River & Christian: Amber Eyes Series 5

Chapter Eight

-River POV- 

The minute I get out of the car, I run over to Christian and hide behind him. 

“Nope, come here.” He pulls me to his side. “No hiding behind me.” 

“But whyyyy?” I whine. 

“You need to get used to this and I’ll be with you the whole step of the way.” He says putting a hand behind my back and pushing me. 

He smiles. “Let’s go.” 

I take a deep breath and walk with him but it’s horrible. Everyone looks at us, at me. I hate it. We walk up some stairs and head inside. I can smell humans and werewolves and also that other smell. The one Sasha and Mason have.  

(Now thinking about it, I haven’t asked Christian about that.) 

I get distracted when I see these big metal yellow things on the walls. “What are dose?” 

“Lockers. It’s so you can put your things in. You’ll be getting one too once we get to the office.” He says. 

He guides me and we enter a small room. 

“Mrs. Julian, this is River. She is new.” He says to an older woman behind a desk. 

“River what?” She asks looking at her computer. 

Christian looks at me and I shake my head not knowing what to say. I don’t know what she is asking.

'Your mother's maiden name?' Ariel says to me not really sure.

“Uhm... Callis, River Callis.” I say . 

I stare at him. He leans in and whispers in my ear. “Is that your mom's?” 

I nod. 

“Everything should be there.” The lady says and hands me a few papers.  

“Thank you, Mrs. Julian.” Christian says with a big smile. She ignores us and we walk out. 

We stop at my locker first and he shows me how to open it.  

“So I have to memorize this number?” I ask.

“Yes.” 

We hear voices coming from behind us.

“That’s why it’s called a movie marathon... anyways Chris! Did you hear about this new girl? Everyone is saying she’s cute.” A guy says walking up to us with a girl.  

“Wait... this isn’t your locker...” The guy says looking confused. 

Christian turns around to face them. “Hey, guys.” 

The guy then looks at me and stares.  

Christian smiles at him. “Yea, this is River. River, these are my friends Ryan and Gloria.” 

Gloria gives me a big smile. “For once the rumors are right. Hi.” 

I smile. “Hi.” 

We all look at Ryan who just continues to stare at me. 

“Ryan?” Christian asks putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“Ri... River, that’s a pretty name.” He smiles as his cheeks turn pink. 

“Oh boy. We’ve lost him.” Gloria says. 

Christian groans a little annoyed.  

“Hey, by the way..." Gloria looks at me as if she's studying me. "You wouldn’t happen to like girls, would you?” She asks. 

“Um... yeah, I like girls.” I say. 

“No... River she means do you like girls as like... a love interest.” Christian says. 

I scrunch my face not understanding what he means. 

He sighs. “Gloria here likes to date girls instead of guys.” 

“... Oh!”  

I am surprised because I didn’t know that people could do that... I mean, it never crossed my mind. 

‘That’s interesting.’ Ariel says. 

“Yea...” I say deep in thought. 

“Yea what?” Gloria says. 

“Oh no, just talking to Ariel.” I say.

Christian almost chokes. “Ah...” 

“... Ariel?” Gloria asks.

“She’s a jokester. She says to people that she has an imaginary friend just to mess with them.” Christian says laughing nervously. 

(Oops. I guess that talking about Ariel is out of the question. I forgot.) 

“And how do you know so much about her?” Ryan asks Christian finally averting his eyes from me. 

“Because I live with him.” I say. 

Both Ryan and Gloria gasp. 

Christian puts his arms up. “Because she is Marco’s blood-related sister. So she is living with us now.” 

“Oh, so that means that she is your stepsister.” Ryan says looking a little too happy. 

“No! She is not.” Christian says sounding irritated at Ryan. 

Ryan sighs. “Alright...” He mumbles something else but I couldn’t make it out. 

“Anyways, she’ll be in all of our classes.” Christian says. 

“Who will?” Another girl's voice says.

A horrible strong flower scent hits my nose. My face scrunches in disgust. I put my hand on my nose to stop the scent from entering my nostrils. 

A girl with purple hair stands next to Christian. 

Ryan motions to me. “This is River. Christian’s stepsister-” 

“Ryan! She is not my stepsister!” Christian almost growls at him. 

Ryan laughs but looks annoyed. “Fine, this is River, Christians new... something... I don’t know.” He pouts and then points to the purple haired girl. “This is Malory.” 

The girl stares at me. Her face leans in a little bit and she looks me up and down. “This is the new girl...” She then starts to mumble. “I don’t get what the hype is about? She looks average to me.” 

I squint my eyes at her.  

‘Is she being rude?’ I ask Ariel. 

