FRIDAY MORNING GIRL TALK

19 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, BEFORE HOMEROOM

You know those times when a guy and girl are on the phone, and the guy would be like, "Okay, I got to go."

And the girl would be like, "Oh yeah, me too."

And the guy be like, "Okay, bye."

And the girl be like, "Bye, have a nice day."

And the guy be like, "You too. I love you."

And the girl be like, "I love you too."

And the guy be like, "Okay, bye."

And the girl be like, "Okay, bye."

And then they would both just pause for a moment, and then the girl would say, "You hang up."

And then the guy would say, "No, you hang up first."

It's the kind of thing that was funny on TV, but a little more cringe-worthy if you overhead it from you friend on the phone with her boyfriend.

Fortunately for me, I didn't have to worry about finding myself caught in such a predicament with the love of my own life.

{I've got to go.} Mate told me through the mindlink, and then he blocked me out completely again.

He didn't even wait for me to say bye.

Okay, so a mindlink wasn't like a phone call and its not like the usual etiquette applied, it's more like a chat group, but with thoughts and feelings projected through to the person(s) you're communicating with. Usually, you could just drop the link when you're done. The other party would just assume you were busy with something on your end. BUT Mate completely blocked me out - which was NOT normal. Especially not to your mate (me!).

Like I've heard Soul Mates would naturally leave their mindlinks open to each other and their feelings flow freely throughout the day. You know, so they could feel close together, even though they were apart (or some sappy reason like that.) Esther once said she liked leaving her mindlink open to Hank because she could always feel his constant affection and protectiveness of her and it made her feel so safe.

"You're in the Packhouse Kitchen." I had pointed out to her, "You ARE safe."

Esther just laughed, "You'll understand when you're older, Sam."

Yeah, right. I'm older now, aren't I? But I still didn't get it... and I probably never will. My mate liked to block out our mindlinks, not just our mindlink, but our mating bond too. That's pretty hard though, and the closer we got, the harder it was to completely seal it off. I could still feel his constant irate... which was the other reason why I would probably never understand how Esther felt. I didn't feel any constant affection or protectiveness... just constant irritation and every now and then a surge of anger.

Mrs Beta had ever said that different wolves dealt with things differently. My Mate liked to deal with his home pack, his work at the Underground army, and everyday life in general with an air of anger.

Anyway, the other kids were filling out the classroom by now. Henry and Marcus had come in and were hanging out with Fluffy and EJ as if they had been pals all their lives. Henry was actually grinning at something Fluffy said. Marcus ended up in a coughing fit because it was apparently that witty a remark.

The cool girls sashayed over to my desk and dropped into their usual seats around me for homework copying sessions.

"Where's Jaz?" Krystal demanded the moment she sat down.

How would I know? I took out my homework and stacked them in the middle of our desks with a shrug.

"Probably on another romantic breakfast date with Liam." Leia said archly, "She's so cute, waking up early to make sandwiches for him to eat in the mornings. I'd never do that. I want my boyfriend to make me breakfast!"

"That's why you'd never get a boyfriend." Zara told her.

"Yeah, I don't know any guy who would wake up on time, much less an hour earlier to make you breakfast." Krystal rolled her eyes, "You need to be realistic. Men wake up early for football, not you."

"She's just trying to show off her new footballer boyfriend." Leia leaned over to whisper loudly to me.

"I'm just saying." Krystal shrugged.

"It won't last." Leia continued to whisper to me, as if Krystal couldn't hear her.

"What makes you say that!" Krystal demanded, "I told you girls, this time, its real."

"That's what you said the last time." Zara reminded her, "With...ah, Fred... or Frank... or someone."

"Fred." Krystal said.

"Frank." Leia answered at the same time.

Krystal paused, just for a second, "No, it was Fred. Frank was just a filler when things got bad with Fred. I just wanted to make Fred jealous."

It was one of those conversations that I couldn't understand. Human love was so complicated sometimes.

