Chapter 6

Glinda POV

Taking hold of my pink bicycle, the one I had managed to buy after saving the little bits of money Luna Sarah used to give me from time to time, I couldn’t help but lower my gaze with a sad smile.

My fingers brushed against the worn handlebars as a quiet sigh escaped my lips. Deep down, I knew those random gifts of money would no longer come after what had happened, and the realization hurt me.

Nonetheless, I was more concerned about getting to school late. I entered my bike and then drove straight to school, parking my bike far from where the kids parked their expensive ones.

I couldn't understand it, but the quietness of the school made my stomach tighten with fear.

Sure, it was too early and the others had not arrived, but I felt like something was wrong. Something didn't feel right.

Or was it just my imagination?

I adjusted my glasses, then began walking towards my classroom. I had not even taken up to five steps when something soft hit my head. I quickly turned around to find a paper, shaped like a plane on the floor.

I picked it up and unwrapped it. There was a message in there. I looked around, trying to look for the person who sent it, but didn't find anyone so I started to read the message.

Please come to the school's first auditorium. We need to talk.

Ethan.

My heart skipped a beat. Ethan wanted to talk to me? Alone? In private? Did he want to apologize for what he said to me?

But…the handwriting? I have loved Ethan long enough to know that the writing on the note wasn't his.

Was this some kind of prank?

I pushed my glasses up, as if that would help me think better. Maybe I shouldn't go.

I was about to ignore the letter, scared that it might be a trap when I remembered that I had run into Ethan this morning.

Though he was half asleep, he saw me in my uniform. Could he have realized that I was coming to school early and decided to come after me?

But the handwriting?

Well, he could have asked someone else to do it for some reason unknown to me.

Anyways, the thought of Ethan wanting to speak to me in private made me so excited that I threw away all logic into the trash and began running to the auditorium. Smiling like a six-year-old kid about to get ice cream from the ice cream truck.

The first auditorium was one of the oldest places in the school. After the building of the second, third, and fourth auditoriums, the place got abandoned. Teachers didn't go there, it was a good place for Ethan and me to talk.

“Ethan?” I called the moment I got there. “I'm here now. You wanted to talk to me?” My heart was racing now. Scared and excited at the same time.

I was about to call again when a girl suddenly stepped out, laughing so hard that tears gathered in her eyes. She was mocking me.

I took a step back, surprised and confused. I was about to speak, about to ask why she was there instead of Ethan when my classmates started to pop out from different directions like bees. They had started laughing too.

I took another step back. Fear wrapping itself around me like a snake ready to draw blood. “W-what is going on? Why are you all in school so early? W-where is Ethan? H…

The girl in front burst into laughter again, cutting me off.

“Goodness. She really is pathetic.” She said and the others nodded in agreement. Now, they had stopped laughing and were staring at me as if I had turned into some irritating mutant.

“Glinda, are you not ashamed of yourself?” Rose sneered. She was one of Cassandra’s minions…the school’s queen bee who still hadn’t resumed yet.

“W-what are you talking about?” Beads of sweat had formed on my face now. I knew I shouldn't have come here. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, it was clear that I had fallen into a trap.

Shit!

“Don't you think you're doing too much now? You're just a lowly omega who got the privilege to enroll in our school. How dare you try to seduce the hottest guys in school?” She looked at me from head to toe, eyes burning with anger. “Your pathetic self managed to seduce Kavrian, yet you're throwing yourself at Ethan?”

“Gosh. I fucking hate this bitch! I hate that she's standing there, trying to look like a saint. It's fucking always the ones who act innocent!” Another girl, Milan, Cassandra's other minion added as she stepped forward.

“I-I don't know what you guys are talking about. I have to leave…

“Argh…” I screamed in horror as pain shot through my scalp. Before I could process it, I was tossed to the ground, my knees scraping.

It was Rose.

“How dare you try to walk out on me?”

I clenched my fist feeling humiliated and wronged. Why were they doing this to me now?

She yanked my hair, forcing me to look into her eyes. “It's been barely a week since we resumed school, but you're already trying to break the balance of the school!”

