The first thing you learn when you can understand animals, is that animals don’t have much to say. “Cat!” The mother bird in the tree above me screeched. “Rip and tear!” Hissed the approaching cat. I sighed, tossing the orange tabby the remainder of my turkey sandwich; solving the problem. I hadn’t planned on finishing it anyway.

　

Lunch time at school - for me - was usually uneventful. I would eat, read, and try my best to ignore any nearby animals. But other days - like today - I would be forced to deal with dimwitted teenagers; the punishment that was high school. “Olivia, right?” I looked up from the book in my lap to find the owner of the voice. “I hear you’re good friends with Will Spray.” Brittanie Maceio - dark hair, fair skinned and beautiful - smiled down at me. She wasn’t the most popular girl in school, but she - like most everyone - out ranked me. She had her best friend Anna Jones with her, standing by her side and glaring me down.

　

“So?” I asked, giving them a strange look. They never talked to me unless they wanted someone to torture, and the smile on Brittanie’s face had me confused.

　

“We want you to get us invited to his birthday party.” Anna replied, folding her arms over her chest. I stared at her in utter confusion. Why do they think I can help them with that?

　

“We see you two hanging out all the time. And you see…his birthday is the party of the year. Anyone who’s not there might as well give up on a social life.” Brittanie explained, her brown eyes pleading. Anna flipped her bright red hair, scoffing.

　

“Not to mention he’s hot.” She said, her freckled nose wrinkling at the look I gave her. I honestly still didn’t get why they came to me, and I couldn’t see why they hadn’t been invited to start with. They were cool, Will was cool. Only reason he even hung out with me was because we had been friends since birth. It was more of a force of habit than anything else.

　

“Remind me again why I should help you? I thought we hated one another.” I said, raising a dark eyebrow at them. Brittanie seemed to search for a reason while Anna rolled her eyes at me.

　

“You like her brother, don’t you?” Anna asked, nodding towards Brittanie. My eyes went wide, my heart pounding in my ears, my cheeks turned red. Brittanie’s face lit up, her smile becoming sly. “Don’t look so surprised, everyone but Walker knows about it.” Anna scoffed.

　

Walker Maceio - my first and only crush. Tall, dark hair, fair skin, deep brown eyes and a wicked grin that sent me to my knees. The six pack and strong arms didn’t hurt either. “I could introduce you. I mean, its not like he’s taken or anything.” Brittanie grinned, giving her friend a meaningful look.

　

“Forget it, I’ll just ask Will if you guys can come.” I said in a rush, gathering up my things as quickly as possible.

　

“Really?” Brittanie squealed with excitement, looking to Anna with bright eyes. I didn’t answer her, and hurried away before they could say anything more. I was embarrassed and scared. Mostly the latter. You see, if they knew about my crush on Walker then they could use it against me. The very thought sent a cold snake slithering down my spine.

　

I reached my locker in record time, ignoring anyone I passed by. Putting in the combination I opened it and tossed in my books, grabbing the ones I would need for the rest of the day. “Hey Levy,” Will greeted, leaning against the lockers to my left. “You ready for my party tonight?” He questioned, a luster smile on his features.

　

“I’m not going.” I answered dully. His smile fell. “Come on Will, you know none of your other friends want me there. Why ruin their fun?” I asked, giving him a pleading look. I really did want to be at his party, he was my best friend after all. But his other friends didn’t like me and I didn’t want to cause problems.

　

“Who cares what they think?” As he said this the bell for class rang, sounding through the halls. “You’re coming, end of discussion.” He grinned, pushing away from the lockers to head off to class.

　

“On one condition.” I stopped him. He turned, his green eyes shocked.

　

“Its my birthday!” He complained, pointing to himself.

　

“You have to let Brittanie Maceio and her friend Anna come.”

　

　

“What? Why? You hate them.” He looked confused so I thought I would clue him in a bit.

