“Look who's talking,” Josie says.
“Shut up, Josie,” I hiss. “You sent your boyfriend to fuck another girl. How sick in the head are you two?! All of you, actually.”
One of their friends has the decency to look slightly uncomfortable, but I don’t give a fuck
Brandon’s face has turned red. “Did you truly believe I would want to be with someone like you?”
“Yes, I did,” I huff. “Stupid me for thinking you are a halfway decent person.”
“You don’t even have a…” Brandon’s voice trails off.
A wolf, he wanted to say, but couldn’t because humans are all around us.
“That might be true,” I say calmly. “But at least I have dignity and self-respect. What do you have?” He stares at me, surprised. I don’t wait long enough for him to find his voice again. Instead, I turn around, almost taking a step back again, when I notice that we have a little crowd around us.
Ava dashes forward and takes my hand to tug me along with her.
“That was the best use of my drink ever!” Noah says. “What an asshole.”
“For real,” one of the other guys mutters. “What a loser.”
“The chick’s cool, though,” another one whispers. “I mean her.” He adds. “Not the crazy one who shared her boyfriend.”
A girl we walk by nods at me. “That was awesome,” she says. “Wish you had punched him, but everything else was amazing.”
I try to smile at her, but now that the adrenaline rush is over, I feel tired and broken. The wolfless, pathetic girl got played by her boyfriend. In a way, he is right; it is pathetic. I believed every excuse he dished out, every explanation, just because I wanted to believe it.
I just want to leave, but Nina and Ava both grab my arm. “I know what you want to do,” Nina says. “But we are not letting you leave. You will show that asshole what he is missing out on.”
“She is right,” Ava adds. “If you leave, they will think they won.”
“They kind of did,” I say quietly.
“Doubt it,” Nina grins. “I was in the crowd when the scene went down, and believe me, everyone around me called him names.”
“Really?” I ask.
“Yes, to everyone else here, you are the dignified girl who just ditched her cheating boyfriend,” she verifies.
She just said I have dignity. Hearing it from someone else soothes the burn slightly. It doesn’t chase the shame and hurt away, but at least I didn’t let myself down. I stood up for myself.
Sebastian suddenly joins us. “Come, dance with us, Gwen.” He reaches out his hand, but I am not sure how to react. Part of me wants to just run away and curl myself up and cry. “I know better than to hit on you now,” Sebastian adds. “Some of us know how to treat a girl.”
His words give me the last push. I take his hand and let him lead me back inside, the others following.
I won’t let them win.
I have successfully distracted myself the whole night, but seeing how dawn is approaching, I want to go home to check on Tulip and to be there when Faye returns. Noah and Sebastian offer to accompany me home, and although I always feel safer with someone with me, I have to decline. There is no way I could let humans onto pack grounds.
I am not sure if I will ever see any of these people again, but I will for sure remember them and their kindness, and that they showed me that Iamworth something.
The bike ride home takes longer because half of the path is uphill; the sun is rising when I spot my cottage in the distance, giving me the motivation I need to cycle faster. Around me, everything is silent, just here and there, I hear the rustling of leaves. It’s a usual sound for a forest, yet it makes me feel oddly uncomfortable.
It’s as if the forest has eyes. Like someone or something is watching me.
Maybe I am getting paranoid. After this evening, it would be no surprise. I wonder how I will handle Brandon from now on. We have the same job and will see each other eventually. I could try to leave the cottage as little as possible, but I will need to go grocery shopping eventually, and I definitely need to go to my job.
A sigh escapes my lips. I have no shift tomorrow, so I can use the whole day pondering about what to do.
