↠C h a p t e r T w e n t y - T h r e e↞
LEARNING MORE [ PART 1 ]
❝ Finding the right person to match your own qualities is hard.❞
♦ ° ♦ ° ♦
The stares were more intense this time.
I bounce my knee in a repeated pattern, up and down. I kept my eyes downcast on the surface of my desk and away from the judgmental eyes. It's been this way for the past five minutes, and every since Xavier walked me to class, and to my desk, they haven't turned away; not even when Mr. Newman started his lesson and handed out worksheets for the upcoming lab.
"So," Sam started, scooting her desk closer to mine. "I see you both shared a kiss."
I jerked in my seat and whipped my head her way with a flushed face as she wiggled her brows with a small smirk on her lips.
"N-no we didn't." I deny, my eyes drifting to the side as I grab my pencil and began to twirl it.
"Uh huh," her lips tilted to the side, "So your lips being swollen, and tinted red means nothing?"
I choke on my saliva, coughing all while she laughed at me. With watery eyes, I throw my pencil at her which she easily dodges and laughed harder.
"So what if we kissed," I mumbled, wiping my eyes, as I grabbed my pencil back from her.
Sam began bouncing in her seat, "Ooo I knew it!"
"Knew what?" I ask, turning my full attention towards her. She did the same, leaning her cheek on her palm, a small smile on her lips.
"The first day you came here, Xavier had all eyes on you. He was acting differently than usual, a look in his eye I couldn't understand," she explained.
"Oh?"
She hummed, her smiling growing bigger, "It was just a thought that you were his mate, but after what happened in the hall, I was right." she pats herself on the back for her own humor.
I nodded, biting down on my bottom lip. "What is that?" I say after a moment.
"What?" she says a little distracted, writing down answers on her worksheet.
I look around, eyes colliding with a few others, some have turned back and did their own thing while others continued to glance my way. I leaned in closer, my mouth close by her ear.
"A mate."
I pull back the same moment I see her brows raised in surprise. I sit back in my chair, pulling my hair away from my face, into a makeshift ponytail before releasing it, the strands falling in waves down my back.
"I mean, I heard the word three times since I found out about werewolves." I voice.
"And it isn't just that, I have more questions about things and it seems my parents don't want to say anything as of right now."
After the words spill out of my mouth, I let out a frustrated groan and fall forward to where my forehead smacked against the desk with a small thump! I stayed like that with my eyes shut for some seconds.
"You really wanna know?" I hear her ask.
"Yes," I grumble.
"Then come to the packhouse with me, after school."
I continued to keep my head bowed for a few more moments before I slowly lifted my head and gazed at her in confusion once more. I also could see a few students turn their eyes toward Sam, shocked that she would utter such words.
"Packhouse?"
She rolls her eyes, "Don't you read books?" she sighs, "You know how wolves travel in packs, right?" I bob my head.
"Well, we have a huge house where families can stay if they don't have a place to stay and that's where the town's history, laws, legends, and other things are held too." Sam waves her hand.
I raise a brow. "And you want me to go there, a house full of wolves, and do what?" I counter.
She smiles, "You wanted to know more about us, so that's what I'm going to do. I'll see if the others will help."
I finally nodded in agreement, "Okay. I'll have to call my mom about it. ." I then trail off.
"That's fine."
~ • ~
Finally, after seven hours of stares on the back of my head, whispers behind my back, make-up work, and a growling Xavier in lunch, school was let out, and everyone filed out through the entrance doors. I walked down the steps while pulling out my phone from my back pocket.
"Abigail," Xavier called out.
I look over towards him and held a finger, the phone pressed to my ear as it rings, he frowned but didn't follow me as I stood by the curb, people passing me and I wondered how they could dress casually when snow coated the ground and the air was freezing.
I shivered just as the other side of the line picked up. "Hello?"
"Hey, Mom. ." I bit my lip.
"Oh!" she sounded surprised, "Hey, sweetie, is school out already?"
The wind blows by me, strands of my hair flying in my face, with one hand on the phone I brush them away from my face with the other. "Yeah. ." my voice carries.
"Oh shoot! I'll come and ge—"
"No," I cut her off, "I wanted to tell you about that. I don't need you or dad to pick me up, I'm going over to a friend's house." I tell her.
It was silent for a few moments before I hear a sigh, "Okay. That's fine, just call me when you're on your way home."
"All right."
"I love you."
