WELCOME LUNCH WITH PEARL

I joined the wolves for lunch today in honor of Pearl's arrival. Well, mostly because Jasmine came over to me when the lunch bell rang, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to the usual picnic table.

"Oh, you really got her to come." Marcus looked surprised to see me.

"Of course." Jasmine beamed, "It's good that we can all get to know Pearl together."

The weather was actually rather mild now. Maybe the angry warlock was taking a nap.

Marcus stood up from the table, "I can get drinks, want anything?"

"The usual." Henry said.

"Coke please." I added.

Jasmine wanted lemon tea. Liam asked for a Sprite. Pearl looked a little unsure before deciding on a lemon tea too.

"Let's go to the cafeteria to buy our lunch too." Jasmine told Pearl. Pearl looked back at us a moment before following Jasmine back into the school building.

Some girls came with homemade food for Liam. He thanked them and ate it.

"One of these days, someone is going to put Wolfbane in your food." Henry warned jokingly.

Liam just smiled and shrugged it off.

"Jealous much?" I teased Henry.

Henry laughed and shook his head, "Not a whit."

He opened up his super sized lunch box and paused for me to admire it.

"Nice!" I admitted.

"Jealous much?" He repeated at me with a smirk.

Marcus came back from the cafeteria with his own meal and a bag of drinks. He put the diet coke in front of me.

I looked at the offensive can, "What the hell?"

"What?" Marcus asked, "I thought girls only drink diet?"

"Did you get tired of living?" I glowered.

Henry burst out laughing. He could laugh, he had the red can.

And then he swapped his can with mine, "Here. I can't taste the difference anyway."

I blinked, surprised at the gesture, "It's vile." I warned.

Marcus laughed then, "Sam, you are a really strange girl."

What? Because I don't drink diet sodas?

Jasmine and Pearl return with their lunches. And Jasmine decided to start off with formal introductions. I think Jasmine would have made a good Luna. She was very natural at this kind of things.

"This is Henry, future alpha of the Silver Moon Pack."

Henry growled and cracked open his black drink can.

"Marcus is future beta of Mountain Mist pack."

Marcus raised a hand, "Hi."

"Liam as you probably know by now is the class rep, he is also currently the most popular guy in school..."

I looked at Liam, waiting for his signature wink, or lopsided smile, but nothing. He just acknowledged Pearl with a polite nod. Weird.

"Sam is the future Luna of the Night Leaf Pack." Jasmine continued. I must say, I'm impressed she figured that much out.

"Future Alpha." I corrected mildly.

"Right...." Marcus said.

Henry grinned, "We like to indulge her."

I tossed my head, the nerve! But I don't feel the slightest bit offended. Maybe it was Jules and the guys rubbing off on me, but I am beginning to think I used to take myself a bit too seriously.

As long as I knew I was the alpha, and my home pack knew I was the alpha, it was inconsequential here with these guys.

The realization left me feeling a sense of freedom to not have to be anything for anyone, it was a nice break.

"I'm Jasmine from the White Moon Pack." Jasmine concluded the introductions

Well, I learned something new about Jasmine today. No, I've never thought to ask her which pack she was from.

"My name is Pearl. I'm from the Red Crescent Pack." Pearl said, she stopped suddenly to stare at Liam, who had started stripping off his jacket and shirt.

Once down to his pants, he took a long drink of sprite and left to play ball with the other boys. I could hear them call out Liam's name happily the moment he joined them. The happy greetings erupted quickly into an argument about which team got to have him.

Pearl told us more about herself while we ate. It was a pretty dramatic story. Pearl's pack had been attacked by rogues. During the attack, the rogues had dropped her down a ravine and she landed on her back.

After they found her, she had spent half of last year in hospital, they almost thought she would never walk again. But she miraculously recovered and after another half a year of physiotherapy, she was able to walk again.

Wow. It couldn't have been easy for her.

"So, who are the couples?" Pearl asked me.

"What?" I didn't understand the question.

Jasmine started giggling, which only alerted me of potentially uncomfortable girl talk.

"There is an alpha, a beta, and the school's most popular guy." Pearl smiled widely at us, "surely at least one of you are dating!"

That didn't even make any sense.

"It's only the second week of school!" Protested Jasmine still giggling.

Was Pearl interested in stuff like dating and boys? Uh oh.

