by E. C. Newman
“Good point. I’ll come with.” I looked back at Connie and Mary-Beth. “See you guys.”
“Jeez, Sophie,” Connie began as Jules headed toward a trash can. “I thought you liked Ezra.”
I glanced at Jules, crossing the room. To Connie I said, “Yeah. I still do. Why?” I heated up as I said it, but Connie and Mary-Beth knew I’d liked Ezra for years. I couldn’t lie about it.
“You and that girl. Rumor’s going around that you two are…and you’re going to the bathroom together…”
My temper snapped. “And you and Mary-Beth don’t go everywhere together? Even to the mall…always without asking me.” I’d managed to say it. We’d been friends since I’d moved to Gregory, but neither of them had ever wanted to hang out with me outside of school. Just the two of them. Me on the outside, looking in.
I hadn’t realized how much I resented it until Jules. Because now I knew what it was like to have a best friend.
Both Connie and Mary-Beth looked shocked. Not guilty, just shocked. I never raised my voice or got angry. At least not in front of people.
“Excuse me.” I hurried away, still angry and not really paying attention. I ran right into Ezra. Literally. “Sorry.”
He grabbed my upper arms to steady me. “You OK?” He sniffed. “You’re pissed.”
I blinked. “What?”
He lifted one shoulder. “I can smell your anger.”
My eyes widened. “Does it smell gross?”
He grinned. “No, not at all.” He dropped his hands from my arms. “Sorry.”
“Oh, it’s OK.” I could feel people watching us.
He looked over at Connie and Mary-Beth. “What’d they say?”
“There’s just this rumor about Jules and me.” I was not going to share more than that.
“That you’re girlfriends?” He grinned again.
I didn’t think I could take so many smiles from him. “You heard?”
“Yeah. Jules mentioned you two being hauled into Dr. Mack’s office. Nick and Aidan had a field day with that.”
“Oh my gosh.” I covered my face in embarrassment.
“Hey, it’s OK. I know you’re not.”
My heart stopped, and I glanced up at him. “You do?”
He stopped smiling and swallowed, uncomfortable. “Yeah.”
I did not want to continue this conversation. I looked past him to see Jules at the cafeteria doors, tapping her foot impatiently. “Um, I have to go.”
“Yeah.” We both moved past each other as quickly as we could. I didn’t even turn to see where he headed. I was too embarrassed.
“Now we have five minutes,” Jules said as I approached.
“Sorry.” I didn’t explain, but just walked with her.
“Soph?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you like Ezra?”
Not good. I looked over at her. She stared straight ahead. I opened my mouth, without a clue as to how to answer, when I noticed she wasn’t paying attention to me. My eyes followed the same path.
In front of us, outside of the bathroom, was Summer Harlan and a girl whose name I could not remember. They were talking and while that shouldn’t have been that odd, the second girl was not someone Summer would normally be seen with. She wore all black, had dyed black hair, black eyeliner, and a few piercings. Not a Summer-type girl. But it didn’t look like Summer was hassling her or anything.
Emo-girl walked away as Summer pulled something out of her bag. She sprayed herself with a small bottle and then noticed both Jules and me. She didn’t look surprised at seeing us. “Getting away for a quickie in the bathroom?” she asked.
Jules gagged and made a wide berth around Summer. “You’re running out of original material, whore.” She walked into the bathroom. I kept my head down and followed.
“Have fun, Freakgirl.” Summer’s laugh grated on my ears.
I couldn’t think of anything to say. I was definitely not a witty teen in some movie who had clever comebacks. I entered the bathroom to find it full of cigarette smoke, so I started coughing.
Jules waved her hand in front of her face before going into one of the stalls. “Guess Summer tars up her lungs.”
At a sink, I splashed my face with water, trying to stop coughing. My face was red from anger at Connie and Mary-Beth, embarrassment around Ezra, and fear because of Summer. But the water felt good.
Jules came out of the stall and washed her hands. “You ever smoke?”
I shook my head. “Dad would kill me.”
She chuckled. “It’s not great.”
I looked at her reflection in the mirror. “You smoke?”
“Few years ago, I did. Too much money and it really made me sick.” She bent and picked up a cigarette butt. “And she litters,” Jules said brightly.
I laughed. The bathroom door opened to reveal Mrs. Lange. She coughed, looked at the cigarette butt in Jules’s hand, and drew a deep breath. “You two. Principal’s office.”
“What?” I began, not really believing that she actually thought…
“No talking back, Sophie Todd. Caught red-handed, smoking. The two of you.”
“We weren’t smoking,” I explained hurriedly. “We walked in and it was like this. In fact, we both saw Summer Harlan—”
“Office. Now.” Mrs. Lange crossed her arms, looking more intimidating than anyone should at five feet short.
And that was how I ended up back in Dr. Mack’s office. Again.
* * *
“Sophie.”
I hated that tone of voice. Dad sat in his armchair, looking at me like he didn’t recognize me. Mom wasn’t home. Parent-teacher meetings, but I wasn’t looking forward to when she came home either.
