A LOT ON MY MIND

I couldn't quite feel at peace after the Talent Time. There was just a lot going on.

I was still a little disillusioned about the predetermined medals. What if fate was this way, and all my running would just lead us to the same ending too? Okay, maybe it was a stretch to compare the hand of fate to a crummy highschool Talent Time. Maybe I'm a little bit bitter.

I was also avoiding Henry and Janice because Henry seemed to have forgotten we were in school and it turned out that I was a PRUDE.

If anyone had called me a prude before today, I would have laughed because I would have NEVER believed it. Right now though, I really couldn't help but feel like Henry was being very inappropriate. His hands were in all the wrong places!

Especially since Janice was supposed to be in love with Marcus!

Even though this had nothing to do with me, and Janice seemed quite happy to have his attention, I'm not sure why it made me feel so truamatized, it was like I was the one being violated. I had no idea prudes were such sensitive people.

Everything around me was a noisy mess too. It was the last day of school so students should return to their classroom and clean their desks and empty their lockers after the concert. But of course, students, at least at Winderhill, weren't the type who'd prioritize cleaning desks and lockers over looking up friends and exchanging gossip and ironing other last minute important details before school's out - like who was going to Abigail's party and what would they wear.

Speaking of which, could I just go in what I was wearing right now? Krystal had said little black dress and this was technically a skirt with a blouse. Would it matter?

I remembered how Savy had pulled out a bunch of dresses from my wardrobe last night. All legit LBDs... It shouldn't be hard to find something last minute.

Wait, since when had I ever worried about what I should wear? And why was I worrying about it now, of all things?

Our band had to clean up our own equipment after changing back out into our uniforms. Honestly, I wasn't much help since I didn't know which plug to pull out or anything.

I didn't even know how to unplug my own mic. EJ had helped me do everything so far.

So I could concentrate on my very Alpha thoughts, like what to wear to Abigail's party later.

When I said I had a lot going on in my head, I didn't say they were important things. I mean, they were important to me... I didn't want to show up at a party under or overdressed. It would be nice to go low key and just hang out with my friends. I hope Abigail's country club came with competent security and there wouldn't be any paparazzi...

Why should this even bother me?

Henry had our cars waiting downstairs for all the equipment to be returned. Yes, OUR cars. Including Marcus' dad who came in a champagne merce to help transport the drum kit.

He parked quite a bit away from the porch so Marcus had to walk quite a bit up and down a few times. I'm not sure why, since the drum was the bulkiest with the most parts, but then again, I wasn't sure why he was using a merce to transport it.

But Henry seemed to be planning on taking all his stuff back in his Peugeot - the one we gave him at his inauguration. The one which was the same model as mine. The one with the tiny boot the size of my locker.

It wasn't going to fit everything.

But based on the number of times he used it, I think it was his current favorite - Just like Janice. Omo. Why did I think that?

Marcus' dad bowed from afar when Henry and I stepped out onto the driveway. I bowed back politely but didn't go over. Henry did though. He shook hands with Marcus' dad and exchanged a few words - all with his arm loped around Janice.

Like hell I was going over.

I hung back with Henry's car and my car, parked side by side so both opened boots were next to each other. My good beta popped open the boot for EJ to return some of the borrowed equipment Harvey had lent Marcus earlier.

Wait a minute...this wasn't my car, at least it wasn't the Peugeot. Its shape was quite different from Henry's car. And its boot was bigger. It was the same blue as all my cars so it's not like I would know. I checked the logo and saw a horse.

I remembered I had three animals, the lion (Peugeot), the horse (Porsche), and the lamb (Lambo) - although I've since noticed that its logo was a bull, not a lamb.

So this is my Porsche right?

I had to walk around it for a closer look, "We got it fixed?"

That was amazing. I mean I was sure after the explosion, the car would be totaled.

"Not quite, Alpha." Harvey winced a little, either at the sun in his eyes or his Alpha's poor sense of car recognition, "We bought a new one. This one is a convertible... Ki said you preferred it."

Oh... I thought it did look a little different.

"So the roof comes down?" I asked, just to be sure I was understanding car technical terms like "convertible."

"Yes, Alpha." Harvey leaned into the driver's window and pushed a button. The roof folded down with a quiet mechanical sliding sound.

"Nice." Henry actually let go of Janice to come check out the car, "Is that a Targa?"

No, it's a Porsche.

I guess he was done with obligatory small talk with Marcus' dad.

"Close. 911 Edition 50 Years Porsche Design." Harvey nodded.

It occurred to me then that they were talking about car models, and also the car model names made as much sense as classical music names to me.

"Sweet." Henry gave a low whistle as he sidestepped out onto the driveway to check out the car, "How the hell did you get your hands on one?"

"Alpha is welcome to test drive when you next visit us." Harvey offered generously.

"Sounds good." Henry nodded, "Schedule that for my next visit then. Maybe I should upgrade my Porsche too."

"Will do, Alpha." Harvey nodded.

For someone who just had his allowance cut for the rest of his life, Henry was sure feeling rich.

