Her Four Shifter Mates : Betrayed

Chapter 5

Special thanks to Gabbyyy_y_ for editing this chapter and to Ashleys_storys for the end of chapter questions! 

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When the bell rings, I grab my stuff and rush out into the hall.

"Holly, wait!" Treble shouts after me, but I keep running.

I wobble my way down the hall, cursing Mom's heels with every echoing step. When I reach the staircase, I grab the railing and literally hang off it so I can move faster. I'm probably going to end up breaking my neck, but what do I care? I'm not even supposed to go anywhere alone, not according to Mom's list of rules, but I need to get away from Treble.

I clench the railing, hard. I couldn't focus in English class, all because of a boy. His voice put me under some sort of spell, and each time I caught a girl ogling him, I wanted to rip out her hair. Even when the teacher did his over-the-top dramatic reading, just like Luke promised, I still couldn't focus. I was constantly aware of Treble, and if that wasn't bad enough, I kept daydreaming about Luke and Miles, too. Three boys. Not one. Three. At this rate, every single thing Mom said about me is going to come true.

I make it to the first-floor landing and stumble into the packed hallway. Everyone's shouting and laughing and walking in random directions, so I have to push my way through the crowd. Then, I see a tall guy in a football jacket, and my heart nearly stops. Except, it's not Treble. It's one of his teammates. He's not even that cute, not compared to the other three boys I've met today, but when he lets out a wolf whistle, I still stumble. I almost crash into a girl with neon green braces, and she gapes at me. Then she nudges her friend, who has really frizzy hair, and the two of them burst out laughing.

I let my hair fall in front of my face, shielding me, and break into a wobbling, high-heeled mockery of a run. I know I shouldn't care, but after everything I've been through, I just can't handle anything else. I keep my eyes glued to the library, where I'm supposed to eat my lunch, and don't stop until I'm safely inside.

"No running in the library!" the librarian shouts. I look up, expecting a stuffy old man in a tweed jacket, and my eyes widen. Half the librarian's head is shaved and the other half is dyed a mix of blue and neon green. His arms are covered in tattoos, so densely packed that none really stand out, and he's got more piercings than I can count. They glitter under the fluorescent lights: nose, upper lip, all along his left ear. Mom's worst nightmare, incarnate.

She's taken me downtown before, and there were people like him in the artsier sections. Mom would always grab my hand and pull me across the street, clutching her purse against her chest the entire time. Then, she'd go on some crazy rant about drugs and city streets, her tone dripping with the same sort of self-righteous disdain she now aims at me.

"You got a presentation after lunch?" The librarian gives me a curious look.

"N-no?" I croak. My throat feels dryer than it had earlier, and the word barely slips out.

"New to Thomas Clarence, then?"

I nod and that's when it hits me. My outfit. Mom's suit! No wonder he thinks I have a presentation. My cheeks flame and I quickly look down at my ugly high-heeled shoes.

"I'm Ren," the librarian says. "And you are?"

"Holly." I swallow to try to soothe my sore throat.

"And have you been in a library before, Holly?" Mr. Ren quirks an eyebrow at me.

My cheeks heat and I nod.

"Good. Then you know what to do." He gestures vaguely at the shelves of books and turns back to his computer screen. His fingers begin to race across his keyboard, each click echoing through the ensuing silence.