Page 2 of Broken Souls

After my stepmother and Kieryn, Ember is my biggest bully. Her mouth is always open, spewing hateful words. She picks on other kids too but apparently I'm her favourite pushover. Standing beside her are her sheep, Hannah and Mitchell. These are the three that regularly beat me up. Other pack members verbally abuse me but it's these three and Kieryn that get violent. Apparently the reason for this abuse is because technically I am what she said, a crossbred. But come on, why do they hate rogues so much? They need to get off their pretend hierarchy and get their heads out of their asses.

I close my locker and try to take a page out of Amelia's book and ignore them. But it's harder than said. Ember grabs my shoulder hard to get my attention.

“I was talking to you,” she sneers.

She can't get too violent at school, given humans go here. We can't show our werewolf strength and too much violence at school will get the teachers involved. The three assholes stick to private areas to do their dirty work mostly.

“What?” I glare at her.

“Hey Elora.” Amelia appears beside me then turns her attention to the scoundrels. “What do you want?”

“This doesn't include you, dropkick,” Hannah snarls. Of course they can't hurt Amelia because she's human. The werewolf community is a secret.

“Just because you have miserable lives, doesn't mean you can make our lives miserable. Two wrongs don't make a right,” Amelia speaks wisely. But of course what she says goes through one ear and out the other of these dim-witted monstrosities.

“Ha,” Ember cackles. “Two wrongs don't make a right. Your parents are proof of that, Elora.” She gives me an evil look as she walks away while her friends smirk. The way she says my name is filled with disgust. I know she really wants to call me crossbred, but she can't say that in hearing shot of human ears.

“Bullies really are something else.” Amelia rolls her eyes and loops her arm through mine as we walk to our homeroom. Even though she gets teased, she uses her wit, which ends up making the bullies walk away. That is, when ignoring them doesn't work. “Don't let them get to you.”

Amelia doesn't know about the bruises. I know she's got a hard family life. I don't know what it consists of but I'm not going to burden her with more bad news. When I have a black eye or busted lip, clearly I can't cover that. Even with makeup it's noticeable. Amelia just thinks I get into fights outside of school when my face is bruised up. That's what I tell her so she doesn't get involved. The other humans at this school think the same thing when I'm roughed up, that I'm troublesome. However, the werewolves know the truth.

After homeroom I walk the school grounds to my class. On the way, some people stare at me but I'm used to it. The moment I make eye contact with them, they look away. It's not as many stares as I got when I was younger.

As I pass by the science building, I see Joel Lewis and his girlfriend Jenna May heavily lip locked as usual. They are members of the pack. It befuddles me how they both made it to senior year given I only ever see them sneaking around school and never going to classes. Ah, to be as carefree as those absentminded fools. There's always that one couple, right.

I get to class and walk in, the teacher's head staring deeply at his desk, looking drowned in paperwork. Mr Du; not sure what that's short for, always sits there for the first five minutes not looking like he even wants to teach. Which means everyone screws around in mischief at the start of the lesson despite Mr Du sitting at the head of the class. I feel his pain. He's most likely stressed being a teacher. He has the option to quit but he needs the money. A situation where you have to endure stress to get somewhere better in life is probably the wrong choice in the long run.

I go take my seat at the side of the class. I sit up straight to keep my ribs from aching. I can't remember the last time my ribs didn't hurt. If I were a human, I probably wouldn't be able to walk with the amount of injuries to my ribs. But thankfully, my wolf helps heal me and gives me the strength to push through.

Trying to tune out the class is difficult. I hate being around the people I go to school with. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ember leaning over one guy’s desk seductively, her body curved in a way that pushes her breasts and ass out. Even though she's only flirting with one guy, she has the attention of several others sitting around. I can't help but roll my eyes. She is a harlot. Except she doesn't get paid. Actually, she sleeps with them and gets paid with popularity. That's why no one cares that she's a bully. Because she's easy. I don't know anything about relationships but I doubt any man would want a mate who's been subjected to fifty dicks. Maybe her karma will be her mate rejecting her harlot self.

Karma. Hm, not sure if I entirely believe in karma. But if it's real, I'm in need of some good karma. I believe I'm in favour of it.

Chapter Two

As I take my time folding the tops on the table, I don't even notice Amelia sneak up on me.

“What's up?” Amelia pulls herself up onto the counter and sits there. No one else is in the shop so having her here during work hours doesn't matter.

“Same as always. What are you doing here?” I ask, keeping my slow work ethic going.

Even though it hurts to keep moving my arms folding clothes, it's sort of relaxing. The good thing about working the afternoon shift is no manager is on site. I basically run the store during these hours. But on weekends, the manager will be in the back so I have to appear to show a stronger work ethic than what I usually do.

“Was sick of being at home.” Amelia sighs, softly swaying her legs back and forth. It's quiet between us, which is calming. It's not even awkward. “Do you think I should get a job?”

“If you want to.”

“I figure I'll just drain my parents of their money, given the grief they give me.”

“I should try to guilt my father like that.”

“Why don't you?” she asks.

I don't because I don't need to hear what my stepmother would say about it. All I hear is screeching when her mouth opens. Trying to go by unnoticed is what I aim for, not that it works considering the abuse.

“Why bother? I should stick to my work so I can say I did it all myself,” I voice.

“I admire your perseverance.” She gives me a small smile.