THE WITCH AND HER ALPHA

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Raquelle stared up at what would be her new school. The place was bustling with students since it was the first day of school but luckily for her, nobody seemed to pay her any attention. Everyone was busy greeting their friends and catching up with them. “You can do this. You've got this", she said to herself, hoping to build enough confidence. Starting at a new school in her senior year of high school wasn't exactly her choice for herself but her dad had died the previous summer and it was too much for both her and her mother to stay in their previous town. It brought back too many memories of him. Her mother asked for a work transfer and that was how Raquelle found herself in Westwood. She hated that she had to leave her old school behind but then again, she only had two friends there. She wasn't exactly the most popular kid at her old school but she wasn't exactly a total dork either. Her two best friends were identical twin sisters who she had basically been friends with her whole life. She'd miss them a lot but they promised to keep in touch through calls and texts a lot. At that thought, her phone dinged. She brought it out from her pocket to see a text from her friends. Flora: Good luck at your first day of school. ? Fauna: Break a leg and don't forget, Flora and I love you ❤️ Raquelle smiled and shot them both quick texts in reply. Their names were always adorable to her but she loved it. It seemed as if their messages gave her the burst of confidence she needed because she was able to muster enough courage to walk into the school. Considering it was her final year of high school, she had lost all hope of being popular and her main goal was to just lay low and finish high school quickly. A part of her felt like now was the perfect time to make her move and finally have a name in highschool but the more rational part knew that since it was senior year, people had already carved their niches and she'd be overthrowing somebody to fit herself in and she wasn't ready for that. She made her way to the office to get her class schedule. “Good morning ma'am", she greeted the secretary. “Good morning Miss. How may I help you?" the woman asked, a kind smile on her face. “I'm Raquelle Myers. I'm new and I'm here for my class schedule", Raquelle answered. The secretary nodded and entered a name into the computer, muttering to herself. “Ah, here we go. Raquelle Myers. Welcome to Westwood high", she said, handing Raquelle her schedule and a map of the school. Taking one look at the map, Raquelle knew she was bound to get lost and most likely turn up late to a lot of her classes. The secretary must have noticed the look on her face because she laughed. Luckily for Raquelle, another girl walked in to grab her schedule. “Oh, it's great that you're here Miss Sanders. Miss Myers here, needs your help", the secretary said to the girl, gesturing at Raquelle. The girl looked her up and down, and Raquelle just gave a sheepish smile. She didn't look too intimidating. She was about her height but she couldn't exactly know for sure since the girl had on a pair of ankle booties. The girl had on a black dress underneath a red jacket. Her hair, which had pink streaks in it was tied in two side buns and there was a pair of headphones around her neck. “This is Raquelle Myers and she's new here. I'm putting you in charge of showing her around the school for the day", the secretary said, gesturing to Raquelle, “Miss Myers, this is Diane Sanders". Raquelle's cheeks tinted a light shade of pink in embarrassment. “Oh, you don't have to do that. I'll be fine on my own", she said, hating to be a burden. Taking one glance at her, Diane must have realized that Raquelle would not be in fact fine on her own and decided to help. “It's fine. I'll be glad to help. It's nice to meet you Raquelle", Diane said, stretching out her hand. Raquelle released a breath she didn't know she was holding and shook her hand. “It's nice to meet you too. Thanks for agreeing to do this Diane". “It's nothing", Diane said, leading her out of the office. “What's your first class?" she asked. “Oh uh Chemistry", Raquelle answered after a quick glance at the piece of paper in her hand. “Well it's not far from my first class so I'll walk you there". “Thank you. You're a life saver". “You're welcome. So since you're new, I should probably give you the run down of the people and stuff we do here", Diane said. “I'd actually really appreciate that". “Well we have Jenny....", Diane rambled on but Raquelle had stopped listening. She had locked eyes on what was probably the most beautiful yet strange boy she had ever seen. He was tall, very tall, probably a little over six feet and he was dressed in all black. He had beautiful brown skin and a head of curly brown hair. The strangest thing about him were the sunglasses he had on. He was standing in front of his locker and he seemed to be staring at her too although she couldn't be too sure since she couldn't see his eyes. She knew it would look weird, how she was staring at him but she couldn't bring herself to look away. “Raquelle!", Diane called, pulling her out of her temporary trance. She blinked a