AS THE BELL RANG TO SIGNIFY THE END OF THE FIRST PERIOD, I noticed a lean boy with black hair and skin issues looking at me across the aisle.
He asked, smirking at me: "Are you single?"
"Are you suicidal?" I growled as I shot him an annoyed glance. Several people within a three-seat radius looked at me.
A half grin spread across his face. "Kind of."
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" a loud voice snapped from behind the acne-ridden teen. Brynner stood behind the boy, face twisted in both pain and irritation. Unmasked disgust erupted from his eyes. "Her boyfriend just got into a car accident last night and you're already asking if she's single?"
My classmates turned to look at me in shock as I sank back into my chair. None of them knew about Peter and me. Neither did they know that he was injured. Brynner ignored my look as he glowered down at our classmate whose name I had forgotten. What was his name? Kevin? Kyle? Oh wait... Liam! That was his name.
"She has a boyfriend?" Liam stammered, straightening up in his chair. "I thought she was single!"
Brynner snarled, "Spare me your bullshit! I know you knew about her and Peter!"
Liam shrank back, his greasy face etched with fear. Silently, I told Brynner to tone it down a notch as I flinched and shot him another look. The humans thought Brynner was a bully at school. Generally, he was arrogant, but this time he was being really nasty. Perhaps the pain was causing him to snap.
Brynner yanked Liam out of his seat by the collar of his shirt, deliberately dismissing my look. Those around me gasped, and a few shouted for the teacher. I hit Brynner's bicep with my hand hard enough to hurt him and discreetly flashed him my teeth as a warning. He narrowed his eyes at me and released Liam immediately after he realized he had taken things too far.
Mr. Bones' face turned purple from anger. He shouted, "Mr. Shorrock, go to the principal's office now!"
In a snide remark, Brynner shoved past Liam to get to the class room door, "Well, well, I guess this is your lucky day." After that, he stormed out of the classroom without saying anything else.
God, that was embarrassing. While I gathered up my books to leave, I pretended not to notice the alarmed expressions on my classmates' faces. It took several minutes for Liam to defrost after Brynner froze him to his seat.
"It's funny, I didn't even know you had a boyfriend," he said. "I'm sorry about Peter. I hope he's OK. Another guy got hurt downtown too, I heard, last night. It's getting bad."
Sincerely, I didn't give a crap about a person getting hurt downtown. Looking away from Liam, I threw my bag over my shoulder blade. It was impossible to look anywhere else without meeting curious eyes, so I sighed and looked back at him.
"Thank you," I muttered, "and I'm sorry for Brynner. He's such a jerk sometimes."
With a fake grin on his face, Liam said, "It's okay. I should have known he'd pick on me. He goes after anyone who talks to you."
I very much wanted to point out to him that he technically targets anyone around him when he's angry, including myself, but I did not. As a way of apologizing for my pack-mate's meanness, I said, "I'm going to the next class, we can walk together."
"Oh, cool. I'd really love that," Liam said as he rushed to gather his things.
My gaze stayed low as I smiled cautiously and tried not to acknowledge my confused classmates. I hoped that all the talk about Brynner and Liam's fight would die down by the end of the day. We grabbed our jackets and headed out into the hallway, which was once again crowded with students.
"So, you're really cousins then, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yep."
"Is your mom's husband's brother related to your aunt's husband?"
"What?"
"Who is married to whom to make him your cousin?"
"Can we not discuss this?" I asked.
"Is Peter still alive?"
"Let's not discuss him either," I gritted. It was too personal.
I sighed as he examined my face apprehensively.
He would be the first human I would want to maul just out of sheer annoyance.
Past the cafeteria, we followed the hall up to the final four rooms before the gymnasium. Even though he wasn't in that class with me, Liam showed me the way to the door. While I found it a tad annoying, I gave it a pass since he was a victim of Brynner's rage.
"Well, I'll pray for your boyfriend," he said when I touched the door handle. "When he recovers, maybe we can go for ice cream together."
He sounded hopeful.
My lips curled into a vague smile. His behavior was truly suicidal.
