Chapter 4

Lesley’s POV

I got downstairs into the girls’ locker room and headed to the showers. Luckily, PE wasn’t until the afternoon, so I was alone. I got out of my clothes and turned on the shower. The water was freezing at first, making my entire body cringe. But it also felt good. My bruised knuckles appreciated the cold and so did the bruise on my chin. Bastard! I didn’t see that ring coming. I smiled though. He didn’t seem to particularly like it when I ripped his piercing out. So, I guess that’s a comfort…

The fight flashed back into my mind. I’d barely held anything back. My fist connected with his jawline. The second's nose. I kicked the third in the knee and finally took the last one by the head and introduced it to the bathroom toilet. And that’s when they started to fight back. I guess they didn’t want anyone to know that four boys couldn’t take down one girl.

They didn’t hit as hard as Uncle Harry, but my ribcage got an unexpected blow, draining my lungs for air. And my jaw was hurting from a lucky bunch; hey they were still four against one! Cut me some slack! The scratch on my chin was, however, entirely my fault. I saw it coming, and yet I let him hit me because he was the last one standing. I was planning on taking him out right after, and then he had pulled some fucking mobster bullshit like that! This is a ‘no weapons allowed’ school. I’m just saying: brass knuckles are a fucking weapon!

Well, all’s well that ends well, I suppose. And by ‘well’ I mean them all crying and/or unconscious on the bathroom floor, hopefully with some serious broken bones and a concussion, that matched mine. Well, thanks to my wolf, I didn’t have to worry about that too much now, but these new bruises were going to take forever to heal, now that I’d drained my wolf completely.

I rarely did that, and I always felt bad after. I didn’t sense her much, so I restrained myself from using any of her already depleted strength. She did let me through and I sometimes could feel some small amount of pride emitted from her, every time I used her strength to stand up against Fraya, Trevor, or just any asshole who I deemed worthy of a serious beat down. Like today. Today definitely made it to the top three of bad schooldays…

The water turned warmer and washed my sweaty, pucky, and uriny body clean. Or---cleaner! I used the soap dispenser available to wash my hair and body and I did not mind smelling like honey and coconut! Anything was better than before. But of course, since I belonged to a werewolf society, they were definitely going to give me some strange looks today and cringe their noses. One of the many pros of living with werewolves. Yey…! (enthusiasm not included in the cheer!) I was definitely going to have to make some ‘pee jokes’ today then.

“I got peed on, imagine that! Haha!”

“This is why they shouldn’t put urinals in the lady's room! Hahahaha…”

I had to practice my laughing and smile, so they wouldn’t know how utterly humiliated and absolutely worthless I felt.

When I was finally clean, I sighed in relief. But it came out as a hard sob. What---?! I felt my cheeks. I hadn’t even realized I was crying. I’d just been ignoring the pain, the humiliation, and the anger, I didn’t even notice I was crying. I tried to push them back, but they didn’t want to. They kept pressing, stronger and harder. And the more I kept pressing, the worse the pain got. In my throat, my gut, my heart… everything ached! I felt so low and miserable…

So weak…

I stopped fighting it. I crumbled and cried. I just cried until I was done. Until I couldn’t feel a thing. I could do, ‘feeling nothing’. I was an expert in that. I felt exhausted from all the crying, but I didn’t feel anything else. So, I could fake whatever feeling I wanted. Easy peacy… once you have 6 years’ experience.

I got up and went to the lockers. Luckily, I always kept an extra set of clothes at school. Like I’d said, I wasn’t exactly the most popular girl, and even at school my pack members kept away, because they were afraid of Fraya and Trevor. Well, all except Amanda, but I’m not counting that backstabbing bitch right now. Any-whore, I was more often than not the fool to play a prank on and so my clothes were wet, dirty, smelly, or gone most of the time. In the end, it was just more efficient to have a spare lying around.

It wasn’t anything fancy: just leggings, a tank top, and one of Dean’s old hoodies that was about three times bigger than me. And undergarments: panties and a sports bra I’d gotten from Amanda on my 16th birthday. She always bought me those things and I loved her for it. Like seriously! I didn’t get any money to buy myself stuff like that, and it’s not like Uncle Harry cared! Hell, he probably preferred me ‘all natural’.

I took my dirty clothes and stuffed them in my bag. When I was done, I noticed that people were coming in and getting ready for PE. Everybody giving me strange looks, nervous whispers (that I did not bother trying to listen to), and speed texting. You’d think their thumbs were related to The Flash.

