Nicole took a shaky breath as she shivered on a bench in the corridor of her high-school, her 'Alpha', sitting beside her. "Shh, just try and calm down, okay? Deep breathes, take deep ones." He instructed, his hand lightly resting on her head, but hovering a few centimeters above as she wasn't fond of touch.
"I-I can't! I can barely breathe, Colin, I can't!" She protested. "I know, I know." He whispers back, pulling out his phone. "W-What are you looking up?" She chokes out. "Looking up how to help someone through an anxiety attack." He responds.
"You spud!" She manages to laugh, but then let's out a cry of pain, clutching her chest, slightly. His face falls and he lowers his phone, resting it on his knee.
"Hey." A voice called out and they both looked up to see who. The first thing Neo spotted was Nicole's tear streaked face. He rushed up to hug her, but Colin stood up, opposing him and pushed her back.
"Hasn't she been through enough, today? You abandoned her this morning. She needed you and you weren't there." Colin hisses at him, trying to keep his tone of voice, low for Nicole's sake. Neo lowers his head, ears twitching slightly.
"You're right... I should have been there to walk with her to school this morning."
"And?" Colin added on.
"And I won't let it happen it again."
"Good, you can talk to her." Colin responds, stepping aside.
"Nicole?" Neo whispers, bending down infront of her. "M-Neo?" She chokes out, looking him straight in his eyes.
"I have something for you." He tells her gently, placing something into her hand. "I know it doesn't make up for you waking up alone this morning, but I hope it can be a start." He says, scratching behind his ear.
She looks down at her hand to see a box of pocky, blueberry pocky. "Is something wrong?" Neo asks when he sees her face.
"I dislike Blueberries."
"Oh I see... I am sorry for not knowing that, you've never told me. I'll remember for next time, if there gets to be one that is."
"I forgive you, I grabbed blueberry pocky by accident when we were with Wes. That lady who freaked out, scared me. You too a little bit, but mainly her."
"Lady?" Colin speaks up, confused. Neo shrugs it off. "Don't worry about it, Alpha."
"Whatever you say then, Omega." Colin scoffs when Nicole shivers, letting out another small cry.
"What's wrong?" Neo questions, placing his hands on Nicole's shoulders. "I-I'm cold." She chokes out.
"Oh, I'll take you to the charity store and we'll see what thick coat we can find in your size, yeah? You outgrew your last one and winter will be here soon I suppose. It won't be new, but I promise they make sure anything they receive isn't coated in germs and I can wash it for you before you wear it just to be extra sure.
Sound good? We'll go this afternoon if you like." Neo smiles.
Nicole nods, her sobs starting.
"W-where did you go this morning? Why were you late?" Nicole questions. "Oh... Lacey scolded me and let me off with a warning. I know you know we don't have much money coming so I ran around town, following some leads on work that people have available.
They're the whole day on Saturday and Sunday and Wednesday afternoon to early evening, but it means we'll have a little extra money coming in it. I got a letter in the mail. The power was at a risk of being cut, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you."
"At-least you told me now."
"Yeah... Hey, listen. I just need to go do something. Will you be okay to wait here with Alpha for a few minutes? I promise, I'll come back. It's just slightly important."
"I understand." Nicole nods, in a small voice. "Good, thank you, I love you." He responds, kissing her head, then leaves.
"So..." Colin says, hands in his pockets.
"Do you like blueberry?"
"Eh, it's okay. You don't want it?"
"No."
"I'll accept it then." Colin answers, taking it. "Come on, let's go back into class. The whole class left to gossip, now doubt and our Teach will be hunting us down soon. We should return to our seats, make his job easier so he doesn't have to run after us, at-least."
"Okay." Nicole accepts, leaving and going into the classroom with Colin.
---
Neo heads straight for his 'friends', more his 'contacts...'
"Hey." Neo growls. "What?" The leaders scoffs, leaning against a wall and props his leg up, arms folded.
"You know how you payed the down payment on the house I moved into for me as it was the most expensive part?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Nicole said it looked familiar. While I was Job hunting this morning, did you look into it like I asked?"
"I did, the house belongs to a lady named Sylvie. She never had the heart to sell it, but didn't want to live there so she's renting it out. She's been living permanently with the her best friend and her best friend's husband and their kids in a spare room. She helps out with housework and watches their son, Austin and their foster children, Levi and Lincoln for Oliver and Crystal for them when they need to go out. They opened their doors to her.
Everyone in this damn town knows how distraught she was over losing her daughter. You better be careful, bro. It's only a matter of time before your whole plan caves in on you."
"And why are we living there if you knowingly knew this? What happens if Nicole realizes it's the house she was born in? What do I tell her then? I'm lucky she remembers my Mum so distinctly as opposed to Crystal. We actually ran into that damn inferno lady in the convenience store... Luckily she doesn't know who I am and Nicole has grown up, so...
But I admit that I don't like the fact were living in the same damn city. Can't she just, I don't know... Move away?!"
