Daimon High 1: Claire

Claire has always struggled with anger management issues, but she had no idea it was a symptom of being a werewolf. When the new interim principal – who is actually a rogue demon – tells five teens that they are supernaturals and a demon lord is after them for their gifts, Claire struggles to believe it.

When the principal threatens to turn them over to the demon lord if they don't help break her free, Claire must work with a vampire, an elementalist, a shapeshifter, and a witch to learn magic and battle skills. The fact that the vampire had almost fed on her best friend doesn’t make her very willing to work with any of the others, even if it was in her nature to play nice.

Can Claire learn to accept who she is and choose to embrace the inner beast in order to stop the demons after them? And if she does, will that ruin her chances of finding love with the boy she’s always wished was more than a friend?

“Watch it, Claire,” Jax scowled at me.
I rubbed my knee, standing while Jax wiped his pant leg as if he thought I’d gotten it dirty. I looked at the freshman still on the floor.
“Trying to help a loser?” Jax shifted his foot and toppled the stack of books I’d just helped the kid with. “Oops.” He grinned at his buddies. “You know, you shouldn’t leave books in the middle of the hallway. It’s rude.”
My dad is gonna kill me for this. I grabbed all one hundred ninety-five pounds of the quarterback with all one hundred five pounds of me and slammed him into the locker with little effort. Only great restraint kept me from bringing my knee up to his groin. Instead, I slammed his back into the locker a second time, making sure the handle dug into the soft spot near his kidney.
Silence enveloped the hallway as news of my actions spread. The usual din of hundreds of students disappeared as surprised looks replaced conversation. I tried to loosen my fingers, but my body didn't want to let go. My mind battled between rational thought and a desire to hurt him.
“Don't ever do that again,” I growled through clenched teeth, feeling an unfamiliar vibration deep in my throat.
The look on Jax’s face was frightened. Of me? I looked around the circle of his buddies surrounding us. They were silent as they stared. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t give him a hard time about getting beaten up by a girl. I glanced at the freshman. He averted his eyes and gathered his books before disappearing into the crowd.
I loosened my hold on Jax’s shirt and yanked my hands away in disgust. In truth, I was disgusted with myself.
I bent down to my bag and when I stood, blue eyes stared at me. Paul’s shocked expression stabbed me in the heart. We hadn’t spoken in months though we’d been best friends for years before that. I scooped up my bag and stormed off down the hall. The crowd parted in front of me as if wanting to avoid a disease. Or maybe they were worried I'd slam them into the walls too if they didn't move fast enough. It was possible, given my mood.
I ducked my head and picked up my pace. Kegan fell into step with me, but he didn’t say a word as he adjusted his wire-frame glasses. His presence was calming. I smiled to let him know I appreciated it. He nodded and just kept pace with me.
From the corner of my eye, I could see the new principal watching. I clenched my teeth and looked directly at her. No sense in postponing the inevitable. She'll call my parents and Dad will up the number of sessions with my shrink.
She smiled briefly as if she were amused and turned away without a word. My heart thudded with unused adrenaline. The click of her high heels on the tile floor grew fainter as she walked away.
“Did you see that?” I asked.
Kegan shook his head. “See what?”
“Quinn just smiled at me. I’m sure she saw what happened. If it were still Mr. Beagly, I'd be in detention now.”
“He sent you there a lot?” Kegan looked me up and down. “What kind of girl were you before I moved here?”
I winked at him. “The worst kind ever.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Ooh, do tell.”
“Let’s just say I have a temper.” I glanced back down the hallway, half expecting to see the crowd still there.
Kegan leaned over and whispered, “By the way, that was awesome.”
I stared at him, surprised but pleased at his comment.
“Jax looked completely freaked. He needed to be brought down a peg or two. Maybe next time he’ll be more careful who he messes with.”
“Yeah, he’d better.” I elbowed him playfully, thinking of how Jax always bullied anyone who didn’t fit the popular mold. The squeaky shoes of an office aide approaching us made me turn. “Looks like I’ve gotten my summons to detention anyway.”
Kegan shook his head in sympathy. “That sucks.”
The aide handed me a slip of paper and then gave one to Kegan. I stared at it. “Why him?”
“I just deliver ‘em,” he said before turning away.

