Chapter 13

I woke up for the second time that month in a hospital bed, surrounded by white. I looked over at the wall where Kylie and them had been, but saw only empty chairs. Looking out the window, I saw that I had either recovered very quickly or very slowly. Then I saw that although Kylie and them weren't there, Dimitri was staring at me from the same exact chair he had been sitting in.

"Hey." I said weakly. Then I got a little embarrassed. Who said hey after being found unconscious in a forest in the middle of the night? Only idiots like me.

He smiled and said, "Hey, yourself. You really gave us a scare this time. Not that emerging from a burning building with third degree burns isn't scary, but you know. What happened?"

"Um…I saw an old friend, we had a little bit of a fight, and then I feinted." His eyebrow was cocked in a way that I had always wanted to do but could never pull it off.

"So you got a giant bite mark from what, falling?" I nodded, and his eyebrow went even farther up. He knew I was lying, but not why. I didn't know either. I just wasn't ready to betray Alex. I still believed that he could somehow be saved. "And the punctures to your chest? Those were from really sharp rocks?" I nodded again, looking away this time, and he sighed. "You know, we're going to face a lot more than this in the real world. I need to know that I can trust you to tell me the truth. So I'll ask one more time. Is there anything that you want to tell me?" I shook my head this time, and he let out another long sigh.

"Fine Rose, whatever. It's your business. Just know that you don't have to do it alone." With that, he got up and left. I thought for a while. I wanted to tell him, but at the same time, how could I? Oh ya, by the way. My ex-best friend who's a Dami found and attacked me last night, threatening to kill me. But don't worry, I just feinted. Oh ya, that would just go great. So I kept my mouth shut, checked out, and went on with my day.

I had only been out for about two hours, so I woke up with plenty of time to get to classes, again. The word that Rose Hathaway had been found unconscious in the forest in the middle of the night spread quickly, and rumors quickly appeared as to what had happened. I just tried to ignore it, but my famous temper flared up when a chubby boy in my math asked if it was because the guy I had been with last night, Dimitri, had 'hit it and quit it'. I punched him in the face, hard enough to knock him into and over the next person, so that he was lying where the person had just been scribbling down the notes.

Naturally, I was sent to Harks' office, which was extremely uncomfortable. His gaze was on me for a long time, until he finally said, "What made you so frustrated? When I Judged you I didn't think that you would snap so quickly."

I looked straight ahead, past his annoyingly calculating face, clamped my jaw, and answered through my teeth, "He claimed that I slept with my Beta, and then my Beta left me there." His face turned into one of a grimace, and then said in a stern voice, "While that is aggravating, you, as an Alpha, shouldn't let it affect you. Go on now, and I don't want to hear about this. Your punishment is dealing with the rumor yourself. If I hear that you have used threats or violence to deal with it, you will automatically serve three weeks of detention. Dismissed." I got up, turned around, and left. I didn't have to deal with that bull shit.

When I had finished storming down the hall and out the door (which I slammed), I realized that I didn't know where to go. I didn't want to be here, but I didn't want to really talk to anybody. So I decided to go visit Blackjack.

He was waiting for me, perfect and strong. He shook his mane and whinnied, calming down when I petted him and gave him a carrot. I then proceeded to clean his stable, give him a wash, clean his hooves, and was just about to saddle him up when Dimitri walked in. Of course by now I looked like the classic clichéd horse girl. My hair was pulled back into a pony, my plaid flannel had the sleeves rolled up to my elbows and was unbuttoned to reveal my grey undershirt, and my jeans were very slightly dirty with sweat and mud. Then I realized I was self conscious about these things, and mentally slapped myself. He was my Beta after all.

"Where were you? I had to run practice without you." Oh ya. I had forgotten about that. Oh well. I told him that I had been busy and motioned to Blackjack. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and then, as if deciding not to be angry, said, "Do you ride often?"

"When I can. But he's a good horse, so he often gets ridden by beginners learning to ride." I nuzzled him affectionately, and Dimitri walked up to pet him. Blackjack licked him, and I laughed. "He likes you. Then again, his judgment isn't very good."

"Oh you just think you're so funny don't you?"He said it playfully, so I nodded, and he laughed. I joined in, and for a while we just talked. He was of course a transfer student, but his old school had had more of an equestrian program. When he moved here they wouldn't let him bring his horse, Bruno. His dad had died when he was little, and his mom wasn't around. I didn't push the subject, and we didn't talk about it much. I told him about my situation, which was ironically the opposite of his. I told him how I had been here since I was born, and that my mom had been killed on the job (I left out the part about it being my best friend) and my dad had never been around for us. He asked when, and I was forced to answer awkwardly, "Over the summer."

"I'm so sorry for your loss. I know it must be hard. I never really knew my folks, so I guess it's not as bad. I bet you miss her."

"Everyday." I said, and he put his hand on mine, which was petting Blackjack. My hand froze, and then I said, "Well, I better get going if I want to get a run in before sundown." He broke off, looked at the ground, and then replied, "Um ya. You go do that. I'll make sure the Pack does their homework and what not." I nodded, and turned away to finish the saddle. He took this as a queue to leave, and over my shoulder I saw him go with a sigh.

I decided that instead of the normal lap around the outskirts of campus, I would go and explore the mountainous areas on campus. Blackjack was a master in the art of hopping over trees, and we quickly navigated the forest area. The ground slowly grew into a hill, which grew into a slope, where I had to get off and lead Blackjack for a little bit. But we made our way to an upper level, and the ground leveled out. Looking around, I saw that there was a cliff at the edge. It had a perfect view of the campus and beyond, and was stable enough to walk on. I tested it out, always ready to jump back to the stable part when it got unstable. It was like the balcony but 50 times better, so I decided to sit down and think for a little bit.

Alex was very clearly serious about the whole bringing me back thing, so I had to keep my guard up around him. And as far as I was concerned, if I got Dimitri involved then it meant getting the Pack involved, which meant distracting them and letting more people into my bubble than it was ready for. So for the time being, Alex's secret was safe with me.

Then there was the whole topic of Dimitri. There was definitely something between Dimitri and me, but it wasn't anything that I could act on. So that left Matt (ewe), Nick (eh), Paul (NO), and Sam (I don't think he would ever pay attention to me) as my prospects for boyfriends. I sighed and decided that for right now, I wasn't going to get involved with any guys. It was probably better for me to focus on school anyways.

That brought up school, and I realized that as well as I was doing, every win was building pressure, like if I messed up, no one would forgive me. They all respected me so much, but it was like the better I got, the less I was their friend and the more they expected of me. The more it was like a business instead of a friendship. But there was nothing that I could do about that, so I just let it go, and decided to stuff that emotion inside a sock deep in my skeletal closet.

By the time I got up, the sun was setting, and I was totally and completely relaxed. I decided that twice a week, I would come up here and unwind. It felt good. I took Blackjack back to the stables, and for the first time in a long while, I slept through the night. There were no nightmares, dreams about what was or what could've been. There was only peace and calm and quiet.