My Shifting Mate

Chapter 4

Zain Pov

I sighed, driving Lexi to school was annoying as Hell. I loved the girl, but she was seriously annoying. She was on the phone talking to some girl that looked like Barbie, droning on and on about Barbie’s vacation. Probably drove around in her dream car and went to Malibu with Ken. I tried constantly to turn up the volume of the radio but Lexi wasn’t having it, slapping my hand away each time. She was a pain in my Ass.

I pulled up my phone at a red light, texting Grayson. ‘What are you doing later?’ I asked him, trying to ignore the giggle from Lexi’s phone. Of course she had it on speakerphone, she always did, some annoying as f**k girl thing. I swear, she didn’t even wear makeup so why bother worrying about pressing it against her face? It wouldn’t mess up her face if she wasn’t wearing makeup.

My phone went off and I picked it up, not even getting the chance to glance at it as I kept the car driving in a straight line. I couldn’t even read it before she started badgering me. “Who’s that?” She asked.

I rolled my eyes at her. “It’s Grayson,” I said. She always asked, as if I really talked to anyone else. I always had a ton of texts from girls, but I never even cared to open them. I texted my boys in the team, but that was about it usually.

“Surrrre…” She said, holding out the ‘R’. I gritted my teeth as Barbie started to mutter something about guys who don’t commit. What the hell does she talk to her about anyway?

“Just concentrate on Barbie,” I said, pointing to her phone. “She’s talking to you about her trip with Ken,” I said.

Lexi scoffed at me. “Her name is Lana, Zain. You should know this, she’s been one of my best friends for years. And she’s not dating anyone, for your information. She’s got a crush on someone.” She said, winking at me. Yeah, real subtle. Barbie was shrieking at her over the phone and Lexi was apologizing to her. Everyone knows she’s got a crush on Grayson, probably the most oblivious kid on the planet. Seriously, I’ve told him before that she loves him and he’d just roll his eyes at me and tell me to quit teasing him.

I pulled into the parking spot in front, turning the car off and getting out. Every morning was the same, the moment I parked girls swarmed the car. It was a matter of pride now, if they weren’t there then I’d feel upset. Lexi hung up the phone, probably because Barbie was waiting on the sidewalk trying to hide the fact that she was applying massive amounts of makeup with her little compact before we drove up. Almost immediately after I got out of the car Grayson pulled up, turning off his car. I smirked at Lexi, knowing damn well he must have been texting and driving too if he replied to me earlier. I flipped open my phone to see it wasn’t from Grayson at all, but from Dad telling me I forgot my backpack. Great, wonderful. I sent him a quick text back begging him to bring it to me and Lexi got out of the car, glaring at me. What the f**k was with her? She always seemed to think I was texting some girl. Just because they swarmed around me didn’t mean anything. Her door was next to Grayson’s so he stepped out and hugged her. I noticed Barbie was shifting from side to side like she was either jealous or going to pee herself, one of the two as she glared at them.

I walked around the girls to Lexi and Grayson, grabbing his ear and yanking him to me. He flared under my fingers as Lexi grabbed my arm, trying to pull me off of him. “Let go of him or I’ll kick your ass!” She said, growling at me. I sighed, letting go of him. She probably could if she tried hard enough, that heathen. She was always sticking up for Grayson over me. Not that I could blame her, he was tinier than most of the guys our age. Still taller than most of the girls, stuck in the middle awkwardly. Lean body, tight skin with the smallest amount of muscle. He was a twig compared to my bigger muscular body. Still, it wasn’t like I was really going to hurt him, besides Lexi he was my best friend.

I let go of his ear and he smacked my stomach, catching me off guard. He frowned, holding his hands up like a boxer as he glared at me, making me chuckle. I could practically see Barbie standing behind me and I ignored her, glaring at Grayson. “You didn’t text me back,” I said, holding up my phone.

“See, I knew you weren’t texting Grayson. You received a text message from someone else.” I rolled my eyes at Lexi, ignoring her. I was about to yell out it was her mom, but that wouldn’t work out since she and her mom would kick my ass in a second.

Ignoring her I turned to look at Barbie, c*****g my eyebrow at her. “The bathroom’s inside, Barbie,” I said to her, pointing to the doors. She blushed, glaring at me as she tried to hide from Grayson, and I snickered as I heard my phone ding from the text message.

Before Lexi could say anything Grayson did. “I texted you back.” He said, raising an eyebrow at me, that cocky bastard. Not that it was easy to see under his wild dark gray hair. It was just as messy as it always was, his bangs sticking out over his face and the back of his hair hanging to the length of his chin. His chocolate eyes stared at me and I realized I was staring at him. I pulled out my phone, looking at it. It was a picture of a damn PlayStation, go figure. He grinned at me and I grabbed his head, sticking it under my arm and ruffling his hair.

He squeaked under me, punching me in the side but I just laughed, ruffling his hair even more. His punches were like a girl, well like any girl besides Lexi. Her punches were painful. Lexi huffed past us, going to Barbie and linking her arm with her, some weird girl s**t that they all seemed to do. Like they couldn’t walk without touching each other. “Can’t you two stop flirting for five minutes?” Lexi asked, rolling her eyes at us. I frowned at her, loosening my hold of Grayson and he slipped out. He ducked his head, suddenly putting space between us. Now she went and annoyed Grayson, way to go, Lexi.

