An Unexpected Wolf Rank

4 - Bully

Samantha

I leave the girl's bathroom after checking myself in the mirror for the billionth time. I know I look like crap, but I am still hoping nobody will notice how red and puffy my eyes are and how dark the circles under my eyes have gotten.

The pink in my hair is so faded and dirty looking that I decide it's best if I just put my hair up in a messy bun, making this whole bad hair day look intentional.

I plan on washing my hair tonight, but I don't have any more pink hair dye, so I will probably be back to blonde ends. The lack of sleep is slowly catching up to me, but this is technically the first day of school and this will be my senior year, so I have to brace myself and show my face. Fake it till you make it, am I right?

Man, I really hope people have forgotten about the humiliating event yesterday. I really hope there's some hot new gossip going around school and that nobody would give a crap about me being an Omega anymore.

What I do know is that I need to keep my head down and just act like I don't have a care in the world.

"Hey babe, how're you feeling?" Jen catches up to me as soon as I exit the bathroom. I can see on her face that she feels bad for me and doesn't quite know what to say or how to say it in order for me not to feel like she's taking pity on me.

I don't even manage to open my mouth and mutter a reply because I'm nearly knocked down by the force that crashes me into a bone breaking hug.

"What the hell happened to you yesterday? We were worried sick. You just bolted to the woods and did not even bother to tell us. Are you alright? What the hell happened to you?"

"Marie, I'm fine, just get off me, you're heavier than you look." I shake her off but she still holds my gaze demanding an answer. I got to love my friends and how much they care about me.

For a good minute I was afraid I'd lose Marie and Jen's friendship, but it looks like I had nothing to worry about. That song pops in my head 'But at least I've got my friends.." which makes me smile a bit.

"I'm alright guys, I just needed to be alone for a while, you know? I won't lie to you, I did not expect to rank Omega, so it kind of messed me up and I needed to clear my head and make some sense of it." They both nod at me keeping their eyes cast down showing me that they feel bad for what happened.

"It's not your fault, don't feel bad. I'm really happy you guys got the ranks you wanted." I look at both their faces and they don't seem convinced, not even one bit.

I decide it's best to keep to myself the whole mess with my parents. I'll tell the girls one I digest the information better, because I know they will have a lot of questions and even more comments about the whole thing.

"Seriously guys, I'm fine. Let's just get to class. I have History first, and we all know Miss Pratt does not like tardiness, not even on the first day of school."

Jen groans because she apparently has the same class as me.

As an Omega, (oh Goddess it hurts to even think of myself like that, it's like a silver blanket is burning me from the inside out whenever I think of my rank.)

"Sorry, that's me. I'll calm down now." Ming smiles apologetically in my mind. I guess it makes sense, she must be pretty upset to get that rank, but what if that's actually our rank? I mean, my theory about my birth parents starts with both of them being Omegas or other low rank wolves, so maybe I am meant to be an Omega.

"Earth to Sam!" A well manicured hand belonging to Jen waves dangerously close to my face. "Can we go to class now, or you want to stand out even more, like a sore thumb, when you show up late to Miss Pratt's class on the first day?"

"Let's go, Jen. See you later Marie." I grab Jen and we make our way to History class.

During Miss Pratt's monologue about the Cold War, I start to space out again, going back to my earlier thought that got so rudely interrupted by Ming's anger. Basically, Marie and others that ranked Alpha, Beta and Delta have most of their classes together and they go through intense courses and in depth studies while Omegas and Sigmas have minimal education. Gammas usually take a mix between the two, and that's why Jennifer might have a lot of common classes either with me or with Marie.

Another interesting thing, as Omega I notice there's only one hour of PE per week in my schedule. So much for training, I guess.

"That should be enough to keep Omegas fit and enable them to use a broom to sweep the floors in the pack house." Ming's snarky comment makes an amused grin spread on my face, although it also gets me thinking about what my options are here. What am I supposed to do with myself after I graduate, if I manage to pull this off for a year and actually graduate.

"You could.."

"I swear, Ming, If you say that I could sweep the floors in the pack house, I'm going to block you for a month and not let you out of a run."

"I wasn't going to say that, but you might have to consider getting a job. You do need to eat and get school supplies and necessities. And I have a feeling going to Alpha Jaxon and asking for help will only result in you familiarising yourself with the broom and the floors in the pack house."

"I'll figure something out, Ming."

The bell finally rings to signal our freedom and I’m pleased to see how the next periods just fly by, surprisingly quickly.

For lunch I meet Marie and Jen at our regular spot, stupid me didn’t realise that means seeing most of our pack members who witnessed my ranking yesterday.

Walking in the cafeteria, I can already sense all eyes are on us.

“Just ignore them, It’ll all blow over as soon as Rianna finds someone other than Jason to focus on, and we’ll have ourselves the newest hot relationship filled with drama.” Marie whispers to us while rolling her eyes, and Jen, bless her heart, just glares at everyone that stares at us whispering, laughing and even pointing.

