Previously:My eyelids suddenly feel a million times heavier and the weight of the day finally bears down on me. Lassie is the best, I am so lucky to have a brother like him. I quickly fall into a dreamless sleep.
"Come on, little sis. You gotta get up and get dressed", Lassie says as he gently shakes me awake. I fall off the couch with a start, landing with a thump on the hard, wood floor. I look out the window and see that it's still dark outside. Why did Lassie get me up this early.
"What the hell", I ask as I pull myself up off the floor.
"I gotta leave in like twenty minutes. I thought you might want me to get you up and give you enough time to get ready", he tells me. I rub my face, trying to wake myself up. I stiffly get up, sleeping on Lassie's couch probably wasn't a good idea. I grab a change of clothes and my toiletries.
"Lassie, where's your shower", I ask, stifling a yawn. He leads me to a white tiled bathroom that is somehow cleaner than the one we shared back at home.
"Hurry up, sis. We got nineteen minutes and counting", he tells me as he shuts the door. I turn the shower on, robotically getting in and taking my shower. "Fifteen minutes", Lassie yells through the door.
"I got it, Lass. I'll start caring when you have as much hair as I do", I yell back as I wash the shampoo out of my hair.
"And I'll start listening when you actually start taking fast showers", Lassie retorts as he bangs on the door. I roll my eyes at him as I put my conditioner in my hair. I quickly finish my shower, drying off and getting dressed. I towel dry my hair as I brush my teeth, I was always a multitasker. I begin the long process of brushing my hair just as Lassie bangs on the door again. "You got five minutes", he yells. I open the door with a playful scowl on my hair, my brush stuck in my hair. He laughs at me as I struggle to get the brush through it.
"Shut up", I tell him, grabbing my phone off the couch and stuffing it in the back pocket of my black skinny jeans.
"By the way, I'm loving the vibe you're sending off today", he says as he gives me a smirk. My shirt is way too small, never mind, it's a crop top. How did I even get one of these in my closet. I roll my eyes at him, grabbing a plain black shirt from my bag and switching out with the crop top.
"Better", I ask with a sickeningly sweet voice as I finally finish brushing the second half of my hair.
"Better", Lassie tells me, not holding back on the sarcasm. He grabs his keys, holding the door open for me. I pick my jacket and backpack up from the floor, giving him a sarcastic smile as I walk out the door. We race down the stairs, I obviously win and end up waiting for him by his car for a couple minutes. He finally makes it to the car, out of breath and an annoyed look on his face. I slide in, checking my phone. No texts from Mum, none from Tata, none from Caleb, one from Chris.
Chris:Hey, howd it go w/the 'rents
Me:Fine, I guess.
Chris:Thats the answer u giv wen u got ur ass handed 2 u
Me:You could say that
"Who ya texting", Lassie as as we pull out of his parking garage. I turn my phone off as I turn to face Lassie. Mum and Tata said that we could only use our electronics if we turned them off to listen when someone starts to talk to us. It has kind of been ingrained in me now, it's a habit that I can't get rid of.
"I was texting Chris. She was asking me if I got my ass handed to me yesterday", I tell him. He glances over at me with a wry smile on his face.
"What did you say", he asks with a voice to match his smile. I roll my eyes at him. He always loved it when I would lose an argument. Lassie always felt that I had an upper hand by being the only girl and the youngest, I never agreed with him.
"I told her that it was something like that", I say. Lassie chuckles at me. I flip him off, giving him a goofy face that causes him to laugh at me even more. I sit back in the seat, watching the sun rise. I honestly don't know how Lassie gets up this early every morning. I hold back a sigh as I look out at the sky, the skyscrapers, the tops of trees. Lassie turns on the radio, this hits from the early two thousands and late nineties sounding throughout the car. I hold back a smile as I hear the hits that me and Lassie used to jam out on. Suddenly, I hear the beginning of Love Today by Mika come on. Lassie slows to a stop at a traffic light, sharing the same look that I wear.
"Doom da da di da di Doom da da di da di", the song starts as Lassie and I both smile at each other. We used to jam out to this song. Lassie broke his legs once because he failed at doing an air guitar solo.
"Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today, gonna love today", I sing, looking over at Lassie for him to take the second part. He gives me a stifled smile.
"Tris, I shouldn't", he tells me.
"Yes, you should", I assure him. He rolls his eyes at me but his mouth stays in a smile.
"Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today. Anyway you want to, anyway you've got to, love love me, love love me, love love", he sings, trying to imitate Mika's high voice. I laugh, clapping my hands in amusement. "Okay, I'm done", he tells me with a laugh as the light turns green, the both of us pulling into the school parking lot with large smile on our face. I hop out of the car, looking at the filling courtyard with a reluctant smile. "Go. You're a teenager, have your fun", Lassie tells me as he underhand throws me an apple. I shine the apple on my shirt, giving Lassie a thankful smile as I jog over to the courtyard. Chris and Will are sitting on the ground, leaning up against the tree while Zeke and Shauna make out behind it.