***

“Denise, what are you doing in here?” a short redhead asked the gorgeous blonde sitting across from her as Kegan and I walked into the detention room.
“No idea, Kat. This note told me to show up for the last ten minutes of class.” Denise popped her gum as she looked around the room. When her eyes caught mine, she looked away quickly. They didn’t stay on Kegan’s much longer, but her cheeks flushed.
“Same here.” Kat waved her paper like a fan. She looked at Kegan. “How about you?”
“Yeah,” he said. “We both did.”
Kat turned to the other girl in the room, who held her paper up. She wiggled it without looking at any of us, her eyes on a notebook full of doodles.
“She's got one, too,” Denise announced.
“No kidding,” I said, slipping into a desk.
“Get over yourself, Claire,” Denise said.
The door opened, cutting off my response. Mrs. Jones entered, limping slightly and clutching a brown clipboard in her stubby hands. Scratching her hairy upper lip, she tossed the clipboard onto Denise's desk. “Sign the roll. Principal Quinn will be here in a moment, so don't give me any trouble.”
She did a headcount, eyes widening when she saw me. “Hey, Claire,” Mrs. Jones said. “Haven't seen you in here for a while. I thought you'd cleaned up your act. What’d you do now?”
“Ha.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard.” I handed her the note and so did the others.
Mrs. Jones shuffled through them all. “You all have the same note, but it says nothing about the rule you violated.” She limped to her desk at the back of the room and opened a worn paperback romance novel. She always had one of those while she endured her time as warden.
Denise wrapped her manicured fingers around the clipboard as she shook her long blonde hair back out of her face. She signed her name, slid gracefully out of her chair, and presented the roll to me like it was something important. I watched her smile at Kegan, who ignored her. Not many guys could.
I scratched my signature under her swirling cursive and then leaned back while Kegan signed it. I took it and lobbed it two aisles, to the quiet girl sitting there without ruffling the paper. She caught it, barely. Everyone looked at me, eyes wide. They were definitely new to detention.
Kat twisted her wild curls into a bun and shoved a pencil through to hold it tight. She leaned across the desk separating her from the quiet girl and took the clipboard. She signed her name, stood up, leaned over the desk between us, and handed the clipboard back to me, apparently trying to show me how I should have done it.
I set the clipboard on the floor and kicked it so it slid back to Mrs. Jones. She stopped it with her foot without even taking her eyes off her book. I smirked at Kat. She shook her head, but a faint smile pulled at the corner of her mouth.
Why is Kat in here? Maybe she'd gotten in trouble for freeing the mice from the science lab. She had started the recycling programs at school and run a petition for a vegetarian option at lunch. I'd even signed it though I loved meat. The redder the better.
“You’re Emily, right?” Kat whispered to the quiet girl. “Don't we have a class together?”
Emily eyed Kat up and down. She nodded and mumbled, “Biology.”
“Oh, that's right,” Kat said. “I knew I'd seen you before.”
Emily went back to her doodling. I looked at the clock, noting we'd been in here four minutes already. Where was Quinn and what would it take to keep her from telling my parents? They had enough ammunition against me.
“Do you think this is because of Jax?” Kegan whispered.
“Why are you all in here then? I’ve never seen them in here before.”
Kegan shrugged and looked as clueless as I felt.
“So are you still with Blake?” Kat asked Denise.
“Yeah, he's great,” Denise said with a lovesick sigh. “Kind of got tired of the jock type and figured I'd try a new flavor. He's in the drama club and loves to recite lines to me.” Denise smiled and fiddled with her earring. “It's always nice to have a little conversation with a guy now and then.”
“Nice to talk to someone intelligent, or nice to talk instead of just making out?” Kat asked.
Denise giggled. “A little of both, I guess.” She licked her lips as if remembering something delicious.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Don't you have any class?” I glared at her as years of hatred flared up inside.
“What's the matter, Claire? Jealous?” Denise sneered.
Fighting the urge to growl at her, I smiled sweetly. “Not at all. You're not my type.”
