Wanna Get Out of Here?

They all pretty much stayed in a group, even Ava. They sat at dinner with one another, with Riley’s friends nearby. The conversation overlapped the groups but never got too loud. Actually, none of it was loud. There was an air of quiet over the whole room that Mark could feel but not understand. He did, however, know it had to do with Mercy.

Whether it was a spell, or it was just his presence, everyone seemed uncomfortable with him around. They didn't want to upset him. He had a sort of calm that was suspicious, as well as frightening.

This air was the reason Ava had come with them. Lacy had grabbed her arm when she said she was just going to stay and relax. She told them all that skipping meals was absolutely not allowed under any circumstance.

"So how long have you been at the school, Lacy?" Nex asked.

"I started Sophomore year. I was D.L. very quickly. This place has a way of straightening us out." She explained.

"Made many of us less wild." Another of Riley’s friends said.

"So, Riley. Who are all your friends?" Sebastian asked.

"My pack." She said through a mouthful.

"Did all of you try to bite someone?" Nyx joked.

"The only time biting in human form is dangerous is when you're me, so they would have to prove the dog bite was one of these guys." Riley explained.

"Why is that?" Ava asked quietly.

"I'm the alpha." Riley said, casually.

"At your age?" Sebastian asked in surprise.

"I was born into it. When my parents died it passed to me." She said it as if it was nothing important, “Lacy is next in line because I don't have a descendant yet and her family is second in command.”

“Do you guys have control over turning? How does that work?” Nyx asked.

“Are you guys sure we should be talking about these things?” Mark asked, looking around at others who weren’t even looking their direction.

“There isn’t a single human here.” Lacy stated, “We would smell them over everything else. Human scent is extremely strong.”

“Humans aren’t the only dangers.” Mark said. He started to feel anxious and the room started to feel smaller and more crowded, “We shouldn’t talk about this.”

“Mark, it’s alright. Really. They vet everyone. We are troubled teens but they don’t let dangerous people in. Not dangerous to us.” Lacy explained.

“Have they told you that?” Mark asked, skeptically.

“Are you alright?” Lacy asked, reaching across the lunch table to take his hand.

“She’s closer.” Ava said from a few people down.

“Hush! Shut up!” MArk said, a little too loud, making Ava look like she was going to cry.

“I just…”Ava said, getting cut off by Mark.

“Ava, please don’t.” Mark said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

“Sorry.” She whispered back, hiding behind the little bit of her hair that could cover her eyes, or as much as she could hide behind it.

Mercy got up from his table and went to the podium, raising his hands. Mark had never seen a room of teenagers go so quiet as fast as this one did. Mercy leaned on the podium and looked around.

“Welcome everyone. This new school year has a lot in store for us. I hope you are all as excited as I am. We have a few new students, and I hope you all welcome them as the school has welcomed you.” Mercy said, “Now, Sunday you will all receive copies of your schedules and a map and you will look around for each of your classes just to get used to the layout. Take Saturday to settle in and get to know your peers and meet up with old friends. Good luck this year.”

As soon as he was done and had sat down, Ava took that as dismissal and she stood so abruptly that she knocked over her plate.

"Ava, you don't have to leave." Mark whispered, trying to reach for her, but she was too far down the table and she was ignoring him. He felt horrible for yelling at her.

********************

The first day of school came way too fast. Mark did not think one day was enough to settle into a new home. Even if the school year had already started, Malakhi would let him have multiple days every time they moved. He would be able to decorate, have time to himself, things you needed to adjust properly. He realized that he was not the only one having these issues. His entire group was separated in some of their classes so they couldn't even help one another get from room to room.

The first day they would go to homeroom, they didn't have to do this every day, and they were allowed to be a good bit later than usual because they wanted everyone to figure out where they needed to be. All day would be like this, them going from class to class figuring out where they needed to be.

He was leaning against some of the lockers when Riley came to him. She put a hand on the wall next to his head and leaned in close, slightly turning.

"Hey, where is your homeroom?" She asked.

"Uh, here." He said, showing her the map. Bash came up and leaned his shoulder on the wall on Mark's other side.

"That is Building C not A, Buddy." He said with a grin. When Mark looked up at him he realized Bash was grinning at Riley and his own smile faded, until Bash's eyes flickered back down to him and he winked at him. Riley giggled lightly.

"I'm not in C?" He asked breathlessly.

"No." Riley whispered, taking his map gently and turning it over. Mark started to grin himself.

"Where is your homeroom? Here?" He asked, pointing to the building they were in.

"Funny, that is where my homeroom is." Riley nodded, her eyes narrowing.

"You know where our homerooms aren't?" Mark asked, folding up the map.

"Building... B?" She asked, looking up to Bash.

"You're right? Yeah?" Bash asked, looking down to Mark.

"Yeah she is." MArk said, tilting his head to gesture for them to follow him.

"Someone will see." Bash said as he slowly moved away from the wall.

"Someone will look for us." Riley said.

"We have two hours to find our homerooms." Mark said, lifting his brows and turning back to face Riley. He noticed he had slightly slid down the wall so he was slightly lower than her. He looked up and between Bash and Riley, over and over, "Come on." He whispered, grabbing their hands and moving away from the wall. He took a few steps and let go of their hands, turning around and walking backwards. He lifted his arms in a shrug and kept walking.

"Should we?" Riley asked, looking up at Bash.

"Ladies first." Bash said, gesturing for her to do so.