The rest of the day went by fast. Thankfully I didn’t have any more classes with Nate Mactire. I was looking forward to going home. Rose was already waiting at our bus stop when Kimi and I got there. I don’t know how she makes it there so fast, but she is always the first one there.   I signaled Kimi to keep quiet and snuck up behind Rose. She had her phone out and was looking way too engrossed to be just idling scrolling through social media. I peeked over her shoulder, and saw exactly what she was so focused on.   It was one of her web novel apps. “The shift was more painful than I had imagined! I wished my mate would find me so I could survive this first transformation. My bones broke and rehealed themselves almost instantly in their new form, but the pain lingered. Where was my mate? What was he or she doing? 

Nate was so uncomfortable at dinner! Welcome to my house, bitch! Still, I was surprised his mother didn’t know about Gayl University. Maybe I shouldn’t have been, but I’ve been pretty sheltered here in Aspen Falls.  “They seem nice,” my mom said after the Mactires left. “I’m surprised she allowed a sixteen year old to work in a bar, but I guess things are different in Boston.” my dad said. “I almost felt bad for Nate when his mom found out he could go to a university filled with wolves,” Kimi commented.  I laughed. “I know! I don’t think he had any long term ideas.” Rose

Shit! Just as I was getting up the balls to ask Rose on a real date, Kimi goes missing. I mean, partying 101: Don’t leave sight of your friends. Sure we live in a small town where everyone knows everyone, but that’s also the drawback. We know that there are going to be people here who would take advantage of a situation just for shits and giggles. It’s why the three of us always go to parties together, stay together, and don’t drink the booze.  Rose had my hand in a death grip as she led me into the dining room. There were solo cups, bottles, and cans on the dining table as well. Some girl was gyrating on top of it to the cheers of the teens around her. I barely glanced at her to make sure it wasn’t Kimi. I sniffed the air again, and caught a faint whiff of my sister. She smelled of her citrus body spray, deodorant, and Kimi musk. I can’t describe it a

Rose and I began the walk home with Kimi between us. I thought back to our time in the laundry room. It was nothing but pure comfort, but it was exactly what we both needed. I might have even kissed her if she hadn’t hopped off the dryer. “You know,” Rose began, “You guys are a little bit like a pack from one of my books.” “Really? I don’t see it,” I said, trying to be cheerful. Kimi glared at Rose. “Yeah. When trying to avoid trouble with your alpha and luna, you called you pack beta.” I glanced at Rose and saw a teasing smile. “Idiot,” Kimi mumbled. “I called my big brother, not

With half the school grounded for the foreseeable future, life got pretty boring for a while. Jeremy was miserable. He hates being cooped up at home with nothing to do but homework. Maybe he’ll get higher than a B+ average for once. Nate was sent to live with his dad. His mom thought that his friends were bad influences. I had some suspicions as to who had brought the booze, but I couldn’t confirm anything.  The peppermint schnapps wasn’t that odd of a feature at parties. Someone had spread a rumor around that the smell of peppermint from the schnapps would cover the smell of booze. Totally not true, well in my house anyway. I was more concerned about the ketamine. With nothing serious going on, I took advantage of the internet to figure out who would have access to it. Unless whoever spiked the schnapps got it