My Enemy, My Mate

Chapter 4

As I walked through the hall at school I could feel the daggers of the Goliath Pack members. They would snicker to each other as I passed, occasionally heckling me. My first class of the day was Chemistry. I walked into the classroom and about eighty percent of the students were members of the Goliath pack. Oh what joy!

As I strolled slowly towards my window seat in the back corner, I tried to avoid thinking of what I would be faced with over the next hour. I hoped isolating myself in the back corner would minimize the reticule. I watched as other students pick their seats as the teacher arrived. All the desks are filled but the one next to me.

"Good morning everyone" Mr Williams greets the class. He reviews the homework from last night, so I reach down to get my book out of my back pack at my feet. I hear someone slide onto the seat beside me. When I sit back up, I find myself staring into Grey's green eyes. 10 minutes late but not a hint of stress or concern on his face. Typical. He winks at me when I notice him. Juliet is glaring from the opposite side of the room. To her, Grey is sitting in the enemy's territory and I am most certainly the enemy.

"Glad you could make it Grey." Mr Williams sternly comments.

Grey sighs as he makes eye contact with the other members of the Goliath gang. He was shrugging his shoulders at them, showing that he was annoyed at having to sit beside me.

I turn to face the window and he leans back on his chair tapping his fingers on the table mindlessly.

Mr Williams continues to explain the elements of the periodic table and how their chemical composition relates to each other.

I sat on the edge of my chair, as far from Grey as I could get, for the rest of the lesson. The bell was about to ring, indicating it was time to move onto our next class when Mr Williams stopped us.

"Can everyone turn to the peron sitting at their desk." He instructed. We reluctantly did as he asked. I tried desperately to avoid Grey's eye contact.

"Say hello to your chemistry partner. As of tomorrow you will begin your major assessment task, experimenting on the different properties of various chemical compounds. Get to know each other because this will count towards sixty percent of your final grade this year." Mr Williams explained. I heard a few groans of disapproval and a few glees of happiness. I dared to peek up at Grey beside me. His face was stone cold. Did not give away any emotion. Not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. I groan to myself, just another thing to add to my list of fun activites.

Most of the class had left the room by the time I had finished packing up my pencil case and books. One thing I do have to give myself credit for: I was pretty good at school and actually enjoyed learning. Might be part of why I didn't fit in very well with the popular groups. Learning wasn't really their priority.

"I guess you would be a pretty good chemistry partner after all." Grey chuckles as he hands me one of the books I dropped out of my bag. I smiled nervously as my blush covered my cheeks.

"I'm Grey." He introduced himself, reaching his hand out in front of him for me to shake. Almost like a sign of truce.

I anxiously took his hand to shake it. His hand is warm. Warmer than I expected. It felt nice. Shay's ears stood up as our hands touched. She must know we were associating with our longest rivals. I shook my head to push her to the back of my mind. I didn't mind having Shay as a wolf. She was quite quiet and laid back. It was like having a close friend who was always there watching you back and protecting you. Like a safety blanket.

"Willow." I add, before quickly taking my hand back.

"I know." He smiles as he slings his bag over his shoulder and walks out of the classroom.

Juliet was waiting for him outside the door. She wraps her arms around him when he walks out and brings her mouth to his. He smacks her lightly on the butt before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and head down the hall. Shay was irritated by the sight - public displays of affection are not our thing.

I hid in the back corners of the classrooms for the remainder of the school day, trying desperately to remain invisible. Aria was that keen for our shopping trip after school when we met at lunchtime. It was contagious to see her excitement - I even found myself looking forward to it.

As I came to our meeting spot in front of the school building, Aria was eagerly waiting for me. If she was any more excited she would be jumping up and down.

"Let's get out of here" she insists.

I quickly agree and follow her along the footpath.

"So I have selected a few shops that I think we should try. The first is my personal favourite, 'Midnight Dreams'. I think you'll like it too", she begins. I don't think she stopped for air the whole walk to the main street.

I was grateful to have Aria with me. Shopping was far from my talents. As we walked down the crowded main street, Aria points at dresses in the shop windows, rating them and taking note of ones we need to go back to try on.

"Trust me, your dress will be amazing". She smiles and she leads me into what I expect will be the first of many, many shops tonight.