Dichotomy

THAT'S HOT

"Stop! You and Carter? That is so cute!" Amelia squealed.

Charlotte not so casually mentioned to Amelia and Madi that Carter had taken her up to the rooftop and invited her to his brother's party.

"It's probably not going to happen. I'm sure he has a lot of girls interested in him." Charlotte said dismissively.

"Yeah, but you're gorgeous Charlotte! Any guy would be lucky to have you," Amelia insisted.

Madi nodded in agreement.

"Aw thanks, Mels," Charlotte smiled. "I think it's just a puppy crush though, it probably won't go anywhere. Plus, I'm leaving here as soon as I turn 18." Charlotte shrugged.

"Oh, where are you going to go?" Madison asked.

"I'm not sure, maybe somewhere further south."

"That's awesome! I really want to go to UCLA but my parents don't want me to leave." Madison frowned.

"Why not? Wouldn't your parents be proud of you if you went to UCLA?" Charlotte asked, confused. She didn't have any actual experience with the matter because both of her parents were dead, but from what she gathered, most parents were proud when their kids went off to college.

"Well yeah, if they were normal," Madison started, but Amelia shot her a glare and she seemed to catch herself. "Not that they're not normal... It's just that no one really moves away from our community. It's expected that you'll stay unless you find a... partner and move into their... community." She tried to explain.

"No one here finds their partner anymore," Amelia said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Charlotte asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because we're cursed." Madison said bitterly as Amelia gave her a hug. Charlotte wasn't too sure what caused that reaction from them. It seemed a bit melodramatic but she hadn't grown up here, so who was she to say what it was like?

"Enough about that, have you decided what you're going to wear to the party?" Amelia asked, turning to Charlotte.

"Oh, I don't know... I don't really have anything. Jeans and a t-shirt?" Charlotte said.

"Absolutely not." Amelia deadpanned.

"Yeah, no girl" Madison shook her head disapprovingly.

"We can either go shopping or you can come to my house after school to look for something. Either way, you are not going to be wearing a t-shirt," Amelia told her.

Charlotte tried to protest by Amelia was hearing none of it, so Charlotte gave in, agreeing to meet them in the parking lot after school.

Elaine and Walter had been more relaxed since Charlotte received the council's approval so she figured it wouldn't be a big deal as long as she let them know where she was after school.

The rest of the day was rather insipid.

Her last class was English. They had a quiz over a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. Charlotte scribbled away until the bell rang and the teacher called time.

Charlotte handed her paper over to Mrs. Nguyen before collecting her things.

Afterward, Charlotte swung by her locker to exchange her English book for Cal. Mr. Grant had given them a ton of math homework, the man was obsessed with derivatives.

Her Cal book was quite heavy, so Charlotte decided to carry it instead of overloading her backpack. She certainly didn't want to break another backpack, she was lucky to get one replacement.

"Hey, Char! You ready to go?" Amelia asked, catching up with her as they walked out of the school.

"Yeah, just let me tell my foster brother." Charlotte sighed.

She could see Danny lingering across the parking lot. He had a couple of football buddies with him. The boys were flirting with a few of the cheerleaders. Seraphina's icy blonde hair was easy to spot even from a distance.

Their little group was fully engaged with each other, talking and laughing animatedly. Charlotte was relieved to note that her tormentors weren't among them. She didn't recognize anyone other than Danny and Seraphina

Charlotte walked up cautiously, trying to be discrete. She didn't want to leave without telling him, she needed him to relay the message to his parents.

Seraphina was giggling cutely at something Danny had said when Charlotte walked up.

Way to go Danny boy, Charlotte thought, amusedly.

"Hey, Danny," Charlotte said, trying to get his attention. He was facing away from her, but she was close enough that he should have heard.

"Danny..." She tried again.

He turned to her slowly, chewing a toothpick and looking mildly annoyed.

"What?" He growled.

"Amelia wants me to come over to her house for a bit, so I'll be home late," Charlotte explained quickly.

"Ok, whatever." He said, rolling his eyes before turning his attention back to Seraphina. Charlotte didn't miss the way Danny's face softened when he looked at her.

Someone was clearly smitten.

Charlotte made a mental note not to get between those two as she walked back over to Amelia and Madison.

