May 14, 2011 (2:30 am)
Bored as hell... and I don't feel like going to sleep. So, I've decided to try and write a little bit... doubt it will help, but it's worth a shot, right? Still looking for a book cover, probably.... by the time this comes out... but I don't really know. Still, if you have them, please send them in!
Jar of Hearts is an emotional song. I hope that I can incorporate it into this story somehow... I mean it makes me cry sometimes when I listen to it. Is that weird? Or do other people do that too?
And thanks to CmBCherry for the awesome book cover :]
Anyway, I guess I should start writing the actual story now....
[Pic of Ty... ignore the girl]
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River’s P.O.V.
Guess who woke up to the smell of fresh scrambled eggs and bacon. Someone who is probably rich and has butlers, maids, and personal chefs. Who do you think got woken up by their little brother jumping on your stomach? Yup. Unfortunately, that would be me.
“Jimmy,” I groaned. “Why? I need sleep still,” I said as I turned over and buried my face in my pillow. Jimmy crawled next to my face and started tugging on my hair. I tried to swipe his hands away with no success.
“Momma told me to wake you up for school,” Jimmy said as he started poking me.
I groaned. “All right! All right,” I exclaimed as I rose and blinked several times and inhaled through my nose. That’s weird. I scented the air. I’d never been able to smell the toast James ate every morning before from my bedroom. My room wasn’t even anywhere near the kitchen.
I guess that this meant I was getting closer to becoming a wolf. Then it hit me. I had no friggin’ clue about any of this. I started to panic. I should’ve asked Kevin about all of this stuff or he should’ve given me a lesson or something. This is pathetic. I don’t even know what I am or what I’m supposed to do. How am I supposed to change?
Hopefully, today, I will find my mate and he’ll explain some of these things to me.
“River, stop procrastinating and get out of bed!” Elizabeth shouted from the kitchen, snapping me out of my thoughts. I sighed and threw off the covers of my bed. I’d taken a shower last, like I always had. I hared taking showers in the morning. One, it made me get up early. And two, I had to go to school with wet hair because I didn’t like to blow dry my hair. It was just a waste. Plus, my hair was naturally straight, so it didn’t frizz up or anything like that.
So, I got up and threw on my favorite pair of dark skinny jeans. I put on a tan colored shirt with a black leather jacket over it. Finding my black ankle boot, I put those on as well, completing my bad-ass-chick look I was going for. Well… almost. I still had to do my hair.
Since my hair was already straight and dry, I just threw it up in a ponytail, letting my bangs fall loose on the side of my face. I put on a light brown eye shadow that made my eyes ‘pop’ and dark gray eyeliner. After putting on some black mascara, I smirked at my new appearance. Before I left my room, I grabbed my sunglasses and my bag.
When I walked into the kitchen and sat down for breakfast, James looked at me. He stopped in the middle of bringing his coffee mug to his mouth and arched an eyebrow at me. Forgetting about drinking the coffee all together, he put the coffee down and waited for an explanation. Elizabeth looked at me the same way James had just eight seconds ago. Yeah, I never usually dressed like this. “River, please tell me that you’re not doing-”
“No drugs,” I said. Elizabeth opened her mouth again and I sighed. “Still a virgin and will be until I’m older. I’m not smoking, suicidal, drinking, or going through a ‘stage’ either,” I said taking a bite of my chocolate chip muffin.
“New you?” James asked smirking.
I shrugged. “It’s a new town,” I said. “So, I’ll try a new approach on things. What better than making them think I have nothing to fear?”
James shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”
“James!” Elizabeth exclaimed. She sighed and looked at me. “River, do you think that you could go change? I won’t have my daughter wearing that.” Technically, I’m not her daughter, so…
My hand went to my locket, that I now kept around my next at all times, and I thought for a moment. I rubbed the locket gently with my fingers when I thought. “Sorry, Lizzie,” I said as I got up. “I can’t do that. There are just some things I need to do that you can’t understand.” I took my half eaten muffin and walked towards the door.
“I was a teenager once, too,” she said behind me.
I closed my eyes and paused with my hand on the doorknob. It was true. Everyone was a teenager once. But Elizabeth and James or even my real parents never had to go through what I had to. My adoptive parents weren’t even werewolves and my birth parents always had each other and their lives were never on the line. Even Kevin had his mate. But me? I was alone right now and had to go looking for my mate.
