Chapter 10 No.10

The ride back to school was accompanied by a heavy and incredibly awkward atmosphere between Lana and River. Lana felt a headache approaching as she slowly tried to engrain all the information she learnt to her memory. She leaned back and closed her eyes, allowing the harsh breeze coming from the open windows to consume her. Her heart felt weird, almost as if she was not fully satisfied at how River reacted towards her last question.

A buzz from her pocket made her slightly flinch. She reached to pull out her phone. There were several text messages and phones calls from both Carmen and Suzie. Lana opened up their group chat to reassure them that she was okay.

Lana: Sorry about disappearing, I’m heading to our usual spot!

Suzie: Jeez!! We thought u died or smthg

Suzie: I called like 10 times!

Suzie: I feel like a mom having to deal with a rebellious daughter :/

Suzie: Carmen! What are we going to do with our naughty child?!

Carmen: omg stop spamming!!

Carmen: also dramatic much?

Suzie: we have to discipline our child!

Carmen: omg stop

Carmen: but srsly Lana

Carmen: where the heck are you??

Carmen: we saw you leave the library earlier and River left shortly after

Suzie: That’s really sus. Did smthg happen between you two?

Lana smiled at the silliness of the conversation. But now that they are asking her where she was and what happened earlier in the library, she knew she had to lie. If she told them she went on a car ride with River, they will want more details. Especially since they know how much Lana disliked River’s behaviour towards her.

Lana: am still at school but lost track of time while doing work with River

Lana: I’ll see u guys at the usual spot okay?

Lana did not wait for them to reply. She locked her phone and shoved it back into her pocket just as River pulled into the school parking lot. She reached towards the backseat to grab her schoolbag, her arm brushing against River’s.

River stiffened when he got a good whiff of her scent. He leaned towards the other side, moving further away from her to give more space to her. He looked out of the window, slowly trying to calm himself by inhaling the air outside.

Lana clearly noticed how he shifted to avoid any contact with her and somehow felt a little upset about that. He was treating her like she was poisonous or something. It reminded her of the past where boys would avoid touching girls because they had cooties or whatever. She quickly opened the car door to leave, feeling that the longer she stayed, the suffocating air around them might make her go insane.

“Hey—” River called out when he noticed her open the door.

“Thanks for today.” Lana interrupted, her legs were out of the door and her back turned to River. “I appreciate your time and honesty. Also, don’t worry about the history report, I won’t slack off and I’ll do my part.”

River frowned. “I never thought you would slack off in the first place—”

“I promised earlier I won’t tell anyone about anything so you don’t have to worry about that too. After the report, we can go back to being merely acquaintances.” Lana got out of the car and turned to give River a smile. “Take care and bye,”

“Oi, wait!” River tried to call out but Lana ignored him and shut the door. She walked swiftly towards the cafeteria, knowing for a fact that since everyone was out and about during recess, River wouldn’t dare chase after her.

River watched as Lana disappeared behind the crowd of students walking around at the entrance of the school. He slammed his hand against the car wheel, immediately regretting that decision when his wrist started to throb.

He leaned his forehead against the wheel, trying to understand what Lana was so upset about. He tried his best to at least be nice to her the entire day, he even told her everything she wanted to know. The fact that River was clueless about the reason why Lana’s behaviour suddenly turned sour was annoying him. It really is easier to deal with werewolves compared to humans, River thought.

There was two abrupt taps against his car and River glanced to the side, spotting a familiar frowning face.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Maddison asked. Her deep blue eyes glaring daggers at River. River straightened his posture and leaned back against his seat.

“What do you mean?” he lazily asked.

“What do you mean?” Maddison repeated in a mocking tone. “You stink of her, River, so let me ask you again, what the fuck do you think you are doing?” she spat.

*

When River left the house today, he never thought he’d be stuck in his car during recess getting an intervention from Maddison and Luis who suddenly appeared before him. Maddison sat at the passenger seat, clearly irritated by Lana’s lingering scent and Luis was a nervous wreck at the backseat, glancing between both Maddison and River as though they were both ticking time bombs. At any moment they could explode, whether it be from a snarky comment or an indifferent reply, one of them was going to get mad by the end of the day.

River recalled the times he spent with them growing up. Both Luis and Maddison would follow him around like cute puppies. He was older than them by a few months and they looked up to River as a brother figure even though they were all the same age.

They were incredibly sweet and caring towards River and he would treat them the same. They were the closest thing River has to a family after his real one left Rosecliff all those years ago. But a lot of things changed when they started high school. Well, Maddison Attwood, his cousin was the only one who drastically changed.

She became brash and arrogant, always claiming that the things she’s telling River to do was for his sake. Her ‘I’m always right’ attitude never sat right with River and the two would often get into arguments. Poor Luis was always in the middle of their petty quarrels, trying to accommodate to both their point of views and not hurt anyone’s feelings in the process. River will always feel indebted to Luis for being the reasonable one in their group.