"Aye, Trissy. Look who decided to join us", Uriah says as I get closer to them. I look at them confused, did I do something wrong. I'm not late, in fact, I'm early. I cock my head to the side, waiting for an explanation that they don't give.
"I'm confused", I tell them slowly as Four walks to us.
"There the liar is", Four says with a roll of his eyes. What the hell is going on here. And what do they mean by calling me a liar. By the way they're looking at me like I just stole their lunch money tells me I did something wrong.
"Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on here", I ask.
"How about you tell us why you were having a date with your teacher last night", Chris whisper yells. I look at them, still confused. When did I go on a date and with what teacher. "Tris, if he's threatening you just say the word 'jellyfish'", Chris tells me as she grabs hold of my face, squishing my cheeks together.
"What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On. Here", I ask, pronouncing each word clearly as I take Chris's hands off my face.
"We saw you last night with Lassiter. At the park, you're not doing a very good job at hiding your relationship", Four tells me. Last night, I was just hanging out with Lassiter, my brother. What's wrong with that.
"Yeah, I was at the park with him. Why is that bad", I ask, still very, very confused. I was just hanging out with my brother.
"That shit is illegal here, Tris", Uriah exclaims as he angrily tugs on his hair. What, when is hanging out with your brother illegal.
"When has it ever been illegal to go get ice cream with your brother", I ask quizzically. The gang straightens up, all with surprised looks on their faces.
"Brother", Four asks, a relieved look on his face.
"Yeah, he's my brother, well adoptive brother. I guess I should've told you guys at the beginning of school but I didn't want you guys to think that he was going to let me off easy in his class. Wait, what did you think was happening", I ask, still confused at all the fuss they made about it. They just stare at me blankly, the warning bell ringing in the background. "Well,...I'm...gonna go to class", I awkwardly say, the gang slowly gets up and follows me into the building. They slowly shuffle their way into class, their blank faces not leaving. Four seems to be the only one who has recovered from the shock that the rest of the gang is in right now. I look to Four for some explanation as to what the hell is going on here, he just rolls his eyes as he darkly chuckles. The gang looks from me to Lassie and back again. It finally clicks, they thought I was dating Lassie. "What the fuck, guys", I exclaim as I involuntarily shudder. "What the fuck", I repeat.
"Miss Prior", Lassie reprimands with a confused look on his face. I stare at the gang with a disgusted face. He walks over to us as I repeat 'what the fuck' to myself over and over again. "What is going on here", he asks us. I finally get how the gang felt because that is how I feel right now. I bang my head on the table, trying to distract myself from the gross thought that I just realized. "Sis, what is going on here. Do I need to call Mum? Are you having a panic attack or that weird thing you did when Caleb tried to pretend that he could-", I cut him off.
"Ugh. Oh, fuck. What the fuck", I repeat over and over again.
"Sis, calm the fuck down. Tell me what is making you act like this", Lassie asks as he keeps me from banging my head on the table. I give him a look as I involuntarily shudder again.
"They-they thought that we were dating", I tell Lassie. He jumps back with the same disgusted look, giving an awkward noise.
"There is nothing romantic going on here. This crazy girl held me at gunpoint once", Lassie assures them. I remember that day. Lassie had stolen my knives and I was not happy about it. Just because I 'missed' and almost hit him, I don't think that's a good reason to steal my knives. He was the one who was more interested in going on dates than hanging out with me, his little sister.
"It was only because you took my knives away", I defend.
"Because you almost hit me, with your knife. Not a fucking barbie like most little girls wanted to play with, you wanted fucking knives", Lassie tells me as he pulls a chair up.
"It was because you were more interested in going on dates with that, bitch, Ioana Cosmoana", I say to him. He smiles as he remembers dating her. Why he'd smile is a mystery to me, that girl was a bitch. "She hated me, I swear, it took so much self control to not push her out the window. By the way she totally wanted you for the money, and why the fuck did her first and last name rhyme", I tell him.
"I could give you shit about that guy, what was his name. Oh yeah, Andrei Dorinima", Lassie retorts. I roll my eyes. Andrei was just a friend. Lassie used to give me a ton of shit about Andrei.
"He was just a friend", I tell Lassie for the millionth time. Andrei and I were grade school friends but then he hit puberty and got really weird around me, eventually we just stopped hanging out.
"He was a dick that totally had a crush on you", Lassie says with an annoyed look on his face.
