"Alright, class settle down. Ethan get off that desk and sit your ass down on a chair." Said Mr Coleman as he walked in and stood up the front of the class.
Mr Coleman is my English and homeroom teacher, he can be pretty strict sometimes but his classes are some of the best and he's most people's favourite teacher. He's been helping me stay up to date with my studies since I've been missing so much school recently and he's done similar things for lots of other students so I understand why so many people like him, he's a good guy.
"I have some announcements to make. Next week Mrs Bailey will be retiring and so her class will be getting a new teacher. We will be having a leaving assembly for her on Friday during third period. Henry from class A1 will be making a speech and all students are expected to attend." Announced Mr Coleman. The whole class let out a collective groan.
Mrs Bailey was a Math teacher who had been teaching for almost 50 years and was basically blind and deaf. She would yell at you if you got a wrong answer, she couldn't hear you if you asked a question and was always making people repeat themselves, there was one time she forgot her glasses and walked into the guy's bathrooms by accident, scared some 7th graders half to death when she yelled at them for being in the female toilets. We were all glad she was leaving but none of us wanted to go the stupid assembly.
"I know you don't want to go but it's her last day and this is what the principal has decided is going to happen. If you don't show up at the assembly that's an instant lunch time detention. Now back to the notices." Mr Coleman sighed, he obviously wasn't too thrilled either.
He proceeded to give the rest of the notices and call the roll before the bell went for first period. I had World History first period and ended up spacing out and thinking about the girl instead of paying attention to the lesson. The same thing happened in Bio and Health so before I knew it it was lunch and I'd spent half the day thinking about her.
I walked outside and sat down at our usual table under the only tree in the courtyard outside the cafeteria. Ben was already sitting there with Michael, the two of them were arguing over something that happened in Stats, apparently, they'd gotten in trouble for something again and each blamed the other. These kinds of arguments happened often so I know not to get involved, they'll work it out on their own. After a couple of minutes of sitting listening to them argue I see Annabelle and Zara heading towards us. They were coming from the international department and they looked excited like they had something to tell us. Anna looked just about ready to explode. Sure enough even before she sat down Anna was saying she had news.
"Guys you're never going to believe who's gonna be coming to school here!" She exclaimed.
"OK, spill. Who is it?" Asks Michael turning towards Anna and ignoring Ben.
"Laiela Volkov!" Zara blurts out, her French accent coming through stronger than normal because of her excitement.
"Who?" Asks Ben.
"Laiela Volkov! The Volkov family! Fifteenth richest family in the world! Nothing?! Not ringing any bells here?! None? Ugh, you're hopeless!" Anna huffed when all Ben did was stare at her with a blank expression.
"Hey, I think I've heard of her. She's the one that starred in that movie about a sea monster right?" Asks Michael.
"No, not even close. First of all, that actress was American. She's Russian. Her family own Full Moon Industries." Explains Anna shaking her head at our incompetence.
"Would this Laiela chick happen to be albino?" Ben asks.
"Yes actually. So you do know her." Answers Zara.
"Nope! Never heard of her. It just so happens that on the way to school James saw a girl with white hair getting out of a limo at the really big place over on Barker Street." replies Ben.
At the mention of the girl, my heart leaps into my throat. Could it really be her? Could she really be going to be coming to school here? Was it too much to hope that I might get the chance to know her? I couldn't breathe as I waited for someone to say something.
"Could be her. The Volkov's are certainly rich enough to afford that place. What did she look like?" Asks Zara.
"She was tall and skinny with short, wavy, white hair, pale skin and green eyes," I answer.
"Yea that sounds like her. Hang on a second I'll get a picture." Says Anna as she pulls out her phone. She taps the screen a couple of times before turning the phone to show me. I sit there looking at the photo as I take in the person on the screen.
"It's her. That's the girl I saw." I tell them barely containing my excitement. I can't believe it! I'm gonna see her again!
I spend the rest of the day thinking about Laiela. Laiela, what a pretty name. It suits her very well. I can't wait to see her again. I wonder what she's like? these thoughts and much more ran through my head.
After school, I go over to Ben's place like normal to do homework and hang out before walking home for dinner at 7.00. I got home to find mum asleep at the table surrounded by papers with a pen still in her hand and her laptop still sitting open beside her. I grab a blanket from the lounge and gently wrap it around her shoulders before going into the kitchen to start cooking dinner. A few minutes later mum came in yawning, with the blanket wrapped around herself like a shawl.
"Hey, sweetie. Thanks for helping with dinner. Things have just been really busy at the office lately. Crime rate's gone up recently." She says coming over and picking up a knife to start chopping veggies with. Mum is the chief officer at the police station. It's a dangerous job and I'm always worried she might get hurt, but she's the best and even when things do happen she handles them easily and without casualty. Not one officer has died since she took charge and she loves it. She says it was what she was born to do so I don't object and instead support her as much as I can.
"Let me do it, mum. You need sleep. I'll come wake you when it's done." I tell her taking the knife and shoeing her away.
"Thanks, honey. You're right. I'll go sleep and leave the cooking to you but in exchange, I'll do the clean up after! Love you, James." She says stepping back from the counter.
"Love you too mum," I reply.
That night I dream of the white she wolf again. This time she is Lying curled up in the middle of a clearing in the woods. It was night and the moon shone down on her, lighting up her fur and making it look like it was glowing and sparkling. I go to take a step towards her but as I do the image shifts and instead of the wolf lying in the snow it's Laiela. She's lying on her side with her hair covering her face and she is wearing a beautiful silver and white, ankle length silk dress with green vines twisting all over the bodice and reaching down the back. She slowly started to lift herself up onto her elbows but stopped and kept her head down, hiding her face. I then heard her whisper a single word that sent my heart thumping and my head spinning.
James?
I sit bolt upright and let out a cry. My breathing is coming in short gasps and my heart is pounding a hundred miles a minute. I blink rapidly, clearing the image from my mind. As I look around my dark room I catch a glimpse of the time on my alarm clock. It's just after 4 am. Great.
Just then the door burst open and mum came through the door holding her gun like she did when she was on an arrest.
"Wow! Mum, it's ok! I'm ok! It was just a dream!" I exclaim holding my hands up in surrender.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I heard you cry out and thought something had happened!" She apologises lowering the gun.
"It's ok. Everything's fine." I sigh.
She comes over and sits down on the end of my bed.
"Are you sure you're ok? You said it was a dream? Wanna talk about it?" She asks.
I open my mouth to tell her that I'm really ok when we hear a howl off in the distance. We both freeze and stare out of my bedroom window at the forest beyond. After a couple moments of silence, it comes again, closer this time and different somehow, like it's another wolf's answering call. Several moments later mum turns to me.
"I thought there weren't any wolves in this area. Have you ever heard them before?" She asks searching my face as if I somehow have answers.
"No, I've never heard howling in Brighthall," I answer. The last time I heard a wolf howl was the night Dad died.
The howling came again and this time the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and a shiver went up my spine. I was about to open my mouth and say something when I heard a voice in the back of my mind. The voice was strange, like it both was and wasn't my voice and it confused me as I didn't know where it came from or what the meaning was of what it said.
Alpha
Suddenly I start seeing black spots in my vision and I feel dizzy and short of breath.
"Mum!" I cry, grabbing onto her sleeve as I feel myself slipping into unconsciousness.
But before she can do anything the world goes black and it's too late . . .
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