I sighed. This was heading one way fast…

And to my not-very surprise, I barely reached my locker, before…

“Lesley Williams!”

I gazed up and noticed one of the teachers storming towards me. Eyes wild and nostrils flaring.

“The Principal’s office! NOW!”

I didn’t argue. I closed the door and made my very familiar way to the principal’s office.

“So,” the tall human principal said, sitting on the edge of his desk right in front of me. His name was Mr. Gregory Flinze and usually, he was a kind and fair, although strict man, who wasn’t afraid to take on hormonal rage and drama. But right now, he probably wasn’t the most pleasant man to be around. Or was it just because I was his latest victim? His arms were crossed, and his tiny glasses pressed all the way at the end of his nose. Give him a tall hat and a long beard, and he’d be an angry Dumbledore! “Anything you want to say for yourself?”

I sighed. I honestly wanted to tell the truth. What they had done, just to see their shocked faces, I actually for once did tell the truth. But seriously, you know how much trouble I would get into if I told the truth? As in getting my ass handed over to Homeland Security trouble!

But then again, I thought, as a brilliant idea struck me. This didn’t have to be a bad thing…

“They started it,” I defended myself with a smile, crossing my arms in front of me while sinking as deep into the chair as possible and stretching my legs out in front of me. “I just ended it.”

I knew this irritated the shit out of him, but I kinda liked having the power over the Principal. I knew exactly what to say, to send him into a raging fit or blink and apologize, turning him into pudding in my hands. Right now, I wanted him mad. I wanted to be sent home, so I could avoid Trevor. I didn’t care about the cost…

“You beat the crap out of four freshmen boys,” the Principal pointed out and held up a bunch of pictures that had been taken for insurance purposes. “It doesn’t matter who started it.”

Like a disappointed father, he slammed the papers down on his desk, probably hoping to make me flinch, so I’d finally break down and tell the truth. But I’ll never let my feelings show. So, all I did, was following his moves, with a smirk on my face. As if I found this as funny, as I kept telling myself that it was.

“Now, I’m only going to ask this once and you better not lie to me,” he continued, sitting down in his seat, trying to stare me down. Oh, a staring contest, I tried to humor myself, so I wouldn’t have to look at the pictures in front of me or even the fact, that the man in front of me actually cared about me. He gave a damn about my well-being and believed I wasn’t the monster I made myself out to be. And I was digging a sword into his chest…

“But have you had any sort of training? Like martial arts training?”

“No,” I answered, not counting Dean’s self-defense classes for ‘martial arts’ or the fact that, even as an omega, I was still stronger than your average human.

“Have you done drugs?”

“No.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me!”

“I never lie.”

“Lesley,” he warned me, hoping that a deeper and more threatening voice would work. “You always lie!”

“No. I don’t!” I barked back. What?! I didn’t lie! “I just have a slightly more optimistic view of the truth.”

I was shown out with a note in my hand. I looked at it once again, just to confirm that it was true, before sprinting down the hall.

“YES!”

I jumped down the stairs and hoped to be running home. The alpha command would last a week, and I just got myself suspended for a week! This meant, that half the day, I could do whatever I wanted – which basically meant catching up on homework – and the other half, I just needed to avoid Trevor until nightfall. And considering I knew his schedule, I knew exactly where not to be!

I was so caught up in my own celebration, that I didn’t notice the car until it was too late. I was still airborne when my heart hit the deck. Fuck! This was going to hurt…!

The car came to a screeching halt; the brakes whining like a choirboy before finally coming to a full stop. I didn’t watch my landing, so I fell flat on my face, only centimeters away from the blue hood. I literally could smell the gas and motor oil that got burned through, in order to stop.

I sighed in relief. Shit, that was close! And just as relief washed over me, it was quickly replaced with another feeling: anger! What. The. Fuck?! What was this car even doing here?! This was the path to our pack. Outsiders are not allowed!

“Hey!” I yelled at the car stumbling back to my feet, making my hoody fall down and revealing my long, curly blonds. I turned to the car, with fire in my eyes. “Watch it, asshole!”

I kicked the bumper. Childish, I know, but I was hoping it would make him turn around once he saw the dent I made. Guys and their toys, right?

For a split second, I made eye contact with the driver. Jerk! He was wearing sunglasses, but I knew he was looking back at me. Somehow, I could feel it. I don’t know what it was – fear or rage – but even my wolf suddenly stirred uneasily in the back of my head. OK, this is probably not the best time to just stand around.

Before the driver could react, I ran off and disappeared into the woods.