Meeting the ‘Friendly’ Belles

[ Elena ]

If I didn’t carry the ostracizing tag of a ‘temporal Luna’, I could swear that my first day of school would have been a good one.

But no. It was far from it. I could barely introduce myself properly in front of the entire class because their stares, snorts and snide remarks, were literally killing me. And the geography teacher; Miss Cynthia, seemed to enjoy adding salt to my injury as she couldn’t keep my name off her mouth throughout the class.

“Elena, do you mind explaining how pack hierarchy is influenced by territorial resources? I assume you know the basics of how packs operate?"

“Elena, considering your fragile condition, can you keep up with physical activities, or do we need to excuse you from everything strenuous?"

“Can anyone answer this? Oh wait, how about Elena? Surely she knows. It’s basic knowledge.”

I grunted as my horrific first class experience replayed in my mind, while I shoved my books inside my new locker.

What the hell was even wrong with her? I could swear that she had intentionally threw all those questions at me to spite me.

God! I hate this school already!

Ignoring the hundreds of eyes that kept staring at me in the hallway, I found my way to the cafeteria and sat alone at a table. Thankfully, the only thing they could do was stare and gossip. And laugh too.

But none of them seemed to have the audacity to approach me again. All thanks to the early intervention of the Bloodmoon siblings.

A minute later, I buried myself into my meal. It was a plate of grilled salmon with quinoa salad and a side of roasted vegetables. Fancy eating luxury lunch from an elite academy.

Barely five minutes into my meal, the chairs screeched around me and I lifted my gaze to see three other girls joining me at the table. The first one was golden blonde haired and pretty to a fault. The second was a brunette and was equally as pretty, while the third girl had long, straight dark hair.

In fact, all three of them looked like they had just stepped out of a fashion magazine cover. Stunning was a subtle word to describe them as.

And to crown it all, they all had friendly smiles on their faces. My initial anxiety upon setting eyes on them, settled into a small relief.

Seemed like they were going to be nice.

“Hey, sweetheart.” The blonde haired girl who was seated in the middle of her friends waved at me, her smile stretching. Then, she stretched out her arm across the table for a handshake. “The name’s Cassidy.”

I blinked and hesitantly accepted the handshake. Why were they being overly nice to me? Was the heavens finally smiling down at me?

“I’m…uhm… Elena.”

“Yeah. We know.” Cassidy chuckled as she withdrew her hand. Then, she wiped her hand over a small towel that was handed over to her by the brunette.

The smile on my face faltered.

“This is Brielle,” Cassidy continued, gesturing to the brunette who waved me briefly with a smile that didn’t quite seem to reach her eyes. Motioning to the dark haired girl who now had a stoic look on her face, she added. “And this is Piper. We’re besties.”

I forced a smile on my face and nodded.

“Cool.”

“I know, right?” Cassidy chuckled again, batting her lashes as she did so. “Anyway, it seems the whole academy is talking about you. You know, the new girl who looks so simple, and yet, could easily pass on as the prettiest girl in the entire school.”

I lifted a brow.

Oh, really? That was… interesting to hear.

“So, we were thinking…” It was Brielle’s turn to speak now as she leaned closer, propping her elbow on the table. Her eyes were glinting with something that looked like mischief and it put me off badly. “…that it would be a great idea to have you join our clique as our new recruit bestie. What do you think, El?”

El? They already had a nickname for me?

“Uhm…” I stuttered, then cleared my throat. “I’m not so sure about that…”

But before I could complete my sentence, Cassidy held up a finger, stopping me halfway. The smile was still on her face and it was beginning to creep me out now.

“Uhm… excuse me? Are you trying to turn our precious offer down?”

“Not really…” I tried to defend myself again but it was a waste of time.

“You should know that we are the academy belles.” Piper chipped in, her face still as stoic as ever. Only, slightly annoyed. “The most powerful, hottest, and untouchable girls around here and the pack in general. Nothing happens without our approval."

Huh. How nice.

“I’m not saying…” I tried to argue again but Cassidy beat me to it.

“My father is the Gamma of the Lycan king’s army.” She said. “Brielle’s father is the head of the pack’s wealth management. And Piper’s uncle is a senior member of the Lycan’s council. We are a big deal.”

What a show off!

“Now, let me reveal something really interesting to you.” She leaned in, bringing her face closer to mine. “You would be really dumb and stupid to think that we really wanted to be friends with you. We already have a fourth member. Mind taking a guess who she might be?”

I sighed, already tired of their boring melodrama. Nice to know I was wrong about them. They were nothing close to friendly or nice.

“Well,” I replied to Cassidy. “I wouldn’t know who your fourth member is because I am just new here. It’s also fine if you never wanted to be friends with me. Now, if you won’t mind, can you give me some space so I could enjoy my lunch in peace? As you can see, it’s getting cold already.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I felt a hand grab me forcibly by my hair, tugging it roughly. It felt like a dream that in the flash of a second, Piper had sprung up from her seat and attacked me before I could even process what was happening.

Screaming from the stinging pain, I tried to hit off her hands but it was futile. She only tugged and pulled at my hair even tighter.

“You poor, sickly bitch!” Piper cursed at me in a tone of rage and venom. “You have the guts to talk back at us and fake ignorance, huh?! You really thought you would be able to walk freely after getting our fourth member involved in that car accident?!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” I yelled and screamed, trying so hard to fight her off while I heard the cheers and laughters from everyone else in the cafeteria. Through my hazy, painful vision, I saw Cassidy and Brielle laughing to their utmost delight.

My heart burned in fury. How dare they…

And that was when it clicked to me. Getting their fourth member involved in a car accident…

Were they in any way referring to Sophie?

“You think you can compete with Sophie, huh?!” Piper pushed me to the ground now as the cheers increased. She dashed me a slap right across my face as she hovered above me. “You stole Sophie’s spot in the Lycan King’s life! But no matter what you do, you can never be good enough! You can never earn the Lycan King’s love, you filthy thief!”

Of course, these mean girls had to be Sophie’s friends. Birds of the same feathers.

Tired of being stepped on, I allowed my anger cloud my head and in one swift motion, I slapped Piper hard on the cheek. The sudden slap pushed her off my body and sent her landing on her back against the ground.

Without wasting anymore time, I towered over her and overpowered her, slapping her over and over again while she yelped in pain.

“Spoilt! Mean! Brat!” I cursed at her face. “I’m tired of people like you! I am so fucking tired!”

“Leave her alone!” Cassidy’s voice came from behind and she pounced on me with Brielle, the both of them pulling and tugging at my hair.

Yet, I did not let the pain they were inflicting on me to stop me. I would make Piper a scapegoat and everyone else would learn to stay the fuck away from me.

But it seemed like the gods were not in agreement with me.

Because the next second, a sharp pain spread through my chest and my heart started to pound erratically.

My grip on Piper weakened as I struggled to gasp for air, feeling my breath now labored.

Fuck. It was happening again! Not now. Not now, pls.

The degree of pain that spread from my chest, throughout my body made it difficult for me to think or focus. My vision began to turn foggy and dim.

And the last thing I felt before I finally passed out was Piper kicking me hard to the ground.