CHAPTER 2- Nick
The rest of the day is pretty blase`. I hate school for the fact that we have to actually attend classes. Most are boring and have nothing of real depth. Finally it is lunch and I can find out about what Jay talked about with Nick. Jay is pretty easy to find, he is usually sitting on top of our table laughing up a storm about some joke of his own. Jay’s actual name is Jayden, but we all call him Jay. He is attractive enough. At least a lot of human girls think so. I probably would too, if it wasn’t for the fact that he is one of my best friends. He is one of those humans who doesn’t make me feel ugly. He has blonde hair that he keeps short in a crew cut. He has these electric blue eyes that really bring attention to his face.
“Jay, you have some explaining to do.” I gave him a look to let him know that I heard all about it.
He looks around with a surprised look, that is totally fake. Then points to himself. “Me. I can’t imagine what you mean.” Smirking, he jumps off the table. “Alright my dear so here is the stitch. Nick asked me if I was dating you. I said uh no. Too weird since we are best friends.” He throws his arm over my shoulders. “Then he asked if I knew if you were dating anyone. I told him that you are a pretty private person, but no you were not.”
I get a big smile on my face. “Really. Was it like an ‘I’m interested’ sort of way, or a ‘I’m just curious’?”
Jay gives me a wink. “It was definitely an ‘interested’ inquisition. I don’t know what you did to that guy but he is smitten.”
I am shocked, I barely remember even talking to him. I mean we have sixth period together and have been partnered a couple of times for labs but nothing that screams let’s date. Now I am really hoping for a lab in Chemistry. As long as I am not partnered with that one guy. I have a little sparkle of hope when I take a seat at the table. It is all dashed when Zoe reminds me that I said I would go to the dance.
At the table we have Chloe, Sam, Liz, Jay, Evan and Zoe. I am the last to join. These are my close friends, each and everyone of them is human. None are aware they share lunch with a werewolf.
“So what are you going to dress up as? I think it should be something sexy.” She raises her eyebrows at me. Zoe has a grin on her face that would rival the cheshire cat.
I give her an ‘are you serious’ look. “Have you seen my body? It doesn’t scream sexy. Think again.”
She gets one of those smiles that scares me. It’s the one that says ‘I have a plan.’ A plan that I never really like. “I am thinking, Red Riding Hood. You know that laced up bodice. Short skirt. I think it would be perfect. I can have it ready by Friday.” She slams her hands on the table, thus making it final. There is no arguing with her.
“Great, I am Little Red Riding Hood. I am changing at your house. I don’t know how my dad would take it with me being dressed up like that.” Not to mention the rest of the pack would never let me live it down if I came out of there wearing that. A wolf dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, I must be out of my mind.
Zoe laughs. “As strict as your dad is, I am surprised that he even lets you leave the house. I mean I haven’t even been to your house. I have been your best friend for five years. He meets me in public but never at your house.” I see the rest of my friends nodding their heads along with Zoe, none of them have been to my house either. That is the deal with me having human friends, I can never bring them to the pack house.
“Yeah, my dad’s a bit overbearing.” I don’t want to say the truth. Because we live in a pack house. As far as they know Allison and Hunter are friends of the family. I don’t need them to know that we live together.
“Anyway, you’re going to come over on Friday so we can have all day Saturday to prep for the dance.” It is not a question but a demand. I love this girl but she is bossy as hell.
“Fine, but you better have something besides pizza at your house.” I still try to watch what I eat, even though it doesn’t make any difference.
“Fine, eat your bunny food. I will eat my carbs.” She makes a point by picking up a sub sandwich that she was eating and wolfing down a quarter of it. This earns her an eye roll.
“We will see who is laughing when you are thirty with the worst love handles in the world.” I mock her.
“That’s right I will have a big ass and will be proud of it.” Zoe stands up from the table and starts shaking her ass at us sitting around the table. We all burst out laughing at her antics.
Evan lets out a wolf call. “Go girl.” This makes us laugh even harder.
Zoe turns around and takes a bow. “Thank you very much. I will be here all week.” She sits back down to devour the rest of her sandwich. “Now, Jas, you need to provide me with something.”
“Oh, really what would that be?” I took a bag of carrots out of my bag and started munching on them. Yeah, appetizing huh.
“You need to lighten up and cut loose. You need to dance and have fun. You are too uptight, it is making my stomach hurt.” She groans at me.
“I will do my best.” I salute her like she is my captain.
Zoe gets an ugly look on her face. “Don’t look now but the devil just came in.” I don’t even have to turn around to know that she is talking about Hunter. Zoe knows that we don’t get along. She doesn’t know the extent of the disgust, but she respects that I would rather not have anything to do with Hunter. “UGH, he is coming over here.”