"Andrei was not a dick, he was sweet.. He used to take me to the movie theater", I tell him as I try to defend Andrei's honor. He was a super sweet guy and friend but Andrei was human, I knew that there was no way we could be anything more than friends and I didn't want to be anything more than friends but we just started hanging out less and less 'till it felt weird to even say that he was my friend.
"Tris, that sounds like a date and I'm me", Will interjects looking surprised. I swear that's he's a mental carbon copy of Caleb.
"And what's that supposed to mean", I ask as I push Lassie's face away from mine.
"I was so clueless about Chris that she wrote down an equation that said 'Go out with me, dork' when solved correctly and I didn't understand shit until she kissed me", Will explains, rolling his eyes at me. That's literally what happened with Caleb, he didn't even notice Susan until she ran into him and accidentally shot about 20cc of sedative into him. Me and Lassie share a look before fistbumping, the both of us thinking of Caleb. The gang gives us questioning looks.
"Our brother didn't even know his wife existed until she shot him up with so much sedative that he was out of it for two days", Lassie explains with a grin. Those two days were hilarious, Caleb and sedative don't mix well. He tried to explain that the theory of the universe was wrong and that french fries were the center of everything and I was a spicy fry.
"Well, what about that girl what was her name, Nicoletta. Oh, I fucking hated that bitch. She used to tell me that she was going to marry you and become my new Mum and then send me off to boarding school, to some crazy jungle boarding school. The only thing that kept me from killing her way the fact Mum would kill me if I got blood the curtains", I tell him. Mum hated her too but she was a saint about it, she said that love was love and who were we to get in the way of it.
"Yeah, I remember when she practically made out with me in front of you. She was fucking hot so I wasn't complaining but I saw Caleb literally hold you back. It was so hard for me to not laugh", he says, laughing. I had bruises for almost two days and I don't bruise easily or for very long and two days is a very long amount of time.
"Wait, you two don't look alike at all. Tris, did you lie about the whole Lassiter saving you from drowning thing", Chris asks, finally reverting back to her normal self from the shock fro
"No, she didn't lie. I really did save her from drowning in a white water river. But, I'm adopted, bitches", Lassie tells them as he pushes his chair back under a table as he walks back to the front, stealthily flipping me off. I roll my eyes at him before looking over at the gang.
"Wait, why did you lie about the whole him being a foreign exchange student", Uriah asks.
"He was at first but things got complicated for his family and my aunt had her hands full as it was. We just decided that it'd be better if he was to live with us. Of course, he was given the option of staying or going", I tell them as I pull my phone out of my bookbag. Oh shit, I forgot my lunch and the lunch they serve here is not enough to fill my stomach. Maybe Lassie could get me lunch, he does have off third period. I write a list down of the food I want, it's not much, only a couple sandwiches and other things. I take some money out, forty dollars ought to cover it. I look up to see the gang looking at me with confused looks on their faces. "I forgot my lunch", I defend.
"With the list of food you have on there you forgot all of China's lunch", Shauna exclaims as I roll my eyes.
"Did you guys want anything", I ask knowing that they, mainly Zeke or Uriah, probably want to get me to bring them something for lunch.
"Since you're offering, I'd love to get a tub of cookie dough", Uriah says. Zeke shakes his head, mumbling about how he's got cake and he doesn't want to get salmonella and die like an idiot.
"Like the frozen stuff that comes in a plastic container", I ask. I love raw cookie dough, don't get me wrong but a whole tub, for lunch? Uriah nods, I shake my head as I put it on the list, taking out a ten and adding it to the stack. "Anyone else", I ask, waiting for requests. I hand the list to Lassie along with the money. I rolls his eyes at me but takes the list and money. I walk back to my seat, the gang finally looking normal again. As soon as I sit down, the bell rings. Shauna runs out along with Will because she has science with the bitchy teacher and Will loves his Exploring Careers class.
"Don't scare us like that again", Zeke teasingly tells me as he gets up. Four musses my hair as he walks out, causing me to give him a small glare which he replies to with a wink. I roll my eyes at him as I turn to Uriah, Marlene and Chris.
"Class, today we will just continue working on our short stories or poems or whatever you chose to do", Lassie announces as he sits back down at his desk. I already wrote my story, it's pretty basic, essentially my life story but with a few added twists and turns. Will art be awkward, especially how I left things last night? Should I just skip? It wouldn't be that hard and I'm sure that at least one person in the gang will skip with me. I realize that Chris, Mar, and Uriah are all looking at me.
"What", I ask as I pull myself out of my thoughts.
"I was wondering if you were still going to come over to my house before the party", Chris asks as she gives me puppy dogs eyes.