“Dad, neither of us smoked. Mrs. Lange just doesn’t like Jules since the first day of school when she made Jules stand up and talk about herself and Jules refused to talk about her family because you know, she doesn’t have one, at least then, although now she considers the Vardens her family, which is really great—”
“I know you didn’t smoke.”
“Oh. Good.”
He leaned forward. “But this is the third time you’ve seen the principal this year, which is three times more than you have in your entire life.”
“I know. It’s Summer Harlan. She’s got it out for Jules and therefore, me too.”
He took a deep breath. “Maybe you shouldn’t hang out with Jules anymore.”
“No!” I jumped up. “None of this is Jules’s fault. She’s just different than a lot of girls and you know what high schoolers are like, Dad. They’re mean and cruel when someone’s different, because I’m different too, you know, being an only child who likes her parents and likes to be in Show Choir and doesn’t buy expensive clothes or make out with random guys—”
“Sophie.”
“Sorry.” I shut my mouth.
He got up and gave me a hug. “I’m not forbidding you from seeing Jules, but you might want to think about what being friends with her has done in your life.”
My eyes filled with tears. “I have someone to talk to. Someone my age.”
He tightened his arms around me. “I know.” He kissed the top of my head. “We’ll just see how this goes. Be more careful.”
I nodded against his chest, sniffling. He let go of me.
“I have more homework.”
“I’ll order pizza since your mom’s gonna be late.”
My smile was watery. “Sounds good. Pepperoni.”
“Pepperoni.”
Chapter Twelve
On Tuesday morning, I sat next to Jules, who was reading the school newspaper. It came out every Tuesday, covering mostly sports events and school functions. “Anything interesting?” I asked.
“Football. Cheerleaders. Young Republicans.” She gave me a wry grin. “You ever been in this?”
I shook my head. “Not in the school paper. I was once on the front page of the Gregory Post.”
“Oooo, for what?”
“I dressed up as an elf to help pass out food boxes for needy families. I looked awful.” I laughed. “But you know, front page.”
“I’d love to see that.” She turned to the back page. “Oh, and personal ads. ‘I think I’m in love with you. You’re my everything.’ Please. Like love exists in high school.”
“You ever been in love?”
She didn’t look at me. “No. It’s hard to when you don’t really believe in it.” She glanced over at me. “You?”
I shook my head. “I think to be in love you actually have to have a relationship with the guy.”
“That might help.” She smiled and looked back at the newspaper.
How could she not believe in love?
* * *
My phone rang as soon as I got home from practice. I saw that it was Jules, so I answered. “Hey!”
“Can you come get me?” she asked immediately.
“Uh, sure. Why?” I glanced at the clock. It was nearly six.
“I’ll explain when you get here. Think your parents will let me crash?”
“Sure. Be there in half an hour.”
“Thanks. You’re my hero.” She hung up.
I stared at my phone for several seconds, bewildered. I slipped back on my shoes and bounded down the stairs. “Mom? Dad?” I entered the kitchen. “I’m gonna go pick up Jules.”
They both looked over at me.
“Now?” Dad asked. “It’s nearly dinnertime.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. She sounded upset.” Actually, she hadn’t really, but something was up. “Can she sleep over? We won’t stay up.”
Dad and Mom exchanged a look. A look that didn’t bode well for Jules or me.
“Sophie, we are really glad you have such a good friend. But this is a school night and you can’t just go pick her up. It’s dinnertime. With the family.” Dad wore his stern expression.
I took a deep breath and let it out. “I know. And I’m really sorry about that. But she’s my best friend and I said I would.”
“You should have asked us first.” Mom crossed her arms. “This is the second time you’ve told us something you should have asked. You know better.”
“I do. And it won’t happen again. Please?” I met my dad’s gaze resolutely.
He turned to Mom. They did that unspoken communication thing that only married people can do.
“Fine. Just this once,” he said.
I ran up and hugged him. “Thanks, Daddy.” And I hugged Mom too for good measure. I ran to the front door to grab my purse.
“She only calls me Daddy when she gets her way,” I heard Dad say to Mom.
“Make sure it’s OK with the Vardens!” Mom called as I opened the door to leave.
“OK!” I hollered back and shut the door behind me.
As I drove, my mind raced, wondering what could possibly have happened.
Had Mr. Varden hurt her? Did Micah threaten her? Did Jules finally blow up at Naomi for her snooty comments?
I hated that the drive to Forest Hills took a half hour. It seemed ten times longer when I really wanted to get there fast. I slowed down to turn into the driveway to find that Jules was already there, waiting with overnight bag in hand. She raised a finger to her lips to tell me to be quiet. I unlocked her side and she got in.
“Go.”
“But do the Vardens know—”
“Just go, please?”
I reversed and drove away. We drove in silence for several minutes. I glanced over at her a couple of times. No bruises or anything that looked like abuse.
“Um, Jules?”
“Naomi found something in her locker today,” Jules said, her voice monotonous. “Something slipped through the vent thing.”
“OK.” Now I was even more confused.
“It was a card. You know the ones that when you open them, they make a sound? This one made a wolf howl. And no writing or anything on it. Just a wolf howl. Some random birthday card.” Jules propped her feet on my dash.
