WHAT THE HELL, SAM?

5 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, MATH CLASS

The bell rang, signaling the change of lesson block. But nothing else happened. I stepped back into the classroom.

Principal Laura was now also wearing the same expression as Mrs Henderson, "I'm not quite understanding the purpose of calling Henry back."

"Yes, why did you call me back, Sam?" Henry growled lowly from the door.

"You came back!" I brightened up.

"What the hell, Sam." Henry growled, "You better have a good reason for this."

I didn't want to be left in charge of this class? But I doubt Henry would think this was as good a reason as I did.

"Urm... Romeo and Juliet!" I remembered suddenly, "We have to perform the fight scene today!"

I never thought I'd say this, but thank goddess for Romeo and Juliet!

"Since when did you care about Romeo and Juliet?" Henry wasn't buying it.

"But we practiced, and you guys even brought the fencing gear to school, and urm... Abigail! Abigail would be sad to miss your performance!" Yeah, okay, I made the part about Abigail up. I was just winging it now, "Anyway, you're here. So might as well stay for math."

I gave him my most winning smile. Just don't leave me alone with this lot.

Henry raised a brow, and then he broke out in a very short laugh, shaking his head, "Sam. What the hell."

But he dropped his bag back on his seat. Marcus helped him stack his fencing gear at the back of the class.

Liam took stock of the situation, and then stepped forward, "Mrs Hen is here, time for class. Everyone get back to your seats."

And then the rest of the class moved to their seats.

At this point it suddenly occurred to me that Liam could've settled the class like he always did, and I didn't need Henry around after all. I sank back into my own seat. Why did I even need Henry around?

I worried briefly if I was becoming too reliant on Henry. I was the alpha! I could take care of myself!

Now that the class was seated, Madam Principal was smiling again, "Some of us are wolves, and some of us are humans, but who here believes that we can all be friends?"

I guess Principal Laura felt some damage control was required after what happened.

"What!" Terrence stood up, "Madam Principal! Are you saying that there are really werewolves in our class?"

Marcus made a rude chuffing sound.

"You dumbass!" Troy scolded, "Just look at Henry, he's obviously a werewolf."

"So Henry is a werewolf?" Terrence took a hard stare, Henry growled back.

"So am I." I raised my hand briefly to make sure everyone noticed.

Because I didn't like the way Terrence and Troy and some of the other kids in the class started looking at Henry.

And I couldn't see why we had to hide the fact that we were wolves from the humans. I was not ashamed of who I was. No one should be.

"Ditto." Marcus said, putting his hand up and then down again.

"Yeah, me too." Liam drawled. He leaned back against his chair and winked as a couple of girls who were ogling from the side. They giggled.

Jasmine raised her hand nervously, "Me too."

Pearl smiled but said nothing.

After a while, Zara raised her hand, "I guess if I could be friends with a warlock, I could be friends with a werewolf."

Then Krystal raised her hands, "I'm not scared of wolves."

"You just want to meet boys at her party." Leia said, but she raised her hand too.

"Hot werewolf boys." Zara corrected.

"Shut up, Zara." Krystal hissed.

After a while, Janice put up her hand too, and then Abigail, who threw Henry a flirty smile and a wink. And then some of the other kids too, but it wasn't even half the class.

Principal Laura nodded, "I'm glad to see these hands. I would encourage all of you to learn to work and play together as class. Wolves have been making huge contributions and advancement in almost every field in our continent today. It would be a shortsighted for us not to build bridges to cooperate together."

"Yeah, in other words, they will be our bosses one day." Ivan said, "Just like they are probably your bosses. That's why Henry can get away with whatever he wants. Because he's probably your boss' son or something right?"

Ivan stood up, he wasn't done, "All wolves do is cause trouble, and start fights, like the war that's about to happen in the Red Packlands. They get into a bloody fight and then the humans take the collateral damage because we are just humans. My dad died fighting in the last war, and he wasn't even in the death toll. Our town was destroyed, and we were left to rebuild everything on our own."

"Everything was destroyed, not just your bloody town." Henry said, "And there was no human count because your human generals wouldn't report them."

"If not for you werewolves, we wouldn't even have a war." Ivan spat out.

"No, because your cowardly humans leaders would have surrendered to the vampires and offered them regular live tribute - do you know what a live tribute is?" Henry snarled back, "You humans have always been ungrateful. We fought a war and protected the land from a Vampire regime, and you blame us for the collateral damage. We gave you jobs to rebuild your towns, and you resent your wolf bosses."

"And should we thank you for dating all the cheerleaders? Or surrounding yourself with the cool girls?" Ivan sneered.

Henry smirked at that, "Why? Did you want to date them too? You're welcome to try."

"Yeah, Krystal is looking for a vday date." Zara piped up.

"Shut up, Zara!" Krystal said and tossed her head.

"That's why the wise would say that there are no real winners in war." Principal Laura wrapped up diplomatically, "Incidentally, Red Packland's issues has been resolved peaceably, but what happened this week was a grave reminder that we cannot take the peace we enjoy today for granted. All of us must play our part to preserve it. Through mutual respect and open dialogue, I hope that you would all learn to keep the peace not just in Winderhill, but also throughout our Gold Packlands."

Everyone nodded at that, even Ivan.