"Yeah, sure, I'll come over", I tell her. She squeals, causing me to wince. Why is she so excited about me coming over, it's not like I'm bringing the Queen of England with me or anything. "But, you have to skip art with me", I say.
"OMG, deal, I wanted to do something badass anyways, oh, and the entire gang will probably tag along", Chris tells me and Mar nods along with Uriah. It's not really that badass, we're skipping art not a counselor meeting.
"That's fine, I just want to get the hell out of here", I explain as I run my hand through my hair, looking at the clock. I only have five minutes left in this period.
*Timeskip to Lunch*
"Hey guys, we're skipping art", Uriah says as he sits down. Four raises an eyebrow at him as he begins to eat one of my sandwiches. I've noticed that Four usually doesn't have a lunch, minus the sandwiches I give him. Maybe, I'll just start packing stuff for him.
"Why only art, that's pretty much our last period, why don't we just skip now", Zeke offers before shoving some chips in his mouth. Everyone makes an approving noise, looking to me and Four for the final answers. He gives me a sideways look, his lips turning up just the slightest bit.
"Let's go", I say, standing up with a small smirk on my face. We walk to the parking lot. I lean against Four's truck just to annoy him as we try to decide what to do.
"Why don't we go to the mall", Chris suggests. All of the guys groan in unison, it's actually pretty funny.
"We always go to the mall, why don't we try something new", Zeke complains. Chris raises an eyebrow as if to say 'Well, what do you think is a good idea'.
"We could go to the park and finish lunch, we could also play some poker", I offer, pushing my body off of Four's truck. They all share looks with each other before murmuring in agreement. Huh, I never thought I'd live to see the day where they all agreed with each other.
"Tris you're riding with me", Chris yells as she walks to her car along with the rest of the girls, while Zeke, Uriah, and Will stay with Four.
"Tris, this is the first time ever that we've all agreed on something", Four says in a muted awe.
"See, number boy, I'm more than just a pretty face", I tell him.
"Who said you were just a pretty face because it certainly wasn't me", he mumbles as he rolls his eyes, his arms now crossed over his chest.
"Wait Four, choose a number", I tell him, proud of my amazing thinking. Damn, I am awesome.
"Fine, I pick four", he says with a small smirk on his face. Oh my goodness, his ego is suffocating me.
"Okay, now square it", I state as I lean back up against the side of his truck, which is actually in pretty nice condition and it's black which is also a plus in my book.
"Okay, that's sixteen. Now what", he asks as he rolls his eyes.
"Now divide it by four", I say, my smirk growing as the look on his face turns into one of confusion.
"I'm back to four now", he states with a 'duh' tone. I roll my eyes at him and give an exasperated sigh.
"Now subtract it by the original number", I tell him, twirling a piece of my hair around my finger to imitate boredom.
"That's zero, smart one", he exclaims with fake enthusiasm.
"See, good job. You've finally figured out how many fucks I give", I say, patting his arm with fake surprise.
"You literally had me do that whole wild goose chase just so that you could do that", Four asks, his eyebrows raised in amusement.
"Oh, please Four, it was a wild dog chase", I tell him with a smirk and a wink as I walk to Chris's car. I can't help but smile a bit as I see him pale when I say 'wild dog chase'. I know I really shouldn't tease them like this but honestly it's so much fun to poke the bear and see what happens. Chris raises an eyebrow as I slide in the back seat, a small smile on her lips.
"Hey, Chris can we pick up some cards, I don't have any with me", I ask. She drives to the nearest gas station, filling up on gas while I go in and buy a deck of cards. While I'm waiting I hear Shauna's frantic sounding phone conversation.
Italics-Shauna Bold-Zeke
"She said what!?"
"She said 'wild dog chase' winked at Four and then walked away!"
"It could just be a romanian thing, Zeke. You're probably making a mountain out of a molehill."
"Shauna, babe, she sounded, so. I don't know how to describe it, predatory I guess is the best word."
"I'm sure it's just a fluke, don't worry about it. Ask her about it at the park."
Huh, I didn't realize how much they'd freak out over me saying that. I'll just say that it's a romanian things, how the black sea is uninhabitable so there's no geese and how dogs chase squirrels, something like that. I quickly pay for the deck of cards and meet Chris at the car, they're all looking at me warily now, great. I say one amazing pun and now they're all freaked out about it. Damn, I thought they finally trusted me or at least on a subconscious level their wolves accepted me, I guess not. My mother always told me that if you poke the bear eventually you're going to get bit, I probably should've listened.
The rest of the ride to the park is silent, honestly, if this is how they treat everyone that makes a dog pun what do they do with the other ten percent of the population. We arrives at the park and still, no one says anything other than soft mumbles of hello. Could they be any less obvious.