My eyes look off to the side, where Xavier, Justin, and the others stood beside the school and on the walkway that leads to the parking lot, I felt his eyes on me as I replied back.
"Love you too." and I immediately end the call.
I release a breathe, a cloud forming in front of my face, as my hand fell limply to my side. I began to wonder what would it felt like if this secret was held off a little longer. I laugh.
"Abby!" I hear Samantha call out to me.
I turn and head over in her direction while placing my phone back in my pocket.
"What did your mom say?" she instantly asks, as soon as I was within earshot.
"She said it's all right," I respond once I stand by her, "Just to call her when I'm on my way home." I smile a bit.
"Wait what?"
I turn my head to see Justin looking between Sam and me with an incredulous look. "You're coming back to the packhouse with us?"
I nod. "Didn't Sam tell you?"
He shook his head, "I don't get told anything." he whines.
"I mink-linked and told everyone here, you just don't put your walls down." Sam laughed, cocking her hip to the side while she crossed her arms.
Dylan shakes his head while pushing himself off the building wall along with Xavier, who comes to my side and wraps an arm around my shoulder. Blood rushes to my cheeks, and my heart decides to skip a few beats, as those small exploding sparks begin to fly the second his palm rest on my jacket. I could feel the heat radiating through the thick material of my jacket.
Dylan nodded for my attention, "So you're coming to learn more about us right?"
"Yup," I say, removing Xavier's arm, and placing it by his side. From the corner of my eye, I could see him frowning down at me.
"And also to get away from my parents, things are awkward at the house," I add, scratching the back of my head.
"I could only imagine." Justin says in a breath, "So you all ready to go?"
I nodded and my gaze washed over their faces and that's when I noticed to faces missing.
"Where are Riley and Stella," I ask.
Justin waves his hand, "Stella took my car to the packhouse, she wanted to do something. And Riley left school early so I'm guessing she's already there." he explained.
With a noise of understanding, he began to lead us to Xavier's car that had enough room for the all of us since they all rode here together. Speaking of Xavier. . .
"Stop!" I laugh, swatting his hand away when he tried to grab and pull me towards him again.
His growl vibrated from his chest, causing me to shiver and a few others passing by us to reel back.
"Let me touch you," he said in a gruff tone.
"You don't know much that sounds wrong." I sigh, giving in, and he immediately presses me against his side.
His lean arm wraps around my waist, as he bends down and presses his nose to the flesh of my cheek, inhaling. And just that action caused my mind to revert back to the kiss and I felt my cheeks flaming once more.
"It's not like we won't be doing that soon." he uttered, just as we reached his car.
I gasped.
~ • ~
The drive to where ever this 'pack house' was a two-hour ride and ten minutes, the direction was the opposite way from entering the town and the surroundings were nothing but trees. We all kept our selves entertained by listening to music to the radio, and since Xavier was driving I had to sit in the passenger seat.
A yawn passes through my lips as the car drifts slightly to the side, the road curving, and that's when I saw it. Black steel gates, that were connected to thick stone columns, but behind the gates was a beautiful mansion. The car slowed, as the gates slid to the side welcoming us in. It looked like a mansion right out of the magazines, grand, big and beautiful, and to top it off the snow made it stand out more as if portraying an art piece with the grey clouds in the background. I couldn't hold my breath of astonishment as this was nothing but a structure.
"Sam?"
"Yes?" I could feel her scooting to the edge of her seat, and rested her elbow on my seat.
"Why didn't you tell me you lived in a mansion?" I asked in a breath, taking in the scenery of snow, littering the ground and trees.
"It never came up." was her reply.
I simply roll my eyes, just as the car rolls to a stop in front of the building and I could clearly see the exterior made of stone, the windows reflecting the suns ray's, the rooftop coated in white.
"All right," Xavier said, shutting the car off. "You ready?"
His eyes shift over toward me, a gentle look taking his features. His hand reaches over and rubs my shoulder.
"Of course."
"Well let's go!" Justin says, opening his door and hopping out.
~ ✎ ~ ✎ ~
HAPPY EARLY FRIDAY!
I just wanted to say sorry for not updating last week, every time I sat down to write I was either called to do something or had to leave the house 😭 and I was just like erghhhhh 😂😂 and I have a new book idea and I hate myself for that 💀
Also I'm not sure if this chapter is good to me 😩 since I was struggling a bit. so please tell me what you think and tell me other wise! 💕
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