MPOV

I examined myself in the wall to floor mirror, twisting around to see the simple braid plated in my hair. I wore a pair of blue jean shorts, a tightly fitted baby blue tank top, and silver waist belt. My black converse was anything but fashionable, though I still insisted that I wore it, despite my friend's many pleas.

Most would look at me and say, "Oh, an outsider. Look- she wears her hair up, she doesn't wear anything off the shoulder, and look- ew, she's wearing sneakers!" But that's not the case; in fact, I'm the most popular girl in the school. My bad sense of style had not affected the fact that people were drawn to me, seeking my advice and protection. Protection? Oh, yeah, and I can beat up any boy; beat them in sports, running, you name it. Not to mention my wolf.

Most people don't know this, but wolves are allowed as pets in Arizona- that is, seventy-five percent wolf, and twenty-five percent dog. My wolf had a mixture of breeds in the twenty-five percent area. She was part German shepherd, part husky, and part lab. She had the aggressiveness of the shepherd and the wolf, the looks and commitment of the husky, and could hunt like the lab. She was as tall as my shoulder, could look me right in the eye, and was pure white with bright green eyes. My wolf despised anyone else but me, and practically understood English- that is, whatever I said. She was called Grace.

I sighed, slung my blue backpack over my shoulder, and sprinted out to meet the bus, a fiber one bar in my hand. (AN: Those are really good!) I was intercepted by Grace, however, as I spotted her glaring at the bus, hackles raised threateningly.

At my touch, her lips unfroze from their snarl, her ears unfolded, and she sat down, resuming the cold, calculating look in her eyes. These intelligent eyes glanced my way, the way they flickered telling me a message. Ride to school with me, they said. It'd be a much flashier way of arriving on your first day in high school, eh?

I rolled my eyes, consenting to Grace's plea with a grin and the waving away of the bus. I swiftly clambered onto the wolf, my tanned hands slipping into her soft fur, tangling and gripping. She bounded off into the street, glaring at the pedestrians, the snarling cars.

It was indeed a fantastic way to begin high school, the boys starting at my streaming blond hair, tugged out of its braid by the wind, the elastic lost. Great- now I would have to survive the school day with my hair down, friends squealing. I clambered off Grace, glaring at the principle. Our glares mixed, forcing him to stare at the ground, letting Grace into the school without a problem.

As expected, my friends giggled and shrieked at the sight of Grace. I twisted my fingers into Grace's fur in comfort, convincing her not to snarl or tear these girls apart.

"Max!" Nudge squealed, bounding up to me. The girls crowded around her, asking her advice on their outfit, or other girly stuff that I invested no current interest in; that was why they went to Nudge. "OMG- Grace is still here! And as scary as every! OMG, there's this new boy, who, like, is so hot, but he's Goth or emo or something and he's hanging out with the losers so he automatically isn't available which is so sad and he moved here ten days ago and he has a brother and sister the brother is in fifth grade and has blond hair and blue eyes and his name's Gazzy and the girl is in ninth grade and has curly blond hair and blue eyes and the two of them look like their mother while the hot boy looks like his father because he has olive colored skin and black hair and really dark brown eyes that look black and today he's wearing a black t-shirt and black skinny jeans and black converse and he looks really cute and oh yeah I forgot to tell you that his name is Fang and-"

"Nudge!" I shouted, rolling my eyes and causing the other girls to laugh and giggle at the regular friendly squabble. "Really! I could barely understand you! Chillax! There's no one here that's making you run for your life, so you really don't have to talk at top speed! I mean, if we were running for our lives and you had a plan then I wouldn't have shut you up, but then you'd probably be talking about all the clothes you didn't have a chance to wear," I shook my head, clambering back onto Grace, towering over the others, my head brushing the ceiling.

From my high perch, I spotted the new black-haired boy. He wore exactly what Nudge had described, down to the converse. The girls around me spotted him quickly enough, giggling and batting their eyelashes. And he was… hot. Really hot. God, why was I thinking that about a guy? I was the only popular girl who wasn't dating someone, though many a boy had asked.

Fang seemed to see me just as I saw him, something flickering underneath his hard, expressionless mask. I jutted my chin out, glaring down at him. He raised his eyebrows, glaze flicking down to Grace's drawn back lips. Startled, he jerked back, and I smirked.

"Don't like dogs, Fang?" I teased.

"Not wolves," he grumbled, averting his eyes, and my smirk grew more pronounced.

"Hey, Rider! Still got that wolf of yours, have you?" Sam called out, surrounded by his jock friends.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, Sammy, I've still got Grace. And no, my last name isn't 'Rider'. It's Ride. You got a problem with that?"

"Uh, uh, Rider. But you're not a Ride: you're a Rider. And that's because you ride this here dog," Sam said, seeming to enjoy the howls of laughter from his friends. The popular girls and the popular boys were mingling, boyfriends kissing girlfriends, coy smiles and words were exchanged, and they were apparently enjoying each other's presence.

"Sure, Sammy," I shouted over the din, loosing the dark-haired boy in the chaos. "Come on, girls, lets move out!" The girls slipped away, pressing their phone numbers into boy's hopeful hands. This reason, this calling to order, was one of the many reasons why I didn't loose myself in the boys. Though for a better portion of the reason, I simply couldn't let anyone find out about me.