OTHER THINGS THAT WAS STUPID

15 FEBRUARY, MONDAY, BEFORE SCHOOL

Today was the first of many things for me. It was the first day I was in love, which in itself was something crazy stoopid. BUT that wasn't all the crazy stoopids that had changed around me.

Maybe I was in la-di-da land all the way to school. Ki had tried to run through my schedule the way Harvey usually did, but I hadn't registered a thing. Not about the war report from the Underground's successful rogue hunt, not about the second vampire slaying lesson happening tonight, not about the new security roll out that started today.

I just nodded my assent to everything he said. Ki did pause to gauge my reaction after announcing the security roll out. When I vaguely nodded, he asked me, "Would you require further details on the arrangements, goddess?"

"No, it's fine, thanks." I waved it off, "I'll just go with whatever."

"Very well, goddess." Ki smiled and continued reporting on the other matters which I did listen to... somewhat.

I mean if someone had asked at the moment, "Sam, are you listening?"

I would have been offended, "Of course I am!"

But I must not have been listening as attentively as I normally would because I was quite surprised when I got out of the car and noticed for the first time, that our car had been followed all the way to school by four motorcycle escorts.

It was super obvious too. All four bikers were on identical blue bikes and warrior gear, jackets and all. They even had matching dark blue helmets, dark visors, and gloves, boots and everything. It was official escort stuff - and worn properly too, like Lorent warrior standard of properly, not Night Leaf or Morning Light type of "properly". (There was a marked difference.)

I decided to pretend I didn't see them.

"Have a good day, goddess." Ki had gotten out of the car to bow me off.

I smiled my auto-mode wide smile and waved, "Thanks for the ride, Ki. See you later!"

And then I spun around and walked quickly into the school. It was early, and the school grounds was quiet, and I had hoped that if I got away quickly, no one else would have noticed the "new security roll out."

I only slowed my steps when I caught sight of my classroom. I was early today. No one was in homeroom, not even Elena.

I sat down at my desk and put away my things. This was nice. Quiet. Peaceful.

Eh? As I slipped my file under my desk, it hit something inside it. I looked, oh, it was my phone! The old one that went missing. The one Ben said was at the Central Covens. How did it get back here?

I flipped it front and back, it looked normal, but it was turned off. I touched the power button, but remembered the virus Ben had put inside it. Maybe it would be better to just give this to Ben to handle. I didn't want to take down the entire school's WiFi and all the devices connected to it. I packed the cursed phone into my backpack for Ki to find. Just in case, I even wrapped it in a piece of paper and wrote the words "DO NOT TURN ON" in a black marker I borrowed from the front of the classroom.

After that, I put the marker back at the white board and went back to my seat. I felt pretty proud of myself for adverting a potential catastrophe. The Sam from last year wouldn't have thought to do all this. The Sam from last year wouldn't have to... She didn't have betas packing her bags for her. She didn't even have her own phone, or car, or mate... Wow, what a difference a couple of months made! From my first shift, the whole world changed. Or maybe I was the one who changed.

Henry and Marcus were one of the first few kids to come in.

"You're early." Henry smirked, "I thought after your hot date last night, you would've been late today."

Trust the king of intel to know. I felt my face turn hot.

Marcus chuffed and was way more amused than necessary.

"Shut up and leave me alone."

Yes, I was that eloquent.

And then the cool girls came in and sashayed over to my desk.

"Did you remember to do your homework?" Zara asked.

"Why won't I remember?" I surrendered my homework to them and the cool girls sat down around me to copy.

"You tell me." Krystal shrugged.

"Why are you mad?" I asked, because Krystal was just giving off the petty anger vibe she liked to use when offended.

"She's jealous of your crazy party last night" Leia rolled her eyes.

"What crazy party?" Henry asked.

"The one she didn't invite us to!" Krystal said. She took out her phone to show them.

Since their visit to Night Leaf, the cool girls had become "friends" with some of the kids there, and there was a video repost on someone's channel of Ben and me shaking our bon bons.

It was nothing short of embarrassing to see myself shaking my bon bon like that. But I put on my most indifferent shrug and said, "It was just a school dance."

"Just a school dance?" Marcus asked, "Sam, you dated two guys last night?"

"No! That wasn't a date. Anyway, I went with Harvey, not Ben."

"Let me get this straight, you went out with Harvey, danced with Ben, and then had dinner with James?" Henry smirk grew so large, it might disfigure his face.

"Yes, well no!" I got flustered. WTH.

And then my friends had to compare notes, and Marcus showed the Lycan gossip column to the cool girls.

"Ooooohhh... Three guys, one dress." Leia said. She made it sound scandalous somehow.

"No, it wasn't like that." I tried to explain.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course it wasn't." Krystal waved it off.

"This is going to look pretty bad though." Marcus clicked his tongue, "I never imagined you were the type to two-time."

"Three-time. She was basically three timing, on the same night." Henry chuffed.

It was then when I realized they were teasing me. At least the two guys were.

"I'm so jealous, I could hate you." Krystal told me.

"If you had so many guys, you could have invited us too." Zara said.

"Yes, but just Krystal and me." Leia told me, "Zara could bring her own date."

"Wait, no! But I want to go out with a hot werewolf too!" Zara protested.

"You already have Ivan!" Leia said, "You shouldn't be greedy."

"There were only three guys. So just bring Ivan." Krystal said.

What kind of conversation was this?

The rest of the class quickly filled up nearer to homeroom time.

Jasmine and Liam had a grand entrance.

