Chapter 2 - "Mine."-02
I push the rim of my glasses up, hike my backpack higher, and throw the bloodied napkin away on my way out of the house.
Now, it's not that I can't see without glasses. I can, and in fact, my vision is better than that of normal humans. It's just not on par with the other wolves. So when I look too hard at tiny things or read too much, my head starts aching and eyes start to tear up. That's why the pack doctor had kindly suggested that I wear glasses with a minuscule amount of power in them.
I sigh as I close the main door behind me and hide the keys in the flowerpot — easy to find, I know — but it's not like anyone's going to come and rob my house. One look at it and even the biggest robber would lose the urge to rob. It's in such a shabby and worn-out state.
It takes a five-minute walk to reach school, thankfully. That's because my house is situated on the border of pack territory and one can find all establishments in and around pack land — which is called no man's land, lying between our pack and the Mordecai pack.
The two packs are the only ones that are situated the closest to each other, out of the eighteen packs in the US. It had been a problem on who would get which land, but it was all solved 15 years ago, when the Alphas had made a treaty, and now there are no fights regarding the border, with peace prevailing between us. To encourage this, our packs agreed to have one school common for both of us.
Once the inordinate steel gates of Greenville High comes into view, I grimace unintentionally, seeing as this is my least favorite place in the whole world. I chide myself for being a coward and take a deep, shaky breath, then step inside it with a brave smile on. But since my head is hung low, I doubt anyone notices it.
I climb up the short set of stairs and enter the building without running into any trouble, which does a lot to lift my mood. I walk up to my locker leisurely, a small smile still etched onto my face. My smile widens further when I spot Lenora Andrews, my best friend since – well, forever, leaning against my locker.
She's clutching her books tightly to her chest, looking around – probably searching for me – with wide eyes. Finally, those twinkling emerald orbs land on me and she smiles that hundred-watt smile that usually brightens my day.
"Hey, Mike!" She greets enthusiastically, "Did you hear about—" She begins, but when she looks at my face, her wide eyes widen further; if that's even possible, "Whoa! Is that . . . Is that a smile I'm seeing on your face? Who are you and what have you done to my emo best friend?" She screams, almost deafening me in her shock.
Several heads turn our way and she ducks her head, slapping a hand over her mouth in embarrassment and panic when she realizes that she's gaining attention. Wouldn't want to add more trouble now, would we? We have a lot on our plate with the bullying as it is.
"Nah. It's nothing. I'm just happy since no one gave me shit this morning," I shrug and she smiles empathetically. She can understand what I mean because, although her situation at home is not like mine, she goes through a bit of bullying too. It's not as brutal as I'm put through, and I'm eternally thankful to the Goddess for that.
"Wow, that's great! I hope your whole day goes by — wait, is that blood!?" She stops mid-sentence once again, her thoughts sidetracked when she notices the small gash on my temple. I wince as I remember how I got it, and apparently, it is confirmation enough for her to fly off the hook.
"That son of a bîtch—okay, daughter of a bitch, or is it bastard? Whatever. How dare she! You're her own flesh and blood—"
"Nora! Stop it! She's didn't do it intentionally. She was drunk," I claim defensively, but we both know that it's not true. Her face softens considerably at my pathetic attempt at lying, and she raises one hand to cup my cheek softly, her thumb rubbing across my jaw in a soothing motion.
"Why do you put up with her, Mike? You can just . . . file a suit against her or something. Hell, letting the elders know of the atrocities going on here will be enough!" She exclaims, fuming once again. A few strands of blonde hair that had come out of her ponytail and frame her face take the edge away from her glower, giving her an angry kitten look, instead of the murderous intimidation she was going for.
I chuckle bitterly at her anger, knowing that her suggestions won't work. Our Alpha knows full well what's happening in his pack, but does nothing to stop it. And it's a next to impossible task to approach the Elders without the Alpha's permission.
"Don't worry about it. It's nothing I can't handle. Now let's get to class before Mr. White rips us a slip," I say and grab ahold of her elbow, leading her grumbling self in the direction of our homeroom.
"What's all the buzz about?" I question Nora curiously, falling into step with her as we make our way out of English; the only class that we have in common besides homeroom as she'd chosen a variety of science subjects, while I'd stuck to Accounting and Economics and a few other business subjects, along with History.
"I don't know much. All I heard is that two new students have joined our school. Wait a sec, I'll ask." She says, shaking her head. She then grabs a passing freshman by the elbow, making him jerk to a stop in surprise.
"Hey. Do you know who the new students are?" She inquires and his eyes widen the size of moons.
What's wrong with him?
"Um," he gulps, "I-It's Alpha S-Seneca Mordecai and Beta E-Ezra Harland of the M-Mordecai pack," He stutters nervously and I want to roll my eyes at his over-exaggeration, because, c'mon! It's not as if merely saying two people's names out loud meant danger. Nora gasps in shock and her grip on his elbow loosens, which he takes as an advantage to escape and scurry away.
"What?" I ask, thrown off the loop by her reaction. This seems to pull her out of her reverie and her head swivels in my direction so fast, I'm surprised she didn't get whiplash.
"You don't know who Alpha Mordecai is?" She caterwauls, her eyes widening again to the size of saucers.
"Um, the Alpha of the biggest pack?" I prompt, wondering the reason for her overdramatic reaction.
"Of course, everyone knows that! But don't you know why she's feared and respected so much?" She inquires, her tone now circuiting to a low whisper.