"You can ride with me, Madi's going to follow us," Amelia told her.

Charlotte nodded.

She really hoped her foster parents wouldn't be mad. Although they mostly didn't care what she did as long as she didn't bother them, and she came home at a reasonable time.

Charlotte also wondered what her wolf was doing now and felt a slight twinge of regret that she didn't get to see him after school. For a while there he had been glued to her side, like a menacing shadow. But for the past couple of days, he had been more standoffish and she wasn't sure why.

"Here we are!" Amelia announced, pulling into a long driveway.

Charlotte's jaw dropped in surprise.

Amelia's house was massive! The outside was covered in stone, but with a touch of modern in the accents.

"Wow, I would have come over sooner if I had known your house was this cool," Charlotte said, taking it in.

Amelia laughed, "wait till you see the inside."

"Yeah, her house is pretty neat," Madison agreed.

They were right.

Charlotte looked around awestruck as Amelia showed her around the house. Amelia's house seemed to have everything... there was a custom pool table downstairs, a movie room upstairs, and a tiny bowling alley in the basement.

Somehow even with all the extra luxuries, the house managed to maintain demurity. There were no osentatious accents or furnishings intended only for splendor.

It was fitting, Charlotte could easily see Amelia living in a place such as this. Amelia herself had a taste for finer things but she was never pretentious about it.

The three of them were on their way to Amelia's room when they ran into a curvy, dark-haired woman. Charlotte knew it must be Amelia's mother, the two looked much too alike for it not to be.

"Hello Amelia, who is this?" The woman asked curiously.

"This is my friend Charlotte. Charlotte, this is my mom." Amelia introduced her as she discretely gave her mom a look to not say anything.

"It's an honor to meet you Charlotte," Amelia's mom said, giving her a big hug. Charlotte was surprised by the warmth of her greeting but she didn't mind. The woman smelled nice and she had a motherly air about her.

"I'll bring you girls some snacks, I assume you'll be in Amelia's room?" The dark-haired woman asked.

"Yes! Thanks, mom!" Amelia said before ushering the other girls into her room.

"Ok ladies, let's see what we've got." She said, shutting the door and leaning back against it as if they were planning some secret tactical mission.

Although knowing Amelia, this was

Amelia looked like a Cheshire cat as she stalked over to her closet, throwing the doors open. She lived for this kind of stuff.

"Hmm ok, let's pull out some dresses and some pant/top options, maybe a couple of sets, what do you think Mads?"

Madison nodded in agreement. She had been friends with Amelia for a long time, she knew the routine.

The girls worked together in unison, pulling a bunch of different items from the closet, sometimes they paused, holding them up so Charlotte could give her opinion.

Charlotte almost passed out when she saw the designer tags on half the clothes. Amelia had impeccable taste, but holy crap these clothes were expensive.

Madison quickly picked out a black skirt, and a cropped sweater outfit for herself. It looked super chic, and the sweater had a deep v that gave it a sexy edge.

"You look amazing Mads!" Charlotte said, watching the girl spin in the mirror.

"Thanks, have you picked anything you like yet?" Madi asked.

"I was thinking either this green dress or these leather pants and top," Charlotte said, holding up the items.

"I think they'd both be cute. Why don't you try them on and see which one you prefer?" Madi suggested.

Charlotte agreed, quickly slipping into the first outfit, the leather pant/top combo, and showing it off.

She didn't want to brag but Charlotte thought she looked pretty hot in it.

"Oh, that looks pretty fierce," Amelia said, her hand on her chin as she evaluated Charlotte's outfit.

"Let's see the other one," Madi said.

Charlotte took off the leather outfit and put on the silky green slip dress for them to see. It was shorter than she realized and had a slit up the side, but it hugged her body in all the right places.

"Dang girl, you look good! What do you think? Amelia asked.

Charlotte opened her mouth to respond when she was interrupted.

"Definitely go with that one. That dress is sexy." Amelia's mom told her cheekily. Charlotte hadn't even heard her come in, but she was holding a delicious-smelling tray of snacks. Pita bread, hummus, and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the side.

Charlotte blushed, not knowing how to respond.

"Mom!" Amelia chastised; it was clear where she got her cheeky attitude from.

