Transition - Alpha's Trouble Maker

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« Seff »

By the time lunchtime came around, I was bored and annoyed. I was looking forward to spending time with Jena after school and it felt like the day was purposely going by slowly. I headed straight past the cafeteria to where I knew the others would be waiting. Just outside the doors of the cafeteria was the outside area where you could sit and enjoy the weather while you ate or did whatever for forty-five minutes every school day. I spotted them sitting around the only table that had shade from a nearby tree.

“Seff!” Luca yelled out as he waved frantically at me, and I shook my head at his silliness. However, my eyes were locked on Jena. She was sitting with her back to me as she chatted with one of her pack friends and I could appreciate her from any angle as she twirled her long light brown hair around her fingers and bobbed her foot to whatever music I could hear coming from Decker’s phone. When I reached the table, everyone stopped to greet me in some way. For Jena, it was a quick kiss, for Decker it was a light punch to my left arm, for Luca it was a fist bump that made me roll my eyes, and for Jena’s friend, Carla, it was a brief smile. The five of us were quite close and even though I knew Decker had been trying to get with Carla since Jena and I started dating, Carla had made it clear the only person she was interested in was Luca. That was a conundrum all on its own. I sat down on the corner of the table and looked down at Jena. She felt my eyes on her and looked up and I could not stop myself from smiling as her golden-brown eyes met mine.

“What?” she mouthed, and I shook my head before I leaned in and kissed her plump lips.

“Get a room!” Luca shouted and I pulled back and gave him a look that clearly said ‘shut up’, to which he shrugged before looking over at Carla. I rolled my eyes and spotted Robin sitting with two of her friends under another nearby tree. Decker must have caught me staring and he nudged my shoulder with his.

“Troublemaker,” he whispered so softly that if he had not been right behind me, I would have missed it, but I nodded in agreement. Robin didn’t just disobey pack orders; she broke any rule that could be broken.

“Why were you late?” Jena asked, pulling my attention away from the other female.

“Meeting,” I stated, and she continued to gaze up at me, this was her way of showing interest, but I simply shook my head. It was pack matters and it was none of her business.

“f*****g Robin was at it again,” Luca announced softly, and I threw him another ‘shut up’ look. I glanced over at Robin to make sure she had not heard anything, only to see that she was no longer sitting under the tree. “Over there,” Luca said as he pointed toward the school’s parking lot. Robin and her friends were climbing into someone’s car, no doubt to skip the rest of the school day. Once again, Robin was only causing trouble for herself, and I still had no idea why. Maybe it was my lack of interest.

“So, Seff…are you going to be throwing a big party for your eighteenth?” Carla asked me, drawing my attention away from Robin.

“Ha! As if!” Luca yelled and I frowned over at him. “Come on, dude, as if your father would allow you to throw a party,” he wasn’t wrong though and even the thought of having a party made my stomach twist in knots.

“I’m pretty sure the only partying Seff wants to do is with his mate,” Decker drawled out and my eyes opened as I snapped in his direction. “What have you got to say to that Jena?” it was no secret that Jena and I hoped we were mates, we had been going steady for two years and it would royally suck if weren’t mates.

“I say…bring it on,” Jena said as she winked at me and, although I was not one to show my emotions, she did catch me off guard, which resulted in my face getting warm and I was pretty sure I was blushing.

“Again! Get a room!” Luca called out as he hopped off the table and stalked off. I was no fool, I knew that Luca had a thing for Jena. In fact, my cousin had been hiding his crush on Jena, only to finally tell me about it after Jena had agreed to go on a date with me. If I had known about his crush before asking her, I never would have bothered. However, Luca had been adamant that I shouldn’t cancel and when things got serious between me and Jena, he congratulated me and assured me he had gotten over his crush. If only that was true. Jena glanced over at Carla, who was looking in the direction Luca had gone, and I felt sorry for her. Due to the fact that Luca still secretly – not so much of a secret really – had a crush on Jena, he was blind to the fact that Carla was vying for his attention.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Decker offered as he too hopped off the table and hurried after Luca. I knew that the only reason he would bother with Luca was because of Carla and I shook my head at the weird dynamics of it all.

“So…about that party…” Carla said in a way of changing the subject and I shook my head. I wasn’t interested in having a party. I knew my mom, Gwen, was planning something small but my main focus was transitioning. All I wanted was to meet my wolf, shift for the first time and find out whether the love of my life is my mate. “Jena is going to have a party,” she then added, and I glanced down at my girlfriend.

