"Take a seat, please." He says taking a seat behind a big oak desk. Nicole sits in the left chair of the two that are in front of the desk. She looks around noticing a lot of awards and degrees in his office. He has two filing cabinets that have things neatly placed on it. She brings her eyes down to his desk and sees her picture with some writing by it. She looks down at the writing trying to see what it reads. "Miss Arky, I've called you in today because I've been informed you know about our kind." He says, but it seems more of a question to Nicole.

"Yes, sir." She says feeling herself just want to sink into the floor. She feels like she can't hold his gaze and her wolf isn't liking being in front of an Alpha that isn't hers, even though she doens't have an Alpha anymore. 

"Well, I also happen to know that you aren't human. Why are you lying to my pack?" He says this and Nicole's head pops up. How would he know? What had she slipped up on?

"I 'ave personal reasons, but ah won't cause any issues, sir." She says glancing up in his direction. He looks down at her and she wants to just run out of the room.

"Avery, would you please come into the room?" He asks. Nicole turns her head towards the door as it opens. A fairly tall, very pale, girl walks in. She looks to be shy, but Nicole has a feeling she isn't.

"Yes, Alpha." She says bowing her head in greeting.

"Nicole, will you expose my pack to anyone?" He asks looking back at her. Nicole looks at him startled and shakes her head.

"'Course not, sir." She says. He looks up at Avery and she nods her head.

"Good. Do you have a mate?" He asks.

"No, sir." She says and once again Avery nods her head, but tells him something in through the mind link. She wished right then and there that she was in there pack so she could understand, but she can't. She goes off of the Alpha's facial reactions.

"Very well, have a nice day Miss Arky." He says standing up and holding his hand out. She stands up and shakes his hand before quickly leaving the room. She hears feet follow her and turns to see it's Avery. They hold each other's gazes. Both trying to figure each other out. Avery takes a step towards her and Nicole holds her ground not moving.

"You hurt any of my pack and I will come after you." She warns before turning away and walking off somewhere. By the time she get's back to lunch the bell rings. She curses under her breath and quickly shoves the apples and other foods that won't make a mess in her bag.

She runs down to her next class not wanting to be late for yet another one. She takes an empty seat in the back looking around at everyone. She hadn't had this class yesterday for some reason, but she now realizes she's going to have to put a smile on her face to try and make some friends. "Alright, class. As you all know Nicole is new, say hi to Nicole." The teacher says. The class turns towards her and says hi. She waves back with a small smile. "So, Nicole what do you like to do? Play instruments, sing?" She asks and Nicole smiles.

"Both, but I can only play thuh piano, guitar, and cello." She says and the teacher smiles.

"Can you read music?" She asks. Nicole nods her head and walks up to her as she motions her forward. "I want you to play there warm-up song, and if you want to sing along go ahead." She says moving so Nicole can sit down. Nicole takes a seat on the bench and looks at the music. She places her hands on the keys and then starts. The choir begins singing the lyrics that are written under the notes. She looks down at them and begins to hum them before starting to sing along. She keeps her voice quiet still not sure about the song. When it ends she turns to the teacher. She nods her head and then hands her a guitar. She sets paper on a stand and nods her head. Nicole tunes the guitar and then starts to strum at the strings. "Ok, impressive, but the cello is harder to learn than either of those."

She's handed the cello, once again she tunes it before playing with the music she has placed in front of her. Nicole loves playing the cello, she begins to get into the music smiles hearing the beautiful sound.
When she's done she smiles shyly at the teacher. "Ok, I like you." She says and the class begins to clap. She smiles looking around at them. "Alright, we are going to work on a new piece today. Singers pick your parts, instrumentals come up here." She says. Nicole stands up to walk over to the singers, but the teacher places a hand on her shoulder. "I want you on the piano for this song, are you ok with that?"

"Yes, thank ya." She says. The teacher nods her head and hands her the notes.

"You may go and figure out what part you want to sing." She says. Nicole nods her head and walks over to the group in the corner.

"Hey, will you sign high soprano?" A girl with dark brown hair and dark eyes asks.

"Um...sure." She says and the group nods.

"You're going to have to be louder though, not like when we were warming up." A guy to her left says. He's kinda short for being a werewolf, but Nicole doesn't comment on it because not everyone there is one and it's rude to men when they are short.

"Trust me, I can be loud." She says and they smile.

