~Chapter Six~

Anno the Ass

Don't Break Me, And Shut Me Out.
So Take Me, And Let Me In.
Don't Break Me…
And Shut Me Out.

Because I Wanna Be Part of Something.

~Take Me, by Papa Roach

Disclaimer: Me No Own; You No Sue.

Paul's P.O.V.

Blink.

Imprint.

Sammy. Imprint. Sammy. Imprint. Sammy.

Then: JARED CAMERON IS GOING TO FUCKING DIE!

Anger, unrestrained, burst forth from within him like wildfire. And Paul snarled, diving from his hiding spot and lunging at Jared without another thought for the consequences. His mind, filled with only the thought of protecting his Imprint, focused intently upon a weak spot in the other teenager. He grabbed the other Shifter around his stomach and heaved him backwards, before throwing him to the tiled floor. A swift kick to the side sent Jared skidding down the hall, his eyes narrowed in pain, grunts escaping his lips.

Ha! Hulk trumps Loki!

"P-P-Paul?" Her voice, so soft and small, sounded terrified, shocked, and confused. "You…"

The Shifter turned to stare down at her – his Imprint– and ducked his head to stare into her beautiful, sky blue eyes. Paul whined softly in the back of his throat, taking in the fear in those eyes, and then quickly scanned the rest of her face. Noted the small cut along the bridge of her cute nose. Probably from the bits of metal flying from the locker that Jared punched. Since Jared missed punching his Imprint, instead. Fucker!

Grrrrrr! A growl escaped him, which made her inch backwards, the stench of fear clinging to her like another layer of skin. She tripped in her haste to back away. Klutz, Paul labeled her dryly, before shifting into another gear and hesitantly smiling at her.

"You okay, Sammy?" Paul asked the other teenager, his voice gruff and his black eyes trained to her face, to that cut. He trembled, his massive body whirling with concern and fear for Sammy; the need to touch her face seemed almost overwhelming in its suddenness.

Blue eyes were wide with wonder and, if Paul could read it correctly, some suspicion. "How do you…uh, know my name?" She quickly tossed her head back and forth, shaking the question away, and letting (Paul stared stupidly) pretty, blonde hair fall into her eyes.

Trying to make herself smaller and hide from me or something, Paul thought, feeling pained that his Imprint would think him capable of hurting her. Ouch. Okay! Yeah, I used to be friends with Jared, and I like to mess with other people, but that doesn't make me a Bad Guy!

At least, Paul didn't want to be one…

No. He wanted to reassure the small teen that nothing in him could want to hurt her, ever. The Shifter swiftly reached out to touch his Imprint, barely brushing his fingertips against her wind burned cheek, and said, "What matters is that I will always remember it, Sammy."

And…

She smiled at him.

Wow. Paul could not explain it, but his heart seemed to swell with relief the moment that his small Imprint smiled tentatively at him. She'd managed to find it in herself to trust the enormous man everyone claimed to be hotheaded and dangerous, like Wolverine. He'd always been strong because Paul wanted to be there for his Mom, to keep her safe and cared for, like his Dad always did before his death eight years ago. His temper, though, made it hard for other people to like and trust him. Only his Pack Brothers liked him. Before Paul crossed the line and said –

Never mind. What Paul said to his Alpha and his Beta didn't matter anymore. What mattered to him, what made his soul sing, what made his heart beat faster and faster and faster was…

Sammy.

"Thank you," Sammy whispered in appreciation, though her cheeks reddened adorably beneath the weight of his undivided attention. And Paul smirked faintly, preparing to tease her, before Sammy glanced behind his shoulder and widened her eyes. She yelped, "Look out, Paul!"

Whirling around, Paul caught the fist aimed at the back of his head, and then used the other to slam it into the face of his adversary. A sickening crunch, followed by the sound of pained yells, filled the air. Blood sprayed through the air, and Sammy paled faintly, staggering at the sight or smell, Paul could not be sure. He reacted by quickly steadying her, though, letting the small girl cling to the hem of his black shirt and bury her face in the material below his chest. A long, warm arm was wrapped around her shoulders, which seemed to shake with the force of her trembling. Onyx eyes softened with affection once more.

"I've gotcha," Paul muttered, kissing the top of her head before turning around to stare into the stunned brown eyes of his former Pack Brother. Jared, wide eyed and pale, stared from Paul, to Sammy, and back to Paul. It clicked: Imprint.

Groaning through his bloody nose and clogged voice, Jared despairingly muttered, "Oh, shit…"

Admittedly, Paul found his response pretty amusing and smirked fiercely at the other Shifter. He protectively warned, "Hurt her again, Jared, and I will kill you. Feeding you to the…wolves…sounds rather good, doesn't it?" A dark gleam entered his eyes.

"Well, well, well! You're back to bullying and threatening other students again, Mr. Lahote?"