“Nothing big though, just pack members,” Jena explained, and I nodded in understanding. Her parents were even worse than mine and I know it had a lot to do with the fact that they believed in saving yourself for your mate. When Jena and I had first started dating, her parents were thrilled. After all, whose parents wouldn’t want their daughter to be a future Luna. They allowed us to date but constantly reminded Jena to keep herself pure. I was not one to brag, but that ship sailed a long time ago.

“Are we still on for later?” I asked as I stood up.

“Of course,” Jena replied with a knowing smile, and I leaned down and kissed her before I made my way to where I knew Luca and Decker would be hanging out.

“Man, you have got to get a grip on this,” I heard Decker whisper, and I slowed down, listening in on their conversation. “If those two are mates, what are you going to do then?”

“I don’t know and it's not as if I haven’t tried, Decker,” Luca said, and I frowned. Had he really tried?

“You and I both know you are talking s**t right now, Luca. You have been praying for the day they break up,” Decker snapped, and I quickly made my appearance known.

“Seff…I…” for once Luca was at a loss for words and I ignored that as I walked straight up to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

“Luca, why can’t you see that Carla wants your attention?” I asked him, which made him frown.

“Carla? No…she doesn’t…does she?” Luca looked between me and Decker. “Does she?!”

“Yeah man,” Decker confirmed, and I let my hand drop to my side. I knew how hard it would be for Decker if Luca actually hooked up with Carla, but my best friend was not as weak as Luca, and I knew he would get over it.

“I keep waiting for you to realize that things aren’t going to change between me and Jena and that you’ll find someone else…but this has got to stop,” I said just as the bell started ringing. “Ask Carla to go with you to this get-together after school,” I added as I headed inside. Just a few more periods and then the school would officially be over for summer break, and I could not wait any longer. It was strange to me as I walked to my next class to see other girls blushing and waving at me as I passed by them. I was not the kind of guy that lived to be at the center of attention. In fact, I prefer my privacy. I was a straight-A student, mostly because of my father and I was not on any of the sports teams. I was not involved in anything other than the usual schoolwork. I was not part of the debate team, nor the chess club, and I made sure not to excel at anything. My father, although he wanted me to do well at school, needed me at home. No, needed was the wrong word, he wanted me at home. He kept pushing me to train and to learn everything there was to learn about being Alpha, even though he still had a good ten years as a leader – if not more. I wasn’t going to lie, I liked the way the girls got all flustered and how they would hang onto my every word when I spoke, but that was it. I wasn’t interested. The only reason I had asked Jena out was because of my mom. She had pulled me aside on my sixteenth birthday to talk about girls and it was embarrassing and every day she would ask me if I had met someone yet. At first, it didn’t bother me, the constant nagging and questions, but then it started to get annoying. When I spotted Jena sitting in her car at one of the many school parties, I took a chance. I had not been expecting anything to come from it, especially after Luca confided in me about his crush on her. I pushed my thoughts to the back of my mind as I entered the classroom and rolled my eyes when I saw that our history teacher, Mr. Jackson was standing by his desk with a pack of papers in his hands.

“Here you go, Seff,” he said as he plucked out one of the papers and handed it to me. I glanced down to see that it was a summer assignment.

“Great,” I muttered before I headed to the back of the class and sat down. Slowly, the room filled up and each student was handed a piece of paper with everyone complaining about it.

“Summer assignment!” Mr. Jackson called out; this was his way of getting everyone’s attention. “I am not expecting a miracle,” his pathetic attempt at a joke had no one laughing and he coughed awkwardly before he started going through the assignment. “Every family has a hidden gem and I want you to find that gem over the summer. Talk to your family members, find out about their past and write about it,” once again, students softly complained about having homework to do over the summer. “Take note that this assignment will be helpful to those failing this class,” he added, which shut everyone up. I wasn’t worried and I gently folded the paper before shoving it in my jacket pocket. “Consider this extra credit!” I suppose this was an easy deal for some students, but not for me. I was not interested in finding any gems from my family history. I wonder what Mr. Jackson would say if he had to read about how my family was a pack of wolf shifters? I smiled to myself as I turned my head and stared out the window. Could this day be any longer?