by Morse, Jody
“Yeah, tomorrow,” I replied with a smile. I turned away from him and headed back over to the girls, while he headed in the other direction.
When I approached Amanda, she asked, “Were you just talking to Gage Mason?” Her light hazel eyes widened so much that they made her resemble a frog.
“Yeah, why?” I questioned. For some reason, I was surprised that Amanda even knew who Gage was. Even though it seemed like everyone in this town knew each other, I was actually learning that the opposite was true. Amanda and her friends recognized people by face or the clothes they wear, but they barely seemed to know anyone’s names. It struck me as odd that she would know Gage’s name, since he didn’t seem to be much of a social butterfly.
“He and I used to be friends. Really good friends, actually,” Amanda said.
I heard Jenny whisper to Kristina, “Why is she downplaying it? They were way more than friends!”
Amanda glared at them over her shoulder before glancing back to me. “It was about a year ago when we stopped hanging out, but the kid’s a creep. If you know what’s best for you, you’ll leave him alone.” As she began to walk quickly ahead of me, I stared at her back. She’d annoyed me, again. I didn’t like being told who I should and shouldn’t talk to, but it was clear that she felt it was her place to be the one who decided things like that for her friends.
Sighing, I followed the girls through the mall and into the nail salon, reminding myself again that this party was going to be the best thing for my currently non-existent social life.
Chapter 11
“Well that was a bad idea,” Chance told his twin as they walked down the stairs later that night.
“What was a bad idea?” I asked nervously. We hadn’t lived in the house very long. If they put a hole in the wall or something, Akar was going to be pissed.
“Oh, nothing major. Chance just puked his guts out,” Hunter replied dismissively.
“Yeah, but I’m feeling much better now.”
“Good,” I replied as they bounded off to the kitchen.
I headed to Thane’s room. Once I was standing in front of his door, I knocked lightly on it. I hadn’t spoken to him since our pack meeting the night before, mostly because I had a feeling he might try to lecture me about Gage again. I’d left for school early so we wouldn’t bump into each other, and our gym class had been cancelled because our teacher was sick.
“Come in!” Thane called from inside the room.
I twisted the door handle. When I glanced inside, I found Thane lying on his bed using his brand new laptop, which had gotten the day before. Music blared from the speakers, and he looked completely captivated by the thing—so captivated, in fact, that he barely even glanced up at me when I stepped inside his room.
“Hey,” I said, as I sat down at the edge of his bed. I glanced over at the empty bed next to us. “Where’s Ashton?”
“Hanging out with a few guys from the poetry club,” Thane replied with a shrug. He tore his eyes away from the computer and actually glanced up at me. “Is everything okay? It’s not like you to come into my room. Or were you looking for Ashton?”
I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t looking for Ashton. And everything’s fine.” I smoothed out my shirt nervously. “I was just wondering if you’ve thought about what you’re going to do with Akar on Friday. To get him out of the house so we can have the party, I mean.”
Thane shrugged. “I have a few ideas, but it all depends on how long you want him gone for. How long is this party going to be?”
“I’m not really sure. The longer you can keep him away, the better, though.”
“Okay. I think I have a plan, then,” Thane said with a nod. “I’m going to convince him to go with me to the Poconos to see Kyana. He’s not going to want to leave you guys alone for too long, though, but I might also be able to convince him to go hunting with me.”
“You’re going to go hunting?” I wrinkled my nose disgustedly. “I hate when you guys go hunting. It’s so mean. Those poor, innocent animals.”
Thane rolled his eyes. “Skye, do you want me to get Akar out of the house long enough for you to have the party, or not?”
“I do,” I replied with a nod.
“Then, I’m sorry, but we’re going to need to go on a hunting trip. I’m doing it for you, so get over it.” He shook his head, focusing his attention back on the laptop in front of him. He cranked the music up another notch. I wasn’t sure what he was listening to, but it made my head hurt a little.
