Chapter 7: Mate

Sitting down in math class as our teacher Mr. Johnson was trying to teach us some equations that I was barely keeping my focus on, I couldn’t stop wondering about that scent and that blond girl.

I wondered why did the scent led me to her, because it was obvious she wasn’t my mate, so it must have been some kind of mistake.

Looking out the window, I saw that football practice was on, so I looked for Tyson and saw him running. That sad feeling of disappointment crept up inside me, like it had once before when I learned he wasn’t my fated mate. Knowing him for years and growing up together while I secretly had a crush on him, it is just, ugh… things would have been so much easier if I had just been a simple human.

I know I have a mate, I just need to find him. And having these feelings for Tyson made me feel bad, like I was cheating, and yet I didn’t even know who exactly I was supposedly cheating on.

Groaning slightly and feeling annoyed at myself, I saw that they stopped practicing and headed to a bench.

I watched Tyson as he walked towards the bench, taking what seemed to be a bottle of water and drinking from it.

What surprised me was what he did next.

He took off his shirt and poured some water over his head, and at that moment my mouth fell open as I stared at his abs. His body was in perfect shape.

“Miss Morgan… is the weather outside still sunny or are the clouds showing a sign of possible rain coming?”

Mr. Johnson startled me as he asked me the question, causing my cheeks to turn red, obviously because I had been caught, I apologized, and thankfully, the class continued, and I exhaled deeply, allowing my eyes to take another peek outside.

Just as I looked outside, I saw Tyson was looking at me with a smirk on his face, which made me realize he must have seen me looking at him. Oh dear God, can this floor please open up and swallow me whole?

That asshole… he did that on purpose!

Bringing my focus back to the class, I brought my attention back to the class, and the rest of the period flew by quickly.

Going to my art class, I met with Annie since we have that class together.

“How was math?” she asked.

“Boring, long… embarrassing… take your pick.”

“Wait… math, embarrassing? How can math be embarrassing?” She looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“Well… okay, I was looking outside at football practice, and at one point when they finished, I saw Tyson and watched him as he drank some water and next thing you know… well, he took his shirt off and…. I just… kind of took a look at him.”

Giggling at my embarrassment, she said, “So you were feasting your eyes on his body?”

Shocked by her words, I protested. “I wasn’t!”

“So Professor Johnson caught you drooling.” She folded over and was consumed by fits of laughter at my embarrassment.

“Even worse… the asshole, I think he knew I was watching him play because when I turned around and looked again, he was watching me with a smirk on his face… can you believe that?!”

Annie laughed harder.

“It is not funny.”

“Sure, it is.”

“You are no help at all.”

I started walking down the corridor to our art class and she followed me, still laughing at me.

The class was a lot of fun as we painted dead nature and we got to learn new techniques which I really enjoyed.

Annie and I walked slowly towards the cantina the moment the bell rang announcing our lunch break, where we would meet up with Lizzy and Mandy as they had geography together.

As we entered the cantina which was slowly filling up with students, Annie and I joined the line to get our lunch, and as soon as we had picked up our trays we went to our table where Lizzy and Mandy were already sitting and chatting about something.

When we got to the table, Annie couldn’t keep her mouth shut and said, “Ollie got in trouble in math because she was drooling over Tyson.”

“Annie!”

“Oh my God, tell me everything,” Mandy exclaimed.

“There is nothing to tell.” I tried to give Annie a warning glare, but she decided to just simply ignore it.

“Oh no, well how about if Mr. Johnson hadn’t stopped you from drooling, you would probably still be stuck to that window and eye-fucking a half-naked Tyson then… hmm?”

Lizzy and Mandy gasped and I covered my face with my hands.

“Damn. So how does he look? And do not say we were all having a swim together just the other day. As you very well know, it was dark and we were all in the sea so of course no one could see anything, so speak up,” Mandy said as she poked me with her index finger.

As I was about to say something, a voice cut me off.

“I have to say, I am curious about the answer.”