couple of times and then turned her attention back to Diane who had a knowing smirk on her face. “What?" Raquelle asked. “I saw you staring at him". Raquelle's face immediately turned a bright shade of red. “I... I was not", she stuttered out. “Mm-hmm", Diane said, the smirk still on her face, “Don't worry, I get it. I won't judge. He looks cute at first but he's actually weird. You should stay away". “Who is that?" Raquelle asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. “That's Drake Hart. He's a loner and an absolute weirdo. It's too bad though because he does look really cute". “What makes him weird?" Raquelle asked. Diane shrugged. “Well he doesn't exactly have any friends and he doesn't exactly talk to anyone and he's just always in the black and always alone. And he never talks to anyone unless he absolutely has to. There's just something off about him. People here stay clear of him. You should too". Raquelle nodded. “Got it". By then, they had reached the door of Raquelle's first class. “Thank you for bringing me here", she said to Diane. “No problem. It shouldn't be too hard to find the rest of your classes because most of the senior classes are on this floor". “Thanks Diane. I don't know what I would have done without you". “Well I guess you would have been late to your first class or worse, lost", Diane joked. Both girls laughed. “Well I'm glad that didn't happen". Just then, the first bell rang and Diane had to scurry off to her class. Taking probably the millionth deep breath that morning, she opened the door and walked into her own class. *************** Drake sat alone on the bleachers alone, drawing in his sketchbook. He had to drop his little brother for school so he got here a little earlier than usual and considering he didn't have any friends, he didn't exactly have anyone to catch up with. He was glad that he was in his final year of high school. He didn't understand why he was being made to go to a human high school. As future alpha, he felt like he should be in the pack, most likely being homeschooled and learning the ways of the pack but if he was being honest with himself, he already knew everything he needed to know about leading a pack. He checked his phone for the time and realized that it was almost time for his first class. Packing up his sketchbook, he got up and headed into the school building. He walked to his locker and switched his sketchbook for the books he'd need in his class when he got a whiff of her. She smelled amazing, like honey and lemons. That was definitely a new scent for him. In a small town like Wisconsin, most of the people knew each other and had attended school with each other since kindergarten so he knew the scents of almost everyone. This one however, was new and something he had never smelled before. He closed his locker and turned and was met face to face with the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She had jet black hair that was long up to her back which she wore down and the most beautiful pair of bright hazel eyes. She had on minimal makeup so he could tell she was naturally beautiful. She was dressed simply in high waisted jeans, a crop top and a pair of Nike sneakers. His heart went out to her and he had this urge to hold her and never let her go but that would be weird. She was staring back at him too, looking at him with a strange look in her eyes. She smelled human so she couldn't possibly know who or what he was but yet, she didn't have the same first reaction other humans had when they saw him. The girl with her, Diane, called her and broke them out of their impromptu staring contest. He took that chance and hurriedly made his way to class, unable to get thoughts of her out of his head. Throughout the day, he couldn't seem to get thoughts of the mysterious new girl out of his head. It was time for lunch and as usual, he sat at a lone table in the cafeteria. He didn't mind the loneliness anymore, he had gotten used to it and he imagined having anyone sit with him at this point would be borderline weird. He was about to dig into his food when she walked in, accompanied once again with Diane. She didn't seem to notice him as Diane led her to a table filled with people. He noticed that she seemed shy as she was introduced them. Against his better judgement, he decided eavesdrop on them. His wolf hearing made that incredibly easy for him. “Everyone", Diane said, calling their attention, “this is Raquelle Myers. She's new here". So her name was Raquelle. What a pretty name. He thought it suited her. “Hi everyone. It's nice to meet you", Raquelle said, giving a small wave. He couldn't help but chuckle at how shy she seemed. There were a total of three people at the table, excluding Diane and Raquelle. “Raquelle, this is David", Diane said pointing at a red headed guy with freckles. “Nice to meet you David", Raquelle said, shaking his hand. “Next to him is Mia", Diane said, gesturing to a blonde girl with glasses on. Raquelle exchanged pleasantries with her too. “I'm Mike", a guy with dirty blonde hair said, not waiting for Diane to introduce him. Raquelle extended her hand for a shake but instead, he took it and placed a kiss on the back. What a flirt. Drake saw Diane roll her eyes