I rose to my feet, but I lingered in Thane’s room for a few moments, while he clicked away on the computer.
“Actually,” I said, finally, “there’s something else I wanted to ask you.”
“What?” he asked, not even bothering to look up at me this time.
“Well, I was just wondering…,” I hesitated, unsure how to ask what was on my mind. “Do you like it here?”
Thane glanced up at me sharply, his honey brown eyes searching mine. “What makes you ask that, Skye? Do you like it here?”
I considered the question. There were things I liked about New Jersey, like being able to experience new things and having some sort of independence—or as much independence as I could possibly have, since I still technically had an Alpha to answer to. But being here was sort of lonelier than I’d expected it to be. Then again, that was going to change after tomorrow. “I think I’m going to like it here, eventually,” I answered. “What about you?”
He motioned to his laptop. “I like this thing,” he replied with another shrug. He began to type again, and I knew that I’d definitely lost him at that point. I guess that was one of the downfalls of modern technology; it really was addicting for some people.
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll leave you be,” I told him. “Goodnight.”
Thane didn’t look up from his laptop or say a word as I backed out of the room and went downstairs.
“Grab one of those leftover hot dogs,” Hunter instructed as I entered the kitchen.
“No. No hotdogs,” Chance pulled his head out of the fridge and shot his brother a horrified look. “They’re dangerous. They’re a special nitrate formula especially designed to make wolves sick.”
“They don’t make me sick,” Hunter replied with an eye roll.
“Or me. What are you two up to?” I asked, glancing over at the pile of food that Hunter already held in his arms. The twins were known to eat a lot, but the amount of food they were carrying was enough to feed a whole pack of wolves.
“A taste test,” Hunter piped up with a grin.
“Exactly.” Chance smirked at his brother. “Since everything I eat seems to make me sick lately, we’re going to find out what types of human food I can eat.”
“Okay. Well, maybe you should just pick one thing at a time. Otherwise, you won’t know what’s making you sick.”
“Oh,” Chance replied, his face falling a little. “That’s a good point.” He grabbed items from Hunter’s arms—fruit, salad, and leftover chicken noodle soup—and tossed them back into the fridge. “I think cheeseburgers are a good start. Thanks for your advice, Skye. She’s so smart. Isn’t she smart, Hunter?” At first, I thought he was being sarcastic. But, oddly, he wasn’t.
“Very smart,” Hunter agreed, as they turned to go back up to their room.
They were being overly nice for some reason. Whatever the reason was, I knew they were up to something.
Chapter 12
“Skye, why don’t you have a cell phone?” Amanda questioned me at lunch the next day in between sips of water.
“I just haven’t had the chance to get one since we moved,” I lied with a shrug. I actually didn’t really want one, especially after seeing how absorbed my pack members were in their new technologies.
Kristina raised her eyebrows, which she had just gotten waxed to an unnaturally thin shape the day before, at me. “Wow. I can’t even imagine going without my phone for a day or two. You must be going insane.”
�
�You know, you should really consider getting a new one today before the party. There are going to be a lot of people there meeting you for the first time. If any of them like you or they want to hang out or anything like that, they’ll probably want to get your number,” Amanda pointed out.
“Oh.” I felt my own face fall a little.
Amanda stared at me questioningly. “Is that going to be a problem for you?”
“It’s just that I’m not sure if I’ll be able to see my brother before the party,” I replied. “He would need to add the phone to his plan and everything.”
“Know what? Don’t even sweat it. I got you covered, girl,” Jenny spoke up. “My mom will gladly add another line to our plan. In fact, we even have an old phone that my sister used before she ran away from home. It’s a Droid, though. I hope that’s okay.”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I replied, hoping that I wasn’t agreeing to anything crazy. I didn’t even know what a Droid was. “Your sister ran away from home, Jenny? I didn’t even know you had a sister.”
