The Rise of the Luna Queen

Cedar Lake High

Ivy's POV

Ivy and Cece walked through the front doors of the high school and Ivy was overcome with anxiety. So many kids were walking around, laughing, talking, and looking...at her. She immediately felt like all eyes were on her.

She understood the stares, she was new, and they had all known each other their whole lives. It was rare for wolves to change packs in their lifetimes, so chances are that all of these kids started kindergarten together.

"Come on, your homeroom is this way, and I'll be right down the hall." Cece guided Ivy past groups of kids looking at her and whispering. "My dad and the Alpha pulled some strings, so at least we'll be in all the same classes!" She smiled.

Ivy just nodded and followed. She felt like she wanted to cry, and she'd been doing so well. She had started feeling comfortable in her new home, this was setting her back.

All she wanted right now was to be back home, in her old school with her old friends.

"Hey hey! Look who it is!" Cece and Ivy heard within the crowd. She recognized the voice but couldn't place it.

Then they saw Justin, Travis, Eve, and Stevie pushing through the crowd, smiling.

"Hey! Where's Jake and Maggie?" Cece asked.

"Oh, Maggie the nerd is already in homeroom, and we haven't seen Jake yet. Figured he'd be coming with you guys." Eve answered.

"Are there more people here this year, or is it just me?" Jake asked, pushing through a nearby crowd.

Eve clapped and hugged Jake, "Yay! I thought you might have decided that you were too good for us."

Ivy noticed that Jake and Eve paired off and appeared closer than any of the other friends in the group. No one was dating and when she asked they denied it, but she felt like there was something there.

After chatting for a bit, they all made their way to their respective homerooms. Stevie and Travis were in the same homeroom with Ivy, and while she wasn't too close to them yet, she was grateful to have people she knew.

As they took their seats, there was chatter throughout the classroom. Friends talked about other kids and what they did during the summer. They laughed and joked around, which just made Ivy more homesick.

"Hey, are you okay?" Travis asked. He noticed Ivy watching the others.

Ivy nodded, "I'm okay, I think I'm just nervous." She omitted the rest.

"I can imagine, it must be weird coming to a new school," Stevie added.

Ivy, again, just nodded. She was holding back tears, and she knew if she started talking too much, they'd know.

She didn't need to avoid talking for long because their teacher entered the room.

"Good morning everyone."

He was a very handsome man, no older than 25.

"Alright everyone, settle down, and we'll get attendance started." He added, "But first I believe we have a new student, Ivy." He waved Ivy up to the front of the class.

She looked around at every single eye on her and she froze. Her vision got blurry, and she felt the lump in her throat growing.

Thankfully, Travis stepped up for her.

"Oh come on Mr. Manning, we're not in elementary school, you don't need to do all that."

Mr. Manning nodded, understanding.

"Okay, well Ivy Moss has come to us from..." He looked down at the notebook on his desk, "Um, well she's part of the Alpha's family, and we're happy to have you." He smiled.

Ivy didn't know if he had anything written in the book. It wasn't a secret where she was from in the pack house, but it's possible the Alpha didn't want it to be common knowledge that she came from a Fae village.

"Thank you." She whispered to Travis, truly grateful.

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully. After a few classes, people seemed to forget about her and stopped staring. She began to feel more comfortable and more like she belonged.

Her last class of the day was Biology, and she was paired with Jake of all people. They chose names out of a hat, and she ended up choosing his name.

They took their seats at the long desk. She gave him a smirk as they sat, "I bet you're thrilled about this."

Jake just shrugged, "It's fine." He said, taking his seat.

They were instructed to take 15 minutes to talk to their partners and get to know each other if they didn't already. Ivy watched the teams talk, they all knew each other.

Ivy chuckled and Jake looked at her confused.

"What's funny?"

She shook her head, "Oh it's nothing." She said without looking at him. "Everyone knows one another, and I get matched up with someone I know when I could have gotten to meet someone new."

Jake looked a little hurt, "I can tell Mrs. Viche to switch us, she'll listen."

Ivy chuckled, "Why because you're the Alpha's son?"

Jake raised his eyebrows at her words. "No, because she's nice. If I explain that you want to meet new people, and we live in the same house, I'm sure she'll switch us."

Ivy finally looked over at Jake and realized she had hurt his feelings, though she knew he'd never admit it.

"No, no, it's fine." She reassured him. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking out loud. This actually may be good for us, we may be able to get to know one another."

They lived in the same house, ate almost every meal together, and spent the last two weeks hanging out with their friends, but Ivy felt like she didn't know Jake, not really.

"So how do you truly feel about living here, with the pack, in our pack house?" Jake wasted no time asking serious questions.

"Now after being here for a couple of weeks," He continued.

Ivy shrugged, "Well, I'm happy to be around people like me, people I can relate to. I'm glad I'll get to be around all of you when I get my wolf-"

"-but" Jake interrupted.

"But, I do miss my family, the Fae. I also wish I knew what happened to my birth family and my home pack." She admitted.

"Have you tried talking to my dad yet?" He asked.

Ivy shook her head, "No, your mom scares me." She giggled.

"Oh, don't talk to my mom about it." He laughed. "Talk to my dad alone, he's like a giant teddy bear filled with smaller teddy bears."

They both laughed.

"My mother is a snake," he admitted.

This surprised Ivy. It was his mother. She wondered why he'd said such a thing about his mother.

"What?" She asked.

Jake shrugged and looked down, "Look, my dad is a great Alpha. He's nice, and he's very caring. He's respected because of this and because he is strong, you do not want to see his Alpha side." He hesitated. "But, my mother calls the shots. He doesn't even realize it most of the time, she manipulates him to do what she wants all the time."

Ivy now felt like her negative feelings towards Luna Drea weren't unwarranted, maybe she was sensing something more.

As Ivy was going to ask more questions, Mrs. Veche began class and asked everyone to quiet down.

Jake leaned over to Ivy, "Seriously, ask my dad, he has to know something about your home pack. I'll come with you if you want. Just let me know when you're ready."

Ivy was ready now, knowing the truth wasn't going to bring them back, it wouldn't change anything, but it would answer questions she'd had her whole life.

She felt oddly determined now. When she got home she was going to talk to the Alpha about her home.