"Okay, did I miss something, or are you guys always this well behaved when you skip", I ask as I shuffle the deck of cards on one of those cement table usually used for chess, like the one I was on with Lassie last night. They all share a similar look before turning to me. I roll my eyes. Are they going to do this every time I make a dog pun.
"Just why did you say wild dog chase instead of wild goose chase", Zeke asks, sliding into the seat across from me. Can you be anymore obvious while you're at it.
"That's why you guys are acting like I just told you that you have 'seven days'", I question, pretending to be surprised. I mean honestly, they shouldn't freak out this much.
"But why the dog chase", Will asks me, cocking his head to the side just like a wolf. They don't actually think they're doing a good job of hiding the whole 'Wolfblood' thing do they. How has no one else realized that they're not human yet.
"I have a lot of dogs back home and instead of wild goose chase we say wild dog chase because the dogs always chase the squirrels and then you end running after the dog for hours only to come home and find it sleeping peacefully on your bed. Now are we good here or not", I ask, annoyed by the way they handled this. You don't freeze up and ask why someone said something in this case, it just causes more suspicion. They all nod and sit in a circle on the grass. I slide off the bench and begin to deal the cards, I figure that we can just play Texas Hold'em because everyone knows how to play Texas Hold'em.
"What game are we playing", Shauna asks me as I deal the cards out, giving each person two.
"Dirty Texas Hold'em, streamline and river runs, no droughts or rattlesnakes", I tell her as I put the rest of the cards to my side, laying them on the grass and looking at my cards before looking up. All of their jaws are dropped practically to the floor. Will looks like he's trying to understand some foreign language while the rest just have confused expressions. Do they seriously not know how to play Texas Hold'em, it's probably the most simple card game out there.
"What pray tell is that", Zeke asks. There's no way that I'll be able to have the patience to teach them how to play. We should probably just play the most well known and easiest to play. Goldfish, no that game is way too kiddy for us. Slapjack, it gives us a chance to hit each other and it contains friendly competition.
"Please tell me that everyone knows how to play Slapjack", I ask as I begin to divide the deck into eight sections. Thank goodness, I don't think I could handle them not knowing Slapjack of all card games, it's like the first one you learn.
"Uh, Trissy. Yeah see the slapping will break my nails and I just got them done so, I'll just watch", Chris tells me. I shake my head with a laugh as I take her cards and spread them out. To be honest, I'm actually really surprised that they skipped with me. I mean I expected them to be a little on the edge about it and they would give a shaky yes that would lead to a very awkward skip, but it feels like I've known them for much longer than I actually have.
"So no sandwiches or doubles, just straight up jack", I say. No one makes a noise causing me to look up to see the confused faces of the gang minus Four. Four seems to be the only one that actually understands what I'm saying. "O, Doamne(Oh my god)", I mutter. Have these people never played with cards before in their life. It's not that hard, a deck of cards doesn't even cost that much.
"A sandwich means a card in between two cards of the same face value and a double is two cards of the same face value", Four explains with a bored look on his face. He must want to get starting just as much as I do. I start out easy enough, delaying my reaction to give the others a chance to slap the cards. Soon, I'm low on cards and if I run out then I'm kicked out of the game and have to wait for the next round. I stop delaying my reaction and am soon practically bathing in cards. Marlene and Shauna are out, while Uriah is almost out and Zeke has probably a couple more turns before he's gone. Four and I both have quite a stack of cards, we make everyone else's' stack of cards look pitiful. Uriah is out by my next turn and Zeke is now teetering on the edge.
"You two are totally cheating, I don't know how but you are", Zeke announces as he puts his last card down. I roll my eyes at his sore loserness, Zeke just isn't very good at cards even though he's probably one of the best in the group besides me and Four.
"Zeke just face it, Tris and I can kick your ass any day of the week, get used to it", Four tells Zeke in a teasing tone as he slaps down a card. Four and I go at this for quite some time, just slapping cards down, no one gaining any excess of cards. I don't know how long we've been doing this. The rest of the gang isn't even paying attention any more, they're just chilling out and talking, pretty much oblivious to me and Four. Then the pile between us starts growing as our piles grow smaller and smaller. Soon, we're down to our last cards and the pile in the middle is huge, whoever hits the jack is going to win big time. A jack flies down and both of our hands follow. Our fingers end up weaved together over the cards. This is not going to end well. I lift my eyes to his and raise one eyebrow.
"I so slapped my hand down first", I say before Four has the chance to say anything.
"Umm, no you didn't. I totally was there first", Four contradicts. I scoff and roll my eyes at him.
"My thumb is under yours", I tell him, gesturing to my thumb which is infact under his fingers. He rolls his eyes at me as he tries to edge his way under my fingers.
