On Saturday, Hank drove me to the Literature Department building, where my whole class was already waiting for the bus that would take us to Concord. I felt like a pup being dropped off by her father, although a much nicer one than I was used to. Luckily, no one said anything about it.
I immediately spotted Charlotte, Anthony, and Lynn, whose hand was being held by a very tall, dark-skinned male. That had to be her mate. He was very handsome.
The traitorous thought made me uncomfortable, but I told myself I was just objectively observing, not lusting after him. When Charlotte noticed me walking towards them, she waved me over enthusiastically.
“Hi, Penelope!” she almost yelled and I was very grateful for it.
There was no doubt about her feelings toward me.
“Hi, everyone,” I greeted in a much more subdued voice.
“Penelope, this is my mate, Rowan,” Lynn said with all the pride of a female in love.
Rowan respectfully nodded and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Luna.”
“Likewise. Are you in our class as well?”
“No, I took this one last year and now I’m taking history. I just came to see Lynn off.”
“How nice of you,” I said, willing myself not to compare him to anyone.
He was a young college student who probably had a lot of time. Maybe he was on his way to class anyway. Luckily, Anthony interrupted my train of thought with what I was starting to recognize was his characteristic bluntness.
“What’s in the cooler bag?”
Charlotte rolled her eyes and I smiled as I lifted the bag a bit.
“I packed snacks and sandwiches for us. There was no mention of lunch on the itinerary,” I quickly added when I saw a flash of surprise on Anthony’s face.
“Hey, I’m not complaining. So, you’re the mom friend of our group?”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means you’re the one with snacks, the one who takes care of people.”
I laughed. That didn’t sound bad.
“I guess I am.”
The trip was wonderful. The ride was scenic and relaxed, the company lively and kind, and my wolf was reveling in the feeling of community and togetherness that surrounded us.
In Concord, Professor Bell gave us a short tour through the town, and once I’d managed to ignore being among this many humans and their devices, I started enjoying all the different sensations and views.
We walked by the Colonial Inn, Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, the Wayside home, and ended the tour at the Minute Man Statue.
Mentally, I was still at the house in which Louisa May Alcott wrote and setLittle Women. Nana would lose her mind if she were here! I couldn’t wait to tell her about it. I tried absorbing and holding onto as many details about the place and its history, in order to convey everything to her as faithfully as I could.
LittleWomenwas one of the first books Nana had encouraged me to read, and we spent countless hours discussing it. I was never able to believe that Laurie truly loved Amy in the end, not after having pined after her sister first. For me, he would always remain Jo’s castoff. Nana disagreed. Neither of us ever managed to convince the other.
The second half of the day was spent at Walden Pond, where Professor Bell delivered a lecture on Transcendentalism and explained why he believed both Emerson and Thoreau had been shifters.
“Who is Emerson?” Anthony asked in a whisper so quiet that only we could hear it.
“He’s the one who wroteNature,” Charlotte responded.
“I thought Thoreau was the one who wrote it,” Anthony admitted.
I had thought the same thing, since only Thoreau had been listed on the syllabus for this month, but I’d never say so. I admired Anthony very much at that moment. It was as if he didn’t care what anyone thought of him, a concept so alien to me that I couldn’t even imagine how that would feel.
