THE CRAZY ZOO

2 MARCH, TUESDAY, LUNCH

It's like the fourth-last day to my time at Winderhill, my fourth-last lunch with my friends at school, the fourth-last time I would step into the picnic area that was Spring - except that it was Spring everywhere now, so it was just a very regular picnic area. And because we came out for lunch late, it was very crowded. There wasn't an empty bench in sight, but that didn't stop Henry. He didn't even hesitate or slow his steps as he led our group towards our usual table.

"Oh great, the Pops are here..." Someone said.

I looked around for... I'm not sure what. I did know about some really popular kids in our year. I had overheard it in passing conversations, like when I walked around the school with Maria, or when I was in the washroom, or even while showering just now. A senior class had just finished showering (we were so late the shower stalls were all soaked, but available, by the time we got there.)

The girls from the senior class were talking about the year one "Pops." Apparently, the guys in this group were so handsome, it was like all the good-looking-ness was squeezed out of all the other guys from year two and up and then poured into them in a concentrated essence. One girl was convinced they were like our student-president-level-good-looking. But they other girls argued that maybe Liam had the potential to be as good-looking as Matthew, but the other Pops were WAY better looking - and in a band too!

And they were SO, SO, COOL. One of the senior girls swooned loudly above the sound of my shower, "Why couldn't I just be born a few years later?"

Because your mum could only carry you in her belly for a fixed amount of time. Trust me. I've heard the ladies in my pack say they were gonna burst more than once.

Anyway, after hearing stuff like that, I was pretty curious who the Pops were. I wondered why I never noticed such god-like guys in my school.

"Shhh... let's just go." her friend told her and pulled her away from our usual table. The other girls hastily cleared their lunch boxes and trays to go too.

Henry stopped at their/our table and rewarded the girls with a smirk that could actually pass off as a decent smile, "Thanks."

And the girls flustered. The one who said "oh great" suddenly turned red and nodded repeatedly.

"Ah, no, we were just going anyway." Her friend lied. L.I.E.D lied.

But Henry only shrugged, "Is that so?"

"Hoi, hoi!" EJ bounced up front brightly, "Lucky! This is my favorite table in the whole world!"

Surely he exaggerated.

But the girls only tittered. A couple of girls from the next table came over to give him some candy.

"Oh! Thank you! I really like this flavor!" EJ unwrapped one immediately and popped it into his mouth. He looked back at the girls who were just standing there watching him and offered a candy, "Do you want one too? Say ahhh..."

"Don't flirt in front of me, EJ." Henry ordered.

"Is scary alpha jelly of EJ's social skills?" Fluffy beamed.

I wanted to tell my two wolves to stop teasing the Young Alpha Henry (and also that they didn't have any social skills), but Marcus shook his head and told me, "Ignore them, Sam. It's better not to get involved."

So I took Marcus' advice and sat down at my usual place to concentrate on my lunch.

Janice and some of the nice girls came over to our table while I was taking out my lunch box. Mostly to talk to Jasmine, but they kept making eyes at the guys who had sat down with their lunches. For professional bodyguards, my wolves didn't seem to notice at all.

"Fluffy! There are onions on my plate." EJ complained.

"Just eat it." Henry said.

"But Scary Alpha! It's RAW!" EJ exclaimed.

Fluffy smiled and calmly took it off for EJ, "You don't understand, Scary Alpha. EJ is deathly allergic to green foods."

"They make my skin turn green." EJ announced. (I don't really have to tell you that he was lying, right?)

Henry, the supposedly scary alpha laughed, just a little. Marcus coughed, and then they went back to their own low conversation about the stocks Henry was talking about earlier.

Henry stopped after the first bite and shook his head at his plate. It couldn't be helped, by the time we got to the cafeteria for the guys to buy their meals, it was the tail end of the lunch crowd.

"I'll be glad to never eat this slop again." Henry muttered.

"Food is food." Marcus sighed and ate.

It really wasn't that bad though, so they continued eating.

There was a small crowd around our table now, and a few cameras pointed directly at us. Wasn't that disturbing? It definitely disturbed me! But the guys were all acting like normal. Someone give them an Oscar!

"Is everything alright, pretty alpha?" Fluffy tilted his head and smiled at me.

I nodded quickly, who knew what these two crazy bodyguards might do if I said no?

"He's smiling at her." Someone commented, "He's always looking at her with that smile."

But Fluffy was always smiling, at everyone and everything - it's his social mask. Don't make it sound like it meant anything!

"Oh, her lunchbox is so cute again!" Someone else said. I resisted the urge to cover my lunch with my hands - MINE!

"I just need a good shot..."

"I wonder who makes her lunches. They're always so cute."

I looked down at my lunch box. Today Ki made ball-shaped croquettes. Ki always liked to make foods where he could hide smashed veggies in, so today's croquettes had a bit of frozen carrots, peas, and corn mixed in. He also made bow shaped pasta aglio olio with grilled chicken cut in strips on the side. It was like a full dinner today- in fact I suspected it might be what he had meant to make for dinner last night.

Oh well, I just spent half a morning running like mad up and down a muddy field, and now that lunch was late, I could eat a horse if Ki had packed that in my lunchbox.

"Do you think her fiance makes them for her?"

Wait, like Bell? Okay, stop. Even if it wasn't Bell - in which part of the world would a teenage guy make lunchboxes for his girlfriend to bring to school? It would have to be the part of the world that only existed in manga - not just any manga - the extremely cheesey and unrealistic ones with pink and white cover pages.

"Maybe her mum." Said someone else (who was obviously far more realistic.)

"Oh, I just thought maybe the young lorent prince would do it." The crazy one continued, "Because he wants her to think of him even when she has to go to school and they can't be together."

