WE JUST HAD TO START LATE

2 MARCH, TUESDAY, REALLY LATE

At the allotted time to begin rehearsal, Mr Devon started going around yelling for everyone to "chop chop" and gather in the audience. Madam Silvia would like to say something before we begin.

Not all of us were ready though, but we ambled out, some of us in half costume, EJ came out with the makeup apron still around his neck.

Fluffy followed him out, smiling, make up brush still in hand.

Mr Devon proceeded to chase the last of the backstage crew and some of the seniors - many of the the drama club seniors have joined in as supporting cast, or backstage hands, or even just audience members because Mr Devon had told them it was a "golden opportunity" to watch the master at work, in which he was referring to Madam Silvia, although in my opinion, Ki was the one who was directing most of the time.

Madam Silvia would stand next to him and lean over to whisper now and then though. So maybe she was guiding him. I wouldn't know.

I mean, as far as I could tell, Mr Devon's job as "producer" was just running about yelling at us go there or come here.

He called me over once and asked, "So how's everything? Good? Good. Alright. Good work. Keep it up. You better get going. Remember what Madam Silvia had taught you. It would keep you in good stead. Quickly, go over to your place."

All by himself, without a single pause.

I went back to my position in the wing - where I was standing before he called me. But oh well. Mr Devon was very busy like that.

When we had all gathered, Mr Devon made us all sit and began talking about how proud he was of us, to turn a modest year one introductory project into a full production.

"No, sir. I'm sure the credit is yours since this happened when you took on the producer's role." Henry had the guile to interject.

Mr Devon looked completely surprised by this new fact, "It is? Well, of course I cannot take all the credit."

And so we had to listen to the backstory of a young teacher who was passionate about the theatre, and stepped into Winderhill 10 years ago with a dream and how that dream was finally coming to fruition this year - the LNC would be visiting our school with a camera crew and our school's theatre club would finally be in the limelight! May our production be the first to shine like a beacon for the others to follow.

Everyone around me became jittery at this news. Jasmine, who was next to me grinned and clapped her hands silently together in excitement.

"Never fear," our producer courageously declared, "I have faith in all of you."

I didn't, but I wasn't all that worried about the camera crew being here because I knew they weren't here for us. They were following Madam Silvia for a two part documentary about her illustrious career. At most, we would be filler or background shots, and I felt sure they would be able to find a half minute usable footage from the 45minute long play to use.

I've watched enough LNC documentaries by now to know they weren't going to actually show the play. Madam Silvia had a very long and illustrious career, we'd get 2 minutes at most. Maybe 4, if they included interviews.

Which they would. Mr Devon said we should be prepared to stay back and answer a question or two after the play. But once again, we had no need to fear. He himself remain firmly by our side.

After that, Mr Devon spoke at length about hoping the experience had opened our eyes and broadened our horizons and given us a glimpse into the exciting and colorful world of theatre blah blah blah... But eventually, he had to stop so that Madam Silvia could say a few words to us which was the reason why he had gathered us together in the first place.

"Look at me just going on and on!" Mr Devon realized (all by himself), "It is my humblest privilege to hand the time now to the lovely Madam Silvia."

We all clapped politely because Mr Devon clapped after he made an elaborate bow at her direction, but Madam Silvia graciously accepted our restrained applause like it was a standing ovation and had to raise her hand up to make us stop so we could hear the "few words" she had to offer us on the last day of rehearsal.

Madam Silvia was also immensely proud of us, particularly of our growth evident in the vast improvement in our performance from the first day she had joined our production till now.

Of course, while one might be tempted to attribute this to her guidance, she strongly believed that talent may only take root and grow in good soil.

We had to give ourselves a round of applause for being such fertile soil.

{Did she just call us s***ty dirt?} Fluffy asked over mindlink.

{No, she said fertile soil... Oooooohhhh.} EJ covered his mouth even though they were on mindlink.

{Quiet.}

This wasn't me. It was Ki, but not Ki. As in I was sure it was Ki, but the tone was nothing like I had ever heard.

{Yes, beta.} The other two wolves bowed their heads immediately.

They didn't even try to sass Ki. But I wouldn't either with Ki in this mode. How should I describe it? It was a very cold and steely sternness. Like having a sword seriously pointed at you kind of feeling. You don't say no in the face of such a tone.

Madam Silvia was at the crescendo of her exhortation to us at this point, "Who knows? Perhaps one day our paths shall cross again - on the red carpet. It has been my honor to have this silver of opportunity to guide and inspire you."

I double checked my mindlinks, and carefully sent one only to Fluffy, {Hey, Fluffy. Why is Ki mad?}

Fluffy had been proving himself to be a surprisingly good source of tea. And unlike my betas, or most of the other wolves I knew, Fluffy didn't seem to feel he needed to censor or pad whatever he answered.

Fluffy paused, as if checking to make sure our mindlink was secure. We were playing a dangerous game, any slip up - even just a flick of our eyes, and Ki who was standing across us might realize we were mindlinking.

{I made a poorly timed joke of Madam Silvia's words.} Fluffy explained.

I personally thought that was a pretty well timed joke... Wait, no, why would Ki be mad about that? I meant, why was Ki mad in the first place, so that he would pick on such a small thing?

But how should I ask that without letting Fluffy know I overheard his s***ty dirt joke which I realized belatedly was made on a private mindlink to only Ki and EJ. Damn my random and sneaky "gift of insight".

