"That's not funny." I said with a strait face. The bell rang and within seconds the hallways we like a ghost town. Tyler looked at me with a concerned look on his face. His eyebrows furrowed and then it dawned on him.
"Jericho what's going on?" he asked hoping he was wrong. I looked around the hallway.
"I'll tell you guys, just not here." They nodded and followed me out of the building. I wanted to be away from everyone supernatural or not. We walked for miles until we were in the woods west of the school. Tyler and Allen looked at me with stern expressions.
"Like to fill us in?" Tyler asked me. I put my hand on my brow and looked down.
"I-I found my mate." I said. The went wide eyed.
"Are you serious?" Allen asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"who is it?" Allen asked me.
"It's Avery Crawford isn't it." Tyler stated more then asked. I nodded my head at him.
"She's human though. How could she be your mate?" Allen looked pale as if he was about to faint.
"What are you going to do?" They both asked me. I crumbled down to the ground finally absorbing what this meant. I combed my fingers threw my hair, and looked up at them.
"I'm going to have to reject her." I said. When I said this if twinge in my chest and felt sick. Tyler stared at me in shock.
"You can't reject her. Your alpha, you need an alpha female."
"That's the thing. I need an alpha
female, not a gentile little girl. She's humane she needs to stay with the humans." I fumed at them.
"Jericho that isn't the issue. The issue is your an alpha considering rejecting your mate." He said to me. Allen smiled at me and sat down on the ground next to me.
"I almost rejected Ashlin." He said. I stared at him with disbelief. Ashlin was half bane half witch. The only reason she is able to touch Allen is because he isn't full wolf. He is a quarter human.
"You thought of leaving her? What changed your mind?" I asked him.
"Remember as we were learning about Norse myths? When we learned about 'wyrd' I though maybe I was supposed to be her mate. I figured that I was her mate for a reason, and that I found her for a reason. Then before you knew it her mom died and she had nowhere to go. She needed me." He expanded briefly.
"So what are you saying?"I asked him.
"I'm saying that you found her now for a reason, and to give this little match-up an opportunity before you reject her." He said with a sympathetic look. What sucked was I knew he was right. What sucked even more was the fact that eventually I would have to tell her.
"Then why did I just now find her?" I asked them.
"Apparently you find your mate right before you need them the most." Allen stated.
"What could she need me for?" I scoffed.
"Hmm I don't now. You now because she live's with the Patersons, gets picked on, and is almost eighteen. Gee I have no idea." Tyler said sarcastically. He had a point. She was almost eighteen which meant that eventually she would be out of the system and on her own. There was a long silence between us.
"Fuck..." I said. Allen scoffed and hit me in the back.
"You'll get over it dude. Just don't stress." He said as they walked away. I followed them back to class. We waved at Tyler as we entered our honers English class. Luckily the teacher wasn't in the room. When I walked in I saw Avery with her eyes glued to her book. I watched as her eyes widened as she read and a smile crept onto her face. She was in her own little world. Her eyes slowly rose from the page and met mine. She seamed like she was so unreal and so close. That's when I realized that I was standing in front of her. My face flushed and I sat down in the seat next to her.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Yeah just fine." I lied. I put my head in my hands at tried to focus on the lecture. That was nearly impossible, my eyes just wondered back to the intriguing girl next to me. I inhaled her scent and instead became addicted. She smelt like fresh rain water and lilacs with a hint of hay. She continued to read her book threw the hole class. Why doesn't the teacher say anything? Most likely because she has perfect grades. The bell rang and we got up and headed to our next class... art. I honestly could not stand art class. Mr. Birch was a horrible old man.
* * *
The bell rang and we cleared out of the classroom and headed to lunch. Tyler met up with Allen and I. We headed for the cafeteria. I felt a firm hand grab my shoulder. I looked back to see Maverick looking at me sternly.
"We need to talk." He said.
"About what?" I asked him.
