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XYRRA

It was evident that Ryker was keeping his distance from me. It was pretty obvious and such a contrast compared to the closeness we had while we were on the lake. During breakfast this morning, he had deliberately taken the furthest chair away from me and when I'd greeted him, he murmured something in return without turning to look at me, let alone meeting my eyes. His entire attention was on the news he was reading and the bowl of cereal and muesli before him, with his silver eyes locked on. Later, on the stairs, I accidentally bumped into him, and he reacted as if I had burned him. At school today, I quickly completed the given assignment which was to decorate the indoor court so that I could not be distracted from analyzing what had happened this morning and yet I still couldn't figure it out. The whole morning had been really strange. He was never one to talk much, but today he seemed particularly quiet. As I headed to the hallway, my thoughts kept drifting back to him.

While walking with me from the locker room to here, Davina Park, one of my few female friends, seemed to notice my mood. "Hey Xy, everything alright with you??"

"Yeah." I offered an encouraging smile. "How about you? How's the, um, morning sickness and all that?"

Dav and I had talked about marriage and kids a couple of months ago when I told her about Brett's wish to get married as soon as we graduated. Neither of us had imagined that Dav would be the first to experience all of that. This pregnancy had taken everyone by surprise, but I was glad that Trey Cartwright — aka Cindy's ex who'd slept and gotten Davina pregnant — wasn't much of an arsehole as he was a cheater and had actually manned up. He advised Dav to consider keeping the baby, but ultimately left the decision up to her whether to put the child up for adoption, raise it, or have an abortion. Although she wasn't sure about being a mother at eighteen, my friend decided to keep it for now. She had a few more months before making a decision became necessary.

"It's okay now. No more puking, which is great. Though sometimes I have this crazy urge to eat a specific dish or snack. It's weird." Dav shook her head and let out a small sigh. "Life is going to be so much different for me once this bump is getting bigger."

I came to a stop and turned towards her. "Wait." One look at her face and I could tell what it was about. "You haven't told your parents, have you?"

Davina's face looked dejected as she confirmed, "No. I couldn't do it last night. Xy, you don't know how my dad looked at me last night. He was talking about me going to college in the States just like him and how I will be able to reach my dream to become a true artist." Dav wiped her face with one hand and briefly closed her eyes. When she reopened them, I could see sadness mixed with confusion and guilt. "I just couldn't say it to him. But I will try again tonight or tomorrow."

Holding her hand, I gave it a gentle squeeze. "I know you will. And I know that it's not easy, but it might be best for him to hear it directly from you than other people, Dav."

"I know." She put her arm around my shoulder and sighed again. "I'm a disappointment."

"That's not true. You're not." I held her gaze. "Everyone makes mistakes. Plus, who would've thought when the protection would actually fail to protect us?"

Her face brightened, and she laughed at my last sentence. "Right."

"Let's go shopping after we're done with this whole preparation for prom," I suggested, even though I wasn't in the mood for shopping right now. All I wanted was to drop back at Eros's place as soon as possible and asked him to hand me the key. "We can go to the dessert shop that you always enjoy."

Her eyes gleamed and a hint of a smile crossed her face. "Okay."

We continued to walk, but pause a moment later. "By the way, do you know where Cindy got transferred to?"

This was news to me. "Wait what? Why did she get transferred?"

Davina shrugged. "I actually don't know. I just heard one of Trey's friends telling him that he doesn't have to worry about his crazy ex once she's gone."

"That's weird." I opened the door and held it for her. Once we were inside, everyone was already there, so our discussion inevitably ended. Although I was bothered by Cindy's sudden transfer, I knew the only way I could find out the reason was if I were to ask Brett, her cousin, who was also my ex-boyfriend. Either that or somehow break into the school's records. Both seemed to require so much effort that I decided to not think about it or Cindy.

