Diligo Est Amicitia

Chapter 18: Werewolf's Arrival

Days after Jamie woke up, the group of friends couldn't ask for anything better. In fact, it seemed as if Jamie had absorbed the eight-year old Jamie they had met's optimism on the future. Fin and Pogue, who had been left out of the trip, were saved the gory details and thankfully, they didn't poke into it much. They were just thankful that Jamie was back, safe and alive.

Lilith however, Jamie knew, hadn't been the same since that trip into her memories. It had been one of the reasons she had been reluctant, had willed herself to forget all about it. Sometimes, a few lives, formed a few friendships even caused a few strong emotions to well up in she would catch Lilith glancing at her, whenever she showed a sign of strong emotion, mostly laughing these days and she would just look back and give her best friend a one-arm hug and a reassuring smile. Even Caleb looked at her the same way and she would just shoot him an annoying look as if to say that his concern was unnecessary. Then he would blush and look away. Such was the routine that Jamie was starting to tire of it.

Tyler and Reid had been quiet… for the first day. Then they'd just gone back to bickering over who-knew-what. Well, at least everyone else except Jamie and Caleb. The rest were too oblivious, too caught up in their own lives. Too caught up to even remember that William checked up on them once in a while…

Fin's POV

Of course, that was before the Announcement. And what was so important about said word that it warranted a capital letter, you ask? Well, it was more to the point that the Announcement changed the ones involved; the forming of friendships, the start of new emotions arising, etc. Who would have thought that William would have been the cause of it?

When I look back at it, I find myself laughing. Laughing at the memory though my happiness was tainted with the bitter tears running down my cheeks. But let's not talk about that. Instead, let's talk about what exactly changed those few lives. Or more specifically, who.

His words, short and simple as they were, rung in my ears for a good four hours: Due to the fact that the council will be arriving, I can spare no men to watch you. It's up to Peter now. I trust he will do a good job. I remember huffing, crossing my arms over my chest and just sulking. We weren't convicts, for Heaven's sake! But such was the decree and until we Ascended, William was our senior.

Peter met us a few hours later at the garden pavilion. The poor guy looked wearier than ever. Sometimes I wonder what William is doing to his son but under the current circumstances, it would be out of place for me to ask. He greeted us with a smile nonetheless; such was the perfect gentleman. I remember when he did an old-fashioned salutation for the three of us by kissing the back of our right hands. I remember blushing. I must have been fifteen then with a crush on the handsome lycan and for the next few days, I wasn't able to talk to him properly or look him in the eye.

"So… how's life been?" I could tell he missed us terribly; we hadn't seen him for weeks.

"Okay." I answered slowly, careful not to let any emotion slip into my voice. Any indication that something had gone wrong and we would have been shipped off to Paris by the six o'clock news.

"Listen… what Dad asked me to do… I'm not doing it by choice; I mean he's putting me in a very difficult position."

"Pete, it's okay." Lilith interrupted.

Peter merely nodded. "Well, just wanted to let you know… see ya then."

"Peter?" I called as he walked away.

He stopped and turned to face me. "Hmm?"

Jamie and Lils looked at me curiously. "Are you okay?" I finally asked.

He seemed to hesitate. "Yeah, of course." He grinned at the three of us. Too brilliant to be real, I remember thinking. Ersatz.

Monday was a pain in the ass, just like all the other days. Except for one thing; Mondays always seem to go slower. So do Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Now why is that? It seemed to always go routinely, a period of Latin with Maria, before being drilled about the mineral qualities of a packet of Doritos, courtesy of Miss Cooper, the Food Tech professor. It was in Literature – because Lils and me had requested a change of subject, and with a tiny use of my brand of magic, convinced the Provost that Literature, rather than History was our game – that a slight change of schedule took place. Of course, regarding that little change from History to Literature, we didn't leave Tyler out of it. I mean, he was our friend. We had his best interests at heart, no matter how much he claimed to love History.

Getting back to the subject… about that little change of schedule, it all happened in Literature. Let's do a flashback…

"And class, if you'll believe it, we have yet another transfer-in." Mr. Waugh announced. I could hear the class snickering at the Literature professor's tone. Indeed, nobody could deny that there had been an extraordinary increase in new students this year, what with the three of us and Sarah. Personally, I thought that the school was getting sick of all the new students coming in, especially when they hung out a lot with the Sons of Ipswich. "Please give a warm welcome to Peter Lycan!" And yet another guy who's just destined to--- wait… WHAT?! Don't… oh hell NO!

Oh hell Yes! Yup. Mm-hmm. He was here and he was gonna get us screwed. Blowing our cover, endangering our lives… I mean, Pete is a cutie and adorable and all that but he knew nothing… nothing of modern inventions. Yeah, he knew how to drive but that was it. If you gave him a cell phone, he'd probably press all the wrong numbers or when he was agitated with something, he'd just throw it over a cliff. Why should it matter to him? He was rich; he could replace an entire jewellery store and have enough left over to supply a third-world country .

He flashed the class his most charming smile with a dash of cockiness tossed in, making the female population – except the three of us who were already used to his presence – sigh dreamily. Mr. Waugh nodded at him, and he stepped forward. "My name is Peter Lycan and I'm an exchange student… from Boston."

"Very well." The Literature professor nodded again. "Now that we are properly introduced… I'm Mr. Waugh, your Literature professor and welcome, Mr. Lycan, to Spencer Academy."

