An Unexpected Wolf Rank

7 - Encouraged

Samantha

It’s Monday again and I can’t wait for school to be over for the day, so I can head to the pub for my shift. The weekend flew by whilst helping Carla and Rudy. Thankfully, Carla paid me after each shift so I was able to treat myself to an amazingly lush breakfast on Sunday morning at one of my favourite cafes.

I did the maths and if all goes well with my new part-time job I might be able to rent myself a small studio. I just need to continue sleeping at school for the next 3-4 weeks so I can save up enough for the first rent. Sounds easy enough, right?

I walk around absentmindedly and not even hear my friend calling for me.

“Hey Sam, wait up.” Jen runs after me looking out of breath.

“Morning Jen. Did you run here?” I slow my pace trying to contain a giggle. Jen is not a runner.

“I went by your house earlier and your parents acted like they had no idea who you were. Sam, what is going on?”

I can read sincere concern in Jen's eyes, and I feel a bit guilty for not telling her about my parents. Jen is so empathic, I’m positive she’ll be a great doctor someday.

“Her parents kicked her out. Well, they’re not actually her parents, are they?” Marie joins us and answers Jen’s question probably better than I could have. I give her a grateful smile practically begging both of them with my eyes not to ask any further questions.

“What? How did that happen? Why would they do such a thing?”

Well, I guess my pleas didn’t work.

“Guys, keep your voices down, please. I don’t need the pack bullies to get any more ammo that they can use on me. And also, I really don’t want to talk about it.” I firmly tell both the girls and let a relieved breath out when I hear the bell ring and we all run to our respective classes.

I managed to get to my English class before Miss Roberts, our teacher. Thankfully, she is always late. Unfortunately, today that worked against me because I found myself in front of Timothy who sports a huge evil grin on his face.

Ming is already clawing inside, her rage is getting more and more difficult to contain. Oh this is just great!

“Going somewhere, Omega?”

He gets hold of my shoulders, his claws extending and digging into my skin, making me wince in pain.

“I just want to go to class, Tim. I’m not looking for any trouble.”

“It’s Timothy to you, b***h. And too bad trouble IS looking for you.” And just like that he knees me in the stomach and I can feel the breakfast I had yesterday trying to get out. Timothy quickly lets go of me. I can hear Miss Roberts’ heels click clacking on the hallway, so I make my way inside the classroom trying my best not to look injured and ignore all the laughs.

“I could have kicked his ass. I know I could. You just need to get over yourself and let me take control.” Ming is rambling on and on about how we should not let them think we’re weak and about how she can just take them all. It’s honestly giving me such a headache that I decide to completely block her out until she chills.

It’s not that I enjoy being bullied, especially since I get bullied by people who were saying hello to me and giving me high fives just over a week ago. Trust me, it sucks, but I need to be realistic. I am an Omega, so obviously I could never take down Timothy or someone like him, who are literally training to become fighters.

At lunch time both girls corner me with serious expressions on their faces. I need to get this over with. They have been my best friends and still stuck by me so they deserve to know everything.

“We need to talk, Sam.” Jennifer tells me and Marie just nods, crossing her arms like a guard at a nightclub.

“Follow me.”

I take the girls to a large storage room I’ve discovered a few days ago. I know for a fact it’s not used unless we have a big event upcoming at school. The girls follow me inside the big storage room that is filled with wooden stuff you need when setting up a podium or a stage and lots of chairs.

“What is this place?” Marie asks, looking around weary.

“They store in here the stuff needed when we have a school event. Nobody is going to bother us. Take a chair and I’ll tell you everything once, and once only. Then I really don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

They both nodded and each took a chair from the pile.

After taking a deep breath, I told them everything that had happened since I ran away after the ranking ceremony. Jen was a bit more composed while listening to my story while Marie was getting angrier by the minute. It must be the Alpha in her, having a harder time keeping her emotions in check.

“So you’re practically squatting in here?” Jennifer asks me with tears in her eyes. "You can just come and live with me. I.. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind." She tries, but we both know that's not an option.

“It’s fine, honestly. I’ve actually found a part time job and in a few weeks I’ll be able to afford my own place. I just need to ride this out for a while, and I’ll manage just fine.” I’m surprised again at how confident I sound.

"I'm a few months away from finding my mate, and I have this feeling that finding him will change everything for me." Jen perks up a bit when she sees how enthusiastically I speak about finding my mate, but Marie seems to get angrier and angrier, so I just cut the emotional meeting short and we all return to our classes.

After school Jennifer offers to go with me to the pub and I introduce her to Carla and Rudy. She hung around for a while but I was busy waiting on the tables so she eventually left, but not before giving me a big hug and saying how proud she is of me. I guess I kind of feel proud of myself also. I so got this!

We're approaching closing time and as the last customers leave I go in the back to tidy up Carla's office. Humming away I dance with the broom and organise her papers. Looks like I'm good at being Omega.

"Wow, you sing?" Carla approaches mouth agape and eyes wide as saucers.

"Oh my Goddess, you scared the life out of me. Sorry, I didn't realise you were in here."

"You have a really good voice, Sam. You know what? You should sing at the next open mic."

"Pff, you don't have to be that nice. I'm not looking to scare away all the pub's customers, so I promise I'll refrain from singing in public." I laugh it off as smoothly as I can, but Carla is not budging.

"You are joking now, right?" As soon as she realised I'm dead serious she yelled for Rudy to come in.

"Hey Rudy, be an old wise wolf and listen to this girl sing. I swear I've never heard anyone with such a beautiful voice and she sounds so good, but she seems to think she's tone deaf."

"All right, let me hear it!" Rudy plops himself on a chair acting like a judge on ‘The Voice’. As amusing as I find this whole situation, I would rather not sing in front of them.

"Let's just forget about all this, ok? I think I'll head home. Everything looks tidy around here, so I'll see you tomorrow?" I ask hoping that they would just drop it and let me be.

“Sing, damn it! You have a great voice, kid, you just need a push, so I’m pushing you. Now sing!”

I don’t understand what happened but the second Carla raised her voice and commanded me to sing, I let go. I closed my eyes and started singing the chorus of Bird Set Free by Sia.

“Wow, kid, you are so singing this Saturday.” Rudy got up chuckling and clapping his hands.

"I guess I'll put my name down on the list." I smile wide and can't help but feel excited about singing.