Chapter 2

(Chapter song ‘Life Is A Highway by Tom Cochrane)

QUINN “Ok. Don’t panic.” My mother went to the bathroom and pulled out a towel. She wrapped it around me. “Um…” She looked me over. “You’re so big!” She smiles.

“Mama, what happened?” I lock my confused eyes with hers.

She places a hand on her hip. “Well, baby. You…You had a growth spurt…Clearly…It must have been caused by last night.”

“The monster did this?” I lean to her and whisper.

She scratches her head. “Sort of. Ok. Let’s not talk about this now. Let’s see if there’s some of daddy’s clothes you can wear and then we can talk with him about it after school, Ok?”

“Ok.” I mumble.

She leads me down the hall to their room and pushes the barn door to the closet open.

“Trish, what’s Gideon’s schedule today?” She asks as she sifts through my father’s hangers.

‘Gideon has four appointments this afternoon and a council meeting at 5 pm.’ Trish. Our computerized smart house answers.

“Ok. Send him a message that there’s been a family…development and he needs be home right after work?” She pulls out a white shirt and a grabs a pair of shorts with pull strings out of his dresser with some boxers. She hands them to me.

I hold up the underwear. My eyes widen. “Damn.” I breath.

My mother snaps her fingers and points. “Hey! Language!”

“Sorry.” I say, sheepishly. I slip the underwear on which is slightly too big and pull on the shorts. I pull the strings, but realize I don’t quite know how to make a bow like this.

I look up at my mom. “Help.”

She drops her phone and ties up my shorts. She picks up her phone and points to the closet. “See if your dad has shoes that fit.”

I go to the closet and rummage through his shoes. I find an old pair of sneakers and put them on. “I’m ready…I think.” I hold out my hands. All the clothes are too big, but I’m covered.

She smiles. “It’ll do until we can go shopping later. Right now, you need to head downstairs and eat.”

“Ok!” I’m super excited to show Uncle Ben.

“Uncle Ben! Uncle Ben!”

Ben is my dad’s beta. He’s from New York, too. Most of our pack is. He’s my best friend, has a cool car and is really a laugh riot.

I jump down the stairs and run through the common room to the kitchen. My shoes squeak on the tile. “BEN!!” I skid to a stop with my arms out and a giant smile on my face.

Ben was sitting at the island with a paper. He turns and spits his coffee. “What da Fu…”

“Eh! Don’t you dare finish that sentence around my son.” My mom warns as she comes down the stairs.

Ben’s brows shoot up and his head flips between me and her. “Bell? Care ta explain how your 6 year old hit puberty over night?” He slowly rises.

“I’m big, Uncle Ben. I hit a growth sprout.” I smile a toothy smile.

He rubs his neck as he comes over to me. “I think ya mean, growth spurt, Bud. I can see that. Why?” He turns to my mom who’s making breakfast. She places a bowl with cereal on the island counter and I practically run for the seat. I grab the spoon and wolf down.

“Quinn. Slow down!” My mom scowls.

“Sorry.” I say with my mouth full.

My mom turns to Ben. “Quinn’s shift last night must have triggered his Lycan gene for growth. Technically, he’s three years late.”

“Wait…So he’s Lycan then?” Ben asks.

My mom shook her head. “No. He shifted to a natural wolf. I don’t sense any Lycan present. He’s just a shifter with an unnatural growth rate.”

Ben picks at my hair.

I look at him and pick at his brown hair.

He inspects my ears and chin, closely. “This is…wow.”

I turn to him and grab his head. “This is the best thing EVER!”

I jump off the stool and jump in the air. “WOO!” I run and bust out the front door.

“Eh! QUINTEN!” My mom yells and I run back in.

“Yeah?” I say hanging off the doorframe.

“I’m driving you to school.” She says.

Ben leans on the table. “You’re not actually taking him ta school like that.”

My mom nods. “Just because he had a growth spurt, it doesn’t mean he ruins his education.”

“Come on, Bell. He’s a giant!” Ben protests.

She holds up a finger to him. “He’s still only six.” She flips her ash blonde hair over her shoulder. “Quinten. Backpack.”

“Right.” I, awkwardly, run to the couch and grab my Spiderman back pack. I hold it up in front of me, turning it around in front of my eyes. “It’s so little.” I look at my mom. “Super cool!” I grin and run out the door.