Jay stands and blocks Hunter’s way to me. “What do you need dude?”
“I need to talk to Jasmine.” He growls out.
“I don’t really think she wants to talk to you.” Jay stands his ground. I know this is not going to work out well for Jay so I stand up.
“Fine, Hunter, what do you want?” I cross my arms over my chest, letting him know that I really don’t want to talk to him. I would rather wait to talk to him. We live together. He has plenty of other times to talk to me.
“Privately.” He gives me a look, like I am supposed to know it is important. Yeah, right he probably wants me to be quiet about something to my father. He is self absorbed after all, there really isn’t anything important that he would have to tell me.
“Fine.” I leave the table and go out into the hall to talk to Hunter. Once we are in the hall separate from my friends I turn back to him. “What do you want?”
“I heard that there was a human that was interested in you.” Great, I love how he brings it up as a human, not a guy, no, a human. Cause there is no way that a wolf would be interested in me.
“Yeah, what of it.” I roll my eyes at him. This could have waited.
“You can’t date him. He is human.” He growls it out.
I growl back at him. “I really don’t see how any of this is any of your business. I told you this morning I would rather date a human than a jackass like you. I think I made it clear that I don’t care if he is human or not.” I turn to leave, but Hunter puts his hand on my arm to stop me.
“It’s for the safety of the pack.” He sounds like he is trying to be sincere.
“I have already discussed dating with my father. You know the Alpha and he doesn’t care if I date a human. As long as I don’t tell him about the pack. All of my friends are human and they have the same deal.” I pull out of his arm and leave. Hunter is really annoying me.
I come back to the table and everyone wants to know what he wants. “He was just being annoying about some get-together that we are having. Our parents are putting it together. I have to go even if I don’t want to.”
Zoe pops up. “When is it?”
I roll my eyes. I am ready with an answer. “Next Saturday.” Sometimes I feel like it is too easy to lie to them. A little truth here and more lies here. I hate it. I love these people. It is just crazy to me how much I have to lie to them.
She gives a sad face. “But that is your birthday. How are we supposed to have a party for you if you are stuck with the parents?”
“I guess you can’t.” I shrug.
Zoe is not satisfied with this answer. “Nope, not going to work. We are having a party at my house on Sunday. No getting out of it Miss.” She shakes her finger at me. She knew I was totally going to try to get out of it. I look around the table and all my friends are excited about the party.
“I guess if you all insist on showering me with praise for one day, I guess I will endure.” I smile at them. At least this will be a party that I will semi enjoy.
Although if I meet my mate I may not be in the party mood. The hope is that when I meet my mate it will be with someone that actually wants to be with me. As I get older that hope slowly diminishes. Let’s be honest I am not the most desirable wolf out there.
Then the thought occurs to me, if Hunter heard about Nick being interested in me then it must have some merit. Ok, now I am so happy for Chemistry. That is the only class that I have with Nick. If he is interested in me that is going to be the class that he talks to me in.
The rest seems like a blur as I wait for Chemistry. When I get in there, I quickly find a lab station that doesn’t have anyone else sitting there. As soon as I get seated I am joined by Noah. Not the one I was hoping for. Noah is the guy that says he likes me in class, I don’t really feel the same but he is bothersome about it.
“So, the dance on Saturday are you going?” He leans a little too close. This is why I don’t like this guy. He is way too pushy. He keeps his long light brown hair kind of shaggy with his equally light brown eyes barely covered by the hair.
“Why would that be any business of yours? I made it clear that I don’t care for you and will not date you so I don’t see that it matters.” I turn away from him and start fiddling with my bag. I have to show as little interest in this guy as possible otherwise he thinks he has a chance. Don’t get me wrong he is attractive but way too pushy for my taste. He thinks all girls want him and he is after me because I don’t.
I hear someone approach our table right when Noah responds. “Don’t be like that. You know we would make a good couple.”
The response isn’t from me but a gruff voice from behind us. “She is my partner today.” I turn to look and there is Nick. He is almost glaring at Noah. “I am pretty sure she said she wasn’t interested anyway.” Nick stands there with his gorgeous black hair and dark puppy dog eyes. His chiseled and muscular body is just perfect. He nods his head to the side as a motion for Noah to move.
Noah finally takes a hint and moves to another station for Nick to take his place. He sits next to me and gives me a nice smile. “Sorry about that guy. He shouldn’t be so pushy like that.”
I am a little lost in his smile. Get a grip he is a guy, a human at that. It’s not like he will be my mate. “Thanks. I have just gotten used to it. He seems to think that not interested means I am fighting my feelings. If I was attracted he wouldn’t give me the time of day.”
He gives me a friendly smile. “So, are you interested? I mean in anyone?”