“OK.”
She looked at me. “She thinks it was me. Making fun of her, because I’m the next Alpha female or whatever. She doesn’t say a thing about it until Jonas gets home and then she starts accusing me. Says she didn’t want it to be me, but who else would do it?” She did that low growl. “Jonas actually believed her. Just because I’m so against the whole mating thing with Micah. I was given a talking-to, even though they have no proof.” She rubbed her hands over her face in frustration. “And sent to my room without dinner. Like I’m a kid.”
“She got that upset over a card?” I asked.
“Her friends were with her. Fear of the secret getting out. She’s insane. She’s just been waiting for something like this. I don’t know why she hates me so much. I don’t want her precious Alpha.”
I grabbed her hand. “So you just left?”
“I couldn’t handle being stuck in my room as punishment. So I snuck out.”
“You snuck out of a house with three shifters who smell and hear better than the average person?”
She glared at me. “Yeah.”
“Just wondering.” I looked back at the road. “You OK?”
“Better now. Just being away from that spoiled brat makes me feel a million times better.” She leaned back. “Your parents cool with this?”
“Um, yeah, sorta. Don’t tell them you snuck out, though.”
Her smile was more of a grimace. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
* * *
We didn’t stay up late, but crashed around nine like the lame girls we were. Once Jules had vented about Naomi, she seemed fine and unbothered by it. I was glad to be an only child without siblings accusing me of things I hadn’t done.
She was in the shower when I walked downstairs to get breakfast. Mom was emptying the dishwasher.
“Morning.”
“Sophie, I talked to Meredith Varden last night.” She leaned against the counter. “Juliet snuck out.”
I couldn’t lie, so I just nodded.
“Honey, we’re going to have to talk about this.”
“Mom, I know it sounds bad, but she was accused of something she hadn’t done.”
“Which happens. We aren’t some haven for her to run to, Sophie. I know you want to be a good friend. And if something really awful happens, then this would be OK. A simple argument is not dire.”
I hugged her. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Your father and I are disappointed.”
I pulled back, feeling the weight of her disappointment.
“You will always ask before going out there or her coming here, OK?”
“Yes.”
“And you can’t go over to her house or have her come over here for a few days. Now, get some cereal and go to school.” She patted my hair. “We’ll talk more about this when Dad comes home tonight.”
“OK.”
She left the kitchen, and I pressed my hand to my stomach. I hated getting into trouble. It happened rarely, but it had never involved a friend before. I felt like my life was spinning out of control. I took a deep breath to calm down the anxiety that had taken hold of my heart.
I was gonna be OK.
Jules came down later, and we had breakfast. When we got to school, we went to my locker first to get my books and then trudged over to Jules’s.
Ezra was waiting.
“Stalk much?” Jules asked.
He rolled his eyes, giving me a short nod in greeting. “Mom and Dad are pissed.”
“Really? It’s not like they called or anything.” Jules opened her locker, nearly hitting Ezra in the face. He stepped back with a big sigh.
“They did,” I said. “Mom told me this morning.”
“You in trouble?” she asked, her brow furrowed.
“More like probation.”
She nodded, looking back at her locker.
“We all knew where you’d gone.” Ezra gestured toward me. “The accomplice.”
I saw the wolf figurine I’d give
n Jules in her locker and smiled. “She called. I showed up.” I lifted my chin, wondering if he would chastise me too.
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Tonight you have to stay home.”
“Grounded?” Jules picked a book.
“Dunno. We’ve got…” He stopped, his eyes on me. “Stuff.”
“What stuff?”
Ezra inclined his head toward me.
Jules got it. “Oh.”
Watching the Alpha ceremony wasn’t enough to let me in? What more secrets could there be? “Fine, I’ll just see you in class.” I left the two of them so they could discuss the supersecret pack event without me.
After the morning I’d had with my mom and then being left out again, I was annoyed and worn-out. Not that I wanted to go through what Jules had.
When Jules showed up right before the bell rang, I looked at her expectantly. “So? Secret underground meeting or what?” I asked, forcing a smile to my face.
“Just more pack stuff.” She didn’t look my way and just shrugged.
“Well, guess that’s fine. I’m on probation after all.” I tried not to sound clingy or whiny. I didn’t succeed.
Her smile was sad, like she was sorry for me.
Being human sucked.
* * *
I stared at the back of Ezra’s head all through second period, hoping somehow I’d be given the gift of telepathy and could start reading his thoughts. What were they doing that they couldn’t even tell me about? I knew so much. What else could there be?
My eyes started blurring, and I switched my attention back to the lesson. Ezra was a guy. I probably didn’t want to know what he was thinking.
Ever.
Class ended. I shoved my books into my bag, annoyed at the world. Left out after I’d gone against my parents to go and pick her up. No good deed goes unpunished.
“Sophie.” Ezra spoke, but I didn’t look up. “I wasn’t sure if you and Jules were planning on hanging out tonight, but—”
“No, I have to discuss stuff with my parents about me being the escape plan for Jules. I got the message earlier, Ezra. Pack stuff. Me human. Not invited.” I stood up abruptly.
