The Beta and His Human Mate

Chapter 4: The Rest of the School Day

Ashtyn’s POV

            Casey, Sarah, and I spent the rest of the art class talking. They naturally asked me a few questions about me like my old school, why I moved, my family, etc. They are sweet and I am excited that I have made some new friends. They invited me to go shopping with them after cheer tryouts, but I told them I couldn’t. Each year on mom’s birthday the three of us still go out to celebrate even if she isn’t with us. 

        I still haven’t given Casey a straight answer if I am going to try out or not. Probably not though, I’m not really the cheerleading type. And I honestly think I might purposefully fall from the pyramid (since she wants me to be a flyer too) if I have to say “Give me a V, dot the I curl the c-t-o-r-y. Victory  *clap *clap *clap Victory *clap *clap *clap.” Or you know the cheer that taught us all how to spell awesome, “A-W-E-S-O-M-E, awesome, awesome, to-ta-lly *high kick*.” Thank you, Kyle, for making me go to your football games and be stuck listening to all these cheers.

            I am honestly like that chick from Bring It On, Missy, I don’t really belong there. The only difference is my tattoos are real. Maybe that should be the cheer I try out with, “I transferred from Harvest Moon, your school has no gymnastics team. This is the last resort.” Yeah, I think Rachel will let me join the team with that one.

            After art, I head to my next class which was Forensic Science. I wasn’t planning on taking that class, but I didn’t have a lot of electives to choose from since we registered so late. I am just glad I got into AP art, I absolutely love art. I found out I get to go see a dead body in a few weeks and observe an autopsy. Other than that, the class wasn’t that exciting. Also, the teacher is really into serial killers so a lot of our lessons will be related to them. Well Mr. Jeffery Dahmer, what do humans taste like, do we taste like chicken? How do people get away with so many murders without getting caught for so long? Why were so many girls attracted to Ted Bundy? And why do people still bring clowns to birthday parties? These were the questions I was wondering during class…clearly, I was paying attention as the teacher was telling us about different blood spatters and what those mean.

            After Forensic I went to my English class, and guess whose seat I stole again, Mr. Scott Peterson. He ended up sitting next to me and grumbling to himself that I took his seat again. After he was done feeling sorry for himself, he leaned over and whispered, “Is your brother okay?”

            I nodded, “Yeah, he is fine. He needs to toughen up anyway.”

            He slightly chuckled, “Aren’t you a nice sister.” I just rolled my eyes when he said that. “Anyway, where did you learn to fight?” The way he asked seemed that he was super curious about it and seemed taken back that I could fight.

            I shrugged, “Taught myself with the fancy YouTube. When you get your ass kicked enough you realize you need to learn a few moves.”

            He furrowed his brows and asked taken back, “Who beat you up?” Oh, you know my ex who is currently on house arrest.

            I just shake my head refusing to answer. Before he can push, Mr. Conley speaks up and says, “Mr. Peterson and Ms. Rainer since it seems like the two of you like to talk, can either one of you tell me about the woman in the Yellow Wallpaper.”

            I speak up, “She is clearly experiencing some form of physiological illness, most likely post-partum depression after giving birth to her child. Unfortunately, there isn’t much knowledge of this disease at that time and the physician, who is her husband just deems her as hysterical and belittles her illness and thoughts. His solution is for her to rest away from everyone, and we see throughout the story how the isolation and his oppression affects her and how she gets worse and worse.”

            Mr. Conley just nods his head at my response, “Thank you, Ashtyn. That was a great observation. Now stop talking with Mr. Peterson.”

            If you are going to talk in class and do other stuff, you have to be ready for when the teacher calls on you. The good thing is I already read this short story.  I already read half of the books on the list of books and stories we will read throughout the year.

            After English, I head to Gym. I don’t mind Gym; I like being active and I always found it to be a nice break between classes. My only issue is I hate changing in front of people. I have a huge scar on my back that I don’t like showing off. I walk into the locker room and find an unused locker in the corner of the locker room. I place my stuff in there and put on the grey t-shirt and black basketball shorts that are our gym uniform. I have my back pressed against the wall as I change. Gym was uneventful except for Rachel being in my class and her glaring at me the whole time. I ended up putting my hair in a ponytail and kept it that way the rest of the day, which meant you can see all of my piercings, my right ear isn’t as pierced as my left. I have my first-fourths pierced on my lobe, a couple of helix piercings, and a Daith piercing. I do notice a few guys checking me out during gym, but I just ignore them. We had to run laps today. I popped in my air pods, put on my favorite rapper, Eminem, and just ran my laps not talking to anyone. Hunter got me really into Eminem and he even took me to one of his concerts for my 16th birthday.

            After gym I had my life skills class, according to Sarah it is a required course that all seniors must take. It pretty much teaches us the skills we will need to know after high school. Like taxes and knowing how to change a tire. I have the class with Sarah’s boyfriend Connor. I spoke with him a bit during class because I knew no one. He is super funny and sweet. So, it was nice having someone to talk to in that class.

