Lily was sitting at her kitchen bench staring at her bowl of porridge. Her night's sleep was spent replaying her outburst with Croft yesterday, his widened eyes when she slammed her fist into his face and he flew across the room.
Her dreams were recalling everyone's expressions of fear and shock, how Karen flinched, Jack was worried, as she was dragged into the Principal's office.
Lily huffed a sigh but made no move to eat the warm porridge in front of her. She stared at the sliced banana on top, the cool glass of water next to her, and sighed again while fiddling with a strand of hair.
She was still in her pyjamas, her fuzzy locks springing out of the bun she threw it in last night.
Her aunt frowned at her from across the bench, halting her eating of fruit and honey. "Do you have plans for today?"
Lily picked up her spoon, pushing the porridge around lazily. "Just...Just visiting Mum and Dad later, nothing else."
Aunt Ollie sipped on her second tea of the morning. "Would you like to go to the movies later?"
Lily shrugged, pushing the porridge around. "Yeah."
Her aunt smiled quietly. "Are you still thinking about yesterday?"
Lily groaned, slumping back in the chair. "I'm thinking about what everyone's gonna say on Monday."
"Why do you care?"
Lily looked at her aunt, at her fluffy dressing gown and combed hair, there was nothing negative on her face. She was just quietly listening, a soft welcoming smile and a light to her eyes Lily never saw in her own.
"I hate their whispers. Their stares..." Lily dropped her spoon in the bowl. "It makes it a lot harder than you think."
Her aunt cupped her mug of tea and had a far away look on her face. She paused for a moment, before turning back to Lily. "You know your mother had an outburst like yours when we were at school."
Lily straightened in her chair. Her mother. "Did she?" Lily cleared her throat to move the lump that sat there.
"Yeah," her aunt smiled. "Cordelia and I were in the same PE class, and someone had stolen her bracelet from the changing rooms while we were on the courts with everyone."
Lily tried to ignore the empty weight on her wrist, where she'd left Delta's bracelet on her bedside table. It felt like a ghost had wrapped itself around her wrist in its place.
"We came back and were getting changed when she noticed it was missing, and the moment she realised," her aunt chuckled, "it was like someone flipped a switch!"
Lily cracked a grin. She had faint memories of her mother's temper, a tidal wave of fury, but it was balanced out with her father's cool temperament.
"Cordie was furious! She brought the whole class back into the hall and demanded whoever stole her bracelet return it."
"Did she get it back?" Lily smiled as her aunt laughed while reminiscing on her old school days.
Her aunt grinned. "No, not then, no one came forward. But a few days later, Cordie spotted one of our classmates wearing it on her wrist - she only spotted it because her jumper sleeve fell down, but your mother was locked onto her like a bloodhound.
"She stormed over and demanded she give it back, but the girl was taunting her and lying to her face and wasn't giving it over. Before Cordie or I could blink, she'd thrown it in her locker and locked the thing."
Her aunt put her mug down and demonstrated with a flutter of her hands. "She was so smug that she'd won but she didn't know the temper of Cordelia Haven! Your mother, without hesitating, punched the locker with such force that it concaved under her fist!"
"What?!" Lily blurted out.
"I'm not kidding!" Ollie laughed. "You should have seen everyone's faces!"
"She punched the locker open?!"
"Cordie reached in and grabbed her bracelet while the girl was still in shock and read out her initials inscribed on the inside of the thing, glared at her and the teachers and everyone who'd gathered, and then the two of us walked into lunch!"
Lily leaned on the table and smiled at the memory. She could imagine her mother at her age, learning about her famous temper. Her childhood was spent running around with her sister Rio, pulling pranks on her dad and Delta, and quickly learning the repercussions if her mum ever caught her.
"You know what she did the next day?" Her aunt smirked like a school girl who just pulled the biggest prank of the year. For a moment, Lily could imagine her younger, imagine Cordelia Haven and Olivia Haphern taking over the world.
"What did mum do?"
"She wore that bracelet, strutted into school, and smiled." Her aunt shook her head. "She knew she was in the right, and knew no one was going to take her stuff again."
Lily smiled. "Rio and I went through mum's jewellery box once."
Ollie raised her eyebrows. "Oh that was a bad idea, she loved her jewels."
Lily laughed. "Delta warned us, but we wanted to see what was there - we snuck into her room and looked in her box, we were so awestruck by the sparkling jewels; diamonds, emeralds, and so many pearls, we didn't hear her approach until she was behind us with her hands crossed."
"What did your mum do? I think she told me, but I can't quite remember." Her aunt stood, taking her empty plate and mug away.
Lily furrowed her brows before picking up her spoon. "I think Rio took a brunt of the blame, I was only eight or so at the time so my punishment was doing the dishes that night. Rio was sent to chop a weeks worth of wood for the fireplace and was grounded for a week."
Ollie beamed, a nostalgic expression. "Ah yes, there's the wrath of Cordelia Haven I'm so familiar with."
Lily shared her grin before digging into the porridge that was slightly on the cooler side. She ate most of it as her aunt began washing the dishes before she paused.
Her aunt rarely spoke of her mother, or any member of Lily's family. While she was dealing with her grief, she was only eleven when they died, she wasn't focused on how Olivia Haphern dealt with the loss of her best friend. Over time, Lily came to think that she just bottled down her memories of Cordelia Haven and Douglas Morgan, and of Delta and Rio.
Lily's heart cramped and she paused, putting her spoon down. Just as she was about to ask her aunt about any other stories about her family, the doorbell went.
"Oh, that's early!" Her aunt exclaimed, before looking at Lily. "Could you get the door? I'll only be a tick!"
