Inevitably Yours

MICHAEL

I sat on the back porch of my biological father’s small house. He and my mom were out, and Tyler was in our new shared room. Arriving had been weird, to say the least. My phone rang, and I jumped at seeing Quinn’s name on the caller ID.

“Hey!” I answered. I had hoped she would call sooner, but I would take anything I could get.

“Hi,” she said timidly. “Sorry for taking so long to call you.”

“It’s no problem,” I said happily. “How were the game and your race?”

Slowly, I got her to tell me about her weekend. I felt bad that she was so nervous before the game because I would have loved to k**s her nerves away. A possessive feeling settled in my gut when she told me about falling and getting stepped on during her race. You would think that a sport where all she had to do was run would be safe for someone uncoordinated, but I underestimated her.

We spent three hours on the phone. I slowly milled around the area behind Melvin’s house, and no one came out to disturb me. Despite my guilt for leaving her, I felt so light after talking to her.

When we hung up, I went inside to see if my mom and dad were back yet. Mom was standing at the counter, cutting up something while a pot was steaming on the stove.

“Are you done on the phone?” she asked as I closed the door.

“Yea,” I said.

“Good, we all need to talk,” she said.

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Michael and I talked almost until dinner. My homework lay abandoned on my desk while I went down to see when we were having dinner. My dad was in the kitchen, looking hopelessly into the refrigerator.

“Where’s mom?” I asked, grabbing a cookie from the jar. It was almost empty, so I would need to bake some more soon.

“She got called into work,” my dad said. He pulled out a bowl of leftovers. “Do you think this is enough for the three of us?”

I shook my head. “I assume she didn’t leave anything for dinner then?”

“No,” he said. “I’m not sure what to do.”

“I got it,” I said, pushing him away from the fridge. As we had just gone shopping, there were plenty of options in the house. I grabbed the leftover rotisserie chicken he was holding and some carrots and peppers. “Give me like thirty minutes.”

“Okay,” he said. “Won’t argue with that. Your homework is done, right?”

“Almost,” I lied. “After dinner.”

My dad gave me a quick peck on my head and left the kitchen. He could cook; he was bad at it and preferred that my mom or I did it.

There wasn’t enough chicken to feed everyone as an entree, but there was enough to put in some fried rice, so I got to work making us a fast dinner.

–

During the following week of school, I settled into a routine. I would see my friends in the morning for a few minutes before class then Reese and I would head toward our first periods. I wouldn’t see anyone again until lunch. Christy and I would spend the first part of lunch eating with my friends and the second half with the band students. She mercifully didn’t force me to sit with her and Stuart, so I usually went and found Sunni, Matt, Tommy, and even Laurie.

Carl got his 3rd period right after lunch switched to mine, so we had one class together. We usually left the gym together after lunch and headed to our lockers. He only once asked if any of the rumors about the Alpha and me were true. When I told them they weren’t, he gave me a tight hug and said everyone else could f**k off then. I smiled, thankful he didn’t doubt me for a second.

In fourth period, I would get to the band room, quickly grab my things, and be bombarded by Christy until the whistle blew. After 84 minutes of practice on our marching band show, I would pack up and rush to grab my things for cross country. Most days, I was narrowly making it out to the van that took most of us to practice.

After two hours of running and training, one of my parents was there to pick me up. We went home, I showered, we ate dinner, and then I would do homework until bed. The only exception was Wednesday nights when I would return to the school for more marching band practice right after cross country.

Most nights, Michael and I would text. It was challenging to get my homework done while on the phone with him, so I tried to keep it to a minimum. I had to promise him that we could talk on the phone on the weekend to keep him from calling me every night.

My new routine was tiring and busy. Talking to Michael every day kept the ache of missing him at bay slightly. I still wished he would tell me what was going on, but he just wouldn’t. We talked about me, the pack, the books I was reading, or other things but never him.

When Friday rolled around, I was pretty excited walking into school. When I got to my locker, John and Kyle were wrestling with each other, and Reese was egging them on. Brina was watching them with a bored look until I arrived. “Please tell me we can do something after the game tonight,” she begged as I put my things in my locker, keeping just the books for my first two classes.

“Sorry, Brina,” I replied. “I have to go to bed early. Race in the morning.”

“Your dedication to normal high school activities is a real bummer,” she said. “I bet you won’t even come drink with us under the bleachers during your break.”

“That’s a hard pass,” I told her. She shrugged.

“If we can’t see honor roll Quinn tonight, let’s ditch today. Leave at lunch,” Carl suggested.

“Oh, I love this!” Brina said.

“I’m in,” Kyle called, John and him stopping their antics.

“No,” I said.

“Wet blanket,” John teased. I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Oh, come on, Quinny,” Brina begged. “Ditch with us. You’re super smart. Missing one day won’t kill you.”

“First of all, we have a test in third,” I said pointedly at Carl, who shrugged. “Second, I just can’t. There are too many things going on. It’s our first week of school. Shouldn’t we save the degenerate shenanigans for a couple more weeks?”