"What?" Amelia's mom said, feigning innocence. "I just brought you girls some snacks." She offered, placing the tray on a side table before leaving.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me!" She hollered over her shoulder.

"The nerve of that woman," Amelia mumbled.

"Well, I for one agree with Mrs. Amaechi. You look sexy, I think you should go with that one!" Madi encouraged.

"You do look hot." Amelia agreed.

"I feel bad wearing it when you haven't even got a chance to though," Charlotte said, gesturing to the Gucci tag that was still attached to it. The dress was incredibly expensive.

"Oh, girl don't even worry about it, I have tons of clothes I've never worn." She said rolling her eyes. Her family was well off and both she and her mom had shopping addictions.

"You can leave it here until tomorrow night, so your foster parents don't see and we can tell them you're sleeping over at my house so we can work on a group project," Amelia suggested. "Speaking of... we should probably get you home."

Charlotte had told her a little about how strict her foster parents were and it was indeed getting late.

"Thank you, Amelia. You are the best!" Charlotte grinned, she was truly grateful to have found such good friends, even if only for a short time.

The girls tucked away their outfits for tomorrow and headed back downstairs.

Charlotte was still in awe of how big and comfy the house was. She had no idea how Amelia's parents had this much money.

As they were leaving, they ran into a tall brunette man who was on his way inside.

"Hey dad, where ya been?" Amelia greeted him.

The man grinned, "Hello princess, how are you? I just got back from visiting your cousin, Gio. And who is your friend?"

"I'm good dad! This is Charlotte." Amelia answered.

Charlotte smiled at him, trying to be friendly. His voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it.

"Charlotte" He repeated, his lip turned down slightly, almost into a frown.

Charlotte looked around in confusion. Had she done something to upset him?

"Is something wrong dad?" Amelia asked, frowning. Apparently, she had picked up on the shift in his demeanor as well.

The man shook his head, "No, no. I'm sorry, I was just surprised is all."

"Hello Charlotte, I have heard a lot about you. My name is Jacob. If you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to reach out. Amelia knows how to reach me." He said, looking at her with a strange air of intensity.

He was the man who came to visit her foster parents, Charlotte realized in shock. Hadn't he wanted them to get rid of her? And now he was telling her to reach out to him if she needed anything? Charlotte was confused. She wasn't buying his friendliness. Not for a single second.

"Ok, thanks dad," Amelia said rolling her eyes as she pulled Charlotte away again.

*** GIO ***

Jacob had asked to meet him at the old bonfire pile outside the Alpha House. Gio knew he wanted to discuss what to do about his future mate, although Gio wasn't sure there was much that could be done. Obviously, the council agreed that they couldn't make her leave. She was their future Luna after all. Or at least she was meant to be if they could ever consummate their relationship.

Jacob was already waiting when Gio got there. And he wasted no time getting to the point.

"Gio, thank you for coming. I know this isn't easy, but I just wanted to talk to you a little bit." Jacob said. "First off, I just want to say I'm sorry you're going through this. On the one hand, it's an exciting thing to find your mate, but on the other, not being able to truly be with them is devastating."

Gio looked at the Beta wearily.

"Your mate being human further complicates things, as you know. We can try to explain things to her, tell her what we are, what you are, but there is a chance she will panic and run. Or we can keep going on as things are until, hopefully, the curse is lifted and you can tell her yourself. Right now, only the council knows, so there's no risk of it slipping out. Gio... you know I'll support you no matter what you decide to do. This is your mate. It's your decision," Jacob explained.

Gio agreed with everything he said. There was always a higher risk of rejection with human mates even though they could feel the mate pull. It was much, much milder than what a werewolf felt, and the shock of learning supernatural beings existed was often too much for them. Still, it was better they learn it from their mate's own lips. In theory, it would be more comforting that way.

"Do you want me to tell her Gio?" Jacob asked. There was a sadness in his eyes that somehow made Gio feel worse.

Gio gulped, staring at the ground, focusing unnecessarily hard on a half-burnt fragment of wood to keep his emotions at bay. Of course he wanted Charlotte to know, he wanted to be with her.

He couldn't do that to her though.

Even if she accepted their relationship, there were too many things keeping them apart. Why put her through that pain unnecessarily?

Gio slowly shook his head no. His heart was heavy with sadness.