The Royal Wolff

Chapter 2: I Just Got Friendzoned

“Hey, little monster. Are you good?” My brother asked as soon as I got inside his car.

I let out a small sigh before slowly putting on my seatbelt with barely any energy to do anything for the day.

“Okay, you are definitely not good. I usually have to annoy you to stop singing the seatbelt song when you put it on. What’s up?” Mathieu lowered the volume on the music playing before giving all his attention to me.

“I don’t know…” I muttered under my breath. “I just…” I bit my lip as I tried to find the right words to express what I was feeling, but in reality, even I myself didn’t know what it was.

“I can’t believe this is all happening.” I said to Mathieu, the words somehow coming out of me like it was what my heart wanted to say.

It was hard not to feel a little down with the realization of having to leave it all. Yesterday after our parents told us we had to move all the way to Spain, I was speechless. It felt impossible to accept that fact especially when all I wanted, since the day I found out I was different, was to not be that.

I loved being who I am, what I am, and everyone in my family, my pack… but at the same time, being in the city with the bright lights, the people that didn’t sleep, that hustled day and night, this is what made me feel alive. I didn’t want to leave it and most especially not be immediately put into a school for werewolves when I have been used to being around humans for most of my life.

“Oh, Ani.” Mathieu cooed, saying the nickname he only used when I knew he was being a softie towards me. “It’s going to be alright. I got your back, okay? Whatever happens there, wherever we go, I will always punch anyone who tries to harm you. That is if you haven’t already.” He teased, knowing full well I never let anyone get the best of me since he was always the one pulling me out of small fights.

“Grazie, fratello. Now you should probably hurry if we don’t want to be late for our festa d’addio (farewell party).” I looked at him with a smirk and started wiggling my eyebrows in a playful way.

“What farewell party?” He looked at me confused for a few seconds before realizing that I was up to no good. “Anita…. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, you-”

“Look, green light! Go, Mathieu! Go!” I shouted at him before turning the volume as high as I could on his music, tuning him and his lectures out.

-

If there was one good thing about leaving, it was that you could basically do anything you wanted and not get reprimanded because you would no longer be there.

Three years in Wood Crest High had its ups and downs. The ups being that the food was pretty delicious and the downs being that some of the students here were beyond annoying.

“Anita! Please tell us you’re joking!” I turned around and saw Sheila and Jake running towards me.

These two were my ride or die. I probably would have gotten into way more trouble if these two weren’t there to hold me down or stop me from doing crazier things like that one time I almost sneaked in the Principal’s office and sent an embarrassing email from his computer.

“Are you really leaving us?” Sheila pouted at me as both her and Jake put their arms over my shoulder.

“Now who the hell is going to be my lookout for when I take our dog mascot out on a trip?” Jake looked at me with a mischievous smile.

Okay, maybe it was only Sheila that stopped us from going overboard. Jake and I were pretty much partners in crime.

“Who says I can’t be?” I glanced at both of them with a smirk. “Last one for old time’s sake?” I asked them and Jake immediately agreed whilst Sheila was of course a little more cautious.

“Oh come on, Sheila Davis! It’s our last run.” I pleaded with her, making the best puppy eyes I could to get her to agree.

“Live a little.” Both Jake and I said at the same time and we turned to each other chuckling.

Sheila raised her hands up in defeat. “Fine, fine! But if that dog poops, I will not be the one picking it up!”

“Oh don’t worry, I got that all planned. I know exactly where to put it already.” I reassured them before letting out a soft evil laugh.

-

If anyone told me that one day I would be skipping school to pass by Starbucks and buy a puppuccino for Frankie, our school’s pug mascot, and take him out to the dog park, I would probably laugh and say, “hell yeah, you’re right. I would totally do that.”

“Anita Wolff, you are freaking crazy! We need to get that dog back!” Sheila shouted from behind me as we rode at the back of Jake’s pickup truck.

“Frankie is absolutely having the time of his life!” I shouted back to her as I kept feeding him more of the special pup drink which was basically an espresso cup filled with whip cream.

“Hey guys!”

