The Crimson Pack

~15~

"Oh I'm sorry." I tell her. I notice it's the same girl from the lunch line.

"Luna." She gasps, cowering away. I grab the textbook she dropped and give it back to her.

"You're going to geometry too?" I ask, smiling, my eyes looking at the cover of the book. She nods, looking at the ground. "Same here, let's walk together." She whips her head to me, looking panicked.

"Are you sure? I mean- I mean-." I could tell she was getting uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I tell her. She gives me a hesitant smile and shuts her locker before we both start walking to the room.

"I'm Dana." I tell her.

"Natalie." She offers. We get to the room and I motion her in first. She quickly zips by me and waits for me on the other side. We both walk to the middle back and sit down next to each other. For the duration of class we stayed quiet, just enjoying the silence as we listen to the teacher. When the bell rang we were still packing up.

"So what do you have next?" I ask.

"Gym." She whispers.

"Same." I tell her. We finally put our backpacks and head over to her locker. I wait for her as she puts in her books and brings out a bag of clothes. She shuts her locker and we head down to the locker room. When we finally get inside we split up and change in separate spots. After I get done changing I walk out of the locker room into the gym and spot Natalie in the corner. I walk over to her and we sit in comfortable silence again until the teacher comes out and takes roll call.

"Okay ladies, from what me and Coach Trey saw last time, you ladies were lacking in the fighting department. So we're gonna see how your other skills are." She blows that damn whistle and tells us to start running. As we're running she sets out a bunch of cones in the shapes of boxes by the two basketball hoops.

"Not this again." Natalie groans from beside me.

"What're we playing?" I ask.

"It's like cat and mouse, the guys all get on the sideline- waiting- and the girls are allowed to run throughout the entire school, only inside though. If they can last until the bell without being brought into the gym- and those boxes- she wins, and counts as a point. The objective of the guys is to find all of the girls. Our objective is to run and hide." By the end of her explanation I'm confused but keep my mouth shut. We stop running after a few minutes and start stretching before a bunch of noise enters. I look over my shoulder and my eyes widen. All 4 guys were there. They come over to me and sit down.

"This isn't fair." I grumble. Dallas ruffles my hair and Hayden gives me a lopsided grin. I turn around to talk to Natalie and notice she isn't next to me. My eyebrows furrow and I look around, spotting her by herself standing awkwardly. Before I can get up and go to her the teachers are blowing their whistles.

"Okay ladies, go to the left, guys, go to the right." Coach Trey yells. I hop up and start walking away, looking behind me at the guys. I add an extra sway to my hips and arrive at the huddled group.

"Are there any game strategies for this?" I ask Natalie. She shakes her head and a loud buzzer sounds. I look at the large timer stuck on the wall, 5 minutes. All the girls take off in different directions. I slowly walk to the other side of the gym and meet up with the guys.

"What're you doing babydoll?" Micah asks, humor in his eyes.

"Teasing." I whisper. He growls and reaches out for me, but I back away. "Where to go?" I dramatically sigh. "The library?" I ask, tapping my chin. I shake my head and sigh again. 

"You could always just stay here." Jonah offers. I gasp.

"I could!" I walk closer until I'm close to them. "But I'm not going to." 

"Gardner- get going!" Coach yells out and I take his advise, bolting out of the metal doors.  After the doors shut I take off, running towards the cafeteria. I notice a small hallway next to it and go through it. I notice a door opens into the dark kitchen and open it.

I go over to the sink, where there's a bunch of strong smelling cleaners in the cabinet. I scrunch my nose and put the stopper in the dishwasher. I pour some vinegar into it and turn on the water. I grab a clean wash rag and dunk it in, then wring it out and wash my arms. I decide to wash my neck next. I cringe at the scent but shake it off. I rush through the door and down the deserted hallway. I notice the door to outside and choose the door closest to it. I hear a loud buzzer go off and curse under my breath. I slowly open the door and walk through. It's bright and I can hear voices. I peek out from the corner and see Harper (the office attendant) talking to someone. There are a set of doors on the other side of the office, but I'd have to army crawl. I get down on my stomach and start crawling. I breathe in short bursts and stop halfway through.

The door opening catches my attention, and I see a guy in gym clothes coming up to Harper. "Anybody here?" He demands/asks. She shakes her head quickly and he huffs, walking back out.

"I'm sorry about that Mr..." I don't hear the rest as I crawl faster. When I finally reach the other doors I still crawl. I get to a corner and finally stand up. I press my ear to the closest door and hear muffled voices. I quickly turn away and press myself against every other door. I finally find a vacant room and open the door. I peek inside and see it's some sort of office. I check the name on the door.

Ms. Martinez

11th Grade Counselor

I slip inside and shut the door. The room is still dark, so I walk around until I find a cute little couch with blankets. I sit down, hissing when I get a smell of the vinegar again. I lay down and throw a blanket around me, snuggling into it. Before I know it, I'm yawning and stretching. I fight to keep my eyes open. I sit up, rubbing my temples. I stand up from the cocoon and go over to the bookshelf. 

The Philosophy of Shifters by T.V. Ardan.

I sit back down on the couch, propping my feet up on the coffee table. Even with the darkness it was easy to read with the dim light from the window.

"The shifter race is impure. Our blood is tainted with misfits and abominations. To end our suffering, we must end entire bloodlines, we must make sure there is no trace of tainted blood. Us shifters have been imprisoned in our own packs, and we must take them back!

Like there is a hierarchy in the pack, there is a hierarchy in species. Us wolf shifters are the Alphas, Betas, Gammas, etc. The other species, mountain lion, bear, fox, bobcat, they're nothing but rogues. They don't belong in a part of pack life with us wolves. They go against the law of biology- they're abominations! They don't deserve mates, they don't deserve to live a wolf's life." I pause the book, my wolf coming to the surface.

Who is this fuckwit?!

I swallow, feeling my blood boiling. I slam the book loudly on the coffee table and put my head in my hands. Do people still believe in this shit?  I ask my wolf.

Unfortunately, yes.

I rock myself back and forth, trying to calm myself. It works for the most part. I'm still trying to reel myself in when a loud buzzer sounds. I grab the book and walk out of the door. I walk past Harper, who looks at me flustered and down the hallway to the door. I march down the hallway to the kitchen and cafeteria and towards the gym. When I get inside I can hear yelling. Guys and girls are making a circle around 2 people.