And then I noticed that Krystal had a new watch. It was a shiny silver-colored square-faced watch with fur-trimmed straps. Very eye-catching. She noticed me looking at it, so I told her, "Nice watch."

Krystal looked uncomfortable. She kept her eyes lowered on her watch, "Oh, right. Thanks... Zach bought it for me."

She was lying. But I dismissed it immediately, humans lied a lot in daily social interactions, it wasn't a big deal.

"On her first date too!" Leia got excited immediately, "Now how many guys would spend $300 on a watch on your first date?"

"He's either loaded or totally in love with her." Zara concluded.

"I told you, he's not rich." Krystal said.

"She's just showing off again." Leia whispered to me again. I'm not sure why, Leia liked to narrate stuff like that to me in front of the other two girls.

"No, I'm not. I told you - Zach and I, this time its for real." Krystal insisted, "It's not about the money."

"But I bet the new watch didn't hurt, though" Leia gave a wicked grin.

"Uh..." Krystal looked down at her watch again, "Yeah."

She was lying again.

"Next time, tell your new boyfriend to buy some nice things for your friends too." Zara said.

"If you want something, ask your own boyfriend!" Krystal snapped back.

"Yeah," Leia leaned back and called over the other side of the classroom, "Ivan!"

"Shut up!" Zara hissed. She turned red immediately, "Don't call him over!"

But it was too late, Ivan was already lumbering over to our desk, his face red because his friends had hooted and pushed him forward.

"What?" He sounded annoyed.

"Nothing, its nothing!" Zara frantically waved him off, "Go back! Go back!"

Ivan frowned, and then abruptly turned back to rejoin his friends. We heard him complain loudly to his friends, "Crazy girls!"

My friends giggled together at that.

"He's so cute when he's mad." Zara sighed.

"Just ask him to be your boyfriend then!" Leia scolded her, "I don't understand the two of you... you're worse than elementary school kids. Mooning at each other from across the classroom all day... it's making me sick."

"No, no, no!" Zara shook her head, "I can't go on another date with Ivan! I wouldn't know what to say. He's always saying smart stuff. I'm not that smart. I won't know what to say to him."

"I don't think he likes you for your smarts, Zara." Leia informed her friend.

Krystal sighed, "It's just so painful watching the both of you. You obvs love him, but you think he's too smart. He obvs love you, but he thinks you don't like him."

Zara gasped, "Why would he think that?"

"You keep chasing him away or running away from him!" Leia accused, "You're right. You are stupid."

"Oh." Zara blinked, and then she bemoaned, "What should I do now? Ivan thinks I hate him!"

Leia sighed dramatically and decided to bemoan about something herself, "Looks like all my best friends are attached. I'm the only one left on the shelf."

"Don't worry." Krystal said, "I promised I'll help you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, just leave it to Krystal." Zara nodded, "But what should I do? Krystal, you need to help me too!"

"Leave what to Krystal?" I asked.

The three of them looked at me and then Zara gasped, her dilemma with Ivan temporarily suspended, "Leia hasn't told you?"

"Shhhhh!" Leia hissed at Zara.

"I still think you should tell Zammi." Zara told Leia, "You need her help. You need to let her know."

"But Sam is a werewolf!" Leia replied, "No offence, Sam. But I know you can talk with your minds, and he might read your mind and find out."

Eh, what?

"Just tell her!" Zara begged, "We're all best friends. It's not fair if you don't tell her. Best friends won't keep secrets from each other, right Krystal?"

"Uh, right." Krystal lied... again. Darn my alpha sense, I brushed it off, a little annoyed. Not at Krystal, more like at my alpha sense. Like I don't care if she's lying okay? Just let me chill with my friends, and enjoy their chit chat!

"Okay, fine. But you can't let him know." Leia told me, "Like you have to not let him into your head."

"Or you can try to sing a silly song in your head so you won't think of it and he won't know." Zara suggested.

Wait, was Leia in love with a vamp?

