Rejecting the alpha

Chapter 5

Amelia's POV

We got back to the ballroom just in time to catch the last part of the speech Sam was talking about. The headmaster looked a lot younger than I thought he would. He was a rather slim man, but his dark brown eyes made it obvious he wasn't someone to mess with. To be honest he scared me. Something about him made me nervous. His eyes drifted towards me as he was speaking. He was staring at me intently as he was addressing the students. I squirmed under his gaze and felt Oscar shuffling behind me, his arm went to my waist as if it were such a normal thing to do. Ignoring the fact that his touch was comforting me, I moved away from him and stood next to Sam.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Sam look down at me, his eyes full of questions, but he didn't ask any. It was like he knew I didn't want to talk. I'm not entirely sure why my instinct, when feeling threatened, was to go towards a guy I barely know. But something inside of me was telling me he would keep me safe.

All the students were cheering as the headmaster finished his speech. After a few very loud minutes everyone went back to dancing and talking as if nothing had happened.

"So, are you joining us?" Sam asked, after a few seconds of awkward tension.

I looked up at him confused. Had I missed something he said?

"At the school? Are you joining the school?"

I thought about it and as much as this place confused and slightly terrified me, I need to understand what's happening. I need to know if I am human and what my parents were. I need answers that I wouldn't get anywhere else.

Oscar and Sam both looked as though they were holding their breath waiting for my answer, so I decided to put them out of their misery.

"I guess so," I replied.

Waking up back in my bed, I had to remind myself that it wasn't a dream. That the winged horses and fluorescent flowers were all real. It helped that as I looked outside of my room, I realised Oscar was right. Everything looked different to me now, even the garden behind my house was more beautiful. The flowers all looked completely different than they had yesterday. They were bigger and brighter and, in every colour, you could imagine, even some colours I had never seen before. My mother had loved nature. She started her garden when I was a baby and we had spent every summer for as long as I can remember working on it together. As I look at it now, I realise why my mother adored it so much. It was beautiful.

I heard a quiet meowing behind me and turned to pick up Cammy.

"Hey, pretty girl. Come on, let's get you some breakfast before we start packing. We're moving, pretty girl." His only response was to meow in my face. Conversations with your cat are very one sided.

I made sure she was fed before grabbing a breakfast bar for myself. I have never been a fan of breakfast, I guess because I've never really been a morning person.

I decided to start packing straight away as Sam was picking me up at four o'clock and I had a lot to do. Oscar had offered to come and get me, but I asked Sam if he could. I couldn't think straight around Oscar, and I needed to remember to keep my distance. I didn't like how he made me feel. It didn't seem right to me to just fall for someone that quick. With everything that was going on right now, my entire world was changing. I don't have the time or energy to deal with a relationship on top of it all.

My experience with relationships has always been crappy anyway. Jake was a possessive d**k and I stuck with him for years through high school. He lessened me, it was as if I was worthless and I didn't even notice him doing it.

When my parents died, he didn't even seem to notice. He acted as though my pain was annoying him. The first thing I did was break up with him and it was the best decision I ever made. I have slowly started to get back to being myself or as close as I can be now, but he still makes me feel weak and I hate it.

I hate feeling helpless, my father always taught me to be strong and to fight back. When all the girls in my school were taking dance classes, he had me enrol in fencing, Taekwondo, and archery classes. I guess that's why I'm more of a tomboy and why I can't dance to save my life. But I refuse to date anyone like that ever again. I will not let myself be made to feel weak or helpless. I may be a lot of things but weak is not one of them.

By the time I had finished packing, the sun was setting outside, and I watched as my mother's garden started to shine in the darkness. The flowers lined our driveway like streetlights. I put Cammy in her carrier as I heard a car pull up. I still can't believe they let you bring pets to this school. From what Sam had told me they're encouraged but he did look confused when I told him Cammy was a cat. When I asked him why he said he thought I would be more of a dog girl, he had started laughing to himself which made absolutely no sense to me, but he seemed to enjoy his little joke.

Sam being the guy he is, just walked straight through the door as if it were the most normal thing and smiled up at me. His light brown hair was falling messily in front of his eyes like he had gotten ready in a rush.

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I really don't have a lot of stuff I want to bring. I'm still not sure why I couldn't just drive myself though," I insisted. It would have been a lot easier to have one of our cars with me.

"It's hard to explain but you can't really drive to the school." I just looked at him speechless. Thor... I mean Elijah had driven me there and Sam arrived in a black car...

"Well, I know that technically we are going in a car, but it has been modified to withstand most portal trips. Even long distance. And all our cars are allowed, for the protective shield of the school, without being stopped by the warriors," he kept babbling. I could tell he wasn't sure how to describe everything. To him all of this was completely normal.

"I have a lot to learn, don't I?" I asked him. I honestly was too tired to even keep up with everything he had just told me. I could only take so much crazy at once. He chuckled slightly as he helped me with my bags. I watched him as he stepped around Cammy as if she would bite his head off.

