Nathinn

"That's exciting, you'll get to switch out this Friday," I said, looking at Emah through the fence. I was sitting on the grass across from her with a half-eaten sandwich.

"Isn't it?" Emah sipped her juice and began to fish something out of her lunch pail.

"Do you know him?" She rolled up a paper like a burrito and shoved it through the fence. I took the paper unrolling it and seeing it was her temporary new schedule.

"Maverick Hall? You know him Em, he's the famous vampire boyfriend from the 'it' couple" I said. I began reading her schedule to myself to find out what classes she has. 

"Really? I never knew his name, I always just referred to him as The vampire," Emah said. 

I couldn't help but chuckle at her response. Emah was never good at names, and yet she gets so frustrated when people mistake her name. It took her forever to remember my name, so for a while she just called me Mr. Wolf. Which is far too formal for my standards. I rolled the paper back up and stuffed it through the fence.

"Good news is we have homeroom together, well two if you include lunch."

"Thank God. At least I wont be alone," She stuffed the paper back into her bag rather forcefully.

"I also think you have a class with Rina," I said. 

"Like she'll show up to any of them, I honestly don't get how she still has good grades with the amount of skipping she does. Where even is Rina?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," I said. Rina is a therianthrope cat and my adopted sister. I found her and pretty much rescued her when we were younger. Therianthropes take after their counterpart animals, but we don't follow all of the authentic animal instincts. So, of course, there are a few things we do differently. I was nine when I rescued Rina, and she was only eight. My parents are my packs' Alphas, so explaining the situation wasn't too difficult. I'm their only child by blood, so I rank as the highest Beta and next in line to rule over the pack if anything happens to my parents. If it wasn't for that, Rina wouldn't have gotten to stay or be getting away with half the things she does now.

When she was younger, she was easier to look after. Rina was scared and would always follow me around, so I didn't mind it. It was nice having a little sister looking up to you like she would, it would make me feel cool and important. Then she got older, got more independent and started to drift away. I think because she was a stray, that it makes it harder to control her sometimes. I'm glad she still manages to attend meetings with other packs. It's good having the highest-ranked Beta and Subordinate there because it leaves a positive impression on the whole pack.

By the time I finished the other half of my sandwich, Emah was complaining about her science partner refusing to cooperate with her on the project.

"It's just so damn frustrating! He won't even talk to me! What is that bullshit?" Emah said angrily. 

"What does the project even have to be about?" I asked.

"We have to make a Utopian society and explain why our fake world works and I already have ideas."

"Then just do one of your ideas, put both your names on it, and turn it in."

I felt something hit my forehead and bounce off. I looked around to see what the hell just hit me and found a single grape by my shoe. As I was about to tell Emah that someone just tried to snipe me with fruit, I realized it was her. When the hell did she have grapes? And why didn't I catch her throwing one at me?

"Okay, scrap that idea. Talk to both the twins together? They're always together, so maybe it would make Wilder more comfortable?" I said, bracing  myself for another death grape.

"That might work, the only problem is I can't even get near them. You've seen the crazy girls that surround them. Besides, I don't even think Wilder talks."

She has a point there. 

"I could wait after school and stalk them," Emah said, grabbing another grape. I opened my mouth this time.

"Isn't that creepy? I think they would avoid you more." I said, the grape missed and hit my nose instead. I watched as Emah grabbed more ammo.

"I guess your right about that. I am no creepy stalker, so I could just continue to bug him."  

"You, not a stalker? You people watch every morning," I teased.

Emah smirked and threw another grape, but it had bounced off the fence back to her.

"You do it too! Besides, that isn't really stalking," Emah said, grabbing another grape. This time the grape landed in my mouth.

"Ten points to Ravenclaw!" Emah threw her arms in the air, as I rolled my eyes, a smile plastered my face.

The bell rang signaling that lunch was over. After saying our see-you-laters, we went our separate ways. I walked towards my building when a pencil dropped out the sky and landed in front of me. What the hell? Where did this come from? I looked up to see that tree branches were hovering over me and of course, saw Rina sitting on a branch. 

I raised an eyebrow at her and she smiled back. Rina started climbing down the tree carrying a notebook. She must have been doing homework or something. 

"Have you been up there this whole time?" I asked, handing her pencil back to her. 

"Of course," She took the pencil, placing it behind her ear. 

"Why didn't you join Em and me?" I asked. 

"Because you two can be very distracting and I'm trying to get ahead."

Of course, she was trying to get ahead just so she could skip freely. I have to admit that her getting away with it, is pretty cool. Lately, however, Rina seems to have something else on her mind, something other than schoolwork. 

"What's this all about? You've been skipping classes, you're hardly ever home, Rina what is going on?" I asked. 

I stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Rina crossed her arms and glared at me.

"Don't give me that look," She snapped.

"What look?"

"That look you give to everyone in our pack who's beneath your rank. You give it to others all the time when you want something. I may be a lower rank, but I am not beneath you, Nathinn" Rina stepped passed me. 

Where did that come from? I grabbed her wrist and yanked her back to look at me,

"I'm not asking to look down on you, I'm asking as a concerned older brother. For the record, I have never once seen you as someone beneath me. I'm just scared you might get into something that is far too much for you to handle," I said, staring Rina down. Rina's expressions softened a bit and she sighed. I let go of her wrist, feeling ashamed. I shouldn't have to scold her like that at school of all places.

"I'm sorry, I wish I can tell you but I can't say anything just yet, especially at school," Rina said, her tone sounding genuine.

"Please, just be careful you don't get ahead of yourself. We don't need another incident," I said. 

Rina nodded, smiled and then carried off as if nothing happened. A few years ago, she got herself stuck in a bad situation with some fairies. The whole pack was pissed, but Rina had good intentions, so they helped her. It took a full year to rid ourselves of the fairies' debt. Rina always lets her curiosity lead her, typical cat.