WHAT DID PEARL WANT?

"Sam! Let's go home together." Pearl was right next to my desk the moment the last bell rang.

Maria hissed lightly. She was in a good mood today. Our gym lesson was combined with Dino's class earlier and the both of them had to sit out since they were both medically certified as unfit for gym lessons.

I wonder why vampires didn't do gym. They were definitely strong enough. Maybe they were too strong.

"Yeah, okay." I answered. I finished putting my stuff in my bag and slung it on.

"Don't forget we're meeting at Henry's tomorrow." Marcus called out at our departure.

"Yups! See you!" Pearl shot Marcus a wide smile.

Oh yeah. My print outs were in ashes now. Maybe I'll have to work on it from my phone later.

"Yeah, okay." I shrugged and waved goodbye.

"It's really too bad we can't go together." Pearl told me the moment we stepped out of the classroom.

I remembered the text exchanged between Henry and Killion, Henry had said it was so dangerous, he wouldn't drive through the area himself, "Yeah."

"I'm sure Henry was exaggerating." Pearl pouted. She looked at me with puppy dog eyes, "You don't think my packland is dangerous, do you?"

To be honest, I had no idea what the situation in Pearl's packland was like. Pearl and Bra's station was the one right smack at the main entrance of Central Coven. The station was named Central Coven. You know... the infamous vampire's Central Coven? The one with the largest fight cage arena in the continent? It was also touted for its dazzling nightlife and sold T-shirts with the words "If it's a vice, it's nice."

I didn't think Henry was exaggerating at all. But from the way Pearl was asking me, I knew she wanted me to assure her that her packland was safe.

In our packlands, we could leave the backdoor unlocked and our packhouse was always open. But I've heard of packlands where you drove with the car doors locked at all times and never stopped driving no matter what you hit.

"I don't know." I answered honestly.

"My dad had to work this Saturday." Pearl told me, "He usually sends me to the train station in the morning. I didn't want to say it in the chat group but I'm actually quite scared about going to the station on my own."

"How come?" I asked. I thought she said her packland wasn't dangerous?

Pearl looked at me and pressed her lips together in thought, then she said, "Well, it's dangerous for a girl to walk around alone. I can't even shift or defend myself."

That must be tough.

"Unlike you, I don't have a car and a bodyguard driver." Pearl pointed out, before sighing, "Never mind, I shouldn't ever expect someone like you to understand."

She probably didn't mean it that way, but the way she said it made me feel guilty.

I almost wanted to help her out. When I heard she was afraid, I almost offered to send her to Henry's place. BUT... I stopped short when she said that last bit.

Why was she asking me for help like that? Was she even asking me for help? Shouldn't asking for help be more of a, "Hey, Sam, can you help me out and gimme a ride?"

What's with the "you won't understand" and "unlike you"?

Why did she think I had my own car? Who had their own car at 15? We weren't even at legal driving age. Maybe Henry... Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised, he had his own personal assistant!

Okay, so did I, but I picked up mine from the roadside. Henry's PA seemed legit.

Oh, but I was distracted. Something had tripped me up, what was it?

Oh yes, Pearl. What did Pearl want? She wanted a ride to Henry's, but she didn't ask me to give her a ride, she was guilting me for not offering it.

And that ticked me off. I wanted to be generous to my friends. I'm strong and I'm not afraid of rogues, but right at that moment, I stopped because of the way she asked, or rather the way she didn't ask.

By the time I untangled all this in my mind, time had lapsed and I couldn't quite say anything about it anymore.

Pearl started talking about the guys we were going to meet at the station. She made me feel like we were a couple of giddy girls meeting boys, but they were just Jules, Matt, and Bra.

In fact, it was just Jules and Bra today. It happened now and then. Matt had a lot more going on being the school's student president and all that.

"Where's Matt?" Pearl asked.

"He has something on with his girlfriend." Bra said.

"Matt has a girlfriend?" Pearl asked, "I bet she is super pretty."

"Uh, yeah." Jules said looking away.

"I guess." Bra said.

"Yeah. She's really pretty." I said, remembering them smiling at each other, "They looked happy together."

Suddenly I remembered the sad feeling too. Like a dream, the sadness that came over me earlier today had dissipated over the day, I barely felt it now.

"What's wrong, Sam?" Jules asked. Darn. I forgot how Jules was sensitive to my change in moods.

I shook my head, "I'm just thinking about Pearl's problem tomorrow."

Jules frowned, "What problem?"

"Who has problems on Saturdays?" Bra asked.

Jules laughed, "Yeah, tell your problems you only work on weekdays."

Pearls gave a short laugh and then told her story, including how Henry was so mean on the text, "If only I had a ride like Sam. I'm so envious, she gets chauffeured around with her own car and bodyguard."

Jules and Bra looked around the train quickly.

"Hahaha, that's funny." Bra announced loudly.

"Yeah, I don't see any car and chauffer here." Jules added with a shrug.

What's up with them?

