"Welcome to McDonald's. How may I help you?" a flat tone of voice greeted me, as I bit down on my bottom lip while studying the menu.
It was almost seven in the morning and I had woke up with a taste for a breakfast from McDonald's. I had decided earlier on a sausage biscuit, hash brown, two steak burritos, and a platter of hotcakes. All topped off with a large coffee with seven creams, twenty-five sugars and two shots of expresso. Yet, looking at the menu I was trying to decide what else to add.
"Just a moment, please," I said.
Three minutes later, I finally decided to stick to what I had decided on with the addition of a large cup of orange juice. "I'd like to order a sausage biscuit, hash brown..." I began rattling off my order. Once I was done, I waited to see if anything was even being sent to the screen and it wasn't. I huffed slightly.
"Anyone alive in there?" I asked. Five more minutes passed and no one said anything, so I spoke again. "Hello??"
I was finally greeted with the sound of loud smacking. "Go ahead."
I arched an eyebrow at that slightly irritated. "I already placed my order," I shot back. "I've been waiting to see it appear on the screen. If you needed time that's all you had to say. It's rude ass hell to just leave your customer sitting and waiting."
"Are you going to order or not?" the voice shot back.
Rolling my eyes, I drove forward and pulled up to the window. As it opened, a petite caramel skinned, blonde looked out rolling her eyes and chewing on something.
"Did you take my order?" I asked, feistiness rising to surface.
"I didn't take anyone's order," she responded. "You didn't place the order."
"That's because you're being rude. I'd like to speak to your manager," I told her.
I wasn't a complicated person. I wasn't even going to get her in trouble. I just wanted my order taken by someone with manners. Cause this one would have me going through the window and snatching her by her obvious tracks. I was hungry and irritated. Never a good combination with me.
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said, before calling out for a manager.
A man who looked to be anywhere from his early to mid-twenties came to the window. His green eyes were astonishing and for a moment, I looked into them. He was cute, admittedly.
"Hello. Is there a problem?" he asked.
"Yes, I'd like for someone else to take my order. Someone with manners preferably. Your cashier is extremely rude and jerkish."
He looked at me for a moment and then to the worker behind him and shook his head. "I'm sorry to hear that," he responded. "I'd be happy to take your order. Please give me just a moment to deal with my employee."
I nodded my head. He closed the window and turned. I couldn't hear what was said, but it was obvious that he was reprimanding her. She turned shrugging her shoulders, stiffly, and walked off. He opened the window again and offered me an apologetic smile.
"Angie is having a difficult week. Her brother was murdered. It's not an excuse for her behavior, but I don't want you to think that she is always like this. She's not."
Hearing her loss, I felt bad for her. All my irritation at her went away. I didn't know what I would do if my sister was taken away from me. She should probably take some time off from work and grieve in peace.
"It's alright, I understand," I told him.
"What can I get for you?" he asked.
I repeated my order back to him and he smiled slightly, as he told me the total. "Thank you for understanding," he responded, before giving me the change and receipt.
I nodded and headed to the next window. Once at the window, I expected to see someone else. Instead, it was him again. He grinned slightly and handed me my orange juice before turning to make my coffee. As he came to the window next, he handed me the plastic with the hotcakes and then another bag which held everything else.
"Have a nice day," he said, smiling.
"You, too," I responded pulling forward. I stopped the car to check the bags and ensure everything was there. A white sheet of paper rested in the plastic bag. Picking it up, I immediately saw a name and number. Without thinking about it, I knew it was his. I chuckled before looking both ways and driving off.
**
"Imma care for you," Vanessa and I sang in unison, as The Weekend sang from the speaker of a phone.
"Cause girl you're perfect,
you're always worth it,
and you deserve it—"'
"Stop that horrible ratchet noise!" Mr. Anderson shouted, slamming the classroom door shut behind him. "Vanessa! Isis!"
I laughed at that and Eve turned her phone off. We knew it'd get a reaction out of our teacher. Mr. Anderson wasn't a bad teacher at all. Not anyone's favorite, but not evil either. My hand lifted in the air as Vanessa and I high fived each other. The teacher was flushed, obviously running behind from the teacher's lounge. We suspected that him and Mrs. Monroe were having an affair. The two always blushed around each other and often had private conversations in the hall. Sometimes, she interrupted class.
The juiciest piece of gossip was that some girl named Beverly had caught the two kissing the janitor's closet.
"First up, we're going on a field trip! So all of your parents need to sign the slips," he said.
I silently pumped my fist in the air, as Nalani brushed past me slightly to toss a pencil at the back of Enzo's head. As if expecting it, he turned slightly and caught it between two fingers. I arched an eyebrow at that. He grinned slightly before easily tossing the pencil back in Nalani's direction.