{I see I cannot hide anything from you.} Fluffy admitted when I didn't say anything. What sorcery was this? The power of not saying anything!

{EJ and I were interrogated to determine the cause of pretty alpha's running away yesterday.} Fluffy explained, {Big Northern Beta seem to be under the impression that I might have behaved inappropriately and embarrassed or upset you in some way, causing you to run away.}

Wait, what?

{Therefore, I was forced to admit that we had spied on Charming Beta's little intimate moment with Madam Silvia.} Fluffy continued conversationally.

WAIT, WHAT?

{Charming Beta got in trouble for not keeping his personal life in check.} Fluffy continued.

{What?} I pretty much flared in the mindlink. Luckily, my hair was not responded as usual, so on the outside, I looked like all the other students who were pretending to listen to Madam Silvia's very long few words.

{I was quite surprised too. Apparently, it's considered unprofessional for charming beta to make out with a lady teacher while volunteering at your school.} Fluffy explained before commenting, {There are so many rules to remember in a pack, its hard to keep track.}

Not making out with a lady teacher was not a rule you needed to "keep track" of! It was just a natural thing not to happen...and then I remembered Fluffy had been raised as a vampire's pet, so I guess his idea

I didn't think Fluffy was one to comment about anyone's lack of professionalism, but wth.

How did it get like this?

{This time, Charming Beta's indiscretion upset you and caused you to run away too.} Fluffy continued.

{That's not it!} I was beginning to feel truly alarmed at how things had played out.

{That's what Big Brother Beta thinks.} Fluffy said, {Scary Beta said it was probably something else, but he wouldn't say what. It was very worrying. Charming beta says that if you're getting into some kind of secret trouble with Scary beta, things could get serious.}

{Wait, they told you all that?}

Don't tell me Fluffy had the gift of insight too?

{No, but they were arguing late into the night and my room was just next door to Big Brother Beta's.} Fluffy said.

{That's called eavesdropping, Fluffy.} I told him, {You shouldn't listen in on other people's private conversations.}

But really, I was the last person who should be teaching Fluffy not to eavesdrop.

{Oh... Barry was saying something like that.} Fluffy said, {I don't quite get it though. Knowledge is power and listening is key.}

Fluffy combined the two rather famous quotes in a way that made neither of them sound quite right. I decided to give up explaining "pack rules" to him, although I didn't feel the rules Fluffy were struggling with weren't so much pack rules than common sense?

{I'm trying to adapt though.} Fluffy told me, {Since I want to stay as your dog, I need to learn the culture and do my best to fit in with the pack.}

{You don't have to fit in.} I said.

{But I don't want you to send me to the Colored Mountains.} Fluffy said.

{Its a really nice place!} I said, {It's full of magic and legends. Why the other day, I met heroes from some of my favorite legends!}

And I wasn't sending him back because he couldn't fit in here. It was because he belonged back home with his family! He was some kind of prince back home! His family missed him! His beautiful Mama cried every night for him to return, and... and...

I realized at this point that Madam Silvia had stopped talking. We all clapped again. Fluffy had gotten really quiet. Did we get caught gossiping? I looked over to Ki and our eyes met.

Ki smiled, his usual smile, {Is there anything I can do for you, goddess?}

{It's nothing, don't worry, Ki.} I quickly said. Ki was just the usual Ki.

If I hadn't overheard him on the mindlink, I wouldn't have known he was in a bad mood, or that he even had such a stern side to him. Then again, Harvey drove me to school today, and we had all our usual conversations and updates, and he was the usual Harvey too. The fact that my betas had argued last night was not reported either.

I started to worry about what my betas did behind my back. Besides, plotting and scheming, I mean planning and scheduling on my behalf, did they fight and argue a lot? Were they unhappy with their work situation? What if I was the only one oblivious to the cracks? It's very rare for an Alpha to have more than one Beta - and I had three.

We had to run together for a long, long, time - an Alpha and Beta relationship was kind of like a rest of our lives for as long as our pack exists kind of relationship, but what could I possibly do to mend the cracks I could not see in their relationships?

I went back to my position backstage to wait. We were going to start soon.

"Places everyone!" Mr Devon went around yelling, "We're terribly behind schedule."

I refrained from thinking anything unkind - like how he was the one who called us away from our places, and then wouldn't stop his soliloquy...

For some reason, I kept thinking these little cynical retorts today. At first, I just thought I was getting wittier, or maybe Coach Williams was right, and I was a more sarcastic person than I had thought. Maybe I was finally growing into that rebellious teenage phase!

I was just in a bad mood right now. I couldn't quite explain it. I just felt really restricted, like I was constantly being restrained, and it was really ticking Boo off.

Maybe it was just everything - the bad brush with Coach Williams, being dragged into the Last Hurrah, the crazy zoo visitors, the boring science lab lesson... or maybe its having to miss archery, or hearing about my beta's row, or having to listen to fake flowery talk instead of really taking this last chance to rehearse till we nailed it... for some reason, after overhearing Fluffy's comment, even though I know it was just a joke, I couldn't help but feel Madam Silvia really looked down on us under all the nice platitudes.

Yeah, my attitude was as bad as Ben's today. It felt so weird, like the whole world was bleak and the teachers were made of all kinds of stupids.