Twenty-five

"Friends hug each other, right?" Harper asked me before engulfing me in a bone-crushing hug.

I gasped for breath and put my arms around him, which made him relax a bit. He let me go after giving me a mischievous smile. He knew that I knew what game he was playing.

It had been two days since Harper came to my house to talk to me and I proposed to be friends. I should have known he would have a trick up his sleeve! Why the hell would a guy want to be 'just friends' with the girl he wants to have a committed relationship with?!

He messaged me when he reached my home, instead of ringing the doorbell. I had asked him to do that. I was in no mood to tell my parents why a guy I had hated a few months ago, was now giving me a lift to school when my car was perfectly fine.

I settled in his car and buckled my seat belt when Harper gave me a big box of chocolates with a wide grin on his face. I sighed.

"Harp-"

"Friends give each other small gifts, don't they?" Harper asked me with an innocent expression on his face. His eyes told me a different story, though. They were twinkling and I knew I was in for a very long ride.

I nodded. He was right, friends do exchange small gifts and after all, it was chocolate, I just couldn't decline the sweet gesture. The bastard knew I couldn't say no to chocolate, and he was using my weakness against me.

I opened the box and popped a piece in my mouth, moaning at the rich taste. Harper clenched the steering wheel tightly and I internally smirked. He wasn't immune to me at all and I had a feeling I would love to play bad.

After we reached the school and Harper parked the car, it had been exactly how it happens in the teenage cliché movies, when the couple gets out of the car. There were stares. There were whispers. There were looks. And there were rumors.

Like the lead heroine, I didn't even have the time to get uncomfortable with whatever people were saying, because all it took to disperse the crowd was a threatening growl from Harper.

Ah! The perks of having an alpha werewolf friend!

People still threw us sneaky looks whenever they saw us together in the hallways, but they didn't do anything too upfront, which I was really glad about.

I was glad that Harper stopped them because I was sure I didn't want to hear nasty rumors about me floating around in the school.

It was an exhilarating feeling to know that probably half of the people I was seeing right then, were probably not even human and were werewolves instead. 

We made our way to my locker and every time I would see someone pass by us in the hallway, I would move closer to Harper and whisper in his ear, "Is he a werewolf too?"

He would just chuckle every time and answer me. I think I had pointed to more than thirty people and I couldn't help but think how weird it must've felt for Harper to answer about their true nature. It would be like someone constantly asking me if the person was a human.

We made our way to my locker, which was still painted a bright red. I gave a pointed look to Harper, who just shrugged at me while grinning like an idiot.

If I were to describe the last two days of my life, they were just adorably frustrating. Harper would make cute gestures now and again, and when I would object, he would simply say, "That's what friends do, right?" That bastard knew what friends did and didn't do.

I reminded him again that he didn't need to pick me up, but he did because that's what friends do.

He bought me another box of chocolates and in addition to that, he even bought me a single rose because he wanted to thank me and that's what friends do.

He would, very casually sling his arm across my shoulders and bring me closer to his body and when I would protest, he would say the one sentence I was starting to think was his punchline, that's what friends do.

He accompanied me to every class, while holding my very heavy books (according to Harper) because that's what friends do. It didn't matter if he was in the same class as me, he would be there after every class, waiting for me.

He made a point to sit next to me in class and engage me in a conversation or pass notes during class because that's what friends do.

He left his seat in the middle of the cafeteria and had his lunch today with me and my friends. Aiden accompanied him too. He even bought me food because that's what friends do.

He would wait for me in the parking lot and would drop me off at Monique's, staying there the whole time while casually playing with his phone, because that's what friends do.

I would be lying if I said I didn't like it. I loved it. Every sweet gesture made me like him even more and I longed to see him when I got home every day.

Saying yes to him wouldn't be so bad, would it?! 

I was contemplating the same thing when Harper snapped his fingers in front of my face, gaining my attention.

"We are in front of your class." He looked at me with a concerned expression.

I opened my mouth to speak something, anything but closed it. I wanted to tell him that after much deliberation and debating with myself, I had come to the decision that I would try being his girlfriend, but the words got stuck in my mouth. 

