Wolf's Claim

Chapter Six: Scented

"Awesome, do we get to visit the wolves this year?" one of the other students asked.

Mr. Anderson scowled. "You know that is a restricted area that only trained experts are allowed near. Wolves are unpredictable creatures. Sometimes volatile and violent for no reason. We won't have any student disappearances or deaths on our hands," the teacher scoffed.

"But—"

"Save it, Lexis," the teacher snapped. "Now, open your textbooks to page 255. We're going over some new concepts today."

A loud groan escaped my lips and a few of the others surrounding me. Instead of noting that there had been others included in the loud sound, Anderson looked dead at me and a sneer formed on lips.

"What's the matter, princess?" he sneered, his lips twisting slightly. "Mad that you won't ever have an easy time in my class?"

"No," I retorted, "more like worried that I'll fall asleep from your teaching methods and end up in detention."

He arched an eyebrow before speaking again. "Are you volunteering?"

I scrunched my face up in a "what the fuck?" expression. Did I not just say I didn't want detention? He had selective hearing. "Nooo," I said, purposely enunciating the ending.

He rolled his eyes. "Well consider yourself volunteered for reading the first page of the chapter."

Opening the textbook, I frowned as I opened the page to the sight of a full length page, instead of the normal half pages to the first page in the chapter. I groaned inwardly. Why me? I decided I was going to speed read. I was good at that. Without hesitating I began reading aloud and talking at a fast pace. By the time I got to half the page, I heard a clearing of the throat and looked up. Everyone in the class was staring at me. Mr. Anderson had his arms folded over his chest. He stood before me with a look of impatience.

"I don't know who taught that reading without taking a breath was acceptable, but it's not in this class. Slow down and start from the beginning."

A look of irritation crossed my face and I began reading, this time at a snail's pace. I purposely enunciated every word and vowel slowly. A giggle came from behind me and then a chuckle from in front of me. Eventually, I had to cough to cover the laughter that I was tempted to give into. I looked up slowly and saw that he hadn't moved from in front of my desk. He was using his forefinger to rub the crease between his eyebrows. Almost as though I was stressing him out.

Five minutes later, I was finally halfway down the page. That's when Enzo's laughter became contagious and I found myself laughing hard enough that I accidentally knocked my book from the desk and onto Mr. Anderson's foot. As he winced and hopped on one foot for just a second, I found myself gasping with laughter as Vanessa and Nalani laughed behind me. The four of us were laughing uproariously.

So, it didn't surprise me in the least bit when we were all assigned detention after school. We were also kicked out of the class and "sent" to the principal's office. He didn't really think I'd go there, did he? Nope. We found an alternative and crept in the halls, until we got to the gym. The gym teacher never noticed if they were extra students. We slid in and I quickly pulled the girls to the locker room. We went to the lockers and found the black shorts and tops that were specifically assigned to us by locker. We changed and headed into the gym.

"Girls, get over here!" the gym teacher yelled. "We're about to start our dodgeball match."

I grinned at that. I may not have been the best at any sport, but I loved dodgeball. There was something about taking a ball and aiming to hit people without any repercussions. I loved the game. It was a great tension reliever. We were pointed onto the team with lesser players. Enzo stood in the midst of the other players with a wide grin. The girls on the team eyed him like he was candy. I slid between him and two other guys to use as shields.