"Alone." He said again.
"Allen, Tyler, go find table. I 'll be back soon." They nodded at me and walked away. I then followed Maverick to behind the gym.
"Is that Avery girl your mate?" He asked me.
"Why would I tell you?" I asked him.
"I just wanted to congratulate you. This will make things a hell lot simpler." He said with a smirk on his face.
"What the hell do you want?"
"Give me your territory and tittle and I won't lay a finger on her." I was pissed now. He was threatening my mate! He had been trying to take my title as alpha for years. I grabbed his throat and pushed him up against the wall.
"Listen here you little shit, your damn right you won't touch her. If you do you have a war on your hands." I could feel my eyes turning black as my wolf tried to take over. I pushed my wolf back at punched Maverick square in the jaw.
"You know fucking well not to mess with me." I said storming off. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a yellow blur. Oh Shit! Before I knew it a cute little blond tackled me from behind and put me into a bear hug. This would have been fine if it wasn't Ashlin.
"Feel my love!" She yelled at me in a jokingly deep voice. I winced at the pain but it wasn't that bad.
"Ow! Ow! Holly shit Ash! Enough!" I yelled. She pulled back and smiled up at me.
"That's what you get! I had to find out from Allen that your mated! What the hell, I'm like your little sister! You are required to tell me everything!" She whined. I laughed and started walking to the cafeteria.
Avery
When the bell rang I rushed out of the classroom as fast as I could. I ran to my locker and threw my stuff in and grabbed my math book and my lunch. I walked to the girl's bathroom where I eat lunch every day. Why? there are three good reasons why. 1.) I can talk to Angela with out anyone thinking anything of it. They all think I'm just talking on the phone. 2.) I can't incidentally bump into anyone when I'm in a stall. 3.) It's illegal for Terrance to enter the woman's bathroom. In other words it the only place I am at peace. I walked into the bathroom and went into the stall and locked the door. I took out my lunch and stared down at my plain turkey sandwich.... I'm vegetarian. I then started eating my apple.
My mind drifted to Jericho, and his teal eyes. Why didn't I get a vision when I touched him. Why was he staring at me all English class? The way he looked at me gave made my knees go week. Looked at me as if I was his whole world. It would be nice if I was actually allowed to have friends. He also looked pained, which made me want to hug and comfort him. Ridiculous right? I needed to avoid him. He was bad news, trouble was his best friends. I shook the thought of him from my mind and continued eating my apple, and then downed it with water.
I looked around the ugly gray stall and frowned. I could here the loud cater and laughter coming from the cafeteria. It would be nice to sit with everyone for once. However I know that I would be just as alone there as I am here. My breath caught as I heard someone come into the bathroom. I herd the clicking of heels on the tile floors. I saw two pairs of heels pass my stall. I tried to stay quite until they left. I looked up to see angel looking startled. I put my finger over my lip to tell to be quiet. We waited for a few minutes until they left.
"What is it?" I asked her.
"It about Jericho, Levi." She said. My face hardened at the mention of his name.
"I don't to talk about him." I said.
"I need you to stay away from him, Allen, T
yler, even Ashlin, and especially Maverick." She said.
"You don't have to worry about that."
"I'm dead serious... I heard him talking to Maverick. They mentioned territories, and m- something else. They were talking about you. I don't like it, Avery. They're worse then you think. I need
to avoid them." She said. What reason would they have to talk about me?
"I've been avoiding them from day one." I said.
"Well today you were doing a pretty shitty job." She said.
"It's easy for me to stay away, but only if they stay away from me." I said staring down at the floor. I herd her sigh.
"It was a close one to day. I could have sworn he saw me." She said.
"Who?"
"Jericho." She said.
"Well if it wasn't for him I would have been black and blue by now."
"I guess your right." She said.
"However that doesn't change the fact that he may be strange then you.... him and his friends."
