“That's never going to work.”

  Leo glanced up from his phone at the voices in front of him and watched Theo frown at Parker like he had just taken away his food, because nobody loved food like Theo. “You're just a pessimist. Where's your sense of joy?”

  “I have joy,” Parker replied, giving Theo a deadpanned look. “And I will be absolutely overwhelmed with it when you make a fucking fool of yourself.”

  Theo pursed his eyes at the other boy then crossed his arms, glancing away from him. “You just don't see the vision.” He mumbled, almost incoherently.

  “Come on Ami, back me up.” Theo gestured to Amirah, who had been sitting beside Leo in silence for the past few minutes.

  Amirah glanced up, surprised at thsde mention of her name. “Uh… yeah, I mean. It's not a terrible idea.” She had definitely been the wrong person to ask. Out of everyone in the group, she was definitely the least capable of telling the truth.

  Mei, who was sitting across from her, snorted. “Let's be honest here. Lying will only make him think that dancing to ask a girl out is even remotely not cringy.”

  Theo glanced at her and paused, opening his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when Mei suddenly exclaimed, “Oh my Goddess, that looks awful.”

  The whole group turned to where she had been looking, then simultaneously turned back to her, all wearing matching looks of confusion.

  “What?” Leo questioned, glancing back at her curiously. He glanced around the cafeteria again.

  All he could see was the forever-broken, bright red vending machine standing sadly in the corner of the large room, and he didn't think red was its colour either, but he knew that she wasn't talking about that.

  “Her hair. Look.” Mei raised her eyebrows and subtly gestured to a girl who was standing idly by the cafeteria doors. “She looks like a fucking circus. And I wonder how she even fit into that outfit.”

  Leo studied her again. She was standing halfway through the door, as if she hadn't decided whether she had planned to enter the cafeteria or not. Her eyes were glancing around the room curiously, but her face held no sense of nerves...probably a new student. She was wearing an ensemble of black clothing and jewellery that was a stark contrast to her bright blue hair, and there was a nose ring glimmering on her nose. And most definitely human.

  Leo sighed, then dragged his gaze away from her and back to the game of Candy Crush he had been playing on his phone.

  “Mei…” Leo heard Amirah say from next to him, looking up from the book she had been reading. It was probably a romance book, because she hadn't stopped talking about vampires for the last three days.

  “What?” Mei shrugged innocently. “I'm just saying….”

  Theo, who was sitting next to Mei, grabbed a fry from his plate and pointed it at her in agreement. “Yeah, she kinda has a point.” He paused, swallowing the food in his mouth. “I personally think it looks kinda freaky, but, like, in a good way.”

  Parker leaned back in his seat, watching Theo in amusement. “You can't say shit because you have terrible taste in women.”

  Theo frowned at him. “No I don't.”

  “What about Carrie?” Mei suggested, watching as Theo's features morphed from confusion to recognition.

  “Oh yeaaaah.”

  “You dated her?” Parker lowered his head and leaned in closer. “I heard she went crazy, so her family sent her to boarding school.”

  Theo shrugged, unsurprised by the news. “Totally worth it.” He grabbed the burger on his tray and took a large bite. “She wa’ so ho’.” He mumbled through a mouthful of food.

  Suddenly, Parker turned to Leo, glancing at him curiously. “What do you think?” Parker placed his elbows on the table and leaned back against his chair. “You've been awfully quiet.”

  Leo glanced back at him, staring into his black eyes for a few seconds. He knew he was taking too long to say anything, so he cleared his throat and glanced down at the black screen in his lap. “I think I'm tired of hearing you two flirt.” Leo finally said with a shrug.

  Mei scrunched her nose, reapplying a coat of lip gloss using her phone as a mirror. “Gross. That would never happen.”

  Theo looked at her sadly, then placed a solemn hand on his chest. “Come on baby. You're breaking my heart here.”

  “Oh boo hoo. And don't call me baby.” She said, flicking a chicken nugget at him. The nugget landed on his chest, then bounced onto the table, but quickly vanished when Theo grabbed it and shoved it into his mouth.

  Leo heard Amirah let out a small snort from beside him, making him smile into the water bottle he had lifted up to his lips. Theo started to say something else in reply, but the rest of the conversation faded off, blending in with the usual noisy chatter filling up the rest of the cafeteria.

  Leo couldn't focus. His father's words from the conversation they had had the previous day were a fresh scar in his mind. You need to start acting like an Alpha.

  Leo knew his father was right; he needed to shape up if he was ever going to lead the pack one day, especially if he expected to be as good an Alpha as his dad was. But where did he even start? He figured what he was doing now was a pretty solid start, all things considered…..

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Leo was pulled from his thoughts when he saw a hand waving frantically in front of him. He looked up and found Amirah standing next to him, surveying him with her usual look of concern.

  “Hey. You okay? You've been a little distracted.”

  Leo glanced at the rest of the table and watched as the rest of his friends all stood up, finishing the last of the food on their trays.

  Leo gave her a loose smile. “Yeah of course. Why wouldn't I be?”

  She smiled at him but said nothing, turning around to follow Mei who was already making her way towards the cafeteria exit.

