When I walked into the common room the next day, the atmosphere had changed yet again. No longer were they scrutinising my every move- instead, I was scrutinising theirs. I couldn't believe that these people were werewolves- they literally change into wolves! That's insane.

I gathered that Noah had spread the word that I now knew their little secret, since people were looking down as I walked past. Girls from the pack were no longer making advances or flirty looks towards me, which was a strange feeling indeed. Even if I had a girlfriend, I usually received one or two looks.

Last night Xavier had mentioned how him being the Alpha's successor meant that he was treated different growing up and I could instantly tell that I was receiving the same kind of treatment. I hadn't even been introduced to them officially yet and they were already acting like I had grown a third leg overnight.

I tried my best to ignore them, heading over to my friends. This is the first time in my life that I've ever considered my friends normal in comparison to the rest of the Sixth Form. Not everyone in the Sixth Form was in the pack, of course, but people who didn't understand were just following the crowd.

"Who did you sleep with this time? Everyone's acting like you're royalty." Mike chuckled once I got near enough that he didn't have to yell it.

"Where have you been? Nobody's heard from you since you rang Mike the night you got out of hospital." Mick questioned, "Usually you only stay away from the park when there's a new girl on the scene, so who is it?"

"So much for taking a break from dating." Oscar teased, scooting over on the sofa so that I could take a seat too.

"What can I say, I have a natural charm." I shrugged, feeling a bit bad for lying to them.

I would tell them the truth, but it's not exactly my secret to share. Therefore, I'll just have to let them think what they like for a while. I'll eventually tell them about whatever the hell's going on between Xavier and I when it's a bit more serious (a human appropriate version, no werewolves).

I noticed that Ava was keeping quiet, but that wasn't anything out of character for her on a Monday morning. She was never a morning person and considering she had a piece of unfinished homework in front of her, I could only presume that it was getting her even more down.

"Teach me your ways." Mick pleaded, but I wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be a joke or not.

"Some other time- I need a fag." I announced, standing up again.

"I'll come." Heather smiled tightly, following me out of the common room and down the fire escape.

As soon as we were alone, her exaggerated smile dropped from her face and she turned to glare at me. It was quite scary; I was certainly intimidated by the quick switch of emotions, despite her small frame. She looked like she meant business and I now had nowhere to run away to.

"I don't believe your lies for a second. How long have I known you? I can smell bullshit and you reek of it." Heather chided, her glare intense, "So tell me the truth."

"I don't know what you mean." I lied through my teeth, my voice wobbling slightly.

"What happened when you got out of the hospital? How the hell did you end up in the hospital in the first place? I have so many questions about what happened; I was so worried about you, Cam." Her voice cracked, eyes tearing up.

My heart softened at that and my heart pounded. She never called me 'Cam', so I knew it must have hurt her a lot. I stepped forwards, wrapping her in a bear hug. I didn't mean to upset her- that was never my intention, but things were complicated right now. She snivelled into my shoulder, clinging to the fabric of my t.shirt like her life depended on it.

"It was so scary seeing you hooked up to machines like that. Your mum said she found you collapsed in the shower, writhing in pain. She begged me to tell her anything I knew, but I didn't and I've felt so damn guilty since it happened." Heather sobbed, "She kept asking me about Xavier, but I didn't tell her. What did he do to you? If he hurt you, I'll kill him."

I sighed deeply, resting my chin on top of her head. I was trying to compose my thoughts before I spoke, but I could feel my own tears welling up. Everything was so difficult right now- I felt like a bad friend, but I really can't tell her the truth... This must be how Xavier felt about telling me.

"Xavier didn't do anything; he actually helped. I was lucky that he came when he did." I finally managed to squeeze out, my voice wobbling.

"I don't trust him, Cameron." Heather looked into my eyes, pulling away from the hug slightly.

"I know you don't, but you trust me, right?" I asked, which she nodded yes to, "Then believe me when I say you can trust him. He's on our side. He told me the whole truth and gave me all the evidence I needed."

"Then what's going on? What's with the fake business, the secrets, the following you?"

"I can't tell you. It's nothing dodgy, though."

"Cameron! I'm literally your best friend- why can't you tell me? Is he trying to isolate you? They told us about this in PSHE- it's a sign of grooming." She rambled, eyes wide with fear.

"Heather, I'm not being groomed! The age of consent is sixteen, so I'm well above it. Besides, he's not trying to exploit me in any way." I sighed, "He's a good guy, honestly."

"You promise he's not taking advantage of you?" She whispered, "No blackmail? Sexual, or otherwise?"

"Nothing like that. He's been nothing but a gentleman. We're taking things slow, going on a date soon. He hasn't even kissed me and he stayed in the guest room last night." I spewed.

"You're staying at his house?" She hissed, eyes wide again.

"Mum kicked me out. She's convinced that he dealt me the drugs that put me in the hospital. Drugs that I didn't do, by the way." I explained, feeling a headache grow out of nowhere.

"She kicked you out again? He didn't do anything to put you in there, right?" She double checked, with suspicious eyes.

"It wasn't his fault." I confirmed, "He was nice enough to offer me a place to stay, though."

"I don't know how I feel about that. Can't you stay with the twins? I'm sure I could sneak you in at night if you want to stay at mine." Heather offered.

"No, it's honestly fine at his. I missed talking to you, though." I cooed teasingly, lightening the atmosphere.

"I mean how could you not?" Heather boasted, "I'm your favourite person on earth. Make sure Xavier knows that, because I'm not having him steal my best friend away."

"He thought you were my girlfriend at the party." I chuckled, whipping out my baccy pouch.

I had made Xavier stop at the petrol station so that I could grab some before school; I was getting pretty sick of straights. I began to roll a cigarette, taking a seat on the fire escape steps now that this conversation had calmed down.

"You're not fortunate enough to have me romantically." Heather winked, pulling out a carton of her own cigarettes.

"You forget that I have had you." I wiggled my eyebrows, making her bark a laugh.

"Barely." She rolled her eyes, "What did lover boy make of that?"

"He took it surprisingly well, all things considered. A little jealous, but who wouldn't be of you." I flirted jokingly.

"I'd like to meet him. He needs the stamp of approval from your very best-est friend."

"It's still early days, but if the date goes well then of course. We should have a sesh or something- all of us there." I proposed, keen to get Heather's actual opinion on Xavier.

"Can't promise that I won't steal your man, but that sounds good."

I felt a bubble of jealousy come to surface at that, which I quickly popped. This mate bond thing was so irrational- she was only joking, but I felt the need to snap at her. The bond was so overprotective when it came to Xavier and Kodiak.

"You have a boyfriend." I rolled my eyes, managing to fight off the jealousy.

"Not anymore." She shrugged, "We broke up while you were in the hospital. Didn't feel like I should be taking the spotlight from your little hospital episode, though."

"Shut up." I barked a laugh, rolling my eyes at her theatrics, "Sorry to hear that."

"No you're not." She barked a laugh, puffing smoke into the air cheekily, "You didn't even know his name. Besides, I did the breaking up... I've got my eye on somebody else."

"Already? Who?" I was quite surprised- Heather didn't usually bounce from relationship to relationship like that.

"I said that I was interested, not that I was pursuing. Besides, you're not one to judge- you've had how many girls in the last year?"

"Fair point." I chuckled, flicking the butt of my cigarette into the usual make shift ashtray down here, "Who is it?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Her face went deadly serious, fixing me with a stone cold look.

I shook my head at her theatrics and pushed her shoulder, making her crack. She laughed as she stubbed her cigarette out in the ashtray, shoving me back. It was good to talk about Heather's love life on the fire escape once again; things felt normal again.

"If you're keeping a secret, so am I." She shrugged.

"You're so petty. Whatever, don't tell me." I didn't need to know that badly, "It must be a pretty embarrassing crush if you won't even tell me."

"It's not embarrassing." She blushed, confirming my suspicions to be true.

"As long as it's not Mike, I don't care." I decided.

"Poor Mike." She cringed.

We both laughed, heading back up the fire escape together. I was glad that we had cleared the air because I couldn't deal with Heather being mad at me for long. She was one of my main pillars and without her I don't think I'd be able to handle this whole Xavier/mate situation.

As we entered the common room, it instantly quietened down. People weren't looking at us, but it was obvious that we were the cause for the volume adjustment. My eyes flittered over the place, cringing internally at how obvious they were all being. How the hell did they manage to keep such a massive secret when they behaved so abnormally?

"They did this when you walked in earlier too." Heather whispered in my ear, "It's seriously fucking weird."

"I'll talk to Xavier about it." I whispered back, "Try to ignore them."

She side eyed me, obviously finding the whole exchange as strange as I did. I needed to ask Xavier to tell them to either ignore me or treat me normally, because I can't have them staring at the floor and going quiet every time I walked into the room; I wouldn't survive the rest of the school year.

"What did we miss?" Heather grinned, flopping back onto her spot on the sofa.

"Cam, you're seriously not going to tell us who you slept with for this to happen? It seems like everyone but us knows! That's unfair." Mick pouted, gesturing to all of the quiet people.

"Ava left in tears and Oscar ran out after her." Mike ignored Mick, letting us know.

"Is she okay?" I frowned, "If it's her homework, we could all help."

"It looked a bit more serious than homework." Fred sighed.

"Should we go check on her?" Heather suggested, seeming concerned.

It wasn't really like Ava to get so upset over something. Sure, she was usually grumpy in the mornings, but other than that she was such a bubbly person. She was always super warm towards everyone and she handled things very well; I had definitely never seen her cry before.

"I think we should give her some space with Oscar, if you catch my drift." Mike muttered darkly, shocking all of us.

Oscar and Ava were the most solid couple I knew- they never argued and they were joined at the hip. If Ava's upset at Oscar for some reason, he must have really fucked up. I had a bad feeling in my stomach about all of this.