Jana let her head slam down on the table again, aware of the fact that she'd spilt her cappuccino. Victoria had introduced her to Imara and TJ the night before and although she had stayed there that night, thanks to TJ she hadn't got to bed until the early hours of the morning, no matter how much his mum had yelled at him. Now Jana was torn between the need for caffeine and the knowledge that coffee wasn't really supposed to be a wild wolfblood beverage.
Ex- wild wolfblood, Jana half-heartedly corrected herself- why did it have to be a dark moon day as well?
"You'll give yourself a concussion," a familiar voice said.
Jana looked up, brushing her wild red curls out of her eyes, and smiled as she saw Katrina take the seat opposite her.
"You look exhausted Jana," Katrina noted in a kindly tone, "Is everything ok?"
Jana tried to swallow the lump in the throat, "Yeah, everything's great."
Katrina raised an eyebrow, "I know we've never been close but…"
"It's cool," Jana said quickly, grabbing her bag from where it sat on the table, "I'm late for work."
Katrina looked in confusion and sympathy as Jana raced towards the door. Jana had been down for quite a while, well ever since Rhydian had left two months ago, and then Shannon and Tom had moved for college… well Katrina thought, there was only one way to fix this.
BREAK
"I do hope you'll be a good influence on Terence," Imara said to Jana in her usual overly authoritive tone, "He has a tendency to go astray. He needs a good role model."
Jana nodded cautiously. She wondered why Imara thought she was so well behaved and smiled silently as the realisation came to her. Whilst Victoria and the other leaders of Segolia respected her, they also appreciated that she had a stubborn rebellious nature. They would never have told Imara that Jana was the poster girl for obedience. It had to be Jeffries, he'd written the reference for the job. Jana reminded her to thank him the next time she saw him.
"I do think we're making progress with Eolas," Imara continued, "I know you are still concerned but most of the members of our team have been living in the city all their lives. For decades. It may take us a while."
"I made a promise," Jana replied, "To Miss Sweeney. I intend to honour it. I promised her all the city wolfbloods would have Eolas. I'm going to make that happen."
Imara smiled, "I know you will. But please don't teach TJ. I don't need him any more distracted than he already is."
"What's he done now?" Jana asked with a questioning look.
"Nothing he hasn't done already, a hundred times," Imara said with a sigh, "You know what teenage boys can be like- when they think they like a girl…"
Jana nodded, trying to pretend that didn't sting one bit.
BREAK
"Looks like the fun police arrived," Mattei said with a cheeky grin, as he pointed to the red haired standing near the gates.
TJ let out a sad laugh, "I hope not. Though when Mum hears. I'm going to be grounded forever… you know it's all your fault right."
"How is it Mattei's fault?" Emilia said squaring up to TJ, flashing her wolfblood eyes at him, "You would have been in far more trouble if…"
"Emilia," Mattei said, stepping in front of his sister, "He's only joking. Anyway I'd like to meet this Jana at some time. She sounds interesting."
"You're really not her type, mate," TJ said, before jumping almost a mile into the sky as a hand tapped him on the shoulder.
"Maybe, Terence," Jana began, "You should spend less time worrying about what my type is and more time worrying about what your mother's going to say when we get back to the car."
"I'll leave you two to it," Mattei said, with a sarcastic wave as him and his sister walked away.
TJ let out a sigh, "I thought you were on my side. You seemed pretty cool last night. I thought we were going to be great mates."
"Well if you think you're going to just treat me like any of the other girls you hang out with…"
"No, no, it's cool," TJ said quickly, raising his palms in surrender, "I know all about your scary father."
Jana rolled her eyes, "Just get in the car."
BREAK
"You want to do what?" Kay asked as she sorted through the selection of fabrics she had just bought for the upcoming charity fashion show.
"Yeah," Katrina said nodding, "I think Jana's depressed."
"She's just pining after Rhydian," Kay said, "Trust me, now Jana out in the big wide world she'll soon find a new boy to obsess over."
Katrina shrugged, "It's not just Rhydian. Shannon and Tom left last week. Jana alone here. She looks like she's moved to the city, and now so have we. I just feel bad. Here we are living together, in this gorgeous flat, and half her friends are living on the other side of the world."
"Ok, I do get it," Kay replied, "But this is Jana we're talking about. She threw spaghetti at me."
"Yeah, Jana has her crazy moments," Katrina argued, "And she is a little bit, well, weird. But that doesn't mean she should just be alone. I'd feel bad if we just abandoned her. And she did stick up for Tallulah."
Kay laughed, "Good old unpredictable Jana."
Katrina laughed, "Unpredictable, yes, except for when it comes to one thing. Which is why this plan is just totally going to work."
