Wild and Free

(Mason’s POV)

I was having a pretty good day up until the point where my sister started to beat me up in the corner of the cafeteria.

“What the hell Kenz?” I yelled, swatting her hands away from where they made contact with my head.

“You liar, you told me it was Auden’s fault for what happened on Saturday!” she whisper shouted at me. “She told me that you both ran into each other and you didn’t even apologize. And then today you were just an annoying asshole in the library.”

I rolled my eyes, “Seriously, that’s what this is about?”

“Yes,” she spat, glaring at me, “you’re a real jerk you know that?”

“Yeah I’ve got a pretty good idea,” I muttered to myself, looking around the room for Riley and Greyson.

She stepped in front of me, blocking my view of anything and forcing me to look at her, “May, you’ve got to apologize. She hates you because she thinks your an arrogant asshole-”

“And why let her think anything but?”

“Because you aren’t and if she’s your mate, her having that kind of negative impression of you isn’t good,”

“Kenz we’ve been over this,” I scowled, “She’s not my mate and I couldn’t care less a-about what she thinks of me.”

My sister folded her arms across her chest and smirked at me.

“What?”

“You stuttered.”

“So?”

“I know you Brother. You always stutter when you lie to me.”

I scowled and she looked at me with an expression of triumph before turning around. She stood and scanned the cafeteria. Her eyes landed on someone waving to her from a table near the center. When I looked closer I saw it was the blonde waitress from the diner, Cassie I think. She exchanged a few words with someone sitting in front of her and when they turned around, it was Auden who looked over and waved to Kenzie as well. She must have seen just past her because she made eye contact with me and frowned before turning away.

Kenzie looked back at me, “You may or may not give a crap about how Auden or anyone else feels, but I do, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t screw up my first chance at real friends since Arlington.” And she spun on her heel, making her way towards Auden’s table and not looking back.

I sighed to myself.

Arlington was the city that we lived in before. Kenzie had always been so popular there, at the school we went to. Sure I was too, any girl I wanted was at my disposal but she seemed to have good, strong friendships with the humans there. In the time we spent trying to find a new place to settle, she never formed any bonds like she did in Arlington. It made me feel kind of guilty that she thought I would ruin it for her.

“Hey,” said Riley as he and Greyson came over to me, both with food filled lunch trays in hand.

“What’s Kenz all pissed about?” Greyson asked, popping a fry into his mouth. “She just stomped past us like someone peed in her cornflakes this morning.”

I shook my head, “She’s just on my ass about that Auden girl again.”

“Why don’t you just apologize already and be done with it?” Greyson suggested, “You’ve spent way too much time thinking about her.”

I would’ve told them my father and sister’s bogus theory about her and the crazy scent I’ve been getting but I personally did not want to live out the rest of my life in utter humiliation so I decided against it and instead just rolled my eyes.

“Whatever, let’s just go sit down somewhere,” I spat, monotonously.

“Need somewhere to sit?” a new voice spoke, approaching our trio.

He three of us looked over to see a pretty looking skinny girl with long bleach blonde hair and brown eyes. She wore a pink dress that looked to tight for her to breathe properly, an odd choice for school which she even more oddly paired with similar colored heels, making her seem taller than she really was. Her hair was so pale and leached of color that it looked very similar to her skin color which was saying a lot because her complexion was almost white. Altogether a normal person might call her beautiful, maybe even hot by Greyson’s standards which were notoriously low. But personally I didn’t see anything special about her. Just the same boring brown eyes...

“Um yeah have you got room?” Riley asked politely.

She nodded but her eyes remained fixated on me, not missing taking on every inch of my being. Wow did that make me feel uncomfortable but I hid it, crossing my arms over my chest.

“What’s your name?” she asked me.

“Mason Royal,”

“Greyson Blackwell,”

“Riley Anderson,”

“I’m Amelia Colet.” she said, twirling a piece of hair around her finger, probably a gesture that was meant to be flirtatious. I had no idea, nor did I really care. I wasn’t there for a relationship. Heck I wasn’t even there for a highschool education, seeing as it certainly wouldn’t be very effective when I took over as Alpha. Dumb English projects and dumber acts of flatary would be completely meaningless then.

