Loyalties

It is freezing!

Usually on a Monday morning my first thoughts were along the lines of ‘Ew school’. But not today, no; not at all. Those three words were the first thoughts I had that morning as I threw the covers back. How all that snow appeared overnight amazed me as always. I swung my legs over the side of my queen sized bed that inhabited my room. Shuffling over to one of the three windows, I could feel my eyes widen a fraction as they took in the fresh, dazzling snow. The first day of winter never ceased to take my breath away. I had been living in Denver, Colorado for at least three years now and the sight of snow was still so exciting to me. Most of Australia doesn’t get snow, and for most of my life I had been wishing to see it, three years ago my wish came true.

My breath started to fog up the glass, obscuring my view of my own little winter wonderland. I placed my right hand on the window and slowly wiped away at the cloudy surface, shivering as I did. I stood there like that; my hand placed gently on the windows thick glass, staring out at the backyard for a while. Soon I heard footsteps along the hallway and turned away from my window when I heard my door opening. My little sister, Millie, poked her head into my room, her brown curls swaying with the motion. She grinned when she saw me already awake and out of bed.

“Good, you’re already up. You need to hurry if you’re going to catch the bus.” She disappeared after telling me that and I heard her retreating steps move towards our bathroom.

A curse escaped my lips as I rushed about my room picking out fresh clothes. I zoomed out of my bedroom and raced down the hallway, heading towards the shower. I burst through the green and black beads hanging from the top of the doorframe. Millie was at the vanity fluffing her hair; her ice blue eyes looked me over in the mirror.

 “You’d better zoom, aye? You’re in desperate need of a shower and we only have twenty minutes left.” She sniffed the air cautiously to prove her point further.

 I glanced at my reflected image in the mirror and let out a small shriek. My auburn hair stuck up in every place and my face was…lets just not go there. I turned left and rushed into the shower room. Our whole bathroom set was huge; and only Millie and I used this bathroom… our parents had an ensuite. Lucky wolves. When you pass through you see the vanity, where both mine and Millie’s make-up, jewelry, and accessories reside. Take five steps to the right and you’re magically in another room, facing the toilet. This room has a blue sliding door for privacy. I used to spend hours as a kid sliding it back and forth.

“Ayla! Stop daydreaming, you dork!” Millie’s voice broke through the haze of my childhood memories. 

My eyes focused on her and I had to try hard not to burst out laughing, so very hard. Millie must have noticed my efforts and frowned.

“What are you laughing at?” My sassy little sister placed her hands on her hips and gave me a quizzical glare.

I gestured towards her face with the hand I wasn’t using to hold my clothes. “Your mascara seems to have smudged…a lot.”

Her eyebrows shot up so far that her brown bangs covered them. She rushed out of the shower room and groaned. A smirk made itself at home on my lips and I chuckled as I placed my clothes on the small table. Placing one foot in the large, black tiled, shower cubicle, I reached out and grunted as I had to apply I bit of force when turning the taps on. Stepping back, I stripped off my pajamas and threw them into the hamper before tying up my long hair into a bun. I tested the waters temperature with my hand before stepping under the warm spray and closing the shower door.

A content sigh made its way out my lips as I spun around so the water pounded my back. Closing my eyes I could feel my shoulder muscles as they went from tense to relaxed in a minute or so. Opening my eyes once again, I reached out with my hand and grabbed a bar of green soap; gripping slightly so that it wouldn’t slip through my fingers. I scrubbed at my pale skin and placed the bar of soap down onto the rack. Standing under the water, I washed the soap from my skin. Turning the taps to the left, I ceased the flow of warm water. I opened the shower door and stepped out onto a woven cotton mat. Grabbing a fluffy green towel; I quickly dried myself off; knowing I didn’t have much time left. Picking up my clothes I chucked them on and made my way to the vanity mirror. I dabbed some concealer under my eyes to lessen the shadows and applied the right amount of eye make-up. I could hear a rustling sound coming from the next room over. Millie must be doing the homework we were assigned over the holidays. She always left her homework until the last minute, and she only got a short lecture from Mum. If I left my homework until the last minute I would get a weeks’ worth of lectures and a grounding. I learnt that from experience and I could still hear dad now: ‘An alpha must be prepared and ready for anything, she must strive for excellence no matter how hard the work.’ That was his own famous original line.