1 Chapter １

"Oh my God, is that true? That's absolutely mortifying, right? "

"The heck was that? "Like wolves, we are pack creatures; our diversity is what makes us stronger as a unit."

When did a walk-through commencement turn into your principle living out his furry fantasy?

Oh my gosh!I wouldn't be surprised to find out he has fur. And here I was imagining he'd start howling at the moon.

Lyssa, what did you think of all that oddness?

I nodded my head absently, not paying attention as my classmates ripped into our principal. My mind was racing with a million and one things I had to accomplish, and I just couldn't bring myself to care.

I did my best to stay on top of things, but there were times when I felt completely overwhelmed. . My senior year of high school was winding down, the cost of living was rising, and I was still unemployed.

"Hello!Ania! "

As I heard that, I blinked and stuck my head out of my locker. “Huh?”

"What did you think of our principal's ten-minute diatribe on how we need to embrace our inner wolf or whatever?"

I mumbled, "Well... it was a little unusual," I refrained from mocking the middle-aged man's attempt at originality. He was a kind person for a school administrator and had given me money for lunch a few times without making me feel like a bum.

Thankfully, the talk continued going because my buddies weren't waiting for me to finish my thoughts.

Barbara Lim was my vivacious and intelligent first year roommate. The whole affair had felt strange. At the park where I was studying after class, she had bounded up to me, declared our friendship, and slid me a cola. I was too taken aback to explain to her that it wasn't how things worked, and furthermore, had I done so, I would have been proven wrong, as she is still one of my closest confidantes four years later.

Which, if I'm being completely honest, was impressive. Never one to trust easily, I often found myself misled.

There was an upsurge of affirmative responses from our group, and I occupied myself by retrieving items from my locker rather than answering. I was dead penniless and swamped with commitments, yet I detested disappointing my pals.

It's not like I was picked on or anything. They were quite understanding for teens, but I still felt left out whenever I had to make up an excuse for why I couldn't go on one of their adventures.

Of course, I could always ask one of them to keep an eye out for me, but I wouldn't want to. Label it as you like, but it's pride. To be honest, I just liked to keep my personal matters to myself.

Oh no, I just found out that there's a party at Matthew Rigdon's house tonight!

That made everyone stop laughing awkwardly, and it prompted the girl who had been talking eagerly to blush.

"Am I misinterpreting what you said?" "Man, you just met Ania's exes."

It was inevitable that I would sigh at this point. It's true that Philip was my on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again boyfriend. He was cute and I liked him well, but we just didn't click as individuals. He also had quite different priorities than I had. Maybe due to the fact that he was a spoiled privileged kid who was loved and cared for by his parents, while I was just... me.

It seemed like he was continually pushing for an even tighter relationship than I was ready for. We were also not on the same page sexually, therefore no encounters of that nature had ever taken place.

"it’s fine. There's no hard feelings; we're just spending some time apart to figure out what we want. "

"That’s what you said the last time…" In a lilting tone, Barbara Lim pointed out as she went back to tidying her locker.

Alice chimed in.

"All right, I get it,” I said, rolling my eyes. "Stop stressing about it for now." Barbara Lim emerged from her locker with a big grin on her face. ,

"see you night long then?”

For a split second, I stopped and tried to mentally reorganise my day to see if it were possible. Although my head told me no, my heart was on board. Since we were graduating, our time together would no longer be the same. Everyone else seemed to be thriving in their new circumstances, while I was still struggling to get by. It would be nave of me to think that things would remain the same as we all went our separate ways, even though we would remain good friends.

Sure, I'll be around tonight. Bring me your sibling's old graduation robe, please. I failed to order mine in time and now I must borrow one.

That's not the case. It was beyond my financial means. Once again, though, that was none of my friends' business and didn't need to be shared.

"Well, yeah, of course!"

Not for the first time, I was really appreciative of how kind my friends were and how they never seemed to question whatever I asked for.

In unison, we all headed for the door. While a few of us walked, the parking lot served as our true "goodbye" location because that's where our automobiles or our parents' cars were waiting. I waved and made assurances that I wouldn't be too late before I left.

Still, I delayed going to my lodgings. Instead, I headed straight towards the central commercial district, where I entered the first available eatery.

"Hi. Can I be of assistance?" according to the hostess's enthusiastic description. When I had a job, maybe I'd be more upbeat, too. Nonetheless, it was challenging for me to get work as a high school student.

"Yes, I was hoping to get a hold of your HR director."

That was definitely not the norm, and I was aware of that. I knew I should have requested an application first, but I was anxious to cut to the chase.

Weirdly, he rarely engages in one-on-one conversation. Never without first

initial access to our web portal.