I was actually not looking forward to going to second hour today, just because I didn’t know what was waiting for me in there. I didn’t want to get kicked out of school, what would Dean do to me then? I was staring blankly at the clock on the fore wall, knowing I should’ve been paying attention but I couldn’t…

I was thinking about Miss Riley. 

She had consumed my thoughts since detention, I couldn’t stop thinking about her lips against mine. The way they had fit perfect against me, how she had tasted so sweet…

Suddenly the bell rang, forcing me out of my day dream. My heart began to pump quick as I lifted myself off of my desk and hoisted my bag onto my shoulder. I then felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to see Collin smiling, “Hey, you’re pretty nervous for second hour today huh?”

He could hear my heartbeat, I smiled weakly, “Yea, I guess.”

He laughed, “See you after school,” then he was gone. 

Emma looked at him down the hall, then falling in step besides me, “You talk to Collin Quinn?”

I shrugged, “Asked me about homework one time.”

It was a weak lie but I was to nervous to think about anything but second hour. I didn’t want to be late though, I sighed, “I don’t want to be late today. Don’t want another detention.”

Emma smiled mischievously, “That’s true, how did that go, by the way?”

I clenched my jaw at the thought, seeing Miss Riley’s lips come into view, “I’ll tell you after school.”

Then I turned and made my way down the hall, not even worrying about everyone’s looks as I tore through the crowded hallway. I didn’t want to be late, I mean, I knew she probably wasn’t going to do anything to me but I didn’t want to upset her even more today. Even though the things she had said to me yesterday had actually cut me deep. 

It was just different coming from her.

I made my way into class, realizing she was sitting at her desk reading something. Her loose dark brown curls falling over her shoulders and lightly grazing her desk. I sat in my desk, wondering what her reaction towards me was going to be. 

Was she even going to acknowledge me? Ignore my existence? Ignore that fact that I had kissed her? 

Then the bell rang and she stood, closing her door and hesitating. She hadn’t even noticed I was sitting here in class. She tore her eyes away from the door for a split second, as if she was waiting for a familiar knock from me. Then our gazes locked, and she looked taken back as she realized I was in class on time and spoke, stuttering slightly, “O-Ok, we’re going to go over what we’ve been covering.”

I smiled to myself, she was shocked, and she had been looking for me willingly. She had been thinking about me, and that’s exactly what I wanted. 

And I wasn’t in trouble for once. 

I followed along with the lesson as best as I could, feeling impossible as I studied Miss Riley up there in the front of the classroom. I eyed her body hungrily, wishing I could be on top of her, feeling her lips on mine as I thought back to the kiss. 

She finished up going over the lesson and glanced back at the class, “Any questions?”

I watched her eyes focus on me for a split second and I smiled, but it wasn’t a smirk like I usually did. It was a genuine smile, I was silently thanking her for not ratting me out to the principal for sexual harassment. 

Feeling that I was off the hook for awhile.

~ ~ ~ ~

Saturday morning soon came and I was making my way over to Dean’s. I wasn’t looking forward to whatever he was planning on having us do but I had no choice. 

Alpha’s orders. 

I rolled my eyes at the fact, considering I was technically the Alpha. I figured it was because I wasn’t used to being told what to do, but I was at the bottom of the chain right now. 

I would have to work my way up. 

I pulled up to the cabin, throwing my car in park and getting out, smelling the rest of them immediately. I walked into the house willingly, seeing Dean and Michelle sitting at the table, Dean looked at me, “You might want to change out of that good clothes.”

I sighed, “I didn’t bring anything else.”

He nodded upstairs, “Go see Tess.”

I headed upstairs, wondering   why I hadn’t thought about wearing something more appropriate. I knocked on her door and it opened, giving me a quick view of her chest as she pulled on a cami, “Oh hey, what’s up?”

I shrugged, “Apparently Dean thinks I’m not dressed for the occasion.”

She laughed, pulling on a flannel shirt, “You’re not.” She was wearing ratted old jeans and dirty converse, making me feel really over dressed as she pulled out more old jeans and a size to big shirt. She threw it to me, “Here.”

I pulled off my clothes, replacing them with Tess’s and looking at myself in the mirror. The shirt was big on me but it looked like I was about to be doing work, and the jeans had holes in the knees but… 

It actually made me look oddly sexy.

She pulled her hair back in a pony tail, giving me one, “Just incase those pretty locks get to be to much.”

I smiled, “Thanks.”

She spoke, “Let’s go downstairs, I’m starving.”

We headed downstairs to the smell of eggs and other delicious smelling foods. I grabbed a muffin and poured coffee, sitting in between Dean and Tess as Stiles and Collin joined us, digging in. I was nervous to see what we were going to be doing but I knew we all had the strength of at least 50 people put together. 

We would have no problems… right?

We then made our way out the cabin and I saw my car and Dean’s, knowing we would have to take two cars. Then Dean pointed in a direction and he spoke, “Let’s go,” and then took off forward into the woods. 

I hesitated, but I followed willingly, finding it easy to keep up. We were running fast too, about 50 miles per hour, the trees whisking past us in a blur. It was exhilarating, and I couldn’t believe we could actually run this fast just in our human forms. 

I saw a river approaching, it was a good 15 feet wide but Dean jumped, clearing it with no problem, along with the rest of the pack. I jumped as hard as I could, the feeling of flying was awesome, and I landed hard on the forest ground, finding it completely magnificent what we were capable of. 

All the speed and strength, and I wasn’t even the Alpha…

Yet. 