~All men seem wise until they open their mouths.

Good idea Wolfie. I'll just shut up and eat my sandwiches. Today was spam and egg. Mum was on a roll!

"We're the only wolves in our level." Pearl continued, "Doesn't that make us the populars?"

Now I am just lost. I do not understand this conversation. Since when was the word popular used as a noun? Since when were wolves more popular than humans or vampires?

I racked my brain for every TV show featuring popular kids that I could remember and I looked carefully at our table.

We were generally good looking? Werewolf genes I think. Actually Jasmine looked every bit the part of a popular girl.

The guys were all well built. Liam was good at football. I'm not sure if Henry or Marcus ever played, but I knew they would have been trained hand to hand combat of some kind.

We tend to keep to ourselves. It's kind of werewolf only, and because there were so few of us, I guess we did look exclusive.

Liam was the most popular guy in the school and he's with us. Could one be popular by association, and was Liam popular enough to float all of us?

Okay, I saw Pearl's point now, but I didn't see the significance. I'm still the usual me. I rather be the loner. I don't think there's such things as popular loners.

"Arlene, the prettiest girl in school, is dating this hot upperclassman (who is a vampire)." Jasmine decided to fill Pearl in, "They started from Day One of school."

Pearl made a face, "Is she really the prettiest? I didn't think she was that pretty."

"He's not really hot." I said, because he's cold blooded. Hahaha.

But Pearl and Jasmine made very serious expressions when I started speaking and I stopped my joke midway. Just shut up and eat remember?

"Oh and there are those two girls." Jasmine added. Pearl nodded her understanding. I think I've lost them again.

"That's it so far." Jasmine gave a pretty shrug.

I'm quite glad Jasmine was around. I'm not sure I knew how to answer Pearl's questions. I stayed quiet the rest of the time and concentrated on eating my lunch. Which was what the other two guys were doing too.

Jasmine and Pearl discussed who's who in our school and all the people I don't know. I wondered how Jasmine got all her intel, was there an unofficial guide to Winderhill somewhere in the library, or better still online?

Oh, I did recognize two names in their conversation. A Matthew and Julius, the only two other beta wolves in the school. I'm very proud to have figured out it was Matt and Jules all on my own. And thanks to that, I learned that Matt was also our student president this year.

Henry and Marcus started talking then, and miraculously I suddenly understood the conversation again. Matt and Jules were graduating this year. Once they leave, Henry would be top dog.

Next year, we'll be in the same class again. (How did they know this?) Apparently this school kept the students in the same class for the first two years. Third year they would stream us by results, and we will then be kept in the same class group till we graduate.

Next year, Henry and Marcus would run for the student council. Liam would still be the most popular guy in school. By year three, Henry planned to be Student President. Marcus wanted to front his own band. Liam will be Football Captain. Apparently, the guys had their school career all planned out.

"I am going to try out for cheerleading." Jasmine said.

Oh, Jasmine had been giving it thought too.

"Too bad I can't." Pearly sighed, "My back is not fully healed yet."

"It doesn't matter, you girls, by association with us, will always popular." Henry assured us. Marcus nodded.

Male wolves were so arrogant and chauvinistic, sometimes I wanted to smack their macho faces. (But Marcus would call me violent again.)

"Why don't you try out for public speaking next year Sam? They only accept two hosts from sophomore year onwards, and Julian is graduating this year." Marcus told me, "You can be the official host at all the school formal events."

Seriously? Where did these guys get this kind of information? Maybe they should be the ones I asked about vampire fight cages... But I promised my dad I wouldn't pursue any more information on that.

"Wow, I'd love to try out for that too." Pearl said, "It'll be something I could do... that is, if it's alright with you, Sam."

"You'd need an invite to try-outs." Marcus said.

"Can you guys get me an invite too?" Pearl asked.

Can they?

"Yeah." Henry said, "It shouldn't be a problem, but the teacher will only choose one of you."

I shrugged at that, Henry looked meaningfully at me, "I'm sure your dad could call and get you an invite easily."

"Oh you mean, her dad can get her the position just by calling?" Pearl asked.

"I don't want to involve my dad." I growled.

"Your loss." Henry shrugged.

Funny how when Krystal talked about my dad buying me stuff, she made me feel ashamed of it. But when Henry talked about my dad pulling strings for me, he made me feel like I'd be stupid to not take it.