Jake suddenly banged on the top of his car which gave both Sheila and I a fright, and I accidentally let go of the cup in my hand.

“AH! Anita!” Sheila squealed as it landed right on her pants. “Not my favorite jeans!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It was Jake’s fault! Ah, Frankie!” The pug I was holding escaped from my hold as he ran for more whip cream, licking it straight out of her jeans.

“Jake Williams, this is all your fault!” I shouted out to Jake who was at the front driving us. “What were you going to tell us anyway?!” I asked him.

“Check your phones!” He shouted to us and Sheila and I looked at each other confused.

Curious, we hurriedly took our phones out of our pockets and checked.

Students of Wood Crest High. It has come to our attention that Frankie, our mascot, has been taken this morning. Whoever is responsible should come forward now and bring our beloved dog back. We will not tolerate this kind of behavior.

First there was that feeling of panic that we were going to get caught and the punishment would be severe, and then there was sort of a pause wherein I realized - and what about it?

As I turned to Sheila who was looking panicked at first as well, but went to play with Frankie, and then hearing Jake screaming the lyrics to On Top Of The World, I realized that nothing else mattered, but this moment.

Hair being swept by the wind, music playing loudly from the speakers, and people and cars just passing us in a split second.

We were all free. We are free. No one or nothing could stop any of us.

“Cause I’m on top of the world, hey! I’m on top of the world, hey!”

All three of us began to sing in the car, smiling and laughing and dancing a little.

I was going to miss this. I was going to miss my friends and even every stranger I’ve met in this big city. Each of them came into my life and big or small, left an impact in my life and made me who I am today. Made me… me.

My phone buzzed again and I checked to see who it was this time.

I can’t believe you’ve done that. Good job, though. Bring me home fries and I won’t tell our parents.

I rolled my eyes before chuckling at Mathieu’s clear bribery message. The school message didn’t even say anything about who did it, but he already knew it was me. Glad to know my brother knows me too well.

-

“He pooped! Anita, he pooped!” Sheila yelped at me and I immediately ran back to her to quiet her down.

“Ssshh! Quiet or they’re going to catch us!” I told her and pulled Jake down under the bushes.

“Get down before they catch us!” I ordered Jake immediately right before a couple of cars passed by.

After our adventure-filled day at the dog park and feeding Frankie in the car, we decided it was time to go back to the school before classes ended. We made one last stop at Shake Shack and parked right behind the trees and bushes which was somewhat of a blind spot around here.

“We need to get inside without anyone noticing we have him. Any ideas?” I looked at my two best friends while petting Frankie who was quite frankly, enjoying his time, albeit his poop stinking up our hiding place.

“I think I might just have the perfect plan.” Jake bit his lip and squinted his eyes at me and I knew it was that look he did when he had been waiting to do something for quite some time and he finally found the chance to execute it.

“But first! Poop cleaning time.” I announced quietly behind the bushes, grabbing the poop bag from my pocket as Sheila held Frankie.

“Oh thank goodness, I thought I was going to faint with the smell of that poop.” Sheila exclaimed and both Jake and I laughed.

“You are so never going to be a fur parent.” I told her and she hurriedly agreed.

“I don’t plan on doing that for as long as I live, anyway.” She replied with a scoff before proceeding to cuddle with Frankie. For someone who didn’t like pets, she sure didn’t look like it.

“So, what’s the plan, partner?” I asked Jake who was looking down from the bushes with eagle eyes.

“We have approximately fifteen minutes until that bell rings. One minute from now the school guard will go to the back where the bathroom is and stay there for two minutes which is enough time for us to get inside and walk to the dog’s room before anyone sees us.” Jake explained in full detail and I have always been impressed with the way he analyzed things so easily.

He reminded me of my uncle, my father’s brother, or more known as the Alpha in our pack. He was so meticulous with everything, you could pretty much never get away with anything when he was in the picture.

“Something tells me that the smirk on your face means there is something else in that plan of yours.” I looked at him with a raised brow.

Jake snickered. “Or… we could sneak the dog inside the Principal’s office after giving him a lot of water and before that bell rings, they’re going to have a pee party.”

