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“This isn’t fair,” Samantha spoke up out of the blue.
We were sitting in the art room having another H meeting. Samantha leaned forward in her chair as the rest of us sat in silence. The boys were not yet comfortable saying anything around her, and Samantha didn’t know any of their secrets. Daltom had left already and Victor was never available to come to these kinds of meetings anyway.
“What isn’t fair?” Mr. Xavier finally responded, taking the bait.
“All of you ran off on some kind of spontaneous retreat and left me behind,” Samantha growled.
“Why are you even here right now?” Rune spoke up, “I thought you had a job.”
“No, I work on Tuesdays.”
“I thought you had Piano lessons on Tuesdays?” I inquired.
“I can do two things.” Samantha frowned, “Look, what I’m trying to get at is that this is the helping club. It’s in your description to help people in high school, but you haven’t helped a single person that I have seen.”
“I do numerous things to assist a variety of people,” Ryan spoke up, readjusting his maid outfit.
“You do a bunch of girls favors they ask, that isn’t a group activity. I’m talking about something we do all together to help someone.”
“What do you have in mind?” Stephan asked.
“Well-“
“So are we all just ignoring the fact that Ryan’s wearing a maid outfit?” Rune interrupted.
We all glanced at Ryan. He had entered the room today wearing a French maid uniform. It had a black skirt, two shoulder straps, and a white apron in front. He was also wearing nylon leggings if I wasn’t mistaken.
Stephan shrugged, “Does it matter? We’re ignoring the fact Daniel’s naked right now.”
“Oh I’m not ignoring it,” Samantha spoke up, “I’m just deeply appreciating it.”
“Please, guys, I’m wearing underwear. I just worked out before coming here. I’m air drying my clothing.”
“You say that like sitting in a room in your underwear around nine other people at school is normal,” Rune spoke up.
“I am curious about that,” I interrupted, “Not Daniel, that stopped being funny like the third time that happened. I meant why is Ryan wearing a maid outfit?”
Ryan readjusted the strap, “Samantha ordered me to wear it. She said it would make me look cuter. It isn’t a problem for me. My mistress has ordered me to wear a variety of female costumes in the past, I am used to it.”
“Mistress!” Samantha broke in. “Wow… I guess it’s always the quiet ones that are into the kinky stuff.”
“Samantha, don’t you start!” I interrupted, “And stop ordering him around, Ryan has a right to do what he wants.”
Samantha’s eyes narrowed, “You’re not… his mistress, are you? No, don’t tell me, I don’t need to know what perversions you do in your own home.”
“You’re one to speak, the girl with the spank fetish.” I retorted.
Samantha let out a shocked gasp, “That was a dream. One time, one time that happened, and so much for confidentiality.”
“Confidential what?” I snapped back, “You’re the one who decided to put my fetish into one of your fanfiction!”
“No one knows it was you!”
“You put the main character as Jane A.”
“That could be any number of last names that start with A.”
“You-“
“Girls, please,” Mr. Xavier interrupted with a firm hand, “As much fun as watching you catfight would be, I’d rather not attract the attention of another teacher, what with the nudity and the cosplay.”
My fist trembled for a second, but finally, relaxed. It wasn’t worth getting into a fight with Samantha. We were friends, and we knew way too many things about each other for us to even afford a falling out. It was much like a cold war, if any of us hit the launch button, it would be a mutually-assured destruction.
“At least explain why you decided he needed to wear a maid outfit?”
Samantha rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I am an artist, and an artist needs a muse.”
“Samantha, don’t use people like that. Ryan, get your regular clothing back on when we’re done.”
“Don’t stifle my creativity!” Samantha snarled.
“So,” Daniel interrupted before I could respond,” What is Jane’s fetish?”
The other guys didn’t move, but suddenly they all had the air of listening entirely too much.
“Daniel,” I growled under my breath.
“For $5.99, you can find out,” Samantha winked.
“Samantha!” I gave her my angriest glare.
“Oh relax, I wouldn’t give any of your guy friends that kind of ammo,” Samantha reassured me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her putting her hand up to her ears in the form of a phone and mouthing the words ‘call me’. It was clear that I didn’t have any control over the seller in this circumstance. In that case, I’d have to cut this off at the buyer. A rolled-up newspaper and the words ‘forced castration’ should nip this in the bud. No one would find out that I liked it when guys-
“On that note,” Stephan brought me out of my thoughts, “You were suggesting someone we could help?”
“Oh right,” Samantha snapped her fingers, “We can help out my uncle.”
“Your… uncle?” Andrew asked.
“He has a small shop, and during the week of spring break, it gets slammed. He’s usually desperate for some extra help. I thought we could go down and help him as a group?”
“You want us to give up our spring breaks to work in a shop?” Rune’s mouth twisted, “No, thank you.”
“Did I mention he lives in Panama City, Florida? His shop is right on the beach.”
“Really?” Stephan suddenly looked excited.
In fact, there was a bit of a wave of excitement throughout the entire group. Well, Ryan didn’t react too much and Allan was ignoring the group while reading a book. Mr. Xavier also seemed to have an uncertain look on his face.
