Exertion my ass. 

“Trevor, please talk to me!” I begged, almost having to run to keep up with him.

He kept his eyes forward through the halls and weaving through people, not acknowledging my presence. I huffed in frustration and touched his arm, and he jerked away as if I’d shocked him. I felt tears brim my eyes. “I thought you were my friend.” I whispered. When he didn’t answer I stopped trying to keep up with him, walking to gym without him by my side like he usually was.

I wiped my eyes and walked into the room, everyone turned their eyes to me, and they all became silent. It was like this all the time nowadays. They’d turn silent, and then they’d all whisper to each other about me. “that’s the girl that got raped when she was in elementary.” Or from the teachers, “poor girl has probably been through a lot through her life because of that.”

I ignored them and walked into the girls locker room, grabbing my shorts and stretchy T-shirt, I quickly changed and walked over to where everyone else sat. I sat down beside my pack members, Hailey, James, Gabe, Nala and Peter.

Hailey is a natural blonde, with chocolate brown eyes and a model figure. James is the Jock type, with dark brown, cropped, short hair, bright blue eyes, and an athletic build. Gabe is sort of the computer geek type; he has grassy green, intelligent-looking eyes, and bright red hair, I think he’s cute, in a brotherly sort of way. Nala is a good name for her, because it sounds just like her, she’s delicate, with a heart shaped face and chocolate brown hair framing it. She has hazel eyes that lean more toward green than brown, and she has a small figure. Peter is Nala’s mate, and they stick together like glue. Peter has muddy brown eyes, and is beefy, suggesting he works out a lot. His hair is brown, and he was automatically put in the football team as a courterback when he came here.

“Did you try talking to him?” Nala asked when I sat down.

I nodded. “He wouldn’t even look at me.” I said sadly.

Hailey sighed, her eyebrows furrowing. “He’s just being stubborn now. It’s been a week since he’s found out, if he were a true best friend, he’d understand.” She said.

I nodded. “I just need to give him a little time.”

“I think he’s just being stubborn.” Nala pouted.

I smiled. James, Hailey, Nala, Gabe, Peter and I have become good friends because we have several classes together. We’re always talking to each other through the pack bond, and getting each other in trouble when we laugh out loud at things we say.

We watched as Coach Lorre came in. The coach was hard headed and hardly ever cracked a smile, he reminded me of a drill sergeant. 

“Alright children, today we have a new assignment.” Coach Lorre said, meeting eyes with each one of us. He met eyes with me and I thought I saw them soften for a split second before going hard again. “The principal thinks I’m being too hard on you, he suggested that I go easy on you, so, to acknowledge his suggestion, ten pushups, and twenty sit ups, after you run three laps on the track.” He said. A collective groan ran through the room, not including me and the pack.

Finally! A chance to use my strength! I thought with a smile.

‘Are you guys going to show off?’ Nala asked through the bond.

‘Hell yeah!’ we said in unison. 

‘Okay, that was a little creepy, but I guess I’ll show off as well’ Nala said, a grin stretching on her face.

“Go!” coach said harshly.

James, Hailey, Peter and Nala skipped in front of me and Gabe, we were making a game plan. “We’re going to have to act exerted, I mean, after running the track, and doing pushups we’re going to have to, like, force ourselves to sweat or something.” Gabe said, smiling in amusement.

“Yeah, or we could just say our parents keep us very athletic.” I shrugged.

He laughed as we started running on the track. Gabe, Peter, Nala and I made it a race, Nala was winning. I growled and pushed myself harder, trying to keep in human speed as I passed Nala. She smiled at me. 

I slowed to a jog as I reached the finish line, speeding up as I passed it. ‘you’d think being a werewolf would be a pain in the ass. But it’s awesome!” James exclaimed.

I smiled. ‘It has its drawbacks, like getting naked in front of God and everyone.’ Hailey muttered.

‘That can get annoying.’ Gabe said.

Before I realized what was going on, I passed the third lap and coach blew his whistle, “Harington! Ten pushups!” he yelled.

