Becoming the Luna

Chapter 67

Hayden!!!" Shana yells directly into my ears but I just roll away to the other end of the bed, wrapping myself like a sausage in my blankets and hiding my head under my pillow.

"Go away, Shana." I mumble sleepily, my heavy eyes slipping shut once more.

Everywhere goes quiet and I'm already celebrating my good luck at being able to convince Shana to leave me be, it was the holidays after all.

I'd celebrated too soon because the next thing I know, I'm being shoved off the bed, hitting the carpeted ground with a dull thud. "Ow." I complain in a muffled voice. "Why are you always mean to me?"

Shana just hovers over me with a serious expression, unconcerned that I had just made contact with the floor awfully hard. "Come on, Hay, wake up! We're going to the city today." 

I wink open an eye at this, confused. "And? How does that affect my sleep?" I ask sarcastically, disgruntled that she had woken me up so early.

"B-But"

"Shana, it's barely daylight and you made me stay up last night till unbelievable o'clock packing and repacking, I try to be a good person but if you mention the city, one more time before nine am, I'll tie you up to a tree in the woods." I threaten, sitting up to give her the evil eye.

She looks shaken at my outburst and slowly backs up out of the room, hearing my door click shut is one of the best sounds I've heard in the past couple days.

Virgil and Dale hadn't been around that often but I wasn't complaining, I needed a break anyway before I fell right into seeing them constantly for nearly two months straight.

Groaning slightly, I drag myself off the ground and back into the bed, mentally checking myself to see if there's anything broken.

I know Shana is really excited about this vacation and I support her, I really do but dragging me out of bed before the sun comes up just so that she can have a rant partner is just pushing it.

I squirm around a bit, looking for the perfect position to fall back asleep and not finding it, I groan again when I've tried all angles of the bed but I can't seem to fall asleep again.

"Maybe I should just tie her to a tree anyway." Because my sleep is ruined now but it's still too early to get up so all I can do is stare at the ceiling and exist.

I hear a faint meow which makes a smile spread slowly on my face, my mom said I couldn't let her sleep beside me, there is no rule about not having her on the bed.

"Hi, Apple." I coo to her, crawling off the bed to make my way over to her bed on all fours, I can walk but I'm just too lazy to.

Bright gold eyes stare back at me, like she's greeting me too. Gently, I slip my hands around her and pick her up to take her with me to the bed, I'm definitely taking her to the city.

One, because I always need my pet to be with me at all times, and two, because we couldn't leave her in the house, there would be no one to feed her or take care of her.

My mom had suggested leaving her with Suzie at the pet shop but I refused - no one was going to take Apple away from me - so we instead bought a pet carrier which seemed highly unnecessary because she would be spending the drive in my laps anyway.

We would leave before my mom, in Dale's Escalade. Grammy had said she would tell Rodriguez to come to drive our luggage up to the beach house this morning so we wouldn't need to worry about that.

I get on the bed with Apple still cradled in my hands, she's purring non-stop and this must be one of those times she wants cuddles because she can be really petty about her personal space.

I prop my pillow against the headboard and get into the blanket just content to pet my cat and stare into the distance, quiet mornings like this are rare because it's either my mom is trying to kill herself and everyone by doing crazy stuff in the kitchen, Shana is being her loud glittery self or Virgil and Dale are fighting.

I had to admit, I liked the quiet almost as much as I liked their company.

Apple curls into my side, falling asleep from the slow, rhythmic pets I keep rubbing into the length of her entire body, her furry, white tail hiding her black, button nose.

Staring at her is starting to make me sleepy and after a couple sighs I let out a yawn, rubbing my eyes, I should be able to get some sleep before Shana comes crashing here once again, my mom in tow this time or even worse, Virgil and Dale come around.

They would most definitely leave me alone if I'm asleep, I hope.

I debate if I want to bother Apple's nap by moving her back to her bed or let her sleep where she is and run the risk of flattening her when my thigh tingles.

It's so faint and unobtrusive that I pay no mind to it but when it happens constantly for a good while, I get dragged out of my internal argument to investigate the tingling.

I gasp in horror, what if it's a spider??

I go rigid, freezing up in terror, I would have sworn I saw one on the walls yesterday, I told Shana and after she checked over and over again, she just gave up and called me paranoid but what if it was back and on my bed and it had bitten me and now I'm slowly dying I need to get Apple to safety!!!

"Hayden? Deep breaths." I tell myself, trying to control my panic by breathing deep but my thigh is still tingling so it's no surprise that it's not working.

Biting my lip, I fling off the blankets in one move, ready to grab Apple and make a run for it out of the room if I were to find a spider or any bug at all.

I slowly glance down and frown, huh? There was nothing there, so what is the tingling all about?

I wonder, leaning forward to inspect my leg, I had worn shorts and my usual sweaters to bed the night before so I didn't have to move much to find the exact spot the tingling sensation was coming from.

My eyes land on the oddly shaped birthmark that had popped up on my leg one morning and I frown harder, did birthmarks tingle? I've never had any before so I'm not sure how they work.

Nothing looks wrong with my leg and the tingling feeling can be ignored so I throw it out of my mind and go back to debating if I'm sleeping beside Apple or not even though my mom expressly told me not to.

A knocking sound interrupts me before I can make a decision again. "Hayden?" It's Shana.

"What?" I say huffily, she's the reason I'm awake right now so she's not exactly my favorite person at the moment.

"Um, you might want to get cleaned up, Virgil is back and mumbling something about hugs and cuddles." She says nervously.

I narrow my eyes at the closed door like somehow Shana will feel it. "When did you get so terrible at lying, Virgil would rather shave all his hair off than ask that." I tell her crossly, peeved that she'd tried to use such an underhanded way to get me up. "Why do you even want me up anyway?"

There's a short silence then sniffles float in from the door. "I need company, I'm too nervous to fall asleep again and Renee threatened to stab me with her alarm clock if I knocked one more time."

I sigh, feeling bad for her. "Ugh, fine, come in." I say to her, getting up to put Apple in her bed. "I can't sleep anymore anyway."

She's already rushing in before all my words are out like she expects I'll change my mind, well she's not wrong, I take one look at Shana in a loose shirt and one of my mom's silk, designer pajama bottoms with her pink hair everywhere and a slightly wild look in her eyes and I'm already regretting my decision.

But she's already inside my room so there's no taking my words back so I just quietly get on the bed, ready to listen to Shana talk my ears off, what was I saying about getting a quiet morning again?

But surprisingly when we get comfortable on the bed with Shana wrapping her hands around me, there's no talking, we just lie down there watching the ceiling and listening to each other breathe.

"Well, this wasn't what I was expecting." Shana mutters and I find myself nodding along. "Maybe I just needed to hug you to calm down." She says absently like her words don't mean anything.

My heart puffs up at this but instead of giving her a sweet reply, I say the first thing that comes to my mind. "Then we'll need to get you a body pillow shaped like me and strap it to your back."

She glares at me. "Very funny, Hay."

I just wave her anger away suddenly remembering something she said, the first time I found out about the birthmark on my thigh, well more like Virgil found it but you get the picture. She had asked something about tingling and while I hadn't felt any tingling then I definitely felt some this morning.

"Shana?" I call out but she just sleepily mumbles into my side, already fast asleep.