"Oh, you can keep the violin, Fluff." Henry called over when he noticed Fluffy trying to fit the violin into his boot, "The effects box and amp and cables too. Just take the whole set. I've got no use for it."

"Are you sure, Henry?" Maybe the stupid competition hit Henry so hard, he had lost all his marbles.

"Yeah, it'll just be taking up storage space after this." Henry shrugged, "You too, Marc. Take what you want."

Then back to Janice he asked, "Do you want the keyboard? I'll have it delivered to your house."

Janice clasped her hands together like Cinderella when the Blue Fairy Bibity bobity boo a pumpkin into a carriage for her.

I couldn't believe what was happening either. WTH was wrong with Henry?

I wanted to ask, but there was a commotion at the front gate. It started as just a blurb, like maybe an irate parent who was accidentally denied entry but quickly escalated into a small squirmish with at least a dozen blue warriors on the scene.

I wondered where they all popped out from? Bert's gate side guard house? The woods? Where might one hide a dozen or more L to XL warriors?

"What the hell's happening there?" Henry muttered.

"Uninvited guests." Harvey answered lowly. His face took a serious edge, "Someone tipped off an expected rogue vamp attack earlier today and our warriors have been fending off hunters and news crews since."

"No kidding." Marcus shook his head in disbelief.

"Fake news?" Henry tested the waters.

Harvey glanced quickly at me, but Henry caught it, "It's fine. I have my own sources. I'm just going to assume you guys took care of it for now."

Harvey nodded, "I have on good standing that there is no danger now."

"Except from those hunters. Some of them are a little cuckoo, you know." Marcus pointed at his head and crossed his eyes when he said that.

"Desperate vigilantes." Henry turned up his nose disdainfully,"They think they're the heroes, but their methods and weapons and traps have been known to cause more harm than good."

Somewhat like playboys.

O.o why did I think that? Why was I so angry at Henry?

"Best keep Sam away from them." Henry advised Harvey.

"They'll probably kidnap her!" Marcus decided.

No, they won't! Had these two even met a hunter in real life? Wait, why was I even defending the hunters?

"Even though wolf hunting is banned, many of the hunters here won't bat an eye if the payoff is worth their risk." Henry said, "It's been getting harder and harder on them too. The rogue population is down, and the vamps have been quiet this year. It's definitely not going to pay their rent, never mind their equipment cost."

Not everyone was money-minded like you. I remembered the conversation between Mor, Gar, and Dan earlier today. Like some of them were doing it because... Oh, I was defending the hunters again.

"It's peaceful...too peaceful." Marcus worried darkly, "My alpha says it's the peace before the storm."

Yeah, Marcus' Alpha would do that. Look out at a perfectly peaceful day and worry that it's too peaceful. For some reason, my anger was transferring to Marcus.

Like how could he be okay with this? Was he really okay with this? Didn't he love Janice? Did he just wake up today and stopped loving her?

"Who knows what kind of storm though." Henry shrugged and returned his arm around Janice.

Urgh.

"What?" Marcus noticed my facial expression.

Nothing. Don't mind my internal storm.

Henry raised his brow at me, "Is that expression because of the storm or something else?"

I would have said storm, but he pointed to Janice when he said "something else". And his hand was on her shoulder, so he was actually pointing from her blind spot.

Urgh.

But my head was too full of complicated "alpha things" so I pointed at him and said the first thing that popped out, "Cooties."

"What?" Marcus coughed.

"Henry's got cooties." I decided. Urgh.

Henry laughed, "What the hell Sam! Are you still in middle school? No... More like elementary school."

But now Janice looked a little embarrassed and pulled away from Henry's arm.

Marcus coughed, "Sam, be more discrete."

Me? What about Mr Playboy?

Janice was a really nice girl! But Henry's just playing. That's wrong!

Right? I'm right, right? That's wrong, right? Or was I wrong? Was I being a prude? Was I being middle school about it?

And I was quite sure Henry wasn't the only playboy here. I looked at Fluffy and EJ who had stopped to sign autographs for some girls. They wanted it "in case you guys get famous one day, we'll have proof that we went to high school together."

"Tada! Then I'll give you my number too, pretty seniors. You can call me for proof anytime." EJ promised.

The pretty seniors laughed, "Thank you!"

See? Playboys all around me.

But EJ was just flirting. Not touching.

"They can look, but they can't touch." Yeah. That's what Mum and Dad said right?

Was this what they meant?

Actually, Dad said they weren't even allowed to look. Haha, my Dad could be a little overprotective.

"Sam, are you okay?" Janice looked worriedly from Henry to me.

Yeah, I'm okay. But you're not. Henry's just playing and you'll be the one crying if you think this is love.

This was when it dawned upon me that I was angry because I felt Henry was hurting my friend even though she didn't realize it yet.

Tada. I found the key knot and managed to untangle all the complicated feelings! Well, not fully, but at least I figured out what was bugging me.

"Yeah." I shrugged and gave Janice one of my wide smiles, "You're my friend Janice. So if Henry ever breaks your heart, just give me a call. I'll break his bones for you."

I guess I could be a little overprotective too.