Teeth »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

FOUR

FOUR

I didn't run down to the bakery this morning, preferring to go down later and let my wounds rest a little longer. Archie agreed and said he'd go with me. He hadn't talked much, nor had he left the room which told me how much he worried.

"Archie, I'll be fine in a couple of hours."

Instead of talking, he nodded doubtfully. It was role-reversal. But after saying that, I fell asleep again, knowing it would make the wounds heal faster.

I woke again at just gone eleven, to see Archie asleep. Sliding out of bed, I went into the bathroom and checked on the wounds. Pink lines. Throwing the bandage and plaster in the bin, I went back into the main room, grabbed some clothing then returned to the bathroom to change.

As I changed, I looked at myself in the mirror. Grey eyes looked back sadly. Combing my shoulder length hair with my fingers, I grabbed my hair bobble, and tied my hair into a loose low ponytail, allowing that section of hair between my ears and face to fall around my face.

Heading back into the main room, I watched as Archie sat up and yawned and stretched. His ears, folding and tail extending outwards as he did. As he slid out of bed, I watched as he looked at my bed, and panicked.

"Val!"

"Here."

His head spun in the direction of my voice. "Should you be up?"

Since I was wearing a tank top, I could easily show him that I was fine.

"How fast do you heal?" he asked in awe, as he came over and checked my arm and back.

"Fast enough. Come on, I haven't had my daily éclair yet."

"But... But your healing! You can't go out yet."

"I'm fine. Come on."

He grabbed clothes and went into the bathroom to get changed. When he came out, he chucked what he had been wearing onto his bed and grabbed some coins that was sitting on the side.

Leaving the room, we headed for the bus that would leave to go down into the town. Most nīeten were actually very lazy. The drive only took a couple of minutes. Archie wanted to show me his favourite place first, and having no problem with that, I followed.

Arriving at a café called Café Nīeten, Archie told me that the café did the best coffees around. Entering, I saw that Café Nīeten was warm and welcoming. Other students looked up when we entered, then turned back to what they were doing. The room seemed to be almost split in half. Adults on one side, students on the other.

Standing in the line, I had a look at the menu and decided to just have a can of coke. I didn't like coffee.

The lady at the till took one look at Archie then turned around. Looking at her tail and ears told me she was a snow leopard as well. When she turned back around, she asked me what I wanted, telling her, she got the can and put in front of me.

"On the house, honey," she said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yep. Yep. Archie's my nephew, and your his friend. It's on the house. Go, I have other customers to serve."

Once we went back outside, I opened my can. "You brought me here to meet your aunt?"

He shook his head. "Brought you here so you could get a free drink." He grinned.

Rolling my eyes, we headed for the bakery. Archie's expression was quiet funny when he saw it.

"I'm not going in there!" he stopped walking forward.

"Why?"

"She's a crazy, grumpy bear, and you want me to go in there?!"

I frowned at him. "She's nice. Be nice, come on."

"Nuh, uh. Nope. No way. And hell no!"

"What's wrong?" Zane.

I looked left to see Zane, his twin, and two other guys walking towards us. Taylor, the blond, had the build of a swimmer, and the face of a model. Ryan, the other guy, if I remembered his name correctly, had brown hair and eyes of the same shade, he was the tallest one here at six-foot. Zane was the shortest out of their group.

"Nothing," I said as Archie started to speak. "She wants me to go in there!" You could almost hear the dramatic music and thunder effects that they had in films.

The group looked at the bakery, Zane's twin was the one to speak. "Yeah, we were warned about going in there."

I looked at the bakery and wondered what they were going on about. The old bear was a nice lady. "Fine, you wait here."

"Val! Going in there is suicide!" Archie warned, jogging to catch up.

Entering, the old bear shield smiled at me, then glared at Archie, who stood behind me, before turning kind eyes back to me. "I wondered where you got to, Mixture. Here you go."

"Thank you."

"Your very welcome, dear."

I heard Zane and his group enter.

The old bear turned to glare at them. "What do you boys want?"

"Can I have the same that I have for each of them?" I asked.

Kind eyes. "Of course, dear."

Once she was done, and I'd paid for everyone, I said I'd see her tomorrow, and that I was sorry that I wasn't going to stay and chat. Leaving, I felt the tension in the guys leave, their whole body relaxed.

"Now I know why I was warned," I heard the blond mutter.

I frowned at them. "What's wrong with you? She's nice."

"To you, yes, she is," Archie said. "But to anyone else... Well, you saw."

"Why is she nice to you?" Lucas, the twin asked.

I shrugged, handing out éclairs. Ryan, who I knew his name definitely was that because the blond said his name, said he didn't like éclairs. I shrugged and suggested he could go back, but he shook his head and I had my two, and his éclair. Archie asked how come I got three, I said it was because I ran every morning, minus this morning.

"How are your wounds?" Zane asked, looking a my arm.

"Healed."

As we walked, I was aware that Lucas, Taylor and Ryan had dragged Archie away. Leaving Zane with me. We walked in silence towards the park. My curious side awake to why he had his twin and friends take Archie away, why he wanted to speak with me in private. But I knew why, and his question proved that.

"Will you bond with me, Valerie Kast?" he asked. I almost waited for him to go down on one knee with the way he'd said it. I was glad he didn't.

I shook my head.

Looking at his expression, I saw pain take hold before he carefully blanked his expression. "Why?"

"I don't know you."

We didn't speak again. Kept walking in silence, but it was strangely comfortable. A nice silence. Until it was broken by Archie calling our names with the blade's running behind him. A couple of hours later, we returned to the school and parted ways.

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