4
Shortly after their conversation, Colsin left, deciding that since Sara’s name had been mentioned, he’d might as well play his role as the doting boyfriend and go and pick her up from school.
Descending three flights of stairs gave Colsin the time that he thought he needed to readjust his thoughts away from the conversation with his dad. As he finally hit the ground floor of the packhouse mansion, Colsin resigned to the pressure-filled thoughts of his life as an alpha, shifting his thoughts on something more pleasant; what dirty little things he’d get up to with Sara was one of those more pleasant things.
Colsin realized that his view on his relationship with Sara was less than exhilarating, to say the least, but it was because hardly a female ever truly impressed him. Having Sara was more of a slight boost to the ego than anything else. The fact that he actually did enjoy her company more often than not was a bonus.
“I suppose it is a good thing that she has a nice tail on her,” Shadow remarked in the back of Colsin’s mind.
“You suppose right, friend,” replied Colsin.
They descended the grand stair that opened into a large foyer. On the way to the front door, the walls were lined with large bay windows that overlooked the vast acres of land that the Mystic Cove packhouse sat on. Between the forest and the mansion-like house, was a large field of Groves and naturalistic venues where the packs usually held their soirees; one of which they’d had not too long ago.
On the way out, Colsin noticed a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. It was out of the large bay windows overlooking the forest ahead that he saw her. She was in a school uniform. The silhouette of her curvaceous figure was familiar to him as he remembered how she felt in his arms when he kept her from stumbling over. Why, he grabbed the girl? Even Colsin couldn’t figure it out. It was part of the reason why he’d stood there so long staring at her. Something about the girl made a small part of him want to interact.
She was careful not to bend too recklessly as she had hips and a nice round backside that would only assist in giving that skirt a lift. As she stood upright again, she looked up into the slowly setting sky for a moment ruffling her lively curls out of her face.
“She is something to look at, isn’t she?” one of his friend’s father popped up out of nowhere.
Colsin acknowledged the delta. Instead of directly answering, he commented on the reason why the girl was there in the first place. “Guess we made quite the mess the other night.”
“Yes, and the reward is plentiful, isn’t it?” They both knew that the delta was talking about the attractive young woman outside.
“Careful, delta, your mate wouldn’t appreciate your point of view.”
“Even Risa would appreciate this view,” the delta joked.
Colsin chuckled. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he said. As if on cue, the girl looked to the side. She seemed to sense someone staring at her, but she did not acknowledge it. From her side glance, Colsin could see her verdant eyes. “I’ll catch you later, Delta,” he said before walking away.
“Alright, class. I want a full read on chapter fifty-four, and a full page-front and back on the impact that the inhumans had on the wars of the Americas.”
The class made a collective sound of exasperation and frustration because of the weekend assignment given by the professor of World’s History. All the while, Nel was robotically writing down the details of the assignment and what Professor Bulder’s specific desires were for the paper.
After Nel finished writing down the specifics of the weekend’s homework, her mind began to wander; not to just any random place, however. She couldn’t help thinking about the class that she’d have next.
Again, she pulled out the phone that was given to her by her mother as a first-day-of-school present when she first started MystHaven Academy. She sat there for the greater part of the day waiting for a response of permission or rejection. And still, no answer.
“Miss Larken?”
When she heard her name being called, she quickly put her phone away and shifted her expressionless verdant stare to her teacher. “Uh, yeah, yes, Mr. Bulder?”
“You have somewhere to be?” he asked.
“No...sir,” She shook her head. “I apologize for the-”
“The outcast must have finally found a beau,” said a girl on the other side of the class. Her name was Guinevere Shode, and she wasn’t the kindest of Nel’s peers, but that was no surprise to Neliyah.
No one found her necessarily humorous, as expected, Guinevere’s lackeys supported her with a dry laugh so that she wouldn’t feel embarrassed by her unamusing comment.
Instead of acknowledging her, Neliyah rolled her eyes and replied to her teacher. “My mother, Professor Bulder. I-”
“Awww, things are getting a little busy at your run-down diner?” Guin added.
“You eat there,” quipped Nel, “So…what exactly does that imply about you? That you can’t afford to eat anywhere that isn’t run down?”
The whole class reacted in amusement and slight surprise as they never knew the new girl as one to verbally combat others who heckled her.
It was evident that even though it had only been a week since her arrival at Stonehaven Academy, and only a week since the heckling, she had gotten tired of it. And she had no qualms letting people know about it.
“Alright, alright, class,” Professor Bulder attempted to calm the class down.
Fortunately, the bell rang, interfering with the embarrassment of Guinevere Shode. Nel grabbed her books and started for her next class when she felt an aggressive bump against the back of her arm, forcing her to drop her books.
Nel already knew who the culprit was before she looked her way. She grabbed her books and as she did, yet another bump knocked her down to the ground.
“You’d best be careful how you step to me, outcast,” Guinevere spat before she stormed off.
Nel watched her walk away and quickly grabbed her things. “You alright?”
“I’m fine, Nari,” Neliyah replied as her best friend helped her pick up the rest of her things.
“I could hex her if you want,” Manari offered. “She’d be bald within a day, and wouldn’t start regrowing for three full months,”
Nel chuckled as she opened her locker door and placed her books inside. “As…amazing as that would be, I couldn’t ask you to do that, Manari.”
“You didn’t ask,” she corrected. “I offered.”
“I know, but you’re not that type of person, Manari,” Neliyah said.
“I can be,” she said. “Just need a reason.”
“Well, I won’t be it,” countered Nel. She closed her locker and turned to her friend. “I do appreciate the effort though. I should get to class.”
“PA?” asked Manari. Nel nodded. “Has your mother given her answer yet?”
Nel shook her head. “I’m beginning to think that I won’t be getting one anytime soon.” She sighed. Nel had asked her mother about the Physical Abilities class last week. Leana had requested that Nel give her a few days to mull it over. Unfortunately, a few days turned into a whole week and Leana’s procrastination to answer did not make things easier for Nel at school. “She’s too afraid of what I am capable of,” she said as she fiddled with the pendant that she’d worn since a child-one that she had never taken off.
“I tell you,” Nari murmured. “That necklace is…something special,”
“Yea, it is,” Nel responded absentmindedly; Manari always would say something about Nel’s necklace whenever she saw it, so didn’t pay much attention to it when she made mention of it. Of course, Neliyah thought that the necklace was special for reasons different from Manari, of course.
Neliyah received that necklace from her mother when she was hardly a toddler. It meant a lot to her, that necklace, and though her mother expressed deeply that she should never take it off, Nel never wanted to in the first place. The necklace simply meant far too much to her to ever think of taking it off.
Manari, on the other hand, was a heretic. Her family belonged to a long line of vampire hybrids; their specialty was extremely powerful sorcery. It was almost a natural instinct to be interested in unique artifacts, and Neliyah’s necklace was made from onyx stone platinum silver. Why that seemed so special to Nel’s best friend, she couldn’t begin to figure out.
“You really should let me get that necklace one day, Nel. She started to touch it but retracted suddenly after.
Manari had to be careful when touching things that she felt had a special power connected to them. The effects of doing something so careless could be dire.
The intricacies of her friend’s ways were something that Neliyah always found curious. However, she also realized that for some reason, the subject was very sensitive for Manari to talk about and Nel would never force her friend to speak on a subject so sensitive. Some things needed time to be discussed.