HOW THE NOOBS WON

I looked at the noobs. Most of us were just small cute girls who couldn't even throw. I wasn't being sexist or anything. The girls were all at most up to my shoulder, and they were cute and I had seen them attempt to throw.

I picked up a stray ball and tossed it to the side, "Fetch"

Nolan was first to the ball. Followed by a few boys who nearly got up and then sat down again.

"Okay, everyone who moved, you're on retrieval team. Your job is to collect as many balls as you can without getting hit."

I raised my hand to Nolan and he obligingly tossed the ball to me. I caught it one handed with a nice loud smack. This was just a lucky catch on my part. Usually, I needed both hands, since my girly hands were too small to grip the ball tight. But the noobs didn't know that, they watched with growing respect.

"Who is able to shoot?"

Some hands raised.

"Go in pairs. Watch each others back. Station yourselves four corners. Stronger teams up front." I told them.

"Yes! We are so going to win!" One of the guys said.

"No way!" I scoffed, "There's no way we can win. But if you can't win, you need to win as much as you can."

"We are so winning this." Angela concluded.

Awww... That would be Delta Felicity's daughter speaking.

"Eventually, Angela." I promised her, "You've got to learn from loss, before you learn from wins."

"What about the rest of us?" Carlie said.

Should they sit out? I thought about it, that would be a waste of resources.

"We will use your strengths." I told them.

"What strength?" One of the guys scoffed.

"Shut up Jay." Angela snapped at him.

He just shrugged, "Look at them, they are just a distraction."

"We are a sexy distraction." Carlie corrected him.

Jay grunted and shrugged something derisive.

Angela slapped him hard on the back.

"Ow..." Jay groaned. The other guys just laughed.

This was Angela's gang. And they just gave me an idea.

"All the girls, even if you can throw, position by the side. The moment you hear the word "run", you run across the hall screaming. Angela take command of the screaming girls. (Because you're the only one who can). Nolan, you run the retrieval team. I want all the balls back here. I'll lead the attack. On my signal."

"Alright! We're going to win." Jay declared.

"No, just gonna mess with them a bit." I told him.

"Good enough." Another boy behind me said.

Attack teams always have all the attitude.

Link shouted, "Round 3 to the start line."

"Where do we go?" Carlie started to panic.

"Shut up and follow me." Angela snapped.

It went very quickly. From the onset, I shouted the first "run!" The girls ran and screamed so loud my ears rang.

By the third "run!", we were three screamers and one retriever out. But it looked like we had most, if not all the balls. Time to turn the tide.

"Screamers grab a ball and run out and shoot. The rest grab two and run around. Shoot when they are shooting the screamers. Go!"

We had to move fast. The pros were closing in. I could sense them. I grabbed two balls.

Gamma approaches.

To Jonah's credit, I didn't see him at all.

Beta approaches.

They were flanking me.

I grabbed the guy closest to me before he ran forward with the ball, "Jay, we're surrounded. Go left, I'll go right. Go!"

"Run!" I shouted suddenly. There was a pause and then Angela started screaming wherever she was. The other girls screamed too. I saw Carlie on the beeches screaming her lungs out. Boy, can she scream.

I pretty much ran into Ben with the ball and tagged him out.

Jonah charged towards us yelling. I guess Jay had failed. Jonah threw the ball straight at me. Ben blocked it. What the hell?

"What? Hey?" Jonah protested.

"Sorry. Reflex." Ben muttered.

What the hell.

There was chaos and screaming all around the hall. My ears drums were melting out of my ears. I realized Link was blowing on his whistle. Repeatedly. The screaming completely covered it.

I tossed the ball at Jonah and it landed on his head and bounced off. Jonah looked surprised and then shrugged it off.

"Enough!" I shouted. But no one could hear anything over the screaming. In fact I think the pros were screaming too. I saw Lizzy red faced, and hands over her ears on the beeches screaming. Even the guys were screaming.

What the hell.

The doge ball match had turned into a screaming match somehow.

I felt my hair rise and the alpha dominance crash over me like a tsunami. "I said that's enough!"

Silence.

I wondered for a moment if my eardrums just gave way.

Then Link cleared his throat, "Noobs win."

Screaming again. I guess my eardrums survived. My poor eardrums. I wanted to cover them, but I'm the alpha.

"We won! We won!" Angela, Carlie, and Delilah were jumping up and down hugging each other.

The screaming had given way to happy noises at a decibel level that was humanely tolerable.

I felt myself relax.

"I think I've lost my voice." Carlie said. Her voice did sound rather husky.

