Revamped!

[I'm sorry if I don't put a lot of the couple moments in this story because I also want to put light on the group as friends. That and I wrote a lot of chapters and future chapters in advance so I already have them ready.

By the way, my favourite pairing is Wolflet.] [2020: This is important because I do the same thing in my PNG series. I think it's also because I write so much romance and fluff that I grew a bit tired of it.]

The Scarlet Letter: Part Four

During their second period, Scarlet's still haunted by that text message, not knowing what it means, who it's from, or why it's in French. Wolf's by her side for both moral and emotional support, and because he didn't want to go to class without her knowing she wasn't okay. They sit at one of the cafeteria tables in the corner, close to one another with two cups of lukewarm semi-decent cafeteria coffee on the table. The least of their worries now is if a teacher approached them and ask why they weren't in class (since saying an ominous text message probably isn't a legit excuse) but lucky for them, the student supervisors don't give a spade if students aren't in class.

"What letter do you think they're talking about?" Wolf asks her.

Scarlet shrugs. "Maybe they mean The Scarlet Letter."

"The what?"

"It's a book, Wolf. It's about a woman who commits adultery and has to wear a big bright red letter A on her chest to show that."

Wolf hesitates for a second. "Unless a random person in France or who speaks French knows that we've done the act before and are spreading a rumour that you slept with someone else, why would that be it?"

Scarlet winces a little. "I don't know. I'm just listing some possibilities." She glances at him. "I only told my girls because I was scared so who have you told?"

"Only Thorne and Kai."

Scarlet immediately punches his arm. Wolf slides back in his seat having not seen that coming. He waits a moment before scooting back into place and sees Scarlet frowning at him.

"What?" Wolf asks. "It's not that big a deal and you told the girls!"

"Aces, Wolf…" she runs a stressed hand through her hair and gives Wolf her phone. "Tell that to the sender of this creepy text. I bet my next paycheck that Thorne wrote all that he knew about it on his test."

Scarlet smiles a little Wolf laughs to himself. He takes a sip of his coffee, regretting it right after as he forces himself to swallow it.

"I only told them because I was freaking out," Wolf admits.

"You could've told me that," Scarlet says softly. "I thought you were relaxed about it."

"You were already losing your spades and it wouldn't make it better if I lost it."

"It stressed me out that you took it so well."

"Next time I'll go ballistic."

They sit silently again. Their questionable coffee has stopped steaming and the student supervisors have glanced over due to their loud talking, gladly not giving them their time.

"I still haven't gotten my period," Scarlet mutters.

"Maybe because this is all freaking you out," Wolf suggests. He finally notices the angle she's playing at. "Are you going to take another test?"

"The thing is, I still have some at home but I really feel as if my period should be here."

"What's that supposed to feel like?"

"My boobs feel heavy."

Scarlet watches as Wolf's eyes gravitate there to see if he can agree with her statement. Scarlet smirks a little as she playfully nudges his head to the side and laughs a little. She gets up, taking their coffees and throwing them in the trash before making her way outside via the cafeteria's doors. Wolf gets up, taking both of their backpacks and follows her. Once he's outside, Scarlet spins around and faces him.

"Quit staring at my overtly large not-perfect bust," Scarlet tells him.

"Please," Wolf scoffs, "I hate when people call their partners perfect. I love all your imperfections, especially your overtly large not-perfect bust."

Scarlet smirks and suddenly, he pushes her against the wall, dropping their bags, to show how much he means to her, how he can't control his love for her. He grips her shoulders and pulls her in. With his steady hands, he holds her close while exploring her mouth and she can feel his smile against her lips.

Bad boys may be the ones who get the girl, but Wolf became the good boy who could marry Scarlet if he asked nicely.

"Let's cut the rest of the day," Wolf suggests. "I'll drive you home and you can change and I'll go home and change. Then I'll pick you up again."

"What should I wear?" Scarlet asks.

"You and your overtly large not-perfect bust will look beautiful in anything."

"That's nice but not helpful."

Love is devastating and scary but it's also beautiful and life-changing. She's found her person who's worth the risk. And if their relationship has made it this far, they know that with time, they could conquer anything. His understanding smile is all the reassurance that she needs. He meant it when he said he was loyal so no matter what, he would be there.

-o-

During their lunch hour, Cress sits crossed-legged at the cafeteria table, holding open a chemistry textbook in front of Thorne who looks at her puzzled the whole time. She looks at him, biting her bottom lip in concern when he's unable to answer a question she would deem as simple. It was a question that was more or less a review of what they covered last year and Thorne not knowing the answer is troublesome.

"I think I'll do great!" Thorne exclaims, noticing Cress's opposite expression.

