STANDING ON TWO BOATS

17 FEBRUARY, WEDNESDAY, LATE AFTERNOON

I had left the CIS Debrief with a sense of relief. My friends had stopped crying and we were allowed to go back to getting through the day.

The wolves and I were seated at the back of the class, so we had to file in to leave behind the other kids. Humans didn't do things like let the Alpha leave first, which always rubbed wolves the wrong way, but I usually didn't take it personally. They weren't trying to snub us or be rude. Humans were just never all that aware of the subtle nuances of wolf hierarchy or social interactions.

In fact, most humans I knew were never all that subtle by nature. Once outside the music room, the kids huddled together to discuss the different things they heard and seen, and tried to make sense of the incident. Janice and some girls were still comforting one another, but I think most of us were ready to resume our lives again.

"I can't believe it's already so late!" Zara took a double take on her watch.

"It's because Pearl had to take the time to 'encourage' us." Leia huffed, "More like try to make a good impression in front of the Principal!"

"You should be used to it by now, some people go to extremes just to get noticed." Krystal shrugged.

But when she said SOME PEOPLE, she looked pointedly to specifically Pearl and Abigail.

And as I've already mentioned, humans were not all that subtle. Abigail and Pearl turned their heads and glared daggers. Then Abigail loudly declared, "We should be thankful and treasure our lives, not waste it making toxic comments."

The irony was not lost on the cool girls

"That's ironic, coming from the Toxic Queen herself!" Krystal commented.

"Well, she should know." Leia added.

"Just ignore her. She's just a crazy woman talking to herself." Krystal added.

"Did you hear that?" One of the random girls asked Abigail, "I think I hear a fly buzzing."

"A fly wearing cheap perfume." Yet another random girl added. (I really should learn their names.)

"WHAT?" Now Zara was mad, "Who's wearing cheap perfume? This is real Xyo Light okay?"

"Were we talking about you?" Random girl asked.

"Leave it." Abigail always liked to be the one to graciously play peacemaker, "Let's not fight."

"Yeah." Pearl produced one of her wide smiles, "I don't know why Henry and the other guys always hang out with them."

But this was apparently a trigger for Abigail, for the moment she lost her cool, her mouth scowled and her eyes burned with rage, and then she recovered herself, her eyes tearing just a bit, "I guess guys like Henry just like pretty girls."

"No!" A random girl was quick to correct her, "Abigail, you're the prettiest and nicest girl in the class. Henry was blind to dump you."

Abigail flinched, just a tiny bit. And then she said in a sad way, "But obviously not pretty or nice enough."

"Go look in the mirror again!" Leia quipped in, "You're ugly! And you look better on the outside than your inside."

Which wasn't true. Abigail was one of the prettiest girls in class. Well, maybe not as pretty as Arlene... but she was pretty even for a cheerleader, and weren't cheerleaders supposed to be the prettiest? At least that was my understanding based on the movies I've watched. 

But Abigail cried then.

"Look what you did!" A random girl pointed an accusing finger at the cool girls.

"Crocodile tears." Krystal smirked, she crossed her arms and walked over, flanked by the other cool girls.

"Cat fight! Cat fight!" Troy was alerting the other guys in a whisper that was too loud.

"You know, girls like you think you're all that." Krystal said, "Rich little daddy's girls who had never worked a day in their lives. All you do is flutter your lashes and hold out your hand."

"Shut up!" A random girl argued back, "You cheap s***s have no right to look down on us. I don't know what kind of trick you used to get Henry to dump Abigail, and Marcus and Liam... and now even the new guys too."

Okay, its confirmed, the mention of Henry dumping Abigail was a trigger for her. She flinched again. 

"Yeah! You're all ugly b*****es who wear too much makeup and perfume! In the end, you're just a cheap temporary amusement! Nothing more!" Spat out another random girl.

"Actually, the only one that the guys are all chasing is Sam." Pearl decided to point out with her signature smile, "Not any of you. The new guys, Marcus, Henry, Liam... they are all  just hanging out with you to get close to Sam."

Eh? What? Why was I involved in this? Okay, let's just walk away and pretend this never happened.

"Sam?" Abigail blinked, as if suddenly realizing it, she turned to me, "Is it true? I heard Henry was dating you now."

I looked at Henry, who shook his head, not him. Thanks. Big help.

"Nope." I said, "I already have a boyfriend."

Because Mate = boyfriend, although I haven't informed him of his new status yet.

"Hoi hoi, what's going on?" EJ naturally needed to insert himself into the spotlight, "Why are all the pretty girls in the class turning scary?"

"They're fighting over a guy." Chuffed Marcus and he coughed into his hand, "Henry."

Henry hit him from behind, "Shut it."

Marcus coughed-laughed, doubling over.

The guys obvi felt this was some kind of joke. 

But Marcus was wrong. This wasn't about a guy, or even all the cool guys put together. They guys were just the superficial object they were pulling at. They would have fought over a doll, food, or any other object in the same way. 

These girls were in deep... I knew with all my wolf instinct to not get involved.

Unfortunately, not all my friends were equip with the same level of instinct.

"I wan't girls to fight over me too!" EJ decided. 

"Idiot." Fluffy smiled, "Who would fight over you?"

EJ pouted, "Better me than a bookworm like you."

"I'm a very beautiful bookworm." Fluffy answered confidently.

Wth were these two clowns going on about?

"Yeah, yeah, you two pretty boys, just shut it." Jax cut in sourly.

"'Hahaha, are you jelly jax?" EJ taunted, "Jelly Jax, Jelly Jax..."