“I’m not flirting with him, I only want to flirt with you, babe!” I said, winking at her. All the girls around us made the oooh and awww noises, and I smirked at Lexi as a blush covered her scowling face.

“And stop being mean to Lana. Her name is Lana, not Barbie.” She said to me, as if I hadn’t even interrupted her. I winked at her again and she tried to glare at me, before shaking her head to hide the smile creeping on her face. Of course, no one could be mad at me for very long.

I watched as Lexi turned with Barbie and walked into the school, scratching my head. I pictured her face in my mind, shrugging. She was orange from the makeup she used, bright red lips, wide blue eyes, blond hair. Seemed like Barbie to me. “Your woman is leaving,” I said, slapping Grayson on the back. He stumbled forward a bit, sighing as he shook out his hair. I did notice he was staring at their backs blankly, a lost look on his face, so maybe that was some progress. Just then Carrie walked up and I whistled at her, wagging my eyebrows. My own dream girl. Of course, I knew I was meant for Lexi, we’re getting married one day and making Alpha babies for the pack, yadda yada yada...but a boy can dream--right? Carrie was a perfect ten, no, probably a fifteen on a scale of one to ten. Smoking body, perfect hourglass shape. Weak and feminine, probably wouldn’t even think about punching me and ruining her nails. She had long dark brown hair and dark eyes, just like my lovely Ashley poster. I always had a thing for Carrie since freshman year, around the time I put the poster on the ceiling. A good visual to look at. “And there’s my dream girl…” I muttered, whistling at her again.

Grayson rolled his eyes at me as she giggled, blowing me a kiss before her boyfriend walked up beside her. He was glaring at me but that didn’t do much. He was a nerd, looked just like Dexter from Dexter’s laboratory. Yeah, I still watch cartoons, so sue me. This kid was the human version of Dexter, with red hair and glasses. Apparently, Carrie had a thing for nerds, for some reason. Probably to make him do her homework so she can stay as a cheerleader.

I shoved Grayson forward again, he was making some weird face as he looked at his fingers, such a strange awkward child. “Let’s go buttercup,” I said to him, making him glare at me. Of course, he followed me anyway. We walked to our lockers, they were a few down from each other, and put our things away. Well, Grayson put his things away, I took out a pencil since I forgot my backpack. Not that it carried more than notebooks and pencils, I didn’t really carry textbooks around since there was always some hot girl offering to share theirs with me. Why would I pass up the chance to have a hot girl pressed against me for a whole class period? I had a couple of envelopes fall out as I opened mine, something that happened frequently. I shoved them into my pocket and smirked, shutting my door. I turned to look at Grayson, ready to walk with him since we had first class together. I chuckled at him, watching as he was talking to the other two goons of his squad. They were both taller than him, one with long red hair that he kept in a ponytail at the back, and the other one had blond hair and always had candy in his mouth. Sure he was a chunky stocky boy, but that didn’t change their nicknames for me. It’s why I called Grayson Buttercup since he was the feistier one of the three. Most likely since he was a wolf and they were humans. The redhead I called Blossom, the stocky blondie was called Bubbles. See how that works out? Perfect.

I walked up to them, watching as the nerds froze and stared at me with terror in their eyes as I draped my arm around Grayson’s shoulders. “The Professor is in," I said, winking at them. Of course they all muttered how they had to hurry and scampered off in opposite directions as if I was scary or some s**t like that.

Grayson rolled his eyes at me, pinching my side, making me drop my arm. “Let me share your textbook,” I said to him, nudging him in the side. He glared at me, staring at me for a moment before sighing. I don’t know why he even hesitates or anything, he knows he’ll do it. He always does everything for me.

“Fine. But you should consider bringing your own textbook to class sometimes too, you know.” He grumbled, muttering something about me being a lazy asshole under his breath.

I grinned, ruffling his hair again as the bell rang. “Why would I do that when I can just share with you? I wouldn’t want to pull a muscle.” I said to him, winking. He frowned, shaking his head at me as we slid into our seats. I scooted my desk next to him, making the troll-looking girl next to me frown. He laid the book in the middle of the desks and I leaned over, whispering in his ear as the teacher started to talk about some s**t I wasn’t planning on listening to. “I go to practice today, are you coming over to play games with me?” I asked him.

He shivered, pulling away and glaring at me. He hated when I did that, his ears were freaking sensitive, like a girl. I chuckled at him, poking his red cheek. He was like a tomato. He swatted my hand away and I raised my hands in surrender. An angry tomato. “I’ll think about it.” He grumbled, looking at the teacher. I smirked at him, pulling out paper and a pencil to draw. Of course he’d do it, he loved the opportunity to kick my ass in video games.

“Aren’t you going to read your love notes?” He asked, raising his eyebrow at me.

I pulled them out of my pocket, shoving them at him. “You do it, I’m engaged. Lexi will have my ass if she sees me open even one of these.” I said to him.

He snickered at me, shoving them into his bag so he can throw them away later. “Yeah, she will.” He said, snorting a soft laugh. Fricken prick, always on her side. I rolled my eyes, what great best friends I had.