"Hmm… wonder where they picked him up from." Reid drawled. I giggled, hearing him perfectly. I could already imagine his smug face as he heard me on the row above. Below, Peter started to make his way up, pausing just a second to wink at me before he moved up. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach; he was obviously trying to keep away whatever prospective suitors I had accumulated during my weeks here and at the same time, discouraging the start of his own fan club.

He moved up some more and I allowed my eyes to follow him as he slid into the seat beside Jamie. She looked appraisingly at him, a small smile tugging the corner of her lips. Obviously, Jamie was amused, surprised but still looking as if she had expected it. I turned my attention immediately to Caleb. If no one had noticed a tension between him and Jamie, I had and only once in a lifetime was I wrong about a gut feeling. I was right; there was a sliver of irritation painted across his face. I realized I wasn't the only one watching his reaction; Sarah was too. I saw the slight hurt showing in her eyes as she realized why Caleb was looking like he did.

Class ended and Lils and me promptly made our way to Jamie. The boys lingered around, unsure of what to do or say but Kate and Sarah joined us.

"Peter Lycan." He repeated each time he shook a hand. I wondered what the Sons of Ipswich would do if he had done the 'gentlemanly thing' and kissed the back of our palms.

"Sarah Wenham." The blonde smiled at him. Peter's eyes lingered on her for a second before moving on to Kate. Oh way to go, Petey! I thought exasperatedly. Throw her a bone, will you? God, wipe that smile off your face! It was one of his favourites; a slight pout thrown in with a smile. I bet he was one of a kind; the only one who would have been able to pull it off and make it look charming. When it came to my turn, I introduced myself with a sort of satirical humor.

Since it was already lunch, we headed to the canteen together after the boys had been properly acquainted. I could have sworn Caleb gripped his hand, a little firmer than necessary; like a lion warning another off his territory. Peter took it well, however; he simply slapped on a polite smile and they exchanged the usual greetings.

"So… what're you planning to do here at Spencer?" Pogue asked over lunch.

Peter shrugged casually. "Just here for that scholarship to…uh, to…" I could see Jamie struggling with herself. Evidently, Peter hadn't done too much research; always a bad thing.

"Yale or Harvard?" Jamie pretended to interrupt.

"Oh… now, that I haven't decided." Peter eased into his seat. "Depends now, doesn't it?"

"And which course are you taking?" Caleb was interested to know.

"Law." Jamie answered for him. Every head at the table swiveled in her direction, paying her their undivided attention. She let out a nervous laugh. "He told me during class. Right, Peter?"

Peter smiled mischievously over the rim of his coffee cup as he took a sip. Coffee… I remember him praising the human race for it. "So… what do you do for fun around here? Anything in Spencer worth visiting?"

"You interested in swimming?" Tyler asked. "Because there's a pool."

For future reference, Peter was an excellent swimmer. He could swim every stroke; move underwater faster than Superman, or at least any Son of Ipswich. He was, after all, the son of a werewolf, an Archos. He had been trained from birth as his father's heir, had even been branded as the Chosen one to succeed his father and water was his element. Peter wasn't as stupid to expose himself; the speed he swam at was inhuman but neither was he going to be allow himself to lose on his own grounds.

"Perfect." Peter grinned again. "I love to swim."

"Yeah?" Reid challenged. He had been keeping quiet, studying Peter. "What stroke?"

"I'm efficient in every one of them." He replied.

"Well, now that I have to see." A voice interrupted our pleasant conversation. Aaron stood in his crutches, half his face bandaged. Hurriedly, Lils and me checked on Jamie but she looked perfectly serene, even leaning back in her chair and gazing at Aaron smugly.

"Well, well, well, if it ain't the impotent Aaron Abbot himself who has come to grace us with his…" Jamie looked him up and down distastefully for the full effect. "…magnificent presence."

"Impotent, Chapman?" Aaron tried to save face in front of his cronies. "I thought you were enjoying it."

"Only when your pretty face got bashed up. I don't think we'll need to tell you what's gonna happen if you try and report that little incident, will you?" Lilith asked.

Aaron only walked away, stone faced.

"Wow… what was that about?" Peter asked, his eyes flickering between the three of us. I wisely kept my silence.

"What I wanna know." Kate agreed.

"Nothing really." Jamie disagreed. "He was drunk, tried to get fresh, fell down the stairs accidentally… vintage Aaron being a klutz and all."

Nice save. Already, Peter looked less suspicious, no doubt at least half-convinced that it was merely a drunk guy acting on his hormones. I could tell he still didn't like it though.

"So we'll meet you at the pool later?" Pogue raised an eyebrow as the bell rang.

"Sure." Peter grinned.

The three of us looked worriedly at each other but really, what could we do? It was obvious the guys were thrilled and boys had to have fun outside of foosball and the jukebox after all.

A/N: Sorry to those who thought that I was introducing the Girl in this chapter... I was going to but I realized that there had to be some kind of reaction between the Sons of Ipswich so I decided to put this first. This chapter might seem a little strange to you guys because it doesn't seem like Fin at all but this is the statement I'm trying to put across to you... Fin's no longer the innocent girl you thought her to be, incapable of thinking anything bad of anyone. She's grown up and she's got something else influencing her thoughts. Also, please note that there will be more POVs than third-person chapters from now on. Peter's POV up next chapter.

Crickes