The New Girl

ROSELYNN

It was Thursday, and the halls were buzzing with excitement for our game that afternoon.

I hoped my father would be there, but I didn’t expect him to be.

I was digging through my locker, rubbing my eyes. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep last night because of my father’s drunk, angry ranting.

It seemed like my mother was bothering him more lately.

“You look like death,” Aisha joked as she threw an arm around my shoulders.

I laughed mockingly and rolled my eyes. I didn’t feel like coming up with a quip to her statement.

I looked down at my phone to check the time before shoving it into my pocket. I looked up at Aisha as she dropped her arm from around my shoulders.

She was giving me a look that said she was worried about me. I smiled, hoping she wouldn’t see how forced it was.

I trusted Aisha, but she didn’t need to know about my family issues.

“Rose!”

I looked down the hall and saw Ryker waving his arms over his head dramatically. I rolled my eyes again and wondered if I could hide somewhere.

My thoughts were too late, though, because he was already standing in front of me and Aisha with a large smile on his face.

“Hey, Ryker.” I nodded at him then glanced at Felix and Ryder, who were walking down the hall.

I noticed the scowl Felix had on his face as he stared at Ryker, and the sad, defeated look Ryder was wearing on his.

I wondered what had the two boys acting so strange but shook it off and turned back toward Ryker, trying to listen to what he was saying.

“So,” he rocked back on his heels as Felix and Ryder finally reached us, “we’re having a party at Felix’s house this weekend. Do you two want to come?”

I shrugged. “Why not? I have nothing better to do.” I glanced at Aisha, who nodded.

“Can I bring Ramona?” I asked Ryker as I leaned against my locker.

“Yes,” Ryder quickly answered over his brother. “She is more than welcome.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, remembering how he had stared at Ramona. I was about to say something to him when a high-pitched voice bounced off the walls.

“Felix!” I looked at the blonde-haired, green-eyed model that approached us.

She clung to Felix’s arm as she smiled up at him. I stared at her thin fingers as she continued talking. But I wasn’t listening to what she said.

All I noticed was that Felix still hadn’t removed her hands from him, and for some reason that made my chest burn, and my eyes narrow with anger.

“Roselynn?” A hand landed on my shoulder.

I quickly slipped a mask into place, making sure my emotions were hidden as best as possible before I looked up at Aisha.

It was something that I learned to do often when I was a child, and it’s a habit I never quite kicked, even though there is no longer a reason as to why I would need to hide my emotions.

“Yeah?” I kept my voice even, although I wanted to mumble the word.

“You good?”

“I’m perfectly fine. Why do you ask?” I forced a smile onto my face.

I glanced at my phone again to look at the time, ignoring the girl’s and Felix’s hushed conversation. “I’m heading to class. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

I turned and walked as calmly as I could to my first period classroom.

My chest was still burning. I felt…jealous.

FELIX

“Amara,” I hissed in her ear.

“What?” she asked innocently.

“Let me go,” I whispered harshly. My chest was burning, and Damon was telling me to rip Amara’s arm off, then go find Roselynn.

I had seen the angry look on her face before she walked off.

“What’s wrong?” Amara looked around in confusion.

I sighed. After finding Roselynn, I’d decided to wait to tell my pack about her until my father came home.

No one but Ryker, Ryder and my mother knew about her.

“That brown-haired girl,” I said, my face close to hers, “is my mate.”

Her eyes grew wide, and she instantly removed her arms from me. Damon and I let out a sigh of relief.

“I am so sorry. Shit, I feel like an ass,” Amara rambled.

“It’s fine. You didn’t know. Don’t tell anyone, though. I’m waiting for my father to come back before I make the announcement.”

I looked around to see if Roselynn was still in the hall, and saw her slip into her first-period classroom.

I quickly walked away from Amara and everyone else to follow after her.

Damon was growling and pacing in my head. He was angry at Amara, and at me for not pushing her away.

“Shut up,” I hissed at him.

“You’re stupid,” he growled back. I rolled my eyes at his antics as I found Roselynn sitting in one of the desks.

“Hey, Roselynn.” I smiled as I sat down beside her. She didn’t look at me, but I noticed how she tensed. A small part of me was happy that she was angry at me.

“Why would you be happy about that?” Damon scoffed.

“Because that means our bond is growing, idiot.”

Damon went quiet at that. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and returned my focus to Roselynn, who was still ignoring me.

“Are you going to be playing in the game tonight?” I asked, trying to ease her anger a little bit. She turned and looked at me with a questioning look on her face.

“Well,” she said, shrugging her shoulders, “I was planning on it. And I haven’t done anything to get on Coach Byrd’s bad side, so as far as I know I still am.”

“Idiot,” Damon mocked. Although I wanted to tell him to shut it, I laughed at Roselynn and mumbled, “Alright.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing you at the party this weekend. Your parents won’t mind if you come, right?” I asked, leaning towards her now that she was facing me.

Her face grew red and she quickly turned away. “No,” she mumbled, “my dad won’t mind. He trusts me not to do anything stupid.”

“Dad? No mother?”

She froze, and her eyes fogged before she shook her head. She stared at her hands, which were clasped together on the table, her brown hair falling into her eyes.

“Smooth. Real smooth.” Damon sighed. ~“Now she is upset.”~

“Shut up. I know,” I growled at him.

I reached over and pushed her hair out of her eyes, then gripped her hands.

I tried ignoring the heat that spread up my arm, but Damon was overjoyed to be touching his mate.

“Hey,” I whispered as she looked up at me, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a touchy subject.”

She nodded her head as she continued to look up at me. Damon was yelling at me to kiss her, and I damn sure wanted to. But instead, I said, “Do I have something on my face?”

She jumped slightly and her face went three shades of dark red. She quickly looked away and mumbled a sorry.

“Why didn’t you kiss her?” Damon yelled.

“Because,” I reasoned, ~“that would have probably caused her to panic. She would think of us as a creep and then what would we do?”~

Damon didn’t say anything else. I turned my attention back to Roselynn. “I’ll see you at the party then.”

“Yeah,” she muttered. “See you then.”

I got up and walked out of the class. When I walked around the corner, I saw Ryder and Ryker laughing.

“What are you two laughing at?” I snapped.

“At you,” Ryker wheezed. I rolled my eyes at him and turned to Ryder for clarification.

“You were asking her if she was playing in the game when she is the best pitcher the team has,” Ryder laughed softly.

I once again rolled my eyes at them and walked away, mumbling to myself in irritation.