Chapter Nine

Danny, Alex, Madison, and Zach were all in PE class together right before lunch. It was always an experience when they were all together. Today they played a quick game of B-ball. Zach and Dan liked to show off their skills in sports. It was the wolf in them that wanted the competition.

The girls tried to keep up, but the guys knew they wouldn't be able to. Madison bitched, and Alex kept looking at Danny as if she was in awe of everything he did. After they changed their clothes from PE, they met back in the gym to head down to lunch.

"Hey, where did Alex go?" Zach noticed her abrupt disappearance.

Madison smirked like she knew something was going on. "Oh, I think she had to head back to our locker for something." Zach started to walk away, but Madison tugged on his arm. "C'mon, let's get a table before they are all taken."

Like they had to worry. They'd sat in the same spot for the past three years. Nothing ever changed here, well, until this year. The three of them walked into the bustling cafeteria and grabbed seats at their table. Like always, the same tables with the green tops and gold-colored chairs. Their group always sat at one of the tables in the back by the exit door.

Various groups took over different sections of the cafeteria, sports and the cheerleaders were always in the center. The nerds were in the front area by the lunch ladies, the potheads over on the far wall by the windows, and everyone else scattered about the room.

"Ahhh, the smell of cafeteria food." Danny's sarcasm and disapproval of the food was felt by them all.

"Hey, I'm gonna wait for Alex to get back before I head into the line." Madison kept looking over at the entrance. "You guys want the usual pizza?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me. Better up it to three slices for Zach and me. We're growing men." Danny flexed his arm muscles for her.

"Oh, Danny, you beast!" Madison exclaimed, rolling her eyes at him. "There she is. It's about time." Madison pointed to Alex, who just came through the entrance door.

Even before Madison announced Alex's arrival, Zach's heart rate picked up a few beats. He glanced over to where Madison was pointing. Emily was with her.

'Go.' Zach's wolf decided to speak now that he sensed his supposed mate.

Why do I have to have the delusional wolf? Zach questioned himself as he tried to rein in his inner beast. ' Lay back down. How can she be our mate when she shows none of the signs? If you come out now, shit, all hell will break loose. Just chill.'

Zach tried to get the wolf to calm down before they both made a scene. Madison was looking at him weirdly like she knew something was up.

Danny’s attention was on Zach. "Having some internal conflict with yourself there, Zach?"

"Yeah, you know how that goes." He knew Danny would understand about talking to the wolf inside of them. Danny nodded like he knew what Zach was talking about. The boys said no more, and Madison's attention turned away as Alex and Emily were now at the table.

"I told Emily I would meet her at her locker," Alex casually explained the reason why she was late. "We saw we had lunch together, so I figured she would be happy to have people to sit with that she sort of knew."

"Yep," Madison popped her 'p,' "that sounds great, right, guys?" she asked both boys but stared directly at Zach. Both Zach and Danny nodded. How could they say no without the girls getting in their faces about it?

"Well, I think you already know everyone here," Alex questioned Emily.

"Uh, yeah, I think so," Emily whispered as she sat on the opposite side of the table from Zach.

"Cool, now let's go get lunch. I've been starving for the past hour." Madison showed how impatient she was by heading up to the lunch line without waiting for anyone else's response.

"Is pizza okay, Emily? That's the only thing they serve that is half decent." Alex stood up to follow Madison.

"Um, yeah, that would be great. Thank you." Emily's eyes dipped down as she caught Zach's gaze.

"Be back in a few. Danny, come help with the drinks," Alex yelled back over her shoulder as she walked away. Danny followed after her without any questions or complaints.

'Talk to our mate.' Zach's big bad wolf decided to offer advice now.

'How about you talk to her. Aren't mates supposed to be able to talk to each other?' Zach secretly yelled at him.

'Not yet,' was the only response.

Zach knew he must look like a complete idiot. Good thing all conversation was in his head. People would think he was insane if he talked aloud to someone or something that no one else could see or hear.

"So, how's it going so far?" Zach broke the silence that was between him and Emily.

Emily shrugged. "Everyones been nice so far. Alex and Madison have helped me out a lot today." Her eyes searched for them at the lunch line.

"Yeah, it looks like you guys are getting along pretty good," Zach mumbled as the rest of the crew came back to the table.

"Food's here," Madison announced as she plopped herself down at the table.

"Zach, did you keep Emily company?" Alex questioned him but focused on Emily for confirmation.

"Um, we talked," Emily murmured, glancing from Alex to Zach

"Everyone, grab your pizza from my tray. And Danny, where'd you put the drinks?" Madison smacked Danny on the back of his head to get his attention.

"Oww! That freakin' hurt. They're over on the next table." He pointed to where the drinks were.

"Let's eat," Madison grabbed a slice of pizza and stuffed it in her mouth.

Emily sat and listened to everyone talk. It was a relaxing time in the day. They were all eating their pizza and drinking the juice they'd brought back from the lunch line. She cautiously peeked over at Zach, who appeared to be more at ease with all his friends around.

I don't think he likes me much. He seems so tense when I'm around.

She looked at Madison and Danny, bickering back and forth about something she had no clue about.

"Zach...Zach...Zachary, are you still in there?"

Alex reached over and smacked him across the arm to let him know that Madison spoke to him.

"What?" He sounded irritated.

"We were wondering," Madison pointed to herself and Alex, "why you weren't eating. We all know you eat like a freakin' horse." Madison smugly questioned him while grabbing a napkin to wipe her mouth.

Zach gave them a snarl that had the definition of 'looks that kill' written under it.

