Chapter 5

The Big, Bad Wolf and Max! "Woof! Woof!"

Lukas drove us to school in a nice blue sports car. Alec and Brent sat in the back with me, and Rylan sat in the passengers seat. I had yet to even hear his voice. I wondered if he was mute. Brent, to my left, was busy texting on his Blackberry, and Alec on my right was staring out the window in boredom.

Lukas was singing words along with some song, and he was actually pretty good. I found it interesting to listen to him instead. After long, agonizing minutes in the car, we finally drove into the school parking lot, and oh goody, half the student body was going to witness me climbing out of this hot car with four hot guys.

Just as I had expected, as soon as Lukas's car parked, everybody out front of the school turned to stare. I gulped. Suddenly something black was shoved into my face. I pulled back in surprise to see Alec holding his sweater out to me. "What is this for?" I demanded.

"You can cover your face. That way nobody will know it's you." he finished with a smirk on his face. I shoved him away and climbed out on Brent's side, but not before adding,

"Your face needs it more than mine."

I sucked in a nervous breath as Brent and I first walked up to the school together. The others tailed behind us, and I could feel Alec's insulted glare on me.

"Well hello. There are tons of sexy ladies here." Lukas murmured behind me. I stopped walking and spun on him. To my surprise, he stopped centimeters in front of me. The other guys stopped after a few steps to look back at us in wonder.

"This is my school right now. I don't care if Claude is the vice or your gramps owns it. If you guys fuck up my reputation, I'm fucking up your lives like I've promised to do so to Alec." I hissed quietly enough so only the guys could hear. Lukas's eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Wow, okay, damn. No need to get an attitude!" he laughed and raised his hands innocently. I spun on my heel and began walking again. Alec caught up with me this time.

"When did you promise that?" he asked curiously as we walked past the crowds of stereotypical people who stared at us as if we were aliens. I couldn't help but notice that some of the girls were ogling the guys, and I almost laughed in their faces because I was the one living with them all!

"I promised it the first day I saw your hideous face." I replied. I lied about the hideous part, of course. Alec raised an eyebrow at me.

"Careful, I wouldn't say that around Elly." he tsk'ed. I looked at him in confusion as we neared the main office for the other guys.

"What do you-"

"Avanni!" Elly's voice squealed. I pivoted on my heel just as she tackled me into a bear hug. I smiled and hugged her back.

"Hey." I greeted. She pulled back and looked straight into my eyes, not even comprehending the guys.

"Where the hell did you go?! Joshua and Rebecca said you won't be living there for awhile?! Where did you move to?!" she demanded, crossing her arms. I sighed. Well, here it goes! I motioned behind her, where the four drop dead gorgeous guys waited patiently for my attention…and hers. Not to mention they looked a tad annoyed.

Elly turned and her mouth dropped. "Alec!" she gasped, and then ran to him. He grinned and embraced her small frame to his larger one. I rolled my eyes. She was kind of dense sometimes.

"I'm living with the Darquecaster's." I helped her out. Elly froze. Here it came. The big, bad wolf nicknamed Elly. She turned slowly, and I half expected her to be wearing a psycho expression such as a twisted, killer grimace…or something like that. My face went rigid and I held my breath as she turned her scrutinizing gaze on mine.

I was disappointed when the words that came out of her mouth weren't something along the lines of, 'Why so serious…Ava dear?' Instead, she simply said, "Alec is mine. You will do well to remember that." she stated. I grimaced. There she went again. Alec leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead and I resisted grimacing again. He barely knew her and he was treating her like a princess already!

Elly giggled and then turned back to me. Hugging me tightly once more, she said, "Well, I'll see you later! Bye!" And then she skipped off. I stared after her. Alec suddenly brightened.

"Ah, that's right. I forgot I had first period with her. Catch ya later, Avanni." he threw me one last smirk and walked after my besty. I glared after him.

"It's Ava to you, jerk!" I retorted. He ignored me.

"So… are we going to be forced to watch more drama or…" Brent began, tapping his foot impatiently. I smiled over at him, suddenly remembering they were there. I turned and motioned for them to follow. We walked to the office, where the secretary and nurse were chatting. When we walked in, they glanced over and pointed to the principal's office. I nodded my thanks and headed to Becca's big room.

