Chương 104: IT WASN'T ABOUT THE MUFFINS

Most of the dodgeball players left together while the Seniors stayed back to clean up. Next year, would it be our turn to do this for the younger ones too? I wondered how that would work out. We passed through the dining hall. It was tea time, and it never hurt to grab a muffin or biscuit for the road. Or maybe a water or Coke. I saw Dean, Jessica, and Evelyn sitting at a table in conversation.

"Hey, Jessica! Dean! You were here!" I walked over.

"Hi, Evelyn." Evelyn shot me such a look of hatred I stiffened a bit. Savy stepped up to my side immediately. I saw Lizzy, from the corner of my eye, jab Ben to alert him. I sighed inwardly. Even if she hated me, maybe she shouldn't show it when my gang was around.

"Urm, yeah," Jessica said.

"Dean needed to talk." She looked uncomfortable. Maybe I was not meant to come over.

"It's fine. You guys missed a fun game, though." I shrugged it off airily. I meant to leave promptly after.

"Yeah, we heard it," Dean said. I laughed. Were we that loud?

"Good thing you missed it," Jonah chipped in. New arrival, my unwanted reinforcements.

"My ears are still ringing," Ben said. Evelyn and Jessica laughed. Was it that funny? I looked at Savy. She shrugged.

"I'm going to grab food," I said. I wasn't hungry, but I was unable to shake off the feeling of having intruded on something I shouldn't.

"What were you girls talking about?" Ben sat down. Lizzy sat down with him.

"What did we miss?" I saw Savy sit down too. I thought she wanted to go home. But I guess if it was important enough to miss ultimate dodgeball for, it had to be something important. Something important I wasn't meant to know? Was I being too sensitive? I cast a quick glance at the table. They were talking quietly. I took my time. I wondered what they could be talking about. I tried to take as long as I could to decide which muffin to pick, even though there was a chocolate chip muffin right in front of me.

By the time I leisurely picked my chocolate chip muffin, there was a large group gathered at the table. Pretty much everyone was there. Even Link and Kevy, who I caught shooting me uneasy glances. My wolf started to stir. What? My new phone chimed in my pocket. B. HARVEY Just fin mtg wi AK and BL. U still ard princess? Hm? Who were AK and BL? I looked at the B in front of Harvey's name. I flipped back to the address book. This novel is published on a different platform.

Support the original author by finding the official source. The first entry was Alpha Sam. Under B was B. Ben, B. Gerald, B. Harvey, B. Lucas... ohhhh. Hmmm... Alpha Kingsley and Beta Lucas? So he just had a meeting at Dad's office? I texted back. ME Dining hall tea time muffins. Heading home. I looked at the crowd around the table. I couldn't see Savy. I stalked over, meaning to pluck Savy out of the crowd and just go home.

Link gave me a friendly grin and lifted both his hands up as if to indicate he was innocent and had nothing to do with this. With what?

"Why don't you just ask her?" It was Angela? Why were the noobs involved? Or was it a pack school thing? If even the noobs were in on it, why wasn't I? Maybe I was just being too sensitive. The crowd parted and swallowed me into it.

"Yeah, ask her," Delilah said.

"Sam, just say no," Shannon told me.

"Back off, Shannon," Ben stood up.

"Come on," Tim's smile was all charm.

"There's no way she'll say yes."

"OMG, this is so romantic," Carlie decided. I gave her a quizzical frown, and then turned to the others.

"What's up?" Everyone was here? Even Jay? He offered me a shrug and a closed-mouth smile.

"Dean, ask her," Tim said. Awkward silence. Dean looked wide-eyed at me, shaking his head. Okay...

"Why are there no double chocolate chip muffins left?" I decided to change the subject.

"Ah, my bad." Jonah dug in his messenger bag and pulled out a large paper bag. He put a double chocolate chip muffin on my plate.

"Jonah!" Lizzy scolded.

"How many did you take?" Jonah quickly stuffed the paper bag back into his bag.

"Not really." Not really? She asked you how many! Hahaha. {Beta approaches}"Go on," Evelyn said.

"You might as well tell her." She rolled her eyes, her tone brittle, and when she looked at me, her eyes blackened with hate. Wow, what did I ever do to her? I really wanted to know now.

"You know, Sam. Last night, I realized you being there for me..." Dean started, haltingly.

"No problem. I'd have done it for anyone." I shrugged it off. I didn't want to talk about last night. I can't believe I nearly killed Dean. I'm definitely not proud of it.

"Ah no, I realized you've always been there for me," Dean said again. This was getting embarrassing. I'm not sure why, but it made me uncomfortable.

"Don't mention it. We're friends," I said, trying to brush this off. I know Dean liked to talk about feelings and stuff. It's not that I can't, but pretty much our entire gen was watching. Heck, they were actively spectating. Dean looked completely uncertain about how to continue.

"Just ask her for a muffin," Jonah suggested out of the blue.

"What, you wanted a muffin?" I asked, nonplussed.

"Just go get one yourself." Dean looked at the muffins on my plate, but he didn't quite say anything.

"Which one do you want?" I asked, feeling impatient.

"I've got to go, just take one." I saw Shannon facepalm.

"Sam..."

"Shannon..." Ben growled. Tim growled through his smile. There was definitely something going on... Undercurrents I couldn't see.

"Why are we talking about muffins?" Carlie wanted to know. At least I'm not the only one who didn't get it.

"Shush!" the other girls told her. So I guess no one was going to explain it to Carlie (and me). Jessica brightened.

"Okay, Sam. If you had to give one of your muffins to any guy here, who would it be?" Eh? What? What was going on?

"I don't need the muffin," Jonah quickly said.

"Me neither," Ben quickly said. Wait, what's wrong with my muffin? What the hell was going on?

"Princess." I turned, plate still in hand, to see Harvey.

"Thanks." He took the muffin off my plate with his usual collected smile. The whole table froze in shock.

"I'm going to town to run some errands. Do you need anything?" Harvey offered casually. I shook my head.

"I'm good, thanks." Harvey nodded.

"Then I'll be making a move. Bye, Princess. Thanks for the muffin." And he walked out of the hall, with my double chocolate chip muffin.

"Oh my goddess, it's Harvey!" Carlie gasped.

"The muffin was meant for Harvey?" Jessica asked. What? What did I do now?

"Why did you give it to Harvey?" Dean whined. Tim smirked.

"Cos he's a big beta and you're a small omega." I shrugged.

"He just took it." Shannon said, "Sam... please. Don't let guys just take your muffins."

"But I only needed one," I reasoned.

"It's nearly dinnertime." The older teens laughed loudly and shook their heads at that. They laughed—something about Harvey. Jonah said, "We weren't talking about muffins, were we?" We weren't?

"I have no idea anymore," Ben answered. Lizzy rolled her eyes.

"You boys are all so clueless."

"Come on, Savy, let's go." I said. I'm done here. Mostly, I'm fed up. Savy nodded and got up.

"See you in school tomorrow," Lizzy said. Yeah, they would. And they could continue talking about muffins or whatever they talked about when I'm not there.