Chapter 8

We got home right after Stark and Briggs. Lance had just taken them inside from the private middle school Maggie enrolled them in. I slammed the door shut and made my less-than-quiet entry into the house, more than ready to get rid of my uniform, and put on some ripped jeans and a loose shirt. Asher has the best t-shirts shirts and I love to steal them, and though he complains and threatens me any time one of them gets missing, he never actually does anything.

I passed Mason and Steph’s boys watching cartoons in the sitting room with Edna and Jayden’s sons.

“Hi Ginny,” they greeted me as I made my way up the stairs.

“Hello boys, how was school today?”

Their responses ranged from ‘Great’ to ‘It was alright ' and ‘I didn’t like it.’ And I couldn't relate more to the last response.

I was off to my bedroom before Leo got to his and by the time I dressed up in my suitable choice of clothes I was hungry and ready to devour 5 double burgers. Luckily, Steph who loves to cook, had made some pizzas from scratch and they were cooling on the rack. I grabbed a knife and cut a huge triangle from the onion pizza.

“What are you doing?!” Steph asked as she ran into the kitchen from the pantry.

“What?” I asked around a mouthful of pizza.”

She was laughing as she grabbed the knife out of my hand. “Those are sample pizzas. You weren’t supposed to touch them. I made some apricot bread in the fridge.”

The pizza was cheesy and very delicious. “Sample pizza?”

Stephanie, ever shy, blushed and looked away. “Mason and I talked to Maggie and she agrees we should own a restaurant. I was hoping to apply for culinary school but I need to sharpen my skills.”

“That’s awesome!” I hugged her.

She laughed. “I guess. I seem to be fitting here nicely,” she added with a shrug.

My heart sank. Everyone, even Stark, the odd girl, is fitting in quite nicely. I never seem to fit in anywhere.

Stephanie must have noticed my mood because she tilted her head to the right and held my right shoulder in a motherly manner.

“Are you alright?”

“Um yeah…I guess…” I shrugged her arm off forcing a smile, unaccustomed to such familiarity. “I am.”

“Ginny…”

‘Ginny!’ Maggie’s voice cut through my thoughts. She’s the only one among us with the power of telepathy. ‘Come to the study.’

Grateful for that break I moved from Steph’s touch. “Maggie just called me to the study.”

I turned and left without waiting for a word from her but I could feel her eyes boring into my back as I went out of the kitchen into the study. Even before pushing the heavy study door open, I could tell Maggie wasn’t alone and when I opened the door I groaned inwardly and had to force myself not to roll my eyes.

Of course, Noah was here.

Maggie’s lips were pressed together and humor brightened her eyes. “Come in, Ginny.”

“So he came to report me uhn?” I asked as I stepped inside ready to do battle. “Did he tell you he was stalking me? Me and Leo?”

“It’s part of his job detail stalking you as you put it. He is your bodyguard. You guys are kids of the pack, my kids, and I will not joke with your safety.”

I started to respond when she raised her hand to stop me.

“The wolf curse may be broken but the Dark Storm pack still has many enemies and I don’t want a repeat of what happened when you and Cathy were abducted. If Noah hadn’t known about Theodore I don’t think we would ever have found you.”

Noah stood stoically in front of her desk. I bet he feels proud to be commended for rescuing me.

“I hope you know how important you are as my daughter?”

“You’ve made that quite clear since you adopted me. I wasn’t as important or worth kidnapping until you made me your daughter,” I retorted angrily and immediately regretted my words. I know that wasn’t nice, especially to the woman who took us in without question. When she first stumbled into our pack in the woods none of us accepted her, not even when our Alpha, Asher told us she was here to stay. Maggie didn’t care that we hated her, she took us in as soon she got her inheritance.

I could swallow my foot right now but Maggie didn’t seem to care as she stood from behind the desk where she had been studying some ledgers.

“Please excuse us, Noah.”

I watched him and he glanced at me before leaving.

“Ginny, Noah told me you had a rough start at school.”

