Chapter 41 Chapter 41
Amber
Ellie's face paled when she saw Alice, but she approached slowly, like someone walking to their execution.
"Yes?" Her voice was small.
Alice's smile turned predatory. "You're friends with this…" she gestured dismissively at me, "...nobody, right?"
Ellie glanced at me, then back at Alice. "I... yes."
"Then prove where your real loyalty lies." Alice pointed at her shoe. "Get on your knees and rub your nose on my shoe and kiss it."
My stomach dropped. "Don't you dare, Ellie!"
"Or," Alice continued, ignoring me, "I beat your little friend here to death. Your choice."
"Ellie, don't," I said quickly. "Don't do it."
But Ellie's eyes were wide with fear, and I watched in horror as she slowly lowered herself to her knees.
"Ellie, no!!!"
"It's fine," Ellie whispered, tears already forming in her eyes that she was struggling to hide. "It's fine."
"Like hell it is!" I stepped forward, but Alice's cronies moved to block me, grabbing my hands and legs again.
“Funny how a pathetic human is trying to help a wolfless girl.” Alice said, looking from me to Ellie mockingly. “I can’t decide which one of you is the bigger loser”
Her friends cackled, much to her delight.
Moments like these were where I wished my wolf would find me soon, that I would fight back the bullies, not limited by my human strength which was no match for wolves.
Alice knew it and even though she was nowhere in the top strongest she wolves, she could still intimidate weak students like us.
I watched, helpless and furious, as my friend bent down and rubbed her nose against Alice's shoe while that monster stood there looking utterly pleased with herself.
Something inside me snapped.
"Does your boyfriend know what a bully you are?" I shouted out.
Alice's head whipped toward me. "What?"
"You know Ellie belongs to Soren's faction, right? You're literally humiliating a member of an alpha heir's group. I wonder what he'd think about that."
Alice's smile didn't waver. "You're right. But you don't belong to any faction, do you?" She took a step closer. "So now you kiss my shoe, or lose a limb. Your choice."
The rage that had been building finally erupted. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
So my fist connected with her jaw before I even registered moving and the crack echoed across the courtyard did little to appease me.
Alice stumbled back, blood trickling from her split lip, her eyes wide with shock.
"I meant rumored boyfriend," I said, my voice shaking with fury, "because I sure as hell don't see Caspian dating someone as cheap and pathetic as you."
The crowd that had gathered gasped collectively. I doubted someone could throw those words lightly at an alpha heir’s girlfriend but she had terrorized me enough.
Alice's expression morphed from shock to pure hatred.
"Hold her," she spat at her friends.
Hands grabbed my arms, yanking them behind my back. I struggled, but there were half a dozen of them and one of me.
Alice approached slowly, wiping the blood from her mouth. "Bitch, you're going to regret that."
She raised her fist, and I braced myself for an attack that never came.
Because an authoritative voice cut through the tension like a knife.
"What is going on here?"
Everyone froze and I lifted my head to see Professor Maxwell, our history teacher striding toward us, his expression thunderous.
And beside him was Caspian looking at us curiously.
Alice's entire demeanor changed in an instant. She rushed to my side, suddenly all concerned and was helping me to my feet as her cronies released me.
"Nothing, Professor," she said sweetly, dusting off my clothes like we were the best of friends. "We just collided with each other and fell. Right, Amber?"
I stared at her in disbelief.
Was she seriously such a coward?
"No," I said clearly. "She was bullying me because she can't stand the fact that someone won against her fair and square in the DIY event."
Caspian's amber eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
Alice tried to jump in. "Nothing, she just hit her head or something, ignore her!"
But I wasn’t going to shut up. So I raised my voice again.
"Really?" I was done playing nice. Done being quiet. "You've been bullying my friends and me since the day we enrolled in this academy. And you're especially bitter that your brilliant idea of a stupid party fell flat while Ellie's car wash event for Soren's faction was a massive success."
I bent down and helped Ellie to her feet, keeping my arm around her protectively.
Alice fumbled for words. "That's not…I didn't…"
Caspian turned to her, his expression hard. "Didn't you say the party got cancelled because everyone was too tired after extra lectures that day?"
Oh, this was interesting. So she'd lied to him too.
"What?" I couldn't hide my shock. "No, the party happened or at least Alice kept trying to invite people over offering free drinks and unlimited food. But nobody was interested because her idea of fun is laughing at others."
Alice's face went red. "She's lying! She's just trying to ruin my image. You have to believe me, Caspian"
She had turned all her focus on Caspian, reaching for his coat and tugging at it to make him look at her.
“Let’s just ignore all of this already. I planned a special date for us tonight at the most expensive…”
She began but a shrill voice rose from beside me, surprising me.
"Alice just wants to be your girlfriend so she can bully all of us," Ellie said suddenly, her voice stronger now.
Everyone turned to stare at her including me.