I stared at the ball and frowned. Why was it back again?
Moments later, the same boy ran over to us. This time he seemed completely out of breath, his face was redder than beetroot. He looked like someone who was going to have an asthma attack.
"Are you ok?" I asked.
"I'm...fine...thank...you..." The boy struggled to speak, his voice was timid and polite. He made loud wheezing noises as he picked up the ball. But even at that, he didn't dare to stop and rest for a second and began running back towards those group of people as fast as his little legs could carry him.
Once he'd reached them, he held out his hand and on his sweaty palm was the ball.
The tallest boy out of the group grinned. He reached out, took the ball from his hand then ruffled the boy's hair. "Good doggie," he said.
The group of people around him howled with laughter, some of the other boys even stepped in to mimick his gesture.
Their group watched with amusement as the tall boy chucked the ball again. It sailed through the air in a perfect arch before landing on the grass near me.
"Go fetch." He said cruelly.
I felt my blood started to boil with anger. It was disgusting what they were doing to that boy. And for what? Their little entertainment before breakfast?!
I went over to the ball, picked it up and started marching towards them.
The boy ran up to me and begged breathlessly: "Could I please have the ball back?"
I looked at him and the steeliness in my eyes made him shrivel in shame, he looked like he was going to cry.
He hung his head embarrassed and reluctantly followed me from behind.
As I got nearer to the group, I noticed they all wore green ties and had silver buttons on their blazers. They were also much taller than I'd realised and there were even some girls amongst the group.
To be honest, they were quite a good looking group of people, but shame their hearts were blacker than coal.
They stopped talking and turned their attention towards me.
"Charlie, is that your new Alpha?" One of the boys asked, breaking the silence.
The group howled with laughter again.
Charlie's face turned even redder, he opened and closed his mouth like a fish a few times as if trying to say something but no words came out.
I gave the boy a stern look and he immediately recoiled uncomfortably.
I turned to the tallest boy in the group and asked. "Is this yours?" I held up the tennis ball in the air between my thumb and forefinger.
He looked down at me with his dark brooding eyes, then slowly he grinned as though he had just discovered a new prey. His attractive facial features lit up like a ray of sunlight breaking through the dark clouds. "Why? Do you want to play?" He asked.
"Sure," I said cheerfully. Then before he had time to react, I used all the force I had in my body and threw the ball as far as I possibly could in the opposite direction. "You fetch."
There was a chorus of a sharp intake of breath around me. No one dared to laugh though, everyone was too stunned to speak, they couldn't even believe what was happening.
Was she completely out of her tiny little mind?
No one in their group thought they would ever see the day when someone tried to challenge Theo McAllister.
Let alone a girl.
A girl who came out of nowhere.
A girl who didn't even have a green tie or silver buttons!
He stared at me angrily, his mouth was set in a grim line. I could see fire spitting out of his eyes.
If he could kill me with his stare, I swear I would've died a thousand times already, but I held onto my nerve and stared back.
Then he said, "Charlie..."
Like a word that had broken a magic spell, Charlie immediately jumped up and started setting off to collect the ball.
"No, leave it," I commanded, stepping in front of Charlie.
Charlie looked bewildered but he did what he was told. He stopped moving.
I ignored the strange looks around me and began walking towards the ball. Once I got to it, I picked it up then turned around, raising it high up in the air.
Then I placed it inside my pocket.
Their jaws dropped in shock.
I gave a triumphant smile and started walking away.
"Who is she?"
"I don't know. Is she new? I've never seen her before?"
"She's pretty cute though." One guy said and the girl next to him whacked his arm. "Not as pretty as you." He quickly added.
"Did you see the look she gave Renton? Man, I thought she was going to eat him alive."
Theo McAllister blinked a few times as if he too wasn't even sure what had just happened there. Then he felt the corners of his mouth rising slightly. He did find the whole thing quite amusing. Then as if he couldn't be bothered controlling it any longer, he began to laugh.
The members of his group also joined in with the laughter. However, there was one person in the group who didn't laugh. She didn't find it funny, she was watching the whole thing through gritted teeth. Her perfectly manicured hands clutched into two tight fists.
When I got back to the tennis courts, Molly had been eagerly searching for me, looking worried.
"Are you ok?" She asked, checking me up and down with her eyes.
"I'm fine," I said. It was the truth, my arm didn't even hurt anymore. There's nothing better to kick start the day with a big fight.
She glanced over at the group of people then lowered her voice even though they were too far away to even hear her, "stay away from those people." She warned.
It was a bit too late for all that now. I thought.
"Who are those people?" I asked.
"That's Theo McAllister, he's from one of the big four families."
Big four families?