“I think it’ll be a nice opportunity,” Andrew nodded, in a rare instance of cooperation.
“You mean, like, flying down to Florida for the week, like in a plane?” Mr. Xavier grimaced, “No, I can’t afford to take the group on something like that. Teachers don’t make that much money.”
“Well, I gave Demetrius a call and he agreed to fly us down in his private jet,” Samantha was bubbling with excitement.
In truth, I was also excited. What she was proposing seemed almost unreal. We’d be in Florida for spring break, free room, and board, with a millionaire pop idol. It was absolutely surreal.
Mr. Xavier frowned, “It’s just not an event I can approve.”
The boys started to frown, the levity of the moment being brushed away by Mr. Xavier’s whim. Samantha let out a deep sigh, leaning back.
“That’s such a shame… and to think of all those girls wearing practically nothing.”
Mr. Xavier’s eyebrow rose, “What do you mean, practically nothing?”
“Oh nothing,” Samantha waved it away, “It’s just that girls these days go to the beach practically naked. Why Jane has this two-piece bikini and last year she popped right out of it.”
“Popped? Out?” Mr. Xavier’s eyes widened.
“On top of that, with the sun the way it is these days, all those deadly UV rays, Jane will need someone to apply sunscreen all over her body. He’ll need to make sure to be very thorough.”
“Very? Thorough?” Mr. Xavier was practically drooling.
I knew what she was doing. Samantha was basically selling me out as a sex object. However, I really wanted to go. If letting Mr. Xavier feel me up on the beach was the cost, I was ready to take one for the team.
“I don’t know why you’re so excited about possibly seeing Jane naked,” Allan looked up from his book, “Just a few weeks ago you saw her running through a forest streaking topless.”
“Yes,” Mr. Xavier waved a hand, “but she did that intentionally. This would be “accidental”!”
“Why does that-“
“Accidental!”
Allan sighed, turning back to his book and pushing his glasses back on his nose, “Ridiculous.”
“Why were you running through the forest?” Samantha gave me a dirty look.
I realized I had been caught with another secret and quickly racked my brain for an easy excuse, “Um… bad peyote?”
Samantha’s look dissipated as she nodded thoughtfully, “I’ve been there.”
“I won’t ask…”
“Good, it’s better that way.”
“Alright,” Mr. Xavier clapped his hands together, “Spring break in Florida it is.”
The group began breaking up. I stretched a little, rubbing my sore back as I watched Allan approach Samantha.
“I overheard you have a spanking fetish. I would be very interested in your thoughts on some research I have been performing.”
My hands dropped, the smile on my face growing to a frown.
Samantha leaned closer to him, “If you’d like, I can provide you some first-hand experience on the subject matter.”
Allan nodded thoughtfully, “That would be very insightful.”
Samantha chuckled with an evil look in her eye, grabbing his arm and pulling him out the doorway, “Now how about in exchange, you tell me the story of Jane’s streaking event.”
“That seems acceptable,” Allan’s voice became muffled as the two left the room.
I leaned back, squeezing my eyes shut and sighing. It was times like these that I wish I could figure out how to turn my arm back into the werewolf arm or summon some of that purple fire. I had tried a half dozen times since we returned from the werewolf tournament to no avail. That event has seemed to be a one-time thing.
Victor had pulled me aside shortly after I had woken up in the tent. Daniel had left to go help Treena get the camp in order. Victor had a concerned look in his eyes, and seemed serious for once.
“There is something I didn’t want to mention in front of the other guys. This magic you’ve been absorbing from them. This isn’t like a video game, where you’re loading up on demon mp and once you use it you’ll run out until you get another fill.”
“I don’t understand, what do you mean?” I asked, still a little groggy.
“As soon as you took my venom, you began to absorb these abilities. You began to change.”
“Change how?”
Victor shrugged, his lips tightening a bit, “I do not know. The only thing we can do is keep watching. I don’t think the changes will be dangerous, but…”
Victor shrugged again, shaking his head sadly. At that point, Treena showed up, grabbing me and shoving a strange letter into my hands. I still had the letter Treena gave me in my pocket. Part of the letter was a plea for forgiveness. The rest was a harder pill to swallow. It suggested, in no uncertain terms, that it wasn’t abnormal for Alphas to have multiple mates, and that she was willing to share Daniel and be my sister-wife. I really couldn’t decide whether I should be horrified or flattered.
Either way, I was starting to recognize the dangers I was in every day, thanks to these boys in my life. Many of them had friends and enemies alike who might see me as a threat. Soon, I’d need to find a way to tap into that power. If it was a permanent part of me, then it was something I should be able to do.
I
considered asking Andrew to teach me how to use a sword. I knew he said the
thing I had summoned way back when wasn’t a holy sword, but I still had my
doubts. Maybe if I practiced the way he did, I’d be able to conjure it easier.
For the moment, I had no power to break up this little Allan Samantha debacle,
I guessed I’d have to settle for the metal bat I kept in my locker.