Witch's Attitude

CONNOR

We arrived at Ximena’s house and I parked the car on her driveway, turning the ignition off. There was an uncomfortable silence between us, and I didn’t know where to start.

“Ximena…”

“No, Connor. Don’t say anything. What you did at the pack house was highly unnecessary. Leonard is your best friend, there was no reason for you to punch him the way you did, and in front of everyone,” she scolded, folding her arms on her chest as she looked out the window. 

I let out a deep breath and when I found the right words to say, she was already out of the car and walking into the house. I groaned in frustration, slamming my hand against the steering wheel. 

I drove back home and when I arrived, I parked the car but stayed inside for a few minutes. It was all a mess, and I was sure Leonard would be hating me right now.

I finally got out of the car and walked in. Without a single glance at my parents, I stomped to my bedroom. As I closed the door, I could feel the exhaustion already taking over my body. The adrenaline from earlier, gone. 

My knuckles were hurting like hell, and I was physically and mentally drained. All I wanted was to go to sleep and forget this whole night happened. I laid on my bed, looking up with my arm covering my eyes, trying not to get up and break anything. 

I had a bad temper and if I didn’t control it, I was going to keep having bad moments. 

“Sweetheart, is everything okay here?” Mom asked from the other side of the door. She was worried about me and I couldn’t say I blamed her. I was born sick, almost died in the hospital and every little thing that happened to me, was a big deal for her. 

My father on the other hand would tell her to let me be. That I was not a kid anymore and that if she didn’t let go of me, I wouldn’t learn anything about the real world. I was grateful to him for that. Mom needed to be a little less overprotective. 

“I’m fine mom. Just a bit tired from that welcoming party. But we can talk about that tomorrow. Right now, I just want to sleep.”

“Okay, have a good night, honey. Sleep well,” she replied before I heard her soft footsteps on the wooden door as she walked away. I wanted to just relax and drift into a deep slumber.

I needed to talk to Ximena tomorrow and hoped she wasn’t as mad at me anymore. Thinking about her, finally put me to sleep. Not that she was boring, but she was the last person I thought of before I closed my eyes. 

~~~~~~

“Connor, Sweetheart! You’re going to be late for school!” Mom called. I fluttered my eyes open and groaned. My body ached and I was sure I slept wrong all night. Mom still hadn’t seen my bruised hand, and she didn’t know what happened. They both had left before I was involved in the fight, but I was sure Alpha Jedrick called her last night after I left. 

Getting out of bed, I opened the door slightly.

“I’m not feeling well, mom! Is it okay if I stay home today?” I asked, praying to God she just let me stay without asking questions. There was a moment of silence, then footsteps coming up the stairs. Just my luck.

I saw her coming my way as I stood behind my door, and she stood in front of it, smiling at me.

“What’s wrong, Connor?” she asked, raising her eyebrow and waiting for an answer. 

“My body is aching and I feel nauseous,” I lied, at least about the stomach part. Mom leaned against the wall and studied me.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with what happened last night, does it?” 

Damn, I’m busted. Opening the door, I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. 

“Kind of, yes. Please, let me stay?” I begged, giving her puppy dog eyes and a sweet smile. She was never able to resist those. Reaching out for me, she pulled me into a tight and suffocating hug. 

“You can stay, but don’t make this a habit. Every time something happens, doesn’t mean you have to miss school, okay?” 

I nodded, hugging her again before we walked down to the kitchen to eat our breakfast. I sat down and enjoyed a delicious plate of pancakes and fried eggs with sausage while we chatted about the events of last night. From the moment Alpha Jedrick introduced the Morales family to us, to the moment I punched Leonard over Ximena. 

“You have to call Ximena and apologize for such an embarrassing moment. She must have felt like the Earth was sucking her in,” mom said. She was right. I made such a scene and embarrassed her and Leonard in front of everyone. 

After breakfast, mom and dad headed out to work. Dad, being the warrior, had a lot of responsibilities with the Alpha. Especially now that he was considering him to be his new Beta when the other one retires. It’s weird to me. All the stories I’ve read, a wolf is the Alpha’s Beta. Not a human. But in this town, nothing is normal and my father has proven to be worthy of the title. 

Mom was the school’s nurse, so she had to be there earlier than everyone to get organized. I stayed home and as hours passed, I realized it was better if I went to school instead.

 Afternoon arrived and I heard a knock on the door. I dragged my feet towards the door and upon opening it, I saw Margery standing there, with a cheeky smile on her face. She was my best friend, and would always worry about me. A year ago, we thought we could be something else, but when we kissed, all we felt was awkwardness. She was like a little sister to me.

“Hello, you dum dum,” she said, calling me by my nickname. She always called me that since I arrived in town. Reason being, I would always copy her answers for tests. Yeah, I was not the smartest of the bunch. 

“Hello, Red,” I called her by her own nickname. Her red hair had a lot to do with it. Margery walked by me and headed to the kitchen to get a snack. We were like family and we always barged into each other’s house. 

    

            “Sorry I didn’t make it last night to the welcoming party for that new family. We were in the woods performing a healing ritual, and you know how long those take,” she laughed, taking a bottle of iced tea from the fridge. 

“It’s okay. Nothing interesting happened,” I replied, putting my hands in my pocket as I leaned against the kitchen counter. 

“Oh no. That’s not what I heard. I heard in school today that you punched Leonard, hard. He came to school with a big bruise on his face. Connor, you need to control your anger sometimes. What happened?” 

I took a deep breath and looked away. Margery poked my arms, urging me to tell her what really happened last night. Knowing her, she would put a spell that will make me talk no matter what. 

“Yeah, he was staring at Ximena for far too long, and I got upset.”

Margery looked at me with narrowed eyes while she folded her arms across her chest. 

“You do realize that if they’re mates, you will lose her either way, right?” she asked, or more like stated and I knew that. 

“Yes, I do. That’s what scares me, Margery. I like Ximena a lot and by the way things are going, I think she might end up leaving me for her mate. I can’t wait until I graduate to leave this town and just be with humans. There’s nothing and no one for me here.”

She took a deep breath and smirked. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Be patient, my friend. You’ll see that it might get worse, but it’ll get better after that.”

I scoffed, taking the iced tea from her hands and gulping it down. She must know something I don’t, but I didn’t care at this point.

“Hey, that’s my iced tea,” she protested.

“This is my house, so I win,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. Margery pouted and headed to the fridge to get another iced tea and my favorite cake. 

“Oh no, no, no. You’re not eating that. It’s off limits,” I said, reaching for it to take it away from her, when suddenly she froze me on the spot, while taking a spoon and enjoying my delicious dessert. 

“Oh my God, who knew this would be good? Chocolate, my favorite,” she moaned while she licked the spoon clean. Looking at me, she finished the rest of the cake.

“By the way, you better call your girlfriend. Or else, she will stay mad at you.”

After she was done with the cake, she broke the spell and patted my shoulder before she sauntered out of the house. I would get her for that. I took my cell phone out of my pocket and marked Ximena’s number. 

“Hello,” she said, her voice sounded hoarse as if she had been crying or maybe sick.

“Are you okay?” I asked, worriedly. 

“Yes, I am. What do you want?” 

“Can we meet in the woods tonight? We need to talk.”