Chương 288: GETTING THROUGH THE SCHOOL DAY

2 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, SCHOOL I got to school early again. Only Elena was there. Today she decided to look away disdainfully the moment our eyes met before purposely acting like I wasn't there. That suited me just fine. I cradled my head on my desk to rest it. Maybe I should've just stayed at home... And then I remembered the little human there and felt even more resentful. I was the Alpha, but I got chased out of my own room by a small, weak human.

Of all the times to be stranded out of my own home, it had to be when my wolf was most unstable. Yeah, now that I've calmed down, I was also beginning to think it was pretty stupid to have come to school. I could've done anything else... Like hung out in Dad's office, or at Lizzy's and Ben's, or even just run around in my wolf form. I had the whole Green Packlands under my reign and I was forced out of my own room by a small human girl. Grrr...

In any of these instances, if my unstable wolf acted up, it would have been easily brushed aside as a newly shifted young alpha thing as long as I was within packlands, but out here in school, surrounded by humans... But don't worry, it didn't seem like Wolfie was going to act up at all. In fact, Wolfie was perfectly silent. Why? Slowly, the classroom started filling up. I found my handphone under my desk. Ben had covered for me. He didn't do it very well, but it didn't seem like anyone had noticed it wasn't me.

Not even Dean, who had texted,"Hi, Sam. Do you have time to talk?" Ben had replied,"Sorry, Dean. I have school and meetings every day this week. I'll see you on Saturday. [Smiley face]""Okay... goodnight, Sam," Dean had replied. Hahaha. I can't believe that Dean bought that. I mean, we had been best friends for years! How did he not notice that the text he received sounded nothing like me? I would have answered,"Yeah, sure." Or"I can't now." I didn't even know I had meetings every day. I opened my calendar.

Yup, Ben wasn't lying. I did have school and meetings every day for the rest of this week. I dun wanna. Sigh...

"Homework, Zammi!" Krystal and Leia were early today. They strutted over and sat themselves around my desk. I took out my homework. And they started copying and gossiping away. It wasn't long before Jasmine and Zara joined us too. Henry and Marcus, Liam, Pearl... I just let my Wolfie radar pick them out as they entered. Someone not on Wolfie's radar approached. Human. It was... I forgot her name.

"Hi, Janice!" Jasmine greeted with a friendly smile. Janice held up a food box with cookies.

"Hi... urm... I baked cookies yesterday and made too much. Would you like some?" She was lying. It was a pretty blatant lie. There was no such thing as too many cookies. The cookies were bright green in color.

"Ooohhh, matcha cookies. I love these!" Jasmine took one. Janice smiled and offered the box towards me.

"Would you like one?"

"What did you put in it?" I asked. The cookies smelled good. Janice smiled shyly.

"Green tea powder." What was I expecting her to say? Wolfbane?

"This is good! Sam, you should try it," Jasmine told me. I took one and ate it. It was good, just like Jasmine said. Janice offered it to the rest of the cool girls too, and then to Henry and Marcus and Liam. After that, she went around sharing the cookies with everyone. It looked like she just wanted to share her cookies and maybe make some friends. So why did she lie and say she accidentally baked too many? She could've just said she baked cookies to share with everyone, right?

I hated liars (like the little human in my home), but why didn't I hate Janice? And then when Janice gave me a second cookie, Zara had the audacity to steal it. Right from under my nose. When I looked at her, she simply lied with her mouth full.

"I didn't take it." And I laughed. I didn't hate Zara either. I thought it was so funny because she had cookies stuffed in her cheeks like a hamster. I didn't get mad at her for being a liar and a thief. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What's wrong, Sam?" Jasmine asked. I shook my head. I really didn't want to talk about it.

"Ithhh thumtink ithhh rong..." Zara held up her hand to tell us to wait, then she chewed and swallowed MY COOKIE, and continued,"If something is wrong, you need to tell us."

"Why? What can you do about it?" I asked glumly.

"Friends are supposed to share their problems," Krystal told me.

"All for one and one for all."

"Oh yeah!" Zara agreed.

"When I have a problem, Krystal always has good advice." Really? Krystal beamed and nodded in acknowledgment.

"It doesn't always work, though, but it saved me countless times," Zara said.

"It also backfired countless times." Leia rolled her eyes.

"That's true." Zara considered this.

"Hey! Who helped you trick your manager into giving you extra time off from work?" Krystal demanded.

"Oh, I got into so much trouble for that one!" Zara remembered. Naturally, I was completely unconvinced that sharing my problem with my friends would be of any help. I dropped my head on the table.

"It's no big deal." Marcus came over to collect my homework. Today there was quite a bit to hand in, some of it from the weekend before. I had long forgotten, luckily they were all under my desk. No one said anything about my unstable wolf. Either they hadn't noticed, or they thought that's just the way I was. I mean, Henry was always saying I was unstable... Oh yeah, I wondered if Henry could give me any good info on the Ciara Covens.