****

“I can use the big kid potty. I can reach the top shelf in the library. I can play with the big kids. I can reach the basketball net.” I turn to my mom with wide eyes. “Andy can’t take my toys anymore!”

She holds a hand up to me. “Quinten. Slow down. You need to be careful. You don’t know your own strength.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“It means you could really hurt someone. So just don’t play rough with anyone.” She warns.

“Ok.” I look out the window, watching the neighborhood pass by. “Tony’s gonna be pissed.”

“QUINTEN!” My mother whips her head to me.

“Sorry! I got a big mouth!” I scowl at her.

She shakes her head. “You got that right.” She heaves a deep breath and wrings the steering wheel.

Once we get to school, I can’t get my seat belt off fast enough. I open the door and start to run to the yard.

“QUINTEN! STOP!” My mother yells to my back. I stop and turn around. She’s walking from the car with my back pack in hand.

“Oh! I forgot…” I run back to my mom. She puts it on my back and walks with me to the yard.

Solomon Elementary School is full of kids ages four to thirteen. The kindergarten side was packed with kids and parents.

“Mama, can I go play? I won’t hurt anyone. I promise.” I pulled on her arm.

“Ok, just be careful. I have to talk to Miss Franks.” She kisses my forehead and I grin.

As I run up to the 6 foot x 6 foot sandbox, I see my best friend Tony and a few other boys and girls playing in the sand.

With a beaming smile, I run to the edge of it and hold my arms out. “Hey, guys!!” I say really loud.

They all look at me and blink. One little girl starts crying hysterically and runs for her mother.

My face and arms fall. “Why she crying?” I look to where she ran and back at Tony.

“Who are you?” Tony scowls.

“It’s me! I’m Quinn, see…” I flash a big smile. “Don’t you remember?”

Tony gets up and walks to me. He has to crane his neck. It felt weird to look down at him since he’s always been taller than me.

“What happen?” Tony poked my belly and I giggled.

“I had a growth sprout.” I smile.

“What’s that?” Another kid asks.

I think about it. “It’s where you get big, I guess. Wanna play?” I bounce on my toes.

“Yeah!” The boys shout.

I slap Tony’s arm. “Tag! You’re it!” I turn and run for the soccer field. The boys all giggling behind me.

“Not fair! You’re too fast!” Tony yells.

“That’s cuz I got big feet!” I shout to him, completely ecstatic that I’m so much faster now.

We’re all laughing and running in circles, when Miss Franks calls me to her.

“QUINTEN!”

I skid to a stop and Tony hits me and we crash to the ground. “You’re it.” He laughs.

“No. Miss Franks called me. We’re on pause.” I say as I push him off and stand up. I jog to Miss Franks.

“Not fair!” Tony yells to my back.

****

I sit in the book corner while my mom and Miss Frank’s talked about me.

“As far as I can tell, he’s still Quinn. He just looks like a 14 year old.” My mom says.

“You don’t think this will hurt him socially? Being so much bigger than his classmates?” Miss Frank’s asks.

“I don’t think so. It may be fun for him. He can bring…new perspective to the class.” My mom answers.

I sat with the books and opened one. I flip the page, then the next one and the next…

I felt something in my head. Like a tingle as I went through the pages.

As Miss Frank’s talked with my mother, I pulled book after book off the shelf. Flipping through each page as my eyes read each word.

In minutes, I read the entire shelf…twice.

I got up and walked to my mom. Miss Franks smiles and laces her hands on the table. “Quinn.” She greets.

“I’m bored. Can I use the computer?” I ask, pointing to the back table with four computers on it.

“Sure. We’re almost done. You can use Kitty’s music program.” She offers.

A beaming smile crossed my lips. It was my favorite game. “Yeah!” I spin and run to the computer tables.

I sink into the chair that’s now entirely too small. I have to adjust the headphones before I put them on my ears.

I open the music program. It’s a cat who teaches you about music and guides you while you make your own music by places notes on a set of scales. I loved the crazy noises I could make.

“Great job. You rock, dude!” The cat says to me through the earphones.

As I place half notes all over the place, I spy something in the corner of the screen at the bottom. A small spinning globe. The internet.

I move my cursor to it and click.

‘You must be a teacher or a parent to access.’

The words popped up in front of a search engine.

A password was required.

