No Longer Your Joke: A Luna’s Exit Chapter 07

No Longer Your Joke: A Luna’s Exit Chapter 07

After I finished enrolling at Silverlake Elite Academy, I had to live off the savings I’d managed to put

together.

I picked up a part-time job at a nearby bar called Moonlight.

Redmont Pack had massive resources. My parents’ annual income was enough to make most wolves jealous.

But I was practically broke.

They gave Nessa tens of thousands a year for allowance.

But when it came to me, they’d always sigh and shake their heads.

“You don’t have a handle on money-it would swallow you up. We’re protecting you by not giving you too

much.”

So when Nessa and Declan went skiing in Norway, I just trailed behind them, taking photos.

When Lucian came back from his exchange program, my parents rewarded him with a custom Maybach.

But me? I just wanted a hundred-and-fifty-dollar dress, and they called me materialistic-then turned

around and gave it to Nessa.

They said it was teaching me independence.

Funny how I was always the only one they needed to “teach.”

I’d woken up too late, after years and years of fighting for scraps in that house.

One in the morning on campus. Empty. Quiet.

Moonlight spilled over the stone path by the training grounds. In the distance, I could hear the occasional footsteps of wolf students on patrol.

I’d just finished my shift and was walking back alone.

On top of singing at the bar, I helped wash dishes in my free time.

My fingers were still red and raw from being soaked in detergent all night.

“Isolde.”

I heard Lucian’s voice behind me–so familiar.

I turned around, confused, and saw all of them standing there in a row.

Lucian stepped forward and grabbed my arm.

Hard. Like he was afraid I’d vanish into thin air.

“Isolde, how could you just drop out of Ravencrest Academy without telling anyone?”

His eyes were red, his voice cracking a little.

I stared at him, confused. (‘What are you doing?”

Something in my eyes must have scared him, because he let go right away.

“I… I’m not criticizing you,” he said. “It’s just… your joke went too far. You scared me and Mom and Dad.”

I shrugged.

“This is too far?” I said.

“No one ever asked me how I felt when you guys pulled your jokes on me.”

Nessa hurried over and tugged at my sleeve.

Just like she had for the past eighteen years, she tried to soothe me with that soft voice.

“Isolde, stop being mad.”

“We were just joking around-we had no idea you’d take it seriously every single time.”

I yanked my arm away.

“Let me make this crystal clear,” I said. “If a joke is only funny to the person causing the harm-then it’s not a joke.”

“Is there anything else? Because if not, I have class.”

“Wait, Isolde.”

As I turned, Lucian grabbed my forearm.

“What happened to your hands?”

He was looking at my fingers–puffy and raw from the water. For a second, I thought I saw concern flash across his face.

I pulled my arm back fast.

“Oh, I washed five hundred and sixty-three plates tonight,” I said. “Guess the dish soap did a number on them.”

“Washing dishes?!”

Declan stared at me in disbelief.

In their world, even maids didn’t do that kind of work.

“Why would you wash dishes?” he said. “Your parents could just send you money-you’d have more than

enough.”

I laughed.

I turned to Lucian.

“Lucian, tell me how much have Mom and Dad ever given me?”

Lucian opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

He dropped his head, ashamed.

Declan didn’t hesitate. He pulled out an Elite credit card from his bag.

“There’s plenty of credit on this. Take it. Stop doing that kind of work.”

I glanced at it. Then I took it and tossed it into the bushes.

“I don’t want your charity.”

Nessa frowned. “Isolde, since when did you get so dramatic?”

“You weren’t like this when we were kids.”

When we were kids?

Again with that?

I shot her a cold look.

“When I was a kid, I was easy to push around.”

“When I was a kid, I trusted you.”

“When I was a kid, I thought if I just kept taking it, you’d finally treat me like real family.”

“What-was it fun? Treating a kid who just wanted to belong like some dog you could mess with?”

“Nessa, you need to understand-”

“The moment I blocked you, we stopped being friends.”

“You don’t get to say my name. And you don’t get to lecture me.”

I turned and walked away.

Nessa started to follow.

But one sentence from me stopped her cold.

“If any of you says another word, I’ll release the evaluation records from Silverpine Behavioral Center.”

Silverpine Behavioral Center-the hospital listed on the depression diagnosis Nessa had shown everyone.

Lucian started to say something, but Nessa cut him off.

“Lucian, don’t,” she said.

“Isolde’s just angry right now. Don’t make it worse.”

Lucian looked at her, gave her a long, searching look.