Blink, blink. Everyone turned to stare at Mr. Anno, who raised his eyebrow at the rather ridiculous scene in front of him – Paul, threatening Jared; Sammy, clinging to Paul; and Jared, bleeding profusely from the nose. It looked like something from Jerry Springer. Mr. Anno smiled, which made Paul scowl at him and Sammy shift nervously in his hold, obviously unnerved by the strange man. Only Jared seemed relieved at his presence.

Go figure…

"Well, I would normally suggest expulsion –" (Sammy paled drastically at the threat, but Paul only rolled his eyes, calling his bluff.) "– but I could always use more assistance in the lab," Mr. Anno mused, his odd smile still glued in place, though Paul would have liked to knock it from his face. "Detention, I suppose, will benefit everyone."

"What…?" Sammy stupidly asked, her face scrunched in confusion, and eyed the teacher, clearly questioning his sanity. She obviously wanted to speak up again, but wisely decided to keep her mouth shut and mumbled something about Professor Snape possessing her science teacher, instead.

Confused, Paul blinked again, this time at his Imprint. Scrubbing out cauldrons…? What?

"Yes. You heard the punishment correctly, Ms. Steel," Mr. Anno drawled, before retrieving his ballpoint pen and scrawling information on a pair of pink detention slips for Paul Lahote and Samantha Steel. Another sheet, this time for the nurse, was marked for Jared Cameron.

Both Paul and Sammy stared at him. What the fuck? Detention? Not fair in the least! Ugh…

"Hey! Jared should be in trouble, too! He threatened Sammy first!" Paul heatedly argued, his temper rising from his chest, where it had slumbered for the last two weeks, since The Incident.

Although victorious in his fight(s) against Jared, Paul had started to feel depressed without his friends and almost – almost – regretted spitting those insults at Sam and Jared. Almost, because Paul hated the fact that Sam, his fucking Alpha, could call him out. He found it apparently found it funny to drawn attention to his disregard for Imprinting and, better yet, ignore that all of the other Shifters laughed at him without mercy. And Jared…

You're never going to find her, Paul, because no one is ever going to want to be stuck with you.

How could Jared have said that to him?

"Freedom of speech is a right for the natural born citizen, I believe," Mr. Anno retorted, his voice bone dry, and pointedly raised his eyebrows at the girl clinging to my arm.

She flushed angrily, her expression mutinous, and mumbled to herself, daring him to call her out for being born in Germany and raised in the United States. Something in his mind jumped to his Chat with Sk8terGirl, back to her Daddy, but Paul shoved it away and smirked faintly at her. A Military Brat, huh?

"You know," Sammy said, lifting her face to stare right into his eyes, and her next words made Mr. Anno falter for a moment – "Everybody in this school preaches about ethnic equality and then, in the next breath, points their fingers at the students here that aren't Native American. People here hold awful grudges, too."

Jared, Mr. Anno, and Paul stared at her, but Sammy only frowned heavily at them, a sad glow in her eyes. She stared right at him – almost through him – and softly said, "And I'm not the only victim, either."

What? He inhaled sharply. Does Sammy mean that somebody else is being bullied, too? His paused and his heart skipped another beat, then. Why does it sound like Sammy knows about me…and the rest of the Pack?

Unaware of his thoughts, Jared snorted under his breath and sourly muttered, "You deserved it, Pale Face…" He rudely gestured something to her that only Sammy and Paul caught, which made the former flush in embarrassment and the latter snarl in anger.

Growling, Paul raised his left hand and pointed at the idiotic Shifter still milking his wounds for all of their worth, his lips pulled back in anger. "Seriously, Jared knocked her into the lockers and tried to hit her just because of her skin color!" He snarled viciously through his teeth.

"Tried being the key word here, Mr. Lahote," Mr. Anno pointed out. His stared at Sammy, who continued to shrink further into Paul's side, her fists clenched in his shirt. "Seems Ms. Steel is instigating fights but is unable to finish them due to her…physique. That, I suppose, is where you come in, Paul. You're her henchman, I take it?"

Although Jared inched off to the side, taking in the aura of fury surrounding Paul, Mr. Anno merely continued to smile stupidly at him. Paul smiled dangerously back at him but remained quiet, keeping his murderous thoughts to himself. Fuck! He just said I'm stupid! He pretty much called Sammy fat, too! Fucking asshole! I'll kill him…!

Blue eyes swiftly flickered to Paul. Sammy could tell, almost instantly, that the other teen would explode any minute, and that worried her. She swiftly decided to (attempt to, at least) distract the others and cheerfully exclaimed, "Yeah, Team Rocket! He's totally the Ash to my Pikachu…"

"Hmm..." She paused, blinking slowly in thought, and then murmured – "…that sounded kinda perverted, didn't it?"

Flushing bright red, Mr. Anno scowled at her, his hands shaking with the apparent need to strangle something – or someone. When Jared burst into laughter, however, Paul deflated. His anger was extinguished for the moment, buried beneath exasperation, and Paul could not find it in himself to be mad at her, either. He only sighed. Why me?