He almost seems shy about the question. “We shall see. It might be too early to tell.” I give him a wink. Yep that is my Alpha blood coming through. The confidence that I don’t feel just emanates from my wolf blood.
Nick gains a little confidence. “I was thinking that since there is a dance on Saturday that maybe you might want to go with me.” He sounds so cute the way he asks.
I get a sad look on my face. I am totally putting on a front. I want to jump up and down doing a jig. “Sorry, I am already going with someone.”
His face falls. “Oh, sorry. I thought since you aren’t interested in any one. Never mind. Who are you going with?” He tries to compose himself.
I wink again. “Zoe.”
The smile returns to his face. “Your friend. The girl kind. So you won’t be there with a date?”
I chuckle. “No, I’m not really the person that people ask out. I will probably be ditched the first slow song when a guy asks her to dance.”
He looks at me with a quizzical look. “What do you mean, not really the person that people ask out. I figured you would be asked out left and right.”
“Not really. Noah is about the only one showing interest at the moment.” I give a sad chuckle at that. It hurts a little.
“And me.” His face gets a little red.
“That is about the cutest thing I have ever heard.” I nudged his arm.
“So, at the risk of sounding completely pathetic, can I meet you at the dance?” The way he is looking in my eyes makes me want to melt.
I give him a thoughtful look that I am totally faking because my mind is screaming ‘yes’. “Well, I guess since I will be there. I could meet you there.”
“That will make the dance a much better experience. So what are you dressing up as?” He sounds more casual now. Like he got the hard stuff out of the way and now he can reel me in.
“Zoe, decided that I will be Little Red Riding Hood. Not my first pick, but you try arguing with Zoe.” I giggle, trying to imagine arguing with Zoe, it is futile. Like the borg she will always win. Unless you are Picard, but I am not.
“So, you will be the hottest girl there?” He is jesting for sure. Only he doesn’t look it. He looks like that is genuinely what he thinks. This is something new for me. Not that I don’t have guys ask me out, I mean I do have a good personality. The guys are just normal looking guys. Nothing like this perfection sitting next to me.
“I can’t tell if you are joking or if you really think that.” I figure it would be best to be honest that way there are no questions about what is going on between us.
“Oh, I am dead serious. I think you are funny and attractive. You are obviously a good friend, they all speak highly of you. You are nice and hardly ever mean. What is there not to like?” Sincerity is such a turn on. He really thinks all that about me. No one ever thinks this stuff about me.
I cock my eyebrow at him. There has to be a catch right? “I know you can have better looking girls. Why would you be interested in me? I just want to be clear before I put myself out there.”
“True, I could, but most of them are bitches. Besides.” He pauses while he leans in closer to my ear. “I like thick girls. You have the perfect body. You are the hottest girl in school to me.” He almost breathes it into my ear. I can’t help the little chill that creeps up my spine. I am talking about the good kind. Do you know how long I have waited to hear a guy say those words to me? Then to have that guy be Nick is just shocking and thrilling.
“Um, so what are you dressing up as?” I try to sound composed but I am failing miserably.
“I am thinking I am going to keep it a surprise. I think you will like it though.” He reached over and took my hand, then intertwined our fingers. “This alright?”
I am a bit speechless, but somehow I manage to choke out. “Yeah.”
“Good.” He continues to hold my hand while his attention is diverted to the teacher up front. We spend the rest of the class like that. We don’t have a lab so we can’t talk anymore, but the feel of my hand in his is fantastic.
At the end of the class, he helped me down from the stool. He holds my hand and waits for me to lead the direction. “Do you take the bus, or what?”
“I am pick up.” I start to lead to the front of the school. Parents pick up their kids in one line and the bus picks up in another line. He takes me to the parent pick up area. “Do you get picked up?”
He shakes his head. “No, I walk. I don’t live that far from here.” He pulls me around so that I am right in front of him. He releases my hand so that he can wrap his arms around me. “I am going to be very forward here. I want to give you a kiss good-bye. Are you going to hate me afterwards?”
I give him a smirk. “Depends, on if it’s good or not.”
He gives me a smirk back. “Is that a challenge?”
I shrug, “Maybe.”
He leans in and plants a kiss on my lips. It isn’t rushed or pushed. It is soft and pleasant. It is perfect for where we are.
We are broken apart by a growl. I look over and it is Hunter standing behind Nick. “Carlos is here.” Then he turns around and heads to the SUV.
I roll my eyes. “I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I turn to follow after Hunter. Not that I want to. Nick stops me.
“Give me your number.” He asks it as a request even though it is worded as a command.
“6381835. Got it.” I look him over. He quickly pulls out his phone and types it in.
“Got it. I’ll text you later.” He leans forward and gives me a quick kiss on the lips. “See you tomorrow.” Nick turns and starts walking off campus.