Cody was looking forward to tonight. This was his first party in high school with no parents or sitters and he was almost bouncing up and down trying to will the clock forward.

His mom poked her head into his room,”Are you really going to that thing tonight? You know they aren’t like us.”

“Yes Mom,” he sighed, l finally have people to hang out with who are my friends.”

“I hope you know what you are doing. People like them don’t have friends like us,” she hissed and closed his door, leaving him to get ready.

He’d gone over what he was wearing and snapped it to Brent to make sure he didn’t look like an idiot. He’d brushed his teeth twice in case he got close to some of the girls. No reason to screw up tonight because he smelled like garlic chicken.

“Mom, I’m headed over to Brent’s!”

There was a little time til the party, but he wasn’t waiting anymore. He grabbed his keys to the ‘94 Civic he’d been passed down when his dad left and went to meet up with his friends.

Cody’s life hadn’t been the easiest and making friends wasn’t natural to him. This was his junior year and he’d finally made some decent friends. He still had some other issues though. His family was different. They weren’t a rich family like Brent’s of Jason’. They weren’t a nuclear family with mom and dad and two kids and a dog with a grassy backyard. Their family had lots of issues no one even knew about.

Cody worked hard to have decent clothes instead of the ripped up hand me downs he usually got. He was sick of seconds and family leftovers.

Driving over, he got more nervous as the trees gave way and the yards went from overgrown to manicured and the streets lost their potholes. He pulled up outside Brent’s and saw Jason’s BMW sitting in the driveway and parked on the street before heading up to the door.

The door opened as he walked up and Brent’s mom was there. “Hello Mrs. Jensen.”

“Oh, hello Cody,” she sniffed,” are you going with the boys tonight? I didn’t know you knew Miranda.” He felt her eyes judging his clothes from a big box store instead of her boutiques.

“Yes ma’am. I have a couple of classes together her and Jenna and she asked me to come along with Brent.”

“Well he and Jason are finishing up. You know where his room is.”

He headed up the stairs and went into Brent’s room.

“Jeez dude! How much cologne did you use?” Was the first thing he heard walking in.

“Just a couple of spritzes. Don’t be extra.”

They were going at it like usual and Cody fell into a state of ease.

——

Miranda’s house, no her mansion, was crazy. The music was loud and everywhere with the sound wired through each room and even out back by the pool. There had to be over fifty or sixty kids there and it was wall to wall energy.

Cody was feeling good, but he was looking for Jenna. Miranda’s cousin was his crush and he was hoping to move things up a notch tonight.

Looking around he saw Jason waving him over.

“Hey, have you seen Jenna? She looks amazing tonight.”

Cody blushed. He’d told Jason and Brent about liking her and they hadn’t let up.

“I’ve been looking. But I’m keeping my options open,” he lied.

Jason laughed,”Flexing? I like it.” He pointed outside, “She’s by the pool.”

Cody’s eyes got wide and his chest puffed out as he calmed himself down. No use blowing this.

“Go get ‘em tiger!”

He flipped Jason off and walked outside looking for her. She was on the other side of the pool and he psyched himself up to go over. She looked in at Cody’s direction and gave a huge smile. That really gave him what he needed to go up to her.

“Hey Jenna.” He said as he walked around the metal pool furniture.

“Oh hey Cody. I didn’t know you were coming,” she said and looked over his shoulder.

“Uh yeah, I uh wanted to come and see if you..”

That was when Cody felt the hand on his shoulder.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Noah was the captain of varsity basketball and one of the most popular guys.

“Are you really trying to talk to her? Your broke ass couldn’t afford to take her to McDonald’s. Get your ass out of here.”

He shoved Cody.

The world went silent as his breathing ratcheted up.

Noah turned away from him and looked at Jenna. “Hey babe you ready to get out of here?”

Cody looked around. Across the pool Jason and Brent had their phones out and were recording him. Laughing. Those assholes were laughing.

He looked at Jenna. “Jason said you were looking for me.”

It sounded lame even to him.

She looked at him and her eyes went wide and her mouth opened as she pointed and laughed in his face.

“You? Why would I be looking for you?”

