My Friends and My Bully Chapter 03

*Anna*

My school days went by slowly. Every day, I was bullied in new, creative ways by Piper and her best friend, Mia. They would call me fat in every way under the sun. Like at lunch, they would make ‘oinking’ sounds every time I would pick up my food.

I started eating in the courtyard under a shaded tree. It was actually very pleasant to have lunch out there. I looked at it as my reflection time. Even though Piper and her minions had driven me out of the cafeteria, I tried to stay positive about it.

One time, they somehow put a scale in my locker, laughing and pointing when it fell out when I opened it. Then, they also stuffed advertisements for prescription diet pills in my gym locker. For a while, I was wondering how they were getting into both of my lockers. I’d never told anyone else my combination. Finally, I put it together that since Piper was the principal’s daughter, she probably had access to both of my locker combinations easily. This was also the reason her or her friends didn’t get in trouble for all the things they would do to me.

Whenever they got the chance, Piper and Mia would push, slap, kick, or hit me upside the head. Piper’s favorite thing to do was leave her class early, since all the teachers in the school let her do whatever she wanted, and wait outside of my class to trip me when I walked through the door. She and her friends would laugh loudly when I fell to the ground, and everything in my hands would scatter. Sometimes, the bullying would start right when I walked through the school door in the morning until I left after the final bell.

Even though this mental and physical torment was difficult to go through, I tried to focus on two important things. First, now that I had my wolf, my wounds healed much faster than before, and it meant that no one would find out about the amount of bullying I went through. Second, while Piper and her little followers were messing with me, they didn’t bully anyone else. They were too focused on me. I was happy that no one else would have to go through what I was being put through.

On a mid-November morning, I had to wake up at four in the morning in order to make it on time for our school’s mandatory pack training. Bleary-eyed and yawning, I rushed onto our school’s football field, the morning dew making my shoes squeak.

The training was divided into three different levels—regular, intermediate, and advanced. Since I was keeping my wolf a secret, I had been put into regular training. To my brother’s annoyance, I attended all the training that was offered because I wanted to be as strong as I could be.

I really enjoyed this hour every weekday morning. Luna Sophie was a patient and amazing instructor. She had taken a special interest in my training and said that she saw something amazing in me. On the first day, when the instructors were testing our abilities, she took me aside and told me she could tell I had a fighter’s spirit, and even though I was being put in the regular level, she was going to help me achieve my goals. Having Luna Sophie as a role model made me try even harder when I was training.

But for today’s training, I was late because Piper had forced me to buy her breakfast from the school cafeteria. She and Mia had stopped me in the hallway and said if I didn’t buy them blueberry muffins from the vending machine, they would somehow find a way to put me inside of it. Instead of arguing–which would have made me even later–I took out the last few dollars that I had to my name and bought them their stupid muffins.

My heart was beating wildly as I ran out to join everyone on the fake grass, the football field stadium lights illuminating them because it was still dark outside. I could hear footsteps running behind me, so at least I wasn’t the only one who was late.

“Ladies, hurry up and join us please,” Luna Sophie said with a gentle voice.

There were very few other girls on the training ground, and I wondered who the girl behind me was. When I finally made it to the loose circle around our Luna, the girl tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned, I registered that she had long, blonde hair and a big smile.

“So, we meet again,” she said kindly.

I didn’t respond. I had no idea who this girl was.

“Good morning, ladies,” Beta Elias greeted as we joined the circle. He was Luna Sophie’s helper in training. Elias was more like an older brother to me than my actual brother, Robert. He had already promised to secretly help me train because he was one of the only people who knew I would someday be out of this pack. “As you may have noticed, we have someone new joining us today.” He pointed to the blonde girl I didn’t recognize who said she met me before. “Please, introduce yourself.”

The girl stepped forward and looked around the circle confidently.

“Hi, everyone! My name is Hazel. I just moved here and switched schools. My parents work for the Alpha. So, I guess now I’ll be training here,” Hazel finished with a little shrug.

“We are happy to have you here, Hazel,” Luna Sophie mused. “Everyone, let’s all make sure we make her feel welcome.” She turned to Elias. “Please go through warm-ups with them.”

The Beta clapped his hands and faced us. “Alright, everyone. You heard our Luna. Let’s get warmed up. Partner up to stretch,” he ordered.

The rest of the girls paired up with who they always stretched with. Usually, I warmed up with Beta Elias or Luna Sophie since we had an odd number of people in the regular training. And since I didn’t have any friends in school, I was always the one without a partner in these types of situations.

Then, something crazy happened.

Hazel took the initiative and walked up to me. To my complete surprise, she put her arm through mine in a friendly gesture.

“Well, should we partner up since we’ve already had the pleasure of meeting?” Hazel suggested. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a complicated looking braid that I could never do no matter how long I stood in front of the mirror. Hazel also had large, bright eyes that could make anyone feel welcome and comfortable with her.

But even so, I hesitated. This wasn’t the kind of treatment I was used to. I liked being by myself. It was easier that way. I also didn’t want to be responsible for Piper and her followers to bully someone else because of me.

But what choice did I have? I couldn’t say no to her. We needed a partner to warm up.

“Fine,” I muttered, and plopped down on the grass to begin stretching.

Even though I was being unfriendly toward her, Hazel remained happy and smiling. She sat next to me and reached over to grab my hand to help me stretch further.

“What’s your name?” Hazel asked.

“Anna,” I answered in a way to make sure that I didn’t want to engage in small talk.

Hazel didn’t get the hint and continued to chatter away.

I was going to have to keep this girl at arm’s length.

“When you’re done stretching, let’s run some sparring exercises with your partner,” Beta Elias announced.

Great. This should be interesting.