Before I walked out, I looked over my shoulder at Lizzie and James. “I’ll see you later.”
On the walk to school, I ate the rest of my chocolate chip muffin and thought about going to school. I needed to stand out, somehow, so my mate would notice me. To do that, I would become mainly, a loner. Like that was hard? I’d been a loner all my life at my old school. The outfit today, was just an added bonus. I finished my muffin and put on my sunglasses.
The school was called Pallase High School. That wasn’t really much of a surprise at least. Oh and the mascot? The Kings. How original was that? Sarcasm. That was probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
Soon, the school came into sight. I stopped to take it in for a moment. It seemed cleaner and newer than most public high schools I’ve seen. There wasn’t any graffiti. The paint wasn’t peeling. There weren’t any broken windows or anything. Maybe I shouldn’t judge it just yet.
There were kids all around as I started walking to the school again. Some kids were parking their cars. Some kids were walking to the school like I was. Other kids were getting dropped off by their parents. School hadn’t officially started yet, so there were a lot of people still outside.
I made my way past them. A few people stopped talking to glance at me and then went back to their conversations. A few people would whisper and I could hear the words “new girl.” But not everyone was looking at me. I mean, I hate it in books when everyone said something like “every eye was focused on me.” Newsflash, not everyone looks at the new person, especially not in high school. In high school, kids blend together, so you can’t tell who’s new and who actually goes there.
It made me sick thinking people actually thought that every person in the school stared at them when they didn’t. Not every new person was that special and he or she was just thinking that because they were either conceited, vein, or both. I mean, it’s not like you’re Harry Houdini returning from the dead.
But seriously, if anyone called me “new girl”, then I’d swear there would be some kids walking around with nine fingers instead of ten.
As I headed for the main entrance doors, I was partially aware of a gap near the picnic tables. There was a group of guys either standing around or sitting on the tables. I could hear them laughing and talking, completely oblivious to everyone around them. There was something about them that made me look longer than I should have.
Then, it hit me. They were like me. Werewolves.
There were some others scattered around as well, but none in a big group like the one by the tables. There here were some human girls that walked over to the wolves. I narrowed my eyes at that. Something told me that those five girls, all wearing a skimpy red shirt, were trouble and that I should stay away from the whole group of wolves. My wolf instincts weren’t telling me that. My human ones were. That made me shudder slightly.
Just as I was about to turn away, something or someone else caught my eye. It was another werewolf, but he wasn’t with the group. He was completely alone, on his own under a tree. I titled my head to the side and then shook it before turning around completely and waking towards the school.
There weren’t many people in the building yet. I was able to find the main office easily. Probably because above the door, there was a big sign that said “MAIN OFFICE.” When I walked in, I was greeted by the strong scent of apple cinnamon. Someone had definitely sprayed too much air freshener. My nose automatically wrinkled at the strong new smell.
A younger man was at the secretary desk when I walked up to it. He looked to be about nineteen and had dark red hair with soft blue eyes. He was human. “Um… excuse me?” I asked. “Are you the secretary?”
He looked up at me and shook his head. “No, I’m just filling in for our secretary. She’s on maternity leave and I graduated last year.” A simple ‘yes’ would’ve been fine. I wondered why he wasn’t in college, but didn’t ask anything else in fear that I might get his life story instead.
“Oh,” I said instead as I took off my sunglasses. “Well, I’m new here and was wondering if you could give me my schedule and possibly a locker combination.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said as he started shuffling around some papers on the desk. He then logged onto the computer in front of him ad started typing. “Name?”
‘River Woods.”
His eyes went to mine. “River?” he asked. “That’s an unusual name.”
“Thanks,” I muttered kind of annoyed by the comment. I’ve heard all of this before. I already knew my name was different, but I liked it. He looked at me for a while longer. I kept my eyes on the computer. “Schedule,” I reminded him with a hint of hostility to my voice.
He just nodded and started typing some more. The printer sounded and started printing out my schedule. When it was printed, he took the paper and wrote something down before handing it to me. “I wrote down your locker number and combination,” he said. “When the bell rings, you’ve got ten minutes before your first class.” Just then the bell rang. I thanked the boy and went out to find my locker.
