Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Lauren’s smile is indulgent, like she’s amused by my jealousy, but she shakes her head and points at the window. “Get out, Abe.”
Chapter Eighteen
Lauren
Returning to Wolf Ridge High now that I’m alive again is a new experience. Walking through the hallways, my senses are heightened–or at least no longer dulled. I hear every noise. Notice the natural beauty and spectacular athleticism of most every student I pass—male and female alike.
“Have you noticed how ethnically un-diverse this school is?” I say to Lincoln as we walk to our lockers.
He snorts. “You just now figured that out?”
“I wasn’t paying much attention before.” I look at him, wondering what he sees. If he’s noticed any clues about the differences between the students here and normal human teens.
Lincoln is pretty observant. He’s the kind of guy who clocks everyone in the room at a party. He knows their vibe before they ever interact. He always approached our move here as a study in small-town anthropology.
“It’s not like Landhower had much diversity,” Lincoln says as he drops his books in his locker and pulls out a notebook and pencil.
“No, but more than here.”
“True.”
Abe and his friends come strutting down the hallway, talking in loud voices. The other students part to let them sail through.
I’m unprepared for how it feels to have him completely ignore me. He just walks on by with his friends like everything that happened over the weekend didn’t happen.
I know he wants it to be a secret that I know about his kind. He feels he can’t associate with me. This isn’t much different from how he acted last week, after I’d found out he’s a wolf.
But last week, I didn’t care.
Last week, I was still half-dead. Only just beginning to wake up when I was around Wolf Ridge High’s star quarterback.
This week, I feel alive again. And I don’t care for being dissed by the school bully who happened to be in my bed last night.
I’d prefer his harassment to this. At least that was attention.
I’m not used to feeling invisible.
I slam my locker and toss my hair as I walk in the opposite direction. When I sit down in my English class, my phone buzzes with a text. I’m instantly certain it will be from Abe.
I sneak a look at it when the teacher isn’t looking.
Abe: You look smoking hot today.
My irritation eases. At least he knows he was a dick. He’s trying to make up for it.
I sweat him by not answering.
It works. When I see him in the hall after first period, his gaze burns through me. His eyes glint ice blue, and I watch his handsome face tighten.
He’s having one of his episodes.
Was it brought on by me again?
I instantly regret my torture of him. Now that I know to look beneath all the alpha-hole swagger, I can see what he’s hiding.
He covers it so well, though. When we pass, he throws on a jaunty smirk. “What’s up, Pearls?” he jeers, but I can tell his eyes aren’t focusing. He probably can’t even see me right now.
“Eat me, Abe,” I call back breezily.
He laughs, and his friends chortle and scoff. He turns around, walking backward to face me. “Is that an offer, princess?”
I don’t turn around. “In your dreams, jock.”
Abe’s light chuckle sounds genuine.
At lunch, I try to figure out if Rayne is a wolf, too. I meant to ask Abe. I’ll add it to the list of questions I have about all things wolf.
She seems to be getting more attention today–kids saying hi to her or waving. I’m sure it has something to do with her being Homecoming Queen although I never got the full story on that. I know she was upset when it happened because she thought her stepbrother orchestrated it, and then she didn’t come to school the next day.
Today, it seems epically clear what a non-friend I’ve been to Rayne, who is literally the only student at Wolf Ridge who has been remotely friendly to me and Lincoln. I was so much in my own muffled bubble, I never cared enough about anybody else.
Abe dogged on me for being stuck-up. I now see that must be exactly what I seemed like to everyone at this school.
“So…how was Homecoming?” I ask, waggling my brows. “Lincoln said your parents know about you and your stepbrother now?”
Rayne flushes. “It was amazing. I’m really happy.”
“So how does it work? Do you just share a bedroom now or what?”
She flushes some more. “Technically, I’ve been in his bedroom this whole time, and he’s been sleeping on the couch. But he’s going back to college this week.”
“Oh, bummer. Where does he go?”
“Duke.”
“Ooh, that’s far. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. He’s going to finish out this year and then see if he can transfer to ASU, where I’m planning to go next year. How about you? Did you break up with your man?”