Chapter 1: Should I Buy Perfume?

Anna

Again, I decided to ignore my alarm clock. Yesterday was a busy day. I am renting a small studio near the high school and somewhat near the pack house. I brought just the essentials with me; The rest of my things will be arriving by the end of the week. However, the Luna insisted that I should also have a room at the pack house, so I can stay there sometimes and interact with other pack members. I stayed at my apartment last night, with the excuse of being closer to work. As I drifted back to sleep, I received a phone call.

"asdseaffemmm...?"

"Rise and shine! Sweetheart!" I heard my best friend say.

"Anna! I hope that you are at least brushing your teeth and ready to go!" My brother said. Did I mention my brother and my best friend are mates? No? Well, it gets weird sometimes. Like when she insists in revealing too much information about my own brother that I definitely do not need to know. "I am not going today... Too sleepy to exist..." I said, my voice muffled by my pillow.

"You have to go!" My best friend said.

"Why?" I whimpered.

"Because you are the teacher! What happened with being a responsible adult?" My brother sounded annoyed, as usual.

"I said I was going to be a responsible adult OUTSIDE of my apartment. My bed if fair game." Now, I was annoyed.

"Your... Mate..." they said at the same time.

"Oh shoot! Look at the time! I am going to be late because of you." I jumped out of my bed and made my way to the bathroom. They laughed and wished me good luck before hanging up.

I took a shower and completed my skincare routine before putting on the clothes I chose for the occasion. When I am nervous, I wear something red. This is my lucky charm. It helps me feel confident and relax. I opted for a plain blue blazer and skirt and a red shirt to boost my mood. I put on my pumps to at least attempt to have an average height and I got in my car, my brother's surprise gift for me.

Update: Now, I am walking through the hallways and the pumps did not work. I am still shorter than most students, my figure and my face are not helping either. I look like one of them! I am hoping that the stares from the students and other faculty members are for my great fashion sense, but who am I kidding? They probably think I am a freshman who misinterpreted the school's dress etiquette. I kept my head high, though, a practiced smile on my face and my 'confident' walking. I got into the teacher's lounge. They did not look amused.

"Hello, I am Anna, the new teacher. I am new into town and I hope to get along with all of you." The stares intensified. The teachers looked at me with something that seemed like annoyance. OK? I guess this is going well. I did not let my smile falter. Another teacher that looked around my age made eye contact with me and then approached me.

"Hello! I am Alexandra, nice to meet you." She smiled brightly and shook my hand.

"Hi, my pleasure." I gave her a relaxed smile for the first time today.

"Do you know your classroom?" she asked.

"I do know, but I am not sure how to get there." I looked at the floor, a little bit ashamed. "Say no more! I am taking you there!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the hallways. At this point the hallways were nearly empty. "You are also new in the pack, right?" she asked while we walked towards my classroom.

"Something like that. I came here because I have been looking for my mate." I said lowering my voice and smiling sadly. At this point we were almost in front of my class.

"Wait! How old are you?? You do not have a mate!?" She practically yelled. I heard a few gasps behind me. Yup, we were in front of my class now, and my students were the punctual kind. Way to make a good first impression.

She seemed to realize her tongue slip and looked mortified.

"I am sorry! I need to get to my own class. Good luck!" She literally ran away. Can teachers run in the hallways? I need to look up on that. She reminds me a little bit about Elena. We may become friends once she learns to shut up. I made some small breathing exercises before turning around and facing my students. "Hello class. I am your new Math teacher, nice to meet you all. My name is Anna Amores." I wrote my name on the board. Then, I gave away copies of the syllabus to each student and read it out loud. After I was done, I asked them if they had any question. Soon enough the whole class raised their hands. "Yes?" I said signaling one of the students.

"How old are you?" asked a girl. I was not surprised by the question but I intended to explain class related things.

"Does anyone has a question regarding the class or the syllabus?" I brushed off the girl's question. This time nobody raised their hand. 'Oh this is going to be fun,' my wolf said. 'Really? Now you come out?'

"Well, if we are going to play 21 questions, we should at least make it fair." My students' looks showed that I had sounded more like a teenager than a teacher. I tried to fix my mistake.

"I will let this slip just because you are my first high school class, so use your chance wisely." I pointed to the first student of the row. "Tell me your name, one thing about you and if it is something personal I will answer one personal question. I warn you though, I will not answer inappropriate questions." I heard a few chuckles. They were not shy with their questions. "How old are you?" asked the first student.

"I turned twenty-two this year."

"Did you go to college?" asked another girl.

I furrowed my brows . Whoever said there were no stupid questions, clearly did not know what they were talking about.

"Yes, I double majored in Electrical Engineering and Math." I heard a few ohhhhh's from the class.

"How did you do that, being so young?" asked the next student.

"I finished high school at seventeen years old and I had already taken some advanced classes when I went to college. I also took Summer classes."