“I like that plan better. You’re on, Williams.” The two of us easily got along with our plan, something we often did when it came to messing around, and once we did our quick handshake, our plan was set into motion.

“Go, go, go, the guard has gone to the bathroom!” Sheila signaled for us to hurry, glancing left and right to see if there was anyone else by the entrance.

Because Sheila was on the petite side, it was easier for her to hide so we made her the lookout.

“Let’s go, boy! Back to school!” I whispered to Frankie, who for a second if I’m not mistaken, made a little crying noise and pouted at me when I said it was back to school for him.

Sorry, little man, but we all have to go back and face reality when the time comes.

I carried him in my arms and put my jacket over him in case anyone else passed by. It was better to be safe than sorry.

“Come on, the coast is clear.” Jake told me as he took my hand and pulled me inside the school and my heart was racing inside of my chest.

I wouldn’t know what would happen if we were to get caught but I’m sure it wasn’t going to be pretty. The confidence I had in doing this all came from knowing I was going to leave this place, but if ever someone did see us, they would immediately think Sheila and Jake were a part of this plan and they would get in trouble. I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

Luckily, when we got inside, the hallway was completely deserted. I realized since the day was almost ending, most students would be inside the classrooms just waiting for the bell to ring. Man, Jake really thought this through. Thank the Moon Goddess for him.

“We’re almost at the office. The secretary is usually distracted listening to music with her earphones so she won’t even hear the door open. I’ll just open it a little so Frankie can go inside then we can make a run for it. Are you ready, Ace?” Jake turned to me, his light hazel eyes looking directly at me like they were there to reassure and let me know all was going to go according to plan.

Ace. A nickname he’s given me the day we met during the first week in high school. I would be lying if I said I never had any sort of feelings for Jake Williams. He was adventurous, passionate, and had a whole lot of antics which matched up exactly to me. It was like he was me if I was a boy.

I never thought of him as my crush, or anything of the like. Heck, I never looked at him as someone more than my best friend who I loved messing around with, but the thought of probably this being the last time I was going to see him for quite some time, and the memories of him helping me plot my revenge for Melissa who tried to bully me before started coming back, I started to realize something.

Maybe… I did like-

“Jake Williams? What the hell are you doing?”

My thoughts were hurriedly interrupted when a familiar voice spoke up in front of us. I peeped from behind Jake and saw Nathan standing in the middle of the hallway with his bathroom pass. Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. You really had to pee right now, O’Hare?

“Shit.” I heard Jake mutter in frustration and I knew he was stuck. This wasn’t part of his plan and he didn’t have a backup for when someone would walk in on us.

Think, Anita. Think. I need to take the blame for us.

“Hurry and leave Frankie in the office. I’ll take care of this.” I hurriedly whispered to Jake before standing up and revealing myself to Nathan.

“Wait, Anita, do-” I didn’t let Jake stop me as I continued walking in front of him, hands behind my back.

Nathan’s face turned from confused to curious with a mix of entertained when I began to walk towards him.

“If it isn’t Anita Wolff, the girl who cried wolf.” He commented in an obvious mocking tone.

“That is far from what happened yesterday, O’Hare. Did you even read that book? Or read anything at all for that matter?” I snarked at him and he scoffed.

“Whatever. Once I tell the Principal you and Williams were the ones who took the mascot, you’re both screwed. Oh, wait. You’re leaving, aren’t you? Williams can take all the blame then. I bet Davis is a part of it too. This is what you get for humiliating me yesterday.” Nathan started walking towards the office and my heart started beating rapidly.

He could just walk inside and tell the Principal what we did and this would be all over. The fun day we had would be taken away from us and be replaced with nothing but bad behavior notes on both Jake and Sheila’s records. No way I was going to let that happen to my best friends.

“Wait!” I shouted out louder than expected, even taking Nathan by surprise that he stood frozen in front of me.

“What is it, Wolff? Are you going to beg?” He said, looking at me with that stupid smug expression I so desperately wanted to smack away.

“You wanna know what really happened in the story?” I asked him with a smile and he looked at me confused.

