Page 16 of Alpha Varsity

What’s up, Arizona?

It’s from Andy–one of the three human roommates I left behind in Chicago when I realized there was no way I could keep paying rent. We’re not friends, but I muddied the waters by playing theroommates with benefitsgame with him for a spell.

What can I say? I was lonely. He was hot, for a human, and available. Too self-involved and just in it for sex to sniff out my secret.

I don’t know why he’s texting now. We weren’t in a more than business texting relationship. Even if that business sometimes included booty calls.

I text back,

??

I’m coming to Scottsdale to meet with a gallery owner my mom knows. I might be able to get you a meeting, too.

Oh.Unexpected. Andy’s a trust-funded sculptor. He’s never had to work a day in his life. He thinks far too highlyof his art and doesn’t give a shit about anyone else’s. He’s not usually the kind of guy to throw anyone a bone.

My pulse picks up speed.

That would be great. I would appreciate it. Scottsdale is just down the hill from Wolf Ridge.

Cool. I’ll let you know.

I’m light-headed. The rumbling in my stomach gets me up off the bed. Something about shifting last night has made me ravenous today. I swear it’s like hitting transition again. Great–I’m having a second puberty. As if the first one wasn’t awful enough. Coming back here was such a mistake. But what choice did I have?

I failed to find a job in Chicago that paid enough to cover my student loans and rent. I was substitute teaching there for twenty bucks an hour. When the human art teacher at Wolf Ridge High went on medical leave for the rest of the school year, my mom called and talked me into coming home to take the job. The long-term substitute contract pays more than I was making in Chicago. It’s a seven-month commitment teaching the subject I love. I decided my mom was right–it’s a chance to catch up on my bills and figure out my next move.

Of course, she just wanted me back under her watchful eye. She and my dad could have helped me financially while I was in school–they have plenty of money–but they refused. They were basically starving me out.

Which reminds me, I am starting to shake with hunger. I need protein and not the couple of slices of ham I have in my mini-fridge. I will have to invite myself to dinner with my parents.

They will be delighted. Me, not so much.I walk across the pool deck to their back slider, which I find open. “Hey, guys!”

The house is air conditioned to seventy degrees, and the cool air feels good on my flushed skin. I hadn’t realized I was running warm.

“Hi, honey!” My mom has a glass of white wine in her hand, and she’s moving around the kitchen, cooking and drinking at the same time. She’s still in her work clothes, minus the heels, her sleeveless blouse opened at the throat and coming untucked from her pencil skirt.

“Hey, peanut.” My dad is standing on a stepladder, installing new drapes.

My mom gives my outfit a critical up and down. “Tell me you didn’t wear those clothes to teach today.”

I try to resist my nervous system’s instant reaction to her judgment. The heat in my face. The spike of anger. The clench of my palms.

Only seven months.

Then I will move away and pursue my art.

“I woke up late,” I confess. I figure if they hadn’t already noticed my late departure, someone in this small town is sure to tell them.

“Lotta, I stuck my neck out to get this job for you. Don’t embarrass me by proving you’re not responsible enough–”

“All right, Denise,” my dad cuts in.

“Mom, I know. I’m not blowing off the job. The full moon threw me off.”

Both my parents stop what they’re doing to peer at me. My mom puts a hand on her hip. “Did you shift?”

Gah. I really don’t want to have this conversation with them. They know I didn’t shift the entire time I was at college. That I found it easier to fit in and live withhumans that way. Of course, that’s why they wanted me back home.

“Yes.”

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