            After Life skills I had lunch. Sarah and Casey wanted me to sit with them but I just grabbed a to-go salad and headed to the library so I could catch up on the week worth of classes I missed. I heard something big went down at lunch, but I never got the details. After lunch, I went to AP statistics. I just needed a math class and now I have a math credit for college.

            After math, I went to my last class AP chemistry which spans across the last 2 periods. I walk in and the teacher Mr. McGee was already in the classroom. I walked up to him so I could get my missing work instead of waiting after class to get it.

            He noticed me and smiled, “Ashtyn?” I nod and he hands me a packet, “Here is a study guide of things you should know and remember from regular chemistry. We spent last week reviewing and the class is taking a test during the first hour of class on the things we reviewed today. You can work on this study guide while everyone is taking the test. You can take your test this Friday during your lunch period.”

            I smile and reply, “Okay, sounds good.”

            I take my packet and settle down in the chair that is in the back of the class in the corner. I take out my textbook and start working on my packet when I hear someone groan. I look up and see Scott walking in staring at me with Aaron and Connor following behind him. I roll my eyes when Scott approaches me and say to him, “How many of my classes are you in?”

            He groans, “How many times are you going to steal my seat? Didn’t your mom teach you not to steal things?” And sits down in the chair next to me so we are sharing a lab table and Connor and Aaron sit at the table in front of us.

            I roll my eyes, “Yes, but this public property, so you don’t own it. And I am not a thief.”

            Scott just shakes his head. I go back to working on my packet while the teacher passes out the test, but he says to not start until the bell rings. Scott then asks me, “Why did you start today and not last week?”

            Without looking up from my textbook I reply without any emotion, “We were too busy dealing with the move and my dad starting his new job, we had to take last week off.” However, I can sense someone is watching me the entire time as I am working and talking with Scott. I look up and see Aaron staring at me. He noticed he got caught and quickly turned away. Why does this dude like to stare at me so much?

            Connor turns around and asks me, “So do you like Blue Crescent?”

            I shake my head and reply, “Nope.” As I am flipping a page in my textbook.

            Before anything else can be said the bell rings and the teacher says people can start and they have 45 minutes to work on the test. After 45 minutes I have finished a good chunk of my study guide.

            Once Mr. McGee collects all the tests he says, “Okay, everyone grab your things and stand up.”

            We all look at him confused and he says, “I am going to assign you seats and lab partners so we can start our first unit.”

            I put my bag over one shoulder, then grab my book and packet and hold them against my chest. Mr. McGee starts saying two names and pointing to a specific lab table. I notice he is just doing alphabetical order.

            I mumble to myself, “Wow, alphabetical order, how original.” I can hear Connor start to snicker slightly while standing next to me in response to my comment. I say to him, “That wasn’t funny.” This results in Connor pressing his lips together and his cheeks turning pink.

            Aaron and Scott try to hold in their chuckles to my melancholic tone and Connor’s slight embarrassment.

            Mr. McGee then says, “Connor Matthews and Aaron Miller” and the two of them take a seat at a lab table a few rows up. He then points to the table directly behind them and says, “Scott Peterson and Ashtyn Rainer.”

            I quickly grab the seat closest to the wall and reposition myself and chair so my back is to the wall and I can see the entire classroom. I grumble to Scott, “Can I ever escape you?”

            He laughs, “No, little miss sunshine you are stuck with me.”

            Mr. McGee finishes assigning partners and says that we will be together for the entire year so we should get used to each other. He also recommends we swap numbers since we will probably need to meet up after school to write reports. I take my phone out of my bag and pass it to Scott to put his number in. I take his phone and quickly put my number in his phone.

            Mr. McGee then explains the experiment we will be doing. It is super basic just vinegar and baking soda. The point of it is to make sure we can measure properly, mix chemicals in the correct order, go over safety rules during experiments, and he wants us to do a super detailed lab report since it is so basic.

            The teacher goes to his desk to grade tests while everyone works on the experiment and talks with their partner and those around them. Scott and I start working on the experiment and of course, he tries to make small talk with me.

            “So, why don’t you like Blue Crescent?”

            I look at him like are you serious and sigh, “Well, you be forced to move your senior year and be away from all your friends.” As Scott and I are talking I notice that Aaron is listening in to the conversation and barely talking to Connor.

            “Oh, that probably sucks.”

            I nod, “Yeah, I wasn’t even supposed to move here with my dad and brother.”

            “What you mean?”

            “I was supposed to get an apartment with my friend and finish up school in Harvest Moon, but he went off to university, so I had to come.” I notice as I am saying this, Aaron begins to grip his lab table so tightly that his knuckles turn white as he clenches his jaw. Okay dude calm down, don’t know what your problem is. Scott notices Aaron’s discomfort with my comment about living with Hunter and quickly changes the subject.

            He asks, “So you have a lot of tattoos and piercing, did they hurt?”