Please, even if I wasn't in school, we weren't usually together.

"I heard they were soul mates." Someone else added, "Isn't it painful to be separated from your soulmate?"

Going to school wasn't being "separated from your soulmate"! They were really quite different things!

I had totally forgotten what a zoo it was here at lunchtime. I looked around, but it didn't seem like River was eating here today because most of the zoo's visitors had come to our table for animal feeding time.

"Sam." It was Henry. I stopped listening to the crazy talk and turned my attention to the people at my table who were ironically, behaving perfectly normal even though they were the ones who were being scrutinized by crazy people. I was pretty sure we were surrounded by crazy people now.

"I want your guys to come with me for band practice in the next lesson block." Henry said. He had leaned over and said it quietly and somewhat business-like, so I knew he was being serious and any wise crack at this point would not be appreciated.

"Like History?" I asked.

"Yeah. We need the practice, and theater rehearsals are taking all afternoon." Henry said.

Oh right, there's rehearsal today as well. Harvey had reminded me in the car. When I go to the Lorent's girls school, would we have enough time for Harvey to update me on the ride there?

"Will you get in trouble for leaving the classroom?" I asked.

Henry smirked, "Don't worry. I've already talked to this History teacher."

"She's from his pack." Fluffy smiled, "So she was most accommodating."

Henry narrowed his eyes at Fluffy, but turned his attention back to me, "Okay, Sam?"

It was more like a demand than a request.

"We can't though, Scary Alpha. Not even if our Pretty Alpha says yes." Fluffy decided to explain the conundrum now, "EJ and I are under very strict orders to not leave our Pretty Alpha unguarded, for even a minute."

Henry smirked, "I'll let Harvey know that these two clowns left you alone at the gym hall just now."

That's low, and I was not alone! I was running with the rest of the class!

"Why did you guys leave, anyway?" Since when were they fans of outdoor sports?

"I just wanted a word with the coach." Fluffy smiled.

You threatened him didn't you?

"I needed to pee." EJ said, "I always need to pee more when its cold."

"Is there a costume?" Jasmine asked. I guess it was a reasonable question, but it felt like a shot out of the blue to me. What costume? I immediately pictured sequined outfits with white cowboy hats and big pink feathers.

"No, no costume." Marcus shook his head, "We're serious musicians."

Now I pictured them just wearing their school uniform or some random clothes, which in EJ's case, might as well be the sequinned outfit, white cowboy hat, and big pink feathers....hahaha. JK! I mean EJ would probably wear something very brightly colored though.

"At least color coordinate your outfits." I surprised myself by saying. I think I've been hanging out with the cool girls too much.

"You can wear cool serious musicians stuff," I quickly assured Marcus, "But pick like one or two colors for everyone to stick to."

I mean, we coordinated our warrior colors in the Green Packlands to navy blue and see how well that worked out. Now, no matter, Night Leaf, or Morning Light, or Underground - the warriors all wore dark blue Betamen jackets. Very cool.

"Red!" EJ said, "Or orange, or shocking pink!"

"Or barf green." Fluffy suggested with a smile.

"Black." Henry decided, "Or white."

"What about grey?" Fluffy asked, "Or light black or dark white?"

"Isn't orange the new black?" EJ asked hopefully.

"No, that's a movie EJ, not a color." Fluffy explained to his red haired friend.

"Just Black or white..." Henry snapped. "AND DON'T WEAR SHORTS! You better not wear shorts on stage!"

Fluffy and EJ burst out laughing. They were having fun.

Henry didn't stop glaring. I'm sure a part of him knew he was being goaded by these two wolves on purpose. Why? Did your wolves never sass you back home, young alpha? Well, in that case, you were welcomed to my sassy wolves.

"It should be fine. Just take them." I shrugged.

"Mou! But pretty alpha! Won't you miss us?" EJ pouted.

"I'll just be at History lesson anyway." I shrugged again. Why would I miss them?

"I know!" Fluffy brightened, "Pretty Alpha can join us for rehearsal."

"You can help me control your wolves." Henry looked like he was seriously considering it.

"Yes!" EJ cheered, "You can be our manager."

Your what now?

"The band manager." Fluffy smiled as he patiently explained, "We don't have one yet."

"Everything's already organized at set up." Henry grumbled, "She's more like the band mascot."

Hey! I would've flared, but once again, my hair remained like perfectly unanimated normal hair.

"What, don't tell me you want to play an instrument?" Henry challenged. He knew I couldn't!

"Pretty alpha can plan the tambourine!" EJ volunteered, "Ching chang lalala!~"

EJ bounced up to dance and clap his hands as if he had a tambourine.

I shook my head quickly, I'd rather die.

But aloud I asked miserably, "Why can't I just stay in class?"

And just like my friends liked to do, they completely ignored me and went ahead.

"She can help coordinate our outfits, and keep the two front men in check. I guess that's somewhat managing the band." Marcus generously allowed. I think he didn't want a tambourine in his band either.

"Yeah. I guess you can text Ki to settle it." Henry decided.

"I can design our costumes." Fluffy volunteer.

"NO!" Henry and Marcus pretty much yelled.

"Yay! I won't the be only girl in the band anymore!" Janice cheered.

The guys froze. Why? Did they forget Janice was still here at our table? Jasmine had invited her to sit down when Liam left for football.

And it wasn't just Janice. The guys were so loud, I'm sure the crazy zoo visitors heard them.

Ha! You guys just exposed your real selves to everyone! Now they'll know you guys are really just...

"So cool..." One crazy girl fanned her face.

"Omg, did he mean like THE Ki, as in Ki Oran - the head designer of Betamen?"

You know what, nevermind. Crazy zoo visitors would be crazy zoo visitors.