SUDDENLY THURSDAY

Oh my goddess it's Thursday morning. I only just realised when I woke up and checked my diary. I had school, homework to complete on the second train, doll up and drop in casually for Dad's meeting with Alpha Lorent, Thursday training session with the older teens - and Savy! (Yay!)

And oh I hurt all over. I climbed out of bed achy and stiff. I was expecting my jelly legs to become overstretched rubber bands, but it turned out, it wasn't just my legs that suffered.

All that lifting and moving of the obstacle course equipment took a toll on my arms too. Honestly, I didn't want to get out of bed. I even had a good excuse - if I stayed home today, I won't have to miss Alpha Lorent's arrival.

Actually, why was I even attending the meeting? I wasn't invited, so it's more like why was I even gate crashing the meeting with Alpha Lorent? What did I hope to achieve?

Okay, if I'm going to be Alpha someday, I should gain some exposure to meetings? And we were discussing my ideas of saving his son. And I wanted to learn more about breaking Lycans out of fight cages, so I wanted to hear about why methods they had tried.

Yeah, I haven't forgotten about freeing the Lycan bonded to slavery. Somewhere at the back of my mind, this idea was still burning in secret.

I'm just turning 15, I haven't even shifted, and I had no idea how to start or where this will lead.

But for now, I guess I'll sit in this meeting. It's the first opened door I've got.

My plan was to dress up in the outfit the Lorents gave me and pop into my dad's office after school to thank Alpha Lorent and Luna Edith for the gift.

Oh yeah, the thank you note! Yes, I should write it too. No time now. Maybe after school, but just in case, I put a small book of watercolor paper and some colored brush markers into my school bag.

If there was one thing could draw and nail it every time, it was painted roses. I had watched someone do it with paint brush markers on a online video and copied it with relative success.

The other thing was cartoon animals, particularly chickens. But I didn't think the Lorents would care for a thank you card covered with crazy chickens.

Hopefully our history teacher would miss school again. I would be able to slip out and get the card done in school. Or else maybe at lunchtime.

Okay! I did feel like everything is going to be back to back today. I did feel like my body isn't in its best condition. And oh yeah, I forgot about choosing my club.

I better check out the selection dates for the archery club. And the cooking club too, it was my second choice. My fallback was the adventure club if all else failed. (All else meaning I failed the cooking club test, or burn down the school attempting it.).

Dance club was last, but I'm pretty confident it wasn't going to come down to that.

What was I rambling about again? Oh yeah, it's Thursday and time for school!

Sam's Back to Back Thursday

1. Get to school

2. Switch out locker books and stuff

3. Check club boards for selection details

4. Make and write thank you note for the Lorents

5. Finish homework on train

6. Study for pop quiz on train (Are you wondering where that popped out from? Hahaha. Sigh...)

7. Lorent meeting at dad's office

8. Dinner

9. Thursday night training (with Savy!)

I'm definitely looking forward to having Savy for training. But I didn't have any breathing room to feel it.

I'll just get through the day and then do all the feelings stuff later.

Now that I had a plan, action! Go! Go! Go!

Got to school in one piece, even though I ended up drenched because, as if yesterday's freak snow storm and hail was not enough, today it rained, and you know what they say, when it rains, it pours.

And I didn't have an umbrella.

My not waterproof woolen school coat was soaked.

My waterproof backpack proved itself as water tight as it claimed to be in its ads.

So I got to school slopping wet, and changed directly into my gym clothes, changed into the extra pair of socks I always brought, and my indoor shoes. I hung the wet coat and my soggy cross country shoes out in the coat and shoe racks outside the classroom and stuck my wet clothes in a plastic bag and stuffed them into my locker.

In short, I wasted a lot of time and ended up with a pile of wet fabric. I ended up looking like I just had a shower, and I only had 10 minutes left after everything to run around the school looking for the right club notice boards. Most of them were situated in the school cafeteria or outside the school stage hall, where I did find the board I was looking for...after running round fruitlessly through all the boards in the empty cafeteria.

Archery Club Recruitment Try Outs for Beginners was Thursday afternoon... Wait, that's today. There was a sign up form pinned on it. Closing date was yesterday but the form was still there... So I wrote my name down.

The club will accept 20 beginner level recruits every year. There were at least 50 names on the list. It's going to be long shot.

Should I really miss the meeting with Alpha Lorent for this?

Coincidentally, the cooking club board was right next it. Walk in interviews Thursday afternoon in the home ec kitchens... Where I would conveniently already be, since home ec was my last class of the day.

This was probably more for Mrs Martinez' sake than mine, since she was also the teacher in charge.

