Feral Mate

Chapter 4

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On her way back to class, Ash noticed the boys were considerably nicer and more well-mannered. But it couldn’t last. Not with the way they were behaving that morning. As she walked down the one of the corridors, Chris came to walk next to her. “I don’t know what you’re playing at but I don’t appreciate someone being all shitty one minute and then all angelic the next. Choose a personality and stick to it instead of being two faced,” she said as soon as she saw him in her peripheral vision. “I take it you have a teensy grudge against us?” he answered.

“Teensy? You think I have a teensy grudge? I have an issue with you treating us like you own us and have some authority over us? What’s the deal with you not letting me sit next to a single one of my friends?” she honestly felt sorry that Chris was on the receiving end. It wasn’t entirely his fault she had a shitty day.

“You think we act with power over you?” he said bewildered. Ash looked down at her feet and nodded. “Is it not possibly that you have a resent towards us because we’re new?” he asked with curiosity. “I try my best to be on good terms with the new kids to make them feel welcome, like I did with you three, but then you just tossed your toys out the basket with Mia, who was also just trying to be friendly. I think you were extremely rude.” It was his turn to look down. Ash didn’t want to make him feel bad, she just wanted him to understand that what he did wasn’t right in her eyes. He may have seen it as the norm but the way she saw it was be nice to those who were kind to you. It was odd, seeing such a huge person show emotion like that.

The rest of the day passed by with much less fighting and arguing, and by the end of the day, Ashling, Mia, Michelle, and Dean had found themselves swapping numbers with the trio.

Over the course of the week, the boys got slightly protective and clingy towards the four, it was hardly noticeable, but it was there. Keerin had started hanging out with them and had become a good friend. Ash overheard Dean and Michelle talking about going to the movies with the group. They usually did something like this around once a month to just see each other outside of school. “If we go, can we watch something with a story line? Cause the previous movie we watched was just crap. And if you decide to watch horror, you can find me at the restaurant across the way.” Ash said, making them laugh at the end.

“I’m going on my bike if you want a lift?” said Dean. He had finished building his own motorbike just over a month ago and was already driving himself around and popping over to her house for coffee every now and then. “It’s chilled. I’ll go on my own bike, but I wouldn’t mind the company on the road to make sure I don’t get lost,” she said laughing. Dean burst into a fit of laughter himself and agreed to ride along with her. Little did they know that the trio was listening I on their conversation.

When Saturday night rolled around, Ashling was dressed in her black skinny jeans, black short-sleeved V-neck shirt, form fitting – yet biker approved – black leather jacket with multiple zips, and black boots that reached her upper calves. She wore light make-up – eyeliner on her top eyelids, and mascara, but nothing else. Her hip length dark brown hair was pulled back into a Dutch plait running from her hairline to waist. Pulling on her black and silver helmet, she climbed onto her sleek black Yamaha and started the engine before putting her visor down. She had arranged to meet Dean at the entrance to their hiking trail at 19:30, but knowing him, he would be a few minutes late. Ash slowed to a stop just next to the treeline and cut her engine, sitting back and taking out her phone to read while she waited. A few odd noises came from the forest, but she barely registered any of them due to familiarity with the place and her helmet blocking most of the fainter sounds. It was nearing 20:00 and Dean still hadn’t arrived. She sent him a message telling him she was going to go on ahead, but stopped when she saw something bright orange almost completely hidden behind one of the bushes a few metres ahead. Riding up to it, she was shocked to see Deans neon Ducati parked there. The area surrounding the bike looked like it had seen a struggle. The ground was upturned and multiple low hanging branches were broken or gone completely. Ash took off her helmet to get a better look, but as soon as she put it down, she felt an arm around her neck cutting off her air way.

As her vision started to dim, she thought she saw Mason, and Chris walk closer and start pushing the bikes away. Using what little strength she had left, she brought her foot down as hard as she could on her attacker’s own foot, which loosened their hold enough for her to get a breath of air in. but as she did so, she heard them curse, and she recognised that voice. Keerin.