Hunter Amy

Acclimating

When Amy was young and living in Crescent Falls Pack:

Amy was walking down the hallways of a middle school, she had just visited the counselor's office. She saw her every week to talk about adjusting to pack life, school, and the life traumas she had. She liked the counselor, but she was always frightened to go back to class. It was crowded, even though everyone sat in their place doing their work she could feel them around her. To her, they were all strangers, except Lila. The werewolves were hesitant to welcome her, but they were told by the alpha himself to be nice to her so they were. Some of them had started to soften up around her and wanted to be her friend, but Amy was awkward and couldn’t find words to answer when they spoke to her. One boy, in particular, liked her a lot and followed her around like a puppy, some other students would tease him that he was in love with her. Amy wasn’t scared of anyone being a werewolf, she was scared because she didn’t know how to interact around people. And somehow they all understood that, and they gave her space. Lila’s best friend Lilly joined them for lunch every day, and other girls would flock around them. It made Amy feel claustrophobic during lunch so she had a hard time remembering to eat her lunch. Lila and Lilly would remind her to eat, and slowly with each day, Amy would get better. 

By the end of the year, she was able to eat all of her lunch without trouble. When the boy that liked her so much came around she would smile, his presence was calming. Lila and Lilly’s friends did not seem so imposing anymore and slowly she felt like school wasn’t that bad after all. Schoolwork went slowly for her though, she was used to doing all schoolwork by herself in some motel room. So she got good at working by herself, doing the work fast and well. As the other kids at school realized that Amy did well on every single assignment they wanted to be with her on projects, that overwhelmed Amy and she found herself hiding in the bathroom a lot. But after a while, she relaxed and was able to enjoy the company, and the teachers were patient with her, letting her work alone if she had an off day. School started to be a haven for her, where people her age would surround her. Slowly she started to pick up on kids' lingo, what kids her age should be obsessing about, and even gossiping. 

Back in the pack was another story, she felt like a sore thumb sticking out. Everyone knew she was a human and a hunter’s kid, she was their natural enemy, and she was the little girl in the wolf's den. Kemper and Jonas would walk her around a lot, letting her hang out with them and their friends. They noticed early on that she felt alienated in the pack, everyone was nice to her, it was just not very natural to have her there. Amy also needed to work on her social skills, as she had never spent time with so many people before. Kemper was particularly good with her, he had been trained well from a young age for an alpha’s role. And an alpha would wear many hats, being caring and including was one of them, it just felt natural for Kemper to help Amy to settle in to pack life. 

Things warmed up fast for Amy when she started pack training, she felt like she was in her right element, she would be focused and engaged, she liked the training. Soon enough she would smile and laugh with the other people training with her, Kemper always got that little smile on her face when she did well or socialized with the other pack members. He would feel some personal pride when things went her way or when she had growth. 

Jonas however was much more cool and distant with her, he didn’t see the big deal in a human acclimating to pack life. He knew it was strategically wise to keep her, so she wouldn’t run to hunters and tell on them. But why people would embrace her was beyond him. It was one sunny day that it all changed for the little trio, Jonas noticed Amy doing well fighting another wolf. Then his eyes wandered over to see Kemper watching her from afar, and his smile was gleaming like he was proud. But the twinkle in his eyes had Jonas's blood boil and run icy at the same time. Kemper had that soft look, the look a boy had when he liked a girl, Jonas was disgusted by it, his best friend like a human. Jonas had always looked up to Kemper, and he knew that one day he would find his mate and be a wonderful alpha. But seeing him fawn over Amy knocked him off his pedestal for him. He saw a flaw in his best friend for the very first time, and it was the way he looked at another girl. He was not jealous because he liked the same girl, he was not jealous because he liked a girl at all. He was jealous because Kemper had someone else in mind other than just his best friend. It was not a romantic disappointment, it was merely a challenge for his time with his best friend. If Kemper were to hang out with Amy, what would Jonas do? So he decided right there and then, he did not like Amy. And he wondered if other’s did not like her also, it couldn’t just be him right? Of course, there had to be other werewolves that disliked the human hunter child.