Smiling nervously, Sammy glanced at the teacher, half of her face still buried in his shirt, the other half painted sweetly with (feigned) innocence. "Oh! Was it something that I said, Sir?" She opened her mouth again, fully intent on causing trouble and keeping Paul out of it.

Sammy paused, however, when Paul lightly touched her shoulder, silently asking her to stop in her tracks. The Shifter protectively hugged her closer to his side and then turned to Mr. Anno. "We're getting detention, huh? Fine! Whatever! But I want to have detention with her."

As expected, Mr. Anno looked ready to argue and refuse his demand, but the cold fury in Paul's expression made him stop. He slowly frowned at the pair of teenagers, who seemed unnaturally comfortable with each other, and sighed, "Fine, but I expect you in my room in less than five minutes. Bring pencils. You'll need them."

Then, Mr. Anno the Asshole sent Jared the Jerk (who grinned at the other teenagers, groaned loudly in supposed misery, and pretended to be mortally wounded) staggering down the hallway to the nurse. Mr. Anno observed Jared following the path to the office and vanished back around the corner again, heading back to his classroom. Awaiting the arrival of his victims. Dun, dun, dun!

Seeing that the coast had cleared, Sammy smiled brightly and hugged Paul around the waist, clearly overjoyed that Jared disappeared – for the time being, at least. He secretly reveled in her touch and debated kissing her right then. The Shifter pried her off of his waist, though, frown in place, to glare darkly down at his small Imprint. Her smile faded, and Sammy shifted from foot to foot, somehow knowing that the other teenager was going to lose it. She could apparently smell the fire burning his temper red hot right now. Great…

Okay! Breathe in and out, in and out, Paul. He impatiently reminded himself. You don't wanna go all Wolverine and frighten her off, remember?

So through gritted teeth, his temper nearly hitting the roof, Paul roughly demanded, "What were you thinking trying to take all the fucking blame, Sammy?"

His Imprint blinked at him, startled by the sudden change in his previously protective demeanor, and then scowled at Paul, her shoulders hunched defensively. Disliking being reprimanded by the older teenager, Sammy quickly proclaimed, "Nothing, I –"

"Duh," Paul snorted without thought. She flinched at his blunt dismissal and backed off, clearly bothered by his sudden mood swings, and Paul winced. His Imprint was so small at that moment that his heart ached. He did not want her to think badly of him, but Paul could not stand that his girl – HIS GIRL – made herself look bad.

For him…

Fuck, I'm supposed to protect her, Paul grumbled to himself, before grudgingly admitting that it was nice to have somebody in his corner again – defending him instead of berating him. He'd missed that feeling of friendship. 'Course, Sammy wouldn't stay his friend for long at this rate. Not unless Paul apologized to her, anyway.

"Sorry," Paul muttered through his teeth, feeling uncomfortable with the quick apology, though it needed to be said. Of all the things in the world, what Paul hated most was giving apologies. It meant Paul happened to be…wrong. Ugh.

"'s okay, Paul," Sammy said softly, her hair falling into her eyes and hiding them from his view; however, Paul could already tell, by the sinking in his stomach, that their blue depths had filled with tears.

Correction: What did Paul hate most in the world?

His Imprint crying!

Fuck...

The Shifter cursed loudly, his stomach dropping further into his black sneakers, and started to panic. His hands hovered around her tearstained face, before hesitantly clamping down around her shoulders. Practically begging, Paul protested, "C'mon! Don't cry! I just can't believe that you would provoke fucking Jared Cameron. He's twice your size, you know?"

Head bowed in embarrassment, Sammy kicked her yellow sneakers at the small cracks in the tiled floor and sheepishly mumbled, "I know, I know! It was pretty stupid. But I just…I wanted him to know that it isn't okay to pick on me." She scowled through her tears.

Everything stilled; Paul quieted, his frown slowly creating lines around his mouth, and then darkly asked, "How often does Jared fuck around with you, anyway?"

His Imprint did not answer immediately, too embarrassed by her weakness to speak of it, but when Paul bumped her shoulder with his, silently asking her to continue, Sammy quietly admitted, "All the time."

Paul scowled at something neither could really see.

In Detention

3:48 pm

"Now, I want you each to sort through these dissected animals and count the number of frogs with hearts and the number of frogs without hearts."

He glared down at the dead frog in his hand and darkly said, "I hate Jared."

Sammy whimpered. "Me, too…"

***Author's Note***

Flapjacks! I'm sorry! Senior year of college. 'nuff said! :P

THANK YOU! You're all wonderful. Who? The Peeps who alerted to, favorited, and reviewed this story! Yes, you!

Question: Hey! Since I'm already talking to you, what do you all think of this chapter? Did Paul act like you'd think? I kinda mixed "My Paul" with "Stephanie Meyer's Paul," so...yeah.

Anyway! I'll update again soon! Pinky promise. :D

P.S. It's been brought to my attention that I misspelled "Taha Aki" and have written "Taka Ahi," instead. Sorry about that mix up! I'll fix it from now on. ;)