Revamped!

[This chapter is hilarious.]

The Big Bad Wolf: Part Six

The next day at school, Cress walks over to her locker and it doesn't surprise her to see Wolf's Pack there without him. After hearing why her locker is the ideal hangout destination, she isn't scared anymore. They won't hurt her. However, it bothers her. Why did these guys even bother going to school? Cress is annoyed, especially if this will be her only high school memory since everything else for her has been anti-climatic.

"Excuse me," Cress says to them just so they'll move from her locker.

They move without her needing to say it again which she's grateful for since those two words alone took a lot of guts. However, their eyes are right on her which is making Cress anxious as she opens her locker to get her books. She can see them through her peripheral vision and she hopes they don't notice her shaking.

"Where's your boyfriend, Thorne?" One member asks her. She isn't sure which one.

"I have no idea," Cress replies quickly and quietly. Her cheeks are burning up. They called Thorne her boyfriend.

"Are you two dating?"

Cress hopes that what Thorne said was true - that they wouldn't dare hurt because she's too pure and innocent although it seems as if they're snarling and breathing down her neck about Thorne. She's begging that the school bell would ring or better yet, the fire alarm. As much as she's in love with Thorne, she doesn't want to answer these questions about him, especially to those creeps.

"Cress!" She hears her unknown saviour exclaim. Cress turns around and sees Cinder approaching her. "I'm lost and need to find my math class."

Cinder takes Cress's hand as she shuts her locker. Neither of the girls spare the Pack a look as they scurry down the hall. Once they're far enough, Cress exhales relieved and thanks Cinder for saving her.

"Thorne's in trouble with The Wolf Pack," Cress tells her. "I don't know why, though. If they're asking me about it, then he's obviously still not at school."

Cinder rolls her eyes because of Thorne. "That hypocritical spade. He was the one telling me not to get involved with them and now look who's hiding."

Cinder pulls out her phone and sends some texts to Thorne. The first few are insults, then it's calling him a moron, and the concluding ones are her telling him her plan. Thorne replies in seconds, first offended by her insults, then expressing his platonic love for her dramatically, and agreeing. Cinder scoffs as she puts her phone away.

"Meet me at The Rampion after school," Cinder tells Cress as the bell rings. "Thorne will be there."

Cress nods.

-o-

Winter searches the halls for someone specifically whom she can't spot. She thought a person so vibrant and alive would be easy to pick out in a crowd of mundane people. Winter turns around and when she finally spots her, she runs over before she loses her.

"Scarlet!" Winter exclaims. "Hello, hi, how are you?"

Scarlet is blown away by Winter's energy this early in the morning. Or maybe it's because she's exhausted and any amount of energy surprises her.

"You look tired," Winter says. "Did you sleep well?"

Scarlet nods while yawning. "Long night."

Scarlet thinks back to only a few hours ago when she was with Wolf. She watched him wrestle, saw him shirtless, learned more about him, bandaged him up. For all this time, she only saw Wolf as the leader of a gang but now she knows that he's only doing all this to survive in this world. She could barely sleep, considering that she doesn't know if he made it home.

"Um, Scarlet?"

Scarlet shakes her head, not realizing that she zoned out in the middle of a conversation.

"Anyways," Winter continues, "I just wanted to thank you for saving me the first time I showed up here. It meant a lot."

Scarlet smiles a little. "Don't mention it."

"I was trying to find you earlier but I was looking for a red hoodie and not red curls."

Scarlet tenses as she feels her torso for her red hoodie which isn't there. Scarlet looks down and sees that she's only wearing her uniform. That's when she remembers that she let Wolf have her signature sweatshirt since she washed his bloodstained shirt. She needs that back.

"Come with me," Scarlet says.

It was said more like an order. Scarlet grabs Winter's wrist and drags her through the hallways. They plow through the students, Winter apologizing to students who curse at them or mostly Scarlet. Scarlet knows exactly where to go to find Wolf. As they approach Cress's locker, Scarlet only sees Wolf's minions and not the boy himself.

"Hey, Dirt Pack!" Scarlet exclaims as she charges up to them while Winter shivers behind her. "Where the stars is your alpha?"

They shrug, looking at Scarlet and wondering why she's even asking for Wolf. Scarlet rolls her eyes as she takes one strap of her backpack off of her shoulder and swings it in front of her so it rests on her chest. She opens her backpack and pulls out Wolf's t-shirt. She slams it into one of the Pack member's chests and it's not only clean but it smells like flowers.

"I want my sweatshirt back," she hisses to them.

Scarlet walks off and Winter skips after her. The Pack looks at Scarlet and the shirt in their hands. All they could wonder is why Scarlet has his shirt and he with her sweatshirt.

"We'll just have Wolf meet her at The Rampion," one of the Pack members, Derrick says.

"Agreed," the other member, José agrees.

