MY WAKE UP CALL

We all took our seats and faced front for Link to start the debrief for today's orienteering exercise. It went, more or less, like any of our debriefs after Lycan Study trip, so I was pretty happy. It was nice to feel like everything was still normal.

On one hand, a magic bow that shoots magic was totally cool (once again, I had no idea where it disappeared to - but I felt quite sure one of my betas must have put it away in a safe place for me. Omo. At the rate I was going, I'd never be able to find anything without a beta around.) On the other hand, the changes that were happening to me were now definitely affecting my pack.

We now had a supply of Gyaara meat - I think Gamma Harry had asked and our lovely Luna Bell had volunteered to have the Underground Army deliver the game from their training hunts to the packhouse kitchen every week.

I'm not sure if anyone else realized but Gyaara were legendary creatures only found in the Colored Mountains - as in they didn't exist in the plains. Growing up, the adults would tell pups that if they don't stay in bed, the gyaara would come and eat them, but they only said that because nobody believed they were real. It was like saying Santa's reindeer were real (and that his reindeer farm was going to be our weekly meat supplier.)It was CRAZY TALK.

I remembered reading about how in Black Forest territory, there were wild boar in their woods. It was highly recommended to visitors to stop by an inn or pub to eat some with a pint of local brew. It was a "local specialty".

Was Moon Bell's local specialty going to be Gyaara?

I had to say, my wolves took the news very calmly. Nobody expressed shock at the appearance of Gyaara. Instead, there was a constant queue at the buffet line to try some. We had all read and heard about these creatures from Lycan legends, and now we were acting like tourists trying the "local specialty" from the Colored Mountains.

It was like when I was a pup, and after watching Sonic, I insisted that I just had to eat a hot dog - and not just any hot dog, it had to be a CHILLI DOG. Because you know, whatever was the favorite food of the cartoon hero I was watching was also my new favorite food.

Mum made me hotdogs with ketchup. But one day, we were walking in Gate City and passed one of Teacher SO's hotdog stands (he had a few strategically placed stands around the city.) There was a sign for a "NEW!" hotdog. Chilli dog!

Naturally, I wouldn't move until Mum bought me one. We bought the promotional set - a chilli dog and orange juice (Mum topped up because she didn't want me to drink coke.)

It was HEAVEN!

The feeling of eating something I had only ever seen on TV.

The taste was pretty good too.

After that, I told Mum fried chicken was back at number one as my favorite food, and Mum decided to buy fried chicken home for dinner because Dad liked it too.

Yeah, so anyway, everyone queued and ate gyaara. I didn't. I was too busy during the picnic to queue for food… and also, I don't know… I always had an inertia towards new foods.

Anyway, the only one who gasped at the news that we would now have a regular supply of legendary meat was Mama Rosa who said, "Oh goddess! I have no recipe for Gyaara!"

The packhouse kitchen had an emergency meeting and I think we should be expecting stews, roasts, and ham. They've pretty much decided to pretend it was beef.

Someone said it tasted like goat - which we did have in our packlands. There was a small family goat farm somewhere here, but they were reared for milk, not meat… but I digress.

But there were also uneasy side effects of change… like what Flynn had pointed out, the guys around me, they couldn't let themselves be complacent about their place in the pack hierarchy. It used to be that most guys would just slack and do normal teenager things like play computer games until their Senior Year. That's when they start studying for college entrance exams and/or training for their first warrior ranking year.

Okay, I'm saying "most guys" because that was based on the stories I've ever heard exchanged among the mothers. Right now, I suspect there was a minority who had seriously started training and studying much earlier (E.g. my good beta Harvey), and there was also at least one guy who didn't train or study because he probably didn't need to. (E.g. my bad beta Ben.)

Me? I trained and studied really hard all my life - but I never really felt my results corelated to my efforts.

Until this year. It was true what they said, "Everything changes after your first shift."

I just didn't expect it to change so drastically.

Because it wasn't just me that changed, my pack, and everything around me seemed to be changing too.

So Link presented the map, the checkpoints, and the bonus checkpoint which only my team managed to reach. There was a point system - 50 points for being the first team, 10 points for each check point, and 10 points for teamwork and good behavior.

There was feedback from some of the guides - mostly the complaint that the distance was impossible for elementary pups to walk within the given timeframe - they would have had to run at full speed.

Someone (ahem, Ben), pointed out that for my team to get to the bonus checkpoint, we had taken a shortcut across the field - which was technically a foul since we were not allowed to leave the foot paths.

Ahahaha, so what now? Was Ben going to confront those three pups and wrestle their chocolate coin medal from their little hands?

Flynn stepped in to say that they've already deducted the 10 points for the rule break. The win was still counted.