"I get the cards", he states nonchalantly even though I was the first person to get my hand down.
"No, you don't", I object. I know that I might be acting a bit competitive but can you blame me, I'm an alpha for goodness sake, I'm supposed to be competitive.
"Fine, you win", he says as he holds up his hands in surrender. I try not to smirk, I really do but I accidentally let the look on my face slip through the mask that I normally wear. As I go to grab the cards, I'm assaulted by Four, by that I mean that he starts tickling me. I don't think Four realizes just how ticklish I am. I mean, I'm rolling in the cards while screaming and laughing, tickling is definitely a form of torture.
"Ah, stop, stop. I'm so ticklish", I screech as I roll around, trying to get away from Four. He doesn't let up, tears roll down my face from laughing so much. I am dying on the inside, it's painful in the way that tickling is painful.
"Say that I won and I'll stop", Four tells me, hovering over me with an evil smirk on his face.
"How about no", I say, pretending to think about it for a second. His smirk grows as my eyes grow wider. He tickles me until my sides cramp and I have leaves in my hair from rolling around. Seriously, tickling is a form of torture. "Okay, okay. You won, you won", I tell him, hoping to stop the torture.
"You don't sound very convinced, maybe I should just continue", he thinks out loud, shifting his weight to one hand and pinching my cheek. I swear the only reason he said that was to see the look on my face with was most definitely not pretty.
"No, no. You won, number boy, you won", I say breathlessly in hopes to stop the tickling.
"There you go", he tells me with a dimpled smile. Huh, who knew Four had dimples, his eyes look younger when he smiles, just like there's more life in them. I like his smiles, not the fake one he gives when he's supposed to smile but the one he gives when he's genuinely happy. He looks very mischievous like this. Just as I'm getting lost in those deep blue eyes, my fucking phone decides that I need to get a call. At first, all I hear is a jumble of romanian and english but I hear enough to know that it's Tori. I can tell that she's angry. I catch a few words like 'gone', 'so worried', 'rip Lassie's throat out'. Tori can overreact from time to time. I mean I spent the night at my brother's place, I didn't fuck a random truck driver with low expectations, geeze.
"Overreact, Overreact, I'm not overreacting. You're being an idiot, why didn't you tell me where you were going. I get that you were pissed but that doesn't warrant for you to just fall off the grid and what if you did happen to meet a random truck driver s-ar ai dracu-l judt să mă întorc la mine(would you fuck him just to get back at me)" Tori essentially screams into her phone. I guess I was thinking that outloud. I have to take a few calming breaths to not wolf out right there. My wolf isn't happy, and she won't submit. Control, I say to myself, control.
"Asculta Tori nu sunteţi gardian meu meu mama. Eu sunt alfa dumneavoastră şi nu va tolera aceste cuvinte. Doar pentru că le-am spus nu vă oferă dreptul de a. am făcut-eu clar(Listen Tori you are my guardian not my mother. I am your alpha and I will not tolerate these words. Just because I said them doesn't give you the right to. Have I made myself clear)", I say. To others this exchange would seems backwards, the child reprimanding the parent but it is simply based upon rankings and I am much higher than her on the scale. The phone goes silent for a couple moments, her wolf is submitting.
"Yes, I understand but I'm not happy about you missing class", she tells me, trying to make our conversation lighter and stray from pack dynamics.
"I wouldn't expect you to. Bye, Tori", I say, hanging up before she has a chance to protest. I'll patch things up with her later, after all I have a reasonable explanation for my actions.
I notice that Four is still hovering over me, his hands on the grass besides both sides of my face.
"A random trucker, huh", Four raises an eyebrow before I push him off of me. Pushing Four off of me is actually kind of difficult for some reason. I dust all the grass off of me and see that school has been over for a couple hours.
"Well, I have to go home and have my head torn off, so bye and I hope that I live to go to the party", I say as I turn around and begin to walk home. I am not looking forward to going home and my wolf sure as hell isn't happy that we have to be reprimanded by someone else, usually we leave that job to ourselves.
"Let me drive you", Four gets out just before I'm out of hearing range. I turn around and raise an eyebrow mimicking his face from earlier.
"And why would you do that Number Boy", I ask crossing my arms over my chest. Four looks a little surprised at my words, almost like he wasn't expecting to have something said back at him or for me to shoot down his offer.
"It's the least I could do after you lost our game of slapjack", he tells me with the face of a cat that just ate the canary. I roll my eyes at him but mumble out an 'okay'. We walk to his truck which isn't exactly the newest model but it isn't that old either. I hear Chris giggle and whisper something that I can't hear to the others as I open the door to Four's car. I stare out the window as Four drives me home, watching the other cars pass us without a care in the world. The trees lining the sidewalks and parks look so calm even in this hurricane of energy and movement. It's like the small patches of nature are the eyes of their own personal storm and they can't be bothered to move. The exterior of my house is warm and calm but I know that the inside is a different story.
