Olive was appointed as my guide to all things teenage werewolf while Rachel was in charge of my health progress. Olive would come in the afternoon and sit with me for an hour or two because she had to go to school then spend the night working on any homework. Poor thing. Normal high school didn`t sound fun.
In next two days, I asked Rachel and Marcus constantly if I could just talk to my parents but they preached patience because they weren`t sure if it was safe for me do so. Even Oracle couldn`t see me and I her. It didn`t help that I couldn`t summon her to me anymore.
Life without my magic was just a living nightmare. So, I just read and ran and learned more about my werewolf side. One knew thing I learned, I was now both very fast, very strong and had a big appetite
On the third morning, after running again, Olive announced that I should do other sets of exercise.
"What kind?" I asked as I stopped to catch my breath. I feel like we had run a marathon. It was just a route around the place and I was beat so why in the merciful name of all magic was she now asking me to do other exercise?!
"Let`s see if you can handle pushups and sit ups," Olive suggested as she put her hands on her hips.
"Excuse me?" I asked with a blank face. Please tell me she was joking.
Olive tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I think we`ll start fifty push-up and fifty sit ups before we hit one hundred."
"I just ran!" I spluttered.
"You`re also an expert dancer so going up and down shouldn`t be a problem," Olive pointed out.
"It will be when I hit five and pass out from exhaustion!" I shot back. Olive simply pointed to the ground. I groaned and got down. Hearing a whistle, I turned to see a shirtless Elijah coming out from the front door with water bottles. He can rescue me!
"Don`t even think about," Olive growled at me before turning to Elijah," Be gone. Male. I`ve got to train her."
"Then do it," Elijah said with a grin as he opened a bottle and drank from it. Olive simply rolled her eyes and turned back to me as I lay on the ground snickering.
"Let`s make it sixty pushups then," Olive announced.
I gasped and looked back up to her. She clapped her hands," Come on dancer!"
I bit back a curse and began my pushups. When I made it past five, I frowned. That should not be possible. I hit ten and then looked up at Olive who was smiling down at me.
"I don`t exercise regularly," I admitted, "I once tried and gave up at day three. How am I still going?"
Olive folded her arms over her chest, "It`s your werewolf side, the extra gifts we have are increased speed, strength and reflexes."
"And stamina," Elijah added as he put down the bottle on the ground before saluting us and leaving.
I huffed, "How come I need to exercise while he and you can`t?"
"Because we`re athletes at our school, we hit the school gyms at noon to work out and train here as well," Olive revealed and I paused in mid push up," Oh."
Being an athlete sounded like a lot of work. Give me magic, books and dancing any day.
"Keep going, thirty more to go!" Olive reminded me.
I groaned and got back down. When I was done with pushups, my arms felt like jelly. I was going to die. Olive allowed me a one-minute break before we started on the sit ups. Unfortunately, I had to stop half way because my head was killing me.
Olive helped me to showers before going back to get our towels. When she got in the bathroom next to mine, she took a shorter shower before running off yelling something about not wanting to be late for home room. I simply sat under the water until my stomach growled. I needed to eat.
After dragging myself out of the shower room, I shuffled back to my room at a much slower pace to change. When I saw done, I heard a knock on my door. I sat down and ran a comb through my hair before calling out for whoever to enter.
I felt instant relief when I saw that it was Rachel. She smiled at when she entered," Hey you, how was exercise this morning?"
I stopped combing and frowned at her," Was it you who told Olive to give me torture this morning?"
"Sadly no, that was Marcus," Rachel said and I huffed, she then jerked her chin at me, "Come join me for breakfast?"
"Well…," I stopped combing my hair and shrugged, "I am a little hungry," My stomach growled, which made me duck my head," Okay, I`m really hungry."
"Let`s go," Rachel said with a laugh. I picked up my nearest hair band and tied my hair up as I left my room.
"Today, I`ll check your vitals and then we`ll go through some rules for when you`re in the outside world. Marcus is adamant that you learn them quickly before Monday," Rachel told me. We had rounded a corner and then entered the living room before moving to the kitchen when Amber, the Pack cook, was waiting for us with breakfast. I met Amber yesterday at dinner when Marcus said it was time for me to eat outside.
"You need to eat outside so if we have pack dinners, you`ll be more comfortable," he had said. I simply nodded. Family dinners in my house, I could handle. Having dinner with a bunch of strangers, I could not.
Amber was frying bacon on the stove and her brown locks were held back with a black hair net. She told me last night that it was a gift from her husband.
"Morning pup," Amber greeted as I took my seat and Rachel lifted several lids covering what looked like a large salad bowl, a huge plate of bacon, pancakes, sausage links, scrambled eggs and French toasts.
"You are amazing," I said to Amber as I stared in disbelief at the amount of food before me. The brown haired cook winked at me with a smile.
"Coffee or juice?" Rachel asked me and I mumbled juice as I began to heap my plate with food. Rachel was right, I was eating a lot now.
"So what kind of rules are they? They can`t be any different from the rules the witches have right?" I asked as I took a bite of my French toast before speaking whilst chewing," And why do I need to learn them before Monday?"
Rachel gave me a large cup of juice before speaking, "Because you`ll be going to school next week."
I stopped chewing and stared at her as the words rank in, "School?"
Rachel nodded, "Yes."
I looked to Amber who was smiling before going back to Rachel and leaning close to her because I wasn`t sure if I heard her right, "As in high school?"
"Yes," Rachel said more slowly as she ate her eggs.
I blinked, "As in high school where other teenagers are?"
Rachel must have sensed that I was going to explode because she stopped eating and was reaching across for me, "Umm -"
I leaned away from her and exploded, "As in high school where other teenagers are put together and where there are cliques, people I need to talk to and enemy mean girls that would make me feel horrible or a place where the dreaded gym class is and I`ll embarrassed myself in front of everyone because I won`t know how to play a single sport!"
Rachel titled her head back and frowned at me.
"Were you home schooled?" Amber asked me as approached the table with a large plate of bacon. The smell making me drool slightly and forget my meltdown about school.
When Amber set the plate down, Rachel pocked my shoulder, "Lia?"
"Yes!" I answered and dug into the bacon," I was home schooled and yes, I love the bacon."
I heard Amber snicker as Rachel sighed, "That explains it, listen," I looked at her as I swallowed my bacon before reaching over to pick up my juice," High school isn`t like that, it`s a place where you grow and learn social skills,"
"And be educated, none of us can home school you," Amber pointed out.
"Then I`ll just go back home to be home schooled and come back to the pack house," I told them with a shrug. Really, I`m sure my family wouldn`t mind continuing to homeschool me and letting me live with the werewolves. I`d have the best of both worlds. I honestly feel like Hannah Montana.
"No, you can`t," Rachel declined. My plans of best of both worlds and Hannah Montana went up in flames. I put down my juice as Rachel continued," Need I remind you of the situation you`re in. You cannot see your family, until the situation is settled. Them talking to you or seeing will be possible once the Witch Counsel has made you an Outcast. For now, it is impossible."
Suddenly, I didn`t feel hungry anymore.
"You will be going to school next week and you must not approach your family in any way when you are out there."