I sat in class, trying to pay attention to our teacher though Sylvie kept distracting me with her jokes. Kimberly, who was sitting on the other side of Sylvie, kept distracting me as well due to how loud she was giggling in response to the jokes.

At the moment, we were attending a history and social studies class that all students took, not just the ones in the sorcerers course. Our instructor was Mister Estoban, a forty something man who took after his Vietnamese mother more than his Cuban father. I think he enjoyed confusing people with his Asian appearance and Hispanic name.

“Someone really doesn’t like you,” Sylvie told me quietly, gesturing to the other side of the classroom where Teressa and her cohorts were silently glaring at me.

“Someone really doesn’t care,” I responded with a grin.

Ever since the incident with Teressa and her cronies a few days ago, she’d been glaring at me as though I was her sworn enemy. She now thought that I was the one dating Todd, an impression that had been encouraged by Todd’s comments at that time. Teressa now thought I was a romantic rival, an unworthy one who’d stolen the guy she was interested in. And even worse, at least from her point of view, her attempts to humiliate me by destroying my clothes had backfired on her.

“At least Eve is relieved,” Sylvie told me with a chuckle. “Teressa hasn’t been bothering her since this started.”

“Lucky her,” I replied wryly. “I’d tell Teressa that I was really a guy and had no interest in Todd, but I don’t want to give her the satisfaction.”

“I hate to tell you,” Sylvie whispered with a smirk. “But if you have all the right plumbing, that means you aren’t a guy anymore.”

“And from what I heard,” Kimberly added, “you certainly didn’t look like one then.”

I glared at Sylvie and Kimberly, knowing that as much as I hated it, they did have a point. Physically, I really was a girl and I would remain that way for the rest of my life unless I found a spell that could overcome my sorcerers mark. Intellectually, I knew that wasn’t very likely, but I had to try.

This conversation also made me think of Todd and how he’d been treating me differently ever since the incident. After he’d seen me in my enhanced form, he now seemed to think of me as girl rather than one of the guys. The way I’d teased Teressa had probably contributed to that, but there was no doubt that our relationship had changed.

Just then, my attention was suddenly brought back to Mr. Estoban’s lecture by hearing him mention the Were. I didn’t catch the context since the last time I was actually paying full attention a minute ago, he was talking about the Sier, another race of people who existed alongside the Touched and Were.

“As far as we know, there are very few Sier left,” Mr. Estoban stated. “It is difficult to estimate their numbers as they are even more secretive with outsiders than we are. But the Were, on the other hand, seem to be flourishing much the same as we Touched.”

“Just what we need,” Teressa commented with a contemptuous snort. “A bunch of filthy werewolves running around…”

“I know,” Monica added with a snicker from beside her.

“Uh oh,” Kimberly muttered, looking to me.

“There are only about a half dozen Were wolves in the entire world,” I responded loudly, glaring at Teressa in anger. “If you count the dogs, dingos, coyotes and the like, the number goes up to a couple dozen. I wouldn’t call that a bunch…but I guess, if you have to use your fingers to count it might seem like a lot.”

There were a lot of gasps around the entire classroom at that. “You fucking bitch,” Teressa snarled.

I stood up and continued glaring at her. “And as for them being filthy… Well, every Were I know bathes regularly. I couldn’t say the same for you.”

“I’m gonna kill you,” Teressa exclaimed, jumping to her feet while her friends did the same. She pulled out a token that looked like a knot of beads and began to yell, “Inv…”

“ENOUGH!” Mr. Estoban yelled. There was a flash of illusionary lightning and everyone froze at that. Mr. Estoban wasn’t a sorcerer, but I’d seen him use his talent to get the class’ attention before.

“Oh shit,” Sylvie exclaimed, giving me a nervous look.

“YOU,” Mr. Estoban stated, pointing directly at Teressa. “If you ever attempt to assault another student with magic in this class, I will have you expelled from the Academy.” Teressa paled at that and then he turned to glare at me. “And you Ms. Morris. You seem to think yourself some sort of expert on the Were. Why would you think that you know more about the subject than I do?”

“Because I am a Were,” I responded proudly. I might be embarrassed by what I turned into, but I was still proud to be a Were nonetheless.

There were sudden gasps and mutterings through the entire class. Mr. Estoban didn’t look the least bit surprised, though he was smiling faintly.

“Then as a Were,” Mr. Estoban told me with a gleam in his eyes. “Perhaps you would be willing to clarify some of our misconceptions.”

I stared at Mr. Estoban, suddenly realizing that he’d just played me. As a teacher, he would have already known that I was a Were. In fact, I’d overheard a few things that made me think it was a matter of gossip among most of the teachers. Mr. Estoban couldn’t just tell the class that I was a Were, but now that I’d just outed myself, he was able to use me as a teaching tool.

“Bullshit,” one of the other students called out.

“It is true that the Were and Touched are two different races,” Mr. Estoban said, looking around the class. “But occasionally, we do have children together.” He looked at me.

“My mom is Touched,” I stated, feeling extremely self-conscious about all the attention on me. “My dad is a Were.” There were more mumbles and whispers at that. I took a deep breath and forced myself to continue. “Most kids of Were and Touched are either one or another. Occasionally, you get a hybrid like me. Someone who is both.”

“What do you turn into?” one boy demanded. Another student called out, “Prove it.”

“On the first full moon after a Were turns sixteen,” I said, trying to stay calm amid all the stared and whispers, some of which seemed almost hostile. “That is when a Were first changes into whatever animal they are going to turn into. It’s pretty random so we don’t have any idea what we’re going to turn into until the first time it happens.”

“Animals,” someone said in clear contempt, though I couldn’t be sure who it was.

I didn’t have time to go into anything more because the class came to an end. Mr. Estoban said, “Thank you for your unique input on Weres, Ms. Morris.”

I looked around at my classmates, most of whom were staring at me. Then I quickly left the classroom, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank Primus that’s over.”

“I can’t believe that,” Sylvie exclaimed, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. “The way you told that bitch off…” She burst out laughing. “I loved it.”

“I can’t believe you told everyone you were a Were,” Kimberly said.

“It’s not like I was really hiding it,” I responded with a shrug. Of course, I hadn’t really been spreading it around either.

“Damn, did you see Teressa’s face?” Sylvie continued with a broad grin. “It was priceless.”

That just made me frown as I clearly remembered the look on Teressa’s face right before we left the room. It had been a look of hatred, but also a smug one. The look on her face had almost said, “I’ve got you now,” and that made me worry.