　

　

“I promised. Look its really complicated, so could you please just do it? It wouldn’t be a total loss, Brittanie’s really pretty and Anna’s a slut. They’ll keep all your jock friends busy.” I replied, nervously pulling at the hem of my shirt.

　

　

“Fine, but I get to pick any present I want and you have to give it to me.” He smiled, a sly smile that I didn’t quite understand.

　

　

“Deal.” I nodded, quickly shaking his hand and rushing off to class.

　

Math class was a bore as usual, and I started thinking of other things. Like how Will had gotten so popular and how I was left at the bottom of the food chain. Will had good looks, the girls went nuts for his green eyes and shortly cut blond hair. He was average height and in shape due to his role in sports around the school. He got good grades and was really nice to everyone.

　

But me? Well, I think it had something to due with me telling my entire fifth grade class that I could talk to animals. Since then they’ve only found other things to hate me for. Like my lack of style, the fact I always had my nose in a book and my strange taste in food. I thought ranch dressing and toast was amazing but not everyone else thought so too. For some reason none of that stuff bothered me, though. I had things I liked about myself. I liked my light brown eyes, I liked my long auburn hair. I could use a tan but at least my face didn’t breakout in zits. I was…content. Not happy, but content with my life and who I was. It was better than hating myself.

　

The day dragged on and my homework load was making Will’s party even less tempting than before. I had a habit of doing nothing unless all my homework was finished. That way I could do what I wanted without worrying about school. But there would be only enough time to finished half of it before the party started at seven, meaning it would bother me all night. I held in a disappointed sigh.

　

　

As I walked through the door of my home I called out. “Mom! I’m home!”

　

“Olivia Marie Daniels, come in here!” My mother shouted back in return. She had used my full name - that was never a good sign. I slowly made my way into the kitchen, tentative as to what I had done wrong. She looked at me, glaring, and pointed sharply out the screen door to our backyard. I followed her finger, my forehead wrinkled in confusion. “That thing has been here all day, its scaring off the birds.” She complained, waving for me to take care of it. “Tell it to go home.”

　

I watched the young fox watch me. I had fed him late last night - guess he wanted more food. “Sorry.” I mumbled, heading out the door. There were upsides to my parents knowing of my ability, but this was a downside. Any time an animal was bothering them they would make me take care of it. It got old real fast.

　

“Girl cub?” The fox questioned, tilting it’s head at me.

　

“Yeah, its me.” I smiled, already liking the name of affection it had given me. He sat on the porch steps, and as I took a seat next to him he jumped in my lap. “Have you been bothering the birds?” I asked, gently petting the top of his head.

　

“Play things?” He asked, not really listening to me, engrossed in my petting.

　

“No, not play things. My mom loves birds and you’ve scared them off. From now on I want you to stay out of sight, she’s not ready for you as a friend just yet. And stop playing with the birds.” I said firmly, holding his face in my hands so he had to look at me.

“Girl cub.” He said, jumping down from my lap and sitting tall at the bottom of the steps. Its hard to explain how I hear the animals. Its like a noise in my head. Its not a voice, but somehow words and feelings come through the noise and I understand what they’re saying. What he had just said didn’t make sense in human words. But the way I had heard him say it meant that he was making me a promise.

　

“I’ll bring you some of my dinner before I leave tonight. Stay out of trouble until then.” I begged, watching as he dashed off into the woods behind our house.

　

My parents didn’t know anymore about my abilities then I did. They couldn’t explain it and my mother had simply summed it up to me being born that way. She said that other people were born with abilities like mine. Edgar Cayce was a good example of that. But I couldn’t make predictions, and my ability was better left a secret. That’s how it had always been for me. After the incident in fifth grade she told me never to tell another soul again. I had wanted to tell Will at one point, but knew he wouldn’t believe me. He was a skeptic in every sense of the word.

　

But like I said before; I was content with my life and the person I was. I couldn’t change anything even if I wanted to, so I accepted it.