My locker was in a dead end hallway. It was probably because there weren’t many left to choose from. When I got to my locker, I noticed another boy there. It was the werewolf that was sitting under the tree, I’d seen earlier this morning. I went over to my locker and put in the combination. I was aware of his curious eyes on me as he rummaged through his own locker. When my locker wouldn’t open, I sighed in frustration.
The guy reached over and kicked the bottom of my locker. He then pulled it open. “Thanks,” I said to him as I put away some random thing I brought and probably wouldn’t need for class.
“No problem,” he muttered and started walking away.
I quickly closed my locker. “Hey, wait!” I called. I caught up to him easily. “I’m new here and I noticed that… you’re… like me.”
He turned and looked at me. “Yeah, I’ve noticed,” he said in monotone. “And if you want to make friends, then you shouldn’t talk to an outcast.”
So that’s why he was under that tree alone. I didn’t care. He was wrong, so I didn’t even acknowledge that I heard him. “I’m River by the way. River Woods.”
His eyebrows rose when he heard my name. “Like a stream?”
“No,” I said. “A stream’s too small. It’s more like the Mississippi River. Something that leads into something bigger than it is. Who are you?”
He looked at me for a moment. That was starting to get really irritating. “Mike Ortell,” he told me finally. “But you should go now. Class starts soon and it wouldn’t be fun to be an outcast on your first day.” With that, he walked away.
Part of me wanted to follow him and insist that he didn’t know what he was talking about. I actually was looking to be an outcast. Then again, part of said to leave him and that it was not my place to follow him. After all, I barely knew this boy. I shook it off and headed to class.
Mike’s P.O.V.
Before school, I only caught sight of her when she was going into the building. A new wolf. The alpha never told us new wolves were coming to town. Then again, the alpha never told us a lot.
Not much went on in out town, so maybe it wasn’t completely his fault. Still, there was a pack meeting recently, so he should’ve told us this. Especially if she hasn’t changed yet.
It's easy for a changed wolf to tell if another wolf has changed or not. An unchanged wolf has a more human smell to them than one who has changed. And it was pretty impossible for an unchanged wolf to tell either apart by smell. Personal judgment was something completely different.
She was actually really pretty. There was a sort of natural beauty to her. Her appearance wasn't overdone, though she did dress differently than a lot of girls here. Over all, she was completely different than a lot of girls here. I found that out when I talked to her.
Her locker ended up being next to mine. When she couldn't get it open, I did the hospitable thing and helped her open it. It was no big deal. Then, she tried to talk to me. That was a big mistake.
I guess I should cut her some slack. She was new and didn't really know what she was getting into. I was the outsider, the loner, the one no one wanted to be associated with. Becoming friends with me came with a huge price.
Though, I don't think she would be treated the same if she was like me. Her name was unique and i was pretty sure she had a personality to match it.
Already, I could tell that there was going to be trouble involving her. Either the Ladies in Red would find her a threat, or some of Ty's gang would want to try to get in her pants. River would probably be able to handle the alpha's crew. The Ladies in Red? They were a whole other situation.
The Ladies in Red were the girls that hung around Mason and his friends. They were the schools sluts or skanks or whatever you wanted to call them. Basically, they thought they ran the school, and honestly, they kind of did.
Almost every human in the school feared them. Some of the teachers included. They could ruin anyone and had the dirt on everyone. It was really sick, but shit like this happens, you know. And there's nothing anyone can do about it. People will believe anything now a day.
Anyway, there were five of them that made up the Ladies in Red. Their leader, the one who was so determined to get Ty Mason, was Sydney. The rest of them were her followers, but they were just as dangerous. First was Rachel, who thought sex was the answer to everything. Next was Michaela, who was the manipulative one. Madison was the really flirty one. Finally, we come to Tanya, who though that the more skin that showed, the hotter you become. Roll them all together, and you get Sydney.
It was priceless the way Ty and the other guys used them. Mostly because in the end, none of them would end up with them in the long wrong. Not just because they're players either. I mean, already, they are starting to less and less interested. Why? One word...
Mates.
Two already had mates. Soon enough, all of them would, too. Then, we'll see if Mason can keep his word.
