The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven (72 page)

             
Aidan followed me. “I understand that it’s a subject you don’t like to discuss,” he said, keeping with a soft tone. “But I just want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to my door is always open.”

             
I didn’t know what to say. I distracted myself by checking out the books on the shelves. I was tired of people telling me ‘
they’re here for me if I need to talk’
. I
didn’t
want to talk. Why couldn’t everyone understand that? Not wanting to continue with this conversation I turned to Aidan. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but I’m pretty much talked out,” I said over my shoulder.

             
“I understand,” he said, almost like he did. I stopped and gave him a quick glance. His hazel eyes caught mine and I felt a sudden flutter in my stomach. I looked away busying myself with the books on the shelves. I tried hard to concentrate on finding a book for my report.

             
“Was there something else?” I asked, when he didn’t make a move to leave.

             
“Yes. I also wanted to let you know I talked to Mr. Miller.”

             
“Talked to him about what,
‘my situation’
?” Angry, I turned around to face him. How dare he talk to other teachers about me when he didn’t even know anything about me?

             
“I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. He took a small step forward like he was approaching a wild dog. I narrowed my eyes at him, letting him know that yes, I do bite.  He took the hint and stopped where he was.

             
“What are you talking about?” I asked, crossing my arms.

             
“All of your teachers are aware of what happened,” he explained.

             
“Great, isn’t anything private anymore?” I said, slamming my hand against the shelf and knocking books over on the other side. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the other aisle to pick them up.

             
“It was your father who insisted that we be aware of it,” Aidan said, following me.

             
“Of course it was,” I sighed, bending down to pick up the books. Aidan helped me replace them back on the shelf. Our hands brushed and I felt a sudden rush of heat. I pulled back and stood up. “So what does Mr. Miller have to do with this?” I asked, trying to get back to the subject at hand.

             
“He told me how well you’re doing in your self-defense classes,” he said.

             
“You’re kidding, right?” I thought for sure I was the worst.

             
“Well…after you started to get the hang of it,” he smiled. “I also heard about the incident with Roman, but it was also your first day and these things happen.”

             
“Uh, yeah, well…” I blushed, embarrassed, even though he deserved it for taunting me.

             
“Don’t worry. I’m sure it was an accident,” he winked.

             
“Yeah…accident,” I said, looking away guiltily.

             
“Anyway,” he continued. “Mr. Miller and I were talking and we believe you have the potential to progress really well in his class, with some extra help.” Great, here came the kicker. “If you’re willing to, Gabe said he wouldn’t mind spending some extra time with you to help train you.”

             
I laughed lightly to myself. Of course Gabe wouldn’t mind. He probably felt like it was part of his duty. “Why are we required to take self-defense anyways?” I asked, curious.

             
He thought for a moment before he answered. “Self-defense is something everyone should know, supernatural or not, don’t you think?”

             
“Yes, it is something that could be useful, but why
us
? I mean, wouldn’t our powers be our best defense and aren’t we stronger than most humans?”

             
“While yes our strength does surpass that of a human’s, knowing how to properly defend yourself is something you should know. Just in case,” he said, hinting at something that I wasn’t quite getting. It was hard to pay attention to anything he said. Every time he smiled his dimples showed and his eyes gave a slight sparkle, distracting me from the importance of the conversation. He leaned in closer, resting one arm on the shelf.

             
“Are we preparing for war?” I joked. I caught a glimpse of something in his eye and I felt myself being drawn closer to him. I heard voices on the other side of the aisle and quickly spun away to cool my heated cheeks. “When will this training take place?” I asked.

             
“That would be up to you and Gabe. You two can work it out and I’m sure he will make it so it won’t interfere with your studies.”

             
“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” I laughed.

             
“You have a nice laugh,” he said, taking a step closer to me – so close our bodies were almost touching. “I meant what I said earlier. If you ever need to talk, about anything, my door is always open.” He hit my chin with his finger, smiled a sweet smile, and then walked away leaving me breathless. My head was spinning. I grabbed onto the shelves from the sudden rush to balance myself.

             
A thump alerted me, reminding me we were still in the library and not alone. I slowly regained a steady breath and made my way down the aisle to a book that lied on the floor. I picked up the book, ready to place it back in its proper spot when I was taken aback from the pair of dark blues eyes that stared back at me from the other side.

             
Eyes so piercing they kept me rooted where I was, unable to look away. “Ella!” Riley called, breaking me from the spell. I turned to address her as she joined me. “What are you doing? We thought you disappeared. You were gone for so long,” she laughed.

             
“I was?” I said, scratching my head. I didn’t think it was that long that I was talking to Aidan. I shrugged and held up the book I was holding. “I was just putting this back,” I said, returning it to the shelf. When I did, the eyes on the other side were no longer there.

             
“It took you that long to put back a book? You know maybe next time you should ask the librarian for help,” she said, shaking her head.

             
“Yeah…right,” I said, still staring at the now empty space in front of me.

             
“Ella, you okay?”