"Ok, let's just try to get through the song." The girl that asked her sing high soprano. The group nods their heads opening the song up and looking at the first verse. It starts off low and Nicole follows until she starts to go in. Anytime someone makes a mistake the group just continues to sing and it makes Nicole smile. She continues to sing and realizes she's the only one singing her part. When they finish Nicole speaks up.

"C6. Jus' a wee bit high." The group nods their heads with smiles.

"But you did hit it." Another girl says. Her hair is a blondish color and she's extremely tiny.

"That sounded good, who is our highest and lowest people?" The teacher asks looking over at the singers.

"Nicole and Max." The dark hair girl says.

"Alright, you two come up here." She motions walking over to her piano. She directs Nicole to sit down on the bench again. "Ok, you two need to sound good together and to be strong. I want you two working together for the rest of the hour, and Nicole try to practice playing." And then she's off walking in another direction.

"Well, she's very fast-paced." She says and Max nods his head.

"That she is, but I hear you managed to get under my best friends skin." He says and Nicole looks up at him confused. "Andrew's my best friend." He says and Nicole nods her head.

"I don't know what his problem is, I accidentally ran into 'im twice, but that can't even be it because awn my ferst day when I done walked in 'e jus' stared at me. 'e kept watchin' me like 'e hated me an wasn't goin' t' even try t' git t' know me, but whatevher his loss." She says and he busts out laughing.

"This is going to be a fun year, and when you get frustrated your accent is a hell of a lot stronger." He says after calming down.

"Y'all talk funny up here, not me." She says and he laughs shaking his head.

"Whatever you say." He says putting his hands up. She glares at him and then begins to start playing the song. The two work the rest of the time occasionally laughing when one has a voice crack or can't reach the note. The bell rings and Nicole stops playing to pack her things up. She and Max are laughing down the hall when Andrew looks at them causing Max to stop laughing.

"Andrew." She says slowing down with Max.

"Nicole." He says back and Max rocks on his heels.

"Hey, I'll take you up on that offer for a ride home. I don't think my parent's car has come all the way up here yet." She says smiling at Max. Max nods his head and looks back at Andrew.

"I see you tonight at the party." He says and Andrew nods his head not taking his eyes off of Nicole. She smiles up at him and then starts walking away with Max. "Man, he looks pissed off. I don't know what you did, but it wasn't good. You're lucky he won't attack a human." He says and Nicole tries to hide her smile.

After Max drops her off at her house she waves as he leaves and then walks into the house. "George?" She calls looking in his room.

"He's outside, but he did come and pick us up today. Even said hi to our daycare person." Maddie says pointing out the window. Nicole nods her head and walks out towards him. She takes a seat keeping a fair amount of space between them.

"I'm sorry about last week. Ah don't know what happened." He says his voice monotone. She looks over at him and nods her head.

"I understand." She says thinking about the night. She'd come home from after work and went to check on him, but when she walked into his room he'd put his hands around her neck and almost suffocated her. She knew it wasn't George, it was his wolf that was full of anger and he couldn't control it.

The two sit in the grass for another five minutes before Nicole stands up. "I've gotta go make dinner, don't stay out too long." She reminds him. He nods his head slightly but continues to stare off into the distance. She walks back into the house and opens the freezer. She grabs one of the frozen pizza's, reads the instructions, and then sets the oven to 340 degrees.

"Another frozen pizza?" Maddie asks sounding disappointed.

"Yeah, but I have a surprise for you." She says and finds her bag on the ground. She opens it and pulls out the two apples and a slight smushed cupcake thing.

"Oh, yummy." She says grabbing all three things. Nicole smiles as she bites into one of the apples. Nicole hears a slight cry from Maggie. She walks into the living room where she lays on her back crying. Nicole picks her up and grabs a toy.

"Ya, want this?" She asks her voice going higher as she smiles at the baby. Maggie takes the toy and begins to swing it around. It makes a lot of noises, but Nicole doesn't care as long as she's not crying. She sets the baby in the playpen and goes back to the oven. Once it's preheated she plops the pizza in.

"Ok, George the pizza's in the microwave, just press start and it will go for two minutes when the kids want dinner. Maddie you be good and call me if anything happens." She says and Maddie nods her head. She then looks at the baby. "Ya also be good." She just giggles and plays with her toys.

Nicole walks out of the house locking the door and then begins to jog to the store that she's going to be working at. It's a Festival and seems to be the only food store in the town. She walks in and goes to her register.

It's slow for the day until a group of teenagers comes running in. She jumps at the noise and smiles as she notices the annoying group. "Andra, so rude t' jus' bahrge into a place actin' like that." She yells getting her attention. She's the only person working so she doesn't care if she's yelling through the store.