Ty's P.O.V.
I'd finished healing with just enough time. I was always at the first one to be there when the rest of my friends came by. They always asked why. My response was always that I was an early riser. The truth was that I wanted to get the hell out of that house before either my aunt or my uncle woke up.
I walked along the forest path that led to the back of the school. The air around me seemed to be packed with tension. I didn't even understand how that was possible. There was still that feeling of change all around me. To be honest, it made me really nervous.
Change had never been a good thing for me. Change was when my parents told me my goldfish died. Change was when my parents died in that car crash. Then, change was when I went to live with Carl and Suzanne. Change was how a month after living with them, the abuse started.
There had to be a limit to how much change I could endure. If I was a human, I'd most likely be dead. Even if I was an ordinary werewolf, then I'd have gone mentally insane by now. But I guess change is inevitable. After I turned eighteen, I wouldn't deal with change. That was a promise.
The schoolyard was empty as I walked around front. Today, I sat down on one of the picnic tables and waited. Soon, the others would come and then later, followed by the Ladies. God, they were annoying. Those girls were of only one use to me. And that was to ward off the female wolves. I wasn't going to have a mate and those girls gave me higher chances of that.
Though Sydney pissed me off a lot. She's always hanging around me and trying to get my attention. There's never a party I go to where she doesn't suddenly appear. I swear, I think she's a stalker. It’s kind of flattering, but also a bad thing. If she followed me home one day, I'd be ruined and that could not happen.
I've gained respect for "taking my parent's death well" and becoming alpha without the guidance from a previous alpha. My grandparents might've been able to take me in and teach me all these things, but they were dead. My mother's parents were humans and died before I was born. My dad's father died in battle, when my dad was twenty-one. His mother died of cancer two years before his own death.
Honestly, I wasn't taking my parents death well. I ignored it like I ignored the pain inflicted upon me by my aunt and uncle. There was this one time when I was fifteen when my uncle used their death as a new punishment on me. I ran out that night, broken and hurt. So, I found some liquor and got drunk. Some cops found me and arrested me for drinking when I was under-aged. My uncle was pissed when he had to bail me out of jail, which resulted in a broken arm.
None of that mattered anymore, now. There was nothing I could do about the sad, pitiful, second life I needed to live. As the alpha, I'm not supposed to show weakness. An alpha is only as strong as the weakest member in its pack. What most people don't know is that I am the weakest member.
I thought about this kind of stuff all the time when I was waiting for the guys. In our group, there were about six guys, not including me. Two had recently found their mates. They were Chris and Josh. And let me tell you something. Once they found their mates, they completely changed. They’re sincere and really nice. I liked the change in them, and stuck up for them when they got teased about it. I was happy for them. Chris found Jessica and Josh found Sorra. They were happy and that was all that matter. Plus, they new what would happen when the rest of them found their mates.
The rest of them were also known as Aiden, Jake, Dawson, and Vick. Dawson, being the clown he is, jokes that it's okay Chris and Josh were mated because now the five remaining could each have one of the Ladies in Red. That really made me want to vomit... and it takes a lot for that to happen. But of course, I just laughed along with the rest of them.
Finally, I saw Vick walk towards me. I nodded to him. "What took you so long?" I asked. Vick had light brown hair that almost covered his hazel eyes. Out of all the friends I hung out with, I liked him the best. Though, he was still an asshole, he hasn't slept with as many girls as Dawson or Jake.
He shrugged. "I'm the first one here," he said. I looked around us and saw a bunch of humans and a few female wolves. Out of us, he was, but I didn't push it. "Where'd you go off to last night? I thought we were going to hang at Jake's."
"I had to get home. I had things to do," I said shrugging.
"You didn't have Sydney over?" he asked.
I resisted the urge to gag and just shrugged again. "I don't take trash home with me," I said.
"You don't take anyone home with you," Vick said.
"Vick, I live with damn humans," I whispered.
"Why do you hate humans anyway?" he asked me. "They're not all that bad."
There were a lot of reasons for that. Number one being my aunt and uncle. But also, my parents. A drunk driver hit them and killed them. A human drunk driver. I couldn't trust them. The cops that arrested me were human. All the pain I suffered was by humans. The time I got shot in the forest a few months after I first shifted, included.
