He Calls Me Ice Princess

Chapter 9- Elise's Secret

“Hi kitten,” I greeted Tristan as I walked into the dance class. There were only three people, excluding the teacher, already in the classroom. But I noticed that this was the first time Tristan had arrived before me.

He nodded and replied, “Hey Ice Princess. How’s your friend?”

“She’s okay now... Why do you call me that?” I asked him. I didn’t get a response, just a shrug and silence.

Finally he responded with a question, “Why do you call me Kitten?”

“I think you know why,” I replied, giving him a meaningful look. We could turn into cats; how hard was it to make the connection?

Tristan rolled his eyes. “So do you call everyone like us ‘Kitten’ or am I special?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I teased and he scoffed, making me smile. Any kind of progress at all made me smile in hope that I was getting somewhere.

He shook his head and sarcastically said, “I’m sure you call your parents ‘Kitten’ as well.”

I nodded in agreement as Ms. Skylar started the class and we got into formation. I have to admit, I was starting to love this formation because I got to feel Tristan’s hands on my waist and mine around his neck. It was an amazing feeling...

When class ended, Ms. Skylar asked, “Riley, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure,” I called back, waving to Tristan. He mock saluted me before heading towards the door, glancing back at me once.

I joined Ms. Skylar by her radio. “I noticed it looks like you’ve been dancing for quite a while,” She started.

I smiled, proud that she’d noticed. “Yeah, I’ve been dancing since I was six.”

“Wow... Have you thought about being a professional dancer? There are a lot of job options for someone talented,” She told me. I hesitated, thinking of a good way to respond.

“I’ve considered it, but I think I’m going to inherit the family business.” That was true and an acceptable answer. I was going to become Alpha and as weird as it seemed, I would get paid for that. I guess it was because being Alpha was like a full time job; you had to deal with rogues, the Streak, new Streaks, Shifters that wanted to leave or join, etc. It was pretty time consuming.

“Oh, well if you would like to help me teach my younger students how to dance, I would love it. I would pay you of course,” She informed me.

I nodded eagerly. “I would love that!”

After we worked out a few details, I discovered I would be working on Tuesdays and Thursdays for an hour. I said goodbye to Ms. Skylar and met Tiffany in the hall. “Hey, what did Ms. Skylar want?” Tiffany asked as I joined her.

I grinned and we started walking. “She was offering me a job. I’m going to help teach dance to the younger kids.”

“Oh, awesome; I’m still jobless,” She reminded me with a very pointed look.

I smiled sheepishly. “At least you won’t have to wear that disgusting dress.” I missed modeling with Tiffany and Jazz, but not enough to pose for romantic pictures in a degrading dress.

“True. So you want to go to the mall with me and Jazz?” She offered and I nodded eagerly. I wanted to spend some time with them. Usually we would talk at lunch, but we hadn’t sat together all week. I didn’t regret not sitting with them, but I didn’t want them to ditch me. We were best friends.

“What about this?” Jazz suggested, holding up a light blue tank top with darker, swirling designs on it.

I admired it. “It’s nice.” Then I went back to the looking at the shirt I had been observing before. It was a white half shirt with a red heart in the middle.