Red Rider's Hood by Neal Shusterman

didn’t like this. I didn’t like the way they were all acting,like they were scared of something up here. Just then Cedric came up behind me and kicked me to the ground.
    â€œOw!” I scraped my arm on the gritty tar paper of the roof.
    â€œThe Wolverine’s gotta toughen himself up,” Cedric said. I tried to get up, and he put a foot on my chest, pushing me down again.
    â€œYou want my help, stop treating me like an animal.”
    â€œWe’re the animals,” he said. “But you haven’t earned your fangs yet.”
    I got up and readied myself for the next blow. “So I gotta let you beat me up? That’s how I earn my fangs?”
    A/C came forward. “The pack leader’s gotta show his dominance,” he said. “The way of the wild is our way, too.”
    â€œHe fought us all up here,” said Marvin, smiling like he couldn’t wait to see me beaten to a pulp.
    Cedric spun and did a roundhouse kick, smashing me in the side of the head. It would have been more lethal if he actually knew karate, but even so, it was pretty painful. It knocked me to my knees, but I got right back up. He tried it again, but this time I caught his leg and pushed him back.
    The other Wolves backed away. The Wolf everyone called El Toro came up to me and whispered, “Don’t fight back. Just take it.”
    Sorry, but that just wasn’t the way I was made.
    Cedric lunged at me. I stepped aside and threw my fist into his gut. It hurt him, because he wasn’t ready, but he tried not to show it. He punched me in the stomach twice as hard, then grabbed me before I could double over from the pain. He lifted me off the ground, and before I knew it, I couldn’t see groundbeneath me at all—just air. He was holding me by the front of my shirt out over the edge of the fifteen-story roof. I couldn’t see his eyes in the dim rooftop light, but I could hear his fury. It came in snarling breaths.
    â€œYou hit me!” he growled. “After all I’ve done for you, you hit me!”
    â€œSelf-defense,” I said. I tried to squirm out of his grip, and then I realized how stupid that would be—if he lost his grip, I’d fall to my death. The panic was welling up inside of me like a bad school lunch. I tried to speak again, but only a pitiful squeak came out.
    â€œCedric, don’t!” yelled A/C. “He’s not a Wolf yet! He’ll die!”
    A sneaker slipped from my foot, but I never heard it hit the ground, because the ground was so far away. I could still hear the wild snarl in Cedric’s voice. “Do you know what happens when one of us falls from this roof?”
    â€œWhat?” I squeaked out, figuring that if he keeps talking, he’s not dropping.
    â€œI knocked Loogie off a few weeks ago,” Cedric said. “Accident.”
    Yeah, right,
I thought.
Like Hiroshima was an accident.
It seemed to me Cedric liked to use Loogie for experiments, like seeing what would happen if a werewolf fell off a roof.
    â€œHe landed flat on his back, got broken up real bad.”
    â€œYeah,” said Klutz. “It turned him into a sidewalk Loogie.”
    That started Klutz and Loogie fighting again.
    â€œIt sure did hurt, but he healed in a few days,” Cedric said. “Werewolves do. But you won’t.”
    â€œDrop me, and you lose your edge on the hunters,” I told him.
    â€œBeg,” he demanded. “Beg me not to kill you.”
    I flashed to the time he had choked me, and I gave up Grandma’s money to save myself. Money’s one thing, but self-respect is another. I don’t beg. Not even for my life. So I whispered so only Cedric could hear, “I think you showed enough dominance.”
    I thought he’d either drop me or throw me back onto the roof. Instead, he set me gently back on my feet. His rage had passed like a summer thunderhead, all rained out before you could find an