"Once again you don't have to worry about. I have a rep as a wallflower. Not many people even know my name." I told her. I grabbed my things and opened up the stall door. My breath caught in my throat when I saw Ashlin, Darvis leaning against the sink and smirking at me. Of God I've fucked up know. I didn't even hear her come in!
"So who were you talking to?" She asked.
"Umm... my foster mom." I lied.
"Then was she in the stall, because I could here her and I saw her when you opened the door." She said. My eyes widened and I turned around to see that Angela was gone. That little shit!
"She was on speaker." I lied again.
"Are you sure it wasn't a ghost... named Angela?" She asked again. I could feel my palms sweat.
"No I'm pretty sure." I answered.
"I knew her pretty well. She use to baby sit me. Could you tell her her misses her every day. Well her family that is still alive anyway." She said.
"I'm sorry to here that, but I honestly don't know what your talking about." I told her. I walked past her and before I pushed the door open I herd her say,
"You don't have to hide it. It's actually kind of sad that you can't be your self." She said. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw Angela Staring at Ashlin like she was her own child. Maybe she was telling her the truth.
"Are you okay?" I whispered to her.
"I- I don't know." She said. If I could hug her with out falling threw her I would. I gave her a sympathetic smile and walked down the hall towards my trig class. As I turned the corner I felt like I hit a wall. I stumbled backwards but was stabilized by a pair of strong hands. I winced and prepared for the massive head ache and visions. I was stunned when there was nothing. I opened my eyes to see Jericho smiling down at me.
"Are you alright?" He asked me. I nodded my head yes. I brushed him off and started to walk away when he said.
"Why do you flinch when someone touches you?" He asked me. His face shifted into a look of concern.
"Are you being bullied?" He asked. I shook my head at him.
"No, I' just a bit chiraptophobic is all." I said as I pivoted on my heels to face him. I shouldn't have done that. I'm trying to avoid him but this man is so perfect that is is almost impossible.
"Hey, where are you going? Lunch isn't even half way over yet." He said.
"I'm going to go study for the Trig test today." I said to him. I could see his eyes lite up.
"I forgot about that. Do you think you could tutor me real fast?" He asked me.
"Sure..." I said timidly. I started heading for the trig room, when he trotted up next to me eagerly. Angela was right about him being weirder then me.
Warmth
I had somehow ended up sitting inches away from Jericho in the the math room. He had asked me to tutor him for the test to day but honestly I had never planed on studying. Now his hand was next to mine, I could feel his breath tickling my skin, and our faces were only inches apart. I took all my senses not to grab his face and start furiously making out. But I wouldn't not after what Angela said. Territories? Me? What were they talking about? Then there was Ashlin, had she really seen Angela?
"Hey how would I do this problem?" He asked me. I stared down at the book. I brushed my finger over it and a vision rushed threw my head.
"Oh, well you would use sin-1, cos-1, tan-1, and then once you have the angles you would-" I was cut off him brushing his finger over my forehead and pushed my bangs to the side.
"Sorry it's just..." He trailed of as he rested his forehead against mine. His lips came closer to mine and I closed the gap in between us. His lips were as soft as they had looked. His hands rested on both sides of my face and brought me closer. I rapped my arms around his neck and brought us closer eliminated any space. I felt him nip my bottom lip. What was that for? I ignored it and continued to kiss him. His hand squeezed my waist and I gasped. His tongue darted into my mouth and explored every inch of my mouth. I didn't know what to do! I pushed away and blushed.
"I-I don't know how to kiss." I said sheepishly. He tilted my chin up so I met his eyes.
"Your so cute." He chuckled. I felt my face get warmer and I got up.
"I think you'll do fine on the test." I said as I walked out of the room. I whipped away a stray tear. I felt him grab my wrist.
"Avery what's wrong?" He asked me as he pulled me closer. His eyes searched mine hopefully.
"I shouldn't get involved with you." my heart ached as I could see his heart sink. God I'm such a bitch!
