I set my head on the cool glass of the passenger car window, the car felt hot and humid much unlike the air outside. My stomach was filled with butterflies as the car shifted along the curvy backroads that led to Bennett Shade's house. It had only been fifteen minutes, but I was already regretting my life choices.
"I just don't know why you can't teach your parrot some better things to say." Bennett turned to Eleanor as she drove.
"He's perfect just the way he is!" She retorted.
"You smell like burnt chicken." The robotic sound rang.
"Says the girl who taught her bird to tell others that their hairline is thinning and that they look like a toad. I can tell you are a real self-love advocate there." Bennett said, his voice growing increasingly loud.
"I AM A SELF LOVE ADVOCATE! I can't help that my brother thinks I'm ugly." Eleanor screamed back, ready to defend herself and Tickles to the end of the earth.
"Your brother taught your parrot to say all that? Wow. Now I feel kinda bad for you." Bennett's voice began to lower again, as if he actually felt remorse.
"What? How could you feel bad for me? I'm gorgeous, talented, I own the prettiest bird in all of town. I'm THAT girl!" Eleanor sassed back, clearly offended by his effort to console her.
"Your hairline is thinning." Tickles rang out.
"You're a ten but your hairline is thinning." Bennett jested.
"MY HAIRLINE IS NOT THINNING!" Eleanor yelled in defeat.
Goodness, how long are they going to go on about Tickles. I know he has problems but you'd thing there would be more interesting topics to explore. Well, unless Bennett didn't want to talk about other things and risk accidentally letting something slip about what actually happened.
"Bennett, I think you need to tell us what's really going on. We all know you didn't get ditched after swimming." I cut into their banter, trying to keep the contents of my stomach down.
"Then what do you want me to tell you? What do you want to hear?"
"The truth." I said, calmly.
"It is the truth." He argued.
"It isn't. We are gonna take you home because it's the right thing to do, but shouldn't you tell us what really happened so we can be safe? We don't know if you were attacked, doing drugs and some dealer is gonna come after us, or if you got involved in some sort of gang. Shouldn't we know what to watch out for?" I pressed. We had endangered ourselves to help him, and he couldn't even be honest with us about it.
"It's nothing that could harm you." His head lowered down.
"And how do we know that?"
Bennett shifted from looking down and to out the window, but he didn't answer. The rest of the car ride was unbearable and silent aside from Tickles. We finally pulled into a nice, upper middle class looking neighborhood when Bennett spoke up to direct us to his house when the GPS started leading us to his neighbor's place.
Once we parked, Bennett's father came barreling out of his house at full speed.
"BENNETT! I got a call from Jason down the street that you were trying out that demonic ointment and then you went missing. What the heck were you thinking boy! And where are your clothes! Don't tell me you actually did that stuff?"
Bennett's father pointed towards the door of his house and Bennett hurried in like a mouse running from a cat.
As we got back in the car Elenor looked over to me,
"I guess you were right about the drugs, huh. I wonder what demonic ointment is a euphemism for though? Must be some strong stuff."
I shook my head, "I don't know. He didn't look or smell like he had done any type of drugs or alcohol."
"Then what do you think it is? Clearly something was off. His dad also confirmed he was trying something out before he went missing." Eleanor was fishing for something she could write about in the paper. Something definitive.
"Something is definitely off. My mom had some articles on Franch history information printed out on the kitchen table along with some medical information."
"What do you mean?" Eleanor looked at me, her jaw tense. 
" France 1521, two men, Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun, claimed to have made a deal with the devil to get an ointment that turned them into werewolves, but it was all just an excuse for them to murder a bunch of kids. The whole situation led to a giant wolf hunt, kinda like a witch hunt." I rambled, summarizing the article the best I could.
"And you think that it's somehow connected? It seems pretty random." Eleanor said, clearly doubting if the two things could be connected.
"Well, Bennett's dad made some sort of comment about him trying demonic ointment. Also, my mom's clinic is near here, so maybe she knows something about it that we don't. Also, Remy Smith was the one who told me about the creek, well warned me is a better term, and he seems to pride himself on being a werewolf mythology expert. I mean, it probably is drugs but something topical like an ointment of sorts, not pills."
"Remy Smith was the one who told you about the creek? Since when did you two talk?" Eleanor slammed on the breaks and turned to look me in the eyes.
"Just since school started, Tiffany invited me to join their lunch table."
"WHAT!? Why didn't you tell me this?" Eleanor started waving her arms wildly.
"It didn't seem relevant. Besides, it probably won't last long. I think Remy has a crush on me, and as soon as he gets over it I will probably be ousted from their group." I rolled my eyes. Hopefully she would start driving again soon, I wanted to get home and get to sleep.
"WHAT! It totally IS relevant. REMY SMITH! You need to jump on that, or more accurately on him. You don't let a guy like that slip from your grasp! On top of his popularity, he's sweet, easygoing, rich, and handsome. You better get his number tomorrow or I will be getting it for you!" she pointed her finger at me to make sure I got her point.
"DON'T!"
"Too late, I've made up my mind. And you know me, once I commit to something I'm gonna do it." Eleanor smiled devilishly.
"Fine, I'll get his number. But shouldn't we be more focused on what's happening at the creek right now. It's not just sketchy anymore. It's dangerous and borderline illegal. Should we call the cops?" I deflected.
Eleanor started driving her car again, thank goodness.
"We probably should have called the cops when we found Bennett earlier. If we called them now, it could be seen as aiding and abetting." Her voice clearly showed how much she was disappointed in the situation.
"True. I guess we should leave it for now. We'll leave the situation with Bennett. I still want to know how Remy found out about all this, werewolf expert or not it's suspicious."
"Yes! Talk to Remy," she winked, "Just promise that you'll tell me if you find anymore leads on this case. I'd still like to write an article on the creek if possible."
"Of course. You're my number one."