WHAT MY FRIENDS SAID

6 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, DINNER

I guess it was good Mum seemed to conclude that school life was peaceful, even though it sounded like I was a complete slacker.

"Sam always does her homework!" Sweet Jasmine apparently decided to come to my defence, "And she's always nice and helpful."

"Yeah, so that people like Pearl likes to take advantage of her." Zara said.

"Zara!" Krystal hissed.

"What?" Zara was unapologetic, "It's true."

"That...that was a misunderstanding." Pearl managed weakly.

"Yeah, a misunderstanding." I agreed quickly.

"See!" Zara said, "She always just lets it slide!"

"Zara, why are you so mad at Pearl?" Abigail asked, "We're all good friends here. If Pearl had done anything to offend you, I'm sure she would apologize if she knew."

"Oh yeah?" Zara was all fired up now, "Let's hear her apologize for the time she faked crocodile tears and accused Sam of bullying her. Or the time she told the other girls that Sam had a lot of boyfriends. Or when she pretended to like going home with Sam, but it's only because she wanted to hang out with the hot seniors Sam went home with..."

"What hot seniors?" Dad asked.

"Our student president, debate captain, and football captain." Abigail was quick to supply, "They come to class to see Sam sometimes."

"Oh, do they? I'm surprised that Sam is so popular." Mum said.

"I wouldn't say popular." Leia decided she had to clarify, "More like famous. The school thinks she is a warlock princess. The guys used to fight over her so now there is a rule that put her out of bounds. And she used her warlock powers to make spring come to the picnic area behind her school."

"Don't forget the snow day the other week." Zara said, then she turned to me, "I never thanked you for that one. Thanks!"

"She's not a warlock anymore, Leia." Krystal said, "She's a werewolf."

"Yeah, but do you know any other warlock in our school?" Leia asked.

At this point, everyone at the table was wearing rather different expressions.

And then Mum laughed and then asked oh so innocently, "Sam is a warlock? You must be pulling my leg!"

You know what? Next rogue interrogation, we let Mum and Mate do the bad cop good cop routine on them. Why had I not realised sooner how my mum was a pro at this?

Meanwhile my friends fell like putty right into her hands.

"It's true, Mrs King." Zara informed my mum sincerely. "They even erected a shrine. And if you got a strand of her hair, it would make you very lucky."

"Was that why they gave Liam such a hard time with her hair?" Marcus asked.

"What? Was it Troy? That Troy! I told him not to touch her hair. He's so perverted!" Zara made a face, "I'm going to slap him when I see him in school!"

"Don't worry, Liam managed to dispose of it properly." Marcus said. Completely oblivious to my outright shock or the effect this kind of conversation was having on my family.

Why was he bringing up something like that in front of my parents?

Jasmine giggled then, "It's true though. Sam's hair is lucky."

Then she told me, "You know on the day I helped you trim your hair, I took a later bus home, and on the way, my bus was nearly hijacked by rogues on motorbikes, but just at that moment a limousine drove past and the rogues swerved their motorbikes to chase it. My mum said the goddess must have been watching my back. And guess what? She plucked a small lock of your hair right off the front pocket of my school bag!"

What kind of bus route did Jasmine take?

"Woah..." Abigail marveled, "So Sam's hair protected you from rogues?"

"That was really lucky." Henry agreed gravely, "The rogue situation after the Red Packland fiasco has been escalating at an alarming rate."

"They came out to hunt the fight dogs, but now they can't go back empty handed. I'm assuming they need at the very least cover their costs for their travel and equipment." Dad said.

"Which would explain the spike in robberies and other petty crimes once the smoke cleared and the dogs disappeared." Henry nodded.

"It's unfortunate the Gold Packlands is so close, I've received reports of much of the crime spilling over to the neighboring packs." Dad said.

Henry nodded, "And here? Not that I've heard any news. Would it be safe to assume your packland is too far from the ruckus to be affected?"

"Yes. For now." Dad said, "In fact our rogue activity has fallen to negligible levels. If my theory proves true though, we should expect trouble when they return, depending on whether they've recouped their losses elsewhere."

"Why don't we just go over and help snuff them out?" I asked. Why wait for them to harass poor Jasmine's bus of civilians?

"Opps. And that's what got Alpha Solomon in trouble." Marcus grinned.

"You can't just barge in with your warriors into someone else's packland and fight, Sam." Henry said, "Please try to pay attention to the news."

And then I had another brilliant idea, "Fine I won't. Unless you pay me, Henry."

"Why should I pay you?" Henry asked.

"Well, who knows how long this would last? Aren't your warriors feeling stretched? I mean, long hours of patrolling, guarding, unnecessary casualties? Why do it yourself when you can simply hire someone else to do it for you?" Heh heh heh. I can be sly too. I am my mother's daughter, after all.

"If you pay us we can hunt down those rogues in a matter of days... Well, maybe a week or two if the problem is bad. Our warriors are trained to hunt rogues, we can smell them from miles." I boasted.

Henry sighed, "You can't kill them, Gold Packlands doesn't have the same bloodthirsty laws of your land."