True to my words, I accompanied Dav for a bit of shopping down at District 8, which was a street market with various local shops, boutiques, and stalls. There was even one art gallery in the corner, but that wasn't why I usually came here. I came here for the food stalls and it was the same for today. While Dav dragged me from shop to shop, I always managed to have food in my hands, whether it was fish and chips or a corn dog, or chocolate-filled churros. She'd gotten herself a new pale pink sweater with cherry red stripes and a pearly white tank top. Her mood seemed to be a lot better now.

"I know exactly what to wear with that sweater. Oh, I can't wait for winter to come!" She squealed in excitement, and I grinned. Watching her being this happy made me happy. "Oh, look at that boutique. I think it's new. I've never been there before." She grabbed my free hand and dragged me across the street. Thankfully, there was not much traffic today.

Before I even entered the boutique, I already had a bad feeling about it. Luckily there was a 'No food allowed' sign hung on the door, so I told Dav that I'd finish my churros first. She was reluctant at first, but once I told her that I'd quickly find her inside once I was done, she agreed and got inside. I stood outside, finishing my delicious churros with melted dark chocolate, when someone called my name — well, not exactly my name. The person probably didn't know my name and had been at the Halloween party last Saturday because he called me 'Sexy Hermione'. I glanced up and met my horror as Alana's little brother strolled toward me. "Oh, no," I nearly groaned.

He stopped right in front of me, grinning from ear to ear as if he'd just won the lottery. "See. I told you we'll meet again."

"It's a small town," I said, finishing my churros and crumpling up the paper wrapping. As I walked towards the closest bin, I noticed he was trailing behind me. "I thought I told you that you'd better off not socializing with me." I tossed the crumpled-up paper into the bin and gave him a pointed look.

"And here I thought I already mentioned that I like you." His grin had not disappeared. It only became wider.

Oh, great.

"Look, Alana's brother — or whatever your name is," I started.

"Miles," he provided.

"Fine." I rolled my eyes. "Miles, your sister and I are not on good terms. I'd rather she doesn't catch you talking to me because, honestly, I'm tired of drama."

Miles's smile dimmed a little. "You don't have to be afraid of my sister. I'm an adult now. She has no right to meddle with my business."

"I'm not afraid," I said, feeling offended that he even made that assumption. Having punched Cindy before, setting up a meeting between Alana's face and my fist would be a breeze. "I just don't want to deal with her. Period."

"You don't have to." Miles offered an easy smile. "I'm more than enough. Anyway, I want to invite you to this—"

I would never find out what Miles was going to invite me to because, before he could finish his sentence, his sister stomped her way to his side and gave me a deadly stare. "Stay the fuck away from my brother."

"Hey, Al, what're you doing?" Miles sighed exasperatedly. "You're embarrassing me in front of the girl I'm trying to impress."

Alana didn't seem to hear his brother, or perhaps she had, but chose to ignore it. "Stay. Away," she warned me one more time.

If she thought that I was scared of her just because she had crazy eyes and even crazier hair, then she should think again. "Trust me, I'm more than happy to do it. I've been telling him to stay away from me pretty much more than three times now."

"I mean it, bitch. Haven't you done enough? Isn't one man enough?!"

"I told you, I wasn't trying—" Before I could say another word, she slapped me.

My eyes had been focusing on hers and I hadn't realized her manicured hand swinging onto my face. For a moment, none of us said anything. Miles had that baffled expression on his face. He didn't seem to believe what he had just seen. No doubt his sister always maintained a good image with pack members, believing she'd one day become their Luna. There was no remorse or anything at all on Alana's face except satisfaction. She was glad that she could finally do this and in her eyes, I could tell that she was glad Ryker or Dmitry were not here to stop her.

She forgot that I didn't need any man to defend me. I never had. Not only could I defend myself, but I was also capable of doing something more. "And my good mood is over."

I pulled my arm back and swung it right onto her face, not caring if she would end up needing a nose job after this.

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