Chapter 26: ●XXVI●

“So...” I was leaning on the kitchen counter as Dad made lunch. “I have another project due in two days.”

“What’s it about?” he wasn’t interested but he asks because its a good thing for a father to do.

“My environmental class wants us to-”

“When did you start taking environmental science?” he asked.

“That’s my one elective I chose.” I told him. He was the one that signed the papers when I chose my classes for the year. He should pay attention more.

He didn’t seem too happy that environmental science is the science I chose. I mean, I had options. But I like an easy A. And animals and trees, so he can’t be surprised.

“Anyway, so my teacher wants us to pick out plants to grow over the break. So I have to go outside and look at flowers.”

“That grow...in the winter?” he didn’t seem convinced.

“Yeah.” I answered. I wasn’t going to give him too much detail. That might back fire on me. I have to make him wonder.

Was I making this project up as I go along? Yes. I wasn’t happy to do it, but I wanted to go outside once. I’m grounded forever and that won’t change.

I mean, if my parents liked me enough, they would let me live wild and free but that’s definitely not going to happen anytime soon. So for now, I have a made up project to do that’s going to conveniently place me near Conrod’s project site.

Without fail, the kids from my school are protesting again.

I was getting all the text messages and alerts about it. I wasn’t interested but then people were getting excited that the wolves were there. That is exciting and I wanted to be there. I might pick out a flower or two and make my mom a flower crown since she used to be into that. I have to be productive.

“Be back in two hours.”

“Dad-”

“You need more than two hours to pick out a plant?” he was about to figure out why I was so tense, but I let it go immediately.

He was giving me two hours and I was going to take it. “Bye, Dad.”

I was quick to grab my jacket and get out of the house. I can’t drive, but I didn’t mind the walk. It wasn’t far. People were still texting me in various group chats about what they were seeing. It must’ve been exciting so I was interested to see too. I have to admit that I did walk a little faster.

When I got close, I could see the large group of people hanging out together. The construction workers couldn’t do their jobs so they were waiting by the bulldozers. They didn’t seem too concerned, maybe because they got Animal Control involved.

I walked over to the crowd. Others said hi to me and greeted me as I made my way to where all the shouting was.

The wolves were here.

I counted seven. The iconic black wolf wasn’t here. I was looking around to see if I could find him but I didn’t...

Channing was standing in the crowd.

I went up to him and stood next to him. He wasn’t talking to anyone. He wasn’t with his brothers either. It took him a moment to realize I was next to him. He looked at me slowly, and then I saw the confusion on his face.

“What are you doing here, Gabriel?” he asked.

“I wanted to see what happened.” I said. “Why are you still here?” I asked. He wasn’t with his brothers and that had to be for a reason.

“I want to talk to Mr. Conrod about something.”

“You’re not going to kill him, are you?” I asked as a legit question. He turned to me again, just as slowly as before, and he gave me this look like I was crazy.

He’s the one being all secretive and doing things.

“You know he’s not going to care, right?” I let him know that this isn’t going to work.

“When he came to me one night and complained about how he’s supposed to be making money, I realized how much I don’t care.” Channing told me.

He’s over all of this, too. But he’s been over it since all this started.

There were people playing and petting the wolves. Everyone else knew they were friendly so long as they weren't messing with the land. I had a feeling Channing didn’t want anyone trying to pet him so he stayed like this. Two sand colored wolves were playing around with the younger people, rolling over and running around them. The pale pink wolf was getting a belly rub. The auburn one had multiple people rubbing his fur.

They were very friendly today.

The workers couldn’t do their jobs.

Across the street, I saw the hunters and they had their guns with them. Someone shouted they were coming and everyone moved away from the wolves. Even Animal Controls’ vans were down the street, on their way here just to collect the large animals. This was bad news.

Everyone was moving away from the wolves to protect themselves. Were the hunters going to shoot? Were they going to confront us? The construction workers weren’t getting involved. Someone has to take care of the situation. If they can’t work then they probably don’t get paid.

Conrod was coming this way. I almost stood behind Channing, not because I was scared but because this was his fight, not mine. Every run in I’ve had with him is because something unfortunate happened to me. I would hope something unfortunate doesn’t happen to me again.

Conrod didn’t look happy as he walked right up to Channing. There were people shouting their chants when they caught sight of Mr. Conrod but he didn’t care. Channing was the one who started all of this. “You have got a lot of nerves to-”

“To what?” Channing was sure that he didn’t have anything good to say. “I’m just here with everyone else, protesting, just like everyone else.” he crossed his arms over his chest and stared Mr. Conrod in the eyes.

“You think we won’t kill those siblings of yours?” he asked through his teeth. Conrod must be really upset if he’s threatening to kill some teenagers.

That’s real stress.

“Siblings? Mine?” Channing wanted to act surprised but he was sarcastic about it.

“I’ll stop this right now.” he was sure of it.

Channing put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. Seven wolves were growling towards us when they heard Channing whistle. The people around us moved back because of the loud noise.

The wolves were being threatening.

“What were you stopping, Mr. Conrod?” Channing asked. “I can’t seem to hear over all this noise.” he was being taunting and I was enjoying this.

Conrod didn’t look too happy before, but now it just seemed like he wanted to do his worst, but he didn’t know what that was. How was he going to do anything if he can’t get his workers to come over here?

Animal Control was coming over, but people began getting near the wolves to cover for them. They were shielding the wolves.

Nothing was going to happen.

What was Conrod going to do?

“This isn’t over.” Conrod said and stormed away quickly, going to his car and leaving.

Animal Control couldn’t get to the wolves, and the hunters didn’t have a clear shot because of everyone standing in between the wolves. The construction workers gave up. They couldn’t do their jobs because we were all in their space.

