Spirit Tales (The Millennium Wolves AU)

It was dinner time, and I was afraid for two main reasons: Apollo was going to stare at me the entire meal to make sure I was eating healthy shit, and I had no idea who I was going to sit with. Would Hazel, Ethan, Jane and Charlotte accept me back to their clique? Or was I doomed to sit with goddamn Apollo?

Fortunately, the guys weren’t in the room when I got ready for dinner. I put on my most comfy jeans, a casual top with a jean jacket on top, and my worn-out sneakers. I left my hair down - I tore my last rubber band - and left the room.

The hallways were deserted when I went down to the dining hall. When I arrived, I saw the room was already packed with students and teachers. A quick glance at the clock showed me I was half an hour late. Lovely.

I took a deep breath and entered, and to my horror, five-hundred heads turned to look at me, as though it was the cliche fashionable-entrance scene often seen in stupid movies. The chatter died down, and the ensuing silence followed me as I forced my legs to walk into the room and toward the buffet. My breathing turned heavy, cold sweat covering the nape of my neck, and I turned my back to my unwanted audience as I started putting food on a plate.

I felt every pair of eyes like a sharp knife in the back. I shivered, but pulled myself together. I grimaced as I took salad and a couple of meatballs - as Apollo’s strict menu dictated - and noticed my hands were shaking from anxiety.

When I turned back, I saw everyone was still staring, but now they were whispering to each other. I turned a deaf ear to their words - none of them nice - and slowly made my way through the tables. Automatically, I followed my usual path to the regular table with my human friends. I looked at them with a question in my eyes, hoping they would still let me sit with them, no matter what had happened in the past couple of days.

The sharp look I got from Charlotte wasn’t inviting, and it was clear she did not consider me a friend anymore. Hazel, on the other hand, smiled at me, even if her smile was a little hesitant. Jane waved at me as though nothing had changed, and that sealed the deal for me.

I swallowed my nerves and walked quickly toward them until I sat down next to Jane. I was aware everyone was still staring at me, and I took another deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to relax. I looked at Jane, even though the awareness everyone was following my actions made me want to crawl into a ball and die, and gave her a strained smile. “Hey,” I somehow managed to utter out.

“You left the room,” Hazel was the one who spoke, her blue eyes wide, questioning.

At the tables around us, the wolves turned silent, clearly eavesdropping.

My smile was still intact. “I moved to another room with, er, others,” I said through gritted teeth, “because of me being, um, that… er, yeah.” I lowered my gaze, blushing with mortification at my stutter.

“With the Alpha of the Millennium, Apollo the Burning, and Strider Luxford,” said Ethan. “We know, Angela. In fact, everyone knows - and not just about you moving in with these three but about you being… non-human.” He narrowed his eyes.

My blush deepened. “Apollo the Burning?” I changed the subject. “Is that how everyone calls him?”

“We heard a few wolves talk about him,” Hazel replied with a shrug.

“And we know you can create storms and stuff like that, Angela,” Jane said quietly. “We’re not stupid. We saw what you did when we visited the Alpha a couple of days ago. We knew there was a reason why you didn’t go back to college immediately after they took you wherever.”

Before I could either confirm or deny, Charlotte snorted and said, “Don’t you dare say you don’t love attention. It must be so much fun for you to know everyone is talking about you and that you’re the greatest scoop in school.” The look she gave me was so full of detest, I had no idea she could feel such strong feelings, let alone to me.

I got goosebumps all over. “Why are you saying that, Charlotte?” I asked, feeling something inside me breaking. Why did she have to be such a bitch? She’d never been a bitch to me before!

There’s more than one facade to people, Tempest murmured in my head. You can’t always know what the person in front of you thinks about. As I see it, Charlotte has never loved you - just like you have never loved her, so it’s mutual.

This is so untrue! I told the Spirit, my gaze frozen on Charlotte with shock. She chuckled bitterly. “Why are you so surprise, Angela Wayne? That I’m just telling it as it is? You’re an attention-seeker. You always have been - you simply hid this part of you from me because you think I’m stupid.”

I wanted to laugh and punch her in the face. Rage burned inside me - rage that was mine alone, because Tempest was completely chill. Don’t want to join me? I asked the Spirit.

There’s no point getting all fussy about someone as pathetic as her, Angie, Tempest responded dryly. You need only pity people like her.

Who are you to say what I need or needn’t do?! I snapped at her.