The remainder of the morning passed without incident. Brynner had gone to the nurse's office for sleep instead of going to the principal's office as instructed. Whether this was instinctual or not, the school staff knew not to disturb him. Brynner's absence relieved the human student body. The only teacher that inquired about Brynner's truancy was Mr. Gardner, but once he realized that the class enjoyed his absence, he dropped the subject.
My last class of the day felt strange to me without either Peter nor Brynner. Upon entering the classroom, I wasn't sure where to sit - whether I should sit at the back where Brynner and I shared a lab table or in the front where I usually sat when we weren't assigned projects. Imagining myself flipping a coin, I decided to sit alone in the back by the window, which allowed me to stare out into the distance.
I stared at the window as Ms. Warden's lecture faded into white noise. My thoughts drifted back to the hunter as I remembered the wintry smell of the hallway. Despite my efforts to remove him from my mind, he continued to reappear as the smell of the unidentified aroma intensified.
I suddenly became stiff in my seat. The sound of Ms. Warden's voice caught my attention as the door to the class room abruptly opened. "I would like to now introduce our newest student, whose family recently relocated from Ohio. Mr. Knight, please come on out."
My soul recognized the source of the aroma immediately when an ice-kissed floral scent permeated the air. Taking his place at the front, the boy from last night stood nervously at the front of the class. My mouth dried up, and my stomach plummeted, as I stared at him in disbelief. What I was seeing was unbelievable. It was really him - the hunter! Finding out that he was now a student at my school shocked me.
I drank in the sight of him as if I was dying of thirst, despite my best efforts to avoid gawking. My first impression was not wrong. He looked even more splendid than he did the previous night. It appeared that he was doing fine in spite of the gauze and the arm sling he wore. He raised his hand to introduce himself to his classmates with a shy, boyish smile.
His voice sent shivers down my spine as he said, "Hi, I'm Caleb. Nice to meet you."
I suddenly loved the name Caleb. With the remainder of the class, I repeated hello, and I felt the urge to run up to him and greet him as a dog would. Caleb continued to introduce himself to the class whilst I stayed seated, displaying greater restraint than my instincts suggested.
"I expect everyone to be kind and helpful to Mr. Knight. Would anyone like to be the person to assist Caleb until he's able to carry his books?" Ms. Warden asked.
As Caleb was staring at the sling and all the eyes that were looking at his arm, I could tell he was embarrassed. Knowing that it was partly due to me that he was handicapped, I flinched inwardly. At the back of the class, I raised my hand in a tentative manner, feeling entirely responsible. With a strangely unsure expression on his face, Caleb met my eyes and stared at me. My face went red as I blinked away. Next to me, a girl giggled.
"Dianthe?" Warden's voice sounded surprised. Her surprise was understandable since no member of the Shorrock family had ever offered to help anyone at school before. "Do you wish to be Caleb's assistant?"
I intentionally avoided looking at the new student, choosing instead to stare directly at Ms. Warden as Caleb studied every aspect of my face. Having no idea what to say, I sounded completely nervous and tongue-tied. "Uh, um... uh, yeah, uh, yes."
A few more girls giggled as they whispered to one another, "Dianthe has a crush on the new kid." Fortunately, no one else heard them because their voices were so quiet, but it still embarrassed me. I felt my face turn crimson at the thought of having a crush on Caleb. My feelings toward him would be simpler if I had a crush on him. Imprinting is much deeper than that.
A simple crush could not describe the intense desire I felt to fully possess his entire being and merge my soul with his. This desire was more animalistic and raw. An inconceivable concept to mankind.
"Thanks, Dianthe. What about you, Caleb?" Ms. Warden asked. "Why don't you take the seat next to her?"
The sound of Ms. Warden's voice made Caleb flinch and blink, as if the sound had jerked him out of his thoughts. "Yeah, sure," he mumbled and started to approach me. While he was walking, he tripped over a book and caught his leg on the edge of a table. The girl whose book he tripped over apologized frantically and rushed to get the rest of her things on the floor. As Caleb held up his uninjured hand in response to her, his cheeks were red from embarrassment. "No harm done."
