Too Ordinary

I stood there for the better part of five minutes, half admiring him, half scoping him out. I couldn't get it through my head why, why have I been cursed with my fathers creeping abilities. For whatever reason he was good at sneaking around the house, but that's not important right now. What is important is that I cannot seem to understand the Jason Strain. No, its not a real disease, but its been going around the school like the flu. Girls go gaga for this junior, and I have no idea why. I don't think it's his wavy brown hair, or his sea blue eyes. It isn't his clothes, I'm sure of that. He looks like he walked out of a No-Name outlet, always just jeans and a T-shirt.

Wait now, lets get one thing straight, I am not a stalker. I might know where he lives, where he hangs out, and what his favorite food is, but I'm not a stalker. It's the non-stop chatter of other girls he has dated in my class that I get this info from. He's not a bad kid though, not that I care. The girls he dates are usually the ones that will act all nice and innocent when he meets them, but turn out to be gold-digging tramps. Honestly the guy is just too nice. But here is the thing, he is to Imperfect to have these girls falling head over heals for him. All right, so maybe I have been stalking a little bit, but I have good reason.

I have been hit with the Jason Strain. I have had no interest in this kid until yesterday, and I don't know why. He just walked into my chemistry class, sat down two rows from me, and I felt it. Just him walking by gave me this sudden wave of infatuation, out of nowhere. Well, unlike the average girl, I'm not going to fall for him that easily. I want to find out more about Jason Welsh. I have enough physical information, but I want to know why these girls feel the same way I felt that day in chemistry. I want to know who Jason Welsh is.

I wanted to move so badly just to go up there and talk to him, but my skinny legs just wouldn't carry me. I heard the bell and knew that if there was a time to make my move, now is the time. I think I must have put way too much thought into walking because I just about ran up to him. If I hadn't stopped right there I would have ran him over. Now came the hard part, actually speaking to him.

"Jason, can I talk to you?" I asked with a slight urgency in my voice. Lucky for me there weren't any other girls around.

"Uh, sure Eden," he said, "What do you need?"

Great! I had it all planed out to go up to him and speak to him but I didn't know what I was going to say! You're of to a great start girl. After a few moments I blurted out, "Can you give me the notes on dissection in chemistry?"

"Sure, but it isn't till fifth period, can you wait till then?"

"O.K," I said, then turned around and fast-walked to calculus. Once I got there I gave myself a slap on the forehead. Why had I been so stupid?! I went in there with all of the info, but I didn't have a game plan! He will probably never speak to me again, and he's probably laughing it up in that German class of his. What a jerk. Don't even know why I bothered to speak to him.

During calculus while Ms. Stacy rambled off Arithmetic Sequences and Series, I began to plan on how I was going to make my comeback. As much as I humiliated myself just twenty minutes ago, I was not going to give up! The only option I had left was to either tie him down and interrogate him, or date him. I was never going to get anywhere just watching from the shadows and ducking under other students. Personally I would have gone for interrogating him, but a girl like me wouldn't be able to overpower anyone, let alone Jason.

"I will figure you out," I said not realizing it was out loud.

"Ms. Brooks? Is there anything you want to share with the rest of the class?" asked Ms. Stacy.

"No," I said, my face aflame with classmates giggling quietly.

"Good. Now as I was saying, the formula is tn=a+(n-1) times d, and if a is…" I don't know what's worse, embarrassment or trigonometry.

After the torture of calculus, I made my way to Mr. Cleft's chemistry lab. I sat down in my usual spot, so far no Jason. Just when I thought I would have a Jason-free period, he made it just before the bell. This was my chance; I could talk to him now. Then the truth hit me like a ton of bricks, how was I going to talk to him in the middle of class? Man I'm just full of bright ideas today aren't I?

"Mister Welsh, it appears that Frankie isn't in today, could you pair up with someone else?" said the teacher.

"Sure, how about Eden?" asked Jason.

"That will do fine."

My heart skipped a beat. Of all people in the class he picked me. Why did he do that? I mindlessly watched him walk over to my lab table and subsequently sit down. My heart raced as he sat beside me, and I realized just how tanned his skin was compared to mine. However he was also just as thin as I was. His face was also very round different from my own slender face. He then handed me sheets of notes on dissection.

"Here," he said, "you can use these."

My heart slowed down and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks," I told him.

"No Problem."