  He stood up from the table and stared at his half-empty plastic tray lying abandoned on the table. He glanced at the towering pile of trays on the other side of the large cafeteria, then at his friends who were already halfway through the exit doors.

  He grabbed his backpack from the floor and swung it over his shoulder, walking swiftly after his friends. Someone else would take it for him.

  Once he was seated in class, he leaned back on his chair, drumming his pen on the edge of his desk. The teacher in front of him, Mr — he honestly couldn't remember. Hamilton? Hampton? Howard? — had written something on the board. Leo was supposed to be writing it down, but he had forgotten his book that morning. And he was honestly just way too lazy.

  The teacher glanced at Leo from above his large glasses, then glanced down disappointedly at his empty desk. What can I say? I'm disappointed too, Leo thought.

  He finally put his pen down and raised an arm in the air.

  “Yes, Mr Reyes?”

  “Can I go to the bathroom?” Leo asked, looking at the other man expectantly.

  He looked up at Leo, then nodded, before turning back towards the board. “Bathroom passes are by the door.”

  He gestured to a table right by the door. “And be sure to bring back something to write with, Mr Reyes.”

  “You got it.” Leo grabbed the bathroom pass and threw it over his neck before lazily making his way down the empty halls. He knew what his dad would say if he saw him. An Alpha doesn't slack off. But he honestly couldn't bring himself to care.

  He turned a corner and felt the wind forced out from his chest when his shoulder collided with another solid shoulder. The impact was followed by the loud slap of books hitting the empty corridor floor.

  “Shit watch where you're —” Leo started and glanced up, pausing when his eyes finally fell on the person in front of him.

  Ivan's forest green eyes stared up at him in brief surprise, but the look was quickly replaced by annoyance upon realising it was him. Good.

  “Going? Oh I'm sorry. I'll use my x-ray vision to see past the concrete next time.” Ivan raised his hands up and shrugged.“My bad.”

  Leo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Yeah well maybe if you had fucking eyes, then you wouldn't have to.”

  Ivan glanced at him with a scowl. “I don't have time for this.” He knelt down and began grabbing at the books littered around them.

  Leo smirked at this and glanced down at the mess of books scattered on the floor. “Where are you even going in such a rush anyway?” He glanced around the empty hall. “I know you love school and everything….”

  “Piss off, I don't love school,” Ivan said in indignation, and Leo smirked. Now this was getting fun.

  “Could've fooled me.”

  Leo could see Ivan's jaw clench slightly. “Don't you have somewhere to be?”

  “Oh, you know, just…” Leo glanced at the empty space behind him then rested his eyes back on Ivan's own. “Enjoying the view.”

  “The view…” Ivan lifted an eyebrow at him and gestured to the bathroom pass that was hanging loosely around Leo's neck. “With a bathroom pass?”

  “Oh yeah. I knew you were passing by, and seeing you suffer sure makes for some great entertainment.”

  Ivan rolled his eyes at this and stood up, neglecting the rest of the books on the floor. Leo followed suit, grabbing a book from the floor and handing it back to Ivan. “Alright well I have better things to do than this, but I sincerely hope that…” Leo glanced at the cover of the book. “AP English sucks.”

  Leo scrunched his nose at the book. He couldn't understand for the life of him why the fuck anyone would willingly choose to do AP English. Regular English was bad enough, and of course, Ivan of all people did it.

  Ivan smirked. “Enjoy shitting yourself.”

  Leo laughed, “Mhm mhm.” He hummed and handed the book in his hand back to the other boy.

  Ivan said nothing and grabbed the book from Leo's outstretched hand. Leo felt Ivan's hand slightly brush against his own. The touch was so faint that he shouldn't have been able to feel it.

  But he had.

  The spot where they had touched began to tingle, a slight burning sensation that gradually climbed up his arm and engulfed the rest of his body in an almost comforting warmth. Leo froze, arm still suspended in the air.

  He quickly retracted his hand, as if he had been burnt, and placed it stiffly into his hoodie pocket. Shit, he really hoped that Ivan hadn't seen that.

  His body grew warm inside the thick hoodie, and he could feel his heart racing against his chest. A trickle of sweat ran down his back, and the palms of his hands grew slippery. He pulled at the collar of his hoodie. Knew that Ivan got under his skin sometimes, but this was something different.

  He needed to get out of there.

  He saw Ivan watching him with a weary expression, and he quickly looked away from the other boy, stepping around him.

  Without looking back, he quickly made his way down the hall and outside the school gates to the full parking lot, his feet not stopping until he found himself surrounded by a crowd of thick trees. He looked around at the specks of sunlight that were falling on the browned leaves below his feet and found a large tree in front of him.

  He walked to the tree and pressed his back against the rough tree bark, shielded from any nearby eyes.

  He closed his eyes and lay his head against the wood, taking slow, deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down and slow his racing heartbeat.

  Then it finally hit him.

  His chest rapidly rose and fell as the sound of his intensifying heartbeat pulsed loudly in his ears. His head shook in disbelief.

  This couldn't be real. This had to be some cosmic joke that the universe was playing on him. He had to be dreaming.

  But his hand was still buzzing inside his pocket, and the pull inside his chest was undeniably strong.

  He hated to admit it, but he knew what this meant.

  He had just found his mate.