"Ok, fine," Kay argued, "Just as long as she doesn't do anything to weird."
BREAK
Jana could hear a strange noise coming from behind her, and tried her best not to laugh. She swiftly turned around and punch the approaching figure in the guts.
"Jana, really?" TJ asked, rubbing his stomach, grimacing.
Jana laughed, "I told you wild wolfbloods have superior hearing to tames."
"Yeah, yeah," TJ replied, "Rub it in why don't you. You were absolutely no help at all. I'm grounded for a fortnight, and I'm not going to Norway either."
"You deserved it," Jana answered, "You almost set the school on fire trying to light those candles. And anyway, your mum said you're not transforming this month, so do you really want to spend all the trip standing around in the cold doing nothing?"
TJ sighed, "I hope I transform next month."
"You should be glad that you don't have to worry about wolfing out," Jana replied, "You don't know how many times I accidentally wolfed out at school."
"You know you're supposed to be the good influence, right?" TJ joked.
Jana shrugged, "Apparently."
"Well considering you're not actually a goody goody," TJ began, "And that we're sort of house mates…well you know tomorrow…"
"Don't push your luck, Terence," Jana began, "I'm not covering for you if you're going to harass that girl again. And you're mum said you're grounded anyway."
"But Jana," TJ whined, "I know mum's your boss but still…"
"Yeah, she is my boss," Jana said nodding, "And I have no intention of getting fired."
"I know, I know," TJ began, "But we're teenage wolfbloods, no one else can understand what that's like."
"Not even your friends at school?" Jana queried.
"Mr Popular and I are two very different teenagers," TJ answered, "You can't even begin to understand."
"Mr Popular?" Jana asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Long standing joke," TJ answered, "He wants to meet you but I already told him you weren't interested."
Jana rolled her eyes, "Whatever."
"Have you heard from them?" TJ asked cautiously, he'd seen Jana tense up before when he'd mentioned her friends.
Jana sighed, "The Wi-Fi at Maddy's house is rubbish and Shannon and Tom said they'd call on the weekend. It's ok, I'm tired, see you in the morning."
"Yeah, good night Jana," TJ answered in a worried, quiet voice.
BREAK
"One of your most loyal customers?" Kay asked as a familiar face walked through the door.
Katrina rolled her eyes, "Yes, but he's a terrible flirt. I've seen him chatting probably ten girls since the Kafe opened. But I think he's actually alright, despite all of that."
"Hey!" Kay yelled, "How are you?"
"Good as always, ladies," TJ said, as he sat down at the counter, "You're friends of Jana's right. It's just she mentioned you before…"
"You know Jana?" Kay asked curiously.
"Are you two dating?" Katrina asked shocked.
"What? No." TJ replied in confusion, "She's just my housemate. She works for my mum, moved in a couple of nights ago."
"Wow," Katrina answered, "Well that explains why she's been hanging around here a lot."
"So what is it you want to know?" Kay asked.
TJ shrugged awkwardly, "I dunno. It's just Jana seems a bit upset about something. I mean I know her friends have left but…"
"I know what you mean," Katrina replied, "That's why we're organising a surprise."
"I'm not sure Jana's the kind of person who likes surprises," TJ began.
"Oh, don't worry she'll definitely like this one," Kay answered.
BREAK
"You know I don't believe you," Emilia answered, "You've only know her for a week."
"Since when did you become such an expert on dating," TJ argued.
"I might only be twelve," Emilia argued, "But I know that no sane person goes out with someone they've only know for a week."
"Whatever fluffball," TJ answered.
"You better be careful or I'll tell my brother what you just called me," Elena threatened.
"Yeah, good old Mr Popular," TJ answered.
TJ had known the Covaci siblings since they were little. They'd lived in an old farm house out on the moors before the fire. Now they lived in city with their foster parents. Elena was cool most of the time, but could be very fiery when something irritated her. As for Mr Popular, he was the stereotypically over protective brother.
"Rumour is that you've got an actual real life girlfriend now," Mattei said as he joined them where they were standing next to the lockers.
TJ nodded as Emilia rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"It's the red haired girl, isn't it?" Mattei asked.
TJ nodded, "Yeah, sorry mate."
Elena shook her head, "Whatever."
"Well good luck to Jana," Mattei began, before noticing that Emilia had ducked behind him as a group of year eleven girls approached them.
"Ew, look at her," one of them commented, "She should be locked away."
"Yeah, I know right," another added with a sickening laughing.
Emilia growled miserably as her brother hugged her tightly.
"I wish they would shut up," Emilia said venomously, "I wish I could just transform and… I wish mum and dad were still here…"
"So do," Mattei agreed, ruffling her hair, "So do I."