"Why not?" He said with a shaky voice and the most pained look I have ever seen.
"I don't know how to handle it. I don't know how to keep or make friends. I just don't belong with your crowd. I belong in the girls bathroom where I eat my lunch every day. I belong in the library after school reading about entomology ,not at a pep rally or a school dance." I shook his hand off and started running down the hallway. I wanted to get away before he saw my tears. I ignored him calling my name over and over again. I went into the bathroom and slammed the stall door shut. I sat down on the toilet and started crying. I hate them! I hate my family! If it wasn't for them and theses stupid powers I would acutely have friends. I could have stay next to Jericho, I could be normal. I thought back to our kiss. For those few second I could feel my powers dim and the chattering of thought cloud away. It was like he shields me from my own abilities. It felt nice. It felt warm when he touched me. I'm tired of being alone! As soon as I turn eighteen I'm leaving this God forsaken town and moving somewhere quiet and far away. I will leave everything behind, Terrance, Cathy, Ben, and even Jericho. My heart ached for some reason when I thought about leaving him. I hated how he made me feel powerless. However I loved how he made me feel wanted. I heard the bell ring and dried my eyes. I then walked to class.
When I walked in I locked eyes with Jericho. Memories of our little encounter flooded into my mind and I instantly blushed. I walked to the empty seat that was far away from him. The teacher wasn't in the room yet thank God because I was a few minutes late. I heard the sound of a shifting chair and then foot steps coming near me.
"Move." The all too familiar voice said. The coward next to me ran away instantly.
"What did you mean you 'don't know how to handle it'?" Jericho asked me. His warm breath traveled down my neck and set my senses running wild.
"I don't want to talk about it." I said.
"Well I do." He said. Yep this was asshole Jericho speaking.
"I don't want any connections to this town." I said.
"What the hell does that mean?" He growled.
"I-" I stopped talking when the teacher walked in. I tore a piece of paper and wrote
"I want to leave this town behind when I turn 18. I don't want to feel obligated to stay because of someone. I want no reason to stay." I passed the paper to him. he read it and the scribbled down a reply and passed it back to me.
"Then don't leave." I sighed and wrote,
"It's not that simple, I hate my family. I want to be
as far away from them as possible." I then passed it back.
"What did they do to make you hate them?"
"Have you met Terrance... where do you think he learned to act like that?" when he read my note he laughed.
"Then what if you came with me?" I was shocked at this.
"You barley know me."
"I know you enough to know that you don't belong here."
"Let's say I did go with you (which I won't) where would you take me?"
"Somewhere incredible."
"Thanks but no thanks. I already know where I want to go."
"Where?"
"Hoxie Kansas."
"Why there ,Dorthy?"
"It's small and far far far away."
"To far." I stared at that comment and thought about it. It was hanging over me. I then put the paper on my desk and shook my head. He then took the paper and wrote,
"My offer will always be up. If you don't say yes I might kidnap you."
"Creep!"
"I just don't want you to leave."
"I'm leaving as long as the Patersons live here." He was in the middle of writing something when the test was placed on our desks. I effortlessness filled out the the test and handed it back to Mr. Fultcher. I then sat back down in my seat. I took out my book and started to read.
There was a suddle pain in the back of my mind, almost like a prick. I ignored it and continued to keep reading. My vision became blurry all of a sudden. I blinked several times to refocus my eyesight. The prick in the back of my my mind worsened by the second and became a painful throbbing. I help back a groan as I clutched my head. The thoughts of everyone around me, living or dead, flooded into my mind. The voices became louder as they tried to yell over each other. My head was now throbbing and I felt like I was going to blow a vain. I got up abruptly and rushed out of the room. I ran down the hall and burst into the bathroom. I piratically crumbled in front of toilet and clutched the sided of the ceramic blow. I could feel my stomach stretching and constricting. I then hurled all my insides into the toilet.
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