We sit at our usual table, and try our best to ignore all the stares.

“I’ll go get us lunch. You guys fancy pizza or burgers?”

“Pizza!” Both myself and Marie reply at the same time and Jen goes to get our lunch chuckling.

I’m listening to my friend talk about how happy she is that Jason finally left for Alpha training, and how she’ll have peace and quiet now, stating all the reasons she and Jason never got along.

To be honest, they didn’t really have any valid reason not to get along, they genuinely just didn’t like each other, and I’ve always found that strange, but not bothered to give it more thought. Even if they’re not actually siblings, their relationship looks a lot like sibling rivalry. And it doesn’t help that they’re both Alphas, or that Marie has been spoiled rotten in an attempt to overcompensate for her losing her parents at such a young age.

“So I hear the Omega is craving pizza today.” A sarcastic voice can be heard behind me. I try to be the bigger person and just ignore it. I was expecting teasing, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. What I did not expect was bullying, although Rianna always had it out for me and now she finally is in a position to assert herself as the designated bully of the defenceless Omega that I apparently am.

Judging by the tomato sauce that is currently dripping from my head, soaking my hair in the process and also my clothes, I can tell that spaghetti and meatballs with red sauce was another option for lunch today.

Oh, I’ll need to find a way to wash and dry my laundry on school premises. I wonder if I could sneak into the kitchen tonight, maybe they have a washing machine or something.

Slowly and in a dramatic manner, I stand up glaring daggers at the queen b***h that’s smirking, feeling pleased about humiliating me in front of everybody. Marie mutters something about getting Mr Biggins and bolts out of the cafeteria. I’m not mad at my friend, she’s trying to help me by getting him. Before I can even begin my payback on Rianna, Timothy and some other buff guy, who’s name I don’t know, flank me and hold me down while the b***h uses me like her personal punching bag.

Ming is clawing to get out, but we aren’t allowed to use our wolf form on school premises, so I have to keep her contained. Suddenly the mutts drop me to the ground, or more like push me down.

Kick! Punch. Kick! Punch. f**k, that’s hurts, and there’s so much blood that I just give up trying to protect myself, I just wait for the beating to end. Marie is on her way with Mr Biggins, so it’ll all be over soon.

Kick! Punch. Any minute now. It’ll all be over.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been kicked and punched, but I can bet more people joined Rianna in stomping me.

“Miss Bailey, get up and follow me to my office.” Oh, thank Goddess Mr Biggins is here. I’m using the last bit of strength that I have to get up. My eyes are almost swollen shut, heck I can’t even see with my left eye, but I’ll heal eventually.

“Miss Bailey, I must say that I’m terribly disappointed in you. I guess you have shown your true colours.” He keeps sighing, sounding very bored and like I just disturbed his mid-day nap. ”You will have detention for the rest of the week, and I expect you to know your place and act like it.”

It’s taking me a bit longer than usual to process what he’s saying, but ‘luckily’ he explains himself in detail.

“You are not to upset those who are ranked higher than you, especially Rianna, who word has it, is Jason’s mate and will soon be your new Luna. You are to keep your head down and not disturb or attack her anymore, or else I might have to inform Alpha Jaxon and strongly recommend that you be exiled from the Crescent Moon pack.” I look at him in disbelief.

“What do you mean ‘attack her’?” I do my best to look him in the eye, although it proves quite difficult with my swollen eyes.

“Miss Bailey, what did I just say about knowing your place?”

I look down, suddenly finding my shoes very interesting, but also trying to calm down the anger seething through my body fuelled by Ming’s own outrage. I ball my fists and the extended claws dig deep into my palms drawing even more blood.

“Get out of my office, I don’t want to see you here anytime soon!” He stands up abruptly showing me the door and I just leave before I can get myself into more trouble than I already am.

I see Marie waiting for me outside Mr Biggins office and I make my way towards her. Once she engulfs me into a warm hug, I break into sobs.

“Oh, babe. I'm so sorry that happened to you. Come on, let’s get you to the nurse’s office and clean you up. That b***h is going to pay, I can promise you that.”

“Just let her be, Marie. I already got detention for apparently attacking her, I don’t want you to get in trouble also.”

Marie doesn't say anything else as she takes me to the nurse’s office. Once inside, the angel that the nurse was, gave me something for the pain and suggested I should take a nap in there, under her supervision, so she can make sure I heal and there is no long-term damage. Luckily, she never asked what happened or who started it and why, she just patched me up as best as she could and helped me onto the bed.

I look at Marie who waves me goodbye and heads back to her last class. She tells the nurse about coming to see me after school finishes, but the nurse told her that I might be asleep, so she can just head home. After doing my best to smile at her she closes the door and I finally give in to some much needed sleep.