Sitting next to me was none other than Tyson himself, looking amused and rather smug.

Tyler and Max followed while James was still waiting in line.

“You… you…” I tried to say.

Smirking, he leaned down to my ear. “Did you like what you saw?”

Gasping, I smacked him in his chest, making him roar in laughter at my reaction. I tried to look anywhere but at him.

I saw the two guys that I was looking at with Mandy; I forgot their names… they were looking at our table.

I noticed that their friend, a supposed Alpha or was soon to be one, was nowhere in sight.

I couldn’t help but look around and try to find him.

“Looking for me?” James spoke as he set opposite of me.

“N-no… I was… Yes, I was,” I stammered.

He shook his head and turned towards Mandy. “Hi, beautiful. Having a good day so far?”

She went bright red in a second, making him chuckle at her.

“Did you hear what the coach said?” Max asked us all.

“You mean about the joined practice?” Tyson spoke.

“What joined practice?” Annie cut in, always the curious one.

I was curious myself as I haven’t heard anything… Does it mean that our cheerleader practice will be different now?

“Well, we are having a combined practice with the team from Cornal High School.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun,” Mandy spoke up, finally getting a grip on herself.

James growled low. I looked at him, but he ignored my gaze.

“More guys to drool over… right, Ollie?” Annie poked me teasingly, making me groan and my brother look at us questioningly.

Tyler and Max burst into laughter as Tyson glared at Annie.

“What did I miss here?” James asked us, feeling confused.

“Well, Ollie mohdl.” I covered her mouth with my arm so she couldn’t say. My reaction made Tyson chuckle amusingly, but it also made my brother raise his eyebrow at me.

“Ollie?”

“James,” I countered, batting my eyes at him.

“What did you do now?”

“I haven’t done anything. Why do you always think I did something wrong?”

Tyson tried to cover his laugh and I smacked his arm.

“Will someone tell me what happened?”

“Ollie was ogling Tyson during her math period,” Mandy told him.

James’s head turned fast in Tyson’s and my direction.

“Ok, now everyone just chill and stop picking at her. Let’s eat,” Tyson said as he took my hand in his under the table and gave it a light squeeze.

Feeling grateful even though I still wanted to smack him for this morning, I was happy he changed the subject, and everyone was engrossed in talking as we ate our meals.

“Ready for English class?” Lizzy asked me as she was cleaning her tray.

“Yes, it is Shakespearian week, do you think we will be doing some play?”

“Who knows, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we were.”

“Wait for me here, I will be right back,” I said. Standing up from my seat, I was about to leave the cantina.

“Where are you going?” Tyson stopped me and asked.

“I just need to get my book for English class because I forgot to take it out of my locker.”

“Ok. Do you want me to go with you and keep you company?” he asked.

I couldn’t help but smile at him. How sweet and considerate he was… if I were to forget he deliberately tried to tease me just this morning. Not that I was complaining—he does have a body that takes my breath away.

“Thank you, but no need really, I won’t be long.” I took off to the school hallway and walked the corridors to my locker.

When I got to my locker, I opened it and decided I would replace the books I wouldn’t need anymore so I wouldn’t have to carry them around and just take ones I would be needing.

When I was done and closing my locker, that intoxicating smell was engulfing me again and making Aurora restless.

I stopped in my tracks as I tilted my head, smelling that scent… cinnamon and vanilla.

“Mate!” I heard Aurora say, making my heart jump and do a happy dance in my chest.

I walked slowly, my books pressed to my chest, following the scent, only this time the scent was stronger and not as faint as when I first followed it, and it led me to that girl.

Taking a turn, I found myself bumping into something hard and started to fall but was stopped by a strong grip on my waist, which caused sparks to fly from the contact.

My heart was beating so loud and fast I was sure he could hear it.

Swallowing, I slowly looked up as I found myself staring into the most beautiful shade of gray eyes that were widened as they looked back into my poles of green.

“Mate.”