Jax punched EJ - or at least he tried. EJ dodged it easily and made a run for it. 

Jax gave chase.

"Two idiots." Fluffy smiled at their departure.

Neil sighed and shifted forward to take EJ's position, "Nothing but trouble."

This was when I realized that they were still guarding me. 

I looked around for Ki. He was a few paces away. On the outside, his gentle smile on, but he had his phone out and I could sense his mindlinks were also keeping him busy. Poor Ki. I wondered what kind of beta reporting and liaising work he was dealing with. 

Yeah, the faster I move me and my wolves out of this situation the better. I made a move to leave.

"Sam!" Abigail called out. Uh oh, "Do you promise? You aren't dating Henry?"

I'm not sure why she thought Henry and I could ever be an item.

I nodded, "Yeah, sure."

And then maybe because I was meaner than I realized, or maybe my ability to be a real girl was more than I had given myself credit for. 

I turned away with an unsubtle shrug, "Whatever."

I wanted Abigail to know I didn't care. No matter how big a trip up Henry's break up was to her, it was none of my business. I couldn't care less who Henry dated. IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ME SO DON'T BUG ME ABOUT IT AGAIN.

"Swear it!" Pearl called out as I left, "Samantha Kingsley, swear you'll never date Henry!"

Eh? Seriously? I stopped but I didn't let myself turn around.

Then I waved a hand to brush them off, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

And then I walked away without looking back once. I had never, ever, shown so much attitude in my life. I had to admit, it felt pretty good. 

Walking away, my footsteps in the school hallways resounding with the sure steps of my wolves behind me. 

Maybe I should've said more. Why did I let Abigail and Pearl make me swear anything? (Not that I would ever want to date Henry), but who were they to make me swear?

What did Abigail and Pearl think to achieve with that? I was the alpha! 

It seems I wasn't as "nice" as my friends say. And I did have a mean streak. Okay, I should've known, with Boo's bright personality and all. 

But the reason why I left so quickly... if I had to be totally honest with myself, it wasn't because I didn't want to fight. It was because I was sorely tempted to try. I felt quite sure I'd win too. I'd probably be the top mean girl in the neighborhood. No one, not Abigail or Pearl or anyone else would be able to sass in my face without having their's ripped off.

But Cu fundul în două luntri, you can't stand on two boats. Especially if they were headed in different directions.

I was the Alpha. I had wolves following me. 

The things I choose to do and say, the ones I treasure with all my heart... the happiness that is within my grasp, the love, hope, and tradition of my pack - I will protect them all. 

So I should not partake in popularity competition or mean-girl wars. I had my own fight to focus on. 

What I needed wasn't the power to destroy, but to shield, not to tear down, but to build, not to poison, but to heal. The thing I wanted to win most, was not something that could be gained by the power of my punch... or in this case, the sharpness of my tongue. 

Suddenly, it became crystal clear to me: The cool girls were cool and all. Winderhill had been great. But I've been distracted by them. 

The Princess Town needed to be built. The Rogue King was still out there... and I kind of didn't really remember what I promised the goddess about freeing lycan slaves, but the ones who were with me, were obvi still broken inside and I didn't know how to fix them. 

Maybe they all just needed to meet their soul mates. Like Blades... who met the beautiful white wolf that healed his heart. 

Unless that referred to Mum and Savy's healing powers... I hated Lycan Literature, I never knew when to take it literally or not. I mean, its all fine and dandy as a bedtime story, but when I'm actually trying to decipher a real life solution for broken ex-dog fighters, or find a blue stone, or a place called Idonia... not helpful at all. 

Okay, so the blue stone was a Warlock spell? Did warlocks hide their spells in song the way lycans did? I would suspect the warlock borrowed the lycan song tradition and inserted his spell into it, crafty old thing.

Which meant that this Warlock knew at least enough to manipulate our spells. 

Anyway, I digressed, again. My point was that schooling at Winderhill, hanging out with the cool girls, having fun with my school pack, and all my school activities... these were all draining the time I needed to get real pack work done. 

I wish I could quit school so I can focus more on my alpha work, but I am sure my Dad would never allow it. Maybe transferring to a full Lycan school in my Packlands, like the Lorent Girl's School was a blessing in disguise. The way Harvey could take Tuesdays off for beta work at New Leaf Academy. Yeah, it's just a bit more - exams, and then the Romeo and Juliet and our last hurrah - which was the name of the band that Marcus entered for the talent-time. 

omo my exams were when? Like next week, next week?!?

Wait, when did that happen?

"Someone tell me exams are not next week." I said.

"Exams are not next week, pretty alpha." Fluffy was happy to obliged. But I knew better than to believe him.

"Exams?" EJ panicked immediately, "EXAMS? That's something hard right?"

"Ha, brat. Exams are the killer." Jax said.

"For someone who had never finished high school, you sure know a lot." EJ grinned.

"WHAT?" Jax raised his hand to hit EJ, but EJ had shot off like a bullet.

We were nearly at the student foyer by now. Ki had said our car was here or something.

It was good Henry and Marcus weren't around to smirk about me not knowing something basic like that. Technically, I did know, but I had remembered it was like a few weeks later... how did time fly by so quickly when it crawled so painfully slowly in the classroom?

And that was how school was a huge distraction. It was always throwing things stuff in my face (like EXAMS). 

Okay, I know, I have tons of Alpha stuff to do, but first EXAMS. I'll get down to pack work proper after I make sure I ace my exams. Someone reschedule Rogue King's defeat! Hahaha.