Emily snorted a laugh, surprising me since I'd almost forgotten she was here. Kat tried to hide a smile. Kegan bumped knuckles with me.
“You’re jealous, I know it.” Denise narrowed her eyes. “You wanted one of my boys, but he never fell for you. Which one was he?”
“Shut up,” I snapped, trying not to think of Paul.
“I'm sure there has to be at least one who'd give you the time of day.”
“I don't want your leftovers!” I lunged forward, wanting to rip out her hair, but I stopped myself just before making contact. I clenched my fists and tried to hide them under the desk, shocked I’d just done that.
Denise reared back at my response. Kegan’s eyes looked huge when I peeked at him. Even Mrs. Jones glanced up from her book.
“Knock it off, Claire,” Mrs. Jones said. “You know better than that.” She returned to her imaginary love interest.
I ground my teeth together, not wanting her to know what she said was so close to the truth. She’d used my best friend for her dating pleasure and dumped him in less than three weeks. He'd tried to resume our friendship even though he knew how much I despised Denise. I hadn't spoken to him all summer. I wasn’t ready to forgive him for his betrayal.
I closed my eyes and started the breathing exercises Dr. Lowe had taught me ― in through the nose to the count of ten, out through the mouth. It took me about a minute and a half to get my heart rate back down. Eventually I was calm enough to look around the room again.
Kegan had his head on the desk, almost asleep. I smiled. The only way I’d survived the loneliness was because Kegan had moved to town. We immediately hit it off, though there was nothing romantic in our relationship. He was just the coolest guy ever: smart, charming, cute, funny, even though his obsession with Star Wars was a little annoying. The fact that he wouldn’t give Denise the time of day made him all the more perfect.
Denise and Kat hadn't said a word during my breathing. I knew they’d been watching me the whole time. I rolled my eyes and glanced away, focusing instead on Emily.
It was kind of hard to get a feel for her. Thick, long, black bangs nearly covered her gray eyes. She leaned back in a relaxed position in the hard desk, with her flip-flops poking out. I thought those were against the dress code? Her figure was hard to be sure of, by the way she sat, but she looked healthy, if just a little plump.
She looked nothing like Denise sitting up in front of me. Tall and thin, she was co-captain of the cheer squad. She was also a straight-A student, popular with everyone, and most likely to be voted Homecoming Queen, even though she was only a junior like the rest of us. It was disgusting how she had so many guys after her. When she broke up with one, she had another lined up within minutes.
And no one complained about her. They all acted like it was such a privilege to have been one of her “guys.” I’d talked it over with Kegan once and neither one of us could figure out her attraction. Even the girls in school worshiped her. Just having Denise smile at you apparently marked you as special.
Denise never smiled at me.
I’d known her since we were five. Our parents moved into houses on opposite ends of the same street around the same time and met at a park soon after. They thought it was fate. Their daughters, both without siblings, would grow up to be best friends. Good thing they finally stopped forcing us to play together during the summer between fourth and fifth grade. I'd have probably strangled her by now.
Kat shifted in her seat to face Mrs. Jones. “Why are we here? I didn't do anything detention worthy.”
“You were called in here by Principal Quinn,” Mrs. Jones said.
“Obviously, but where is she?” Denise asked.
“She’ll be here when she's ready.” Mrs. Jones didn’t even look up from her book.
I fought the urge to grind my teeth and started my breathing again. Denise glared at me over her shoulder as if my breathing bothered her, so I breathed louder. Just looking at her made my hair stand on end and my lips tighten. She closed her eyes and mumbled something under her breath, too low for me to make out.
A soft thump in the back of the room made me look back in time to see Mrs. Jones slump forward awkwardly in her chair and start snoring softly.
I snorted, stood up shouldering my bag, and said, “I'm outta here.” Just then the door swung open with a bang as it slammed against the bookshelf to the side. Principal Quinn had arrived.