"My name is Samuel Clark. My first time was a threesome. Is it true that you are available?" asked a boy with a cheeky smile. He gave a new definition to TMI. I could tell he was one of the troublemakers. "Available?" I blinked in confusion.

"Teach, he is asking if it is true that you do not have a mate?" another boy said. I was going to answer him but when my eyes met his light blue eyes, my words got stuck in my throat. I had never seen such beautiful eyes, but there was something else to it. I just could not make what. 'Larentia...' I called my wolf nervously... 'I do not know either, Anna. There is something about his wolf also, and his smell, but it does not quite feel like a mate... Wait! Ask him his age. He might not be of age yet.'

"Anna!" I heard someone calling my name.

"What?" I did not like the fact that a student dared to call me by my name but at the same time I felt butterflies in my stomach from the way my name sounded when it came out from his lips.

"We kind lost you there for a second..." a girl said.

"Oh sorry. Anyway, what is your name and age, boy? Why are you talking to your teacher like that?" I said, trying to sound as firm as possible.

"My name is Caleb King, I am seventeen at the moment. Why? Do you want to be my Luna?" He chuckled lightly, mockery clear on his tone. 'Oh boy if you knew...' Larentia said.

'Oh my God, shut up! He cannot be my mate. He is too young. Forget it, the jet lag must be affecting you. Stop any weird thoughts right now!' I was getting annoyed by her obviously improper behavior. 'We will not know for sure until after his birthday. For now, I will abstain of any weird thoughts. BTW: You are screwed...' I decided to ignore her nonsense.

"Very funny Mr. King. To answer Mr. Clark's question. I do not have a mate, and I will not talk about this any further. Next student."

"Favorite color?" A girl asked. "As you can see, I like red sometimes. But everything else but my clothes tend to be pink." I heard Caleb and his friends chuckle.

"Would you like to share the joke with the rest of the class, Mr. King?" I crossed my arms in my chest trying to be as imposing as possible, but I am sure that I look just like an angry chihuahua. At least, that is what my brother says.

"If you insist," said Caleb condescendingly. "My friend Matt here was saying that you certainly do not fit the teacher's stereotype and that you may just be a teenage girl playing the teacher." He openly laughed.

"Oh... Thank you for your honesty. Tell your friend Matt that we can discuss that over detention, and seeing that you like to talk for others, you should join us as well." I said with my poker face on.

Caleb stared at me with what seemed to be rage in his eyes. It looks like the boy does not enjoy being told what to do. My wolf whimpered. 'Are you for real, Larentia? You really are afraid of a seventeen years old? We are the the strongest warrior in my brother's pack and we sure as hell can take on the little Alpha.' I did not let any feeling show in my face while I maintained my staring contest with Caleb. You could hear a pin drop in the room. 'I... think he is our mate. Just the feeling of making him upset makes me suffer.' I lost my concentration and smirked a little. 'Well, get ready because with this attitude of him, he sure is going to be upset very often. I do not care who he is, if he does not know respect I am going to teach him.'

Caleb noticed my smirk and arched one brow. "I think I went a little overboard. Excuse me, teacher." He gave the fakest apology I have ever heard in my life.

"I will let you two off the hook just today. Do not make this a habit." I was not about to get in the future's Alpha bad side on the first day, mate or not. I rather avoid conflict.

Caleb stayed silent the rest of the class. Soon, it was his turn to ask. He smirked. "I am Caleb King. One thing about me is that I expect nothing less than perfection from the people I surround myself with." He looked straight at me scrutinizing me, and scoffed. The little fucker scoffed! I refused to give him a reaction. "So, Ms. Amores, what do you consider is your biggest flaw?"

Is this guy for real? I could not hold back my nervous laugh when I thought about all of my flaws. My class looked at me in shock and he just looked amused. I could not say that I cared too much about that. 'Tell him about your erratic sleep schedule,' Larentia chuckled. 'Or my poor culinary abilities,' I said. 'Oh wait, something better, tell him how of a mess everything you touch becomes.'

Flashes of the mess I made in my college apartment invaded my mind. I could not even see the floor at times. 'I could say that I talk too much when I am nervous...'

'You could as well say how you tend to cheat on your boyfriends as soon as you get bored.'

'Hey! I have not have a boyfriend since the Great Depression of my 19s.'

'You sure as hell said I love you to more than one guy after that' she said. My wolf was eternally angry when I was close to other people that were not my mate. I did not care about her tantrums. I settled for a simpler flaw.

"Sometimes, it is difficult for me to not say what I really think, and usually those thoughts are not really nice." I looked him at the eye. He smiled and began to say something, but the bell rang. Everyone started to leave. He stayed behind and when he walked beside me, he stopped and said: "You seem like a very interesting person. I hope we get to know each other more." He gave me a smile that I could not decipher. He kept walking, but suddenly turned back like he had forgotten something. He looked me at the eye. His eyes were darker than usual. "I love your perfume, by the way." He did not wait for an answer and left the classroom. I do not wear perfume... Does he know?