I skipped to the middle, exaggerating my breathing and hoping I was sweating. The heat helped with that, exertion may not get me to sweat, but the heat will.

I dropped on the ground, counting under my breath. One, two, three, four, five, six…

Coach blew his whistle again. “Harington! Sit ups! Twenty!”

I got on my back and started counting. One, two, three, four, five six, seven eight, nine, ten…

It was very simple, I didn’t know what the big fuss was, sit up, touch your toes, lay down, sit up, touch your toes, lay down, and so on and so forth. 

When I got to twenty, my breathing was only slightly labored, and I felt like I’d really worked out my muscles.

I sat on the sidelines and leaned back, watching as a James, Hailey, Peter, Gabe, and Nala moved to the center and did pushups, and sit ups.

I felt his presence before he could sit down. Damian plopped down beside me and threw his arm around my waist. “Impressive, and I like the outfit.” He said in my ear.

I smiled and looked down at my white shirt and black short shorts. “It was the only thing I had that could be used for gym.” I explained.

“I like it, it shows off your long, beautiful legs.” He said, stroking the tip of his finger down my thigh.

I felt a rush of heat in private places and shivered, slapping his hand away. “Damian!” I admonished in a loud whisper.

I heard his deep chuckle and he placed a light kiss on my neck. “I like the way you say my name.” he whispered.

“Damian, we are in the middle of the track yard, with thirty people in view, don’t you think this is a little inappropriate? And speaking of, shouldn’t you be at practice?” I asked him as his hand covered part of my thigh.

“This is very inappropriate, and I took a break.” He said.

“Then why is your hand practically up my shorts?” I asked him flatly.

“Because I like to tease you.” he said, placing soft kisses on my neck.

I felt his breath hit my neck in a silent laugh as I shivered. He removed his hand from my thigh and lifted his head from where it sat between my neck and shoulder, grasping my hand in his. “Thank you.” I sighed in relief.

“Oh, I’m not being civil just yet.” He said, amusement coloring his tone.

I looked over and opened my mouth to ask what he meant and he smashed his lips to mine. He tightened his arm around my waist, thrusting his tongue into my still open mouth. Coach blew his whistle. “Harington! Villain! Does this look like a make out session?” Coach yelled.

I quickly pushed Damian away and blushed deeply. “Sorry Coach Lorre!” I yelled back. I looked at Damian, who now held an innocent face and glared. “Do you think you can try to control yourself for a few minutes?” I hissed.

He smiled and shook his head. “No.” And he kissed the tip of my nose and got up, jogging back over for football practice. I rolled my eyes and sighed. I looked back out at the track to see everyone was just about done with the exercise. James, Nala, and Peter were grinning at me, walking over to where I sat. “I guess Damian couldn’t get enough of your sexy ass.” Peter joked, making Nala laugh and push his shoulder playfully.

I laughed. “Apparently not.”

I got up as everyone headed to the locker rooms to shower. Grabbing my gym bag on the way, I stripped and showered all the grime and sweat from my body. After finally getting clean, I got my clothes on and packed my dirty ones in my bag. As I walked out of the locker rooms, my vision blurred. I leaned back on the wall and shook my head of the sudden dizziness that was threatening to overtake me, putting my hand on my forehead as a sharp pain made it ache.

As quickly as it came, it went away, and I was aware of Nala and Hailey’s concerned faces in front of me. “Are you alright? You looked kind of pale for a second.” Hailey said, feeling my forehead for fever.

“I-I’m fine. I just had a dizzy spell…I think.” I said, my voice unsure.

“Have you ever had these dizzy spells before?” Peter asked, coming up beside Nala.

I shook my head slowly. “No…I don’t think so. I think I’m okay, must have been from the exertion.” I said, not believing myself as I said it.

“Exertion my ass.” Nala said, making me smile slightly.

James and Gabe walked over, unaware of what happened. I pushed myself from the wall and took a step, and that’s when the dizzy spells came back, only with more force. I felt myself falling, but just before I hit the ground, I blacked out.