Tori must've already called my mother and father and now they're just waiting to punish me. I silently thank Lassie for living here because he's my wonderful version of an excuse. Not to mention, that I have the best puppy dog eyes. When I give people that look they can't help but feel like they need to fix whatever I want them to, it can even break Amar. Amar is my father's beta, his second, and when I say that Amar is a hardass I mean it. Amar is one of the most stoic people I know and even he can't resist the puppy dog eyes.
"Well, bye. Have a fun time driving back and just so you know I totally won that game of slapjack",I tell Four as I slam the door shut and walk up the pathway to my front door. I can tell that they've called my mother, at least, by the way alpha power seems to pulse throughout the house. Tori is actually on the phone with her right now, I think to myself as I hear her talking softly in romanian. I promised my family that I'd use words instead of 'wolfing out'. I used to spend most of my time in wolf form, I just didn't feel safe in human form, especially after Lucas Martin and the river. I have to say that I spent about the next two or three years after that whole almost dying thing completely in wolf form.
"Tris", Tori calls softly from the study. I look over to see her with a phone in her hand, the phone held to for me to use. Well, this is just fucking fantastic. I take a deep breath, repeating Alpha, Beta, Omega. Alpha, Beta, Omega. These are the truths that hold. Alpha, Beta, Omega. Determined to not lose control this time. I grab the phone from her, expecting the harsh voice of my mother but she doesn't sound angry, she sounds concerned.
"Miere, ceea ce este greșit(Honey, what's wrong)", she asks me in a soothing voice. I balk at her tone. She is never this soft and sweet. Father always said that to be a good alpha you had to be raised with a firm hand and that I couldn't be babied. I was never babied, I was never given a helping hand, I was taught to be alright on my own, and this is not the treatment I normally get.
"Nu de gând să mintă, mama. Am ajuns intr-o lupta cu Bud și Tori și în loc de se confruntă cu ăroblema direct,am fugit la Șassie. Am sarit, de asemenea, scoala pentru a evita Tori. Mi-e rușine de modul în care am acționat și sunt în proces de a face modifică(I'm not going to lie, mother. I got into a fight with Bud and Tori and instead of facing the problem directly, I ran away to Lassie. I also skipped school to avoid Tori. I am ashamed of the way I acted and I'm in the process of making amends)", I tell her the entire story, knowing that it's better to tell the whole truth the first time then try and lie about. Tori had also probably told her all the details of our fight so any lies would prove useless. My mother sighs, not in sadness but more in tiredness, like she's done with trying to deal with me. Am I really that much of a burden. Sure, I can't keep control of my wolf sometimes and I prefer to be alone but other than that I'm a stellar daughter.
"Ai nevoie să vină înapoi acasă. A fost o idee rea să vă trimită la Chicago. Ar trebui să veniți acasă(Do you need to come back home. Was it a bad idea to send you to Chicago. Should you come home)", she questions me, sounding worried. I've never gotten a reaction like this from her before, is she okay.
"Eu sunt bine, mama. Esti tu, ai sunet ciudat(I am fine, mom. Are you, you sound weird)", I ask worried that she's about to tell me some real bad news that will make me want to come back home and never leave. The phone goes quiet for a while, minus the sound of her breathing. I can only assume that she's thinking deeply She sighs loudly, sounding very disappointed. Did I do something wrong, what did I mess up this time.
"Beatrice, îmi pare rău că am nu ridica vă place ar trebui să aibiă(Beatrice, I'm so sorry that we didn't raise you like we should have)", she tells me quietly. What did I do to make her feel like this. I must be acting too regal for her, too much like a princess and not a normal teenager. She sounds so disappointed. I really did try to act normal, I hope she knows that.
"Ceea ce spui. Educația mea a fost mare(What are you talking about. My upbringing was great)", I defend, wondering why she feels so bad. My parents did an amazing job at raising me, they taught me how to be a great alpha, how to put the pack before myself. Because of my parents, I will become, hopefully, a great alpha.
"Când a fost ultima dată când ai făcut ceva pentru tine si doar tu(when was the last time you did something for you and only you)", Mum asks me. Alphas are supposed to be the most selfless in their pack and I've done quite a few things for me, myself, and I.
"M-am dus la Chicago pentru mine(I went to Chicago for myself)", I try to explain to her. I don't understand my parents, first they want me to be as selfless as possible and I fail at that, then they want me to be selfish but I fail at that too. She laughs at me, she fucking laughs. Why is she laughing, what the hell is wrong with her.