"Hello! How has it been so far?" Becca asked me first thing as we walked in. I hugged her and then pulled back.

"Terrible." I replied bitterly. Lukas's mouth dropped open and he put a hand to his heart.

"But you said last night was-"

I stomped on his toe-not that hard though-, and he bit his tongue and glared at me. I smiled innocently back. Becca let out a laugh. "Oh my, you guys are already bonding! How adorable. Here are your schedules, by the way. I managed to get each of you a class with Ava." she said. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

"You what?!" I shouted in a whisper. Becca grinned.

"I love you. Now get to class." she shoo'd us out of her office and I turned to the guys.

"Great. I was hoping school would give me a break from you guys at least a little!" I groaned in frustration.

"Hm, I have first period with you." Lukas mentioned. I looked over his arm to glance at his paper and I nearly twitched in annoyance. Becca had deliberately scribbled in her notes as to which classes they had with me. I sighed.

"Well then, new first period buddy, let's head to class, shall we?" I asked dryly, and Lukas wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Yes, let us go, Rebel!" he pointed down the hallway. I shot him a glare from the corner of my eye.

"Don't call me that."

"But Alec-"

"I don't care."

Lukas insisted on calling me Rebel the whole way to first period. Rylan and Brent split up from us and I decided it was easier tuning Lukas out. When we arrived in class, I was thankful that he received an assigned seat across the classroom from me. Sienna was now chattering with him.

Every once in awhile through class notes, I glanced over at Lukas, and couldn't help but roll my eyes every time Sienna sent him a smirk or a lewd expression. Lukas seemed interested though, for he kept reaching across his desk and fiddling with her long, blonde hair. Disgusting. Who knew what kind of diseases she had?

I mentally shook myself. Why would I care for any of the guys' well-being? I despised them all -well except for Claude and Brent. I wasn't sure about Rylan yet, because we had yet to speak.

Class went by in a flash, and I escaped to second period, leaving Sienna and Lukas behind to talk to each other. I walked into class as the fourth or fifth person -meaning I was early, and noticed Rylan sitting in the back next to my seat. The teacher must have put him there.

He was nose deep in his large book, and I silently sat next to him. His green eyes slid to the side to give me a once-over, before going back to his book. Well, here goes nothing. "Hi." I said, putting on my charming smile.

"Hello."

Needless to say, I was shocked about a couple of things. One, his accent was heavily and most definitely British, and he actually spoke back. His voice was so sultry that I almost melted into jelly right there. I put on a weak smile.

"So… what are you reading?"

"Vampire Academy." he said back. Vampires? I wondered. That category seemed popular nowadays. I leaned forward to look at the page he was on and couldn't help but notice he smelled similar to Alec. I suddenly found myself staring at the side of his face. Once again, his hair was covering it, but I noticed his skin was pale, and the veins underneath it seemed to mesh brightly in blue and purple streaks. Was he unhealthy? Needless to say, it didn't make him look less sexier.

"Find anything amusing?" he asked, and I noticed he was now staring back at me. Our faces were an inch away, and my eyes met his. They were a deep, murky green, like I was staring into a lake's depths.

"I -uh… your eyes. Most definitely." I quickly recovered and pulled back. His face was still expressionless, but his eyes continued to stick on me as I moved and situated my gaze on the front of the classroom. My cheeks were heated and I knew I was blushing.

"Thank you." he replied, and went back to his book. I found myself smiling. There was something…mysterious about him -most definitely. And I liked it for some reason. Maybe it was the type of girl I was.

That class went by quickly, and Rylan parted with me without saying anything more. My next two classes I had with Brent, and then Brent and Lukas. I found myself opening up to both of them, telling them each how many times I had gotten myself into trouble and how Elly and I had been friends for two years.

"So now that we've gotten to friend base, can I flirt with some girls?" Lukas asked me during partner study time. I made a face at him and Brent gave a small laugh.

"You mean acquaintance base? And I honestly don't care if you flirt, because I don't own you." I replied, copying Brent's answer for number forty-three on the assignment. He nudged me with his elbow and I smirked at him. Hey, he was smart, what could I say?

"You're right. Technically, we own you." Lukas said slyly leaning back in his chair in case I decided to lash out at him. I merely wrinkled my nose in disdain.