"Where are we going, Mr. Anderson?" Callie questioned sweetly, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder.
I rolled my eyes at that. Mr. Anderson was one of the six younger teachers in the school building. He had two attractive features and that was about it, but for some reason girls like Callie still went crazy over him. Mr. Anderson had what my sister liked to call a bedroom voice. It was deep and honestly seductive without trying. His voice once upon time had both Vanessa and I squirming in our seats. That had been almost a year ago. Now, I didn't care about it. His eyes were still what got to me. They were a unique array of colors. They were a greenish gold that alternated with his mood. Sometimes they looked more gold than green. That with his tousled honey blonde hair was enough to have girls thinking he was the clichéd, Adonis-godlike good looking.
He wasn't to me. His chin jutted out too far, too square like. He wasn't even "5'7". His nose was crooked like he'd broken it quite a few times. Mr. Anderson was by no means the perfect person that they kept insinuating that he was. Hell in my book, he was alright. His smart mouth and attitude was more than enough to keep me on the edge around him. He didn't like me and I didn't like him. I had a valid reason not to like him. He had no reason not to like me. I had never done anything to him and that was the reason why I didn't like him. I felt like he'd taken one look at me and judged me. Sometimes, he'd pick on me in class and sneer at me.
"We're going on our annual field trip to Yellowstone National Park," he responded. "They've pushed the date up this year, though. We're going in two weeks' time, so get those permission slips signed by Thursday.
"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.
Enzo glanced behind him briefly making eye contact with me. I winked in response and motioned for him to turn back around. The whistle blew three seconds later and red balls immediately started flying all over the place. I found myself ducking and hiding behind Enzo. He was agilely catching them like it was nothing. He moved to the side to dodge a ball and I fell to the floor quickly to avoid the ball. Vanessa's squeal told me she had been hit. Quite a few of our players were seated on the bleachers. There had been fourteen of us, we had dropped down to six players, which meant I'd have to start playing. A red ball rolled past and I grabbed it, before moving from behind Enzo and throwing in the direction of one of the guys from the other team that had been chucking balls faithfully. In fact, his team members were handing him balls.
I found myself leaping to the left as my ball missed and he sent one flying towards me. I hit the floor and winced slightly, before rolling over to my feet and taking position beside Enzo and Nalani. Another team member was sent to the bleachers and I found a red ball pressed into my hands. Enzo looked down at me for a brief second before focusing on the other team again.
"Focus and aim," he said to me. "You've got a good arm. You just don't focus."
I nodded my head and took a deep breath, looking at the other team. They were down to seven players. While we were down to five. I looked for a weak link and without hesitation aimed and threw. The ball hit the guy in the stomach and he groaned as he hit the floor. Their strongest player narrowed his eyes at me and a wicked grin touched his lips, revealing dimples. His name eluded me, but he looked familiar. I waited patiently to see which direction he would throw the ball. Almost without warning it came flying at me and a natural reflex, I snatched the person on the other side of me and pulled her directly in front of me.
The ball hit her and she threw me a dirty expression before storming to the bleachers. Laughter came from Enzo's lips and Nalani was chuckling.
"You're dead wrong for that," he said.
I shrugged. "I didn't mean to. It was a natural reaction."
"So, you're used to using people as shields?"
I shrugged. A small smile touched my lips. "Maybe," I responded.
I found myself on the floor once more and rolling around. Soon there was only the three of us. The other players stayed away from after seeing I grabbed people and sacrificed them in place of me. Nalani, Enzo, and me. We faced four players. I sighed as we rushed forward grabbing balls. I had grabbed three of them and found myself having a hard time balancing them. So, I set two on the floor around me. Bending over to do that saved me from a ball aimed directly at me. I quickly aimed the ball I held. It flew across the room and just barely touched the arm of one of the players. It was enough for the whistle to blow signaling that he was out.
I jumped in victory and then groaned as Nalani was eliminated. I found myself hoping that I wouldn't be the last one standing because the team would lose. I could barely throw. Fear of being hit kept me from concentrating on aiming at people. I just randomly threw the balls. Enzo was hit and I groaned as the last two players on the other team eyed me. I grabbed two balls and used them as a shield. One ball came toward me and I used those to knock it away. Another came and I repeated the action before throwing one randomly, while using the other one as a shield. Then, I found myself doing zig zag movements hoping I didn't get hit. I could hear some of the other students laughing at me.
I grabbed a new ball and as I ducked and threw it. One of the players was hit. I was shocked enough to just stand there holding another ball in front of me. The other ball bouncing off my ball was enough to bring me to reality. I was left with the beast of a ball player. He was good. He terrified me. I groaned and fell to the floor, almost cowering as more of the red balls rolled on the floor around me. I found myself crawling and using those to block the balls coming towards me. That soon downgraded from crawling to dragging my body across the floor because the incident narrowly dodged a ball hitting me in the ass. I quickly grabbed them and without looking just started throwing them. My head was ducked for protection. The next time I looked it up, it was to the gym teacher giving me a grin and blowing the whistle.
