I leant against a tree, my arms crossed. I was impatiently waiting for the boy to come out of any classroom. He hadn't passed my line of vision yet.
Finally, when he did come out of the Maths block, the ancient 2015 speaker technology we had crackled, "America James to the principal's office, America James."
I scowled. What had I done this time?
I shifted off the tree and ignored the speaker. I strode up to the boy, stopping directly in front of him. My aim had been to be intimidating but that didn't work when I was five foot three and he was six foot something.
I remained confident though and placed one hand on my hip before extending the other, "You're new in town, right?"
The boy simply narrowed his cold eyes before nodding.
"What's your name?"
He glanced down at my still extended hand and I decided to drop it.
"Why do you wanna know?" the boy raised an eyebrow.
He didn't have the country Australian drawl most of the kids here have. Instead, his accent was curt and chipped. Definitely from the city; which makes me more curious.
"I have my reasons," I shrugged, "You gonna answer?"
"You first."
"America James," I gave him a rare smile.
"A smile?" and a gasp. Ally slung her arm around my shoulder and I scowled. Ally grinned at the boy, "Feel lucky she actually smiled for once. I'm Alyssa Asher and also I'm pleased to meet you."
The boy sighed before saying, "My name is William Gallagher. Friends call me Will. Can I help you with something?"
"Actually, Will," Alyssa began but he cut her off.
"I said only my friends call me Will."
To Alyssa, that was like a slap in the face. She blinked a few times, her lips parted slightly before regaining control. A hurt look crossed her face.
"You can help us with something, actually," I smirked, "Answer this: is your pack registered or not?"
The boy straightened to his full height in a snap, his eyes furious, "Who are you?"
"America James," I repeated with a smug smile, "Luna of the Blue Heart pack. And you've broken one of the werewolf laws four times. Care to explain?"
He opened his mouth in defence but the speaker crackled, "For the second time, America James come to the principal's office, America James."
I let out a groan before glaring at the boy, "Until next time, William. Ally - home."
She nodded obediently.
"Wait," his voice commanded the both of us to stop, "She tells you what to do and you do it?"
Ally shrugged, "She's my Luna. Why wouldn't I obey my Luna?"
William squinted as if he was in confusion, "Luna?"
I answered but it came out stiffly, "The Alpha's mate."
"Who's your Alpha?" William asked me.
I let out a loud sigh. Alphas again... Everything relates back to me finding a mate.
I distracted, "Excuse me, but I have to get to the principal's office."
I stormed away from them but not before I heard Ally mutter, "She's sensitive about the entire subject..."
***
"Principal Weathersbee?"
He looked up from his paperwork and gestured, "Come in, Miss James."
I walked in quietly and took a seat across from him, "How may I help you?"
He sent me a small smile before beginning, "Your grades are beyond amazing, Miss James."
"I know, sir." I winced after I said it, at how immodest I sounded.
"However," he continued, "Your attitude desires help."
I shifted slightly in my seat, "What do you mean, sir?"
"I see you try hardest to be... polite to your teachers, but anyone can see how insincere you sound. Your History teacher said you were spacing out, your Maths teacher said you thought you could teach the class better than he could and your English teacher heard you call her... call her a..." he shook his head at the thought and I winced again.
"I'm sorry; I'll try harder," I whispered, going to stand up.
He stopped me with a hand up, "Wait. We have to do something about this."
I raised an eyebrow, "Y-yes?"
Principal Weathersbee gave a small smile, "History, English and Maths - you're excelling."
"I guess so."
"You've been moved up to Year 12 Maths and Year 11 General History and English. You'll receive your new timetable tomorrow," he stated, "The reason? Maybe you'll actually learn something. And..." he rifled through papers before slipping one on his desk towards me, "this is William Gallagher. He's your new Maths tutor. Any objections?"
"Well... this is amazing, thank you!" I gave him a genuine, rare smile, "But I don't need a tutor."
"Attitude," he reminded me, "You will let him tutor you or you'll remain in Year 10 Maths, bored out of your mind. I put you in Year 12 instead of 11 because with a tutor, you could even do better than the Year 11s. So if you want to do your best, take the tutor."
I narrowed my eyes slightly, remembering the boy's unfriendliness.
"Sir," I looked at him, "Thank you for this opportunity."
Principal Weathersbee smiled, "No problem. Just a side note - your Year 12 Maths class is in Period 8 - after normal school finishes. The spaces you have free...," he paused thoughtfully, "You'll be in ADP for."
"ADP?!" I shouted.
***
"ADP?!" Mum shrieked, "What did you do, America Violet James?"
I inhaled sharply at her undertone, "I-I don't know, Mum. They just think that I have some sort of... attitude problem."
"The Attitude Development Program?" she sighed loudly at me, "I tried to raise you as a good kid! You need to lead this pack. You can't lead it if you're in the ADP."
"I can," I assured her, "They just believe I'm a little insincere and full of myself," I calmed her.
Mum smiled slightly, "That's true."
I rolled my eyes but caught myself in the moment.
Mum raised her eyebrows, "Point proven."
I nodded limply, "They got me a Maths tutor as well."
She shook her head, "By this time next month you'll be teaching the tutor."
I smirked, "Probably."
She picked up the piece of paper Principal Weathersbee had given me and chuckled, "He's hot for a young guy."
I rolled my eyes at her, "He needs an attitude check."
"So do you, apparently," she gave me a knowing glance, "Get a start on your homework - I'm going to pick up Dylan."
I mock-saluted her as she exited the kitchen. I heard the front door and as if on cue, my phone rang.
I picked it up from in front of me, "Satan's Den, what the hell can I do for you?"
"You got into ADP?!" Ally screeched, "Rica, you're the Luna. You're supposed to be a role model! Not... this!"
"I didn't really do anything bad, Ally," I sighed.
"It's A. D. P." She overreacted, like always, "Josh thinks you're psycho."
I heard a muffled shout.
"Okay, he doesn't think you're psycho but I do! When you find your Alpha, he's going to want a well-mannered mate to help him lead. Or her. I'm not stereotyping."
I sighed loudly, "For the last time, I'm straight, Ally."
"Right," she scoffed, "I mean, if you aren't that's totally-"
"I'm hetero!" I shouted, "Ally, I just want to find the right guy, okay?"
Ally made a long pause and then there was a new voice on the phone, "We need to talk."
"Josh?"
"Yeah. I'm coming over immediately."
He hung up on me.
I put my phone down slowly. I dug into the homework sprayed in front of me. Not ten minutes later, I heard the door reopen.
"I'm here!" the Beta shouted.
Josh ran into the kitchen and jumped so he was sitting on the kitchen bench in front of me, "Problem."
"What?" I raised an eyebrow, "Don't rant to me about ADP because-"
"Unrelated," Josh raised a finger, "It's about William."
"Yeah?"
Josh leant in close, "I realised what was off about him."
"Other than that he's a Alpha werewolf."
"He's unmated."
"How do you know that?"
"I went to the liberty this afternoon with Alyssa of calling every one of William's new friends and we found out that he hasn't ever had a girlfriend."
"What's the problem with that?" I narrowed my eyes.
"You're also unmated."
I sighed, "I still don't see the problem."
Josh smirked, "The full moon is tomorrow night."
"No."
"Yes," he grinned.
"No. No. No." I jumped up from my chair and screeched, "You better not do anything!"
The full moon is known to make a luna and alpha extremely horny. An unmated one of the two is even more so. This would be my first full moon having an unmated Alpha in my vicinity.
And my first full moon with an Alpha at all in my vicinity.
Crap.
***
Song: 7 Years - Lukas Graham.
xx Sharky.