I was having thoughts about being the Alpha, leading along side with Dean, what it would be like being in charge. I mean, I had always had persuasion on my side, and my looks always helped, but leading a pack of werewolves…

It was a completely different ballgame. 

I ran alongside Tess, wanting to race her, but she seemed focused. Her eyes then darted to me and she smiled wickedly, “I would race, but now isn’t the time.”

I was confused, why not? It was the perfect time… I kept my mouth shut and continued next to her, wondering why she was being so uptight. 

 We made it to the edge of the forest, Dean stopping and straightening out his clothes. We all mimicked, wanting to look as natural as possible as we saw the reconstruction sight coming into view. There were already a couple of volunteers there but none of them smelt familiar. 

We filled in and Tess sighed, “Dean’s very serious about traveling, that’s why we never break formation.”

I nodded, “Is he always that uptight?”

She smiled, nodding, and then Dean turned, smirking sarcastically, “Yes, and I can hear you, by the way.”

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks as we made our way to the house, feeling pretty stupid as Tess giggled at me. I shoved her, and she shoved me back, but our play was cut quick by instructions. 

“Dean! Glad you and your friends could make it, I was gonna ask you and your boys to re-patch the shingles on the roof.”

He nodded, taking Stiles and Collin on the roof. Then Michelle spoke, “What do you want us to do?”

He pointed around the back of the house, “They’re laying bricks on the other side if you girls want to help with that?”

Michelle nodded, “Sounds fun,” then we followed her around back, me and Tess’s arms brushing as we walked side by side. I had to admit, Tess was gorgeous, her dark brown hair and those green eyes, her lips were in the shape of a heart, making them look so kissable. 

I wondered what it would feel like to kiss her…

Kiss… like I had kissed Miss Riley… 

I forced the thought quickly out of my head, I hadn’t talked to her since then, she hadn’t even fussed at me when I had been tardy. She just quietly let me inside the classroom without a word, and that freaked me out most of all. 

Was she scared of me? Intimidated by me?

They demonstrated how to lay the brick and then we were spread out and given cement and bricks. Me and Tess immediately got to work and she spoke, “Is this the first time you do something like this?”

I nodded, placing a brick in the thick cement, “Yes, actually, bet that’s not hard to believe.”

She sighed, “It’s ok, you weren’t brought up to do things like this. It’s not your fault.”

I looked at her, wondering why she was so accepting to my ways. How I was arrogant and came off that way, like she didn’t even care. I smiled, “You guys do things like this a lot, huh?”

She nodded in agreement, “We do, but I like it. I enjoy helping people, and I’m good at it.”

We continued laying the brick until we could reach the top of the wall anymore, meeting the other group’s edge and backing away to inspect our work. It looked good, but without the help of Tess I would’ve been lost. 

She spoke, “C’mon, let’s go inside and paint.”

I followed her into the house, smelling the paint immediately and then something else came into my nose. I recognized that scent, that exact soap and shampoo…

It was Miss Riley.

I clenched my jaw, my eyes darting around the room, then I spotted her, rolling on paint with one of the other girl volunteers. Tess pulled me toward her, not realizing that Miss Riley was here, volunteering with us. 

She picked up a paint roller and handed it to me, “I’ll do the bottom edge, you do the big parts since you’re taller.”

She urged me toward the wall next to Miss Riley and I figured, what the hell was I so afraid of? We were out of school, volunteering for a good cause. She couldn’t do anything to me here, so what was I hiding my face for?

I surely wasn’t afraid of my little Calculus teacher.

I started rolling on the light blue paint, doing it as even as I could manage, eyeing Miss Riley from the side. I rolled until my brush had no more paint on it, and I turned toward the paint carton, and running smack into Miss Riley.

Paint brushed onto my right shoulder, down to my boob as she spoke, “Oh I’m so sorry… Kate?”

I looked up, smiling, “It’s ok, it’s an old shirt.”

I wasn’t going to let her see that I was just as shocked that she was here with me, I mean, my luck huh? I dipped my brush into the pan, evening out the amount of paint and standing again, handing her the brush and taking hers.

She spoke, “I didn’t know you volunteered for things like this.”

I shrugged, “I’m a newbie,” I dipped the brush in the paint and looked back up to her, “You don’t look like the person to do this either.”

It was weird, we were speaking as if nothing had happened between us the other day, and I knew it was freaking her out to. I returned to my work, feeling grateful I had escaped that conversation without fucking up. 

I stood over Tess as she painted the edges carefully, making sure not to touch the baseboards. I finished up my side and helped Tess with the bottom, and then we were done, and I felt good. The wall looked amazing, it was perfect.

I actually liked doing stuff like this. 

Then my phone buzzed in my pocket, I pulled it out to see Emma had messaged me. I opened it, “Hey, wondering if you wanted to go out tonight, there’s a new club that needs a breaking in.”

I pondered the thought, what would Dean think of that? I typed back, “Sure, be around your house for 9:00?”

I shoved my phone back in my pocket and helped Tess up, studying the rest of the room that was now completely painted. I sighed heavily, “It looks good.”

She nodded, smiling, “Feels good too.”

We made our way out the house, the top of the house was patched up and it looked pretty good. They had rebuilt the front porch completely, they were just finishing up the railings and painting them wouldn’t take long. 

Dean and the boys joined us, speaking, “Good job everyone.”

I wasn’t paying attention though, Miss Riley was staring right at me, and she had seen who I was with. Her face held pure horror, as if she had just seen a ghost. She was remembering the night she was attacked, and how she had seen Dean…

And she knew I was involved with him, giving away the one secret I was supposed to keep.