"Don't ever say that-"

"Excuse me?" a soft girl's voice asked from beside us. We all glanced over, and standing there was one of the junior class presidents. She had a soft blush on her face, and she was fidgeting with her fingers in front of her summer dress. Lukas suddenly became interested. "My name is Naomi. I-I just wanted to ask if you were single."

It took me a moment to realize she was speaking to Lukas. He propped his chin in his palm and studied her. I glanced back at her too. She had chin-length dark hair and thin glasses on. Her eyes were big and brown, and she was sure a pretty sight. She was really skinny though…in every aspect. Finally, Lukas leaned back again and heaved a sigh. "Sorry. You aren't my type."

My mouth fell open. Naomi's hand covered her mouth and she nodded weakly and then turned and went back to her desk. I watched as she buried her face into her arms and her tiny body started shaking with sobs. I turned back on Lukas with anger seething through my system. Hell, I was heartless, but to turn somebody down like that was uncalled for!"

"You didn't have to be so blunt!" I hissed in a whisper. Lukas leaned forward so he could whisper back,

"If you aren't blunt with 'em, they never leave you alone. Trust me, Reb."

I pulled back scornfully. "Reb?" I gritted my teeth. Lukas could really be an asshole. He shrugged,

"Short for Rebel."

I rolled my eyes. "You are a dick. Almost worse than Alec." I snorted in disbelief. Lukas let out a hoot of laughter. Half the class turned to stare awkwardly at him. Lukas snickered at the end of his laugh and sighed contently.

"Oh nooo. Nobody can get as bad as Alec."

Brent chuckled. "I have to agree with you on that one."

I looked back and forth between them and groaned. If Alec was worse than that…than how the hell was I suppose to wreck his life?!

Lunch was the worst time of the day. I was confronted with all four guys, who took over our normal table. Max and I only stared at them as they kicked our other friends out and then sat down. Elly happily plopped down next to Alec, and Max and I shared an annoyed glance.

Sure, Max was cute and all. He always had a head full of messy, and sometimes frizzy, dark hair, and hazel eyes. He looked a lot like Elly, except for his more boyish features. Finally, I sat next to Brent and Max sat on my other side so he was between Elly and I.

"So who is that shrimp?" Lukas asked, casually propping his elbows on the table as he studied Max. I scowled at him. Max was maybe five-foot-eight or nine, so he wasn't much taller than me or Elly. But he was a whole hell of a lot shorter than the other guys.

"My name is Max." Max replied. His voice sounded skeptical as he peered at the other boy and bit into his pizza. I realized the others weren't really eating. Their food sat in front of them, only bitten into once or twice. My eyes fell on Rylan once more.

And once more, he was interested in his book. Come to think of it, every single one of them had pale skin. I had already managed to get close enough to each to witness the blue and purple veins underneath their skin too. Maybe they were all sick or something.

Lukas gave a snort. "Like a dog, right? Woof! Come here Max!" he mocked and smirked widely. Max's eyes darkened. He placed his food back on the tray and pushed it away from himself.

"You are an asshole." he muttered and stood up.

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked, sitting up. I was about to stand when Max shook his head.

"For a walk. I'm gonna meet up with some of my other friends for the rest of lunch." he told me frostily. I watched him begin to walk away.

"For a walk? Don't dogs need leashes?" Alec added, and Lukas laughed along with him. That was it. I picked up the remainder of Max's chocolate milk, and chucked it at Alec. Much to my shock, he caught it before it even spilled a drop. Everyone at our table was staring at one of us, including Rylan, who was now interested in our fight. Alec looked at me and then the upright milk carton in his hands with a smirk on his face.

"You throw like a girl." he stated, setting down the milk. I didn't waste two seconds before I shoved the plate of pizza that was Max's across the table. Alec's eyes widened. He obviously hadn't expected the greasy, filled with toppings pizza to fall straight into his lap and smear over his nice, white t-shirt. Elly gasped in shock and immediately stood up. She grabbed a handful of napkins from the center of the table and started to clean Alec's shirt off.

The whole time, his murderous glare was set on me. I snarled at him and turned on my heel and walked away from them to find Max. Elly was shouting something after me, and she sounded angry.

What the fuck was her problem?! She was just going to let her own brother be insulted in front of her face?! Something was wrong with those guys, and I was going to find out…

…hopefully soon.