"It's fine. We can use dart guns too." I said, "Or just a good old fashioned punch."

Why? Should I had tried to deal with our bloodthirsty babaric image? I'd rather leave that to the professional PR people (AKA Ki).

"I'll talk to my dad. I want to ask how much are your rates, Sam, but I doubt you were thinking about the money at all." Henry smirked.

That's where Henry was wrong.

"If I exterminate your pack's rogue problem, you find a way to excavate my hill without touching the trees or stream." I decided.

"You've gotta be effing me." Henry exclaimed.

"What? You can't?" I challenged, "The great Henry can't figure out how to dig a hole?"

Henry growled, "Sam, don't push it."

I flared, of course I was going to push it, "I dare you! I'll exterminate your rogues, you solve my tree issue. Whoever clears the challenge fastest wins."

"Done. But if I win, you foot your own tree saving bill." Henry said.

"Please! It'll probably just cost you a week's allowance." I scoffed.

"You're joking right? It's going cost me an arm and a leg!" Henry argued back.

I highly doubt my arm and leg would cost as much as Henry's though.

"Okay, but if you fail to do it right, I'm not paying a cent!" I decided.

"What the hell Sam! How's that fair?" Henry argued.

"Cos I'm going to help solve your rogue problem." I told Henry.

"You can't kill them." Henry felt it necessary to remind me again.

"Then you better make sure you have enough rooms in your dungeon." I told him.

Henry groaned, "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

I beamed at him, "Because you know you're going to have to spend money?"

But just to make sure he wouldn't back out, I goaded, "Don't worry, if you can't figure out a way to do it, I won't hold it against you."

"Look, there's nothing I can't figure out." Henry insisted, "If there is any possibility for it to happen, I can figure it out."

I nodded happily, "I know. Beats blindly digging a hole and relying on my good luck."

And then I started enjoying my meal again.

Mum opened her mouth and shut it again.

"Don't worry Mrs King, they're always like that." Krystal assured her, "We don't even know what they're arguing about most of the time."

"Yah, we usually just ignore them when they get like this." Zara said with a shrug, "These chicken wings are good. You're an amazing cook Mrs King."

"Ah, thank you, but Ki was the one who prepared dinner tonight."

"Wow, Ki, you can cook?" Zara called into the kitchen, "It's really good!"

Ki appeared at our doorway with his perfect smile in place, "Thank you. Shall I serve dessert?"

"Ohhh... dessert!" The girls looked happy. I felt happy too! Dessert was the true main course.

Ki bowed and left. He returned with Harvey and they served us glass goblets of Tiramisu.

Ki really outdone himself tonight. I grinned, me too. I got myself a really good deal.

"But..." Jasmine was the first to speak her misgiving, "Isn't hunting rogues dangerous, Sam?"

"Don't worry!" Zara said, "She has so much lucky hair, they won't be able to get her."

"But..." Jasmine still looked really worried.

Mum's mouth was pressed in a straight line. She looked at Dad.

"Yes, we have specialised warrior teams trained to hunt down rogues." Dad said.

"Don't worry, Jasmine." Pearl smiled widely, "There is no way they would let their princess fight the rogues."

And then to everyone's surprise, Sabre opened her cute mouth and said, "Fighting is the last resort!"

"Ah, yes. That's true baby." Mum tried to reinforce right values, "We don't fight unless we've tried everything else."

"Like yelling and feminine charm." Sabre remembered. I did tell you that girl was smart.

My friends looked a little nonplussed.

I decided to explain it more clearly, "Yeah, but that's because you're bad at fighting. You should always try to avoid it. Hiding and running away are probably better options for you."

Mum face palmed, "Sam..."

What? It's true! This wasn't a playground fight! We were talking about rogues. Sabre's chances of survival were much higher if she hid or ran away. Calling attention to herself was probably suicide. And there was no way she could fight a rogue head on... Unless it was smaller than her. Were there even rogues that size?

"Pardon the interuption, princess. Most of the party guests have already arrived." Harvey informed us.

"Oh, we better go then!" I got up. Savy and my friends got up too.

Mum and Dad got up to see us out.

"Have a good time tonight." Mum said, "Don't get into a fight, and take care of Savy!"

She always said that when we went out. My mum seemed to have the impression that I got into a lot of fights.

"As long as it's not a rogue or a vamp, I won't fight." I promised at the door.

"Gamma Endo wasn't a rogue or a vamp." Savy reminded me.

"And as long as he doesn't challenge me." I ammended.

"Alpha Jude..." Ben reminded me.

"Or annoy me." I ammended again.

Mum face-palmed.

"Fighting is the last resort!" Sabre reminded me.

"Do you know why it's the last resort?" I turned on the porch to ask the little human. I was suddenly feeling somewhat like Boo as the cold winter wind caressed my hair.

The little human shook her head.

"Because if all the other ways don't work, fighting will."

Boo was on the surface, she could feel her wolves waiting for her. And something fun...

As I walked across the darkened driveway to the packhouse with my Savy, my betas, and my friends from school, I couldn't stop the smile on my face. Tonight was going to be fun.