             
“Yeah…sorry…” I followed Riley back to the table where we collected our things and headed off to dinner. Riley was right, not only was I wandering around for over a half hour, but I also had just spent the past four hours in the library working on my report and not even realizing it. Leaving for dinner now was probably a good thing. I needed a break to refuel, plus some fresh air would be a nice change from the musty, old library.

Before we even reached the food line, Riley grabbed my arm in a panic. “Oh my god he’s here,” she said.

             
“Who’s here?” I asked, totally forgetting about our earlier conversation.

             
“The boy I like,” she whispered.

             
“Where?” I asked, my eyes perusing the cafeteria.

             
“Over there, he’s sitting with his pack,” she said, keeping her head down.

             
“His pack?” I questioned.

             
“Ella, we’re really going to have to sit down and discuss the basics of our world. If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were human.”

             
I rolled my eyes even though she was right. There was a lot of basic knowledge that I still didn’t know and should. “We’ll worry about that later,” I said. “So which one is he?”

             
“He’s the one sitting next to Roman.”

             
I looked at her baffled. “Roman’s a werewolf?”

             
“No, he’s a vampire. He just hangs out with those guys.”

             
“You know, you know an awful lot for someone who just started,” I said, eyeing her accusingly.

             
“It’s easy to learn about people when others forget you exist,” she said sullenly.

             
Sadly, I knew what she meant. “I’m sorry.”

             
“It’s not your fault. You were actually one of the first people to welcome me, so thank you,” she said appreciatively.

             
I gave her a small smile before taking a look at the boy she was crushing on. “He’s cute, you going to ask him?”

             
“I don’t know. I don’t think I can,” she said shyly. I grabbed her arm and started to pull her to the table before she could chicken out. “Ella wait, I can’t do this.”

             
“Yes you can, trust me. I may not know about our kind but I do know a thing or two about boys and confidence is always a plus,” I said, urging her on and giving her a slight push toward the table.

             
At first she just stood there, not saying anything. I think this was the first time Riley was ever rendered speechless. I gave her another push encouraging her, because if she didn’t say something soon this would probably end badly. “J-Justin,” she started. The whole table went silent and turned their attention to Riley, which I’m sure wasn’t helping her nerves. I poked her in the ribs, giving her another slight push. “I was just wondering…if maybe y-you wanted to hang out and watch a movie.”

             
He gave her the once over and I could tell she was starting to get self-conscious, afraid he might say no. “There will be other people there too,” she said quickly.

             
“What about you sweat heart? Will you be there?” asked some guy – I didn’t know – with a Justin Bieber haircut.

             
I was afraid to say yes. I didn’t want him to think I was interested. “Don’t waste your time with that one,” Roman said. “She’s into older guys, much older guys,” he said, his brows pinched tight together. I glared at him, wondering what the hell he was talking about. He just smiled at me like he knew some secret I was keeping.

             
“And how would you know what type of guy I’m into?” I countered.

             
“I know enough,” he said through gritted teeth.

             
I looked down into his dark blue eyes and something clicked. “It was you. In the library. You were watching me,” I said, confronting him.

             
He sat up. Clearly indicating I was right, but he wouldn’t admit it. “Look darling, this little crush you have on me was cute at first, but now it’s just embarrassing. You’re even making up stories,” he said, leaning back casually in his chair. His cocky smile returning, encouraged by the laughter he received from his friends.

             
It took all I had not to hit him, again. “Wow, really?” I turned to his friends trying my best not to let my anger show. “So did he tell you how he really got that black eye or did he say it was an accident,” I said, mocking him. I tried using my best Irish accent which sounded more like a bad attempt at a British one.

             
His friends looked at him then back at me. The smile on Roman’s face started to falter. “Mr.
I’m too cool
got knocked out by a girl,” I said, crossing my arms, confident that I put him in his place. I even got a few chuckles from his friends.

             
My confidence was short lived when Roman recovered quickly with his own witty retort. “Well,” he said, spreading his arms. “What can I say, I like it rough.” There were shocked and amused expressions amongst his friends. I could feel my cheeks start to burn bright red.

             
“Oh, come on love. I was just messin’ with you, relax,” he said, reaching for my hand, trying to smooth things over. I jerked away, repulsed. If this was an attempt at humor, I was not laughing. What had gotten into him all of a sudden? Was this part of his plan all along? Fake a truce with me to get me to believe he was the good guy everyone claimed he was just to get back at me for humiliating him the first day in self-defense. Was he really that self-conscious that he had to give himself an ego-boost by making fun of me?

I stomped off leaving poor Riley by herself at the table. I didn’t even bother to eat. I went straight to my room, but when I got there the door was locked. Apparently I forgot this was one of the times when Mackenzie required her alone time. I was pissed off even more because I couldn’t wallow in my own self-pity in my own room when I wanted. I pounded and kicked the door before I walked off.

              I didn’t even know where to go and I did not feel like talking to anyone. Despite Gabe warning me about the maze being tricky and quite possibly I would get lost and freeze to death, I didn’t care. The one thing I wanted to do right now was get lost and that’s exactly what I did.