She ran a hand through her bleached blonde hair. “Yeah, her name’s Maggie and she’s only a year older than me. It’s not the first time she ran away from home. She has a lot of problems.” She shrugged. “The first time, she ran away because her boyfriend was beating her. Someone found her on the side of the road somewhere, unconscious from pills she took, and they contacted the police. A few weeks later, she ran away from home again. That time, they caught her because she was a dumbass and shoplifted from a gas station.” She shook her head frustratedly. “Anyway, this is the longest she’s been gone so far. It’s been, like, three months now since anyone’s seen or heard from her.”
I gaped at how nonchalantly she talked about it. “Aren’t you worried about her?”
Jenny shrugged. “Maggie knows how to take care of herself. And, besides, even if we did find her and bring her back home, it wouldn’t make a difference. She would only just run away again. It’s obvious that she doesn’t want to be here, so why force it? It’s just so depressing to keep bringing someone back home when they obviously want to be somewhere else.”
“Anyway,” Amanda interrupted, seeming bored with the discussion we were currently having. “We need to talk about the details of the party. I’m going to bring all of the snacks. Almost everyone knows that they need to bring their own beverages, even though we didn’t actually write that on the invitations. That’s just a precaution, in case any parents get ahold of them,” she explained to me. “But even so, Kristina is going to bring some alcohol, too.”
“Yeah, my parents leave the liquor cabinet unlocked a lot,” Kristina explained to me, tucking a piece of dark brown hair behind her ear. “And, even if they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t care, anyway. They’re totally the type who let me and Milo drink wine with our dinner.”
Milo was Kristina’s brother. He was a senior and, even though I’d only been at our school for a week, I’d already seen the way most of the girls in our class threw themselves at him.
“Do we have any idea how many people are supposed to show up this year?” Jenny asked Amanda. “Last year, the turnout was, like, one-hundred and fifty, right?”
Amanda nodded. “Yeah, except I’ve gotten way more RSVPs this year than any year before. It’s actually looking like there are going to be over two-hundred guests, if I had to guess.”
“You’re expecting there to be two-hundred guests?” I gaped at her. “That’s…a lot of people.”
“Yeah, but that’s a good thing, Skye,” Amanda insisted. “The more people that are at the party, the more it will do for your social life, remember?”
“I know. I just wasn’t expecting there to be that many,” I replied, trying to maintain my cool. I didn’t want them to think that I couldn’t handle having that many guests at my house. But I’d been expecting this to be a small party with just a few people. If Akar ever found out about this, he would flip shit.
That wouldn’t happen, though. Thane would make sure of it. I just knew it.
I noticed Thane’s eyes glance over in my direction. Apparently, he’d heard me thinking about him, which made an embarrassed blush rise to my cheeks. He must have heard me think about him at least several times a day, even though none of those thoughts were romantic lately. How could they be, when all of my romantic thoughts seemed to revolve around Gage?
I hadn’t seen Gage that whole day yet, and we normally saw each other in the morning, even if it was from across the courtyard. I hoped that the reason he was absent wasn’t because he was sick. I was sort of starting to feel anxious about whether he was still planning to come to the party or not, since I still hadn’t heard from him.
“Skye, are you listening to us?” Amanda asked, raising her eyebrows at me.
“Uh, no. Sorry,” I mumbled, glancing away from Thane’s table and back over at my friends. “What?”
“Our hair appointments are scheduled for three thirty,” she replied. “I’ll get you after school and we’ll go to the salon together, okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine.” I wasn’t sure if Gage was going to make it to the party, but I definitely wanted to look my very best, just in case.
Chapter 13
That night, I stood on the back porch, watching all of the people around me. I tried not to let my anxiety take over. The party was more crowded than I ever could have guessed it would be.
