Chapter 9

Welcome back everyone to another chapter of Alpha Male.  I know this chapter is rather short, but still I hope you all enjoy!

Gabriella_Marie - For this week I am tagging Gabriella. For one she has been here since the beginning of the novel, and I enjoy her company. Also Gabriella I hope your mom is doing well! And check out her novel too. She too is writing a werewolf novel! Though i think she has it on hold, still Check it out!

1Blossom

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Chapter 9

~Josiph~

The four of us walked up the path to the front door of the school. Kiana followed directly behind me eager to enter, while both Lucas and Steve just stayed back. I didn't really understand why Kiana was so eager to go into a school, but something set her off.

“Is she alright?” I asked looking at Steve and Lucas before nodding my head towards Kiana who looked like she’s about ready to explode with joy. She was like a seven year old child getting a birthday present.

Lucas laughed. “Yeah she’s alright. When we were little we were never allowed near a school. Let alone attend one.”

“Why not?” I asked, arching a brow.

“Our parent’s rules. We were home schooled most of our lives. That’s of course until puberty hit. From then on we were treated like adults, and the alphas of our pack. That is until my father lost the pack,” Lucas replied. Steve though kept quiet beside him, and I was guessing he had probably been in school growing up, even if it was a human school.

“Have you been to school Steve?” I asked questioning my own guesses. I wanted to know as much as I could about the new, soon to be pack members.

Just as I suspected Steve nodded. “Yeah, I went to the mortal school in town, but when I had my first transformation, I had to drop out. I was only eleven, and was the youngest in our pack to turn werewolf. Except for Kiana and Lucas of course,” he said, but once he said the words Lucas elbowed him in the gut. Steve's eyes widened as he realized what he had said.

I looked at both Kiana and Lucas, confused. No one in history had turned werewolf before the age of twelve. Like Steve there were rare cases where a child would first transform at the age of eleven, but those were really rare. “When did you two turn werewolf exactly?”

Lucas and Kiana glared at Steve while he looked like he was trying to shrink away—like he was trying to sneak out of his own skin. With a sigh Lucas answered. “I first turned into a werewolf when I was nine years old. Kiana followed two years later, she too, was only nine.”

“But that’s way before puberty even hits,” I said clearly in shock.

“I know, but it has ran in our family for years. No one knows why,” Lucas said, though I could see the twinkle in his eyes that said otherwise.

I didn't want to pry into his family’s history so I just nodded. “Okay. Anyways, let’s continue our journey,” I finished before opening the front door of the school and walking in with the rest of them.

Our first stop was toward our youngest group of children. We had to follow the right side of the wall all the way to the very end where there was just one classroom for our four to six year olds. “Our four to six years old children,” I said pointing to the door on my left.

Kiana was the first to walk up to the door and peer in. She had a big smile on her face when she’d seen the young children in the room either playing with the number block toys or trying to write on paper. We tried switching out the days so that the three and four year olds would be learning to write one day, while five and six year olds played. The following day it would be the five year old children learning to write, while the other three age groups played, and so on with the six year olds. Twice a week the groups would work as a group. We allowed the children to pick those days so they felt like they had a say in what days they would learn. “Can we go in?” Kiana asked looking at me hopefully.

I laughed. “Well, I would have to ask the teacher to be honest. It’s the one time where the teachers have more control than the alpha.”

“Oh.” Her voice sounded defeated, and she seemed to give up hope.

I sighed. “Give me a second. I’ll ask the teacher.” Before I turned back to the door I’d seen Kiana perk up instantly as if she had just won some war. I believed I had just been played, but I still opened the door quietly to the classroom and beckoned the teacher over.

Ms. Blackbird came over with a smile on her face. “What can I do for you, sir?” she asked in a whisper her head sticking out the door.

“We have a few soon to be new members of the pack and they’re wondering if they could come into your class for a little bit. I’m showing them around, and they have never been in a school before,” I explained the situation to her.

“Oh,” Ms. Blackbird replied in shock. “Well, of course you can come in, but please do be quiet. We don’t want to disturb the children,” she whispered before stepping back and opened the door wider allowing the four of us to enter.

Kiana nodded before walking into the room. From inside the classroom there was just two big sized tables which held four students each. Four of the chairs were occupied by younger children, while the other children were playing with the toys in the background. Some were counting in the counting section, which was in the far back corner of the room, while others were sitting in bean-bag chairs reading, or trying to read a book. The four children who were seated at the desks had a pencil in their hand and were concentrating on the worksheet in front of them. It looked to be a word worksheet where they had to spell out the words, or rather trace them until they could figure it out on their own.

“This is amazing,” Kiana whispered in awe.

Ms. Blackbird smiled. “I’m guessing you’re the one who mostly requested coming into the room.”

Kiana nodded, blushing. “I've never been in a classroom before. Never got to see what it looked like, or even talk to other students my own age.”

The teacher smile faded. “Well that’s too bad, you were really missing a lot.”

“Yeah, I know.”

A young boy of about the age of about three approached Kiana with a book in his hand. He had bright blue eyes and blonde hair, and was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a green T-shirt. “Read, pease?” he asked hopefully holding up the book for her.

