The Alpha's Forever Mate

CHAPTER: 10

"What did you do to Carl Johnson?" Yana asked Violet as they walked down the grand staircase to the main lobby. "He has ranked you as the number one most annoying thing about first-year high school on his blog."

There was no good way for Violet to explain how she had been looking for her dead best friend in the forest, so she just shrugged.

"I think we can cut down here," Violet said, pointing to a less busy hallway, though she had no idea where it went.

"When did you even meet him?" Yana asked, following her down the hall. "The VIP Gold has never gone to morning assembly, most of the time they do not even come to morning classes."

"I ran into him by accident while I was walking around," Violet said. "He seemed like a jerk to me."

"He is," Yana said, then stopped walking. "I think this is the wrong way."

They made it to the class just as the bell rang. Everyone else was still walking in anyway, not hurrying, so Yana and Violet got good seats by the window, overlooking the courtyard. The teacher she had seen at the welcome ceremony stood in the front of the room, leaning back on the desk as if waiting for the students to come to attention at their own time. The name 'Alex Freeman,' an email address, and a room number were scribbled up on the board in barely legible handwriting, along with 'English '9th Grade.'

Mr. Freeman looked very stern as he stared down at the class, waiting. His eyes seemed cold.

When everyone had taken their seats, stopped talking, and turned to the front, he crossed his legs at the ankles and held up a book. "Can anyone tell me what all the books on this semester's reading list have in common?" Professor Freeman asked.

"They are all boring?" the tall guy sitting next to Violet muttered.

A few people started laughing.

"Mr... Chase?" Professor Freeman asked, glancing over the class list, which Violet could see from the angle he held had not only little photos of each student but what also looked like a short description as well. Again, that was creepy and invasive.

Chase nodded.

"If you can give me a valid reason for your opinion that shall indicate you have read the books on the reading list, I will give you an automatic A for the whole semester and you can spend every Monday morning tucked up in bed," Professor Freeman said.

Chase stared at him blankly. Professor Freeman stared back with eyes that sparkled as if he had trouble containing all the merriment he held inside himself and he was straining to burst forth. Violet took back her initial impression of him as an unpleasant guy. This guy was awesome.

"Nothing? You disappoint me, Chase. Anyone else wants to answer my original question?" the Professor asked the class.

Violet hesitated before raising her hand. "They are all written by men?" she said.

Professor Freeman broke into a grin so big it could swallow the world. "Correct," he said. "Now, I want you all to get those lists up, on your overpriced little tablets, and delete them. Or if you have a hard copy, rip it up into little pieces and throw them in the air! We are going to spend the class discussing books that are not on the list and why they should be until we have a list of books we can all agree upon."

A few people groaned, obviously having read the books on the list already. And more than a few shots of filthy looks towards Violet. But she did not care. For the first time since she arrived at Elite, she felt as if she had done the right thing coming here.

The class passed in a flash and before she knew it, the bell rang. As she stood up to leave, she glanced down at the courtyard. It was empty apart from two boys who sat on one of the seats by the flowerbed. Even from a distance, Carl Johnson was notable and striking. He watched the other boy intently as the boy said something and bit into an apple. Violet was sure she was not seeing things this time. There was no doubt a second boy, too. A second boy who looked remarkably like Ryan Jackson. He was too far away to tell for sure, but the way the boy threw his head back when he laughed was the same. And how her heart pounded when the boy turned his head up and looked toward her.

"Violet, are you coming?"

Violet forced herself to smile at Yana and nodded, and when she looked back down at the courtyard, the boy was gone. Carl Johnson stood alone, glaring up at her, his thick eyebrows furrowed into a scowl.

The dirty looks that Violet got in English were because of the extra reading the students would have to do, but she got more of it in history class, and a few people muttered to their friends while staring at her. Yana was not in history class with her, so she could not ask her, but she was fairly sure she was not being paranoid. She knew she did not have anything stuck on her face, because after history, she had rushed to the washroom to check.

She was thinking about the free food, as she saw her reflection while tightening her ponytail and straightening her glasses. "Even if rich people are creepy and weird, it is worth it for the food," she said to herself.

She had been running too late to eat breakfast, so by lunch, she was starving. She hardly had to look up where the dining hall was on the map--she just floated toward the smell of food.

The dining hall was as ridiculous as everything else at Elite. There was no line for lunch, no cheap long tables with wobbly chairs. The hall had glass doors that opened out onto the back terrace. It was filled with sweet-smelling plants and small tables covered with lace tablecloths. Violet walked around vaguely, trying to find where to get her food from, and ignored the muttering and giggles that seemed to follow her.

She spotted Yana sitting in the corner at the back with a short boy and an Asian girl, and she waved Violet over to sit with them. The boy furiously whispered something at them as Violet approached but hushed up once she got within hearing distance.

"You are being an i***t, Mark," said the Asian girl, clearly not caring if Violet could overhear. "Are you not the president of 'I hate Carl Johnson and all he stands for' club? Have some integrity!" she said to him.

Mark pouted and looked away as Violet sat down.

A/N: To be continued...