Anger - Zach
1537 Words
A/N: Hello, guys, and welcome to Not Crazy! I hope you can all enjoy switching to Zach and Ryan's story for a while, but don't worry, this isn't the last we've seen of Grace!
********************
April 28th
I took another drag from the bland cigarette between my teeth. There was no point in being inside right now, not with everyone crowding and obsessing over that f*****g list. Besides, it's not like anyone would notice that I was gone, they never did before.
Tyler did.
Yeah, cause it's going to be his f*****g job in a couple of years. None of the others give two shits about us, Shay.
You...
You can't come up with an argument because I'm right.
The smoke whistled between my teeth, and I almost wished that these things could kill me. As much as I loved having Shay on my side, the healing abilities he gave me kept me from getting cancer, at least until I got older and Shay got weaker. My lungs compressed as he fought my next pull of smoke, causing me to cough and drop the butt. I spit a tobacco leaf off my tongue, growling lowly at Shay until he whimpered. I found the butt and pressed the embers out between my fingers.
No evidence meant that, as much as he wanted to and tried, Williams couldn’t prove that I smoked on campus. Taking the plastic bag from the hidden pocket in my bag, I shoved the butt in with the small collection of others before sealing it and hiding it among the other pieces of s**t I carried around. I slung my backpack up my shoulder, hissing when a textbook jammed into my side but feeling the pain subside almost immediately- Shay healed what would have been a mild bruise in seconds.
My phone went off from the pocket of my hoodie, but I let it go to voicemail before grabbing my wallet, which I used to keep the doors open. It was more useful there than anywhere else- it’s not like I had any money to my name. Walking in and waiting for the door to shut, I counted to twenty before removing the folded business card from the alarm system. My phone continued to go off, which I firmly ignored, as I saw colors flashing in and out.
Shay! Get it under control!
Control yourself fucker! It’s your anger calling me up!
Breathing deeply, I had to regain control over myself. I stopped in front of a random locker, pretending to fiddle with the lock as if it were mine, just to kill time. The longer I could avoid the meeting, the more likely it was that it would end before I had to sit through anything involving a graduation ceremony I wasn’t a part of.
My phone buzzed, again, but this time it was Uncle James’ name lighting up my screen. “Goddess, what did I do this time?” I muttered, hitting ignore. I was not in the mood to get yelled at about the dishes or have any favors asked of me. Ever since Grace’s training with Harmony had picked up, they’d lost a babysitter and I got stuck with his kids and Ronnie. I didn’t mind looking after Ronnie, she actually listened to me.
Before meeting Kara, I didn’t think blood-status entitlement was an inherited trait.
She was only seven, but Goddess she was obnoxious. I could handle Jimmy. He was better behaved than Kara, even though he was only two- plus he kept Ronnie busy. She loved to play with him, even before Dad f****d up and left, forcing us to live with Uncle Jim as Zeta wolves in a house of Gammas.
He called back, and the text that was below it told me to answer this time. Muffling the speaker with my finger, I pretended I was in the meeting, saying, “Hey, Uncle Jim. I’m in the meeting, is it urgent or can it wait till we’re done here?”
“Don’t bullshit me, Zach. I know you’re not here. A- the meeting is over, and B- I’m here. Where are you? You’d better not be smoking outside again.” I sighed and felt my Adam’s apple bob as I swallowed.
I didn’t know he’d be here.
Zach. He’s the Gamma.
And?
AND, he’s in the top three? He’s making a speech at graduation?
FUCK, I forgot.
No s**t.
You could’ve told me.
Why?
Screw you, Shay.
Unplugging from our conversation, I could hear Uncle James, waiting on my reply. “Hallway. I didn’t want to hear about a graduation ceremony that I’m not in.” I begrudgingly admitted to the bitter thoughts I held. He sighed, and I heard the library doors closing, both through the phone and the echoing hall. “Meet me in the office. Come in a back way.” he hung up on me, and I could hear his footsteps now, fast and angry.
Fuck.
Scurrying past the closed classroom doors, I opened the back door of the office, passing the guidance counselor’s room and beating him to the conference room. Taking a seat away from the door, I heard him enter through the front and take a calming breath. Mrs. Hale, the receptionist, must have been smiling when she saw Uncle James- I could hear it in her voice, which dripped with artificial sweetness. Despite the clear wedding ring and Mark on his wrist, other women would still throw themselves at his feet, begging for a scrap of attention.
I knew why. He was, as Grace always says, “drop-dead gorgeous.” And I couldn’t even fight it, because he was. The only grown man I’d ever met that could pull off the pure platinum blond hair with our tanned skin and make it look natural with his strange teal eyes. Standing at 6’3” he was tall, and well-built, as were all werewolves were, but he displayed that magnetic power that came from being a Pack Leader, almost unknowing of how he affected the people he was around.
Disgusting.
Why? Cause he has what you never will?
Watch it.
It’s true. He’s happy. And successful, and kind…
Shay! Shut up!
No! Your bitter, self-destructive attitude is going to ruin us!
NO, IT WON’T!
YES, IT WILL! Have you ever stopped, just for a moment, to think about Ronnie?
I think about her all the time.
No, you think about yourself. And how she keeps you from doing whatever you want.
You’re disgusting, Zach. Not him.
If you hate me so much, why don’t you just leave!?
I can’t. You have to kill me first. You know how this works.
And you’re not man enough to become Barren.
Breathing hard and shaking, I slammed a wall between us, too high and too thick for Shay to get through. Uncle James was standing in the doorway, his eyes conveying the storm of s**t he was about to lay down as they flashed from teal to silver and back again. Kodan was giving him Hell, but James reigned it in, his eyes stopped flashing and settled for a disappointed shadow. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing the door behind him.
"Zach, look, I get it. You want to act out and get attention, but you have got to rein it in. You needed to be at that meeting- you are going to be a senior next year and there are more expectations. IF you can stay out of trouble for two weeks. Can you act nice for two weeks?" He sat in a chair, leaning forward and hid his eyes.
I could always read him by his eyes.
He doesn't know anything.
I'm 'acting out' because I want to. Not for attention.
I have plenty of that- the Pack bad boy.
Goddess, I hate this place.
Crossing my arms and leaning against the window, I stared at the ground. I'd just assumed that, with my academic record, I wouldn't be graduating at all, much less walking the stage. "Tyler. Did he put in a good word for me with Williams or something?" I asked, almost not wanting to know.
As the future Alpha, Tyler could pull rank over almost anyone- but he hated doing it. If he did it for me...
Shit, was he being serious last week?
He had been tutoring me to help me pass junior year and last week...
Last week he'd asked me to be his Beta-in-training.
Uncle James shook his head, but I knew he was lying. He never hesitated.
Tyler must really want me.
Impossible.
I can't become Beta. I can't be his Beta. He's going to need someone who the Pack will listen to- not some former Gamma turned Zeta.
"I'll behave."
- Writer