‘I think she is.’ Ariel says irritated. 

I was going to ask how did she get hair like that but now I don’t like her. 

I start to mumble as well. “I might look average, but at least I don’t stink like a walking rosebush.” 

We hear Gloria trying to hold her laugh but she snorts and starts laughing uncontrollably. 

“Excuse me?!” Mallory says looking offended. 

“Sure. Your excused.” I say still holding my nose. 

Christian gets in front of us and closes my locker. “Okay, time to head to class.” He says. 

Mallory glares at Gloria. “What are you laughing at?”

“What?... I mean she’s kind of right. You could go easy on the perfume.” Gloria says and Mallory gasps. 

“Hey, we’ll see you guys in class. I still have to get my stuff from my locker.” Christian says to them. He grabs my arm and pulls me with him. 

“Okay, I’ll save you a seat River.” Ryan says and Christian groans again. 

“How do you stand her smell?” I ask him.

He chuckles. “I’ve gotten used to it I guess.” 

We keep walking and I can see some guys staring at me and whispering. One of them gives me a smile and I give him a small smile back but I ignore them and continue to talk with Christian. 

He stops in front of a locker and opens it. “After school today, we’ll get you everything you need for your classes and we are also getting you a phone.” He says looking behind me. 

“Wait, one of those gadgets you carry?” I ask. 

“Yea. And don’t worry, I’ll show you how to use it.” He gives a very low barely hearable growl still looking behind me. 

I look behind me and see the guys scurrying as if they were running away. 

“Damn vultures.” He mumbles then he takes his phone out. “Look, like this one. You can call me when you need me if we are apart.” 

I nod now feeling excited and he smiles. “Alright. Let’s go before we are late."

We finally head to our first class.  

We walk in and there are already students there. They all whisper and stare at me. I follow Christian and he motions for me to sit on a chair. I do what he says and he sits on a chair next to mine. Ryan sits behind me and Gloria is in front. That Mallory girl is in front of Christian. And to me, that is still too close to me because I can still smell her from where I sit.

“We have a new student class.” The teacher says as she enters the room. “Stand up and tell us your name and where did you come from.” 

‘We really didn’t prepare for this.’ I say to Ariel. 

I get up looking at a worried Christian.  

“My name is River Callis... I am from...” 

'What do I say. I don't even know where we are.' I say to Ariel.

'Make something up!' Ariel panics.

I hear Christian whispering. “Alaska.” 

Thank goodness for werewolf hearing.  

“Alaska.” I say. 

“Oh, Alaska. How is the weather over there at this time of year?” The teacher asks.

Christian whispers again. “Much colder.” 

“Colder.” I blurt out. “Much colder... than here.” After I say that, I immediately sit down so that hopefully she stops asking me questions, and thankfully she does. 

I breathe in relief and look at Christian. “Thank you.” I mouth out. He gives me a big smile and a thumbs up. 

Throughout the class, students glance at me but I do everything I can to pay attention.  

‘Is it bad that I don’t even know what class this is?’ I ask Ariel and she starts laughing. 

I think it’s history. The teacher is talking about a war of the north with the south and I am completely lost. 

Once the class is done, I follow Christian out.  

“You survived your first class.” He says smiling. 

“Yep, let's pray the rest of the day goes this well.” I say but then someone walks by me and bumps my shoulder as they go past me. 

'Mallory.' Ariel growls out.

I growl at the purple mess in front of me. 

“Or we might end up eating someone today.” I whisper.

Christian sighs. “Let’s hope not.” 

We take all our morning classes and now head to lunch.

“And don’t eat the meatloaf. You’ll get indigestion.” Ryan says. 

He is actually really nice. 

I smile and nod. We get food and sit at a table outside of the cafeteria. It's nice to be outside. The weather is nice.

 I sit next to Christian with Ryan in front of me and Gloria next to him. I start eating but then that strong flower smell hits me. Mallory sits next to Christian on his other side.  

“River, you're the talk of the school today.” Gloria says. “Apparently all the guys are swooning over you.” She smirks and looks at Christian who groans and looks away. 

I shrug my shoulders not knowing what to say to that. I mean, I don't really care about the other guys.

We then start hearing two guys arguing. 

“Screw you!” 

“I am not about to say I twice. Apologize you punk!” 

Christian sighs when he looks back. “Wyatt and Jace. Two Alphas from opposite packs.” He whispers to me. 

He gets up and walks over to them. Christian tries to calm them down but it just gets more intense.  

They both start shouting and I can feel the tension in the air. They start getting close to each other looking like they are about to exchange fists. Christian gets in the middle and pushes them apart but then one of them pushes Christian... and that is when I see red.