re fucking loud. Scarlett slips into her own car as she watches Bella pull out and take a right, driving down the highway. Scarlett buckles her own seatbelt as she shuts the car door, starting her own car. She checks her mirrors before pulling out, taking a left onto the highway.
The drive is short, and within ten minutes she’s taking the turn at Snakehill Road. At the end of the road is the little house her father had bought. It’s a little two-story house, two bedroom and two bathroom. There was a small balcony on the second floor, in front of Scarlett’s bedroom. The house was painted light blue, giving off a nice contrast to the green of the trees and grass around it. She pulls into the small carport, her dad’s spot empty. He most likely wouldn’t be back until the end of the month, leaving Scarlett with money to get groceries as needbe.
Scarlett slips out of her car, grabbing both of her bags before shutting the door and locking her car. She grabs the house key on her key ring, slipping it into the lock on the door before pushing the door open. The living room is mid-sized, homey. A white sofa and loveseat sit parallel to each other, propped against the two grey walls. A TV is mounted on the wall, an entertainment center under it full of movies, video games, and various consoles. A couple framed photos sit on top of the entertainment center, most of them of Scarlett and her father.
A large fluffy grey rug covers the space between the couches and in front of the entertainment center, a nice place to sit when Scarlett gets bored of the couches. To the right of the large couch is the framed entrance to the kitchen. It followed the same grey and white color scheme as the living room. A small grey island with a white and black granite countertop, the same granite along the rest of the counter. The cabinets were painted grey, the double sink pristine and shiny. The oven was just as clean, the dish washer light blinking to signal that the load of dishes was done.
Scarlett takes a right, walking into the little hallway that held the staircase. It was almost entirely tucked away from the first floor of the house, next to her father’s bedroom. She walks up the carpeted stairs, making her way to her bedroom. She smiles as she looks at the small painting that hangs on it. It’s a purple, pink, and blue galaxy she hand-painted her freshman year. She slowly opens the door to her bedroom.
It’s covered in moon-themed décor. The ceiling has countless stars and a large moon right above her bed. The walls, painted dark purple, are covered in countless posters, some from video games, others from book series. An ornate dream catcher, made of wood with white, blue, and purple thread, hangs from her ceiling fan. Her white desk sits by the wall next to her window, her black and white gaming chair pushed in as far as it would go. Her monitor sits calmly on the desk, her lilac mouse sitting calmly on its matching mousepad.
Lavender fairy lights were strung along the ceiling along with decorative vines. Some of those vines were strung above her window. Various plants sat on the windowsill. Various flowers and a couple decorative succulents. Her dresser and closet were both terribly messy, the only real indicator that she was still a teenager. Various articles of clothing (most of them black) were strewn around that area, a couple folded socks poking out from one of her dresser drawers.
Her mattress sat on an ornate metal frame, loops of metal partially covered by a slew of pillows and stuffed animals. Lavender sheets and a lilac lacy bedspread covered the mattress, matching pillows cushioning what she lovingly called her “plushie army”. Various stuffed animals, from squishmallows to Pokemon plushes to Five Nights at Freddy’s plushes to even the odd Cabbage Patch Kids doll. Truly, it was a respectable army, notorious for the soft comfort they provided her in sleep and during her darkest moments.
Her favorite thing in her room, however, had to be her bluetooth speaker. She carried it with her when she would go down to the living room to practice her dance routines, rolling up the carpet to give herself the proper surface to practice her turns or grabbing her slab of wood so she can practice a tap routine. She would always have it when she would go to take a shower, playing music depending on her mood. It could result in a jam session or even an emotional karaoke session depending on the day.
She was thinking that karaoke might be the way to go tonight after getting some dinner. After putting her bags on her bed, Scarlett makes her way into the kitchen. She fixes herself a couple ham and cheese sandwiches before grabbing a bag of jalapeno Cheetos. She honestly didn’t know why her father hadn’t just stocked the pantry with chips, it was one of the few things Scarlett ever ate consistently.