"Ai spus că pleci a fost opțiunea mai sigur pentru ambalaj(you said that you leaving was the safest option for the pack)", she growls lightly. I groan. What is she trying to get across. Can't she just ground me or yell at me, why is she giving me the third degree. I've been mostly innocent what the hell is she trying to make me do.
"Well then, what the hell do you want me to do. First, I'm too selfish then I'm too selfless. I need you to make up you goddamned mind", I demand as I break into english just out of habit from talking to the gang.
"I just want you to live a little", she growls back at me. I can practically see the alpha power coming in waves off the phone. I dig my claws into my palm not holding the phone in order to fight down the shift.
"Is this why you aren't mad at me for skipping or getting into a fight with Tori, because you think that means I'm 'living'", I ask her, my canines extending. The bad thing about being an alpha with two alpha parents is all the fighting and the overwhelming amount of power. I dig my nails harder into my palms, watching my blood roll off my hand and drip onto the floor, creating a small puddle as I hear her sigh in agreement.
"You've gone through a lot for someone your age. I just don't want you to be like me or your father with two kids and a pack to run, regretting that you didn't do the things you wanted to do when you were young", she tells me in a soft voice that doesn't match what she's saying. It's not like I got to choose who and what has happened for the majority of my life.
"I'm sorry that I'm such a burden for my parents, it's not like I chose to be almost murdered or kidnapped or like I chose to be born", I scream out. I hear her sharply inhale as if she didn't think that I'd know what she meant. I hear Chris pull up in the driveway and mentally remind myself to speak in romanian and to draw from the pack power to heal my hand.
"Honey, that's not what I meant", she begins with an apologetic tone, a very rare if not nonexistent tone, but I cut her off.
"Mama. Suna-ma Maine atunci când vei ajunge gandurile împreună pentru că nu vreau să se ocupe această suferința chiar acum(Mother. Call me tomorrow when you get your thoughts together because I don't want to deal with this heartache right now)', I tell her in a soft but stern voice. She makes a surprised noise at my statements. I don't know why she'd be surprised, after all, I haven't really lived, I've only trained to be the next alpha and queen. Chris knocks on the door, for once. I let her in, signaling that I'll be off the phone in a minute. Chris huffs and rolls her eyes at me, mumbling about how we were supposed to be leaving like five minutes ago.
"Nu vreau să rănesc sentimentele tale(I didn't mean to hurt your feelings)", she tells me as she tries to take back what she said. She really does sound genuinely sorry and she's my mother, she was one of my best friends for most of my life.
"Nu este bine, dar te iert. Știu că vrie niciodată în mod intenționat să rănesc sentimentele mele(It's not okay. But I forgive you. I know that you never intentionally want to hurt my feelings)", I tell her with a disappointed tone. She sighs in relief. I can almost see her rubbing her collarbone, it's a nervous habit of hers.
"Eu, sunt. cu adevărat, rău iubita(I, truly, am sorry, sweetheart)", She mumbles into the phone quietly. Chris makes a small noise and motions for me to hurry up. I guess I'm taking too long for her liking. I roll my eyes at her which causes her to show me the time and then flip me off.
"Trebuie să plec. PA te iubesc mama(I have to go. Bye, love you mom)", I say as I pull Chris off the couch. She grumbles something about me taking my damn sweet time as she stomps her way to the door.
"Dragoste tu, prea miere(Love you too, honey)", she tells me before I hang up, setting Tori's phone on the counter as I yell that I'm spending the night at Chris's. I rush out of the house before anyone can object, hopping into Chris's car as she begins to pull out of the drive way. She turns the radio up, bass pounding through the car.
Okay, so wow. This chapter has taken a while. It's not very action packed but it kind of sets the stage for the whole party chapter and yes I'm almost done with the PARTY chapter. YIKES. This has taken me a long time and I feel so guilty b/c everytime I'd look at my laptop, I'd think of y'all and feel like a fuckass for not updating regularly or with good chapters. I'm very sleep deprived at the moment which is why I'm not cursing a fuckton like I normally do in these lil' tidbits. Also, I may or may have not almost gotten expelled for cursing 'too loudly' (as if that's even possible) but now the headmaster is absolutely pissed at me. I swear if it weren't for my utterly charming personality and the fact that I make this goddamned school fun for 90% of the students here(the other 10% are fuckass bitches and fuckboys who hate my guts simply b/c I'm a fucking gem mixed with a fudgin' angel) I'd be gone lickety split. Well, anywhoosies. Sorry for the rant and hope y'all enjoy this chapter.
Trying my best to not get expelled,
Defying Nature
P.S. I love hearing what y'all have to say and the amazing ideas y'all think of :)