"No idea, it will be your problem to deal with. I ain't helping out with her and it was cheap and no one is renting any homes so it was take it or leave it. Finding a place for ya'll to live was easier still than falsifying both your birth certificates, ID's and then hacking into Government departments and generating and deleting information.
Also, I'm not goanna willingly let your little kitty be out on the streets am I?
Also, without shelter, Lacey would never have let you enroll without a fixed mailing address, but also, they would have called social services only for them to discover your secrets and separate you and Nicole forever.
You'd be jailed and Nicole would be handed to her real Mom when they discovered the truth. A simple blood test would confirm you're not 100% related. Does Nicole know your really are related to her? Even it is only half."
"No and don't call Nicole, 'little kitty' or I will knock you out."
"And if you fight a Human, Principal Lacey will punish you." He smirks.
"Fuck you." Neo hisses, promptly away.
"Pleasure seeing you my friend. If you need any more help, you know just where to find me." He adds on, grinning and rubbing his hands together like a classic evil madman as he watches Neo walk away. Neo returns to class and takes his seat. "Nice to have you back and joining us." The Teacher speaks up.
Neo just narrows his eyes and ignores him. "Neo!" Nicole smiles, reaching out to ruffle his ears and hair from her seat. Neo quickly grasps her wrists and squeezes. "Happy to see you too." He says, eyes rolled.
"But-" She tries.
"But nothing! You know I HATE you doing that and you don't like me doing that back to you do you? So knock it off!" He scolds, making an example of her for show as he wouldn't normally mind her doing this, but in moderation and she let's out a weak cry, trying to get him to let go.
Tears prick her eyes. "Let go!"
"Teacher!" Colin calls out, standing up and slamming his fist into his own desk, making a fist shape into it. "Neo, let go of your sister. It's time for us to learn. Hash out whatever it is you have with Nicole at home." The Teacher grumbles.
"Fine." Neo responds, letting go and sits down annoyed, arms crossed and promptly looks away from Nicole, making her feel guilty while she feels hurt and starts to withdraw from the lesson.
Colin looks on at them, worry rising up inside, but it's not his place to intervene is it? Siblings fight, he should know, he has one of his own. He does often with his older sister. Neo's not abusing her, so...
Class ends and the sun's slowly setting as students file out of school to see the drenched grass as it had been raining earlier.
"Hey, wait up!" A voice calls out to Neo and Nicole who are rubbing the rain off their bikes slightly with the sleeves of their uniform. They look up to see a boy with blonde hair hair and blue eyes, followed by a boy with black hair and dark brown eyes.
Neo glares over at Nicole. "You know them?"
She shakes her head so Neo steps infront of her and holds up his hand. "Halt." He says harshly and both boys stop dead. "Who are you and what do you want?"
"Neo, be nice!" She hisses at him, but he just shushes her.
"U-uh, I-I'm Austin and t-this is my brother, Levi. L-Lucy and Vanilla came up to us before. T-they asked us to hand N-Nicole an invitation because they're t-throwing their classmate, Quinlain a surprise birthday party, but L-Lucy's home isn't big enough and the town hall is heavily booked out s-so our parents have a room downstairs in the basement t-that they have agreed to r-rent it to Lucy for the night.
S-she wanted us to ask if you want to come, you know - g-get to know us all! Weston is excited and w-wants you t-to come, i-it's tonight!" Austin stammers, handing Neo a sparkly decorated card which he snatches, pocketing it immediately.
"My buddy, Wes will be there?!" Nicole squeals excitedly, stars shining in her eyes. "Yeah!" Austin responds, throwing his hands in the air which causes Levi to grumble.
"I'll think about it." Neo says bluntly. "Aw, please!" Nicole begs him. "We don't get invited to anything ever."
"I said, 'I'll think about it.'" Neo snaps.
"Okayyy..." Nicole whimpers, lowering her head. "Cool, see you both there if you attend." Austin smiles, waving as he runs off in a hurry, followed by Levi.
"Come on, let's go home. We'll stop by the thrift store and I'll get you a winter coat." He says gently, climbing on his bike, Nicole doing the same, getting on hers and they ride off together.
---
Weston stands around in the parking lot of the school infront of Quinlain's car, waiting for her. "Weston? I got your text asking me to meet you at my car... What is this about?" She questions, coming up him. He stands there, fiddling with the strap of his shoulder bag, head lowered.
"Hey, is something wrong?" She asks, bending down to him and gently slips an arm around his shaking back, her face concerned.
"Y-you know the n-new girl?"
"The girl in wolf class with her brother?"
"Y-yeah, my new friend."
"What about her?"
Weston opens his mouth to speak, but his words were caught, remembering the text, Lucy sent him asking him to bring Quinlain to Austin's house for her surprise B-day party. They couldn't be late, but how would he get her there? Also..."
"Wes, tell me what's wrong and if not, step aside and I'll be going home." She says slightly ticked off.