"He's out! You win, sweetie!"
The team I had joined jumped up and down squealing at the win. I released a low breath and moved to my feet. My hands swept over my legs brushing off dust.
**
"So we meet again, Ms. Porter?" Coach Blade greeted as I stepped into the already full class reserved for detention. "And I see you've brought new friends along."
He shook his head. A glint of amusement touched his eyes. "What brings you here?"
"Mr. Anderson didn't like my style of reading and I may have accidentally dropped my textbook on his foot, before laughing at him."
Coach Blade arched an eyebrow at that before managing to keep a straight face. "In that case, you four will be tutoring the illiterate of the bunch. Mr. Johnson, Mr. Ryland, Mr. Garland, and the foolish class clown."
I chuckled knowing he was referring to Drew. Drew always had detention. Along with the other football players. I glanced over at Vanessa wiggling my eyebrows as he mentioned Lexis's surname. I grinned. I could mess with him today. I made a beeline straight for him, noting those love green eyes were watching me apprehensively. I pulled a chair from the desk across and plopped down next to him. I purposely moved the chair as close to him as possible. Despite that one drunk encounter with him, I really did think he was cute. I enjoyed ruffling his feathers by trying to flirt when the chances approached.
"What subject are you struggling in?" I asked, my mind really on him clad in that towel. I bite my bottom lip, looking him over slightly.
When I finally met his eyes, a chuckle escaped him. "Are you checking me out, Isis?"
I shrugged. "Better question is do you like what you see?" I responded, in a low whisper.
He blinked for a moment and then shook his head slightly. His gaze examined my figure before coming to rest on me. "You don't wanna go this path with me, Isis," he responded.
"What path?" I asked feigning innocence.
"The path where we flirt, talk, maybe go on a few dates, exchange kisses—and then ultimately ends with your parents coming after me with shotgun at ready," he responded.
I burst into laughter at that. I never had understood where they got the will or frame of mind to be terrified of my dad. He had never once been up to the school, other than my first day just to sign paperwork. Sure, he was "6'4" and somewhat muscular, but he was as soft as a teddy bear. My mom was barely "5'3" and putting fear into the hearts of football players. How and when did it happen?
"My parents would never harm any boy that I showed interest towards."
He scoffed at that.
"I'm serious," I responded. "My dad isn't meeting anyone that I want to talk to until I'm ready for that. Besides, who said anything about dating...? I could be after a bout of fun."
As I spoke, I moved close enough that I speaking directly against his ear, my lips playfully brushing against them. My body slightly pressed against his. A shiver went through his body and he slightly tensed. I smiled and moved back to my seat looking at the sheet of paper in front of him. The English essay was only halfway written and riddled with grammatical errors, along with a lack of strong evidence and argument. Someone wasn't doing their research.
"Bout of fun?" he whispered after a few moments of silence. He coughed suddenly and leaned down to meet my eyes. "You're not that kinda girl, Isis."
"Maybe, I want to experience it for the one time," I sassed back.
Ruffling his feathers was working perfectly. Lexis really believed that I was going to randomly have fun with him on that level. I wasn't. I was curious about a lot of things, sexually, but not enough to just go to the first cute guy available. Admittedly, Lexis was cool and once upon time I had a crush on him. But he had never really gave me time of the day and I'd given up on him. Now, I was just messing with him.
He coughed again before his hand came to rest on mine. "I'm not that kinda guy," he returned.
"Perfect," I answered, once more pressing against his side. "We can learn together."
"God," he breathed, "you're going to get me murdered."
I smiled slightly, winking at him. "I highly doubt that, but imagine it," I whispered in his ear. "You, me...exploration and adventure."
He gasped suddenly before he moved around in his chair. "I think we should focus on my English essay."
I shrugged. "Ok, but here's my number," I said, teasingly. I grabbed the pen on his desk and without hesitation wrote the ten digits on his wrist. "In case you ever become brave enough."
"I was supposed to be writing an argumentative essay in regards to whether vaccination is harmful or helpful..."
I nodded my head and after that I stopped ruffling the cock's feathers and focused on helping him put together a reasonable essay. We used our phones to do necessary research and quotes. By the end of the two hour detention, I had helped him rewrite majority of his essay. As Coach Blade called an end to the detention, I rose to my feet and leaned down to whisper in Lexis's ear.
"Give me a call, if you want to finish the rest of the essay or any other."
Nixon:
"I thought I was supposed to be meeting this other brother and sister of yours?" Nixon questioned Dominic, as they walked steadily through the woods near Dominic's house.
