Chương 158: AND THEN EVERYTHING WAS NORMAL AGAIN

I grabbed my newly reprinted files and put them on my dresser. There was no space in the room for desks. Then I took out my Lycan study file and a pen from my school bag. I needed a bag for Lycan Study Group. I dug around in the paper bags. Savy came into the room.

"You need to change for your project meeting," she informed me.

"What's wrong with this?" I looked down at what I was wearing. It was just the "Don't Call My Princess" T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Savy shook her head. She rummaged in the bags.

"You're going to meet your schoolmates. You're seeing each other for the first time without uniforms. There will be cute guys there. You'll be at a different pack. And you're our pack's future alpha! Your outfit will make a statement about who you are and the pack you're from."

"I'm an alpha from a casual pack," I told her. Savy rolled her eyes. She finally made her selection and laid them on the bed. She even included a bag. I had to admit, the outfit was pretty cool. It was a high-neck black knit top and black jeans. I changed into them, and Savy found a pair of navy blue suede boots and threw them at me. Whoa. I grabbed the new boots and brought them up to my face. They smelled like new leather and glue and chemicals, and, well, they were new shoes... But are you serious?

I couldn't believe I got back my suede boots!

"We couldn't find the ugly yellow ones you used to love..." Savy grumbled.

"I love them!" I hugged them. They could be pulled on without any hassle. There was a buckle on each side, but those were purely for decorative purposes. Hidden behind them was some black elastic so that these boots had NO laces or straps... Not even Velcro! They were perfect!

"They can't get wet, though," Savy told me. I don't care. Hahaha. I pulled the boots on. They were soft inside, and even though there was a bit of heel, they were comfortable enough to run in. I bet I could kick butt in them. Savy brushed my hair and started plaiting it. She only plaited the top on one side, and then she pinned it up. She looked quite proud of herself. I was planning to go in my leather jacket, but Savy obviously had other ideas.

She pulled out a matching navy blue dress coat from a large paper bag. It was heavy and woolen, had two rows of silver buttons, and was lined with fur around the hood. I found pockets. Pockets were important. But it was kind of over the top.

"It goes with the boots," Savy told me.

"Every time you wear the boots, you wear this coat." I knew there was a catch.

"You're the alpha, Sam," Savy told me.

"You need to dress the part." She held it up as I slipped into it. The coat fell just above my knees and looked surprisingly chic and feminine. I looked in the mirror. Whoa. I did look kind of cool. It was actually kind of unreal.

"I'm overdressed," I said.

"I'm just meeting friends." Mum came into the room without knocking.

"That's a nice look."

"It's too much," I said.

"You're alpha now, Sam. Dress in a way your pack would be proud to call you Alpha in," Mum said.

"Dad has been wearing his old blue snow jacket for years," I told her.

"Well, that was lost in the fire, so he isn't anymore," Mum told me. Sigh. Dad had never cared about his appearance. He wore jeans and sneakers everywhere. Why couldn't I?

"And it will be reassuring for the pack to see their alpha family well provided for even after the fire," Mum continued.

"What you wear communicates more than you know to those around you." Savy offered a leather satchel. It was rectangular and dark blue and had buckles and pockets and could be worn as a backpack. It was even just the right size to put in files, so even though I would have said it looked too fancy, I couldn't outright reject it for its practicality. I put in my stuff and stalked out to find everyone else getting ready to leave.

"Let me take your coat down to the foyer." Killion helped me out of the coat again. I let my arms slip out and put on my satchel. Ben opened the front door wordlessly. I guess he's hungry. I stepped out.

"Have a nice day, Sam!" Mum called out.

"Bye, Mum! You too!" I called back automatically. Savy followed me out, grabbing her own stuff. She had the same satchel as I did, but in red, of course. And with her maroon cowl-necked sweater, black short skirt, and tights, she looked really cute. And kind of grown up too... I can't believe it, my little sister was growing up so fast... either that or she was buying a more mature wardrobe. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I wondered how much we spent on our new wardrobe. Did the insurance pay off that much? I wondered what our new outfits communicated. Downstairs in the dining hall, we grabbed a second breakfast and sat at our usual seats.

"Oh, your hair looks good like that," Lizzy told me. And that was it. No one mentioned anything about our new clothes, our more mature image, or our super nice-looking bags. Actually, everyone acted like they hadn't even noticed the smell of new clothing. Jessica smiled warmly when she saw me.

"Hi, Sam."

"Hi." I had the usual double chocolate muffin on my plate. Ben returned soon after with Jonah. They had two plates stacked high each. I realized everything was normal, just like it was every Saturday.

"How did the second run last night go?" Jessica asked.

"We did an ambush," I said, which held absolutely no interest for Jessica.

"Lola came for training last night," Jessica reported to the rest of the table.

"All the guys were going gaga over her. They said she was the prettiest girl in Morning Light."

"Really?" asked Lizzy.

"Well, that's not surprising. I mean, even in school she is considered the number one school beauty."

"I think Haylee is prettier," Jessica said.

"And there are prettier girls here at Night Leaf." I supposed if Savy and Lizzy could line up the guys by hotness, Jessica could line up the girls by prettiness. Personally, I thought all the girls were pretty. If I had to choose the prettiest? That would be hard. Wait, no, I'll choose Lola too. Dean and his family joined us then. Drew went directly to the buffet line, but Dean came over to the table first.

"Hi, Jess. Hi, Sam," Dean said as he sat down.

"My name is Jessica," Jessica corrected. Jessica had always disliked being called Jess. But Dean kept forgetting. Dean shrugged, but corrected himself.

"Sorry, Jessica. I really don't see the big deal, though. Everyone else shortens their name."

