The Rejection (NEW VERSION)

01 | How It Began

Joji — I Don't Wanna Waste My Time

one

My mother always told me that the prettiest flowers took the longest to bloom. It was her way of encouraging me and keeping up my self-confidence; it didn't exactly work, though. My father, on the other hand, was embarrassed of me and only said one thing to me every morning: "Do you feel any different?" I would sigh, shake my head, and we would all continue our breakfast in uncomfortable silence.

               I was a late bloomer. Most werewolves experienced their first shift when they start puberty, which could be as young at nine or ten. Well, I was fifteen and still had yet to become a woman or werewolf. My parents had called on the pack doctor to check up on me, but she came with the same reply as she always did. "Healthy as ever. Maybe you could try taking some vitamins," she would say. The vitamins never helped.

               "I just don't know what else to do, Charles," I heard my mother sigh through the air ducts from the kitchen to my bedroom upstairs. "Klaus turned out fine. Do you think we messed up with Hope somehow?"

               I stopped listening to the conversation immediately. It was one I had eavesdropped on many times, and wasn't in the mood to hear it another. I felt like a disgrace already, why fuel the fire? I tried to not let it get to me, but they were facts; I was a dud, a stale werewolf. It was a phenomenon that rarely a occurred, when a full blooded werewolf couldn't shift, but it was something that was being entirely considered for my case. I had overheard the doctor, Patricia, talking to my parents about it after my last checkup. It had been on my mind since.

               With a small sigh, I tried to let it fall from my thoughts. I dressed for the day in a grey tank top with a green and black plaid button up that I left open, and black leggings. I brushed my dark brown hair and slipped on my glasses to hide my grey colored eyes. My stomach began churning uncomfortably, There was a knock at my bedroom door.

"Hope, you ready?" said the voice of my older brother, Klaus, through the wood of the door.

Instead of replying, I grabbed my purse and opened my door. "As ready as I'll ever be," I sighed, offering a weak smile when Klaus shot me a worried glance. Unlike me who looked like our mom with dark hair and grey eyes, Klaus resembled our dad with his dirty blonde hair and faded green eyes. I had always been jealous of his eyes.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, lets go."

My parents bid my brother and I good luck and goodbye as we left. It was the first day of school, Klaus being a senior and me being a sophomore. I was a bit nervous, but the stirring in my stomach was more nerve-wracking than school. Blaming it all on my overthinking about everything in general, I hopped into the passenger side of Klaus's car and we headed off to Lakefront High.

• • •

My head was pounding and my skin was on fire. I laid my head down on the cold table I sat at in the cafeteria, sighing in relief, but it didn't last long. The heat emitting from my skin soon made the table warm too, so I had to repeatedly move my head around to cooler spots.

"Are you okay?" my best friend, Thalia, asked. Her voice was laced with worry and her sparkling brown eyes were full of concern. When I shook my head "no", her hand reached out to run her fingers through my hair in a comforting manner.

               Thalia's twig of a mate, Victor, strutted towards the table and made himself comfortable in a seat beside her. Victor was in the same class as my brother and was the Beta-to-be of our pack. Truth be told, the two were my only real friends, and I felt like the third wheel most of the time. It had only became that way when Thalia and I were thirteen; she shifted and found that her and Victor were mates, and they had been attached at the hip ever since. I didn't mind, really; Victor was a really sweet guy and perfect for my best friend. They made me excited for whenever I met my own mate. That is, if I ever shifted, which was unlikely.