Today was Sunday, and in the past, Gary would have slept in until close to noon. However, today he had woken up at 7 AM sharp. The teenager had gotten used to waking up early ever since his mother got hospitalised, so that he could prepare Amy some breakfast… even though it was usually just a sandwich or some cereal.
As usual, the first thing on his morning ritual’s agenda was to check his Status.
[Name: Gary Dem]
[Level 8]
[Exp 932/1024]
[Health: 100/100]
[Energy: 120/120]
[Strength 9]
[Dexterity 7]
[Endurance 14]
The Bond Marks continued providing him 30 Exp a day, and with another 10 Exp from the Daily Quests he had been accumulating a good amount of Exp each day. With the current tempo, he would reach Level 9 in just three more days, meaning he would be only a single level off from earning himself a class… even though he had no idea what that would entail as a Werewolf.
His little plan of asking Blake to help with locating Billy, that would have to wait until Monday. Gary had no idea where the other high schooler lived. Besides, it wasn’t exactly the best idea to enter the home of Altered Hunters, considering what he himself was and how they would treat him.
Why should he enter the lion’s den, when he could meet Blake on school grounds?
Picking up his phone, Gary looked at the message from a certain someone.
[Be there tomorrow morning, 8 AM. Last check before the grand opening]
This was the main reason for Gary waking up this early. Yesterday, all members of the Howlers had received the text. On Friday, Kai had given them Saturday off, and apparently he had finished the last renovation, allowing the establishment to open today.
According to the agreement, Miss Degrace was supposed to take care of things during the week, but Kai had insisted that they would at least help out on the weekends. Once the Howlers would grow as a group, the blonde teenager had shared his plans of having some future members work at the place. Right now, though, there were just the five teenagers, and one adult. These were the only people they could really trust until they made a name for themselves.
For the time being, they would only open on weekends, and in the afternoon, a few hours before school started and after school ended. That way once they finished they could help out with extra work, for the time when it would get busy, closing just before it got late.
——
Gary looked at his phone and saw that he was ten minutes late. He had tried to surprise Amy with a self-made omelet, only to discover that watching the Poutube instruction video while he made it, had turned out to be a very bad idea.
To his surprise, the other five were standing outside the place, impatiently waiting for him. He had hoped that at least Austin might be late as well, yet nobody said anything. All of them were too excited to get inside. There was a beaming smile on all of their faces as the hard work that they had put in was finally being put to use.
“What are you doing standing outside?” Gary asked.
“Waiting for you, of course.” Kai clarified. “We all worked on this, so it only felt right to enter when we’re all together.”
Looking up, Gary could see a significant difference from the last time he had been there. He had no clue how Kai had managed it, but the building was now decorated with metal or plastic grey letters. It was a good touch, making it look a lot more professional.
“I can see you’ve noticed my finishing touch.” Kai chuckled. “Everyone, welcome to the Wolf’s Pool Club!”
“That’s kinda a cool name. I like it, wolves are cool animals.” Innu stated, only to suddenly remember a particular creature that had constantly chased after him. “Actually, scratch that, wolves are arseholes! They’re pure arseholes!”
Kai gave Gary a meaningful wink, which made the green haired teenager believe that the name of this establishment had been chosen because of him.
Entering the place, they all experienced a drastic difference. For one, there were ambient lights that actually worked. At the same time, there was a green neon light that went around the walls, giving it a nice warm feeling.
The pool tables had been reclothed, the balls wiped, so they could be used, cue clubs had been replaced, and the bar finally had stools for people to sit in. The only thing that seemed missing was an assortment of alcohol behind the bar. Right now it was rather empty, though they did have drinks and snacks ready, and the windows still hadn’t been fitted.
Gary had to pinch himself, unable to believe his eyes, he never thought such a dump could be turned around, especially in so little time.
“Man, it’s beautiful right, I think I’m tearing up.” Innu spoke for them all. “All that scrubbing, and building all that crap… now I can see it was all worth it. This is ours! I can’t believe this is our place!”
Gary had the same feeling, he never thought he would feel this way in his life before, but this belonged to all of them, the gang known as the Howlers.
The club was set to open at 2 PM, just a little after lunch, and then they would stay open until 8 PM, just when the streets started to get dark. Right now, Marie went to the front and was going through the cashier system, checking that the prices of everything had been set up correctly.
There were so many things the group had to learn, the various membership cards they were offering, monthly payments, snacks, and food. Between them, they thought they would be okay as each person decided to remember one thing, but alone they held no chance.
“Look, just come to me if you don’t understand anything, I’ve got it all right here.” Marie stated as she hit her thick pad of notes on the table, a big grin on her face.
After doing a few practice runs, Austin made some calls, informing his underlings and friends about the place. Gary and Innu wanted to do the same, yet they quickly realised that the contact numbers on their phones were next to non-existent.
‘Great… Mum, Amy and Tom… the last two people I don’t want to invite here at all.’ Gary sighed.
——
Of course, that hadn’t been the only advertisement. Kai had actually paid off some paperboys to distribute their flyers this morning. Eventually the area would come to learn of their presence so why not sooner rather than later.
One of the flyers just so happened to end up in the hands of a grey colour gang member, who had immediately informed his leader, Buffin.
“What should we do, Boss? It looks like that business will open up today. From the looks of it, they don’t have protection from the Underdogs or any of the other gangs yet. Should we inform the Grey Elephants?” The Grey colour member rubbed his hands, imagining that this information might be valuable enough to earn him favour in the gang.
The first thing Buffin did was to check the location. He noticed it was a troublesome place. It had a lot of foot traffic during the day, but when night came, there would be a lot of trouble in the area since it was bordering the territory of two gangs. Businesses like that only lasted a few months at most, having to constantly pay for repairs, and or protection.
“There’s no need to bother the Grey Elephants with something like that, go and call on the new guys. Let them check it out!” Buffin ordered.