at her friend's behavior and he noticed that Mia looked a little downcast at that. Interesting, did Mia have a thing for Mike? He noticed that Raquelle just looked completely uncomfortable at the whole ordeal and subtly removed her hand. “And that's everyone", Diane said. “Welcome to Westwood Raquelle. If you ever need someone to show you around, I'm your guy", Mike said, a flirtatious grin on his face. Drake almost gagged. How obvious could you get? Raquelle gave him a polite smile. “Thanks Mike, but Diane's already been kind enough to show me around". “Well at least let me tell you the local gossip around here. That way, you'll know who to avoid and who to be friends with", he budged. From the look on her face, Drake could tell that she wasn't interested in that but she wouldn't turn him down in a bid to be polite. Once Mike started on a rant of the school gossip, Drake tuned out. He wasn't interested in listening to that garbage. Raquelle was mostly quiet while Mike and the others told her stories but Drake's ears perked up again once he heard her speak. “What about that guy? What's his deal?" she asked and Drake realized that she was sneaking a glance at him. He was a little bit flattered that she found him interesting enough to want to know information about him. Then again, most humans usually found him interesting at first. As much as he knew he shouldn't listen in, he wanted to know what they'd tell her about him and what her reaction would be. “Oh him", David began, “we don't really know what his deal is. He's just some weird kid who likes to be by himself a lot". That wasn't completely untrue, Drake thought. “That's not the whole truth", Mike said, “he's probably in some sort of gang". “Now Mike, we don't exactly know if that's true", Mia said. “Oh come on Mia, he's always alone, has no friends, always wears sunglasses even indoors, always wears black and seems to be very rich. He's definitely in some sort of gang. Plus he's creepy and basically everyone here stays out of his way". “Well, we don't exactly have proof on anyone of that but considering they're all very likely, we really do stay out of his way", Diane added. Raquelle didn't say anything to that. Drake didn't know how he felt. Of course, he wasn't surprised at what they said, that's what they had been saying for years. None of them in that school had ever taken the chance to know him but they were so quick to judge. Everytime there was a new student, the same thing happening with Raquelle would happen with them and those ones too would have formed an opinion about him without getting to know him. At first, it used to hurt him but he was long past caring. Yet for some weird reason, he really wanted to know what Raquelle thought about him. The bell rang and he wasn't able to find out. The cafeteria started clearing as people started leaving for their next class. He did the same. The rest of his day droned on until he reached his last class of the day, physics. He went to his usual space, at the back on a lab table. He didn't have a partner. Most people weren't interested in partnering with him. They'd rather form groups of three than partner with him. And because the teachers found him intimidating as well, they didn't force anyone to partner up with him. He didn't need it anyway, he was doing well enough alone. Since he was among the first to get to class, he brought out his sketchbook, and began doodling. He plugged in his headphones and was listening to some tunes as he waited for the class to fill up. Imagine his surprise, when the one girl who had been on his mind all day, showed up in front of him. “Hi, is this seat taken?" she asked, a shy smile on her face. She was even more beautiful up close. Dazed, he shook his head and removed his backpack from the empty seat beside him. He quickly took a look around the class and wondered why she chose to sit beside him even after the warning she had gotten. Then he realized the class was already filled up and the only extra space was beside him. The teacher was late. Poor girl, Drake thought, imagining how uncomfortable she must feel. The teacher walked in them. “Sorry I'm late class", he said, “I hope you all like who you're sitting with because they will be your partner's for the rest of the semester", he said. Drake's eyes widened behind his glasses. He was definitely not expecting that. He hadn't had a partner in years and he was sure she would be better with a different partner. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Looks like we're going to be partners", she said, turning to him. “Looks like it", he replied not wanting to be rude. “I'm Raquelle by the way", she said, extending her hand to him for a handshake, a smile on her face. Unbelievable, he thought, he would have thought she'd have requested a switch immediately after everything she'd heard but she actually didn't look too freaked out to be beside him. She didn't look like she'd rather be partnered with anyone else. This girl was definitely different from what he was used to. He barely knew her and he was already intrigued. Something told him this semester wouldn't be as long or awful as he imagined. “Drake", he said, shaking her extended hand, “it's nice to meet you".