The Teacher's Mate

Part 10

Ugh. Fuck Mondays. Audrey thought as she felt her body tighten with an anxiety attack. Breathe, in and out, steady as it goes. Those had become more frequent but she had become much better at disconnecting herself from them when they did happen. It probably wasn't a good thing that she removed herself so far but what else could she do? The tears started streaming down her face as she waited on Missy to finish getting ready for school. Tears, how lovely. Breathe, just breathe. She didn't have to feel what her body was doing. Find something else to focus on.

"Orion", that eight minute long bass led instrumental that could sooth her every fear. It was a good thing she had washed her hair last night so that she could leave it down. Her earbuds hid cleverly within the long strands would help keep her anxiety at bay, hopefully she wouldn't have to go in and get her friend.

Slam! Well, that took care of that problem. Her friend had moved in for the most part and she had almost immediately brightened up the house more than usual. They only had to get the dresser and bed from Missy's parents' place, which is why they were taking the truck to school so that they could go immediately after class. Audrey hoped that they weren't there when they picked it up; it had turned into a screaming match when Missy told them she was moving out. She insisted on doing the lion's share of the house chores and whenever Audrey or her dad tried to set a "grimy, greasy piece of junk on her clean table" she was quick to reprimand them. Audrey thought that Missy just wanted the option to stress-clean whenever she needed to.

Audrey's hand grabbed Missy's wrist as she reached for the dial. Missy pouted, but left it alone. Their nonverbal vocabulary had expanded greatly and she knew that even though it was her turn to pick the music, Audrey needed it more than she. Most days Missy could snap her out of her funk but today was not one of them. She knew not to push the subject. So she sat back, pulled down the mirror and touched up her makeup.

"You have to work tonight?" Audrey asked, voice steady, as the last notes faded away. She switched out Master of Puppets for Street Talk.

Missy smiled as Steve Perry started singing, that was probably her favorite album in the case as Audrey well knew. "Yep, four to ten." She had started working and insisted on helping pay bills as soon as she moved in. Audrey might be gruff on the outside, but she knew that on the inside was just a sweet little girl who would do anything for a friend, regardless of the expense to herself; and who was terrified of being shunned. She couldn't understand why Audrey thought that way. Missy couldn't count the times Audrey had made sacrifices for her or for her dad, that was just who she was. They were little sacrifices, but that didn't undermine their value. Missy just hoped someday someone would put her first like she did everyone else.

"Are you alright?" Missy asked as Audrey put the truck in gear.

Audrey sighed. "Today just isn't the best, I'll be ok though, don't worry."

Someone needs to worry about you, Missy thought to herself while humming along to "Foolish Heart".

"Audrey!" called John from down the hall, almost running Missy over, "Sorry Missy. Audrey, wait up!"

She sighed as the Beta-in-training caught up to her. "What do you want?"

"Touchy, touchy," John scolded, shaking his finger at her as he finally caught up to her. "You're never gonna make friends with an attitude like that."

"If they are all as pushy as you, I don't think I want any more." She grumbled.

"So I am a friend, I'm touched." John dramatically lay one hand over his heart.

Audrey scoffed. "Not for much longer at this rate." She turned to walk away.

"Hey, hey, hey." John stopped her by grabbing her hand. "Where are you going?"

Audrey whirled to face him, emotion gleaming in her eyes. "If you don't let me go right now I'm going to rip your arms off."

"Gosh, what crawled up your butt and died?" John asked, dropping her hand.

Audrey looked away and grumped. "I don't like people."

"Good thing I'm a wolf then."

Audrey looked around to make sure no one was paying them any attention. "I hate crowds, don't touch me and I don't hit you. Capiche?"

"Capiche. But seriously, you need to loosen up a little." John walked with her until they were almost to Audrey's math class before finally exclaiming. "I know! You just need to come hang out at the pack house more often! If you get used to being around them you won't be as nervous."

Audrey just rolled her eyes at the boy, but before she could finally escape the annoying pest, she almost collided with Mr. Newsom. "Hey watch where you're..... going..." She looked up at the tall man who had almost ran her down.

"I'm so sorry, Audrey, you alright?" He lay a steadying hand on her shoulder to keep her upright and looked her straight in the eye, tingles shooting out from where his hand held her steady.

She recovered herself, "I'm fine." He still didn't let go of her shoulder.

John looked between his teacher and the girl he was trying to assimilate into the pack and back again. No fists were flying but the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. He decided that the better part of valor was to scurry on to class. He could try and get Audrey to spend more time with the pack later.

Brown eyes met brown eyes as Mr. Newsom stared down at his mate and she glared back. Why did she look so pissed? He wondered. He was struggling to keep his eyes from shifting but then he saw the emotion behind the anger. Fear? Why was she afraid? And that did it, he lost the battle, his eyes shifted.

Apparently that was all it took to end the staring contest between the two. Audrey didn't even blink at the color change, but jerked away from his hand on her shoulder. Neither said a word to each other as they went to their respective classrooms.