"The past is over, but the future of Gold Packlands is in your hands." Principal Laura declared with a smile. Now satisfied that she has secured the peace in our classroom, no matter how superficially, she handed the time back to Mrs Henderson and breezed out.

"Urm... Okay. I'm going to hand out your work from yesterday and we'll go through some of the questions so you can do your corrections." Mrs Henderson said.

The class groaned.

The rest of the morning was history - as in literally so. Our history teacher came into the classroom and started reading from the textbook. He didn't even try to explain anything. Nor did he look up from the text book even once.

I wondered if he had just given up.

He was supposed to be dying right?

I wondered if a lycan healer could save him, had he tried? Did lycan healing work on humans? Ki had healed Sabre's flesh wound when she was first caught. But Sabre had a shallow flesh wound. Not everything could be healed.

Like Pearl's back. I don't think they can heal that.

And would it be worth the trouble? To spend a heal on a human? Ivan had been angry because he was "just a human". But they really were just humans. There were so many of them, and they were so weak and susceptible to sickness... Sometimes even their own human leaders would not bother too much to save them.

Natural selection right? And as Henry said, humans were ungrateful creatures.

Save a wolf and he would happily be your dog for life. Naturally, I think of Ki here.

Save a human and its not even certain he would not one day stab you in the back. Naturally, I think of Sabre. That nickname I gave her might just suit her after all.

At the lunch bell, I followed Henry and Marcus because I remembered we were supposed to rehearse for the fight scene, but we just ended up at the new picnic area with Liam, Jasmine and the cool girls.

Abigail held court at the next door table. It seems like Pearl was now her BFF.

Matt, Jules, and Bra came over to chat a bit with Henry and Marcus. The cool girls lived up to their moniker had played it cool while stealing glances at the seniors standing around our table.

I wasn't paying much attention until I heard my name being called, "Earth to Sam, earth to Sam."

The guys laughed.

"Very funny, Jules. What?" I asked.

"Just wanted to check if you're okay." Jules shrugged, and then grinned, "Bra was worried."

"No, no, I wasn't!" Bra protested and play-punched Jules.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be okay?" I asked. They looked at the humans and then at me. Urm... What? Were they still thinking I was being bullied?

"The Vampire Queen's birthday celebration ends this Sunday." Jules prompted.

Uh huh, I knew that. oh, "Yeah, we need to keep this new picnic space safe for everyone."

"Yeah, I'll schedule the senior student council members to patrol." Matt said.

"Don't change the subject, Sam." Jules said.

I thought that was the subject. I tried to think again.

"The vampire activity would increase around the continent." Jules stressed.

Okay, something about vampires.

"Bra is worried." Jules said in a "hint hint" tone.

Okay, how about we just walk away from the humans so you can just ask me point blank? Oh wait no, they would think we were dating.

I frowned.

"Do you remember what we talked about on the way home the other day?" Jules asked.

The cool girls looked up sharply, and their sudden quietness betrayed that we now had an active audience.

Oh yeah, the Ciara Vampire Lord that was hunting around Bra's pack for me.

"I've taken care of it. Sorry for the trouble." Then just in case, I added, "If they do bother you again, let me know."

Matt blinked, "Are we still talking about the same thing?"

Jules had on his bemused expression, "Exactly what do you mean, you've taken care of it, Sam?"

"I mean it's over." I said.

"How over?" Bra asked.

"Like big boss fight over." I said.

The guys blinked and then laughed out loud at that.

"Did you get that Matt?" Jules asked.

"I'm not exactly sure what I should get from that." Matt said with a bemused expression.

Henry's patience had come to the end of the line by then, "Just text it to them in black and white, Sam."

"Text what?" Zara asked finally.

Henry didn't miss a beat, "That she doesn't want to date any of them."

The girls gasped. Even Abigail's table gasped. Henry had been untactfully loud.

The three guys spun around.

"What the heck?" Bra complained.

"Hey, Henry," Matt put on his serious tone, "Even if you're an alpha, that's going too far."

"Or else what?" Henry lifted a brow at his senior.

"Alright, that's it. You've crossed the line, Henry." Jules was mad now too.

So I punched Henry in the shoulder.

"F***." Henry turned to me, "What the hell, Sam!"

"If I get a dollar every time you said that." I laughed, because you and I know a penny is way too little to amount to anything. Plus I was talking to Alpha Moneybags here.

Then I shrugged and said loudly enough to be heard by our human audience, "Don't joke about stuff like that Henry, you might cause a misunderstanding."

The other guys around the table were looking at me like a sprouted another head. What? Would they rather had stood off till Madam Principal appeared? Because she would, you know.

"Okay... Who are you and what did you do to Sam?" Marcus tried to diffuse the situation.

Henry was still furious so I punched him again. In truth, it wasn't much of a punch. I didn't even put any weight behind it. But it was quite a satisfying feeling.

Henry had been working out. Either that, or his wolf was evolving too. Whatever the reason, Henry's shoulder was buff and the feeling of landing a punch on it was surprisingly satisfying.

I threw a few more just for a fun of it. Henry caught my fist in his hand. His hand was larger than mine, "What the hell, Sam?"

I laughed, "Well, it was fun while it lasted."

Henry let go of my fist.

"What the hell, Sam." He repeated shaking his head, "What the hell."