"They're holding hands!" Troy jumped up to his feet and pointed the moment they stepped into the classroom.

"Whoaaaaaaa!!!!!" The rest of the class whooped and thumped their desks like cave men.

Jasmine turned red. Liam smiled his usual closed mouth smile and winked.

When they got to their seats, Jasmine sank down into it and buried her face into her arms on the table. Liam leaned back and patted her head.

"Whoaaaaa!!!" The class went off again.

Liam put a finger on his lips, "Shhh..."

The class laughed and went back to all the usual regular noisy chatter and table and chair scrapping and whatever. Humans were generally noisy whenever they interacted with things and other humans.

But the biggest show stopper had to be Abigail. She came in with Pearl smiling widely at her heel. The moment she stepped in, she stopped aruptly in front of the whole class. Pearl nearly walked into her.

It was like she just froze there the moment she saw Henry. It was just for a few seconds longer than necessary, and then she tossed her head and decided to flat out ignore him.

Since she did this in front of the whole class, everyone saw it.

"What's wrong with Queen Abigail today?" Leia asked cattily.

We all looked over to Henry.

"Hey, Henry. Did you mess up on Friday night?" I asked.

"Of course not." Henry took offence to that.

"Technically, it was what he did after that..." Marcus said chuffing in amusement.

Henry smacked him over the back of his head.

"Ow..." Marcus grabbed his head and laid it to rest on his desk.

I tried to think, "He went out riding?"

"Wha-?" Marcus' head popped back up.

"No, Sam. He meant last night." Henry admitted, "I went out with Charbear."

It appeared that the paparazzi were out in full force last night.

"It's like that every Valentine's day." Henry sighed.

Apparently, while humans liked to read celebrity news, Lycan liked to read alpha news. It wasn't just a thing that Martha and Florence enjoyed. Most lycans were vastly fascinated by their Alpha families. What they ate and drank, who they associated with, what they wore, their string of broken romances before their soul mate appeared...

It was worse for some than others. I mean, back home, sheltered from the media and general public, we only had Martha to contend with. But for alpha families like Henry's, it was part and parcel of their lives.

I googled "Alpha Henry George" and found general news on everything from his birth, to his first shift, and now his hot date with long-time on and off girlfriend, Charlene.

Which I hoped you realized was baloney. Henry was 15. When did he start "long-time" dating? Like at the age of 5?

It was even worse for packs that thrived on hot tea every morning, like the Lorent Pack. I realized when I googled "Alpha James Lorent III". Within the tabloids documented what looked like every single date he ever had. It even published a top 5 most likely candidates for the Lorent's Future Luna at the end of last year. There was also a whole load of rubbish on everything from his outfits, cars, accessories...and Bell himself seemed to be keeping them busy - one day he was reportedly in a fight, another he would have crashed yet another car, or bike, or party.

It wasn't just Bell, Ki was also a beloved gossip figure. I clicked on the recommended search for "Lorent Ki" Killion was affectionately known as Beta Ki to his pack, and he was portrayed as the epitome of young and powerful male wolves in their prime - a manipulative overlord who enjoyed the company of beautiful women. He was as charming as he was sadistic, and the proof of his insane lust and power was the very public mauling of his own soulmate by his own hands in the most scandalous fight cage event to date.

I turned off my screen and had to take a deep breath and unclench my teeth. Poor Ki.

"I didn't think she'd look at Lycan news." Henry said, his eyes still on Abigail. She noticed and tossed her head again.

"You didn't count on Pearl showing her, huh?" Marcus was still finding the situation highly amusing, "What are you going to do now, Hen?"

"Nothing." Decided Henry, folding his arms, "The less I care, the better."

Who was the two-timer now?

"You shouldn't two-time Charbear." I told Henry, "Or Abigail either."

"You're one to talk." Henry smirked at me.

What? Wait no...

"You werewolves are so active." Krystal said with a knowing smile.

WTH did she mean by "active"?

"Wow, Sam. I didn't know you could dance like that." Zara said.

I didn't know either, but that wasn't the point.

"Stop watching that!" I pretty much alpha commanded.

Zara put down her phone. Henry and Marcus laughed.

"I'll give it one day." Henry said smugly, "One day, and your dance clip is going to be out on mainstream."

By mainstream, he meant LNC, our reliable Lycan News Channel. I wasn't keen on that, from previous experience, I was sure they were going to narrate something weird. What happened to the blackout order on me? Who posted that? I picked up Zara's phone to look, but I didn't recognize the nickname. Who was RainbowZebra?

And then the homeroom bell rang and we had to move back to our own tables. Maria appeared at the last moment and sat down next to me. Mrs Henderson came into the classroom and got Liam to go up and set up the projector for her.

Today, we would be doing math during homeroom because we were falling behind the other classes. The class groaned.

Abigail passed a note down for Henry from the front of the class. It was pink and folded like a heart. I tossed it on his desk.

Henry smirked when he saw it.

I should totally take a photo and send it to the LNC. Who knew? They might even pay me for it.

Stoopid LyNCh.

Just as I thought that was my biggest contention of the day, Principal Laura knocked on our door.

Homeroom, I mean Math lesson had to stop for her to introduce two new transfer students.

"Transfer students?" Mrs Henderson looked completely caught off guard.

"Yes." Principal Laura smiled and continued, "They are brothers and come from quite far off. I hope all of you will make them feel welcomed."

She was lying through her teeth. My alpha wolf knew this. Henry raised a brow and turned to Marcus to whisper something. He sensed it too, I'm sure. Principal Laura was still smiling, "Please come in and meet everyone, boys."