Chapter Three ~Pain of Rejection~

~Jasper~

When she said those words. I felt like a spear went through my chest, goring my heart. How could she reject me? And with no reason at all. Who does she think she is?

When Gwen Blackthorn got rejected, I didn't feel sorry for her. I do not blame my best friend, Reginald. Fate was not fair to him either. Why should he be paired with such a weakling?

To be pretty honest, I think I would have rejected Gwen too if I found out she was my mate.

Although these were my thoughts hours ago before Reginald rejected Gwen in front of everyone.

Now I feel the pain she went through. The pain of rejection. And I would not wish it on anyone. You can only assume someone else's pain until the same happens to you.

Seraphina Darkwater is a hot girl from the Bayview Silver pack, if not the hottest girl in all of San Francisco. I have had my eyes on her for a long time. She was like every guy's crush in school. I was so glad that fate made her mine at last but happiness was short-lived.

She shattered my pride after she rejected me without even a second thought. My pride was deeply hurt.

Someone knocked on my door. I refused to answer it. I wanted to be alone.

"Jasper!" my mother called, knocking on the door again. "Are you going to stay there and brood all day? I am coming in."

She pushed the door open and let out a deep sigh. She walked towards my bed, to have a seat.

"I want to be alone." I rolled to the other side not wanting her to see my face.

"Don't let this bother you, dear. I know at the next Lunar Convergence, fate will give you a better mate." She stroked my back affectionately.

"You are not helping matters here. Stop trying to give me hope talking like that. Someone better than Seraphina Darkwater!" I turn around to face her. "Do you know anyone better? Stop trying to trick me with that." I turned my back to her once again.

"Why do you want her so badly?"

"Because he's the hottest girl out there. She rejected me without giving me a reason."

"Get over her son. If she's meant to be yours, she will realize her mistake and come back to you." She rose from the bed. "If she isn't, nothing will make her yours. So get up!" She spanked my butt.

"Mother!"

She always does that when she's done giving me her motherly talk.

My mother made sure not to waste her time and energy on what she knew she could do nothing about and she wanted my dad and I to act towards issues with such a mindset. She said we would live long like her great granddad who lives life on such principles and is still alive.

Nothing could make me feel better. I knew the terror that came with being rejected. I have seen those who went through it. Of course, there have been a few who have been rejected in the past and who luckily got a second chance mate immediately. They didn't even need to wait for the next Lunar Convergence. I hope my case will be the same. But it doesn't happen frequently. It was rare.

The San Francisco pack community is a ruthless place for the rejected. I have seen a few mateless and rejected werewolves persecuted, who could not keep up with the insult, that they had to leave their packs. That's how brutal it is!

I am a survivor, a soon-to-be Alpha. I am called San Francisco's bad boy for a reason. I will not let that happen to me too. I am in control of my destiny. Not the moon!

****

At the School Cafeteria

It was obvious that everyone in our school, Silverwood High, already knew about last night. The stares say it all but no one was brave enough to taunt me verbally.

They wrote all kinds of stuff on my Locker. Stuff written were; Rejected wolf, from San Francisco's hot boy to San Francisco's rejected boy. Weird cartoons of me chasing a girl who was running away from me. Seraphina I guess.

They knew what I was capable of. Those cowards! No one would dare face me and call me those names. I was on the lookout for a scapegoat.

"Did you sleep well?" Eddy asked.

"Does it look like I did?" I snarled.

"You've got a dark circle around your eyes—"

My tolerance for stupid questions today was low. "Hey, if you are going to lecture me on how I look, you can get your ass out of here."

"Sorry man. Just trying to —"

"I would shut up if I were you, Eddy!" Reginald's nose flared.

Eddy could be annoying sometimes. I don't blame him for trying to look out for his friends. The silence was making him uncomfortable.

Since we got here, I and Reginald haven't said much. We were still bitter over what happened at the Coit Tower.

Eddy was the only one among the five of us who wasn't an Alpha kid, but I liked him because he was smart.

Orion dropped on his seat with a sigh. "Hey buddies, sorry we are late. We had to catch up with some —"

Dorian punched Orion. "Hey, don't tell them yet. You will spoil the surprise."

"What surprise?" Eddy asked.

"Would it be a surprise if we told you? Blockhead," Dorian said. He laughed softly and turned to look at me and Reginald. "What's going on here? The silence is sickening."

"I was about to say that." Orion leaned his back to the chair. "Don't tell me it's about last night? Come on guys."

"What's done is done. You guys will get better mates. Let's move on," Dorian said.

"Do you think it's easy to move on? You may say that to Reginald, not to me who got rejected," I said.

"Seraphina must be crazy. This I know for sure. Who will get such a guy like Jasper and reject him? You are San Francisco's bad boy. You do the rejecting, not the other way around. She's from my pack, but I say we teach her a lesson." Orion demanded.

There was one reason Orion was identified as the loud-mouthed one among us. He was very blunt. He gives no shit about nobody. He spoke his mind whenever he wanted and however, he wanted. And he was always up for the dangerous stuff.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

Orion chuckled. "If I were you, I would make her stay in school hell for the rest of the year."

"It's not a bad idea but I will pass. If she couldn't tell me the reason she rejected me, then she ain't worth the stress."

Orion gasped. "She made a joke of you. Look what they are writing about you on your locker and your desk. Such terrible words. The dragging has only begun and it ain't stopping anytime soon. You know that right."

I clenched my hand into a fist and punched the table. "None of those fuckers could come up and tell me to my face. I—"

The students in the cafeteria began booing. We turned to see who the booing was for.

"Here comes the weakling fate wants to pair me up with?" Reginald snarled.

"Easy. You did more than enough yesterday." Eddy patted Reginald's shoulder. "You should have just rejected her but you moved on to destroying the little self-respect she had left."

Reginald growled. "Oh, you are criticizing me now? On the next Lunar convergence, Mate her then." He pushed Eddy's hands away. "Get your hands off my shoulders before I break them!"

"She looks unmoved by their words. I think she has airpods on," Dorian said. He began to munch on a bag of chips. "Her final year just got bloodier."

Orion grinned and nodded in agreement. "Bloodier."

Gwen continued to walk down the cafeteria unaffected by the mean words and sound of disapproval.

I will give it to her. It's either she was brave or she was indeed a moron.

She went for her meal and came back to take her seat. All alone. The difference between me and Gwen was she couldn't fight anyone, she was too weak to do that. She had to take it all in.

I on the other hand wouldn't hesitate to teach anyone who taunted me like that a lesson. All I got to see were written words and cartoons but my blood was boiling.