I kept my eyes down while he sat by me, trying to decide whether or not to look at him directly. After what I did to him last night, was I even allowed to look at him? Hold on. I furrowed my brows. This guy deserves no sympathy at all. This is the guy who shot Peter with the silver bullet. Why did I have to be careful? A small smile came to my lips as he wiggled in his seat to get comfortable. I'm the one who is the wolf. So why should I care about what prey thinks?
Caleb gave me a shy smile and I felt my heart thump in my chest. As quickly as I had built my resolve, it crumbled. When I turned my gaze away from his face, it fell on his arm that was in the sling.
I was curious as to what extent the damage I caused him last night would be. The doctor probably only needed to stitch him up a few times since he was in class today. Taking the longest to heal would be the shoulder blade and wrist, but the various other gashes he sustained would heal in no time. I wondered if he realized how lucky he was.
"She said your name is Dianthe, right? Is that a French name?" Caleb asked.
I didn't think my name was beautiful until I heard Caleb say it. He looked at me as I placed our books on the table. I shuddered as I felt the sudden urge to grab him by the collar of his shirt and taste the lips that spoke my name so beautifully. Among all the males I could have had in my pack, why did I have to imprint on this human? He is what caused my mental health to deteriorate.
I replied softly, "It's Greek."
As I reached over to grab his notebook from his bag, I noticed his posture change in the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the edge of his chair. I frowned and shot him a quizzical look. It was as if he was uncomfortable with my proximity.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed that his posture had changed as I reached over to grab his notebook from his bag. He was leaning away from me and sat on the edge of his chair. I shot him a quizzical glance. It was as if he felt uncomfortable being so close to me. It puzzled me. He didn't realize that I was the wolf who bit him. That was impossible for him to know. Did our imprint give him a sense that something was amiss? No one had imprinted on a human before, so I didn't know what to expect. The fact was, I had no idea whether his brain was rewired the same way mine was, or if he had the same impulsive thoughts as I did.
He could have been unaware of the imprint and just didn't like me, for all I knew. Maybe it only affected me. But that thought made me feel horrible. I knew my infatuation with him would always be one-sided due to the fact that our paths were forbidden to cross, but the thought of him never feeling the same way towards me still pained me. What have I done in my life to deserve this fate?
In theory, I knew what I had done to deserve this terrible romance. Essentially, I abandoned my partner and imprinted on this human. It was my karma, I knew it.
He simply did not like me, I realized, sighing in resignation. As my hair fell over my right shoulder, I sat straighter in my seat and tried to pay attention to the teacher. While I didn't particularly care to hear Ms. Warden's lecture, it was better than ruminating about the hunter.
In spite of my efforts to pay attention to the teacher, his snowy scent continued to fill the room. Occasionally, I peered through the screen of my hair at the new student beside me. Throughout the entire class, he sat stiffly on the edge of his chair, as far from me as possible. I could see in the sling that his hand was clenched into a fist, showing the veins under his pale skin. Imagining his hands burying themselves in my scruff, I remembered the sensation I felt when he was beneath me. I wondered if it would be different if I were human.
In my mind, if I could, I would have punched myself in the face. The thoughts were getting out of control. Clearly I would never get to experience such a thing, why would I still be perverse? Thank goodness humans can't communicate via telepathy.
Compared to the other classes, this one seemed to drag. Was it because the day was drawing to a close, or because I was waiting for him to say something, anything? He did not move; he remained so still it looked like he wasn't breathing. Is something wrong with him? Is this his normal behavior? As I recalled last night when he was so vivacious and verbal, I couldn't help but wonder. Although he was fighting for his life in that situation, the lack of sound was rather unsettling now.
As I glanced up at him one last time, he gasped. Our eyes locked. His face turned red when he realized what I had caught him doing. He looked off to the side a bit sheepishly. His cheeks were scribbled all over with embarrassment after being caught staring. I blinked twice, then realized what had happened. It was true, he really had been staring at me. But his eyes didn't convey hate. Hang on. Could it be...?
At that moment, the bell rang loudly, startling me out of my seat, along with Caleb Knight. As he rose -- he was much taller than I remembered -- he did so with his back to me, and he left before anyone else could move.
