Chapter 4

As I sat absentmindedly in Mrs Chester's English class, the images of my friends Danielle and Nadine, looking at me with disgust and contempt after trashing my properties and soiling them in sauce, kept flashing through my mind. 

I still couldn't fathom it. Just twenty hours before, we were an inseparable group of friends, who made silly jokes, laughed hysterically and did every other thing together. How did everything change in a matter of hours?

"So, for your semester project, you will be paired in twos, I'll pick partners randomly and paste it tomorrow. You and your partner are to work together on the topic, "My Dreams" "

Groans and murmurs filled the class as Mrs Chester announced to us.

They were obviously unhappy and unsatisfied with the new development. 

But I don't think Mrs Chester cared about our contrary opinions because she picked up her books and walked out of the class without another word.

"Ughh! I hate group work!" Madison groaned.

"It's not a group if we're two, Maddie." Jonathan stated.

"That makes it even worse smarty pants." Madison hissed.

"What if I get Seraphina as a partner?!" Madison panicked.

"Why? I think she's cool." Jonathan replied, staring at the object of topic as she doodled something in her book.

"What do you mean, why?! She's the last in class!" 

Jonathan laughed heartily while Madison hit him for laughing at her.

I couldn't care less about Mrs Chester's project, after all, I could get paired up with Tommy, the big bully who would make me do all the work. I already knew how lousy my fate was. I always got unlucky.

"Lia!" Jonathan snapped his fingers in front of my face.

I blinked, "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Don't look at me like that Jonathan." I chuckled lightly, with a hint of bitterness in my tone.

The school bell rang indicating the end of Mrs Chester's class.

Three of us stood up and started walking out of the class.

"I still can't believe Danielle and Nadine. Motherfucking bitches! I hope they rot in hell!" Madison scowled.

"How could they seriously change in a few hours? I still can't wrap my head around it...." Jonathan said and released an exasperated sigh.

"When I find them I'm going to pull out every fucking strand of their hair with my bare hands!" 

"Maddie, don't do anything please." I pleaded, panicking a little. "I'm not worth it...." My voice was almost a whisper but they heard it.

"You're worth it Lia. Don't allow the rejection of an asshole who refused to see how amazing you are, get to you." Maddie sighed, and continued, "Well, it can't helped if it gets to you but don't talk down on yourself because of that. You're a genuine, sweet, amazing and brilliant person and anybody that won't see all of that is the one who isn't worth it. Okay?"

I didn't believe her one bit but appreciating the efforts to make me feel better, I nodded and went in the embrace of my friends. 

Madison patted my back affectionately and Jonathan kissed my head.

After I parted ways with my friends, I headed for my next class, the one of the classes I had different from them, Business Class.

I was in front of the class when somebody bumped into me, pushing me to the wall. 

"I'm sorry, I--" 

"Are you blind now? Did the rejection make you lose your sense of sight?" I glanced up to find Danielle and her new minions snickering at me.

"I'm sorry." I tried apologizing again.

"Fuck off loser." Julia said and kicked me by my side before they scurried off to the class.

The class had been going on for thirty minutes but it felt like I had been here for three hours. It felt so suffocating, especially with Zayne's strong scent attacking all my senses.

Was he in all my classes or what? Why do I find him everywhere? Why was his scent everywhere torturing me?

I sighed dejectedly and then a loud ringtone shrieked throughout the classroom, interrupting the class.

The teacher rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"Who is that? Who brought in their goddamn phone?!" He yelled.

The ringtone continued sounding off and Mr McKinley started going around to check for the culprit. I looked away, ready to be lost in my dark thoughts again but a loud bang on my table startled me making me jump.

Mr McKinley giving me an icy, death glare stretched his chubby hand, "Give. It. To. Me."

"What?" 

Give him what?

"Give me the damn phone, Grande!" 

Huh? 

Then I felt the vibration in the pocket of my jacket, I blindly dipped my hand in it and brought out a phone that wasn't mine.

"Mr McKinley,this isn't mine! I don't know how it got there!" I tried explaining but he wasn't hearing any of it.

"Get out of my class and you have a one-hour detention at the end of today." He spat and walked away.

Still confused, I grabbed my books and got up, then I sighted them, Julia and Danielle trying to hold their laughter.

It was their doing. They intentionally bumped into me and put the phone in my pocket.

Detention was over and I was preparing to head home when Zayne's strong scent hit my nose again. I looked up and found him entering the room.

"Z-Zayne. What do you want?" I stuttered.

"You didn't accept." He stated.

I swallowed, trying not to lose concentration to his delicious sandalwood scent.

"What?"

"The rejection, you didn't accept it. I'm sure you know how it's done, you have to accept the rejection." 

Ignoring the shattering of my heart for the umpteenth time, I opened my mouth to reply him but he wasn't done, "And don't think about not accepting it because I'll force you to if I have to." He said lowly , giving me a menacing look.

I blinked back my tears, "I- I accept." 

"Accept it properly!" He raised his voice, sounding impatient.

"I, Dahlia Grande, accept your rejection, Zayne Marshall." I couldn't bear to look at him. I felt too humiliated.

Without uttering another word, he walked out of the room.

"Did she accept?" That was Kendall's voice. I could hear it clearly because of my heightened sense of hearing.

"Yes, she did." Zayne replied her.

Kendall cackled, "Oh poor girl. Now who's going to be unlucky enough to be her mate? Let's go to my house, my father wants to meet you."

"Sure." I heard the smile in Zayne's reply. 

This confirmed the rumours I've heard of Zayne and Kendall. They were dating and Zayne wanted to choose her as his mate.

I couldn't hold back my tears anymore so I let them spill all over my cheeks, silent sobs escaping my mouth.

"Wear something presentable today! There's a pack meeting in the evening." My grandmother said to me, immediately I stepped into the foyer and shut the door.

"A pack meeting?" I asked, confused.

"That's what I said!" She snapped, "And for goodness sake, Dahlia, don't dress up like the loser that you are. The pack members hate you, the least you can do is look presentable. I can't have them pointing fingers at me because of you."

"But can I not go? I can stay--"

"You will go!" My grandma menacingly growled at me.

"Yes Grandma." I responded timidly and headed to my room.

I hated pack meetings. It always felt like I wasn't invited and wanted there but my Grandma always forced me to attend so I had to ignore the dirty and scorned looks I was receiving from almost everybody.

"I called this meeting because we have news from the Eclipse pack."

The pack leader and our Alpha announced and glanced at me before he continued, "Garrett Forrest, the Alpha of the Eclipse pack has announced that in ten full moons to come, he would be annihilating all the hybrids across the state."

My breath catches in my throat. 

"Joanne, your granddaughter is the only hybrid we have in this pack, so I'm sure you understand what I mean."

"Yes Alpha" My grandmother replied, without any emotions showing in her voice or on her face.

I was going to get annihilated. By the most powerful pack. For being hybrid.