How To Be A Mate 101

From left to right, all Erina could see were couples. 'Damn...I'm already feeling like a single pringle.' She pulled a look of annoyance as she kept her attention away from the romance that was happening around her and remained her focus on what was in front of her. It would have been a nice day at Redwood College, if it wasn't for the fact that it was valentines day which explained the reason why Erina was walking past a couple making out every path she followed. "Girl, you are going to get wrinkles if you keep making that ugly face." Erina rolled her eyes and glanced to her right to see her best friend, Selene. Her long straight locks swayed with every graceful step she made and Erina could see a group of boys eyeing her pretty friend like she was a piece of meat. "Hey." She called them and they turned their attention to her. She stuck her middle finger up and the group threw her a surprised look back causing Selene to giggle. "You will always be there to protect me." She looped her arm around Erina's and rested her head on the others shoulder. "Not always." Erina truthfully answered and Selene moved away from her to send her a confused look. "Why?" Erina smiled in what seemed to be confident as she turned to Selene. "I might date someone." Selene gasped dramatically and leaned in, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Who is it? Oh! It's definitely that Darien, isn't it. I knew there was something when I saw him eyeing you at last years prom!" That was news to Erina and she took a step back, raising her hands to indicate she wasn't following. "Whoa, whoa. I haven't found anyone I'm interested in yet and ew...Darien has slept with every single person on this campus. Do you really think I would be stupid enough to fall for his 'so-called' charms?" Selene huffed at the girl's attitude but decided to drop the topic. "So, what are your plans for the rest of the weekend. Classes are over so we are free!" She mentioned with a joyful smile but Erina shrugged. "I'm gonna head back to my apartment and probably play some games." She informed while Selene sent her an unimpressed expression. "This is why you're single." Erina placed a hand over her chest as she grew offended by her friends words. "Excuse me? The reason why I'm single is because..." She trailed off, trying to think of a good reason why and Selene raised a brow. "Because...?" "I'm too fabulous for them. I mean, come on...look at me." Erina posed in a cheesy way and Selene laughed, her eyes moving to her left after as she caught sight of a group of students. "Oh yeah...if that was the case, some of the boys from the Alpha Sorority would be head over heels for you." Erina took in the ensemble of boys and gulped, knowing where this was taking her. "Since you're so confident, send them a greeting and see if you get a reaction." Erina hesitated to protest, her pride coming in the way of revealing the truth. Selene gave her a small boost by pushing her in their direction before ushering her to go towards them. Oh god, what was she going to do now? Erina's confidence had lowered itself to the ground and it could be seen through her walking which had now turned into a shy shuffle. She was near the superior group and one by one, they began to notice her presence. 'Just do it. Look up, smile and walk on.' She did as she had instructed herself to but instead of the amazing smile she had hoped of giving, her smile turned out to be more of a grimace. Her eyes made contact with another ocean blue pair as she decided to just abandon her mission and walk away with her head down. For a second, she wanted to stop to take in all the features of the male who owned the beautiful pair of eyes but her thoughts had distracted her from doing so and she looked away, heading towards her friend who was waiting for her. "What was that about?" One of the boys mumbled as he exchanged a confused look with his friends. Erina wanted to bury herself due to how mortified she felt for what she pulled off but Selene had spoken up before she could do so. "Fabulous, eh?" Selene crossed her arms and raised a brow at her friend who blushed in embarrassed. "Oh, shush." Erina nudged the other girl with her elbow before proceeding to walk off. What Erina didn't know as she made her exit from the college campus was the male, who she had made eye contact with earlier, had not taken his eyes off her physique. "Zack, don't tell me..." His friend mentioned as he also kept his gaze on the girl's back. "Yeah." Zack confirmed to the other male, Xander. He released a shaky sigh as he ran his fingers through his jet black hair, his actions revealing how nervous he was becoming. "I would comfort you but I know myself how hard it's gonna be for you." Xander mentioned, grinning when he saw how Zack sent him a look of disbelief. "Oh yeah, thanks, I really appreciate it." The shorter of the two huffed as he rolled his eyes. "You're welcome." Xander teased further earning him a punch on the arm. When Zack looked towards the entrance of the campus, he noticed the girl was already gone. 