"It's Marcus." Leia said quietly. And then she suddenly looked shy for a moment, before reverting back to her usual self, "You can't tell him - you can't even think about it in front of him."

I suddenly realized that my friends had a really weird idea of what a mindlink was.

Zara laughed, "Oh wow. She's shocked speechless."

Leia actually blushed, "I know he's a werewolf and he's from a good family and everything, but I just think he's... urm..."

Nerdy? Overworked? Long-suffering?

"You know..." Leia poked her index fingers together repeatedly, "He's cute."

Okay, I did not see that coming.

"Don't worry, Leia. Remember my promise? If you stop looking at older guys and find someone your own age, I'll help you get him." Krystal said.

Leia nodded, "I know." She continued to poke her fingers at each other.

I watched Leia continue being out of character for a moment. I guess love did that to people? It certainly made me go inexplicably gaga over Mate, and turned me to mush, brain and all... Luckily though, only when he was around. Hahaha.

They say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" but for me, I guess it was more like, "Out of sight, out of mind." I supposed that was a good thing... I didn't think I could survive highschool or life in general mooning over my Luna all day.

"Okay, don't forget Sam." Krystal warned me, "You can't let Marcus know. Don't even think about it when you're around him."

Actually, I was quite sure the guys could hear all of you with their super wolf hearing and all, but about mindlinks...

"Urm..." How should I put this? "Marcus and I can't mindlink, cos we're from different packs."

My friends took pause at this, and then just to be sure, Leia clarified, "So you can't like communicate with Marcus with your mind?"

I shook my head, "Yeah. Or Henry either... we're all from different packs."

"Oh! Why didn't you say so earlier!" Zara sounded really relieved, "Krystal said they could spy on us talking through your head all this while. I scolded Henry so much, I was sure he would be mad at me."

No, my friends, they could "spy on us talking" because you girls were talking at a volume wolves could easily pick up from where they sat.

Krystal shrugged somewhat miffed, "How was I suppose to know they weren't from the same pack?"

"And mindlinks are not really like that..." I tried to explain.

"That sounds complicated." Leia said.

I hadn't even started explaining how a mindlink worked either. How should I explain mindlinks to humans?

"Mindlinks are more like text... or voice messages you can send to other wolves in your pack." I tried to explain, "You can't really see what's in the other wolf's head unless he sends the message to you."

I guess that was probably the best I could do. I felt rather proud of my succinct explanation, really.

"Oh, cool..." Zara said, "It's like having a phone in your head."

"Yeah. Kind of." I said. I guess that would do for now.

"So it's like you can call your boyfriend and never hang up." Zara continued.

"Ah... I guess." I said. Since technically, it was true, "But I don't." I quickly added, lest my cool friends misunderstood me to be one of those sappy can't hang up the phone types.

(Just because being around Mate made me a love struck idiot didn't mean anyone had to know about it.)

"But only within those in your pack?" Krystal asked, "Like who exactly?"

Like everyone in my pack? Or like who was in my pack?

"You mean like in school?" I tried to clarify, "Just Fluffy and EJ."

Leia rolled her eyes, "Yeah, just name the sexiest ones."

Zara and her laughed.

"It's because Sam's pack is in the Green Packlands." Zara remembered whistfully, "So all the guys are sexy."

Wait, what? Like who exactly is sexy?

I took a quick glance at Fluffy and EJ, just to make sure they were still their usual selves. How were they sexy? I mean they were good looking, that was undeniable, but wolves were like that. And they both obviously had strong bloodlines, which made them potentially powerful, not sexy.

Okay, sometimes they liked to flirt or act in a provocative way, but that was just them being stoopid. My wolves were all idiots who ate ice cream, were good at fighting, and like to sass their alpha (me, not Dad though). What's so sexy about that?

Meanwhile, Zara had reverted back to her own troubles, "So what should I do about Ivan?"

"You can leave that to me too." Krystal nodded, "Just give me some time to think about it."

And then to me, Krystal said, "Zammi, since you know about Leia's secret now, you must help her."