"I like that confidence," Cress says optimistically, "even if it's false confidence."

On that note, Thorne closes the textbook in her hands and throws it on the table. He takes Cress's hands and pulls her closer so that her back is leaning on him. He can feel her simmering laugh transfer onto his body and he loves that feeling.

"What are you doing?" Cress asks playfully.

"I'm done studying," Thorne mutters back before quickly kissing her cheek.

Cinder stares directly at him from her spot at the table. "You were done when the school year started."

"More like before the school year started," Kai adds from beside her.

Cinder and Kai high-five without even looking at one another. Thorne rolls his eyes at them as Cress laughs. Winter smiles to herself as she looks down at her lunch.

"I'm being such a fifth wheel now," Winter says. "I finally understand how Cinder felt back home."

Cinder turns back to her. "I was not a fifth wheel."

"I had Jacin and although Iko is always messing with Kinney, fighting him or ready to whoop his butt; they'll get married one day."

Cinder puts a little thought into Iko and Kinney getting married and shudders the horror away. The thought makes her lose the appetite she didn't have because cafeteria food is nasty. She can't see that happening and will spare Iko the details of Winter's belief because she'll come after Winter for saying that.

"I'd consider myself to be more of a cock-block than a fifth wheel," Cinder says.

Cress points her fork at Cinder. "I have a hard time believing you didn't have boys chasing you in Artemisia. You're a literal goddess from the stars."

Cinder holds back on the overly flattering compliment since she doesn't consider herself to be at that level of beauty. She wasn't self-conscious and did love the way she looked, but she just wasn't a girl who would call herself beautiful.

"I had a few but they weren't worth chasing back," Cinder admits. "Some of them liked the smell of fruity or floral body sprays and I wasn't about spraying myself."

"You smell like freshly cut grass," Kai tells Cinder.

"Mixed with motor oil," Winter slips in.

Cinder throws a piece of lettuce that fell out of her sandwich at her. "I work in a garage!"

-o-

After dropping Scarlet off at her place, Wolf drove himself home and walks right into his house. As he closes the door and hears other noises coming from the house. He curses to himself, having thought his mom was at work but apparently, today is her day off. And he knows that she heard him come into the house since he wasn't being subtle about his entrance at all. He should've just stayed at Scarlet's place and remained in his uniform.

"You'd better have a good reason for being here during school hours!" He hears his mother yell.

Wolf drops his bag at the side of the door and walks into his house. Arguing that it's currently lunch hour wouldn't help his case at all since his mom would know that he isn't going back to school if he came home. He peeks down the hallway and sees the light on in the bathroom. How his mom knew it was him coming into the house, he will never know.

"Something came up," Wolf replies.

Maha comes running out of the bathroom. "You're pregnant!"

Wolf chokes on air and starts coughing crazily. How his mom could think that scared the living spades out of him.

"What the stars, Ma?!" Wolf yells. "Why would you guess that?!"

She smiles with him as she taps his nose. "You're glowing."

Wolf's speechless and his mom is expecting him to get a good laugh out of that because she was joking. When she sees the uncomfortableness in his face, she connects the dots and whacks him in the back of his head while muttering in her mother tongue of Hebrew.

"Would you relax?" Wolf says as he rubs the spot on his head that she hit. "She's not pregnant."

She still looks at him a tad bit disappointed and he knows that she's tired and exhausted and worried about paying all the bills. It was the number one rule of being an immigrant's child - don't screw up in the new country because their parent left all that they knew back home to give their kid a better life. But he knows that his mom had a time where she had no duties; where she could live out loud and do nothing but rage, roar, and riot. That's definitely what she did back in Luna when President Blackburn was in power (and no, Wolf never told his mom about the Cinder being Selene Blackburn revelation). Wolf likes to believe that's why he was named after that animal. He had to be loud and loyal when necessary.

"Don't scare me like that," she scolds, hugging her arms at her sides.

"You shouldn't say stuff like that!" Wolf argues.

"You should've used protection."

Wolf cringes a little. "Don't say that either."

"It's true. To think, you have this new girlfriend who I think is wonderful for you despite you never bringing her over for me to meet her. And here I am finding out that you gave her a pregnancy scare all on my own."

"I will let you meet her sometime."

"'I will'," she mocks bitterly. "Tell your French girl to bring me some croissants when you invite her."

"Ma, I don't think she eats croissants."

"Baguettes?"

Now he knows that she's kidding on a play of Scarlet's French background. "Seriously?"

Maha smirks. "Seriously. Even with never having the chance to see the two of you together, I can tell that you're meant for each other."

"Quit trying to guilt trip me, Ma, you'll meet her eventually."

"I better."