-o-

After school, Cress, Cinder, and Winter sit in a booth at The Rampion. Cinder and Cress fill Winter in on the basics of the situation since Winter is only here because she was going home with Cinder and wanted to see The Rampion for the first time, and where Scarlet works. It blew her away just like it did for Cinder.

"How much longer will it take for Thorne to get here?" Cress asks Cinder. She's feeling more anxious the longer she waits.

Cinder looks down at her phone for any texts from Thorne. "He said he's already here."

The three girls look around and don't see Carswell Thorne around. The only person they notice coming their way is some random guy in an oversized jacket, sunglasses, a beanie, and a bandana over his mouth. When he sits in the free spot next to Winter, the girls recognize him and are speechless at Thorne's ridiculous disguise.

Scarlet approaches their booth and doesn't even notice the odd one out at first. She pulls out her notepad from her belt and the pen from behind her ear.

"Can I get your -" she finally notices, "- order?"

Thorne lowers his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose as he smiles up at Scarlet. Her nose is crinkled at this bizarre sight. After her reaction along with Cinder's, Cress's, and Winter's, Thorne realizes that he has never had a girl look at him that way - let alone four of them at once. It's a strange experience.

"Thorne, what in the absolute stars are you wearing?" Scarlet asks him.

"Who Thorne?" Thorne asks with a horrible foreign accent and grammar, obviously pretending not to be himself. "Me no comprendo anglais."

Scarlet rolls her eyes as she finally takes their orders and walks away. Once she's far, Thorne takes off his sunglasses and decides to explain himself to the girls.

"The Wolf Pack is after me," Thorne whispers to them. "I won against them in poker."

That explanation confuses the three girls more since they thought that his victory wouldn't cause any trouble. Unless winning against The Wolf Pack is even worse than losing. Still, Thorne has more explaining to do.

"I won because I cheated," Thorne continues which makes so much more sense. "They didn't catch on until I was almost out the door. I owe them a lot of money that I don't have at the moment since my parents temporarily cut me off."

Cinder and Cress facepalm. Winter puts a hand on Thorne's shoulder for moral support.

-o-

Scarlet stands behind the counter, dealing with orders as she holds trays of food and brings them to customers. She doesn't notice when someone else walks in since she figures that it's just some other person. She picks up another tray of food and starts heading to the customers that ordered it.

"Missing your hoodie?"

Scarlet quickly turns around. She gets so excited at the sight of Wolf with her red hoodie that she drops the tray with all the food to claim it. Scarlet immediately curses as she kneels down to clean it up. That'll likely come out of her tip jar. Wolf laughs as he places her sweater on the counter and goes over to help her.

At the sound of plates hitting the floor, Cinder, Cress, Winter, and Thorne look over. They recognize the remnants of the food on the floor which makes their stomachs growl louder.

"Awe man," Thorne whines, "she dropped my burger."

"Why is Wolf here?" Cress wonders.

Thorne suddenly drops and hides underneath the table. Cress jumps up with a small squeal at his sudden reaction, Cinder is now more embarrassed to be here with him (the costume was bad enough but now that has to have drawn in more unwanted attention), and Winter is lightly laughing. The girls just pretend that nothing happened and try to act normal as they subtly look at Scarlet and Wolf.

"Wolf is smiling and laughing?" Cress says, astounded. She hears Thorne questioning it from under the table.

"Apparently, Scarlet had his shirt and Wolf had her hoodie," Winter says.

"What?!" Cinder, Cress, and Thorne exclaim, Thorne hitting his head against the table's underside.

Without the context behind that one statement, whatever happened between Scarlet and Wolf could be taken in so many ways. None of their guesses would even be close to the truth.

"I don't like the fabric softener you used on my shirt," Wolf whispers to Scarlet as he helps her clean up what she dropped, leaning in closer to her ear. "I smell like a meadow."

Scarlet smirks, taking in the scent of his cologne that she hopes is on her sweater. "It's an improvement."

"Not if I can't help it."

Scarlet kneels as she finishes cleaning up. Both her and Wolf find themselves looking into each other's eyes as they put the broken dishes and discarded food on the tray to dispose of it. Once that's done and Scarlet deals with the replacement order, Wolf grabs the pen behind her ear and a napkin.

-o-

Fifteen minutes later, Wolf finally leaves the restaurant. That's when Thorne finally comes out from under the table. He stretches his body that currently aches from being arched under there for so long. Scarlet arrives at their table with their food and walks away, holding back a grin the longer she looks at Thorne.

"Wow," Thorne states, "Wolf didn't sense my presence. I think he's losing his touch."

Thorne spoke too soon. He looks down at his napkin and sees a message on it from Wolf.

"Nice outfit."

Thorne gasps before crumpling the napkin. The girls at his booth all look at him, wondering what could be wrong with him now.

"Wolf didn't eat me alive," Thorne says gratefully.

"And that's why," Cress says, pointing right at Scarlet Benoit.