I'm sure my dad would agree with Henry, so I will never tell him about this. It just didn't seem fair.

"Let's try out together and see how it goes." I said.

"You mean you aren't going to ask your dad to call?" Pearl asked.

"Yup." I said, "It's more fun to win on my own." I told her.

Pearl smiled, and then her smile widened, "Yeah, okay."

Liam rejoined us when we finished our meal, I assumed this was his usual lunchtime routine. He got dressed quickly and emptied his can of Sprite.

"So, is this where you guys hang out every lunch?" Pearl asked.

"Just the guys usually." Jasmine told her, "I eat in the cafeteria with the other girls. I can take you for lunch with them tomorrow."

Pearl nodded, "Yeah, okay."

Pearl looked at me, "What about Sam? Does she eat with you guys?"

"Nah." Marcus laughed, "Sam tends to disappear a lot."

Was that how they saw me?

"I like to be mysterious." I joked.

The laughter was easy and I realized I was actually having fun. I guess spending lunchtime with friends was nice.

We headed back into the building together. It was the first time I was walking through the hallway with my school pack. We intuitively fell back into our positions, Henry walked in front, Marcus and I slightly behind him. Liam, Jasmine and Pearl in the rear.

It was nice being part of a pack, having the sea of students in the hallway part for our whole group. Was this what Pearl meant by being the populars? What surprised me most was that I didn't hate walking behind Henry.

Well, I didn't want to walk behind him all the time, but just right now, it wasn't a bad place to be.

Jasmine and Pearl stopped at the washroom, the guys waited for them along the hallway.

"I'm going to disappear for a bit." I told them, borrowing Marcus' word. I waved my departure.

The guys just waved back and settled against the wall to talk about whatever guys talk about when they are left to themselves.

I used to think this was mostly complaining and football, but now I see it could also be plans to secure our little pack's future in high school.

I guess being alpha isn't just about asserting my alpha wolf, joking around, or beating up whoever threatened my pack. I'm kind of glad Henry was around to make plans that took care of everyone.

I'm also really ticked that I hadn't thought of any of this myself. Epic fail on my part.

I found Maria at the library and we took the long way back to class, slowing down at Dino's class as we did at the end of lunch everyday.

When we got back to class, the other wolves were all back. I sat in my new seat next to Maria. I'm still beating myself up internally for being an imbecile.

Pearl turned to smile at me. I smiled back.

"I don't like her." Maria told me again.

"Be nice. She just had a rough time." I told Maria.

"You are too kind for your own good." Maria told me.

I raised my brow at her, "So I should stop walking with you to visit Dino?"

Maria pouted but kept quiet.

Pearl tossed a folded noted onto my table. I opened it, "Choose one: Henry, Marcus, Liam." I saw a purple heart around Liam's name.

I looked at Jasmine who ducked her reddened face. I don't think she had expected Pearl to show the note to me. Why was she showing me this note?

"You're supposed to circle one." Maria told me.

Was she reading my mind or just my note?

I'm reading Pearl's.

Stop it.

I'm not doing anything bad.

I wrote into the note, "None of the above."

Maria shook her head.

That wasn't an option, Alpha.

Get out of my head. I warned.

She withdrew.

I returned the note to Pearl.

Pearl read it. Jasmine read it. And then Pearl wrote into it and passed it back to me.

I'm starting to tire of this game.

"Who else is there?" The note demanded.

I crumpled the note and tossed it back at her. I'm annoyed now.

Pearl passed the note over to Henry and Marcus.

I saw Jasmine panic.

Henry looked confused at the crumpled ball of paper.

"Read it." Pearl mouthed and then smiled.

I told you so. Maria had a cold small smile on her face.

I stood up before Henry could uncrumple the note and snatched it out of his large hands. Not knowing how to dispose of it, I handed it to Jasmine. It was her secret after all. She quickly pocketed it.

Henry blinked. I growled lowly at him. He smirked and let it go. I returned to my seat, refusing to look in Pearl's direction.

You're too nice. Maria thought to me.

There's no such thing as too nice. I thought back at her. I double checked to make sure the rest of my mind was securely blocked.

I guess this was the closest thing to a mind link that I could make it. With practice, I'm getting apt at controlling my mental access permissions.

Today was like a really intensive mental training program.