HANGING OUT WITH MY (NEW) PHONE

I hung around the porch for a bit, I was hungry, but if I ate, I would invariably use a glass or plate that Martha just washed and dried. My school lunch was in my room and there was no way I wanted to re-enter it now that Martha was there. I just didn't want to be stared at by her anymore.

I could just hang out in the living room, but she might be down any minute and I'd hate to be trapped into polite conversation, where Martha would ask me questions that I would try to answer without answering anything particularly definite that would restock her ammunition for more gossip about my family.

But I couldn't stay on the porch much longer. Not only was it cold, it would be weird. Someone was bound to see me loitering from the packhouse. Would it looked like I was locked out of my own home? Or kicked out by the housekeeper?

My best bet would probably be the packhouse kitchen. I could grab something there and then head up to my dad's office. If Dad wasn't having a meeting, I could eat there and then hang out at the library.

I heard Martha come out from my room.

{Wolf approaches}

Not today. I made a run towards the packhouse. My converse sneakers were getting damp from the snow, but I got onto the front porch and managed to pull off the wet shoes before the damp got to my socks.

Next stop: kitchen. I plodded into the kitchen with my socked feet. The moment I entered, everyone froze. Why? I blinked.

And then Esther asked, "Sam?"

Uh huh? I tilted my head, "Yeah?"

"Oh goddess, it is you!" Esther and the other two women gathered around me to stare.

Okay...

"My goddess, Sam. I didn't even recognize you!" Esther said, "Except for your jeans, and that you're the only girl to walk around the pack house without shoes..."

"The snow got my shoes wet." I said sheepishly.

Esther rolled her eyes, "Exactly like that. Well, at least I know you're definitely Sam."

"That's Sam? Alpha's daughter, Sam?" One of the women asked as if to confirm it.

"Yes, Hank said she had her first shift last night." Esther explained.

As I've said before, it was not uncommon for hair or even eye colors to change after the first shift. Even Savy changed, her hair was more blond than brown now, and her eyes turned from mum's tea brown to dad's slate grey.

But everyone had acted like she had always looked that way.

"But so blue..." The other woman marveled.

It appeared that I was now a freak of nature.

"Oh, shouldn't you be home resting?" Esther asked me.

"I got hungry." I told her.

The two women made clucking noises and I was soon furnished with a bowl of stew and some bread. Okay. Wow. I meant to just get a muffin or some crackers.

"Where's you mum?" Esther asked. She looked worried.

"She'll be home later." I said, "Luna stuff probably."

I stuffed the food in my mouth, "This is yum!"

Esther hesitated before asking, "Are you alright, Sam?"

Hm? I paused, "I think so. Why? Do I seem not alright?"

Esther laughed softly. She sounded relief, "You certainly sound like yourself."

Then she lowered her voice so the other two ladies couldn't hear, "I heard you ran the entire pack border...and then fought with Lorent wolves, and attacked a rogue van and rescued kidnapped wolves."

She paused and looked at me, as if considering my reaction. I shrugged, "So?"

"Beta Lucas said he was getting too old to keep up with you this morning. And you just shifted... Most wolves would need to recover from the shift! " Esther told me.

I chuckled a bit, "Beta Lucas had been saying he was getting old for years, but he's still the same. I think he just likes to pretend to be old."

"But you shouldn't push yourself too hard." Esther told me, "Hank is worried. Well, actually, I'm worried too. I mean... Hank says you're the Alpha. But you're also just a girl... promise me you'll always take care of yourself."

"You're over thinking things, Esther." I told her, to be honest, I felt a bit moved by her tone. She sounded so sincerely concerned for me. But I was fine. I was much stronger than this. Much, much stronger.

"Anyway," I said louder, "with all of you around feeding me and taking care of me, I'll always be fine."

Esther sighed and shook her head, but she was laughing a little as she did, "Oh Sam..." And then she startled, "I don't think I can get used to your new look."

"It's kinda freaky." I admitted.

Esther tilted her head, "I suppose. Well not freaky, maybe just a little strange... No, that's not what I meant," Esther shook her head, "I meant special. You know your kind of coloring could only mean a really strong bloodline flowing in you."

"And that doesn't freak you out?" I joked, "Who knows what kind of trouble I'd get into now?"

Esther laughed again, "Just be careful out there, Sam."

I got up to leave, "Thanks for the yummy food." I called to the other ladies.

"It really is her." One of the ladies said.

"Yeah," I heard Esther answer, "That's still our Sam."

Of course, I was still Sam! Who else would I be?