'I have to meet her again.' --------------------------------------- "I'm never showing my face to them ever again." Erina groaned as she slumped against the only sofa she had in her small apartment. "You should have seen your face! It was like this..." Selene made a perfect impersonation of the other who glared in her direction. "Can we just drop it now?" She mentioned with a grumpy look but Selene shook her head, her expression still bright. "Nope. It's funny to tease you about it." Erina rolled her eyes and grabbed her remote to switch on her television. The chanel she had put on was currently playing a movie about werewolves and it included a female lead mating with the male lead who was the alpha werewolf. "God, can't people write more original content? It's always the same. Werewolves or vampires are always put with some random lady and they fall in love in the end." Erina criticised as she waved the remote around to point out what she was explaining. "But, it's hot." Selene's simple retort earned her a raised eyebrow. "And, it's unoriginal." "Still hot to me." Selene shrugged. Erina threw her hands up in defeat, too lazy to even fight back and her friend chuckled. A ring sound came from Selene's pocket and she took out her phone to see her father's number on the screen. "I got to go. Dad's probably getting worried that I'm not home yet." She revealed as she stood up from her seat. Erina followed after her friend who had stepped out of her apartment and she gave her farewells before shutting the door. A sigh escaped Erina's lips as she shuffled back to the spot on the sofa she previously claimed and focused back on her screen. At one point, she ending up falling asleep in an awkward position and forgetting to shut the window in her bedroom. It wasn't until two in the morning when she realised where she had slept. She groaned as she forced herself up from her position and drowsily walked to her room. She opened her door, only to see a wolf. ... She took a step back, shut the door and rubbed her eyes. "Okay. One more time." She opened the door again and was met with the same result and finally, she let out a shriek of fear. "Oh my god!!!" Erina ran away but then realised she had no where to run to so she proceeded to jump over her sofa and hide behind it. She peaked over the piece of furniture to check, only to come face to face with the wolf again. "AH-" The wolf silenced her with a growl and she whimpered, inching back from it in fear. It then threaded around the sofa and approached Erina who closed her eyes, preparing herself for the worst that was about to come. What she recieved was a nudge against her cheek and she peaked with one eye to see the wolf was quietly watching her. She blinked in surprise, not expecting to recieve such a gesture and froze in her spot, unsure of what to do next. "Do...Do you want this?" She hesitated at first but then bought her hand forward and placed it over its very soft fur. The wolf closed its eyes as it enjoyed the contact and Erina became more brave as she began to give stroke to its fur. "Huh...You're not that scary." 'Obviously.' Erina's hand halted and her expression remained neutral as she tried to process what just happened. "Did you just..." She trailed off in shock and the wolf huffed. 'I'm communicating with you through our minds since I'm not in my human form.' Erina was starting to wonder if she was in a dream. Maybe it was because of the werewolf movie she had left on the TV before she slept that she ended up in this dream. "Oh, I'm dreaming. Now it makes sense." She summerised with a look of realisation. 'This isn't a...oh for the love of...forget it. I'll show you.' The wolf inched back and Erina's eyes widened as she heard bones c***k and saw how its body began to form into a human male. When she looked into his eyes, her breath hitched. "It's you..." The boy who she came across when she pulled off that silly stunt in the day. "Yes and I'm-" She cut him off as she shrieked, covering her eyes with her hands. "Naked!" "No...I mean, yes that's true and...oh f**k, this isn't how I wanted this to turn out." He groaned, quickly grabbing a randon towel he saw on the floor besides him and wrapping it around to hide his lower half. He took a deep breath before deciding to redo the part where he was about to say something important by standing tall and gazing at the girl with a look of seriousness. "I'm Zack, a werewolf and you, Erina are my mate."