Noah smirked and with a mean chuckle pushed Cody back again.

“I told you to get out of here. Walk your ass home.”

Cody stumbled back against the table. He saw a few bottles and picked one up.

“You don’t want to do that man,” Noah said as he looked down at Cody.

Rage flared up inside of him. Cody screamed and swung the bottle. Noah dodged easily and lashed out with a wicked punch to Cody’s face. He went to his knee and Noah swung again knocking him into the pool.

Cody hit his head on the lip as he went in and began to lose consciousness. The laughs got louder as they pointed and recorded him sinking to the bottom of the pool.

His head hit bottom and he felt himself going under.

Waiting.

No one was diving in to save him.

His vision faded to black.

As the last minutes passed by his eyes turned to red. They had all been in on it. Jason, Brent, Miranda all of them.

The anger he’d kept inside for so long boiled out. His eyes closed and his muscles spasmed.

A primal scream ushered forth from the depths of his soul as claws grew where his fingers had been. His muscles bulged and bones cracked as his true family heritage took over.

Cody leapt out of the pool and landed by Noah who now looked up into Cody’s black eyes. Cody lashed out with a vicious swipe, opening Noah’s throat in geyser of hot blood. Some landed on Cody’s elongated face and his younger flicked out to taste it.

“Mmmmm sooooo goood.”

The breathy words broke the tension. Jenna screamed and Cody casually punched through her chest cutting off the noise.

More screams came from around the pool but hadn’t made it to the house as the music was still blaring. Cody turned and looked at Jason and Brent; their eyes wide and mouths agape with phones still up and streaming.

Cody dashed and jumped over the pool landing before them. Their bodies shook uncontrollably as Cody reached out to pick one of them up in each paw.

“Yoooouuuu lllliiiieeeddd,” the changes to his face making the words come out in snarls and gasps.

He bit into Jason and squeezed Brent breaking his neck.

The screams turned to wails. And the pulsating music finally came to a stop. Dozens of eyes were focused on him now and in the distance, sirens. Someone had already called the cops.

Cody knew this neighborhood was rich and the police wouldn’t waste any time getting there. He dashed across the years and down the street seeking darkness and a way back home.

The minutes dragged on and he made it to the woods around town.

Cody hunkered down and took a few minutes to gather his wits. Slowly he began to make his way home.

When Cody made it to the trees near him and his mom’s trailer he could make out the flashing lights of the police cars pulling up. He keeps forward slowly and stopped when he was close enough to hear.

The cops got out and his mom was banging out the door at the same time.

The first policeman, a large and with close cropped hair, pulled out his firearm, “That’s close enough! Where’s Cody?”

Cody tensed. His new body let him smell the sweat coming off the big man.

“I haven’t seen him all night. He took off and went over to that boy Brent Jensen’s house to go to some party tonight. I told him not to go.” She closed her robe around her more tightly.

“Ma’am, we need to find him. Are you sure he isn’t here?” His gun was now coming up to a ready position. His arms quivering and tense. The second officer now out of the car and pulling his weapon as well.

She sniffed, “I already told you I haven’t seen him! Now what’s the boy done to get you so riled?” She sniffed again.

“Several of the kids at the party were hurt or killed tonight and they are all saying it was Cody that did it. Now, I’m asking one last time, where is he?” He raised his gun a little more.

“Nnoooo!!” Growled Cody.

The officer turned.

“Well damnit,” his mother said quietly.

A squelching, ripping sound followed by a deep growl came from her. Cody’s eyes bugged out as she changed in front of him.

The officer fired at her point blank. Her body shook with the impacts but didn’t slow her down as she grabbed him and tore into throat. He kept firing as she ripped and clawed his body. They fell together in a heap.

Cody screamed again.

He didn’t hesitate as the second officer started to fire. He charged and grabbed the man. He lifted him over his head and smashed him through the windshield and then into the hood over and over.

He kept smashing him until he felt a soft touch.

“Cody, it’s over baby. Come on. We gotta get moving. I knew that party was a bad thing for us. We are just too different for these folk.”

Cody dropped the body and fell to his knees. His body shrank and bones popped. Sobbing, he slowly got up and went with his mother.