My eyes flick to my mom. She’s still talking. I look back to the screen. I’ve seen my dad do this.

I type in Miss Franks.

‘Password is incorrect’

I look at Miss Franks. I think about what she would choose as a password. My skin felt warm and the tingling in my brain increased as I thought more about it.

Her real name maybe?

I type in Amanda as I read it from the nameplate on her desk.

‘Password Incorrect'

I press my lips together and really think. My head tingles even more.

I look at the brightly colored sign on the wall that says ‘Welcome to Kindergarten'.

I look at the box with the flashing cursor in it.

I type in ‘MissFranksKindergarten’.

The screen changes and I’m brought to the search engine of the internet.

I smile and sit up.

In the search bar, I type in the most favorite thing in my young life…Space.

No thought crossed my mind that I just hacked a school computer for the internet. All I knew was that I was in, learning about space.

I leaned forward and read the news articles, lessons and blogs.

My eyes read furiously. The tingle in my brain started to turn to a weird electrical feeling. I scroll page after page. Tab after tab. My fingers typing like I’m playing piano. I couldn’t get enough. Soon, I was in history, math, literature, art and social media. In a matter of minutes, I absorbed thousands of bytes of information. I could feel the synapses in my brain firing. Medicine, social constructs, physics.

Health, science, politics…I soaked it all up. My brain felt like it was rumbling in my skull.

When I finished, I flop back in my seat. My chest breathing fast with shock and excitement. My brain is working overtime to process everything I just learned. “Whoa…” I mumble, blinking at the screen.

“Quinn? You ok?” I meet my mother’s eyes.

“Uh…Yeah. I’m good.” I smile.

“Ok.” She turns back to Miss Franks. “If there’s any problems, just call.” She says as she stands.

I panic and close the hundreds of tabs I have open and exit the net. I quickly pull up the music game as my mother approaches.

She stops, looks at the screen and then at me. “Having fun?”

I swing my head between her eyes and the computer. “Yep. Lots of fun.” I say.

She kisses my hair. “Ok. I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

I’m still in a daze from all the knowledge that now sits in my brain. “Bye, mom.” I mumble.

“Bye, baby.” She leaves just as the morning bell rings for school to start.

The kids file into the classroom and take their places on the carpet on the floor. I sat in my usual spot with Tony and now feel extremely uncomfortable.

“Criss cross, Applesauce, everyone!” Miss Franks directs as the kids settle in.

As Miss Franks conducted her lesson about the color wheel, I had my hand over Tony’s head and I float it to my chest. I do the same to the other kid beside me. I’m trying to piece this all together.

“Quinten. Pay attention, please.”

I snap my eyes to Miss Franks. “Sorry.” I mumble.

I fold my hands in my lap and think. My brain is fitting it all into its figurative boxes and something comes through as it does.

Do you know what comes with vast knowledge?

Self awareness.

I’m now well aware, I’m a 14 year old in a freaking kindergarten class.

I look around the room and at my friends. Something doesn’t feel right here.

As the day went on and I went through recess, gym and lunch, this uncomfortable feeling grew.

By story time, I had enough.

Without any second thought, I stand and look at Miss Franks. “I’m out of here.” I grumble.

Miss Franks looks at me. “No, Quinn, please sit down.”

I fold my arms. “No.” I feel my defiance growing in my body.

“Is there a problem, Quinn?” She closes her book and puts it in her lap.

I scowl at her. “Yeah. I don’t want to be here so I’m leaving.”

“Quinten. You can’t leave. Now, sit down.” She gives me a stern look.

I narrow my eyes. “Make me.”

The kids all whisper with shock and their heads whip between Miss franks and I.

“Quinten. You’re being very disrespectful. Now, behave and join the class.” She scolds.

“Listen, Amanda. I’m not sitting here with a bunch of babies. I’m leaving and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. Have an awesome day.” I smirk at her, turn and head for the door.

“Quinten!” I hear from the classroom.

I strut down the hallway and my eyes travel around the all the kid stuff hanging on hooks. I snort to myself. “I’m so out of here.”

As I turn a corner, I hit a large body. A thick hand lands on my chest. I look up to Mr. Drenner. The school principal. His authoritative face looks into mine. “Going somewhere, Quinn?” He arches a brow.

I swallow because he’s a very big guy.

He leans down to me. “My office. Now!”

I hang my head and march myself to the schools office.