My Mate

Chapter Ten

"Move it, Coin Slot."

It wasn't said with any anger or hostility behind it, but rather like it was the name my mother gave me. I think that made it worse. Whatever, I've been hearing it for years now.

Grabbing my backpack, I left the seat by the window and took the only empty seat in the front of the class. Was it bad that I was already counting the days until winter break? Because I am.

Mr. Wesley was the last to enter the classroom and he shut the door behind him. The man looks half dead and has a huge thermos filled with coffee. Or at least that's what he wants us to believe. He's odd for a teacher. Once I'd seen him hotboxing his car in the faculty parking lot and singing along to some pop song. He always wears high-waters too. Not in the fashionable sense either.

"Yes, yes, you're back and haven't seen each other in so long. Now be quiet." He huffed, dropping into the chair behind his desk. It didn't look like he was going to be doing much of anything. Not that I was complaining, any history class bored me close enough to death.

I tapped my fingers against the desk, watching the clock as time seemed to drag. Sometime in the middle of class, Mr. Wesley handed out packets of study guides that we had to fill in as we followed along with him on the projector. After he remembered how to work it.

My next class was the complete opposite as Ms. Jackson tried to get everyone to participate. I hate her. The upbeat personality is as fake as her bleached hair and she's always trying to fit in with the popular students. High school must've been her prime. It didn't help that I sucked at Spanish, don't ask how I made it to Spanish two.

It's always the quiet students teachers call on too. Leave me alone!

I had third lunch which was after third period and I was starving by then. Seniors could leave campus but I didn't have a car or any friends with one. Or any friends period. So I stood in line until I was given a tray with a hamburger wrapped in aluminum and waffle fries. Grabbing a chocolate milk and packets of ketchup, I took the moment to scan the cafeteria.

Sitting down at my usual partially empty table, I ignored the few other students rejected by societies youth. I didn't like them either, seeing as even they didn't like me. Don't ask me why because I wouldn't be able to answer. It's not like I ever did anything to warrant their attitude towards me. They didn't know I was a runt, seeing as they're human and I never did or said anything against them.

Whatever, it's their loss, I only have a few months left and then I'll never have to see them again. Okay, seeing as our town is so small, I'll probably see them.

Squeezing ketchup on my hamburger, I looked up to see a cluster of the popular crowd being rowdy per usual. Most of them are wolves, some humans to help them blend in better.

My eyes find Jesper, he's not apart of that crowd. Not that he couldn't be, as a son of the Alpha, he could be their ring leader. I guess he's following his brother's footsteps, although he doesn't pick fights with them like Robby did. It made him kind of a legend. In one of the boy's bathrooms there's a dent in one of the stalls from where he smashed someone's head into it.

Jesper's pretty smile is in place and he's dressed as he always is. Not a wrinkle in sight or a hair out of place. He always sits with some of the track team and he eats the vegan lunch his mom packs for him. A few years ago when I found out he was vegan, I tried it. Obviously that didn't work out and I learned I can't live without general tso's chicken. It was a shameful moment but I've accepted that I'm a wolf and must have meat to sustain my health.

Biting into my burger, I looked away from Jesper when he looked my way and pretended to be very interested in an anti-bullying poster.

I can't wait until my birthday so I can claim my mate and live out all of my fantasies. Like starting our own personal book club or staying up all night cuddling and binge watching shows on Netflix. That's Mate goals.

After lunch was my fourth period, the last class of the day and my favorite. Mostly because it was my last class but also because I shared it with Jesper Killian.

Mrs. Ellis our Home Ec. teacher is an older wolf whose dark eyes are unkind and I have to keep myself from cowering under the dominant wolf's gaze. Today we were starting a new project, creating little bags with the sewing machines.

"I want two people per machine." Mrs. Ellis said and I stared at the back of Jesper's head. "Come up here and pick out a fabric and measure out half a yard." I bounced up along with the rest of the class, fully intending to beg Jesper to be my partner.

Only to be intercepted by Kelly Webb. I forgot that little... whatever, I forgot she was in this class. My shoulders sagged as I watched Jesper happily accept her offer to work together.

After everyone else tore through the fabric, I just grabbed the plain black. We didn't really do anything, Mrs. Ellis spent the whole class showing us how to start the bag and work the sewing machine. I wasn't really surprised when I ended up without a partner, it's just the way things are for me.

****

"The scar will fade with time." Dr. Anderson commented, pulling her gloves off and throwing them away. She looked over at me when she realized I wasn't getting up to leave.

I started fidgeting with my fingers as I tried to think how to word my question. Dr. Anderson waited patiently.

"Um okay, my heat..." I trailed off, my face warming.

"Yes, what about it?"

I swallowed thickly. "It, it happens the third week of the month for me. Can it start earlier than it normally does?" I asked shyly. I was suppose to just get my stitches out after school but the thought had been nagging me. I needed to know.

Dr. Anderson sat on her stool by the counter and smiled at me. "A healthy male Omega's heat usually happens about every thirty days or so but everyone is different. I have some patients who experience irregular heats, sometimes even skipping a month. It's common." I sighed in relief, my tense shoulders sagging. "Why? Are you having symptoms of starting early?"

"Ugh... not exactly."

"No overheating, cramping in the abdomen, increase in sexual cravings?"

My face was on fire. I opened my mouth but shut it and shook my head. Clearing my throat, I avoided eye contact. "No, just...I was affected by someone's scent." I whispered the last bit, looking at her with wide eyes.

Dr. Anderson laughed. She laughed. "Oh, hun." She chuckled, standing up and opening a cabinet. I watched her look for something before taking out a box and getting a zip lock bag out of a drawer. Was something wrong with me?

She handed me the bag filled with foil packets and I looked at them for awhile before realization hit. "No!" I yelped, jumping off the exam table and holding the bag away from my body. As if they'd jump out and attack me. "I– I don't need these. I don't do those kind of things." I whisper shouted. Well, I didn't do those things yet. I definitely will with my Mate but...will we need condoms?

"Hun, you're a young wolf shifter, your hormones are all over the place. It's better to be safe than sorry." She opened the door and I stuffed the bag in my pocket before anyone could see.

"But, but I don't need them, really I don't." I whispered, following her out of the room and down the hall.

"Then give them to someone who does." She said, waving me out of the clinic.

Huffing in defeat, I left the clinic with a bag full of condoms in my pocket.