“Why was she in your car?” Maddison asked. She leaned against the door, her body fully facing River with one leg propped up on the seat. Her arms were crossed around her chest and she stared at River, ready to fight back if he gave her an answer that was not acceptable in her standards.

River frowned as he gestured Maddison to move her leg. She huffed as she slid her leg down. “It’s none of your business.” River muttered.

“Look here you son of a—” Maddison was about to snap but Luis placed his hand on her shoulder to stop her. She took a deep breath, leaning back against the door once more and remained silent. She quietly hoped that Luis would be able to talk some senses into River.

“We are just worried, River. You disappeared with her and we thought that something might have happened…” Luis said.

“Something?” River pressed, he looked through the rear-view window, catching Luis’ gaze.

Luis looked away. “You are still affected by her scent…are you not?”

“I’m in control of my body, I’m not the same kid I was back in middle school.” He sighed.

“You should still stay away from her. Even for Luis and me, her smell is unusual so I can’t imagine how an alpha would feel being around her.” Maddison spoke nonchalantly as she checked her make up on the side mirror of the car.

River’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “It’s not like I wanted to partner with her for the report,” he stated.

“I don’t see how that corelates to you driving around with her during free period like fucking delinquents.” She glared. “And you couldn’t even text us or something to let us know what’s going on??”

River scoffed. “I didn’t knew you two were my parents.”

Maddison opened her mouth to protest but she noticed Luis leaning forward.

“Why was she in your car, River?” Luis pressed. Completely ignoring River’s statement and emphasising Maddison’s earlier question.

River wanted to leave. He could not stand the fact that the two of them were interrogating him for having a girl in his car like two overbearing parents. But then again, Lana wasn’t just some girl. She was different, she was an enigma.

“We were just talking.”

“About what?” Maddison asked.

River let out a low laugh. “What happened to privacy, for fuck sakes?”

“It’s just so fucking strange to me that the person you tried to avoid your whole life is suddenly all buddy-buddy with you! So, please stop being defensive already. We’re just looking out for you…” she glanced at Luis to back her up.

“Maddison’s right. It’s been 6 years since that incident happened and Griffin never gave us a proper answer. He just told us that Lana is human, but that doesn’t add up at all.” Luis muttered, deep in thought. “No other human smells like her…”

River closed his eyes, getting tired of the fact that even when Lana was not around, he had to think about her and talk about her. But he would admit that Luis’ words were true. Growing up, River had a feeling that Griffin was trying to hide something about Lana’s true identity. Even when River and his friends would go around asking the other adults werewolves, they would all say the same thing.

“Lana Danley is human.” River repeated the phase aloud. Maddison and Luis turned to him.

“She’s just some random girl who happens to smell nice to us werewolves.” Maddison snarled. “What fucking bullshit.”

“We could go and ask Ray about it, he is her guardian after all—”

“Griffin told us not to.” River interrupted.

Maddison scoffed. “And since when have you started listening to our pack leader?”

River turned to Maddison, he slowly reached his hand out towards her. She watched him silently, curious to see what he was going to do. His long fingers brushed her bangs away slightly and Maddison frowned from his sudden action. Before she could open her mouth to question him, River flicked her forehead as hard as he could, the sound was surprisingly loud and echoed through the car.

“You fucking—!!!” Maddison cried aloud from the stinging pain, her hands immediately went to rub the sore spot where she was certain River and his brute strength almost made a dent in her skull. “Fuck you, River!” she yelled, tears forming in her eyes as she tried to endure the pain.

“Yea, yea, I’m hungry so I’m heading out first.” River brushed her off. He turned off his car and tossed the key to Luis who caught it clumsily. “Could you lock up after she’s finished whining?” he asked, as he opened the door.

“S-Sure…”

“Thanks,” he muttered as he left, slamming the door shut.

“ARGH!” Maddison shouted suddenly, causing Luis to flinch.

“Maddison…? Does it really hurt? Should we go to the nurse’s office?”

Maddison stayed silent. She did not know how to tell Luis that her chest was hurting more than her forehead. She hated seeing River like this but in the end, he was doing this to himself.

“Do you think the both of them…?” she whispered, unable to complete her sentence for some reason. A lot of unanswered questions seemed to enjoy gathering around that human girl and for 6 years Maddison had tried her best to understand why. Griffin and Ray seem to be the only ones who knows what’s going on and yet they refuse to speak the truth. This was getting infuriating.

“Hm? Sorry, what did you say?” Luis asked, leaning forward to check on Maddison’s forehead. He pried Maddison’s hand away from her forehead to inspect the damage. He bit his bottom lip as he tried he best not to laugh at sight of how red her forehead was. He pulled his hand away almost immediately and his small moment of wanting to laugh faded away. He felt a chill run down his spine when he saw Maddison’s expression, her furious ocean blue eyes glared out at the car window.

“…We should really kill Lana Danley.” She said.