Accidents Happen
I flung my backpack on one of the long couches on my way to the kitchen. I hadn’t been given the chance yesterday to check out our supplies but I hoped they had gotten orange juice.
“You’re home,” a gruff voice greeted me.
I turned slowly. I hadn’t forgotten about gage exactly, but I could more easily picture him as the huge black wolf. His grey eyes watched me through he mess of hair on his face. He really needed to shave. “I am home,” I finally responded after I realized he was waiting for me to say something.
“How did today go?”
“You know, usual high school stuff.” I continued my trek to find orange juice.
“I never went to high school.”
“Never?”
“I was young when I changed. not as young as you and your sister, but young enough. Besides, when I was a boy we didn’t have high school.”
I was afraid to ask him when he was a boy. Then it would be even more weird to talk to him. “Ah.” I bit my bottom lip and quickly turned to the fridge. I was happy to see that they did get orange juice.
“Did the boys behave?”
I reached for a glass but they were too high. I clicked my tongue. Inconsiderate jerks. Suddenly gage was way to close to me. He reached above my head and brought a glass down for me. I tucked my hair behind my ears. “Thanks,” I mumbled. Once he was a safe distance away I was able to answer his question. “Well, Jed locked me in a supply closet and forced me to be his girlfriend,” I gushed. “But other than that they behaved very well. They have a lot of self control for being so young.”
“So you’ve chosen a mate?”
“No! What?” I blushed furiously, so flustered that I almost spilled my orange juice. “It’s not…I mean it wasn’t…” I cleared my throat nervously. “No.”
“I would have thought Rueben would be your first choice.”
“Rueben has a girlfriend,” I said quickly. “Besides, it’s just some stupid…high school thing.”
He nodded and turned away. “If you say so.” I rolled my eyes. If Gage hadn’t run with the dinosaurs, maybe he would understand the hierarchy of high school. It was worse than the pack.
I puffed my cheeks out and let my breath out quickly. “Um…I was thinking I’d go by Bella’s today. Ivy wasn’t at school. Maybe she’s sick or something.”
“Bella’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Females are fickle creatures,” he mused.
“Gone where?” I repeated.
“She only came here to deliver you to Blake.”
“She enrolled us at school. Ivy too.”
“She was told to. I have not heard much about Bella. She tends to fly under the radar, being careful to not bring much attention to herself.”
“That’s a good thing though.”
“Yes.” It didn’t sound much like an affirmation though, not with his eyes narrowed like that.
“Will she come back?” I don’t know why I asked it, it made me sound like a child; and I already knew the answer.
“No, it is unlikely that you will see them again.”
Them? He had said them but he couldn’t have meant Ivy. Ivy would be coming in a few months to take over the pack. Gage must have meant Bella and her pack of course, the temptation to fight would have been to strong with two packs so close. It was better that she left, but sadness still managed to creep into my heart.
“Will you hunt tonight?” Gage asked.
“Uh…no, I don’t think I will.”
His eyes narrowed again, an expression I was coming to know well. “The pack will need to hunt.”
I took a deep breath and shrugged. “Yeah I know.” We stood there for a long moment of awkward silence before Gage ducked out the front door.
I gulped my orange juice down quickly and prepared to retire to my room so I could work on my paper for English. Maybe if I was lucky I wouldn’t have to deal with the pack tonight. I flinched guiltily when I remembered the resolve I had made at lunch. As the day progressed, my resolve slowly faded. Who was I to tell them how to live? No one was getting hurt. By the time the final bell rang I had convinced myself that the boys were fine. They had lived this long without a leader. What could go wrong?