“Mmmm, nope!” John cheered.

I closed my locker. “Sorry, guys, not coming this time. Reese, are you ready?”

“I have to go to the office this morning. Sorry,” he said.

“It’s alright,” I said. “See you guys later!” I headed toward my first class, trying not to get trampled in the usual flood of morning hallway traffic. Being short among a generally tall race of people was annoying sometimes.

Someone threw open a classroom door and walked right into me. He reacted quickly, grabbing me before I could fall. “Woah, watch where you’re going,” he said. “Wait, I know you!”

“Maybe don’t just throw doors open like that,” I said. I realized it was the guy who knocked me over on the first day.

“Sorry,” he smirked. “Have you ever considered you attract it?”

“Um, no?” I said. “I need to go.”

“What’s your name? Might be helpful since I keep running into you,” he laughed.

“Quinn,” I said, looking away awkwardly.

“Nice to actually meet you, Quinn. I’m Ricky,” he said. I gave him a tight smile. “If you ever need anything, you can let me know.”

“I don’t know you,” I blurted out. He just laughed.

“I hate to tell you this,” he said, bending down close to my ear and talking quieter. “A lot of people know you.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Hey, man!” someone shouted.

“Got to go. See you around, Quinn,” he said. He rushed away, blending back into the moving body of wolves headed to class. My phone went off in my pocket before I could push out into the hall again. I checked it and found it was Michael, to my delight.

MICHAEL

| have a good day, bluetiful

I blushed at the pun. I shoved my phone back in my pocket and headed to class, deciding it would be a good day.

–

My friends were all gone by lunch, so I spent the time with Sunni, Matt, and Tommy. We headed out a few minutes early, going into the hall where all their lockers were. We talked about the new song the director had given us the day before when someone called out from down the hall.

“There you are, b***h!” I turned around, but it was a huge mistake. I was assaulted by ice-cold red liquid; I gasped in complete shock.

“How dare you!” someone shouted. I blinked my eyes open, trying to wipe away the drink. “What sort of freshman w***e goes straight after the Alpha’s son?” A tall girl with dirty blonde hair stood before me with her hands on her h**s, a cup discarded on the floor between us.

“What are you talking about?” I yelled.

“What the f**k was that for?” Matt said as he and Tommy tried to step in between us.

“Andi, take your STDs and get out of here,” Tommy threatened her.

“Michael dated anything that opened their legs. What makes you think you’re special?” Sunni shot at her.

“Stay the f**k away from him, or I will end you,” the girl shouted. “He is coming back, and you will all see that he is my mate! Don’t think I won’t kick your a*s just because you’re a midget!”

“Andi, leave now!” Matt and Tommy yelled. She gave me another cynical glare before turning on her heel and marching away.

Everyone turned to look at me. I stood there dripping, not understanding where any of that came from. Michael had never said anything about anyone named Andi or having a mate.

“Try not to worry about her,” Sunni said. “Do you have gym clothes or something?”

“Uh, I have my running clothes, but they don’t fit the dress code,” I sighed. I looked down at myself. From my face to my knees, I was soaked with red liquid that smelled like soda. This would get sticky as it dried, and it was only halfway through the day.

“Here,” Tom said. He pulled his sweatshirt off and held it out to me.

“Let’s see if we can clean you up,” Sunni said, grabbing my hand.

“We’ll see you guys in fourth,” Matt called as we headed to the bathroom.

When we got to the restroom, Sunni pushed me into the stall. “Throw me your pants. I’ll rinse them out and put them under the hand dryer,” she instructed. As I started to pull the wet clothes off, a tank top flew over the top of the stall. “Put this on under Tom’s sweatshirt. That should get you through the end of the day, at least.”

My underclothes were damp still, but this at least helped, so I wasn’t walking around completely red. “Sunni, who was that?” I asked as she rinsed my pants.

“That was Andi…” she sighed. “Michael was dating her earlier in the summer. No one knew if they actually broke up or not, but she has sort of been stewing over the rumors about you two.”

“He had a girlfriend?” I clarified as I pulled on the tank top and sweatshirt.

“I mean, he had a lot of them,” she said. “He just tended to get bored, I guess. Honestly, I worked with him in class last year; he isn’t a bad guy. I think that whole future Alpha stuff just sort of made him that way.”

“That isn’t the Michael I know,” I said quietly, sitting down on the toilet to wait. I hugged my arms around me, shivering a bit. The hand dryer sounded, and I waited for Sunni to finish. Finally, the dryer stopped, and my pants were tossed over the door.

“Just stay away from her,” Sunni said through the door. “Andi is a psycho, so I wouldn’t put it past her to try something else.” The bell rang, signaling it was time for our next class.

“Thanks, Sunni,” I said. I heard her leave the bathroom, leaving me alone. I pulled on my pants with an ugly pink stain down the front. I reached in my bag and pulled out my phone; we weren’t supposed to be on them during school, but I didn’t care. I was going to be late, and Michael was going to tell me something.