When She Says No

Time Seems To Stop When You Mope

    The rest of the day went by sluggishly and the only thing that crossed Calista’s mind was the look of hurt on Marcus’ face after the words had left her mouth.

    ‘Come on Cali you can’t blame yourself for the inevitable. You and I both know that you couldn’t have given him what he really wanted so it’s better this way.’ Clem said trying to make Calista understand that what she did was for the best.

    ‘I know Clem, but I can’t shake the feeling that Ralph is gonna pull the same thing soon and I don’t wanna do that again. After all their friendship was ruined because of me.’ Calista was moping. She didn’t like feeling like she was letting people down; you could call her a people pleaser. She didn’t like feeling like a disappointment; the look that people gave her when she was always made her heart clench.

    ‘Thank you for waiting for our mate Calista. I know that it’s hard for you and you don’t like having to turn people down, but it’s what we need to do.’

    ‘I know Clem and thank you for always being there for me.’ 

    She was in English her last period of the day, but it’s not like she was paying any attention to the lesson. She was wallowing and was zoned out on her desk. “Remember students this paper is due Monday, but on the bright side it’s the last paper of your high school careers.” Mrs. Johnson always gave a bright side to everything they obviously begrudgingly did for her class. Calista had already finished the paper and turned it in early so she could focus on her other classes since this one was a breeze for her.

    Before she knew it the bell had rung and kids were bolting out the door to get home for the weekend, but she packed up slowly. Mrs. Johnson came up to give her paper back to her; it was already graded and she got a 100% on it. Calista and Mrs. Johnson shared a smile before Calista walked out the door and to her locker. Beth and Chris were already waiting for her. They both gave her a sad smile. They knew that when she rejected people it was always hard for her and it took at least the rest of the day for her to get over it. 

    “Are you ready to return our textbooks to the library Calista?” Beth and Chris only ever really called her Calista when they knew she was having a hard time or hurting other than that it was almost always nicknames. She just nodded at them before grabbing her textbooks from her locker. They started walking and soon arrived at the library.

    They looked at a table in the library and noticed Ralph sitting at it with Marcus sitting at another one, and for the first time in a long time they looked at each other with something other than malice or hatred, but instead sympathy. It seemed like Marcus told Ralph what had happened earlier and before Calista knew what was happening Ralph was striding over to her friend group. She looked at Beth and Chris and they gave her a sad smile already knowing what was gonna happen.

    “Hey Calista, Beth, Chris. Do you think I could steal you for a second Calista? I promise it won’t take long.” Ralph said to the trio. Calista faked a smile.

    “Sure Ralph,” she said in the cheeriest voice she could muster right then. “Beth do you think that you could turn my books in for me?” she looked pleadingly at her friend.

    “Of course bunny.” Beth said that she wouldn’t raise any sort of suspicion that they knew what was gonna happen.

    Calista handed off her books and school ID to Beth before walking away with Ralph down one of the aisles so they had more privacy. “I’m just gonna cut to the chase and say it. Calista I have a crush on you.” Ralph searched her eyes for an answer that she couldn’t give him.

    “I’m sorry Ralph, but I don’t feel the same. Thank you for telling me though.” Calista said this and immediately walked away. She could feel tears stinging her eyes, but she just couldn’t bear to see the look on his face. Her friends followed her outside of the library and to the parking lot. When they got to Chris’ car the twins both hugged her. “Do you need us to drive you home?” Chris asked her sincerely while patting her head. 

    “No I’ll be fine,” Calista sniffled, “I’ll see you guys later tonight.” she walked over to her car and just sat there for a minute before putting the keys into the ignition and pulling out of her parking space. She turned on the radio to give herself some sort of distraction. She soon pulled onto the dirt road that led to the pack area. They all lived somewhat close to one another or in the pack house so they could easily defend the pack if there were an attack. 

    Calista pulled into the driveway of her hose seeing that neither of her parents were home because they had to work. She got everything ready to go over to the pack house because that’s where the twins lived. Normally in a pack house you have a few omegas to do the cooking and cleaning, the beta and their family, and the Alpha Luna and their children. Pack houses were always big enough for the pack and at least a few visitors.

    Calista finished packing her night bag when she heard her phone start to ring. She looked at the caller ID and it was Beth. “Hey Beth what’s up?”

    “Just wanted to see what kind of cupcakes you wanted from Marcie’s bakery and what you wanted to eat later.” Beth knew her friend well enough to know that cupcakes always cheered her best friend up.

    “How about chocolate or red velvet cupcakes, and why don't we just get a couple meat lovers pizzas?” Calista cheered up a bit at her friend's attempts to cheer her up.

    “Of course bunny. That’s a great idea.” Beth said and Calista heard a somewhat muffled Chris yell. 

    “Don’t forget the stuff for the caramel corn.” She chuckled a bit at Chris.

    “I won’t Chris. I’ll see you guys in a bit. I'm almost ready to head over.” She ended the call and finished packing her stuff up and slipped on her shoes. Grabbing her keys she left a note on the family white board that they had saying where she was and that she would be back tomorrow afternoon. After she was done writing her note she grabbed the things for her caramel corn and headed out the door and to her car. Her family lived closer to the border since her parents are both warriors so it was a bit of a drive to the pack house from where they lived. She started her car and took off. She turned on the radio and sang along while driving to lift her spirits. She wasn’t a terrible singer, but she also wasn’t starting a singing career anytime soon. She arrived at the pack house fairly quickly and honked her horn letting her friends know that she was there.