“Let out your hand. Trust me.” I said, internally hoping that he was going to be naive enough to follow.

Fortunately, he actually was. The second he let out his hand, I pulled out what I was hiding from behind my back and placed it right in the middle of his hands.

“What- what the f**k is this, Anita?!” Nathan stared in horror at the transparent bag with Frankie’s name stuck to it and brown dung inside.

I let out my phone and took a picture real quick. “Say ‘Frankie’s Poop’!”

“What?!”

CLICK.

“Now if you go and tell the Principal it was our doing, I can just upload this all over the internet as proof you had the dog. Guess who they’re going to believe more. That’s right. The one with proof.” I stuck my tongue out at him while he was too busy trying to look for where to throw the poop on his hands.

“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what happened when the boy cried wolf.” I confidently concluded after watching Nathan run to the bathroom in panic and frustration.

“He got a bag of s**t?” Jake showed up and put his arm around me.

For the first time, or maybe since I started becoming more open to the thought, I felt tingles down my spine with Jake so close to me.

“Very funny. You’re welcome for saving your ass, by the way.” I nudged his side and he chuckled loudly.

“Ah, my ass thanks you tremendously, Ace.” He pulled me in closer to him as he turned to me and there it was again - his hazel eyes piercing into mine deeply and it felt like time stopped as we stood in the middle of the hallway.

It was just the two of us. No other students, no teachers, and silence. I felt like any second now, Jake would be able to hear the beating of my heart from how loud it was getting.

Should I tell him? Should I open up about what this is… what this unusual feeling this was I could feel whenever I looked into his eyes?

“Jake-”

RING RING.

The school bell rang loudly in the hallway and in a split second, students started coming out of the rooms and the silence that was so peaceful seconds ago was completely gone.

It was like a jungle with every one of these vultures coming out and Jake and I were just standing in the middle of this chaos.

“Come on.” Jake suddenly said before smiling at me and taking my hand.

He pulled me out of the crowd and my heart continued to beat loudly as I felt the warmth of his touch with my hand. What was this feeling of rush yet solitude at the same time?

Before I knew it, we had already gotten out of the school and ran to the back of the football field. I caught a glimpse of Sheila who had gotten busy with one of the cats by the tree. Looks like someone was getting soft for furry animals.

“Here.”

“What?” I looked down as Jake held out something small in between us.

Based on the rather funny attempt of gift wrapping, it was around the size of a keychain.

“Did you wrap this yourself?” I asked him teasingly and his cheeks got a little flushed.

“Not the important part of this, Ace. Come on.” He chuckled embarrassed.

“Okay, okay.” I laughed while opening it but paused when I was able to see what was underneath the scrunched up paper.

It was a small keychain version of the Ace card and when you turned it around, my name was written at the back.

“This is… awesome. Y-you didn’t have to.” I looked up at him, my lips forming into a pout.

“Oi, no crying.” Jake demanded before ruffling my hair and distracting me.

“Anyway, it’s a farewell gift. Well…” He cleared his throat before looking at me and for the first time, I think I saw a hint of sadness in his eyes. “It’s a ‘see you later’ gift.”

“Don’t ever forget who you are. You’ve got the highest value in a deck, Ace. Thanks for being the best friend anyone could have all these years. Don’t tell Sheila that, though.” He chuckled lightly before placing his hands on my shoulders.

“Now cheer up! Maybe I’ll come visit you in Spain too and who knows? You could be a great wingwoman for me there and help me find a Spanish girlfriend.” He said rather jokingly before pulling me in for a hug, but by then the words had already processed in my head and I realized…

I was just friendzoned.

-

I threw all my things in the back of Mathieu’s car before sitting, or more like slumping myself on the front seat.

“So, how was your last day besides dognapping? Any other fun stories, last day realizations? And did you get my fries?” Mathieu asked as he started driving.

I slowly turned to him and placed my hand on his hand that was holding on to the steering wheel and he looked at me in shock and confusion.

“What the-? What’s wrong with you, woman?”

My eyes blinked at him in thought before concluding.

“Remind me never to have feelings for boys ever again.”