Alpha²

Chapter 7

Jem and Rosalyn followed Grey down some green carpeted floors. The hallway walls were all beige, with trophy cases filled to the brim with pictures of students and faculty, as well as awards they had received. The walls were lined with art drawn by students and faculty, which gave the feeling that the staff here cared, but he knew that all schools liked to display their students' achievements in hopes of further motivating them. Do you know if it worked? Well, he’d have to ask them. The hallways were lit by a warm yellow light provided by gold chandeliers hanging from the tall ceilings. They walked across the entire school before climbing up some grand white marble stairs, then appeared in the female dorms.

"Maya, you awake?" Grey asked as he knocked on the door. Door number 378, to be exact.

A dark-skinned girl opened the door. She had huge glasses and long dark hair. She was beautiful. Everyone Jem had seen today seemed to be pretty. He scowled as he felt a little inferior. Why couldn’t he be attractive like her? Hell, even Alexander was much more beautiful than him; he had the height and the bone structure, while Jem was left with the less-than-adequate genes.

"It's after midnight, Grey. I was so close to falling asleep,” Maya whined, frowning. Grey didn't reply. The girl, Maya, looked exhausted, and he couldn't even apologise.

"She's cute," Rosalyn said as she eyed Maya up and down. She then nodded and walked in. "Maya. Can I borrow some clothes that aren’t a dress? I won't get any of my s**t until tomorrow."

Maya turned around and pointed to her dresser. She then looked back at Grey. "Maya, meet Rosalyn, your new roommate. Rosalyn! That's Maya. Bye now." He still didn't apologise.

Grey walked away, and Jem blinked as he kept up with him. He was walking oddly quickly. Was he okay? Why was he running? An ex? "Let me see your sheet," Grey said, sticking his hand out.

"What were you talking about with those two?" Jem asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at the back of Grey’s head.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Nothing of importance." He was lying.

"You all know something."

"I know many things. May I see your sheet?" Jem was too tired to argue with him; he’d find him tomorrow and threaten him then. Good, he had a plan. But what mattered for now was getting to his dorm so he could sleep. Today had been an exhausting day after the drive in here and then going straight to that party; he had been awake for a disgusting amount of time, and the bed was practically singing his name.

Grey stared into the distance, and Jem thought he was talking to his wolf. His hands were shaking. Was he scared? Angry? Jem was about to touch him, but he flinched away. He instantly retracted his hand away from him. No touching. Noted.

"Follow me," Grey said. He was so lost in thought that he would have bumped into a few poles and tripped over his feet if Jem hadn't grabbed his hood to pull him away.

It was the best Jem could do. Grey didn’t want to be touched, but Jem was sure he didn’t want a face full of poles either. Yes, Jem didn’t like him, but he wasn’t cruel enough for him to walk into a bar. As funny as that might have been. Jem paused. Well, now he regretted not letting Grey walk into one. Next time, he thought, next time he would let Grey walk into a pole so that he could laugh. The duo arrived at a room, and Grey stood outside of it.

"Here we are." Room number 520. He had a key too. He went in, and Jem frowned.

He walked to the bed and face-planted into it. "What are you doing?" Jem said as he eyed Grey’s back.

"You're my new roommate,” he said, lifting his face off the duvet so that he could speak clearly.

"Wait, what?" Jem may have been panicking ever so slightly.

"Yes."

Fuck. Jem didn't want to be roommates with him. Yeah, he was hot. But he lied—a lot.

And Grey wasn't his emotional support shitheads like his siblings. Jem couldn’t do much without them. He wouldn’t let himself become attached to Grey when he lied so much. Not when he craved being able to trust someone, and how could you trust someone who had done nothing but lie from the moment you had met?

Jem then scoffed. This was him he was talking about. Of course, he would end up attached, even if he knew how much Grey lied. But he couldn’t. Grey would leave. He’d find his mate and leave him. And Jem knew he would never see his mate because of his actions.

Would it even work if he tried now? He knew it wouldn't. But it was worth trying.

’Wolf?‘ he said, and, as usual, there was no response. ‘Wolf? Please? Wake up. I'm sorry.’

Fuck. Jem closed the door and decided to faceplant into his bed. Well, at least he got his bed, and he was sharing, so he didn’t have to spend all his time alone, but he had thought he would be sharing with Alexander or even Rosalyn, but no, he was sharing with the liar—the beautiful liar, whom Jem wanted to strangle.

Fuck. The one hot boy he didn't like was his roommate. Surely, how hard would this be?

~*~