Kiana smiled at the young boy before bending down in front of him. “That would be up to your teacher cutie,” she said sweetly, lowering her voice.

The young boy giggled before looking up to Ms. Blackbird. “Can she?” he asked her with hope.

“Justin,” Mr. Blackbird started, “she’s a guest for the day. I’m not sure she will have time to be able to read a book, but maybe if she comes back tomorrow she can read it for you.”

Justin smiled before turning back to Kiana. “‘Morrow?” he asked, tilting his head.

Kiana nodded. “Tomorrow!”

Justin jumped up and down with joy before running back to the bean-bags. He sat down, opening the book by himself and started to read.

“Sorry about that. Justin’s the newest to the class. He just turned three, two days ago, and was enrolled into school the minute his parents could get him in. He has been having a bit of trouble talking to the other students, and most of them ignore him.”

“No, it’s alright actually. At the moment he feels like the outsider because he’s the youngest, but give him time and that will change,” Kiana answered.

“I hope so,” Ms. Blackbird said sadly. “His twin sister died three months ago. It came as a shock to everyone really, but Justin hasn't been the same since. Actually, you’re the first person he has talked to since her death.”

“What happened to her?” Kiana asked. She was still staring at Justin as he turned the pages of the book.

“She got really sick one night, and it just got worse. They brought her to the doctor here in the community. Her lungs were failing. No one was a perfect match in the family, not even poor Justin who stayed by her side the whole time. They wanted to bring her to another doctor in a different pack to see if they had a matching lung for her, but no one did. She died three days later after being admitted to the hospital,” Ms. Blackbird finished the heart-wrenching story. She too was looking sadly toward Justin, who looked just so happy sitting in the bean-bag chair as he kept flipping the pages of the book in his lap. You would have never known that his twin sister had died three months beforehand with the way he looked now. “But, I’m sure you coming in tomorrow might change things around for him, and I’m sure he will like it too.”

“Yeah I hope so too,” Kiana whispered, her voice cracking.

I hated to interrupt the two of them, but hearing Kiana's voice, I knew she was on the verge of tears, and looking at both Steve and Lucas I knew that they had heard it too. “You ready to go Kiana?” I asked in a whisper.

“Yeah.” She nodded, looking back toward us. I could see the tears swimming in her eyes even though she refused to let them fall. “Thank you. What’s your name by the way?”

“You can call me Karen.” She smiled at Kiana.

“Thank you Karen.” Kiana gave a grin back. “I’m Kiana by the way.”

“Hope to see you again soon then Kiana.”

“You too,” Kiana said softly, following the rest of us out of the classroom door and closing it behind her.

We walked back down the hallway in silence until I finally spoke up at the front door. “We can leave if you want.”

Kiana shook her head, her hair falling everywhere. “No, I’m alright. Where to next?”

I pointed down the hallway in front of us. “Down this hallway is our seven to eleven year olds. We can head there next.”

“Okay,” Kiana said before walking down the hallway. I followed behind her with Lucas beside me and Steve following us. When we got to the end of the short hallway Kiana was facing a door to the classroom. “This is it?”

“Yup,” I replied, popping the ‘p’.

“Why do you have the classes so far down the hallway?” she asked peering into the room. There really wasn't much in this room except for math books, English books, a few history books, and a long line of books about the history of werewolves.

“It was just how things had been set up when we first opened the school,” I told her with a shrug.

“That's the only reason?”

“That and it keeps the younger children further apart from the older children. They’re all in the same building.”

Kiana nodded. “It doesn't really seem like much for this classroom.”

“It honestly isn't much. It’s when you get the twelve and thirteen year old students that things get interesting.”

“Interesting how?” Kiana asked with a smile. The tears that once swam in her eyes gone, as she looked at me in questioning.

“Follow me and I’ll show you. We just have to go up the stairs to the second floor of the building,” I said turning around and walking back in the same direction to the front of the building. When the four of us had reached the front of the school, I noticed Derek was standing in the lobby waiting for us. He was leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed, watching as we walked up the hallway. “They alright?” I asked stopping in front of him.

He nodded pushing himself off the wall to stand. “Yeah. They didn't mean to pry in on the conversation, but the two of them had heard Natalie's name and instantly started to listen. Like an old habit when she’s mentioned about looking out for her.”

“It's alright. I kind of figured they didn’t intended to listen in, but I still wanted to check on them.”

“Yeah, I get it.” He smiled. “So, where are you all headed to now?” Derek asked.

“We’re just heading up the stairs actually to visit the twelve and thirteen year olds’ classroom.”

“Oh.” Derek grinned. “One of the better classrooms, I see. Mind if I join?”

“That’s what I told them. Also no, I don't. I mean you’re supposed to be here during the tour anyways, so you might as well join in,” I said with a small smile.

“That’s true,” Derek said. “Well, we might as well get going then. I mean if you still haven’t gone through the school yet, we have a lot to catch up. There’s a lot to get to by the end of the day, and time is running out.”

“Someone’s in a rush, it seems.” I laughed before walking up the steps, the rest of the group following behind.