In a state of frozen inertia, I stared blankly into space. What was up with that? I glanced down and saw he had left his backpack on the floor, so I yanked it up. Trying to block the confusion that filled me, I hastily collected my thoughts, fearing that my eyes would tear up. My temper was somehow hardwired to my tear ducts. Crying had been my hallmark for the past 48 hours.
"Hey, Dianthe?" a male voice asked.
An unnamed boy from my class smiled sympathetically at me as I looked up. He didn't seem to hate me.
"What's up?" I mumbled.
"Shouldn't you be carrying his stuff with him?"
I opened my mouth but nothing came out, so I nodded slowly. "Uh, yeah, that sounds good," I replied lamely, feeling awkward and dumb.
I hurriedly gathered everything I owned and left the room as the boy nodded and gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up. Were it not for Caleb running out of the room like a maniac, I would have been beside him carrying his stuff. Finally, I had found something I thought the hunter did that was strange. My common sense was not completely destroyed by the imprint.
Caleb was easy to find. His distinct scent led me right to him. Caleb had been in the boys' restroom for an eternity before he emerged and saw me standing outside. It was obvious that seeing me there startled him, as he did not expect me to be there. After a few seconds of confusion, he realized I was holding his backpack. His face turned red.
"I'm sorry," he replied nervously, adjusting the sling at his neck. "I really had to pee. I was about to pee myself."
It raised my eyebrows, but I decided not to comment. Instead I played dumb.
"Are you sure it wasn't because you're scared of me?" I asked artlessly.
"What? NO!" Caleb gasped in surprise, as if my question had shocked him in some way. "My bladder just needed to empty. I'm not afraid of you at all."
It was my inner wolf that pressed me to challenge that, and I was torn between the desire to prove him wrong and the desire to prove him right. My gaze landed on his sweatpants, which were cooked.
Before I could rationalize what I was doing, my hands reached for his waistband. As I pulled and twisted the fabric, I heard him gasp as my fingers briefly touched his exposed hipbones. My animal side rejoiced when I learned he was not wearing underwear. In the midst of my delight, my hands found themselves slipping down into his sweatpants.
Suddenly I realized that what I was about to do was very dangerous, and I immediately backed away, releasing his waistband.
God, what was wrong with me? In an effort to play off the embarrassment, I let out a stream of nervous laughter. "S-Sorry," I said, handing over his bag. "I noticed your pants were crooked, and since you only have one arm, I thought you might need help."
As he took his book bag from me, I deliberately avoided looking at his face. He probably thought I was weird.
I also thought I was weird. Some sort of perverse monster.
As far as I'm concerned, my imprinting experience had to be the most disastrous in lycan history.
As I turned to leave, Caleb grumbled a soft "thank you." I blinked rapidly and looked at him. I couldn't help but admire how absurdly handsome he was, as the corners of his lips curl up in a shy smile. Maybe he wasn't mad after all. Maybe he was just strange. Well, that's better than madness, isn't it?
In a slow, quiet voice, I said, "Um, you're welcome."
"See you tomorrow?" He quietly asked.
He sounded hopeful.
My face was meek as I regarded him, surprised that he wanted to see me after the way I treated him. Did the imprint have anything to do with it? Part of me wanted him to like me, as well. My reply was "Yup, bright and early," followed by a wink. "Don't worry about carrying your things, I'll be there to help you."
"I didn't mean it that way," he said hastily, his cheeks pinking. "I mean...,-- I appreciate your help. See you tomorrow." And he turned on his heel and scurried down the hall without another glance at me.
In an attempt to regain my composure, I walked to the school's parking lot, ignoring the pain in my heart that has been present since his departure. I knew Phoebe and the gang were waiting for me in her car, probably wondering what was taking me so long to leave class.
When I reached the car, Judas asked, "What was it like without Peter?"
My face was white for once instead of red as I climbed into the backseat.
My voice trembled as I lied, "Fine." Judas looked unconvinced.
I shifted forms and sat down on the seat, ducking low so no one could see me through the window. When I was in wolf form, my face expressed less emotion. While playing on his phone, Brynner frowned at me from the front seat, but didn't comment. With a turn of the key, Phoebe ignited the engine.
Leaving the school, we headed back to the reservation, thoughts of the hunter haunting me the entire trip.