“Luckily, we are going to change that.” She added, as she forcefully let go of my hair, pushing me back with brutal force that my head almost smashed against the floor.

She was about to pounce on me again but I was quick to grab her hand. “What?! What have I done to you now?! Why are you trying to hurt me?

“Let. Go. Bitch.” She sneered.

I didn't, even though I was shaking with both fear and pain.

“Why are you doing this? Why trick me all the way here to humiliate me…

I was caught off guard when she forcefully yanked her hand off my grip and sent a hot slap across my face. “One, don't you ever lay your pathetic hand on me. Two…

She grabbed her phone from her pocket and my heart sank when a voice note started to play.

It was me.

My knees weakened and I fell to the floor, unable to hold myself together. At that moment, it felt like my soul flew out of my body. My vision instantly blurred with tears.

It was a recording of me asking if Ethan could ever love me. It sounded as if I was forcing myself on him. Edited and exaggerated, but it didn't change the fact that it was my voice and I sounded desperate.

As if reading my thoughts, Rose said,

“Unfortunately for you, Rose, Ethan, and I were on a call, but he forgot to end it and the entire conversation was recorded by me.” She stepped closer, as if she wasn't already close and I almost wished I could disappear. “I heard you confess that you initiated the kiss with Kavrian, and how you couldn't stop begging Ethan to love you. Fuck, I was so repulsed by your message I had to send it to everyone else.”

“After editing it.” I couldn't say this out loud because it didn't change the fact that the original conversation still gave off a desperate vibe.

“Listening to the recording, we all couldn't sit still and watch a pathetic wolf like you seduce the brothers, so we came up with a plan to lure you out here and teach you a lesson. One you will never forget.” It was Milan who spoke now.

I wanted to speak, but words betrayed me. What was I even going to say? How do I even deny it? I kissed Kavrian after writing a love letter to Ethan. Even though the truth was less pathetic, it didn't change the fact that it seemed like I was trying to seduce the most powerful guys in school.

“Now guys!” Rose screamed and before I could process it, my classmates started to throw things at me…not just anything. Filths. Garbage. Rotten foods and all, while raining curses on me.

“Slut!”

“Desperate bitch!”

“No wonder she acts all quiet. She’s secretly shameless!”

The insults crashed into me harder than the rotten food hitting my body. Pieces of soggy bread stuck to my hair while something wet and foul slid down my shoulder. I curled into myself, raising my trembling arms over my head as tears streamed uncontrollably down my face.

The laughter around me only grew louder.

Every cruel word felt like a knife carving into my chest, and no matter how badly I wanted to defend myself, my voice refused to come out. My throat burned painfully, choked by humiliation.

I had never felt this small before.

Not even when people whispered about me being wolfless. Not even when others looked down on me like I was beneath them.

But this?

This felt like they were stripping away every last piece of dignity I had left.

I did not deserve this. I didn’t deserve any of this.

“P-please, stop…I managed to say, tearing up more because that was all I could do. Crying like a weak fool was all I was good at.

I forced my tear-blurred eyes upward just in time to see Rose raising a small silver knife, the blade glinting under the dim light of the abandoned auditorium.

My heart nearly stopped.

“She deserves a reminder on that ugly face of hers,” Rose spat, moving toward me.

“No…!” I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut as terror swallowed me whole.

But the pain never came.

Instead, a deafening howl tore through the auditorium.

The sound was so powerful it shook the dusty walls and rattled the broken windows. A violent gust of wind exploded around us, followed by horrified screams.

My eyes snapped open.

A massive black wolf stood in front of me like a living nightmare, its dark fur bristling as low growls rumbled from its chest. Its glowing eyes burned with fury so intense that my breath caught in my throat.

Around us, my classmates were sprawled across the floor as though an invisible force had blasted them away. Some groaned in pain while others stared at the wolf with pale, terrified faces.

Rose herself had fallen several feet away, the knife no longer in her hand. Her body trembled violently as she struggled to crawl backward.

W-who?