Young Writers Society

Zachary

It was official: this was the greatest day of my entire life.

I'd had a lot of great days before - the day I found out my parents were going to adopt another kid - my little brother, Joey. The day when he arrived and first hugged me. The day my soccer team won the tournament.

But nothing, nothing seemed as great as this.

I headed down the hallway, checking the numbers of each door. 465, 466 - there it is! 467!

I prepared myself for meeting my new roommate and opened the door. But what I saw, sitting on one of the double sized beds, its piercing yellow eyes locking with mine, wasn't anything like I was expecting.

A wolf.

"What -" I began.

"Sorry we had to meet like this. Are you my roommate?" it said. I couldn't believe my ears. I guess I should have expected some weird stuff, given what I had learned in the past couple of hours, but not this.

"Are you...?" I started, but I trailed off.

"Warren Smith? Yeah, that's me," the wolf said, narrowing his eyes. "What's your name?"

"Zachary Stringer, but, uh... you can call me Zach." I noticed my suitcase was here already - Gabe must have brought it here earlier. I rolled it over to the closet and unpacked, trying not to make eye contact with Warren as I hung up my clothes. Discomfort seemed to fill the room. I finished and sat down on the bed.

"So..." I said, not sure what to talk about. Would he get offended if I asked him why he was a wolf? I was debating whether to question him or not when he spoke up.

"You're probably wondering why I'm a wolf," he said. I nodded.

"Please, don't freak out," Warren said. He took a deep breath. "I'm a werewolf, if you hadn't already guessed."

"Makes sense. I didn't realize they allowed werewolves here. How does that work?" I said.

He flicked his tail, obviously embarrassed. "Well, there's a lot of different types of Legends. Some are more like animals, such as dragons. Others are more humanoid - like centaurs, mermaids, and werewolves. The school accepts some of them here, but we don't summon our own Legends," he finished.

"Ok."

Still a bit uneasy, I analyzed the room. There was a window on one wall and a bathroom. Best of all, a TV. Sweet. But I was still confused about how I was supposed to share it with a werewolf.

"If you don't mind me asking," I started. "What's it like being a werewolf?"

"I don't mind it. It can be hard to understand," said Warren. "Most of the time we're human, except during the night of the full moon, and sometimes a couple days before and after. During that time we turn into... this," he said motioning with his snout to his body.

"We're much bigger than regular wolves, and have thicker fur, but we don't look anything like those creepy human-monster hybrids you see in movies." He chuckled. "This is my first time transforming, actually. Yearlings - thats what young werewolves are called - don't transform until they turn 14, which happened to me a couple of weeks ago."

"Cool. What was it like, transforming?" I asked.

Warren let out a low growl. "Painful. But once I got used to my wolf form, it became enjoyable in some ways." He shook out his gray fur and yawned, showing off his pale-white fangs. "Where are you from?" he asked.

"Alabama. What about you? Is everyone in your family a werewolf?" I said.

"I'm from Nashville - just a few hours from here. And yes, my parents are werewolves, but..." He stopped, his eyes clouding over.

"What is it? You can tell me" I said, trying to reassure him.

"I don't exactly have a family. You could say I'm an orphan."

"Oh..." I murmured. "I kinda know what that's like. A couple of my siblings are adopted."

His ears perked up. "Interesting. Don't pity me though, I have it off pretty well. I have a foster home. My guardian is also a werewolf. She takes in orphaned werewolves and raises them. They're my family - my pack." Warren curled up on the bed.

I reached for the packet from earlier and began to flip through the pages inside. "So," I began casually, "What are your interests?"

"I like most sports." Warren said. My mouth spread into a wide smile.

"Really? Me too!"

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AN: Sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to go ahead and get this out. There will be a longer chapter next, I promise. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to comment and vote!