{I'm the Alpha}

Yeah. I know. I'm Alpha Sam. Same difference.

Wolfie became silent. What? She didn't agree?

I knocked on Dad's door and let myself in. He looked surprised to see me, "Sam, is everything alright?"

I nodded. "I'm going to hide here till Martha leaves."

Dad heard Martha's name and nodded. He understood. Hahaha.

I lounged at the window where I always since I was a pup, but today I pulled out my new phone and started figuring it out.

I knew how to use a phone, I've used my mum's, and sometimes we got the extra phone to stay in contact. But every new phone had its quirks. For one thing, this one had fingerprint lock. I tried to figure how it worked... How did it know to light up when I wanted to use it? Motion sensor? Or Light sensor? Or both...

Woah, I had a lot of messages. I opened the app to go through them.

I tapped on Harvey's texts

(Yesterday)

B.HARVEY

- Princess? Was that you? Is everything alright?

- Are you at home?

- Princess, did you shift? Are you alone?

- I'm coming over now.

(Today)

- Princess, your dad is sending me to fetch you from school.

- Princess

- Please

- Answer

- Your

- Phone.

- Anytime would be nice.

- I'm on the way with Flynn and Hank.

(New)

- Princess, do you need me for anything after school today? I can drive over. I'll send Savy home too.

I decided to reply the good beta.

YOU

- I'm fine.

He responded almost immediately.

B.HARVEY

- She's alive!

But I had lots more chats to go through. I go check it out. In THE ALPHA TEAM group, it was mostly the announcement of my first shift.

(7AM Today)

G.JONAH

- Is her wolf big?

B.HARVEY

- HUGE.

G.NIX

- Bigger than yours, beta?

B.HARVEY

-... guess.

G.LOLA

- Congratulations, Alpha Sam on your first shift! (Balloon stickers all in a row)

B.NIX

- Congrats Princess.

D. HANK

- Congrats, Sam.

D.FLYNN

- Congrats. You grad from wed training! Good job.

G.JONAH

- Yeah, congrats Sam! Can't wait to see your wolf.

B.BEN

- Hi.

- Nice going, Sam.

G.NIX

- Let's see who ends up with the smallest wolf.

G.LOLA

- That's probably going to be me.

G.NIX

- Nah, you not counted lol. I meant the two Night Leaf dweebs.

G.LOLA

- T.T

G.JONAH

- I just checked our group info. No NL dweebs in this group. Just one big ML d***

B.HARVEY

- Mind your language.

G.JONAH

- I censored.

G.NIX

- Dun u know? The bigger the d*** the bigger the wolf.

B.BEN

- Dear. D*** means dear.

G.JONAH

- Yes.

G.NIX

- You two are full of s***

B.BEN

- Stars?

G.JONAH

- Soup?

G.LOLA

- Soup? Hahahahahaha

- You guys are hilarious.

It looked so fun, but I didn't have anything funny to say. Oh, but I should reply their congrats.

But what should I say? I flipped through the other texts. Most of the groups with adults were more subdued, very work related. Meetings were scheduled, tasks were reassigned, information on upcoming events or reminders were shared. And a short note that Beta Lucas would be organizing the alpha heir ceremony which should be expected sometime next month.

In the NIGHT LEAF LEADERSHIP group, the ladies were feat for a short while:

(3.21AM)

LAURA

- I didn't get there in time to take the photos!

MUM

- Omo I completely forgot to take a picture.

LAURA

- Sorry Luna.

G.HARRY

- She was too fast. Just take a picture of the Beta Boy's truck driving fast.

LAURA

- How could that be the same thing?

MUM

- Please don't blame yourself Laura, Sam was running all over the place anyway.

WILLOW

- We could try to recreate it.

MUM

- I'll try tomorrow, I mean later today...

- I can't believe it's already A.M!

G.HARRY

- She fought on her first run with rogues - we should have filmed that!

B.LUCAS

- Please use this chat for work related discussion.

WILLOW

- We need at least take a photo to commemorate the future Alpha's first shift. This is work.

B.LUCAS

- I meant Harry, not you ladies. Please carry on.

G.HARRY

- Actually we should have filmed her challenging Alpha Lorent. Or maybe not... Bad for pack relationship.

MUM

- She what?

DAD

- It only looked like it.

LAURA

- You and your big mouth, dear.

G.HARRY

- My big mouth is good.

B.LUCAS

- Harry, shut up.

(7:01AM)

B.BEN

- Please parents. We are here. Control yourselves.

LAURA

- OMG. Jonah too?

G.JONAH

- Yeah. Hi mum.