A very wise Spirit who knows better than you, that’s for sure, she grumbled, as though she had no care in the world. Look at her, Angela. Just look. She’s far uglier than you, far less attractive, so no wonder she’s jealous. You’re not as fat as she is, and you’re prettier - don’t snort at me, you have potential - and you’re also smarter. Now that the attention is on you and the hottest guys notice you - and no matter what the reason is - she has all the reasons in the world to be jealous, so no wonder she’s pathetic.

I bit my lip. There was something in what Tempest said, and it penetrated through my fury. It fell away slowly, and I decided Charlotte did no, in fact, deserve a response.

As though Charlotte didn’t just say filthy crap to me, Jane asked, “Are you going to keep attending college with us?”

I nodded, averting my gaze from Charlotte and turning them to her. “In addition to another set of courses, yes.”

“I understand,” she said, but I knew she couldn’t possibly begin to understand. No one who wasn’t me at this particular moment could understand, least of all them.

“You don’t, but it’s okay,” I rosse from my seat, no longer hungry, and still aware the wolves didn’t stop staring. “I’m going back to my room. Have a wonderful dinner.”

Before I left, Hazel said, “You’re always welcome to eat with us, Angela!”

I nodded to her and started making my way out but stopped when a sharp laugh echoed in the room. I turned my head, and saw Strider standing on his chair at the table where Fred, Apollo, Samantha, Brom and Greg sat. I wondered what the latter three were doing here. With them also sat Melinda - another wolf from the mansion I saw once - and Megan and Rachel, two of Strider’s many lovers, who were still drooling all over him.

“Are you serious, bro?” Jason, Strider’s best friend in college, asked with a laugh. “She’s that fat?”

I froze in my place. I knew I needed to get out of there, now, but I couldn’t possibly make myself move. Tempest growled inside me, annoyed as well, which was exactly what I needed right now.

“You can check her out yourself, dude,” Apollo said with a smirk, and with an evil look he pointed at me. Look away, look away, I chanted in my head but in vain. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t move. I was stuck.

Jason and the rest of the people in the hall turned to stare at me again, laughing grins on their face. My throat grew a lump again, and I was suddenly very cold. I wanted to get out of there, to escape the stares, but I couldn’t. My body refused to move.

Jason whistled. “Wow, really fat, dude. And not even pretty. You couldn’t find a pretty she-wolf to sleep with you in the room? Megan, Rachel, Sam and Cora would’ve fit just fine.” He winked at the girls, trying hard to impress them. “And, of course, beautiful Melinda,” he sent a kiss in the air to Melinda, who looked at him as though he was mad.

“You’re not worth our time,” Samantha said with a asnort, glancing a little desperately at Apollo, who cared nothing about her and kept looking at me with that sinister twisted little smirk on his face. Fred himself was busy talking with Greg and Brom about something, not paying attention to the situation, and I felt something inside me breaking again. And again. And again.

Why would I care if Fred wasn’t standing by me? Why did I even care if Fred paid attention to me? Why did I want him to look at me, and only me?

The lump in my throat grew.

“You’re not wanted here,” Rachel suddenly said, turning to look at me with her bitchy violet eyes. “Get lost, cow.”

“And leave our Strider alone!” Megan joined in.

“Drop it, she’s not worth a penny,” Samantha said indifferently, checking out her nails, her voice resounding in the hall. “She’s just a little stupid girl.”

“And what kind of hair is that?” Cora piped up. “It looks like fucking garbage.”

“Totally,” Melinda scrunched her nose. “Disgusting. You look terrible. Go do something about yourself, and give extra attention to your skin - it looks bad.”

The laughter in the hall was deafening. My eyes flashed to the humans, my friends, but they all had carefully blank expressions on their face. They didn’t support me. They didn’t protect me. They didn’t care about “one of theirs.”

At that moment, the realization I was alone in this world - truly, utterly alone - hit me with such strength, the need to cry was stronger than it had ever been.

You forgot me, Angela, Tempest whispered in my head. I won’t let you be alone. I’m here.

You don’t really like me, remember? I shot back bitterly, tears in my eyes.

But I tolerate you, and I don’t like seeing you hurt, she said quietly. Let me take care of it. Lose control, and let my - our - power show them who they’re messing with.

I can’t do this here with hundreds of people, I told her.

“Why are you so quiet,?” Apollo snickered. “Respond. Show us you’re not deaf, too, in addition to being a fat lump of nothing.”

Let go, Angela.

And so I did.