I wanted to ask him, but he was busy chatting with Abigail—who had sat herself on Marcus' seat. I looked at the poor, long-suffering beta. No wonder he was hanging around us girls, taking a long time sorting the homework. I mean, it was more homework than usual... But now I knew the real reason. I pulled out Maria's seat and looked at him.

"Thanks." He sighed and sat down. He was going to get human smells all over his chair—and worse, his bag that he left against the back of his seat.

"Wow, that Abigail is really a go-getter," Leia commented. The other girls snickered. Even Jasmine. Krystal was right. We were the mean girls. T. T"Abi! Why don't you sit on Henry's lap? At least then you won't be taking up Marcus' seat!" Zara scolded. The rest of the class looked up. The girls laughed while the guys started making ape sounds. Abigail got up huffily and returned to her own seat. Marcus returned to his seat, but Pearl came over to me with a wide smile and knowing look.

"Henry only had eyes only for you since school started, but looks like he's exploring other options now." She looked up at the blackboard. The four class rules were still written. I shrugged.

"You're overdramatizing things. We aren't in a manga." Pearl laughed.

"You're right." I looked her sternly in the eye.

"Of course I'm right." I'm the alpha. Pearl took a step back and quickly retreated to her seat. Suddenly the girls around me were stilled, just for a moment, and then Zara broke the silence.

"Oh... Pearl finally ticked Sam off."

"It's about time," Krystal said.

"There is no use being nice to girls like her." Leia agreed. {They're weak, and they're backstabbing.} I looked out of the window. Henry was watching me, but I pretended not to notice. He looked away again and said something to Marcus, who sighed deeply and nodded. Mrs. Hen came in and decided to start Math lessons during Homeroom. We were so lucky, she said, to have our math teacher as our homeroom teacher. Now we have her special guidance for one and a half lesson blocks straight. Kill me now.

And she found a way to make things more efficient. We would all take turns to explain the answers and mark our own homework, while she sits at her desk and gets more marking done. At my turn, I started on the board but realized halfway that my own answer was wrong, so I did the right one on the board. I also didn't have trouble following Henry's answer this time. I got where he skipped. There was a pattern. He skipped whatever working that would not cost him method mark deductions.

Suddenly, I could actually do Math. It was magical. Actually, no, it was just simple turns of logic. By Art lessons, I was quite sure I wasn't me anymore. We were painting Van Gogh imitations... I made a piece with swirly stars in the night sky. I didn't bother with making anything else, just the night sky and stars.

"That's pretty!" Jasmine admired. I didn't answer her. I just stared at my painting of the twinkling stars. I mean, they were just swirls of paint on paper. It was crude compared to the real painting that was projected on the screen. If I could really draw, I would have drawn the pine trees, and the threadbare free wolf pups, the paper cranes in the snow, and not just the stars that sang. Except I suddenly could not remember what the stars sang at all. Probably rubbish.

Like the lullabies sung to babies so they would stop crying. But I won't cry anymore. Not for the free wolf pups whose fathers would not come home. Not for little human girls stolen from their families and broken beyond repair... Not for the thousands of slaves in the continent who wore their slave bands burnt into their forearms. That was the way of our world, and it was none of my business. I was the Alpha. I would protect the happiness of my pack.

I would fulfill my promise to the goddess and free the Lycan slaves that came my way. But everything else was none of my business. I can't stop to cry for everyone I met. Especially not for random little human slaves. None of my business. When the lunch bell rang, I was the first to leave the class. My painting was done and I was done. I was done being a baby, needing someone to babysit me, flaring up over every petty injustice. We're eradicating the Ciara Covens. First the master, then every pest he sired.

Then we were going to destroy the Rogue King and rid this world of rogues once and for all. I grabbed my lunch and headed to my usual quiet stairway to eat in peace, only to find it full of students. The place was bustling. Everyone was headed to the new picnic area to eat. Grrrr... I stormed up to the second floor. Even though I got my picnic area back, I didn't have it at all. I didn't even have my quiet stairway anymore due to the students using the corridor to get to the new picnic grounds.

Suddenly I heard footsteps behind me. I froze. Was I being followed?

"It's really a pity. Even though we went through all that trouble to set everything up too." It was Keanu's voice. No prizes for guessing who the other guy with him was.

"Awwww.... I was looking forward to it too!" River sighed loudly.

"Dad packed us lunch boxes and everything!"

"On the bright side, the cafeteria might not be so crowded anymore," Keanu told him. I crossed my arms and waited for them to finish climbing up the stairs.

"Oh! Sam!" River perked up when he saw me.

"What are you doing here?" Keanu smiled, but waited for my answer. I guess he still didn't completely trust me. I smiled back.

"I heard you two dummies complaining, so I thought I'd wait for you to catch up." River laughed weakly at that.

"I can't believe you called us dummies."

"Well, River, I understand, but me too, Sam? That's cruel." Keanu joked. He had decided I was telling the truth. And I was. Keanu was a human, but he was loyal to River. {Not all humans are treacherous. Not all wolves are true.} Huh, next you're going to tell me not all vampires are evil. My Wolfie became silent. I started walking.

"Where are we going?" River asked.