"So, you work here. How fun." She says the rest of her friends going off somewhere in the store.

"Oh yeah, best job in thuh world." She says causing Andra to start laughing.

"Hey, you said you're off at eight, it's 7:52. We'll just give you a ride down." She says and Nicole nods.

"Not for long though, this is my earliest shift off for the rest of the week. I need to get all the damn homework done." She says and Andra rolls her eyes.

"Fine, you party pooper." She says and then the loud bunch of teenagers comes into her register.

"Hey you," Mason says clearly already drunk.

"Hi, drunk Mason." She says scanning their food.

"I'm not drunk, just a little tipsy." He says and then falls onto his ass.

"Sure, tipsy." She says and rings up the total. Max hands her a card and she swipes it handing it back.

"Guys, we are gonna what here for a few minutes and then drive Nicole down to the party," Andra says. The group cheers and Nicole chuckles realizing the only people sober are Andra and Max.

"Who's driving?" Nicole asks and Andra points to Max.

"He's the only one that hasn't had anything to drink, even I feel a little wishy-washy." She says smiling. Nicole keeps checking her phone waiting for those two painful minutes to pass. She watches the person that's going to switch with her come in.

"Hey, I gotta go. It was quiet naahyt though, 'ave fun." She says checking herself out and then walking out with the rest of the group. She hops in the back of the truck with a few of the others. "Y'all never git in trouble for this do ya?" She asks with a smile. Andra shakes her head standing up. Nicole laughs holding on so she doesn't go over.

When they arrive at the house and she realizes it's a rented condo. She walks with them meeting a few new people and seeing a few that she knows. She walks to the backyard and they all begin dancing to the music. Andra dances against Nicole causing her to laugh and begin to dance with her. The two start laughing and Nicole feels herself feel normal. She lets the music help mover her body but jumps when she feels someone behind her. She looks up to see Mason grabbing her waist. She shakes her head at him but doesn't mind as long as his hands stay where they are.

She sees Max hanging in the back and motions for him to come out. "I'ma be back." She yells to Mason and Andra. Andra nods her head while Mason just continues to dance. She jogs over to him. "Come on, if i'm out thair ya can be to." She says grabbing his hand and pulling him out towards everyone. He chuckles but doesn't fight against her. She grabs his hands and put them up trying to get him to dance. He huffs and begins dancing on his own. "There ya go." She yells over the music. Andra comes up to her and starts pulling her away from the crowd. She looks at her confused until she starts puking. Nicole grabs her hair letting her get it all out into the bushes. She rubs her back with a sad smile.

"I think that was too much whiskey." Nicole hears her say.

"Ya, maybe." She says back. Andra stands up and Nicole lets her hair down.

"Do you have a ride home or do you want me to walk home with you?" Nicole asks worried that if she tried to make it home, she'd end up in a ditch somewhere.

"Max is my ride." She mumbles. Nicole nods her head running up to him. He's talking to Andrew when she finds him.

"Max, can ya tayke Andra home? She's not feelin' so well." She asks, he looks at her and then to were Andra is.

"I told her not to drink so much, I will thanks for telling me." He says and jogs down to her. She starts walking when Andrew walks in front of her.

"What do you plan on doing? Flirt with every guy in the pack?" He asks and she looks up at him.

"Git out awf maah way." She says keeping her wolf down.

"No, you can't just go and play with all of their hearts. Don't you know they have mates, just because they haven't met them doesn't me it's ok for you to just go in and have sex with them." He says getting dangerously close to her.

"Don't ya fuckin' tell me what ah kan an kan't do an for yowr information ah wasn't fluhrtin' with anyone. Mason an Max ahr maah friends, sorry that's 'ard for ya t' swallow." She yells at him and moves to walk past him, but he grabs her arm.

"You are starting to piss me off, don't tell me what-"

"Jus' leave me thuh fuck alone." She says ripping her arm out from his hand. She stomps off into the house careful to keep her temper down until she could get into the woods. Once she's there she changes and lets her wolf take her home.

When she gets home she realizes she didn't take anything off before changing. She looks up at the door and whins. Maddie opens the door letting her in. She pets Nicole and Nicole feels her bad mood dampen. She walks to her room before changing back. She grabs a pair of pants and a shirt to change into. "Can you help me with homework? These problems are confusing." Maddie asks looking down at her paper. Nicole nods her head taking a seat next to her on the floor.

"Ok, so tell me what it's askin' for."