They just left.

So I guess this was a win for now.

This is great.

“So you trained them?” I looked up at Channing.

“Come on.” he looked at me. “We’re not animals.” he shook his head.

“If I get you a collar, would you wear it?” I genuinely asked him.

He walked away from me.

I just wanted to give them something so people know that they’re friendly. I also wanted to keep them in the house. My dad will never give me a dog.

Maybe he might let me keep a wolf.

I already know that’s going to backfire.

The white wolf made his way to me, getting away from all the people and children that tried to touch him. I have to go home in a little while but I don’t mind playing with him.

I put my arms around him.

“So I’m probably going to be locked in the basement.” I said to him. The second my parents hear about this, it's over.

And they're going to hear about it. It's a small town. Everyone's parents knows each other. And parents love talking about what their kids are doing. I give it two days before my dad hears everything.

He's going to be especially mad that I was in the same space as stoner kids, but that's not my fault.

Ty nudged me forward, making me walk with him.

I did.

He can be my own pet.

“We’re lucky nothing happened.” I said to him as I pet his fur.

Channing was following behind me with the other wolves. I bet he wanted to keep an eye on Ty, I didn't want to get in between them. Last I thought, they were getting along and I hope that it stays that way.

The wolves were playing around on my front lawn, running around and tagging each other.

Well, everyone except Brendan. He was laying on the ground quietly. His fur was so pale in the sunlight.

They all have a thick coat of fur.

Soon it's going to shed when it's not so cold anymore.

Ty had his head on my lap. He whined quietly when I scratched behind his ears. He seemed to like that a lot. I continued to pet him and make him happy as I watched the other wolves. Channing was standing next to me, and he watched, too. I don't know if he was stressed out or not. He always has the same expression.

I wanted to make him laugh, at least then, I know he's okay.

He doesn't have to be all serious all the time.

He must be thinking about his life or what to do next. Things aren't over yet, but we might have a few weeks to get it together.

He's not alone.

He has the whole town on his side.

"Are you...going anywhere for the break?" I asked. When Channing looked at me slowly, I realized that I shouldn't have asked that.

He can't leave yet.

But he will be.

He should try again.

"Candice is coming for a few days." he said.

That's nice of her. I think her cousins still live here so she has a place to stay.

"You'll figure it out." I wanted him to be optimistic.

I believe he'll figure his relationship and future out. He really likes Candice, and she likes him a lot too. It's nice that they're trying to make it work, and it is working. It gives me hope that Ty and I can work something out.

We still don't know how things are going to end up.

I told Ty we'll take it one day at a time first.

We still have another year left. Might as well make the most of it.

I know it's different for Channing. He graduates in a few months. He's supposed to move away with his girlfriend. So I wanted him to know that things could work out.

I thought he was going to say something nice. After all he had this pleasant expression on his face like he appreciated my words of encouragement. "You're nosy." he said instead.

"That's not nice-"

"How do you know about my relationship with Candice?"

"Everyone knows about your relationship, Channing. It's not exactly a secret. I didn't have to stick my nose into that one." I explained to him. They've been dating since middle school so everyone knows about them.

"No one seems to know about you and Ty."

"Because no one knows about me."

We stared at each other quietly for a moment. He just found out that I haven't said anything yet, and it's been like that for a while. Was he curious why there were no rumors?

"Oh." he got it.

"I don't tell your secret if you don't tell mine." I said.

"Deal."

Great. I don't know why I thought he has leverage on me, but he knows my secret, and I won't talk to anyone about his.

I went back to rubbing Ty's head because he was such a good wolf. I played with his ears and made faces at him, and I know he was enjoying it. I would love him with all my heart if I could keep him in the house.

The front door opened behind me.

"I can never catch a break." My dad said when he saw all the wolves playing out in the lawn."Gabriel, you have to stop this."

"But they're fun to play with." I turned back to look at him.

He looked over to Channing when he caught a glimpse of him. Channing is hard to miss though. Dad sounded surprised when he addressed him. "How's your dad doing?" he shook hands with Channing.

There was no one else that my dad would respect more than the older Martin brothers.

"He's fine, sir."

"Good, good." My dad had his eyes on the wolves again. "You uh...you're not scared of them?" he pointed to the wolves.

"They don't bite." Channing said.

He's the only one that does.

One of them was coming over to him. I mashed my lips together tightly as I got up, and the white wolf moved away from. I saw Channing look away and cover his mouth, too.

The pale pink wolf wanted attention.

He didn't run up to my dad. He was quiet and sat down obediently. The perfect dog. Not rough, not loud, and not a nuisance. I didn't want to laugh.

"Gabriel, can you...?" he didn't ask me to push Brendan away yet. My dad stared at him for a moment, and reached his hand out to pet him.

Brendan's a fast learner, I'll give him that.

"So, uh..." I started as I looked at my dad. "Can we...keep him?"

My dad didn't like the question. He stared at me for a second, then he said, "keep them off the cars." before going inside.

Brendan laid down quietly, whining as he fought the urge to scratch at the door. I knew he was going to do it by the look in his eyes and by the sound of his voice. He was lonely.

"That is hilarious." Channing was laughing. "He's going to be so miserable."

"I think it's cute." I went to sit next to Brendan. "My mom likes animals, too, so if you're in with her, my dad might like you more." I told him, giving him good advice, but Channing laughed harder.

Brendan didn't seem to like it. He growled in my direction and didn't stop till I got up and moved away from him. Channing and I were laughing. As much as we know that Brendan was suffering, he really wasn't. All he wants is attention, and the thought of him getting it from my dad was hilarious.