THE YARROWS

14 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY, 11.45

Dean's new home was really deep in the estate. Mum commented that this was considered a good residential area in our pack. I noticed the houses were larger, and had gates and walls.

Mum remembered that Michael, the artist had a bungalow here. And Anabell and Fred, Hank's parents lived here too. Titanium lived a few streets down. I guess this was the neighborhood where a lot of deltas, retired and current lived. Well, except for Michael, the artist. Who was Michael, the artist anyway?

I asked Mum.

Mum tried to recall what she knew about him, "You must have seen him before. He comes for breakfast on Sunday sometimes. Oh! He has a studio in Gate City and makes clay pots. He gave your Dad one..."

"I made a clay pot in school." Sabre said.

"I might have accidentally taken one of his prized ones." Dad admitted, "When I visited his Studio during the opening, he offered to give me any pot in the studio. I looked around and picked one. He gave it to me, but he looked very reluctant at parting with it."

I've heard that story before, "The glazed pot on our mantle?"

"Taylor said my pot looked like a potty. So she made one that looked like a basin to match." Sabre continued.

"Yes!" Dad nodded, "Exactly that one."

"That's nice, baby." Mum told Sabre.

I nodded, "You chose well dad. I like that pot. The glazing is very pretty."

"I should've just given it to you." Dad said, "I actually don't know how to appreciate these things."

I laughed, "But you did give it to me."

Dad had also said the same thing then too, but it was all gone now with our old Alpha House.

"Mama, are you sure Taylor is going to be at the party?" Sabre wanted to confirm.

"Yes, baby. Her mum told me so just this morning... Oh!" Mum suddenly remembered, "Michael had a daughter. Maybe around Savy's age. I think her name was Carol?"

We didn't have a Carol that was Savy's age...

"Carlie?" Savy asked.

"Oh yes! Carlie." Mum agreed, "She was named after his late brother."

Oh.

"The rogue situation back then was bad." Dad said. It was what he said everytime we went back 10 years in history and remembered we had lost someone.

I decided to change the subject, "What's so great about this neighborhood anyway? It's kind of far away from everything. Even our feeder bus didn't come anywhere near here."

"I want to take the school bus to school." Sabre announced.

"Why, baby? I thought you liked it when Ki drove you to school?" Mum asked.

"If you own property in this part of town, you won't be someone who needed a feeder bus to get around." Savy informed me.

"Yeah, when Ki drives me to school, alot of ladies would come over and say good morning. But Taylor says those ladies just want to see Ki. And when they say I'm cute, they really mean Ki is cute." Sabre made a face, "I don't get it! I'm a lot cuter than Ki!"

"Yes, baby, I think so too." Mum reassured the little girl on her lap before saying, "Most of the residents here would own a car or two."

"But kids can't drive!" I argued, "They should be more considerate about their kid's travel convenience."

Mum laughed and shook her head at that.

"Maybe they should all get some betas to drive their kids to school too." Sabre suggested.

Now we all laughed.

"Oh baby, betas are very special. There aren't that many of them around." Mum told her.

This was apparently news to Sabre. She opened her mouth and then shut it again. Then she became quiet, leaning on Mum's shoulder to look out the window.

The ride was taking forever. No wonder Dean, Drew, and Darlyn were always late! Oh wait no... Dean's old house was right next to the main part of town, and the Yarrow pups were always late even then.

It was a well known fact that if you arranged to meet one of the Yarrow siblings at any time, you'd have to allow for waiting time.

In fact, I was told by Shannon that among the guys, they always told Dean and Drew that the meeting time was half an hour earlier than the actual set time.

I thought that was mean. I wouldn't want my friends to tell me they were meeting at 3, when they were only planning to show up at 3.30pm.

I worried that Dean would find out and feel hurt, but until today, he hadn't found out. In fact, Shannon had reported, Dean and Drew would still be the last ones to arrive.

I guess that was true. I've met Dean in town twice. Just the two of us. The first time, we were supposed to buy a birthday gift for Jessica. I stood on the street at the feeder stop and waited 45 minutes before he showed up. It was summer and there was no shelter at our meeting point. I stood in the sun till I had a tanline where my t-shirt sleeve ended. And I had to live with the unsightly tan line for a week - and pretend not to care that it was stupid looking when we went swimming.

The second time, Dean asked me to watch a movie with him. He said he had an extra ticket and no one else wanted to see it.

The movie was at 3pm, so we should meet at 2.45pm at the cinema.

I decided to take Shannon's advice this time though. Just to be safe. I told Dean to meet me at 2.15.

But because I wasn't used to lying to my best friend, I felt bad and left the house earlier, reaching at 2.35pm. 10 minutes ahead of the correct meeting time. If Dean had been there, I would have been serious about confessing my deceit. But he wasn't.

After that, I waited another 45 minutes. Although it was still summer, it was a rainy day. The air conditioning in the theatre turned icy - I don't know the science behind that. But I was only wearing a tank top and shorts that day to matchy Savy who took the chance to go shopping in town. (Till today, I suspect Mum and Dad only allowed it because they thought Savy and Lizzy were watching the movie with us.)

Anyway, I was cold. I mean, I wouldn't fall sick or anything, my wolf was strong. But it was uncomfortable to endure for the whole 45 minutes of waiting and doing nothing but studying movie posters.

And we were late for the movie. Which was just as well, because the movie turned out to be a really sappy one. No wonder no one else wanted the free ticket!

I wonder if it had just happened to be a super unlucky day each time.

But going to the Yarrow's was okay. They would be there anyway, so no one would be late.

"We're late." Mum pursed her lips.

"It wasn't me." Savy told her.