We sat there for several minutes, silent, listening to Mr. Cleft ramble on about frog stomachs. Finally Jason said, "I like frog legs as much as the next person, but this is disgusting."

"Yeah," I said, "gross."

I had to make my move, while he was distracted, I had to pop some kind of question, or strike up some kind of conversation. "Um, I know this isn't the best time but, do you want to grab a bite to eat after school?"

"Sure, I'd like that."

"Alright."

The rest of the day was super fast. Well, with only History in sixth period, I guess it would go pretty fast. Anyway, I waited on the sidewalk for about thirty seconds, when he showed up. We walked up to the coffee shop and I ordered an Iced Cappuccino. He ordered a doughnut and paid for both of our things.

"Wow, come to a coffee shop and don't order coffee?" I asked

"No, I don't drink coffee, it makes me too jittery," he said as he took a bite of
his doughnut.

"I See. So, tell me about yourself?"

"Well, I'm not at liberty to say much, I like my privacy."

"That's alright." Damn, I thought I would get him. "What do you think of Dane Cook?"


"Pretty funny guy, but Robin Williams beats him by a long shot."

"No way! I think that Jeff Dunham would totally floor that old guy."

We went on talking for about an hour, sipping coffee and eating pastries. Turns out I had him all wrong. He was actually a pretty cool guy. It was getting dark and the shop was closing.

"Wow Jason, I really had no idea you were this cool. But I bet you had a pretty good
laugh in German over my little episode in the hallway."

"Actually, I spent all fourth period thinking about you."

My face went red as a beat. Jason just stared out the window, as if looking for an answer in the face of the full moon.

"You know how I said I like my privacy?" he said, "Well, I want to share with you one of my greatest secrets."

My heart fluttered. This was what I was waiting for. "And what would that be?" I
asked.

"It's a little hard to explain. I need to show you for you to understand."

Without thinking I fallowed him to the alleyway beside the closing shop, where a little abandoned sofa couch lay abandoned. The red brick was so dark it looked black, but I could see Jason clearly from the moonlight and street lamps.

"I want to show you this because you are one of the only trustworthy girls I have met." he said.

"Alright. So, what is it?"

"You'll see. Just please, one thing I have to ask," at that very moment, his blue eyes turned golden yellow as he said, "don't scream."

He backed away farther into the street and suddenly grabbed his sides and hunched over. I wanted to help him but I was frozen in place. I saw his shirt and the legs of his pants rip apart at the seams, and he started to grow. Grey fur started to sprout all over his body, and his hands grew claws at his fingertips. His face elongated into a snout and his ears crawled up the side of his head and became pointed. His shoes burst open as clawed paws revealed themselves, and the back of his jeans had torn a hole where a tail had grown through.

He was done changing, and I turned and ran from the alleyway.

"No, please, don't go!" he yelled after me, and as I turned the corner I heard a sad voice cry, "Don't go."

I looked back around the corner, and the thing that was Jason was sitting in the middle of the abandoned couch. My heart sank. I felt so stupid, he trusted me with his secret and I was about to let him down. I realized that his fur was actually very shiny, and even though he was a werewolf, I realized that he was just has handsome and beautiful as he was when he was human. A tear escaped his eye and run down the side of his face. He tried to cover his sadness with his hand over his face, propped up by his arm resting on his knee, but I could see just how hurt he was.

Despite the overwhelming fear I had, I walked back towards the couch. I was going to sit down on the side nearest to me, but that was where his tail was, and I didn't want to startle him. So I gathered up my remaining courage and crossed over to the other side of the couch. I sat down and put a hand on his other knee.

"I'm sorry I did that Jason." I said.

"Its not your fault," he said, "you did what anyone else would have."

"I'm not sure everyone would do that."

"I'm sorry I brought you here Eden. I just have never felt loved before. My parents died when I was four and I have been living in foster care for a while now. All of those girls were just me trying to be nice and it backfired. I know now that it's not possible for a monster like me to be loved."

It was then that I realized the reason I wanted to know so much about him. It wasn't just to satisfy my curiosity. I took his paw away from his face and turned his face towards mine.

"Your wrong, Jason. I love you."

He was speechless. He placed a paw on my face and I felt the smooth silky fur on his hand. I closed my eyes and held my breath. Our love that night was sealed by a long lasting kiss in the light of the full moon.