Princess and The Little Ones

What if?

Part 2  

What if?

I keep my grades close to my chest and I can see all my classmates ripping theirs anxiously. The whole graduation ceremony just ended and I look at them sadly. We are all wearing the white cotton celebration uniforms and the teachers are standing in front of us in their white and black teacher uniforms. My mother is in the middle, staring at me with her ice-blue, hard eyes, waiting to see my reaction on my grades. Her short blonde hair is ruffled and I know my father is somewhere in the crowd of people behind me.

I would have been just like the other graduates if it wasn’t for Alpha Bears decision to make me their next Alpha. The whole decision is also classified till the day I come back from my year in high school. All details have already been prepared; I just need to tell everyone I’m leaving. I am not looking forward to tell my mother.

It doesn’t really matter what my grades are. In less than a year I’ll be graduating again and that if anything causes me to feel nervous. We in the Ninjan pack have different studies than regular subjects, focused mainly on the things we need for the jobs we qualify for. Becoming an Alpha is nothing you can study by going to school for, but our school is considered the best suited for it. I only need life experience. I will be awfully left behind in the studies in the new school and I will have to work hard to get good grades there. I shudder at the thought. I like to fight, not read.

I open the cover to my grades carefully and scan the results quickly. It’s all straight A’s. Thanks, mom. I fold the grades into the envelope again without excitement and my friend Jason who is standing next to me breaks out in a celebration scream. He pushes me into a hug and yells into my ear.

“We finally did it! No more painful training with Mrs Starley!” His voice is filled with happiness. “No offence towards your mother, Princess.” I frown at the use of my name and he just smirks at me. “Why aren’t you happy? You were the best student in the whole school; they can’t have given you bad grades, right?”

“I didn’t have a choice; mother wanted me to be a good student.” I tell him calmly.

“And you were,” he reassures me and snaps my grades out of my grip and I let him scan the paper. “Holy shit! Only A’s, how did you do that?”

“Hey!” I exclaim. “You just said I’m a great student; don’t top that with an insult.”

He shakes his brown haired head and gives back my grades a bit wrinkled. I frown at the mess and he uses his thumb to clear out the lines on my forehead.

“I am signing on to the werewolf security force next week, you should come with me.”

“Jason, I can’t,” I tell him sadly. “I have other plans.”

“You can’t take care of The Little Ones all your life, Princess. Let your mother be a mom for once.”

“I won’t,” I tell him seriously. “I am going to see what life in a normal pack is like before I settle down on a real job. You know I want to become a teacher just like Mother.”

He is speechless for once. I know why, this is not me at all. I would never move to another pack voluntarily. I turn my back and run into the crowd of waiting parents before he gets the chance to ask me why. I can’t tell my best friend why. Guess how much that sucks?

I see Father and the triplets hanging onto him like small monkeys. He loves it and they all force me into a group hug when I walk up to them.

“Congratulations Princess,” he whispers hoarsely into my ear, filled with pride.