Lizzy rolled her eyes and called Ben a sore loser. Ben and Angela's team was the closest to winning (they were also the most competitive wolves in my gang.) They had completed all three checkpoints, and one of girls in his group actually figured out that the bonus checkpoint was next to the pond in the park.

They were stopped by Dawn because we were out of time though.

If Ben and his team had gotten to the Bonus Checkpoint - if they just had 10 more minutes, they would have won.

"We were sooo… close." Angela pouted.

"I bet you must have given them sooo… many hints too." Delilah accused her friend.

"I did not!" Angela protested. And then she crossed her arms and pouted some more when she realized the disbelief in everyone's eyes, "Ben gave clues too."

"I did not!" Ben denied.

Ben's idea of not giving clues was to grumble loudly to Angela stuff like, "Dumb pups taking the long way around on the gravel paths. It would've been faster if they took the footpaths."

But I had to give it to their pups, they took the criticism in their stride. One of the girls even brought a highlighter to draw out the right paths. That was also how she figured out where the last Bonus Checkpoint was - by listening carefully and working it out with a highlighter on her map. This girl… why didn't I have someone like that on my team? Why did I get stuck with the three muskerteers?

"She was a lot like Sam." Ben chuffed when they talked about the pups who showed potential in today's exercise.

Eh. That really surprised me, "Me?"

"You always do stuff like that." Ben argued, "Like who brings their own paper bag of tinder to outdoor camping trips?"

My friends all laughed like it was a funny thing to do. Humph! My fire was always the fastest and biggest!

"Oh yeah," Shannon remembered, "Do you remember the time she brought her own can opener for the sandwich making thing?"

"If I hadn't, how was anyone going to open the spam?" I argued. I mean, seriously!

"Or the time she brought garbage bags when we went to the beach for a picnic!" Lizzy remembered.

Come on! You dare laugh! They really came in handy. We could put our bags on top of them when we played, sit on them (because we forgot to bring the picnic mat), and after that, we used them to clean up our trash.

"Yuh." Even Jonah got on board, "Sam always brings weird things with her."

"Oh!" Shannon remembered another one, "She brought make up this one camp."

"Sam? Make up?" Lizzy sounded properly shocked.

"Her mum's shadow and eyeliner." Shannon explained, "So we could draw beards on our faces for the camp night skit."

"OMG!" Angela clapped and laughed, "You guys were hilarious!"

"Yeah, but don't ever look to Sam for any of the normal stuff." Jessica added, and ALL MY FRIEND agreed.

"No tissue, no wet wipes, no lip balm… never an umbrella - unless it was sunny." Shannon listed.

"Yeah, I go to Jessica for that kind of stuff." Angela nodded.

"Yeah, it's either Jessica or Lizzy." Delilah agreed, "Lizzy has extra hair ties."

Lizzy usually wore them on her wrists, so yes.

"Can we just get back to the debrief?" I prompted. I mean, laugh at my expense on your own free time!

"Yes, Alpha!" Shannon said, but he was just messing.

The others laughed.

I found out the girl's name was Dorothy. I didn't recognize the name until they said she was also known as, Doremi. Why kind of nickname was that? It wasn't shorter at all!

But now I knew the pup named Doremi was in fourth grade now, and she was a hard worker and our number one pup.

"For now." Teacher Cal nodded, "Eventually, the boys would catch up."

I wanted to argue, but for some reason, my mouth clamped shut. I was told this when I was a pup too. I wanted to be the best wolf in our pack. I wanted to be Alpha. BUT I was a girl. They boys would eventually grow up and outrun me.

Was it true? I gave Ben a side glance. He was smirking at something Jonah had said. Lizzy pounded the back of Jonah's chair so it must be something stupid.

BUT… right now, my Luna was already miles across the horizon in terms of establishing himself, not just in his pack and mine, but also in the Colored Mountains and all around the plains.

It wasn't just my Luna. My betas, special team… even Jonah, who had always been the only pup taller than me from our gang. I think he had a major growth spurt since his first shift. Lizzy was pounding the back of his chair HARD, but it didn't even move off the floor. Jonah only laughed, "Ouch Lizzy, you're hurting the chair."

Maybe, just maybe, I was sitting here at the brink of being outrun. Any moment now, all my wolves, my Betas, Gammas, Special Team… all of them were going to outclass me.

Meanwhile, I couldn't even keep track of where my things were.

I think Flynn's wake up call wasn't just the guys. I can't just sit back and be complacent either. If I didn't figure out a way to run faster and better, I was going to be left behind to eat their dust. Or worse, on the bench to clap and cheer with rest of the girls. Grrr… I hated that idea even more. I know I was a girl, I liked being a girl, but I WAS THE ALPHA!

And who said girls had to be cheerleaders? I wanted to play to win!