“It’s nothing special. It’s what high schools are for.”

“I understand some girls tried to make you uncomfortable.”

I crossed my hands over my chest. Remorseful or not I don’t appreciate Noah gossiping about me.

“Did Noah tell you this?”

“He is only doing his job.”

“Maggie I don’t need Noah or anyone else trailing me. I’m a big girl, I turn 18 next week, and I can handle myself.”

“I believe you. But.”

She paused and stood in front of me. I knew she wanted to reach out and maybe hug me but my body language discouraged her. Most of the other orphaned kids in the pack have adapted to having parents but for me that will take some getting used to. For some reason, I can’t seem to connect the emotions that would create a bond between me, Lance, and Maggie. And even Asher.

“You know what? Would you rather join Cathy at the club?”

That was what I wanted but that seems unfair now given how much she’s spent to give me formal education. Besides, I know Cathy won’t let me join her at the club. She thinks I’m too young.

“Do you want to leave Princeton? You can do anything you want.”

“I’ll stay.”

“Are you sure? I care about you and if are being bullied on your first day…”

“I can handle myself. Besides, Leo is there. I can stay the rest of the school year.”

She didn’t have to say it but I know Maggie was glad with my answer.

“But only on one condition?” I told her.

“And what is that?”

“Noah can’t stay back to watch me. He drops Leo and me at school and comes back home. My friends might bully me if they know he’s hanging around.”

Also, I will have to watch him flirt with Miss Aurora and watch her lose her breath over him, and for some reason that rubbed me off the wrong way.

“Done.”

This time she didn’t hold back, she pulled me into a hug. I let her hug me and when she pulled back I left to my room.

Right now I don’t want to talk to anybody. I meant what I said when I told her not to worry about the bullies. I know I have handled far worse. I can deal with Emerald and her crew and anyone else who tries to get on my nerves.

Even Colin.

As I closed my door I made my way to my desk, to the laptop Maggie gave me last year, and turned it on. I felt like a creep with what I was about to do but I reminded myself of just how creepy Colin was peeking at me from the edge of his book.

“I’m not the weird one,” I convinced myself as I opened one of my socials and clicked on the search button before tying the name Colin Peel ( yes I checked the students register book for his name) and the page that popped up had nothing much on it, just a bunch of mountain images and a few selfies without captions all in different locations. Okay Colin so you love to travel eh? But no amount of clicks showed anything satisfactory on his page which I could use as a weapon against him and honestly, I wasn’t disappointed because that was exactly what I expected.

I started to log out since there was nothing interesting to see when I clicked the search button again and on impulse input Emerald’s name in the search box. I don’t know what I was looking for, maybe something to prove that she’s a fake? I guess.

Of course, she has lots of followers and she’s quite popular online as she is offline. She’s the daughter of an ambassador and there were images of charity parties, galas, movie premieres, and all that. There were even images of her with celebrities and in some of the pictures, the bleached blond Rapunzels were there smiling into the camera with her.

In some images, Parker held onto Emerald’s waist, smiling into cameras with her. I’m not gonna lie he is handsome.

He’s the son of a socialite and I guess that means he’s parents have no job other than being rich. Cue the eye roll.

One of the images had a link to his page and I clicked. His page was kind of adventurous and interesting. He loved hiking, fishing on his father’s yacht, of course, enjoyed games. And would you believe it? He is the captain of not just the lacrosse team but also the swimming team.

Okay, star boy Parker.

There was a pinned image on his page and I clicked on it. He and Emerald stood on either side of Mary Thompson and she had the widest smile on her face.

The caption under it read: The future of Princeton 2014.

Yeah, whatever. Money talks.

What am I even doing? I don’t have to play into these people's games. I don’t need to know anything about them.

I logged off and closed my computer. “That’s enough social media for one day,” I said as I plugged in my headphones and played Elton John’s Sacrifice, and closed my eyes. Before long the gentle heartbreak song lulled me to sleep.