Now I had a choice:

OPTION 1: INTERVIEW FOR COOKING CLUB

I might even be the first interviewee since I would already be there. Finish early, secure a place in a food related club and get home early enough not to miss the Lorent meeting.

OPTION 2: GO FOR THE ARCHERY TRY OUTS

Who knew how long I would have to wait for my turn or if I would be selected? Would we have to actually shoot an arrow? I'd miss the Lorent meeting for sure.

OPTION 3: GO STRAIGHT HOME and deal with the Lorent meeting. I would need time to dress up and I did promise my dad to show up.

OPTION 4: ALL OF THE ABOVE. Because I just had to do something like that. Why did everything have to fall on Thursday?

When it rains, it pours.

Back to class, I wasn't the only kid who was in gym attire. There were several other guys who hadn't brought their umbrellas and had to run in the rain.

Jasmine and the cool girls were sitting around my desk to homework. Maria usually didn't come to class till later. She had to comb her hair for a long time every morning. Those two girls who at in front of us were usually only in class when the bell rang.

"Where were you?" Krystal was annoyed, "You are so late!"

The others scribbled furiously. They were lucky yesterday's homework wasn't all that much.

Jasmine only had a bit of math to copy, so she finished first. "Why did you run in the rain?"

"I didn't bring an umbrella." I told her. I guess all the girls in school carried umbrellas in their backpacks?

"If you waited at the station, the student council would bring out umbrellas to lend the students." Jasmine said.

Liam came into the classroom in his gym attire. Did only the girls know about the umbrella service?

"Liam!" Jasmine scolded, "I told you to wait for an umbrella with me!"

Liam just smiled at us, shook out his damp hair lightly, and went to his seat.

"Boys!" Jasmine shook her head. Then she looked at me and shook her head again.

So it wasn't that the girls all had foldable umbrellas. They just had more patience.

My hair had air dried by then, so I clipped it up in the usual ponytail. When I was done, four pairs of eyes were on me.

Jasmine said, "I usually take forever to do my hair."

Zara exclaimed without any restraint, "Your hair is magic!"

I laughed at that, "It's probably the clip."

"Is it expensive?" Krystal asked.

"I don't think so." I said. I actually didn't know how much it cost. It was given to me by Mrs Beta for acing a quiz during Lycan Study Group.

"Can we exchange?" Krystal asked me.

I paused unsure, it was my favorite clip.

"Just for today." Krystal pressed on.

Oh well, it was just a clip.

I unclipped it and passed it to her. Krystal passed me her's. Today it was a black scrungee. I tried it on, half expecting it to slide off as scrungees usually did, but it held. Wow. I figured it was the velvet material that gave it more grip. Soft and comfortable, I actually liked it.

Krystal went to the washroom to put on her clip. She returned a short while later, looking pleased.

"That looks good." Zammi said.

"Yeah," I agreed, "I told you it was the clip."

Marcus came over to collect the homework for today. I guess he noticed that the girls were done copying. Not even a beta werewolf dared to interrupt last minute morning copy sessions. Hahaha.

I gave him my homework with a thanks.

"Sam, can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked.

"Oooooh, yes!" Said Zara. The girls around me were super excited.

"Class is about to start." I told him.

"I know, just for a minute, Sam." Marcus said.

I liked Marcus for this. He always sounded patient and polite. I stood up and followed him outside. The class made a loud whopping sound.

"You know now they all think you're going to ask me out, right?" I joked.

"What if I was?" Marcus grinned at me.

"Yeah, right." I laughed, "So, what did you want me for?"

"Nothing big, just my dad wanted to know how your dad remembered him." Marcus said.

"How should I know?" I asked Marcus.

"Yesterday, you told those girls that your dad knew my dad..." Marcus explained,

"It was the first time I knew it, I asked my dad and he told me he was one of many others who had worked with your dad on some project years back. He was surprised Alpha Kingsley even noticed him."

Oh. I was kind of just saying...

"I didn't know about the project, my dad just mentioned "a Beta's son" at dinner." I looked at Marcus' disappointed face, "I could ask if you like."

"Yeah, ok. Thanks Sam." Marcus said.

"No biggie." I said.

I wondered if that's what it's like to be a beta sometimes, you worked your heart out to support the alpha's cause and serve your pack, and at the end of the day, you're not sure if you were even noticed.

Maria passed us to go into the classroom. Marcus and I go in too. The class "Whoas" and clapped overenthusiastically. I rolled my eyes. Marcus turned red. Maria gave me a cold tight smile.

Did I miss something interesting?

No, that was all of it.

The bell rang, those two girls slipped into their seats in front of us, and then the teacher came in.

Like clockwork. Every morning.