Magic of the Moonlight: A Full Moon Novel Read Free

began. “I want to tell my friends how I feel about you.”
    Brandon was surprised. He wiped his hands off with a dry rag. “About us?”
    “Yes,” I said. “And if they don’t like it, then they’re not true friends, right?”
    “Well, I can see Nash not liking it.”
    I cracked a smile then, too.
    He took my sudsy hands and began to dry them with the rag. It was relaxing as he attended to me by rubbing my hands with the cloth, and I stared blissfully up at his gorgeous face.
    “And Ivy,” he said. “She seems possessive of you. And I don’t fit neatly into her world.”
    It would be hard—our clique was strong, and no one had penetrated it for years. If she knew I was seeing Brandon instead of Nash, she’d be bummed, to say the least. I imagined Ivy and Abby snubbing me in class, whispering together when I walked in the hallway, filling in my seat at lunch with their backpacks. No calls, texts, or study buddies. I was afraid I’d lose my best friends.
    But it wasn’t going to make me happy to lose Brandon, either.
    “I’m ready to tell them,” I said. “That is . . . if you want this, too.”
    “Yeah,” he said. “I do.”
    He tossed the rag into the bucket, took my hands again, and drew me to him. A few soap bubbles from his sleeve tickled my cheek as he caressed my face. My boots splashed in the sudsy puddles.
    “So, you’ll sit with me at lunch?” he said dreamily.
    “Or you’ll sit with me.”
    It was going to be different. I’d sat with Ivy since elementary school. I knew it would be difficult to stare at her from across the lunchroom and watch her and Abby giggling and gossiping without me. But if it was too awkward with Brandon and me at our table, we’d have to eat at his.
    “And we’ll meet each other after class,” I said.
    “I wouldn’t want to meet anyone else,” he replied with an extra squeeze.
    I imagined getting smirks as we passed other Eastsiders in the hallways. And who knows, the Westsiders might not be too happy, either. There would be obstacles, but to be in the company of the guy I was in love with, I was ready.
    But then I remembered that night Nash saw Brandon change into a werewolf. And I thought about how Nash had threatened to tell my friends what he’d witnessed if I continued to see Brandon.
    “But there is one problem,” I said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Nash threatened me—he said that if I continue dating you, he’ll tell the whole school what he saw that night—you changing into a werewolf.”
    “What? Are you kidding me?”
    “He’s genuinely concerned for me,” I confessed. “I can’t blame him for that.”
    Brandon appeared sullen. “I know . . . I’d be the same if I saw what he saw.”
    “But I tried to convince him it wasn’t as bad as he thought. That you aren’t dangerous.”
    “I’m sure he believed that,” he said, kicking the dirt.
    “But what if he tells someone?” I asked.
    “Who will believe him?” he wondered. “He doesn’t have proof.”
    “I’m hoping that everyone will think he’s pranking them again and they won’t listen. But you’re already being called Wolfman and had your Jeep vandalized. I’m not sure what those vandals might do next. People love to pick on someone—and now you are the target. This could make it worse.”
    “It’s okay. I can handle it,” he said.
    I was pleased with his reaction, but I wanted him to have full disclosure of what the challenges might be. “I know you can. But Nash is competitive,” I said. “It’s in his nature to fight. I’m afraid he’ll go for the jugular.”
    Brandon thought. “I’m not going to let him dictate my life.”
    I was proud of Brandon’s bravery, and even though I was hoping everyone would see Nash’s declaration as a joke, I wasn’t convinced it would be okay. The more I thought about it, the more I worried.
    “But . . .” I started, “when the next full moon comes out, do you think everyone will be looking for you?”
    He