"H-Her brother s-seems a little..."
"Mean, selfish, ego-statistical, demanding and pushy? Yeah, no shit-fuck, we all know." She butts in with.
"Oh, yeah, that." Weston laughs slightly and then he takes a deep breath. "Quinn, I approached social services yesterday. He's horrible towards her and they told me they couldn't help as they were the Human branch and if I wished to raise a concern, I'd have to visit the Werewolf division of them instead, but that's all the way on the other side of the city!
It's not within walking distance and I don't have a push bike or a car."
"And I do... You want me to take you over there?"
"I was hoping you would..."
She sighs, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Alright, I'll drive you there and home. My Dad is going to be out late with my little brother late anyway as he has a soccer match.
It's like he doesn't even care about me sometimes. I feel like I don't exist in my own family. It's my birthday, Weston and they haven't as so much as said, 'happy birthday' to me. I have no doubt they've both forgotten and heck, if they do know, they don't care.
I'm a spiting image of my mum and I hate it. I don't want to look like her, I wish I looked like my dad instead."
"What happened to her? Do you have a photo? Can I see?"
"I don't keep any photos of her, we don't keep any. I cut her out of all the family photos and the ones I couldn't, I burned.
She's better off where she is, Weston. I don't even want to remember her! Remembering hurts!"
"Oh, okay..."
"Let's just go, Wes. Hop in, but you owe me some petrol money got it? Because I'm going out of my way to drive you to the other side of town."
"Got it, thank you, Quinn. This means alot to me."
"No problemo. Her brothers an asshole anyway, I don't like him one bit."
They climb it and reverse out, pulling up on the other side of town, 25 minutes later out the front of the Wolf division of social services and step out.
"So do we just go in and you fill out a form? Is it just straightforward?"
"I would think, I won't know till I ask." He responds, walking up the stairs to the entrance as she goes in with him. It's very busy, phones ringing off the hook.
"This is busier than the human one. They had like literally nothing going on there." He gossips which she just shrugs at. They approach the desk and a man with wolf ears comes over. "Wolf Social Services Division. Hi, how may I best assist you, today?" He questions, greeting Quinlain and Weston with a well-mannered tone of voice.
"U-uh, I have some concerns about a friend of mine. I approached social services before, but it was the Human b-branch and they re-directed me t-to you." Weston tells the man.
"Oh, I see. So that's how it is..." The man says darkly, his ears twitching. "Weston, I feel uncomfortable in here in a room of uh... I'm just going to go wait in the car till your done.
Come out when your done and we'll stop by frozen gems and I'll buy us some Ice-Cream or Lucky Cup and get us a Frappe. I-I don't know, w-we'll decide later." Quinlain stammers nervously, whispering afraid into Weston's ear as she leans onto his shoulder, clinging to him despite the height difference between them. He's really short for a guy and she's taller than most girls her age. She turns around to leave when the wolf guy, slams his fist on the counter.
"Stay out of werewolf business!" He tells Weston who just explained his concern.
"What?" He asks, eyes widened and the guy repeats what he said angrily.
Quinlain flinches and turns back around angrily and strides straight back to Weston, boots thumping against the tiled and polished floor. "Don't talk to him like that! We respect you wolves so you should respect us equally, but no - You, wolves never do!" She says harshly, fire starting to burn inside of her heart into an Inferno.
"I'm sure your friend is fine. Wolf family's are different from Human ones, we live by a different set of rules and traditions. Before we were wild creatures living in the woods before we were integrated into society so I keep out of shit, will you? Also, wolf sibling's butt heads. Our youngster pups are pretty good at resolving fights and disputes on their own, believe me, I have three of my own. Two girls and a boy.
One doesn't learn how to navigate conflict without experiencing first. You humans always shout injustice when were actually the ones experiencing it from you. Get out of my sight now. Leave and never come back, your not welcome here ever again. If you step onto Wolf grounds, I'll see to it that your arrested."
Quinlain and Weston gulp when they feel hands on their shoulders, it's security.
"Alright Human kiddo's, let's go, you know the drill." Security orders, escorting or well, ejecting them from the building forcefully. They're let out, out front and climb back into Quinlain's car, disheartened. She sadly starts up the engine and Weston pulls out his phone, checking it.
Multiple texts and missed calls from all his friends. They're late to the surprise party. "Quinlain?" Weston speaks up. "Yeah?" She responds, on the verge of tears as she leans over the steering wheel.
"Do you want to hang out with our friends a bit? Surely beats the spending night alone on your birthday. They're all at Austin;s house."
"Why?"
"Don't know... Assignment maybe? Why don't we go?"
"Mhmm, alright. We might as well. Text em to tell them that were coming over and there better be pizza and soft-drink when we get there." She laughs dryly, but the sorrow in her voice is heavily evident and they drive off into the night, another 25 minute journey as Weston shoots Lucy back a text message, saying that he's bringing Quinn.
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJywTtGnQhw
