Chapter Three.

Lena couldn't stop being smiling. Ever since this morning, all she wanted was to be around Darien. She has never felt like this before and it kind of worried her. Her worries vanished when she remembered seeing how her brothers spent time with their mates every minute they could.

She has never had a boyfriend before; hadn't even been kissed. How could she kiss someone when she doesn't have any feelings for them? Not to mention her five older brothers who wouldn't dare let a boy near her unless they knew his possible intentions with their "little Lena'.

She started to worry about what having a mate would do to her soccer career. Would she start to care about Darien more and spend less time on soccer? Would she want to quiet and forget about it her whole life, only thinking about Darien?

She scoffed at the thought and rolled her eyes. She had watched her brothers play all their sports and have their girlfriends, still winning all them. She'll be fine.

Lena felt her lips curve into a smile as he thought about Darien. She decided to go find him now that school was over and most of the kids had gone home for the day. She hoped he was still there.

She hoped by the end of this week, she could get him to kiss her. When she got around to the corner of the sophomore hallway, she peeked her head around to see if he was there.

He was and so was someone else. He has pressing a guy she knew from the soccer team against the locker and glaring down at him. Her eyes widened and she quickly went up to stop his violent behavior.

"Hey, let go of him!" she hissed as she tapped his shoulder.

He turned his head around, "Leave us alone, Sunshine," he said, sucking his teeth. He turned his head back around to face Todd. Sure, Todd was a good five nine, but he wasn't the strongest. He would probably try to fight Darien, but Lena had a feeling Darien had a similar personality to the animal she's nicknamed him for, Wolverine.

She glared at his back and put her hands on her waist. She cleared her throat, "I said let go of him or I'll make you. I rather you just do it before a teacher comes out and see this."

He groaned and said as he turned around, "And I said leave us alone, Sun—ahh!" he said when Lena grabbed a hold of his chin roughly and made him look down at her.

She gave him a tight smile, "Darien, you don't scare me. So don't try and think just because you're some bully that you can scare me. I'm a big girl, I grew up with five older brothers, I can kick your ass right here if I wanted to but I won't, so leave my friend Todd alone."

He breathed out his nose heavily, "Fine, just let go of my chin. Your nails are digging into my skin, Sunshine."

She smiled now and let go of his chin. Todd ran away from behind Darien quickly. Darien rubbed his chin as he glared down at her. He turned his back to her to open his locker, ignoring her.

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. She leaned against the locker next to his, "So, Wolverine, what made you want to throw poor innocent Todd against your locker?"

"He bumped into me and didn't apologize." he said. "Didn't your small ass town teach you kids about manners?

"And didn't the city teach you city boys about it isn't nice to throw kids against lockers?" she asked.

"And how do you know I'm from the city, huh, Sunshine? Stalking me now?" he asked.

"No, people talk. And you talk like you might have spent some time of your life in Boston." she said. "I also heard that you been kicked out of school at least four other times."

He paused from packing his stuff to look at her, "And do you believe it?"

She shrugged, "I don't listen much to what people say, so I ask the people who they talk about. Is it true?"

He grabbed his jacket and closed his locker, "No, it was three," he said before walking down the hallway to leave.

Lena stood there for a moment, knowing she was going to have to change his behavior. She's a peaceful person and she doesn't want her mate to be a rebellious jerk. She knows she's going to have to find the source of the pain and help heal him. She already know his mother is gone, but what about his father? How he grew up? She has to help him.

He's just sitting in the dark. She can bring him out of it, but first she had to start nudging him out.

She got up from the locker and jogged up to his side. She already had her stuff. She had gotten it before she went to go see her coach about skipping practice today so she could hang out with Darien. He didn't like it, but she convinced him.

"So there's a pizza shop three blocks away that has some pretty good homemade pizza. They have other things if you want also like fries or cheesesteaks. I'm sure you love those since you are from Boston," she chuckled.

He looked down at her confused, "What are you talking about? I'm going home, Sunshine. I have a thirty minute walk to get to my apartment, so leave me alone."

She frowned, "But I thought we agreed earlier to hang out."

"No, you agreed for me just to get that jock ass G strap prick off your back." he said. "I'm tired as heck, so I'm going home."

She put her hand on his shoulder and stopped him. She pouted and made her eyes big, "But I skipped practice today to hang out with you. Please Darien."

He gave her an uncomfortable look, "Please don't give me that look."

She wanted to grin, this always worked on her dad and brothers. She dropped her hand and her head, sniffling a few times.

After a moment, he groaned, "Fine, just stop doing that," he said, grabbing her arm to get them to start walking again. She couldn't help but grin a little. Boys have their way of getting what they want and so do girls. Guys seduce and girls make guys feel guilty to get what they want.

After a thirteen minute walk, they made it to the pizza shop. Some other teenagers were there too, eating. Lena could feel looks from the people she knew looking at her. She knew they were mentally questioning why she with Darien; she was out of her element, she doesn't really go out on dates or hang out with guys unless she was with a crowd.

When Lena got to the counter, she smiled at Rodrigo, "Ciao, Rodrigo, two pineapple and bacon slices with a large soda for here."

He punched in the order and looked at Darien.

"Nothin' for me.", he said, causing Lena to give him a strange look.

"You have to eat, you didn't eat anything at lunch, " she said. "You must be starving."

"You were watching me?" he asked, looking at her like she was crazy. "And no, I'm not."

She rolled her eyes and looked at Rodrigo, "Give him a large fry with a large soda also," she said and he put it in. She grabbed her purse and took her wallet out, grabbing the money she needed. It must've taken her awhile because she saw Darien hand the guy a twenty dollar bill.

She looked up at him, "I could have paid for it."

"And prove that prick Joey right? I may be poor, but I do have money," he said.

"I didn't say you were poor though," she said, frowning up at him.

He took the change from Rodrigo, "I know you didn't, but what kind of guy would I be to let a girl pay?" he asked, but didn't really want an answer. He grabbed the large cup Rodrigo handed to him and Lena grabbed their cups as they went to go get their drinks.

They waited by the counter until their food was ready. Lena had amazing hearing, thanks to her being a wolf, and could hear people talking about her. Nothing bad, they were just wondering why, when she finally decided to go out, she chose the new kid. If they only knew how special he was to her. He was her other half.

Lena sneaked a couple looks at Darien. His jacket was open, revealing his shirt, bulging tight on his muscles. The stubbly beginnings of facial hair covered his chin and upper lip. His hair had moved from the Superman look it had earlier to being pushed back away from his perfect face, probably from Darien running his hands through it frequently.

Lena thought about what those big, strong hands would feel like moving all over her body. Her inner wolf growled happily at the thought. Darien turned to look at Lena with confusion. She smiled at him awkwardly before looking away, blushing.

Once their food was ready, Darien and Lena grabbed it and went over to an empty table. It was pretty quiet between them to so Lena decided to break the ice, "So where did you move from?"

"New York," he said, not paying attention to her as he ate his fries quickly, really quickly for someone who isn't hungry.

"That's cool, my brother Shay and his girlfriend live there with their son Ace."

He didn't say anything after that, so Lena decided to eat one of her slices of pizza before continuing, "So what's your name?"

"Darien Aric Call," he said.

"Aric? If I'm right, with an—"

"Yeah, with an A. My mom's pa's name was Aric. He was from Denmark," he said.

"So what are you? You look like you could be mixed with—",

"My father was white and Chilean," he said, never looking at her. She wondered why he wouldn't look at her when he talked.

"Oh.", she said. "Well mine is Helena Anneliese Marie Russo. I would like to meet your father sometime—"

"He's dead also," he said without any problem.

"Oh, I'm sorry—"

He stopped and banged his fist against the table, "Can we stop talking about my parents? Why do you care so much to know everything about me?" he asked, finally looking at her.

She looked at him confused from his outburst, "I'm just curious."

"Well don't be," he said. "You don't have to know everything about my life. Wanna know my shoe size now?"

"Jeez, calm down," she said. "You don't have to be so rude."

"Whatever," he said, leaning back against the seat. He had stopped eating.

It was silent for a moment. "I didn't mean to make you angry, I was curious to know what you're like. You seem really distant, you keep to yourself."

"It's how I like it," he said. "I like being alone."

"But being alone can become depressing," she said. "Maybe you should make some friends and...I don't know...maybe a girlfriend—"

He got up from the chair quickly, "Pssh, who needs friends? And why should I take advice from you?" he asked. Lena could feel everyone in the pizza shop looking at them.

She got up from her chair, "Darien, calm down!" she said, reaching out to touch him, but he jumped back.

"No, don't touch me!" he said. "Why would I listen to some rich little spoiled brat like you? You think you know everything, don't you? Think you somehow 'fix' me, huh?"

"Of course not!" she said. "I was just saying being alone can lead to depression and—"

"Well we all don't have loving parents like you do," he said. "Some parents are horrible and now they're dead! And he's better say that way," he said before grabbing his bag and leaving.

Lena stood there so confused as to what just happened. What was he talking about 'he'? And did he flip out just like that on her? Darien's mysterious past made her want to know more about him.