“I’ve never seen you here before. Are you new?” she asked.

“Yesterday was our first day,” Riley nodded, earning her eye contact for two seconds until it was back to me.

“Great! Welcome to WCHS! You guys should come and sit with me and my friends. We’ve got plenty of room.” she smiled at me particularly but I only vaguely returned it.

She knit her brows for a second, wondering why I hadn’t reacted more but nevertheless, turned around and beckoned us over to her table. In contrast to what she claimed, her table was flooded with girls who wore the same aura as her and a bunch of meathead guys who seemed to talk about one thing and one thing only. Sports.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked sports just as much as the next guy, let alone werewolf, but I wasn’t one to talk about it 24/7.

“Everyone,” Amelia announced, her shrill voice silencing the entire group, “This is Mason, Riley, and Greyson. They just got to White Chapel a couple days ago and I invited them to sit with us.”

All the people at the table pasted on some kind of smile whether forced or not. Well the Amelia girl obviously ruled these people. They all seemed intrigued with our presence like they thought that we could be an important asset to their little group. Whether it be because we were attractive or athletic looking, who knows.

Amelia sat down and out of nowhere, three chairs popped up for us where we sat down.

Is this not the most cliche thing you’ve ever experienced? Riley mindlinked me.

No question, I responded with a smirk.

“Are you guys like related or something?” one of the guys asked us.

We all looked at each other for a second.

“Sort of,” Greyson answered.

“Sort of?”

Another guy looked at us funny, “But you all moved here together right? What for?”

Riley and Greyson struggled to make up some kind of excuse.

“Our parents all work for the same land development company and one of their projects is breaking ground not too far from here so they sent the four of us to WCHS to finish out our senior years,” I explained cooly. The whole table was paying attention to their new comers now.

“But to answer the original question, no we,” I pointed between my friends and I, “are not related.”

Riley and Greyson, along with everyone else, looked at me with an impressed look, like the thought of some weird, maybe related new kids were starting to grow on them.

“Wait you said the four of you. Who’s the fourth?” Amelia inquired, her eyebrows knit.

“My sister, Kenzie,” I answered, “Twin actually.”

Her eyebrows raised in interest, “Really? Where is she?”

I pointed and she looked over her shoulder at the table where Cassie, Kenz, and Auden were laughing happily at something.

She turned back with a disgusted face, “I’d get her away from that Audrey girl as soon as you can.” Amelia said, gesturing to Auden, peaking my interest.

“Why?” I leaned forward on my elbows.

She copied my movement across the table from me and looked at the rest of her table mates, “She’s kind of a headcase. That girl Callie and that dude Hayden or whatever are like her only friends. All the teachers are in love with her because she’s like uber smart, and a lot of students here like her because she’s really nice or something but they don’t see her for who she really is, a weirdo. She’s like completely obsessed with academics and everything, but it’s her parents that are the real mystery.”

I narrowed my eyes, “What about them?”

“That’s just it! No one knows where they are or anything about them,” she said, glancing over at Auden who sat there, listening to her friend, oblivious to what was being said about her.

A black haired girl one Amelia’s left piped up, “I heard that they just ditched her one day a couple years ago.”

“My friend said that he thinks that they’re split up or something. Really bad circumstances though, like court level,” said a guy sitting next to Riley.

“Someone told me that she they’re abusive or something because she sometimes shows up with random scratches and bruises,” another commented from the other side of the table.

You don’t seriously believe any of this do you? Riley said in my head.

Well they’ve obviously known her longer than we have, something about it is bound to be true, I answered.

Amelia waved her hands in front of her, “Bottom line is that she’s a freak and you, your friends, and your sister would be better off staying far away from her and hanging out with us.” she finished.

“Yeah from what I’ve seen of her she’s a mess. But I’ll keep that in mind,” I replied. She grinned triumphantly and everyone went back to their previous conversations, and eating their lunch, attempting to include us new three in with them.

Just when we did though, I looked over and saw Auden picking up her bag and rushing out the cafeteria doors.

It might have been my imagination but I thought I saw her wipe away a tear.

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

Comment, don’t hate, and read on!

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend