Switched

Time Well Spent

"Alright everyone, you know what time it is. Pair up with your neighbour." "Howdy neighbour," Jacob slid his desk against mine. We smiled at each other, not looking away until Mr. Grinds placed a worksheet on our desks. "You have thirty minutes to complete the assignment. Just leave it on my desk on your way out." "Ugh, history," Jacob said though he was grinning. I started filling in the questions, catching him peered at me from time to time. I thought I might blush, it felt that good to have his concentration locked onto me like that.

"S-so," I began, pointing to one of the questions. "How does this sound to you?" I slid the paper over so he could see. After reading it quickly, he sent me a wonderful smile. "You have nice handwriting." "Y-you think so?! Thank you, I always thought it was kind of messy." His tanned head shook. "You need to give yourself more credit, babe." My lips instinctively responded with a grin. "You're lovely, Jacob," I heard myself blurt. He laughed. "No one's ever called me that before. Isn't it unmanly for a guy to be "lovely"?" I shook my head gently. "No, you can be masculine and lovely at the same time, which you are." "Oh really?" His head rested in his palm as he continued to watch me with a serene expression. "And why am I lovely, Selene?" "Because," my smile widened. "You make me feel lovely." Jacob didn't say anything to this, just kept his strong eyes locked onto mine for a long second.

"Twenty minutes left people!" Mr. Grinds interrupted our mutual train of thought. Blinking in confusion, we immediately returned our attention back to the assignment. But it didn't stay there long. I caught Jacob looking my way again, this time making me outright blush. I think he liked that judging by how his long smile grew. "Tell me about yourself." "Huh?" This caught me by surprise. "Tell me something interesting about you." "I see. Well, why don't you ask me a question and I'll answer it?" I offered. "Fine. Why did you come to the Lyceum?" "Because it's one of the best schools and my father and I want me to get the best education possible." "That makes sense," he nodded. "Now your turn." "Uh, ok. Are you the son of an Alpha? And if not, who's the Alpha of your home pack?" "I'm not the current Alpha's son. Technically, I'm supposed to be the new Alpha when I graduate, but we'll see." "You're not sure?" I raised an eyebrow. He simply shrugged. "There's a lot to it. It's a big responsibility and who knows? I might meet someone who lives abroad."

"Ah yes, your future mate," I teased, though I could feel him still watching me. "I guess your pack will expect you to be with someone who can help you lead the pack?" "I'll marry whoever I want. I'm the only one who gets to decide who's right for me," Jacob bluntly announced. I suppose that answers my question, although I know my father would be horrified if I came home with a werewolf or vampire. But then........ My eyes slowly drifted back onto Jacob. That doesn't dictate who I'll fall in love either. I never thought about it but this is one area I was to exercise total freedom in- choosing my future partner, whomever he might be.

The teacher broke my train of thought again by tapping his hand onto the chalkboard. "Ten minutes!" "Holy crap!" I perked up. "We need to get this done," my hand began working away again. Jacob didn't look too worry about it. "Alright, one more question." "Shoot," but I didn't stop writing. I'm sure Jacob would have written it for us but...... I knew this stuff; it was easy for me to do it, if not a little rushed. "What toppings are needed to create the perfect pizza?" "That's your question?!" I let out a little laugh, still not slowing my work. "I believe you can tell a lot about a person by what kind of pizza they eat," he smirked in a joking fashion. I decided to play along- it was a cute inquiry.

"I actually don't like pizza," I went the honest route cause why not? "You don't?!" This seemed to scandalize the stunned Alpha. I shook my head for affirmation. "No, I don't eat it. It's weird, I've never been into it. But if I was forced to eat it, I would choose....... Hawaiian with bacon instead of ham, and extra cheese." "A girl who doesn't eat pizza...... I didn't know you existed; well, excluding the mosquitos. But those toppings aren't bad, minus the pineapple- it just needs some more meat." "Maybe," I laughed. "If you don't like pizza, what is your favorite food?" "Mmmmmm," I considered it for a moment while finishing up our assignment. All I had left to do was put our names at the top. "Caramel apples." "Seriously?!" "Oh, yeah; I love 'em. I'll tell you a secret. I once got a full-week carnival pass just so I could eat caramel apples every day." This made him laugh. "That doesn't count! That's a dessert, not real food." "Not true. I've had caramel apples for dinner before." "You like sweet things, don't you?" I nodded. "Yes, I have a massive sweet tooth. Goes well with all the tea I drink."

Jacob didn't say anything more until I finished up. The bell rang, and we got ready to go. But before we left our desks, Jacob stopped me. "Selene." "Yes?" "Come have tea with me." "Huh?" My eyes instantly grew. "D-do you have a break now?" I managed to stammer out. His head nodded firmly. "But...... but you don't like tea. We can go have something else if you want." "You like tea, therefore we're going for tea. I know this really cute place downtown I think you'll like." "Downtown? Sorry Jacob, but I can't leave campus without written permission." "Leave it to me," he flashed me a cunning smile. "I had to see the headmaster about something anyways."

To my utter amazement, Jacob successfully procured a letter of consent from Dr. Cross. Arm-in-arm, he escorted me off school grounds to the town centre. The place he brought me to was this little café with lots of teas and pastries. Like a true gentleman, he held the door open for me, helped me take off my jacket, and pull out my chair for me. Then he got us two menus. "What looks good to you?" He asked me as we studied them together. "It all looks so good! I think I'd like a slice of cookies and cream cake with green tea. What about you?" "Chocolate cake with coffee." We shut the menus and he flagged a waitress over. "A piece of chocolate cake and regular coffee with milk for me, and cookies and cream slice with green tea for the lady," he automatically ordered for both of us. He really is an Alpha, I blinked at him. I had to admit I liked being taken care of like this; he certainly wasn't going to make me do anything unnecessary. And what's more, he actually seemed to like fawning over me too. Must be his instinct, I smiled.

Jacob and I had a lovely time together. We laughed and talked for over an hour; we barely got back in time for fourth period. "I had a great time, Leeny," I guess he already thought of a nickname for me. "So did I." "I'll save you a seat at dinner. Me and the guys are going out for a run tonight. Would you, uh......." "That's ok," a smile veered across my lips. "You guys go, I'll spend the night with Yori or something." "Ok," he nodded in agreement. "But we can go on a walk tomorrow," I ventured to suggest.

The Alpha's grin began to fade, and his eyes rolled off into nowhere. "I..... can't. We can go the day after tomorrow, but tomorrow's not good for me." "Oh no! That's fine; we'll go on Thursday then." "Ok, deal," I thought Jacob would be satisfied with this, but his face said otherwise. He still refused to meet my gaze.

"You won't..... go outside tomorrow, will you?" "W-what? You mean like all day?" This took me aback. "Not all day, just after dark. When "they're" awake." "Are you worried about what happened yesterday? Don't worry, there won't be a repeat of that. I've learned!" I said in a cute tone, which he didn't appreciate. "I'm serious. Stay inside after dark; those demons won't hesitate to........." His sentence caught in his throat. He really is worried about me, my eyes narrowed onto him. I felt....... conflicted. While I wanted to ease his concerns right away, I couldn't help but be really happy that he was thinking about me that way in the first place. He worried about me- an Alpha was actually anxious for my safety. That would make anyone ecstatic! And I suddenly felt closer to Jacob. Dearer.......

"I promise, I won't do anything dangerous. You don't have to worry. Besides! I have Zero for a roommate. He's pretty good at guarding humans, even if he isn't around half the time." "Zero......" Jacob hissed under his breath. "I still don't know about leaving you with him, but it's better than nothing I guess." "Maybe you should meet him. You might like each other!" Sure, it was a slim chance but not impossible. Jacob merely snickered at the idea. "Sorry, honey. I couldn't meet him even if I wanted to. That's why I'm leaving it to you to tell Zero." "Tell Zero what?" He stopped walked and grabbed hold of my shoulders to make me face him. His eyes were so serious that a tingle ran up my spine. "To take care of things. He has one job and he better do it right."