She sat on the couch, flipping through the various TV channels as she ate before eventually settling for opening YouTube and finding a true crime video. As the video played, she ate her food, eventually going through the entire bag of Cheetos. For some reason she was abnormally hungry, eating much more than usual. For a split second her mind went to pregnancy before she rolled her eyes, reminding herself that wasn’t a possibility since she’d never had sex before.
As she thought about it, her mind eventually went back to the spectacle that had caused all of her mental anguish. Could it be because of the wolf transformation? “Transformation” was the only word she could use to describe what happened. One minute she was normal, then the next she was a wolf. It was something she had only heard in horror stories but had happened to her. She pinches herself, wincing when it hurts. She wasn’t dreaming, and she certainly wasn’t hallucinating. But if those weren’t explanations, then what was? Surely if she brought this up to her father, he would think she had watched another scary movie and had a nightmare. And no one at school could give her an explanation. They didn’t even know her.
If she wanted any answers, she’d have to look them up on her own. She sighed as she got up from the couch, throwing the empty bag of chips in the trash can before washing her hands. She dies them off before grabbing her World Literature book, walking back into the living room. She begins her reading assignment, which isn’t due until the end of the week. True crime videos play one after the other as she reads. It’s almost eight by the time she finishes reading and taking notes, putting together a summary of her understanding of the story.
She looks at the clock, frowning. It’s still early by her standards, but maybe a shower would do her some good. After all, today had been less than normal. She walks back up the stairs, putting her books away before grabbing a change of clothes and making her way into her bathroom. She turns the water on to scalding hot, making quick work of stripping out of her clothes. But she stops when she looks in the mirror, brows furrowing in confusion.
Instead of a soft, squishy tummy like she was used to, hard and chiseled muscles had begun to form. She didn’t quite have abs yet, but she looks well on her way to it without having done anything. Muscles had also begun to form along her arms, shoulders, and legs. She shakes her head, walking into the shower. But unlike usual, the scalding water doesn’t feel the same. It’s much more comfortable than it is burning. Scarlett can smell the leftover scent of her body wash from the night before. She pops open the cap, the scent of the bottle much more distinctive to her nose. The hints of grapefruit are much stronger, along with the hints of other fruit mixed in.
She sighs, squirting some of the soap onto the loofa before cleaning her body, much more aware of what parts of her were dirty and what was covered in sweat. She washes her hair next, hyperaware of the notes of lavender and rosemary in the shampoo and conditioner. After rinsing the conditioner out of her hair she steps out of the shower, brows furrowed. She buries her nose in her towel, finding that the smell of the detergent and scent crystals is much more prominent to her as well. Even her own clothes had a scent to them, something vaguely tropical, almost like hibiscus.
She dries off, feeling each fiber of the towel as it rubs against her skin, collecting the leftover water. She slips on her nightclothes, a t-shirt, and a pair of shorts, before drying her hair and walking back to her room. She sits in her chair, turning on her computer. She sets an alarm for ten before opening her Steam client and looking for a game to play. She eventually settles on playing Plants Vs. Zombies. She had already beaten the game to full completion aside from a couple achievements and decides to see if she can get them.
She plays until her alarm goes off, “The Kids Aren’t Alright” by Fall Out Boy playing as the alarm goes off. Scarlett turns off the alarm, pausing the Pool level before closing the game. She turns off her computer, sliding out from under her desk so she can collapse on her bed. She lazily plugs in her phone, making sure her alarm is set for the next morning.
She rearranges her plushie army so that she can slip under the covers, turning on her fairy lights so the room is bathed in a light purple glow. She lay her head on one of her fluffy pillows, laying on her stomach. As she closes her eyes, her mind drifts to the Cullen family. Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Edward, Jasper…
Jasper seemed to want to stick in her mind more than the rest. Why did only Jasper smell nice out of all of them? Why did Jasper look so uncomfortable all the time? Why did Jasper seem so closed off? And what was with all this wolf business? Why did seeing him like that make her feel so…bad? Like she needed to comfort him?
Late night thoughts were the bane of her existence, and Jasper’s expression was on her mind even as she fell asleep, surrounded by the smiling faces of her squishmallows.
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