Instead, I just nodded dumbly.

Harper leaned forward and pecked me on the cheek. My cheeks flamed and I couldn't stop my jaw from hanging open. "That's not what friends do."

He grinned and threw his hands outwards, as if embracing the world, and winked at me. "I know". With that, he turned around and walked away in the direction of his class.

I don't know what that class had been about, all I could think about was Harper. I wanted to be his girlfriend; he had been nothing but nice to me and I liked this side of him. I loved this side of him!

I didn't care if it was too early or if I was making a rash decision. We were mates and even if I didn't exactly believe in them, we were destined to be with each other and who was I to stand against destiny? 

I had no reason to deny Harper any longer. I wanted to be with him and I decided I wasn't going to run away from him or our supposed destiny any longer.

With newfound determination, I got up from my seat and made my way towards the teacher who was sitting at her desk, while giving us students some crappy assignment.

Making an even more crappy excuse, I got out of the class and walked in the direction of Harper's class. When I rounded the hallway, my eyes bugged out of my sockets, and felt my heart tear up at the sight.

Harper was standing in the middle of the hallway, while he was hugging Amanda Byrnes. I had forgotten about her. Before I told Harper about my dreams and he started stalking me to get me to listen to him, rumors were going around the school, about them being together. How could I have been so stupid? 

I felt betrayed and a gasp escaped my lips. I wondered if things would have happened the way they did if the damn mate bond wasn't working against me and clouding my judgment.

The sound of my gasp must have gained their attention because they sprang apart from each other and Harper's eyes widened as he took in my appearance. 

I was in no mood to listen to his excuses, so I just turned around and headed toward my class as fast as my feet would carry me.

"Wait, Zara." Harper's voice came from behind me and it willed me to move my feet faster. Damn him for making me feel this way! 

Blame his long legs for catching up to me!

He caught up to me soon enough and took a hold of my arm and made me look at him. I didn't want to listen to him, he would just spin some lies and I would believe him, like I have already done so many times before.

"It wasn't how it looked like." He told me, his eyes pleading with me to just listen to him.

"I don't care, Harper. Giving you a chance was seriously a mistake." I shook my head frantically, hoping he would get the message and let me go. I could hear the heartbreak and hurt in my voice, and I am sure, he could too.

"Please, just listen to me, okay? Give me a chance to explain."

I shook my head and attempted to get out of his hold. He didn't listen to me and guided me to the nearest classroom which happened to be conveniently empty.

Damn the universe to hell! 

He stood in front of the door, blocking any escape route for me. To make his point clear, he locked the door while slowly making his way toward me in slow lethal steps.

I took a step backward at every step he took towards me. He finally stopped when I felt the teacher's table behind me. Great! Now I was trapped between the table and Harper. Not my favorite position to be right now.

Harper crossed his muscled arms in front of his chest. My eyes followed the movement of the muscles in his chest, how they bulged and moved.

I shook my head to get rid of the traitorous thoughts inside my head. I looked Harper straight in the eye to show I wasn't afraid of him.

Harper met my gaze head-on. He sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

He met my gaze again and his eyes softened.

"Do you remember you told me not to mark the girl I was planning to, that the woman in your dreams asked you to tell me that?"

Where was he going with this?

"Marking is a very important part of the mating process between two werewolves. We mark our mates or anyone we choose to spend the rest of our lives with. The mark cements the bond between two wolves and makes their love for each other stronger."

I stood where I was, silently taking in the information Harper was telling me. I had no idea what it had to do with the hug he shared with Amanda, though.

My heart thundered in my chest as the vision of their embrace once again flashed through my mind.

"Zara, I was going to mark Amanda. You stopped me from marking her."

This angered me even more. My hands fisted by my sides. Amanda was the one he had chosen to mark after he had rejected me. If he was trying to make it up with me and work on our bond, then why did he hug Amanda as soon as he was out of my sight?

I opened my mouth to call his bull when he lifted his hand to stop me from speaking. 

"I was comforting her, Zara because her mate just died."