"Dang. Sorry for disturbing you, Mr. Crab-ass on the first day of school. You better not act like this the rest of the year." Madison threw Zach a dirty look to match the one he'd been giving her.

"Anyway, we were wondering if you were going to the game next Friday." Alex intervened, trying to smooth out the tension.

"Don't I always." Zach once again sounded irritated with the questions.

Madison turned toward Emily. "Zach's brother, the school's man-whore, is the big, bad football captain. So, we all go and show our school spirit." She sounded a little cynical and was waving her hand in the air like she had a pom-pom.

"Madison, you don't have to sound so non-supportive." Alex scolded Madison, then turned her attention toward Emily. "We usually all go and cheer the team on, including Jacob." She emphasized Jacob's name and glanced over at Madison, who rolled her eyes.

Stunned by Alex's comment, Madison gasped and placed her hands on her face like she was shocked. "We have a whole team. I thought Jacob was the team," she sarcastically muttered under her breath. "According to his personal close friend 'ego,' he is the team." Madison was now doing her football stance and flexing her arm muscles. "He passes, he runs down the field to catch his pass, and goes in for a touchdown," Madison yelled and threw her arms up. "He is Jacob Lovell, the West Lakes football team." She finally ended her rant and sat back down.

Emily tried to control the smile wanting to poke out. She didn't want Zach to think she was laughing at his brother. But the way Madison was portraying Jacob was hysterical. Emily glanced over at Zach, and his face was blank, as in no emotion. Either he didn't see the charade Madison did of his brother, or he was in deep thought.

Danny's voice brought Emily back to the present and not solely focused on Zach. "Madison, don't you sound a little mean today. The way you always talk trash about Jacob, it's like you're crushing on him or something." Danny winked at Madison after that comment.

Madison about choked on the juice she was drinking. "Danny, you better go have your mouth blessed or sprayed with holy water or something like that. You have all that evil shit coming out of it." Madison placed her hand over her heart like she was pledging. "I will never be a Jacob Lovell hoe-bag slut, one-night tramp, I-got-to-do-the-bad-boy fuck."

The whole table sat with their mouths opened wide after her little outburst, then busted out laughing. Yep, even Zach.

"You're going, aren't you, Emily?" Alex peeked around Danny so she could see Emily better.

"Um, I guess so." Emily hadn't put any thought into going. Maybe this would be the best way to get to know everyone better.

"Good." Alex appeared happy with Emily's answer. "You live over past Gibsonia Road, right?"

Emily nodded she did. Well, she thought she lived over by that road. She hadn't gotten the chance to memorize all the street names yet since she and Aunt Maureen hadn't been there that long.

Alex looked away from Emily and over toward Zach. "Madison and I will pick Danny up. Maybe you can swing over to Emily's house and bring her to the game since you only live right through the woods from her." Alex sounded happy with herself figuring out what to do with the ride situation.

Zach looked like someone just punched him. His face was all flustered as he glared at Alex. "Yeah, whatever." His tone reeked with annoyance. He stood and moved away from the table.

Before anyone else could say anything, the lunch bell rang.

Alex grabbed Emily's arm. "Hey, we'll all talk tomorrow about the game night," she said as they all gathered their trash to dump and went out to the main hall.

Emily walked toward the nearest set of stairs to get to the classrooms.

"Em, you're going the wrong way. We have the same class next period. C'mon, let's go before we get in trouble," Alex yelled at her as the group walked a little faster down the hall.

Emily turned and followed.

***

Zach watched as Alex grabbed hold of Emily's hand to show her where their next class was located. He didn't understand what the hell his problem was at lunch today.

'You don't know how to act around our mate yet. Let me deal with this,' his inner beast rudely commented.

'Oh, so you think you can handle this, Mr. Been Around the Block a Few Times?' Zach subconsciously asked his wolf, who was getting on his nerves today. 'Okay, I'm done talking to you. I have class, and people are starting to look at me strangely.' 

Zach enlightened his wolf as he tried to shut him out. The wolf let out a deep sigh and went back to being silent.

The rest of Zach's classes flew by. Once again, Emily wasn't in any of them. After the last class, he bolted so he could catch up with Danny at the lockers.

"Zach. Zach." It was Paige. "Hey, how was your first day?" she asked, finally catching up to him. She was doing that irritating twisting hair around their fingers thing that girls always did.

"Not bad," Zach quickly answered her while looking around for Danny.

Paige eye-balled him like he was supposed to say something else. "Oh, good." It was like she didn't know what else to say or had no reason to talk to him. "Um, would you like to--"

She was interrupted by Danny yelling down the hall. "Hey, are you gonna stay overnight here, or are we going home?"

"I gotta get going." Zach gave her a fake smile.

"Maybe we can talk tomorrow," Paige mumbled as Zach walked away.

Zach was finally able to erase his fake smile. He was happy Danny showed up when he did. Paige was one girl who he had no interest in whatsoever. It was like he needed to place a sign on his forehead that had illuminated lights flashing, 'Not interested.' Okay, maybe that didn't apply to everyone. It had been a difficult first day, and he knew it would get even more complicated whenever he got to talk to Adam.

"Let's go, bro'." Danny put his arm around Zach's neck and pushed him forward.

They were walking down to the parking lot to meet Madison and Alex when an Escalade went past them. "Isn't that the new girl, Emily?" Danny questioned as he raised his hand in a quick wave.

Zach already knew who it was without even seeing her face. His stomach was tense, his heart was racing, and he felt his temperature rise too. He tried to avoid the situation with a simple, “Yep.” He watched Emily go past in the SUV. As soon as the vehicle got out of sight, the feeling subsided. Zach still had no clue why he was reacting to this girl. He hoped Adam had some answers.