"You sound so sexy now." Delilah laughed at her.

"I knew we would win." Jay told me.

"I can't believe it." I turned to my guys, "How could you lose to noobs?"

"They were too noisy." Jonah grumbled.

"Yeah, we used our secret weapon." Angela boasted, patting Carlie on the back."

"OMG Jonah is looking at me!" Carlie exclaimed. I felt Jonah retreat behind me. Hahaha.

I cannot help but love and worry about Carlie all at the same time.

Nolan came over to me when we were about to go, "Hey, ah...Sam. urm, thanks... For the win. And ah, I guess you weren't the princess I was expecting. You're cool."

I looked at the young guy, he was already my height. Now this was someone who could easily be taller than Jonah one day. He was broad too. Definitely future warrior type.

"You guys did a good job. I barely moved." I told him, "And if you want real princesses, just look around you. Our pack is full of them." I nodded towards the girls who were just on my right.

"Awww...Sam called me a princess." Carlie seemed happy.

Savy came up to me. My cue to go. "Bye." I called in general, "Let's play again next time."

"No more, never again...my ears..." I heard Tim moan.

Angela punched his shoulder lightly.

Our pack was home to the strongest, bravest, cutest princesses... They were probably the loudest too. My ears were still ringing.

{Beta approaches}

Someone outside the hall caught Link's attention. Kevy's too. They stood at the door talking for a bit. I turned, meaning to give them space and use the side door out.

"Hey, Princess!" Link called, "Harvey's looking for you."

I could hear Carlie's gasp. I froze, turning slowly. The girls were watching. Harvey stepped into the hall with his usual leather jacket but this time, three paper bags. He indicated to Ben and Jonah too, and headed to the beeches for more privacy.

I walked over. New phone! I could almost smell them. Ben and Jonah got there first. Harvey handed them a bag each.

"They are the same, just different colors." Harvey told them. The guys looked at the picture of the new phone printed on the white boxes. One was black and the other was a deep forest green.

Jonah looked at Ben, "Which one do you want?"

Ben considered it, "Green."

"Good. I get the black one." Jonah said.

Both guys were pleased.

Harvey pulled out a dark blue shiny phone, "This one is yours princess. I've set it up with your new email. The details are in the paper bag. For you guys too."

Harvey flicked on the phone and after a bit turned it to face me, "Here, let's set the thumbprint lock." I put my thumb on the lit section for a bit.

After that was done, Harvey showed me the contact list, "I've included the numbers I could think of, including Haylee's because she insisted. But you'd find your dad, the other elders, Ben and Jonah, as well as myself, Lola, and Nix here."

"How come you didn't set ours up?" Jonah asked.

"Learn to set up your own phone." Harvey told him.

"What about me?" I asked.

"All you need to know is how to speed dial our numbers." Harvey smirked.

Then Harvey showed me the email app, and then the chat app where he already set up the various groups. And then the calendar, where he had color coded the calendars to show mine in blue. His was in grey... And very full. He said to Ben, "Make sure you set up one too. And get the Princess' calendar shared with you. I'll share mine with you too."

"What about me?" Jonah asked.

"You share yours with Ben and me." Harvey told him, "The Betas coordinate all the other schedules, or the Alpha's schedule will get over complicated."

Mine looked pretty uncomplicatedly blank right now.

"OMG, Sam... You need to get all their schedules. Then you'd be able to know where the hottest guys are at anytime!" It was Carlie.

Harvey lifted a brow and she shrank back. I realized all three girls had come over, Lizzy and Savy too. But they all had different agendas.

Savy wanted to go home.

Lizzy wanted to see what phones we got.

And the three girls... I'm not sure what they wanted but I am guessing it's something to do with the senior year beta in front of me.

"Can I help you with anything else, Princess?" Harvey asked me calmly.

Carlie sighed loudly.

I shook my head, "I'm good, thanks."

"Then I'll excuse myself, Princess." Harvey continued, completely ignoring Carlie's repeated sighing. Angela hit her with the back of her hand to make it stop. But she was also smiling at us.

"Yeah, bye and thanks." I said. I could not help but smile at Carlie's antics behind me.

"My pleasure, princess." Harvey said with a wry smile, and he was gone.

I wouldn't be surprised if Harvey was doing it on purpose. That beta!

Carlie gave a long loud sigh, "Oh Harvey!"

The other girls laughed. I felt an unexplainable hot flush of embarrassment at the sounds Carlie was making. The guys looked as embarrassed as I felt.

Carlie, did I mention how I loved and worried about this princess?