"It wasn't me." Sabre parroted.

Was it me? I tried to think.

"We dwaddled too long on our porch." Mum decided.

"We were waiting for Lucas." Dad remembered.

So it was the beta's fault?

"Lizzy said they were late cos Ben wouldn't wake up. They left him at home." Savy said.

So it was MY beta's fault?

"You need to cover for Ben." Savy informed me, "Don't let Dean realize that Ben didn't come. I've already told Lizzy you would."

Wait what?

"It's complicated, but Lizzy thinks if Dean thinks that Ben had snubbed him, our gang might end up splitting." Savy warned.

Our gang? Impossible.

"It's not how it used to be anymore, Sam." Savy sighed, "You saw what happened last night. Ben literally stood by and let the other guys throw Dean under the bus."

Not literally under a bus... But yeah, okay. Ben hadn't stopped the Morning Light goons. None of the guys there had.

"That's cos Dean gate-crashed and stuff right?" I pointed out, "It's all bygones now."

I heard Shannon said it was enough. Water under the bridge, just let it flow.

Savy sighed again, "I suppose. Initially, Lizzy thought it was better to let the guys have their revenge. You know, let them get it out of their system and move on the way they usually do. But Darlyn said Dean's still not talking to Drew today. And blah blah blah blah..."

I shook my head. Blah blah blah? When did Savy ever say blah blah blah?

"What?"

"Sam, are you okay?" Savy's brow creased at me for the second time today, "You've been acting weird all day... I mean weird, even for you."

Trust Savy to show concern and still insult me at the same time!

"Oh," said Mum, "Did you notice it too, Savy? I thought it was my imagination. Dear, what do you think?"

Dad looked back from the front passenger seat and frowned his thinking frown. Then he turned back front again without a word.

Mum frowned again. She was looking at me. But I knew she was on mindlink with Dad.

We were silent the rest of the way. Savy picked up her phone and started scrolling and tapping on it intermittently - she had a lot of posts to like and comment on. Social media was demanding like that.

Mum continued frowning at me, but I'm not going to take it personally. She was probably frowning at what Dad was saying... about me. I admit I was tempted to use my "gift" of evesdropping, I mean INSIGHT, but I resisted and looked out of the window instead.

Outside I peeked through gates and fences to look at the different houses and trees. One house had a blue fence and dead climbing plants all over it...I'm guessing it would look better in Spring. Another had a red roof. I wondered which one was Dean's new place.

I was beginning to suspect Beta Lucas had lost his way and was leading us on a grand tour of Dean's new neighborhood and maybe even the neighborhoods next to it too. But eventually, our cars did find the right street. I've never been to Dean's new place before, but I knew at once we were here because of the unnatural population of cars parked on either side of the street in such a way that our cars had to maneuver through them.

If the party ain't here, I don't know what was.

Dean's new home had a very freshly painted white fence and a black gate which was left open. Our cars stopped just outside the gate. Mrs Beta and Lizzy were dropped off first. They waited for us in front of the gate, while Beta Lucas drove on to find a space to park on the crowded street.

Jax got out to open the doors for us.

"We're here." Mum said with forced lightness, "Sam, come straight to me the moment you feel too tired and want to go home. We can leave anytime."

We got out of the car and followed Dad and Mum through the gate. It was a nice day with the sun out and everything. Even the wind felt pleasant. Despite the bits of snow clinging to the side of the walls, it was actually nice enought to be going about coatless.

In fact, Dean's family had taken advantage of the nice weather by opening up their patio to the lawn. And there were already guests mingling around with hot drinks in hand.

Despite the number of cars in the street, the garden wasn't terribly crowded. Most of them were just in casual sweaters and jeans, and everyone looked generally happy and relaxed.

But there was just one problem - why didn't I recognize anyone? Even if the wolves nearest to us bowed politely as my Dad and Mum passed, I couldn't place a single one.

"I see Florence's family is here." Mum said. "Yes, they applied for the visas last week." Dad said, "Her family was large enough to make up a small pack!"

Hahaha. Oh, so these were Florence's family. Not our pack.

I felt more relieved. That explained why my wolf didn't acknowledge. Then all the good feelings left when I realized I had been tapping into my parent's mindlink. GAH! I pulled out quickly (but stealthily, like very slowly and quietly, so their mindlink would not feel the disturbance.) Ooooohhh I feel like the worst kind of parasite!

What kind of daughter evesdropped on her parent's mindlinks? Okay, it was an accident. I needed to be more careful. I bound Boo's powers down a notch tighter, just in case.

I didn't feel very stable today.

"Sam's here." I heard Darlyn say. Dean and Drew pop out from one of the rooms.

Dean's parents came out from what looked like the kitchen, "Alpha! Luna! Welcome! Thank you for coming."

"Thank you for inviting us." Dad answered.

"Your new home is lovely!" Mum handed Florence a small package, "I hope you would like this."

"Oh!" Florence recognized the store label on the package, "Thank you, thank you, Luna."

"Don't mention it, Florence." Mum smiled.

"Do you want to see the house, Luna?" Florence asked.

"Mum, can Sam, Savy, and Lizzy come with us?" Dean asked.

"What? Won't they want to see the rest of our house?" Florence asked.

"We can show them." Dean promised.

So that's how Savy, Lizzy, and I were separated from the safe bubble of our mothers' greater social skills, and brought upstairs to meet three other wolves.

"These are Yunie, Jun, and Estée." Dean said, "They're transfering to New Leaf Academy this year. Yunie and Jun are sisters."

"Hi." "Hi." "Hi." We all exchanged a few awkward Hi's.

Where were all the other Night Leaf wolves?