2

Romilly sighed as she reached the seashore. Whenever her friend was in a bad mood, she always comes here. So she knew without a doubt where to find her.

She saw Xenia's bag near a boulder, along with her shoes and clothes. She sighed.

This girl had gone for a swim again. Didn't she know they would be late for school? She placed the cooler on the boulder and walked into the water until it reached her knees.

"Xenia! Xenia!"

She called out for a good 3 minutes but no one surfaced out of the water.

She became worried and wanted to go into the water to find her only for her to suddenly smell the aroma of delicious food.

Only one person made this kind of food with this aroma. Emma!

She turned around and found Xenia eating the rice in the cooler. She was in black swim trunks and a blue sports bra.

A green swim cap covered her hair and a goggle was on her head.

Romilly sighed.

"Is it fun?" she asked as she walked out of the water.

"It's delicious." was the only thing Xenia said.

Romilly walked to her with folded hands.

"When did you get here, and how did you wear your clothes without me knowing?"

"Um... It's a secret. Want some?" she offered a spoon to Romilly.

"No, thanks. Eat your food. And I've already done your assignment for you."

"Oh, thanks, Romie. You're the best." Xenia hailed and delved back into her world of eating.

Romilly just let her be. It's good now that she'd calmed down. She was thinking about how hard the task was to get her to eat the food. Who knew she would collect it of her own accord without her noticing?

When she was done eating, she thanked Romilly for bringing the food here and apologized for her unkind words.

"I know you didn't mean it, Xixi. You must be stressed."

Xenia nodded.

"Yeah. My mom gets on my nerves and I'm turning 18 soon. It's a joyous thing, but it also means I'm gonna shift. I heard that late bloomers shifting into their wolf for the first time, feel more pain than the one who shifted at 15 or 16. I'm quite jealous now and also scared. I almost cry when pricked by a needle and now I'm gonna experience something 1000 times more painful than that? Thinking about it just gets me frustrated."

"Honey, I was terrified too before I shifted at 15. But now, I don't feel any pain when shifting. It's fun. So don't worry. It will pass and you'll look back to this day and chuckle."

Romilly patted Xenia's back and the latter nodded with a smile.

"It's almost 7:49. We're gonna be late for school."

"It's not the first time we came late. Besides, I would be happiest if we could miss Maths class. I hate the teacher and the subject." Xenia wasn't alarmed.

"Well, we'll meet in class then. I love Maths." Romilly ran off with the cooler.

She would drop it at Xenia's home before racing to school. Since she'd already shifted, she could run 40 miles per hour.

School lessons start at 9 and it was located in a very isolated place in the woods. She had to reach there before 8:30 coz the gate's always locked at 8:31. Xenia is always able to get in through the back door. She's never been caught!

Xenia shook her head and rose from the boulder. She took off her swimwear and goggle, leaving the cap on.

Then she wore her clothes, took off the cap and placed the swim stuff in a nylon bag before keeping it in her school bag.

She patted the dust off her school bag and carried it, balancing it properly behind her before turning around to run. Although she hadn't shifted, she was able to run 35km per hour. The higher your wolf rank, the more speed and strength you possess.

She ran for a little more than an hour to get to a lake. On the other side of the lake was the school. To get there, one had to use the slings or walk on the thin, unstable bridge. This was to test the student's flexibility and adaptability.

But she knew her weight would destroy the bridge and also ruin the vines. So the only way was to enter the canoe and start paddling towards the other side. So as not to run late, she paddled fast. The lake was big, and she had to reach the school in time so she can use the back door to get in. If she was unlucky, she would be caught and punished.

But she got slowed down by the amazing view of the bloomed flowers on the lake. She could not help thinking of herself. She would soon be blooming. She wondered what her wolf's fur color will be like. She also hoped the pain wouldn't crush her.

She couldn't help plucking one flower and bringing it close to her nose to have a sniff.

Wah, this flower smelled so good!

She plucked a few more of them and placed them atop her bag that she kept at her feet in the canoe.

Then she resumed paddling extra fast.

&&&&&&

  Minutes later, she arrived at the lake's shore and got out of the water.

She took her bag and the flowers and then resumed running again.

She reached the back door at 8:50. This so-called back door was actually a fence that was lower than the other towering high fences.

She had to scale it.

She looked around and ran forward before jumping and doing a somersault in the air. She was able to scale over the fence and she landed on the grass. She rose from the ground and smoothened her clothes before running forward after looking around.

She passed through many structures before joining the students that were moving about.

She saw Romilly talking to a classmate while holding a bunch of books. What a nerd she was!

It stunned many how the two of them, who are polar opposites, became best friends at all. Probably this is destiny.

"Hey, Romie!" she called out while waving as she walked toward the two.

Romilly raised her head and saw Xenia. A smile appeared on her face.

"Xixi, you're here."

"Yup. I came to join in the fun today."

"I thought you hated math class,"

"I do. But I just want to have a try and free my head. Besides, I'm invisible in class."

"Oh! This is Weston from class B1." she introduced the other person.

"Oh, the science wiz. I heard your praises." Xenia beamed.

"Oh, thanks. But I've done nothing noteworthy." the geek student said shyly.

"Oh, come on, Weston. Don't be too modest. Um… can you let me have a word with you in private?" Xenia placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Y-Yes. That's okay." Weston nodded.

"Great. Coz I really needed to talk to you whether or not you agree. You just saved me the hassle." Xenia took him to a corner.

"So you're a geek?"

"I like books, so yeah."

"Weston, do you remember what I said?"

"You asked if I'm a geek?"

"Not that,"

"Um… You're glad I agreed to talk with you in private?" Weston adjusted his glasses.

"Nope. Not today."

"Um… I've never spoken with you before today." Weston sounded nervous.

He was a transfer student from another shifter school. He's about a month old here. He's spoken with many people but not this Xenia.

She chuckled.

"Boy, don't be scared." she patted his shoulder.

"I-I'm not,"

"You spoke to me one time but not face to face."

"Er?" he looked bewildered now.

He'd never chatted with her on the phone. He didn't even have her number! What was she playing at?

"Username Weston101, member of Tihatz squad, their main jungler and proficient in using assassins. Your main is Gusion. Second liked assassin is Ling. Am I correct, Weston?" Xenia beamed creepily at him while he jolted.

"You… You… How did you find out?"

"You are too dumb. Your username alone gives you away. You're quite fierce in online battles but so weak in real life. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk." she shook her head.

"Xenia, please don't tell anyone. If my parents get news of this, I'll be toast."

"Hahaha! You're so funny. Seriously, you have no spine? You're so chicken! Hahaha!" Xenia held her trembling tummy as she giggled while he became more apprehensive.

"Alright, I won't tell on you but I need you to do me a small favour."

"Little favour?" he creased his eyebrows. Why did he have this gut feeling that whatever favor she needed from him would automatically put him at a disadvantage?

"Well, this favour if you can do it for me, I'll naturally zip my lips."

"Oh, ok. Please shoot!" he urged.

"Alright." she folded her arms.

"To keep my mouth zipped, you have two options, either challenge Kristan…"

"Kristan, the best dancer in school? And he's even stronger than me. No, I can't do that!"

"That's why you have two options."

"O-Okay. Continue, please,"