Two days had passed since the arrival of the rest of Dominic's siblings and two of three triplets had somehow managed to evade meeting him. The responsible triplet, Thorn, had introduced himself the same night. He had apologized for the lack of attendance from the other two, while Dominic had mentioned that they were probably caught up in after school activities and extracurricular activities.
"They will be at the house any time now," Dominic responded. "Ma has yelled at them all day through calls and text messages. We should head there now."
Nixon rolled his eyes at that. He was ready to meet the last two and introduce them to the pack, so that official training and accumulation in the pack life here would be easier. He wasn't really sure what excuse they could possibly have. When they finally reached the brick three storey house, Nixon was reminded of his own lack of family members living so close. His mother was almost always unavailable and his father wasn't available either.
They only came when the pack was in dire need of assistance, which was rarely. Sometimes, he would ask his mother for guidance in finding his mate and she'd merely mention for him to be patient, that time would guide his mate to him. The restlessness within him as of late had him constantly irritated roaming more closely with the regular wolves, rather than the shifters. The alpha couple could sense his distress and sometimes lent him some comfort, while he ran with them in his wolf form.
"Good evening, Alpha Delis," Marie greeted him. "The two insolent pups are here right this moment and won't be going anywhere until properly introduced. Lexis Johnson escorted them back and he's got some request for you in accordance to some of the rules that lay in await here."
Nixon nodded his head. Moments later, his head shot up and his nostrils flared as an unfamiliar scent hit his nostrils. It was faint and barely there, but intoxicating nevertheless. He headed towards the scent and came face to face with two more Luccas, undeniably. The dark hair and array of blue eyes was a telling sign. The other blonde male with green eyes was also a face, he recognized. One of the younger pack members. Brother to his third-in-command, if he wasn't mistaken. Dominic was more acquainted with pack lineage and names, then he was. Once, he had been, but lately not so much.
He sniffed the air and the scent once more touched his nostrils. The wolf within was demanding that he inspect further. Lexis own scent was mingled along with the elusiveness of the other scent. He couldn't pinpoint to the scent exactly, due to Lexis's pine and masculine scent. Without any form of warning, his eyes darkened and a low growl escaped Nixon's lips. Why did Lexis have the scent on him, as though he had close personal contact with it? Maybe too close.
"Who have you been near, boy?" he snarled.
How a male reacted to the scent of his mate differed with every werewolf. Some were able to calmly deal with the situation. Others reacted in an agitating manner by snatching, sometimes kidnapping their mates. Then, there was the male werewolf who hadn't ever had the slightest bit of his mate. Finding a mate was easier dealt with in the first forty years of a werewolf's life. After that it was unpredictable.
Silence filled the room, as they noted the tense and territorial pose that Nixon had taken. Lexis had stiffened and stood frozen in place, the scent of his fear cloud the air for a moment.
"I was at school, Alpha Delis," he answered, his head lowered in respect. His stance was ultimately submissive.
"Who did you have close contact with?"
Lexis was silent for a moment stammering. "There w-was t-this girl named, Isis. She was flirting with me, Alpha," he responded. "I came to ask permission to speak to her parents about possibly...dating her."
At this confession a low growl escaped Nixon's lips and he knew he had to get control of the inner wolf. The inner wolf was obviously attracted to this girl's scent. It wasn't a guarantee that she was his mate, though. It was a chance that she was merely connected to his mate and his wolf had picked up on the scent with him.
"I want to meet this girl," he demanded.
"Alpha, there is no way to introduce without causing suspicion. We have the field trip to Yellowstone in two weeks. You could meet her, then," Lexis offered.
"Why is she important?" Dominic interrupted, stepping forward and placing one hand on Nixon's chest. He had been moving toward Lexis threatening and not even noticing. Dominic was the only one who would ever be bold enough to interrupt Nixon. "Why is she important enough that you're terrifying an underage pack member?"
Nixon didn't answer, he merely turned towards the two younger siblings of Dominic. Instead of the fear that pulsed from Lexis, he found amusement cloaked these two. That told him more than he was aware. This male also held a small amount of the scent. So, he knew her as well. He pushed the rage that Lexis or this triplet had been close enough to the girl and instead focused on them. He was instantly calmed focusing on actually pack matters. It didn't bode well that his wolf was behaving in that manner.
It would be two weeks until he could determine if she was his. Two weeks wasn't a long time, he could be patient. He could busy himself, enough to not go near the school and stalk the scent.
He inhaled deeply and began speaking to the two newest members.
Author's Note:
*This chapter may be subject to change in a week or so, if decided that I don't like it. *
Sorry, for taking forever in getting to this. I've been extremely busy dealing with issues, which I won't divulge in on here. Just know, I'm better and back to writing this story once more. Let me know how I'm doing so far.
Enjoy and as always,
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