"She's not going to hurt you. She might scratch you; I mean she's never been fond of strangers." He just looked at me unconvinced, so I picked her carrier up, shaking my head at the boy. He was huge and looked like he could take on a bear with ease, but a little cat, and he was a terrified mess.

The drive to the school was just as quick as it had been the night before, this time though I wasn't surprised by the snow as we got out of the car. Everything still looked completely different to me, we had parked behind the school this time and I walked behind Sam as he led me towards a massive stone building behind the school grounds.

"This is the girls' dorm. The boys are in the building next door," he told me, as he held the door open. I followed him through a gigantic room filled with couches and TV's. I even saw a pool table on the far side of the room. There were a bunch of girls sitting on the biggest couch who all turned to stare at me as soon as they saw Sam, though they all smiled and batted their eyelashes at him.

It was kind of gross to watch how they all begged for his attention, but it was funny how Sam didn't even seem to notice. He was so focused on me that I don't think he even knew anyone else was here. When they realised, he wasn't noticing them, they all started to glare at me. I had to fight the urge to laugh at their attempts to be threatening.

"The kitchen is through there. They serve most meals in the dining room but If you want a snack or something, there's always food in the dorms kitchen." Sam carried on with the tour as we walked up the stairs.

"Okay, so you are in this room right... here." He gestured towards a big brown door that had the number eleven written on it. Walking in it looked like any other dorm room I had seen. There were two beds opposite each other with desks at the end of the beds. Next to the door were two massive wardrobes and through the little door on the right side of the room there was a private bathroom.

"It's not much but it's home," Sam admitted.

"it's perfect." I smiled at him, putting the carrier on my bed.

The other one on the right was taken by the look of it. The covers were messed up and there were pictures on the table beside it and a rather large poster of Supernatural above the bed. I think I'm going to like this girl.

"Do you know who my roommate is?" I asked him.

"Yeah, Olivia. You'll like her. She's awesome."

Sam was nice enough to help me unpack before leaving me to get settled. The first thing I did was let Cammy out. She hated the carrier, so she meowed in my face before placing herself on my pillow and falling asleep.

I decided to have a shower and get ready for bed as it was getting late and I hated first days so there was no way I was going to deal with exhaustion as well. As I was walking out of the bathroom, I heard someone scream and I jumped out of my skin with an embarrassing girly scream of my own.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just excited to have a roommate, finally. Are you okay? My name's Olivia by the way. What's yours?" Her babbling made me laugh. She was so happy. I could tell she was a genuinely nice person and I realised why Sam had said she was amazing.

"It's okay, I'm Amelia and the little ball of fur is Cammy," I told her, pointing towards the annoyed looking cat. The screaming must have woken her up.

Olivia looked at Cammy like Sam did. Was everyone scared of cats here?

I went over to pick Cam up and she curled up in a ball in my arms, purring as I scratched her head.

"She's not going to hurt you, I swear," I told Olivia, as she timidly reached out to Cam. The attention seeking cat instantly took to Olivia the minute she started stroking her.

"Wow she likes me, that doesn't make sense. Cats hate us," she mused.

I looked at her confused. Why would cats hate her? She just looked at Cam with so much curiosity, until she jumped up and all but screamed.

"She's not a cat! That's why she likes me. Why didn't you tell me? I was worried there for a minute," she said.

Not a cat? But she is a cat. A tabby cat. I had found her when I was a girl. She followed me home one day and my mother let me keep her.

"What do you mean she's not a cat?"

Olivia looked at me confused for a second before responding.

"She's a familiar. It's the eyes that give it away. Familiars can look like anything. Mainly an animal. You don't see too many anymore but the school's pretty good about letting them stay here. Each one has a purpose; they protect whomever they choose."

Familiar? Like a witch's cat? So, Cam is otherworldly too? Is nothing in my life normal?

"So, my cat isn't a cat? Then what does a familiar look like? If not like a cat?"

She just stared at me.

"Sorry, this is all really new to me. I didn't even know all this existed until a couple of days ago," I admitted.

She instantly perked up.

"Don't worry. I'll help you figure it all out. It can get confusing. Familiars don't really look like anything. They are shifters. Well, sort of. They shift into whatever they need to be, within reason. Most of the time they are cats or dogs."

I stared down at Cammy and she looked the same to me. Even with what Oscar did, so I could see everything differently, she still looked like my cute little tabby cat.

"Your world is so crazy. I don't think I'm ever going to get used to it," I told her, as I started to get settled in the bed, with Cam complaining as I moved to get comfy.

She smiled at me as she got into bed herself.

"Don't worry too much. It's easy once you get the hang of it. I can't believe I finally have a roommate. I've been waiting months for one." I could hear the smile in her voice, and it made me smile too.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. It seems like I have already made a friend. Well, another one besides Sam, that is. I thought as I drifted off to sleep.