I kept worrying about whether or not we would run out of food, but even more than that, I had to keep finding ways to distract Chance, Ashton, and Hunter so that they wouldn’t touch the alcohol. It hadn’t been easy so far, and I’m pretty sure that the guys were all annoyed at me. First, I’d sent them to the local convenience store to pick up a few bottles of soda. Then, I’d asked them to clean up a mess one of the guests had made. Now, the three of them were outside getting a fire started.
“Skye, you’re barely even drinking,” Amanda said, shoving a cup of beer in my face. She laughed drunkenly. “You need to lighten up a little. Have some fun.”
“I’m trying,” I replied with a tight smile, taking the cup from her, even though I knew I wouldn’t drink from it. I was probably being completely paranoid, but I couldn’t help it; I was terrified that one of our guests would uncover something in the house that would make them realize what we really were. It was the only thing I could worry about, despite the number of people I’d met and tried to hold conversations with tonight so far.
It was strange; even though no one had really talked to me at school all day, they all seemed to know who I was now without even needing to be introduced. Even though throwing this party was somewhat of a hassle, I had a feeling that Amanda was right, at least. Hosting this party really was going to do wonders for my social life. It seemed like it already was, which was incredibly relieving. At least this whole thing hadn’t been for nothing.
“Come on, Skye. Let’s dance!” Jenny shouted over the music that thumped around us, grabbing me by the elbow. People were dancing around the fire; the girls were all dressed in either short dresses or jeans and low-cut tops, while the guys all wore jeans and t-shirts.
I tried to resist Jenny’s pull at first, but she was insistent. I knew that there was no way I was going to get out of dancing, so I gave in. Luckily, I wouldn’t be completely clueless at dancing. Since Kyana and some of the other Koto girls had always snuck away from our pack to go to the club in Alaska, they’d taught me a move or two. Thank God.
As Jenny and I began to sway to the music, a few guys began to dance around us. Jenny made some provocative dance moves, touching her hand to the floor so that her ass was in clear view of all the guys watching. One guy with dark hair, who wore a maroon and white school jacket, wrapped his hands around her hips, while I continued to move uncomfortably to the rhythm.
“Skye?” a guy asked, coming up behind me. “I’m Davis. Would you like to dance with me?”
Davis, who had caramel-colored skin and brown eyes, was pretty attractive. I glanced
over at the clock on the wall. It was already ten o’clock. If Gage was going to come to the party at all, he probably would have been here by now. I tried not to be angry at him; there was always a chance that he was sick.
But, a tiny voice in the back of my mind told me there was also a chance that he might have blown me off. I didn’t want to think that way. I didn’t want to be negative. At the same time, though, I also wasn’t going to stop myself from having fun just because I thought I felt something for a guy who may or may not have really had feelings for me.
“Sure,” I told the guy behind me with a nod. We began to dance together, our bodies moving in sync to the music. He ground his hips against me from behind.
I’d never danced with a guy like this before, but…I didn’t feel any sort of spark. I’d actually felt more of a spark just by touching Gage’s hand on the first day of school, which seemed sort of silly. I knew that Davis wasn’t my mate, but I was perfectly okay with that. I didn’t let it stop me from having fun.
I ended up dancing with him for such a long time that I completely lost track of time. It wasn’t until I felt Gage’s eyes on me, scrutinizing me, when I finally broke away from Davis.
By that time, Gage was already heading back into the house, away from me. I followed after him, wondering how long he had been at the party and, more importantly, how long he had been watching me dance with Davis.
I knew how it must have looked if he had been watching me dancing with Davis for a long time. He probably thought that I liked him, too—which couldn’t have been any further from the truth. I was going to need to find a way to explain that, but I wasn’t sure that Gage would even believe me, anyway. It had already seemed suspect when I’d made plans to go see his band and then invitations to my party had gone out the next day. I didn’t want him to think that I was a liar or that I really just wasn’t interested in him.
Once I was inside the house, I looked around for Gage. He wasn’t in the living room or in the kitchen. I climbed up the steep set of stairs, glancing in each of the bedrooms as I passed by them.