"It does make things easier," Lizzy agreed. I remembered the cool girls.

"Sometimes, if it's used just among some friends, it kind of shows who's in your circle." I caught Jessica's eye.

"But it's got to be a nickname you like." Jessica brightened up suddenly.

"Let's do it then."

"Like nicknames just for us?" Lizzy asked.

"Just like that new girl band," Jessica said.

"LuvMuunMuun!" Lizzy pretty much screamed.

"I just want to be Sam," I said. But the girls had caught on to the idea. You could tell by the way their eyes had brightened and the way Jessica had displaced Ben to sit closer to Lizzy and Savy. I regretted opening my big mouth. It was stupid of me to bring up a human teenage idea to werewolf teenage girls. I remembered the times Lizzy and Savy read or watched human teenage social practices online or on TV. I mean, there was this time when I was told to "talk to the hand" so much it stopped being cute.

And just take the fashion trends—without human influence, I was sure werewolf kind would have been left peacefully in sweatsuits and bare feet. Ben, having lost his seat to Jessica, flopped down next to me. He leaned back as if to avoid whatever was about to happen. Well, it couldn't be worse than Ben10. Dean looked at my plate.

"Is that all you're eating, Sam?"

"Had breakfast," I answered. Dean picked up a fork to poke my muffin.

"Why don't you just get your own breakfast?" Jonah asked. I pushed my plate over to Dean. Whatever, I already had breakfast. Luckily Shannon and Tim were too busy joking with the girls at the next-door table to notice. I didn't need any more growling about Dean.

"All right, we got it," Lizzy declared. She rapped the table like a stern schoolteacher. All of us looked at her expectantly. Even Shannon and Tim straightened up at full attention.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Because I'm only going to say this once." Apparently, the members of LuvMuunMuun used the letter "u" to replace all vowels in the first syllable of their names and then repeated it just to double the cuteness. Of all the new bands in the world, the current number one teenage werewolf band had to be a cute one. And these nicknames weren't even their artists names. They were just nicknames they used on stage sometimes. But now we're all going to double our cuteness too.

Sam = Sumsum Ben = Bunbun Jonah = Junjun Savy = Susu Lizzy = Lulu Jessica = Juju Dean = Duunduun Shannon = Shunshun Tim = Tumtum Drew = Drudru There was no way I was going to remember. And I was wrong. It did get worse for Ben10. Hahaha. I could tell none of the other guys were particularly enamored with the new nicknames either, all except Drew, who kept repeating "Drudru" to himself like he found the sound of it highly amusing.

Still, no one looked like they were going to voice their distaste out loud in front of the combined forces of Lizzy, Savy, and Jessica. I doubt it was going to catch on though.

"I'll give it half a day," Ben murmured next to me. I smirked at that. I didn't think it'll last past lunchtime. But Lizzy had other ideas. One must remember that she singlehandedly trained all the boys, sans Shannon, at this table to open doors for the girls... And to this day, they were still doing it.

"From now on, that's what you have to call everyone in this group. Failure to do so will result in expulsion from our table."

"That's harsh," Tim—I mean Tumtum—said.

"Maybe you get a warning first," Jessica offered.

"Yes, but only one warning," Lizzy said.

"Would that be one warning per person you call wrong, or one warning in total?" Jonah asked.

"It's in total," Lizzy—I mean Lulu—said.

"I'm doomed," Jonah, aka Junjun, realized. Me too. My wolf couldn't even do normal names. This was way over her head. The small bell rang to signal that Lycan Study Group was about to start.

"Hey, Bunbun." The moment the words came out of Jonah's mouth, he grinned.

"Race you to class." The girls giggled. Ben—the Bunbun—glared at him. Hahahahaha. Okay, I had to admit it. This renaming exercise did have its moments. The other table was fast catching on.

"Shunshun is pretty cute," Angela admitted.

"So I've been told." Shannon flashed a winsome smile. The girls laughed.

"She meant your name, dumdum," Tim growled.

"It's better than yours, Tumtum," Angela shot at her brother. Hahaha. Tim was definitely getting the short end of the stick here. Poor Tumtum.

"Careful, it might be prophetic." Shannon smiled and patted Tim on his currently flat abs that he was so proud of. Tim growled. Hahaha. The little bell rang again. Oh right. It's time for class. I got up, and the rest of the table followed suit. Oh... They were waiting for me? So I was the reason for the second bell? Oops. I remembered Harvey's words.

"It's only natural." Well, it wasn't natural for me! I didn't feel anything natural about this. Ben and Jonah raced up the stairs. The rest of the guys were hot on their trail. I took an easier pace with the girls. And as I walked up the stairs with their laughter and happy voices surrounding me, I thought to myself, this was what I wanted to protect... The everyday happy interactions I've grown up taking for granted.

I've been surrounded by laughter and love all my life, from my mum and dad, pack members like Beta Lucas and Mrs. Beta, and my friends. Why can't every wolf be free to enjoy a pack like this too? Laughter and love were free. At any rate, they were not things money could buy. They were freely given and freely received.

"Duunduun!" someone was calling Dean. It was Shannon.

"Band practice after lunch! Don't you dare forget again!" The guys laughed.

"Omegas are so forgetful," Tim sneered.

"Takes one to know one, Tumtum," Jonah quipped back.

"Oh s***." Ben made an abrupt turn.

"I forgot I'm supposed to go with my dad." Oh yeah, they were going to bring Killion to say "hi" to the warriors in the dungeons. I wished I could go too. I hoped they got a good video. The laughing trailed off, and everyone broke off into their own classrooms. This was my world. My world that I was going to protect. I would fight tooth and nail for every day to be like this for as long as I live.