Like always, I ignored the questions I didn't want to answer. Soon enough, Dawson and Aiden came by anyway, so I didn't really have to. Josh was next to come. After he kissed Sorra, they parted ways and he came over. Then Chris came after what looked like a secret make-out session with Jess. Last was Jake. With him came surprising news.
Jake was now mated. Apparently, over the weekend, one of the female pack members had her first shift. He'd met her just last week. She was pretty nice. Her name was Kiley and you could tell he was crazy about her. I was happy for him and couldn't wait until everyone else found their mates. That way they wouldn't act like assholes anymore. So I was halfway there.
Fifteen minutes before the bell rang, Sydney and the skanks came over. I mentally groaned as they came over. Sydney was flirting with me as always, so I played along. She invited me to her house tonight and I had to swallow back vomit. Of course, I wouldn't go, but I didn't care. There'd be a whole scene tomorrow, which would end with her making out with me. Fun times.
Soon, we were all getting up to walk towards school. I was halfway there, when I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a werewolf scent heading into the school. It was faint, but not that faint. It was from this morning at least. I called Josh over. He left the group as they chatted and kept going to school.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Do you smell that?" I asked him.
He paused and scented the air. His body tensed and he let out a low growl. "New wolf," he said, his nostrils flared.
I nodded. "Be on lookout for it," I said. "It's in the school. Tell the others, but keep a low profile. We can't surprise it or it my bolt," I said in a low voice.
"Ty, it hasn't changed yet," Josh said to me.
"You can never be to sure with a wolf," I said. "Why would it come here if it wasn't expecting to be confronted by one of the biggest packs in the country." He nodded and disappeared into the school.
All though the rest of the morning, I never saw it. Though, I could smell its faint smell throughout the hallways. It was really frustrating when I wasn't able to catch it in between classes. And all morning, I was in full alpha mode and really tense.
Then came lunch. I walked quickly to the cafeteria to hoping to catch it there. Aiden stopped me in the hallways. "I saw it," he told me. "It was in my second period class."
My feet immediately came to a halt. "Is it a threat?"
He laughed. "Not at all. It won't be able to do any damage to the pack at all. It's unchanged."
I let out a sigh. "Tell him he needs to come to a pack meeting after school today. Make sure you actually call a pack meeting, too. And that's an order."
"Um... Ty?"
"What?" I snapped.
"The new wolf is a female," Aiden said.
Female? An unchanged female? Shit. This is bad. She must've come here with a mate, right? This is so bad. I've never had to take care of something like this before. She has to have a mate.
"What's her story?" I asked shaking my head in frustration.
"Adopted by humans," Aiden said.
I gaped at him. This is even worse. How could something like this happen? What wolf was even stupid enough to put their kid up for adoption? That was like murder, right? Especially if it was a girl. And it would reveal to the world that our kind existed. She had to know what she was, right? If she didn't, then this would only be five hundred times harder.
"Please tell me she knows," I groaned.
Aiden paused for a moment. "It's hard to say," he said. "She's alone here. But I've seen her staring at some of us. I think she knows. How? I have no freakin' idea. Has something like this ever even happened?"
No. Nothing like this has ever happened. At least she knows. Still, this is awful. I turned on my heel and punched the gray locked hard, denting it slightly. "Shit!" I growled. Aiden took a step back. I tried to steady my breathing. "I want her at the meeting after school. She doesn't come, she'd dead, got it?!" I snarled.
He nodded quickly and hurried off to the cafeteria.
I guess my question from this morning has been answered.
This was definitely a bad change.
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May 21, 2011 (10:00pm)
Sorry, it took so long to upload. I will probably be uploading once a week. My goal is to make the chapters longer than the ones in The Lone She-Wolf stories. Plus, I am doing this new thing, where I'm trying to add more detail and whatever.
Anyway, I hope you liked it. I had my ice cream so that was an added bonus. It was chocolate this time. :]
So, please... Vote and Comment. I love comments, but if you comment and YOU THINK YOU KNOW SOMETHING DO NOT PUT IT IN THE COMMENT. That pisses me off and you ruin the story for other people!!!!
TTFN
P.S. ~ I don't edit much :~b