"Well, you can never be too careful." Jules said. He shifted his position to stand closer to me. I noticed a stranger tilt his head, was he looking at me?

Bra saw it too and growled. The man quickly looked away.

We were probably being too noisy again.

"I could pick you up." I finally told Pearl. I had meant to from the beginning anyway. Even if she didn't know how to ask properly, she was still my friend.

"Eh, you shouldn't." Bra said.

"Anyway, it's not along the way at all." Jules informed me. "Henry's pack is just an expressway from yours."

"Oh, she can't drive through following the train line?" Pearl asked.

"That would take hours by car!" Jules said.

"Yeah." Bra agreed.

Oh, I didn't know.

That's another thing that ticked me off. Why did everyone else seem to know more than I did about these things?

I mean, okay, Jules and Henry were in the same club, but how did that mean Jules would know where Henry's pack was. Or mine? Or Pearl's? Was this another Beta magic trick?

"Anyway, an alpha's car won't be able to enter our packland without governing paperwork." Bra said, and for the first time, I heard his serious quiet voice, "There are regulations and if an alpha's car were to pass through, it would require an entourage. Seriously troublesome stuff, with extra duties handed out all around, including me, so please Sam, don't come."

I laughed at the last bit.

Oh wait, and then it clicked, "You and Pearl are in the same pack?"

Jules burst out laughing at that, "How many Lycan packs do you think there are in Central Covens?"

I see.

"One?" I figured out since Jules asked it like that.

But Bra had always acted like he didn't really know Pearl. I guess not everyone had to know each other even if you were in the same pack. Still, something didn't click with that...

Wait a minute, what about Priya?

"How does Priya get home?" I asked.

"I pick her up from the station after dinner. She likes to hang out with friends till late." Bra told me.

I nodded. Priya did seem to be the popular type. If I had time to rewrite that letter to myself, I'd write about improving my social skills to be friendly and cheerful and energizing like Priya.

"My stop. Bye." Bra informed us and left. He didn't even look at Pearl.

"Me too." Pearl said and alighted without looking back. She didn't return my wave. I think I've disappointed her.

I'm feeling relieved and confused and annoyed all at the same time. This was unusual. Usually it was light-hearted and fun with the guys.

"I heard there was a fire at the Green Packlands." Jules said now that we were alone. Unlike me, Jules didn't seem as fazed by my discovery that Bra, Priya, and Pearl were from the same pack. Then again, unlike me, Jules had figured it out from the day Pearl got off to go home at the Central Coven Station.

Was it strange that the mention of last night's fire helped me calm down? Now that it was just Jules and me, we sat down on two empty seats and relaxed.

"It wasn't me." I answered immediately.

Jules laughed.

"I could see the smoke from my bedroom." He told me. It's on the Lycan news -mysterious fire from the Green Packlands."

I laughed, "Seriously? Wow. It was just a fire."

"Well, it's not everyday something like that happens in the North." Jules told me.

Yeah. I guess not. Most of Lycan news revolved around the central and parts of the western continent.

"It was my pack." I told Jules, "We were trying something out, but it backfired."

We both laughed a little at my attempt at humor. (Get it? A fire that backfired? Well Jules got it.)

"But it was contained experiment. There were no casualties." I added so he wouldn't worry.

Jules laughed, "You guys made an unexplainable fire, probably the size of a large house as a "contained experiment"? You Northern wolves are crazy."

"Aren't you a Northern wolf too?" I asked, "Your station is after mine!"

"Sorry nope," Jules laughed, "You need to take a good look at the train map. Gate City is the most northern station, mine is north western."

Oh right, Jules stop was one of the stations between Gate City and West Mountains.

"Okay, if Northern wolves are wild, what are western wolves?" I asked.

"We're snags." Jules grinned.

What the hell was that?

"New Age Sentitive Guys." Jules explained.

"I didn't ask." I growled and tossed my head.

Jules laughed.

Then I remembered Jake, Jerry, Alec, and Ken. I laughed, "You're not tricking me Jules, I know West Mountain wolves and those idiots are not snags."

Jules smiled, "You must have met our warriors then."

And then I really cracked up. Yeah. Hahaha. Those idiots were. I wondered how they were doing now?

All too soon, my stop rolled around, "Bye Jules."

"See you." Jules smiled.

I left the train smiling. While on the bus I replayed the conversation with Jules and realized something... Did that mean Jules was not a warrior?

I had always assumed that the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma wolves were naturally also the top three fighter wolves of the pack. Jules was obviously a beta wolf, but now that I thought about it, Jules didn't seem like a fighter wolf.

Even his human form was slight. I mean, sure he was taller than I was, and his shoulders were broader, but I was a girl. And I knew most wolves weren't built like Harvey or Killion or Flynn or Hank or... Well, let's just say most wolves outside my packland were Dean size. But was Jules not a warrior wolf? I wondered how that worked.

It seemed that the more I discovered about the world around me, the more I realized that I didn't know anything at all.