Becoming Alpha

Chapter 5

When her eyes finally landed on the person seated behind her, the air in her lungs escaped with an audible rush.

Her eyes locked with the beautiful topaz-colored eyes that had mesmerized her in the cafeteria. Up close she saw how the color of his eyes looked so clear like shinning gold. The boy stared at her intently almost as though he was memorizing her face.

Kelly couldn’t help the blush that filled her cheeks. The stare was too intense and soon made her uncomfortable, but she still could not look away.

She moved her eyes from his eyes and studied the rest of his features. His shoulder length hair was so black it looked like raven wings. It looked soft as it fell around his face in a careless wave. He did not appear to be interested in styling it or even just tying it back away from his face.

Suddenly the sound of the teacher’s voice so close to her startled her out of her appraisal of the boy.

“Ms. Blackdeer, the lesson is taking place at the front of the classroom…not the back,” the short thin Chemistry teacher drawled with an irritated look in his eyes.

Kelly gave a sharp nod and mumbled an apology and faced forward. She refused to make eye contact with any other student in the class and wished the floor beneath her stool would just open and swallow her whole. What an embarrassment and poor first impression.  

She heard what sounded like a low growl behind her but did not dare to turn and investigate the source.

By the time class was done, Kelly could not leave the class room fast enough. She dashed out the door without looking at the boy again even though she had felt his presence and stare through out the lesson.

She was outside and heading for the carpark in a hasty fashion when Suzy called out and intercepted her.

“Hey, what’s the rush?”

Kelly faltered in her steps and gave an apprehensive look towards the classroom building she had just left before she looked back at the girl that now stood directly in front of her.

She shrugged and tried to appear calm. “Nothing, just can’t wait to get home. First day…you know…”

Suzy gave her a sympathetic smile. “Yaa, I know. It’s not easy being the new girl in school.” She moved to wrap an arm around Kelly like they were long time best friends. “Don’t worry, within a week you will feel right at home and I will help settle in.”

Kelly was a little shocked by the sudden friendship, especially after the girl had gotten weird during lunch. She had never been one for friends, and the few she had had never sprouted and developed in a space of eight hours. She was almost uncomfortable by it but chose not to seem ungrateful or weird. She gave Suzy a smile and thanked her before she repeated her need to get home and extracted herself from the girl’s arm.

She walked away from the school with a straight back and her heart beating beneath her feet. She did not have to look to see that she was being watched, she could feel the eyes on her, and she was certain she knew who exactly was watching her, the boy with the beautiful topaz-gold eyes.

***

Tuesday morning, Kelly took no chances, she left the house early and took the bus to school. She didn’t want to endure more drama from her step mother that morning. That was her father’s problem and he could deal with it without inconveniencing her.

She sometimes wondered if Stefanie was competing for attention with her. The woman barely acted her thirty years of age, she instead spent more time acting the part of a spoiled over entitled sixteen-year-old.

Kelly shook her head in disgust and stepped onto the school grounds. And just like her exit yesterday, Suzy suddenly called out from her left and she only turned in time for the girl to laugh and wrap an arm around her again.

Kelly secretly winced at the contact. There were people who enjoyed close body contact with others, she was not one of them. Kelly valued and respected the need for personal space.

Suzy was completely oblivious to her discomfort and happily dived into conversation.

“So, are you ready for another day?”

Kelly sighed and continued to walk. “I am here, so I guess I must be.”

They walked on as Suzy chatted away about some gossip she had heard. Kelly had no idea who the individuals in the story were so she paid little attention. Then she saw them.

The three boys from the cafeteria sat on a low wall built around the grass outside the building with the senior classes. Her step faltered before she could help herself and Suzy immediately noticed.

She shot an eye in the direction of the boys. Her loud happy voice paused mid sentence. With narrowed suspicious eyes she looked at Kelly and asked, “Do you like them?” Her voice sounded almost accusatory.

“What?” Kelly snapped out of the trance she had unknowingly been in and stared wide eyed at the girl still holding her by her shoulders. “No, of course not.”

Suzy regarded her a moment and then scoffed and removed her arm and absentmindedly flattened the gray skirt she wore.

“Like I told you yesterday… you are neither the first nor the last. They have that effect on all the females breathing the same air as them.” She gave the boys a look Kelly could not quite decipher. “Best you stay clear.”

Kelly was not sure how to categorize the girl’s attitude, the advice bordered close to a threat in the tone it was delivered. She decided to wisely keep her mouth shut. It was only the second day in this new school. She had no intension of starting problems for herself, especially not over some boys.

The said boys, sat on the wall and watched every student walk by and enter the building, there was no other way to get into the building except to walk past them. Kelly straightened her back and kept her head low as she walked forward and prepared to pass them.

The air was almost electric when she stepped near them and her heartbeat picked up suddenly. Suzy went ahead of her, she saw the girl give them a smile as she passed them but none of the boys responded, if anything the scowled at her. Kelly quickly lowered her eyes and walked past as fast as her legs would allow without falling over and embarrassing herself.

Once inside the building she wasted not time and headed for her locker to retrieve her books for the first lesson and headed for class.

Outside the building, Callum fumed and frowned at every student that walked by. “That was interesting.” He heard his friend Mattias comment under his breath.

“I am not sure whether to be flattered or insulted by what we just heard,” Oscar muttered and he snarled at another student that walked by and made the boy stumble and nearly ran into the wall.

Callum was silent and observant. He was trying to center and calm his wolf from doing something stupid such as walk into the school and carry Kelly over his shoulder and head for the pack lands.

“Cal, I can hear you growling,” Oscar said as he placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed to get his attention.

He blinked and looked at his friends. Oscar looked concerned and was studying him. Mattias on the other hand looked like he was ready to rip someone apart, he was just waiting to be pointed in the right direction.

Callum took a deep calming breath and gave them a tight smile. “I guess the silver lining is that I at least have her attention. I could feel her heartbeat double the moment she saw me…the friend…I don’t know how I feel about that.”

He shot a quick glare at Mattias who looked about to make a suggestion. “No, we can not beat her up. She is a girl for one and she is just sharing her opinion…even if the opinion is not in our favor,” he told his friend firmly.

He sometimes wondered how his friend’s brain worked, then he would remember, Mattias was an enforcer, so he loved the guy and understood him. He knew Mattias would fight to the death for him if the situation presented itself. He just needed to be stopped sometimes.

Oscar was thoughtful and rubbed his chin. He looked at Callum. “You need to talk to Kelly, preferably before Suzy poisons her mind further with her opinions.”

“What is her problem, anyway?” Mattias asked in anger. “I am pretty sure she was smiling and trying to flirt with us, after telling her friend to stand down.”

Both Oscar and Callum chuckled and shook their heads as they got off the wall and entered the building.

“Two things,” Oscar started. “She is human and a female…who the hell can understand whatever she is up to?”

“Very true,” Callum agreed. He was concerned with Suzy’s interference, but not enough to pay much attention to it, he had better things to think about. He had to figure out how he was going to approach Kelly and start a conversation without his wolf jumping forward and scaring the living day light out of her.