"...and don't forget to turn in your projects before 10:00 am tomorrow guys, via your email. It counts as twenty percent of your total assessment.... " Clare was barely listening to the teacher much like the rest of the students as she hurriedly packed up her things.
She had already submitted her project the same week it was assigned to them, so that was not a problem. There would however be one if she did not get out of there as soon as possible.
The sound of the bell ringing for the close of school for the day herald her escape. As soon as the bell went off, she grabbed her bag and dashed out of the class and the school in general.
Angry words followed her, from the people she had to brush past but she didn't mind anymore. Constantly on the run from taunts, insults and sometimes physical abuse was the story of her life.
She didn't stop until she was well past the school gates and almost halfway to the pack house. Only then did she paused to take deep breaths and calm her pacing heart.
She looked back to see that she was still alone and decided it was safe to continue walking the rest of the way.
Jeff and his family of course lived in the pack house as the beta of the pack but if she was fast enough, she could change and leave for her aunt's before he caught her at home.
The dull sound of her feet hitting the ground kept her company all the way home. It was otherwise quiet and peaceful.
Peace was one of the little things Clare has learned not to take for granted growing up. She was always under a lot of pressure from everyone around her. Trying to prove herself was always so exhausting, especially when it was impossible.
Pack training every Sundays were torture and her wolf always got so beaten up that it took her the remaining days of the week to recover.
By rank, she was to be on the elite team, training with the likes of the beta and delta. Even though Tony, the current delta and hence the pack trainer, gave her the alternative of battling with omegas like herself, it was really the option of her pride and dignity.
On the off chance that she gets beaten by a fellow omega, not only would her body and pride would be injured, but also her dignity. So she sucked it up and took her weekly beating from the malicious Jeff or whoever else battled her.
Clare stepped onto the front porch of her home in record time. Her adoptive uncle was seated there scowling, but then, when was he ever not angry at her.
"Hi, Uncle Drew." She called out with a smile.
He narrowed his eyes at her in reply and then continued reading the newspaper that was in his hands.
That was his standard reply to her greeting so she was not bothered. Uncle drew and his son Rick had hated her since the day she had begun to live in the pack house and only had harsh words for her. Though usually in the absence of the Alpha and Luna.
Days where Uncle Drew ignored her, like today, were a blessing.
She had hoped as a kid that if she continued killing them with kindness, they might eventually warm up to her.
However, if the passing years had taught her anything, it was that some wishes like that never came through, especially when the people you hoped to kill with kindness already had a dead heart.
She had recently thought of what her reaction would be if they were suddenly nice to her. Probably run for her dear life!!
Clare made it inside safely and went straight to her room to change into more casual clothes; a large green sweatshirt, skinny jeans and a green beanie since it was the end of winter and it was still cold out.
The house was still quiet, if she hurried she could have lunch before she had to go.
Luck was on her side and she saw some left over pizza on the kitchen island. She put some in a foil to go and left the building through the back door.
When she got to her aunt's home, she rang the doorbell and went in.
Aunt Lilith was her mother's little sister that had moved to the pack almost two years ago.
She lived a bit away from the rest of the pack in Clare's parents home and was also an outcast since she was a non-wolf, in other words, a human.
It also didn't help that Aunt Lilith was a bit eccentric naturalist. And a bookworm. And also a wallflower, you get the picture.
Summary was, Aunt Lilith stuck out like a sore thumb in the pack much like her niece, but Clare loved her to pieces.... cuckoo and all.
The interior of the house was bright even though Aunt Lilith wasn't very fond of bright lights, Clare believed she kept it like that to make the house look regular to the other wolf kids and to keep them from snooping around. Her room however was dimmed with thick curtains.
Clare made her way straight to her aunt's library which was a bedroom converted for multiple purposes. There her aunt kept her wonderful array of books along with bottles and bottles of dyes that she was constantly mixing looking for a certain perfect color or shade
The room was brightly lit on one side from its opened window and dim on the other from the closed blinds.
Aunt Lilith was at her table peering down at something on her work table. Clare moved closer as loud as she could to let her aunt know she was around so as not to end up startling her.
"Hi Aunt Lilith. What have you got there."
"Hi Col... Clare." Lilith glanced up at her and then back to what Clare could now see was a tortoise that was lying belly up and deathly still on the table while Aunt Lilith stuck a bunch of needles in its belly.
"Oh my God, is it okay?" Clare asked coming closer to the animal. "Is it dead?"
Aunt Lilith shook her head and chuckled. "This one has still got at least five more decades to live. He just has constipation, he would be all better in no time at all."
Clare quietly watched her aunt work her magic on the animal and the release him back to woods at her backyard.
They both watch the shelled animal crawl back amongst the shrubs.
"Where did you see the tortoise Aunt Lilith?" Clare asked her aunt as they walked back into the house.
"I was going to get some herbs for my dyes and saw it out back."
"And how did you know it was constipated, and please don't say 'intuition'."
"Oh but then it is," Her aunt giggled, going to the stove to make them some tea. "stick with me dear, and you will be able to tell the state of anyone or any animal just by a glance."
Clare scoffed not believing for a second that she could ever be as awesome as her aunt.
Aunt Lilith was just one of a kind.
The last time she had come to the pack house, she had seen the house cat and said it was pregnant even before it was showing and eight weeks later it had a litter of kittens.
Her aunt also helped her take care of her really awful menstrual pain with acupuncture at times or her special broth. Depending on which Clare wanted.
So yeah, Clare was very doubtful that she could ever be that cool.