LAURA

- Oh, we were chatting in the wrong group.

B.BEN

- Can someone rename this group?

[G.JONAH renamed group. Group name has been changed to YOUR KIDS ARE HERE Group.]

[B.LUCAS renamed group. Group name has been changed to NL GEN 1+2 LEAD Group]

After that it got quiet.

I didn't really know how to answer any of it, so I just checked the other things. I had a lot of missed calls, mostly from B.Harvey. I guess he was worried after I called him in mind link and then just left him hanging. He also seemed to think I would always be there to answer my phone.

There was also a pack-wide text broadcast, and I received a text from it that announced my shift.

And then my phone chimed. It was a message from an unknown number.

UNKNOWN NUMBER

- Hi Sam, Marcus. ur HW, do u want ur B to come collect frm me / shld I scan n email u?

What Ancient Lycan script was this?

I fumbled a bit and managed to save Marcus' number properly. B.MARCUS. Or wait was this B. notation meant only for my home pack betas? Should my school pack be notated differently?

It's not like I had a lot of numbers right now anyway. I changed it to just Marcus and just so I don't mess it up, I filled in Winderhill as his last name.

Ding. My phone chimed again.

MARCUS WINDERHILL

- Nvm. Ur B says he will collect.

Ding. New text. From my "B".

B.HARVEY

- I'll delivering your homework in a couple of hours. Can I get you anything from town?

I picked up my phone to say no. Actually why was he driving up and down? Why not just let Marcus email it? Or I'm not desperate. I could just not do my homework for a day too.

And then, I thought about going to school tomorrow, with these eyes and hair...

YOU

- Can I get a ride to town? Maybe with Savy. I'll ask my mum.

He didn't reply immediately, which surprised me. And then, a moment later, just when I thought he was probably busy... My phone chimed.

B.HARVEY

- I'll drive Savy over and pick you up after school. Are you going shopping Princess?

YOU

- I just need a haircut and contacts.

B.HARVEY

- Understood. Do u have a pref hair salon?

YOU

- I need to ask my mum first.

B.HARVEY

- I've just asked. Luna is about to call you. Sorry.

What? What does that mean? Why is he sorry?

My phone started ringing, "Hello?"

"Sam, what's this I hear about cutting your hair? And why do you need contacts?"

Dad turned his head, I think he caught Mum's voice.

"Cos have you seen me? I'm a freak. The kids in school think I'm a warlock!"

My dad coughs into his hand, but otherwise looked like he was still working.

"I trip over my own hair. Everybody has been staring at me. I can't go on public transport like this. I look like a cosplay of probably some small time anime character..." I was about to start the waterworks.

"It's okay Sam, calm down. What are you planning to do?" Mum asked.

I took a deep steadying breath, "Maybe cut my hair short. So I can hide it in a cap or hood. And get colored contacts to cover my eye color?"

"Why not just let Harvey drive you to school?" Dad asked from his desk.

"He's got school." I declined.

"It's his job." Dad said.

"Or Flynn or Hank, or Beta Lucas... "Mum started making a mental list of everyone who was able to drive in our pack.

"No mum, I want to take the train. I want it to be like before." I was going to cry. "I didn't want to shift yet!"

Why was everything changing. And what's wrong with me?

"I shouldn't have left you alone. I hear your dad there. Pass the phone to your dad." Mum said. She sounded like she knew what she was doing, which was more than I could say for myself.

I couldn't hear what Mum told Dad, and on his side he just looked at me, nodded and grunted and growled every now and then to what Mum said. And then he hung up and sat next to me, so I knew I wasn't going to like this.

"Sam, I want you to remain seated and listen carefully." Dad started. This naturally set me on alert. Dad held up a hand, and then he patted my head.

"I know your shift is a lot of deal with. Your mum and I think you should settle down first, get used to your new wolf and your new self before going back to school, or cutting your hair, or making any major decision for a while."

"If you still want to cut your hair after you're more settled, your mum will take you to the hair salon herself next weekend." Dad promised.

"Why is hair cutting a major decision? It's just hair." I blurted back. Everything else he said made sense though.

Dad sighed, "Just promise me you won't cut your hair on your own."

"I promise." I said. Oh... So that was what Mum was worried about? But it's just hair.

I didn't quite understand what was happening.

"Your mum's on her way back." He told me.

"I'm okay." I said, "I just wanted to make it easier to blend in on the train. I need to go to school tomorrow. I have my first archery lesson. I can't miss that."

Dad paused. He looked thoughtful. And then he said, "I understand. I'll talk to your mum later."