Lily pushed out her seat, tightening the straps on her own dressing gown and untying her dark red hair. Quickly running her hands through it, wishing it didn't look too fuzzy, she opened the door.
When she beheld Ryan Croft standing there, his black eye stark against his icy expression, Lily wished the ground would swallow her up.
Oh no. "Croft?"
He flickered his gaze over her, noting the bedraggled hair and pyjamas. I'm in my pyjamas! "Hey Lily, how's your morning?"
"What are you doing here?" She choked, remembering the blank piece of paper on her desk that was meant to be her letter of apology. Lily was still too angry to write on it.
Croft fidgeted on his feet. "Don't you remember yesterday?"
Lily's grip on the door tightened as embarrassment washed over her. "I remember punching you in the face?"
He pursed his lips. "About meeting Alpha Andrew today?"
She jolted. "I never agreed to that, Croft."
"Well you don't just turn down an invitation from the Alpha, so let's go."
Lily didn't move, anxiety clawing down her throat. "I...I can't."
He frowned. "I can give you a minute to get dressed?"
Lily felt the urge to laugh. She'd need more than a minute to tame her hair. "I can't do Saturdays, they're family days."
He crossed his arms. "You can't make an exception? For the Alpha, of all people?"
Lily clenched her jaw. "I don't make any exceptions on Saturdays. They're my days to spend with my family." Her grip loosened on the door as her anxiety wavered. "I'm not going."
Croft breathed out of his nose, his blue eyes flickering between her dark eyes. Her mother's eyes. Apparently I have her temper too, Lily thought as she stared at his black eye.
"Is your eye okay?" Lily's anxiety was suddenly a heavy weight in her stomach - of course it wasn't okay, it looked like she'd done some serious damage. Why hadn't it healed?
The werewolf flushed, fidgeting with his feet. "It's not as bad as it looks."
Lily heard her aunt putting dishes down and walking to the front door. "Who is it Lily?" She called, and before Lily could speak she rounded the corner into the hallway, and stepped back in shock upon seeing Croft.
"Oh my! That's a horrible sight!" She exclaimed, clutching her chest.
Lily cleared her throat, and her aunt paled a little when she said, "Aunt Ollie, this is Ryan Croft, from the local werewolf pack."
"Oh!" Her aunt looked between Croft and Lily. "Lily I thought you said you only punched him!"
Lily flushed. "I did..."
"You didn't say it was with a brick!"
"Ollie!" Lily went as red as her hair, watching Croft take this all in.
He stuck out his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ms Morgan, sorry it's not on better circumstances."
Lily's heart dropped. Her aunt went red but shook his hand anyway. "Oh I'm not a Morgan, but you can call me Ollie." She pointed at Lily. "I'm her guardian - is this an official wolf thing or are you here for breakfast?"
Lily couldn't speak. Did he not know about her family? He'd have to be the only one in the school who didn't - maybe he'd only heard about how alienated she was, or he'd just forgotten.
Croft shifted his feet. "Official wolf thing...Ollie." He threw a confused look Lily's way. "My Alpha invited Lily over to the packhouse to meet her, I'm here to escort her."
Her aunt raised an eyebrow, and Lily didn't miss the shadow that came over her eyes. "Weekends are our family days."
"Yes, I understand, but-"
Her aunt held up a hand. "No I don't think you do, son. Lily and I spend our weekends visiting her family's grave."
Croft went white, suddenly losing the courage to look them in the eye. Lily's anxiety spluttered, her chest cramped. He truly had no idea, or at least forgot, that Lily didn't have any blood family left.
The werewolf, for the first time she'd seen, was speechless. Her aunt ploughed on. "I get it, you're loyal to your alpha, but Lily's loyal to her family, not to him or you."
"I'm sorry." He choked out and Lily all but flinched at the words. She'd heard them too much in her life, and hated the pity. It was what everyone said when they didn't know what to say. "I didn't know-"
"It's alright... What's your first name again?" Her aunt asked, those shadows suddenly fading.
"Ryan, ma'am."
Her aunt grinned. "Well Ryan, Lily's next free Monday afternoon."
"I am?" Lily asked, looking at her aunt. Her stomach was cramping up; she wanted to hide under several blankets and never see him again. This. Is. So. Awkward.
"Yes you are. You and Ryan can go after school and I'll pick you up? My shift ends early on Mondays." Her aunt beamed, looking between the two of them.
She could suddenly visualise her aunt's evil plan; making them spend time together, inviting him round at Christmas, her aunt knitting baby boots...
"Uh..." Lily's tongue was tied as she shook her aunt's thoughts from her mind.
"That works," Croft choked, clearing his throat, with his face still red as wine. "I'll see you on Monday then."
Lily flushed, nodding, not knowing what else to say or do. There was an awkward tension between them now he knew about her family. Was he going to treat her like she was made of glass like everyone else? Suddenly unable to talk about his own family afraid he'll upset her?
She could only watch as Croft stepped away from the door and back down the driveway where his bike was. As he rode away, Lily still tracking him with her eyes, she felt the weight of her aunt's gaze.
"He's like a young DiCaprio with those eyes, huh?" Her aunt slowly smiled as Lily frowned.
"I'm just saying, I wouldn't mind coming home to that waiting for me, wow!" Her aunt burst into laughter as Lily's face scrunched up.
"Ollie! He's half your age!"
"That hasn't stopped DiCaprio!" Her aunt sang as she trotted back in the kitchen, leaving Lily to shut the door. She also tried to bottle down the dread she was feeling snake up her stomach but it didn't ease.
She wished Monday was a long, long way off.
~
What creature do you guys think Lily is? I've left little clues in every chapter ;)