            I say sarcastically, “Nope, being repeatedly poked and stabbed with a needle feels amazing.”

            “Okay, you don’t need to always be sarcastic.”

            I chuckle slightly, “You don’t need to ask me stupid questions.” Aaron and Connor laugh at my response to Scott while he frowns at me. I laugh a little more at his reaction and show my teeth as I laugh.

            Scott says, “Wow, you can actually smile. I have yet to see you smile today.”

            Connor speaks up, “Seriously, she was laughing and smiling most of life skills.”

            I laugh, “That’s because you are funny, he is just annoying.”

            Connor laughs and Scott pouts. I pat Scott back and say, “Don’t worry Scottie Boy, I still like you.” Scott just laughs slightly.

            I am trying to be nice to Connor and Scott because they seem to be good guys, especially since one of them is dating one of my new friends. But I don’t understand why Aaron doesn’t want to talk to me. He could just jump into the conversation, I wouldn’t mind. But he just stayed quiet and looked pissed off. I don’t understand why he doesn’t like me. I’m not the most likable person but give me a chance dude.

            Connor turns back around, and I go back to working on the lab report since we finished the experiment and already cleaned it up. But I don’t understand what Aaron’s problem is.

            I grab my notebook and write in it, “Why doesn’t Aaron like me?” I had a feeling that Connor and Aaron were going to listen in again, so I didn’t want to ask Scott out loud.

            I slide the notebook over to him and nudge him to read it.

            Scott looks at it and chuckles. I look at him and mouth “What?”

            He whispers to me, “That isn’t it. Trust me.”

            I whisper back, “So why won’t he talk to me? Did I do something to upset him?”

            He shakes his head, “No, that isn’t it”

            I look at him confused and say, “So he can growl at me but not talk to me.”

            Scott rolls his eyes at me and just shakes his head. “So why did he growl at me then? Was it because I said you are hot? Because honestly you guys have something in the water here, because all the guys are attractive. Even that ugly brute, Chris.”

            Scott c***s his brow, “Did you call Chris ugly and attractive?”

            I chuckle, “Well he isn’t that bad looking but he messed with my brother. So, he is on my ugly list.”

            Scott chuckles slightly, but still hasn’t answered my question. “So, you never answered my question. Was that the reason?”

            Scott looks at me then shoots a glance at Aaron and remains quiet.

            I look at the back of Aaron’s head and give him a what the hell look, before saying, “I thought he had a girlfriend.”

            Scott shrugs, “It’s complicated.”

            I nod, “Oh, so he wants to hump, and she wants something more.”

            Scott bites down on his lip trying not to laugh and says, “Something like that.”

            Okay so what does this all mean? Why would he care if I think Scott is attractive? Or maybe I am over thinking it.

            “Was the growling like a mating call for the guys at this school. Was I supposed to bark back?”

            Scott laughed, “What the hell are you talking about?”

            “I’m sorry, none of the guys at my old school growled really, and I think it is weird as hell.”

            He shakes his head laughing, “You over think things. It was nothing.” I know it was not nothing, what is he trying to hide?

            I laugh, “Okay fine. Whatever. How do you do it though?” I like gurgle slightly trying my attempt at growling.

            Scott laughs, “Stop, you are going to hurt yourself.”

            I just roll my eyes and laugh.

            Scott then looks at Aaron then back at me and asks, “So, speaking of guys. Do you have a boyfriend?”

            I raise my brow, “Why? You interested.” I had a feeling he was asking me for someone else. Is it Aaron? Was that why he was looking at him before asking? I mean he is attractive, but we don’t know each other. I am nothing like the girls he goes for. Why do you want the girl with all the baggage?

            He shakes his head, “No. Just curious.” I see Aaron is leaning slightly back and angled to listen more closely.

            Well sticking with my I am not dating anyone until college attitude. If Aaron is interested in me, I am going to shoot that down real quick, “Yes, I do.” I rather lie and get this guy to stop being interested in me than tell the truth and for him to realize how f****d up I am.

            Scott looks at me like I am lying, “Seriously?”

            Oh, crap how can I make this sound believable and like I am in a serious relationship. And I say the first thing that comes to my mind building off the fact I am the girl with the tattoos, “Yeah, I even have his named tattooed to my ass.”

            I internally slap myself. I couldn’t have thought of anything else. Like what the f**k is wrong with me?

            Scott and Connor both choke out, “what?”

            Lucky for me the final bell rings. Saved by the bell, literally. I then look up and see Aaron practically stomp out of the room ready to kill someone. Scott and Connor follow after him probably to calm him down. What is his problem? What is wrong with the guys at the school. Yes, some of the guys at my old school were weird and acted like this. But this so weird. Wow, I have been here for a day and I already caused so much s**t. Great.

***

I made a few edits to this chapter. Tell me what you think about this chapter. The next chapter is called Tryouts and it will be from Ash's and Aaron's POV.  Also, what do you think of Scott and Ashtyn's budding friendship?